Book Review: Lovecraft Alive by John Shirley

Lovecraft Alive by John Shirley

Paperback, 254 pages

Published September 2016 by Hippocampus Press

The impact of HP Lovecraft is one I should not have to explain, it is like explaining the influence of the misfits on punk rock. Lovecraft died not realizing how he would lead the charge on a revolution that would change Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy. Since he was a racist, made clear in his many letters the debate of his impact has taken on a new importance. For those of you who might know it was his face on the statue for the world fantasy awards that brought this all back up. Afrocentric science fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor had every right to feel uncomfortable accepting an award with his face on it.

So it is interesting to get a collection of Lovecraft stories from such a strong progressive voice in the genre. John Shirley cut his teeth as the punkest in genre of Cyberpunk. No one else had spiked necklaces or stood on tables and yelled at Harlan Ellison. The Lovecraft influence was always there, so in a way this is a long time coming. We always saw in bits and pieces.

Shirley was in the occasional Lovecraft anthology (mostly the highly respect ones edited by ST Joshi) but he was never a lock to be in all ten of the Cthulu titled anthologies like Cody Goodfellow, CJ henderson or Joe Pulver. It was less common event to get a Shirley mythos story but always welcome. When he was invited to have his own special issue of weird tales or invited into the pages of Madness of Cuthulu he brought it literally in Lovecraft style. Most of the stories in this collection are written in Lovecraft's voice. Shirley has in recent years developed a knack for imitating the style and voice of these long dead masters. Check out his Poe's Lighthouse story collected in Living Shadows. In that story he seamlessly finished a story Poe left undone at the time of his death.

Look John Shirley is my favorite writer on this planet. I consider his novel Wetbones to be the best horror novel I've ever read! It is also Lovecraft inspired in moments. So I am a much bigger Shirley fan than I am a Lovecraft fan. A good amount of this collection is Shirley doing a freaky good job of imitating Lovecraft's voice. Stories like Those who came to Dagon or The Rime of the Cosmic Mariner are amazing. Just not my thing.

My favorite stories in this collection are the ones that feel more Shirley than Lovecraft. I prefer his voice in general. "Buried in the Sky" that I had read before in Weird Tales when first it appeared, and again in Living Shadows when it was first collected. This story takes place in a skyscrapper, and is Lovecraft influenced but it is much more Shirley than anything. It has always been one of of my favorite Shirley shorts although it is a tad longer short story.

The story "How deep the Taste of Love," which appeared in the classic Hottest Blood anthology is a deeply disturbing erotica story that I enjoyed. but other favorites included the World War Cthulu story "The Holy Grace of Cthulu," that i felt was still in Shirley's voice and my absolute favorite of the collection is "Windows under water."

"Windows under Water" is the best story in the collection because it balances the heavy heavy influence of Lovecraft with themes and issues that are very very Shirley. One of two stories that heavily address the concerns of climate change. It makes perfect sense to do a dagon story in relation to rising seas. This story alone as as major Shirley fan made the collection worth it.

Personally I would suggest Living Shadows or Black Butterflies first before this collection but honestly I think anything with the name John Shirley on is worth having. If you are a Lovecraft fan who loves and reads anything mythos this book is a must have.