The Yith Cycle: Lovecraftian Tales of the Great Race and Time Travel (Call of Cthulhu Fiction) Paperback – November 1, 2010

Recently I’ve been reading and re-reading my old Chaosium anthologies, and I’ve really been enjoying these archives of old and new Lovecraftian oriented fiction. Still, you’ll have to excuse me if some of these reviews have some spoilers to them.●●●●●●●●We start off this anthology with "The Purple Sapphire" the obscure, and first novel by John Taine (Eric Temple Bell: 1883-1960). Although mostly forgotten now, he was an influential, and popular Scottish novelist of the early-to-mid twentieth century, and who seemed to specialize in writing weird adventure novels. And with his first novel, Taine starts off with General Wedderburn coming to jewel trader and adventurer John Ford with a proposition, to find Evelyn, his daughter, kidnapped, and taken into Tibet by a once loyal servant twelve years ago, and of whom not trace of either has ever been found. For Ford's trouble, all of his expenses will be paid by Wedderburn, and to sweeten the deal, the General gives Ford a purple sapphire of extra-ordinary power and beauty. After consulting with his partner and niece, his beautiful, and equally talented adventurer Rosita Rowe, Ford agrees. But, first, Ford has to know where the sapphire came from, and why is it so important to the finding of Evelyn. The path leads to one-time lost member of the Royal India Survey team Captain Montague Joicey, who has been presumed dead for the last eight years. Joicey was recently found wandering out of the Tibetan wilderness, beragged, partially insane, and with blasted hands. Recovering, he is convinced to be part of the recovery team when he commences to sell his jewel, they outfit themselves and Joicey, Ford, Rowe, and the General head off into adventure, although they will soon have to ditch the General. Their journey leads them over a barren desert that is permuted with a deadly purple mist, to meeting a local tribesman, who is not only later portrayed as a certified cretin, but in love with a disguised Rosita. Eventually the expedition gets to their destination, only to find that most of this lost civilization has died in a past catastrophe. Then the rest of the novel is spent with the trio trying figure out how to get the valuable sapphires, rescue Evelyn, and get out alive. All-in-all, a fairly entertaining lost race novel, even though it dates rather badly, as it is fairly racist, with members of lost civilization often serving as "comic" relief, by either being superstitious, or being moronic, or both. The characters are also rather shallow, with Joicey just being an out-and-out caricature of your arrogant British nobleman. On the other hand, Taine makes all of the main female characters smart, courageous, and independent people. A refreshing change of pace from most female characters in these period pieces. However, the ending is a cheat, what the ****? I can’t spoil the ending for you, but really!! Worth reading for lost race fans, but others should probably read Taine's later novels.●●●●●●●●Up nest is "Dreams Of Yith", a long, moody and atmospheric dreamscape told in verse by Duane W. Rimel (Duane Weldon Rimel: 1915-96) that was supposedly revised by H. P. Lovecraft.●●●●●●●●"The Jewels Of Charlotte" is another piece by Rimel, and in it Constantine Theunis tells the tale of his July 1934 vacation to the town of Hampton in which Constantine meets three lawmen, and at dinner he sees them sitting at a table when a mysterious chime rings, causing some disconcertion among the locals, and the three lawmen to run out on their dinner. Later he finds out through them about Cruth and his daughter Charlette. When Charlette died she was buried with her jewelry, and that all of those that have seeked these jewels have died or have disappeared, often when the ghostly chimes rang, and now the chimes will soon ring again…●●●●●●●●Next up are two by Lovecraft correspondent Richard F. Searight (Richard Franklyn Searight: 1902-75). The first is "The Sealed Casket" and the opportunistic Wesson Clark has inherited from the late occult practitioner Martucci a small sealed ancient casket. Martucci has warned Clark that he should never open the casket, and after some procrastination, guess what Clark decides to do? And guess what happens? Yeah, that. A good solid, and short weird tale.●●●●●●●●The other story by Seabright is "The Warder Of Knowledge" and it tells the tale of how Doctor Gordon Whitney becomes interested in things he shouldn't be interested in. He then reads texts that were forbidden for a reason, and in his curiosity performs an evocation. Not a wise move, as he finds out when he sleeps, and finds himself elsewhere, where he witnesses transmigrations, the colonizations, the wars, and finally, his own fate. A good bit of weird fiction.●●●●●●●●Now we have two by H. P. Lovecraft (Howard Phillips Lovecraft: 1890-1937). The first is the classic "The Shadow Out Of Time", and it’s one of the major contributions to this volume, and a landmark in his Cthulhu Mythos. Here a professor of Political Economy suffers a fit of some kind, and when he awakens he seems to be a different man, with completely different interests, which he indulges in by traveling to mysterious places around the globe. This new Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee eventually collapses after several years, and when this Peaslee awakens again, he is once again the old Peaslee, and he reveals that his ego/soul had been transferred to the body of one of those of The Great Races. This is what the Great Race does. They switch bodies with different races so that they can learn all that is in their great libraries. Meanwhile, Peaslee had learned that the Great Race is preparing for a great war and an exodus because an ancient enemy is preparing for a final confrontation. As the Great Race where masters of time and space, Peaslee and his son go on an expedition to the lost city of the Great Race’s exodus here on Earth.●●●●●●●●"The Shadow Out Of Time" is essentially a two-part story, the first part dealing with Peaslee's experiences as an abductee, and his finding out about what his body had been doing during his absence. The second part deals with his discovery and exploration of the Great Onces lost city. Depending which part you are reading, this is a story chockfull of alien abduction, new-age philosophy, first contact, moodiness, body switching, action, horror, madness, forebodings, and alienation. This is perhaps one of Lovecraft's better stories.●●●●●●●●"The Challenge From Beyond" is part of a round-robin weird tale, although each part stands on it own. This segment involves the transportation of the ego of George Campbell to the body of a centipede of a centipede-like race.●●●●●●●●Now, I’ve always liked August Derleth's (August William Derleth: 1909-71) fiction, and while a student of Lovecraft's writings, Derleth’s style is much more modern and commercial. In "The Shadow Out Of Space", Derleth gives us a 'Reader’s Digest' version of Lovecraft’s "The Shadow Out Of Time", and he still gives us a ripping good read.●●●●●●●●Derleth's second story is the Lovecraftian and Poesque mash-up in the overlooked "The Dark Brotherhood". A man and woman are out for an evening walk when they encounter a man who is interesting to them, and of them. So starts a semi-regular routine as he often walks with them throughout Eastern Safford. The man is a thinly disguised Lovecraft, while the stranger looks a lot like Edgar Allan Poe. Then strange things happen, like multiples of this man start showing up. Then the unnamed man finds out some awful stuff about these multiples, and what they want from him and his girlfriend. A weak ending, but fun none-the-less.●●●●●●●●"The Shadow From Yith" is a round-robin tale, and in part one, "The Shadow From Yith" by Alan D. Gullette (1956-0000), mathematical whiz kid Christopher Evans-Douglas goes on vacation, but is bothered by bad dreams. Determined to get to the bottom of these dreams he takes a sleeping drug so he can fully explore his nightmares. Instead he astral travels to the home planet of the Great Race, and we are treated to a travelogue of the Great Race’s planet and library. Eventually, crap happens, and Evans-Douglas disappears. A rather forgettable alien travelogue that ends before anything really exciting happens.●●●●●●●●Part two is "The Horror From Yith" by Walter C. DeBill, Jr. (1939-0000) is a bit more exciting as two men and their guide go up a mountain to look for the vanished Evans-Douglas. What they find is a savage race that tries to kill them, and a man possessed and insane by something not of this earth.●●●●●●●●In part three "Beneath The Dunes" by Ted Pons, the two survivors of part two go to the Australian back country to find a lost expedition only to find . . .●●●●●●●●"The Changeling" by DeBill is more-or-less a quasi-sequel to the previous round-robin story. Here Matt is an investigator for the Observers Of The Unknown who investigate Fortean Phenomena, and now Matt is investigating a possible poltergeist and passion case. He comes to the conclusion that there’s no there-there when everything goes to hell. People die, people disappear, and it all leads to Lovecraftian aliens trying to colonize earth. Then one of the invaders goes mad, moody and methodical the story is full of possession, a feral child, a clone, super-science, death, Lovecraftian aliens, dark houses, and isolation. This is a story that is just screaming to be made into a movie.●●●●●●●●"The Sands Of Time" is by sf legend P. Schuyler Miller (Peter Schuyler Miller: 1912-1974) is a surprise inclusion as an archeologist is interrupted while excavating some fossils by a man who claims to be able to both see and travel back in time. The archeologist is skeptical until the man brings him proof. But there are problems, and man has to go back. A great story from the Golden Age and I'm glad I read it. Has a great romantic ending but it doesn’t really fit into this anthology, that is, until you read the next story.●●●●●●●●And the next story is "Countdown For Kalara" by Richard L. Tierney (1936-0000) which will mash-up the mythologies of Miller and Lovecraft. John Taggart is a miserable and bitter man, and on his way home in the winter from his equally miserable dead-end job, he finds something odd on the sidewalk. It looks kinda, maybe, sorta, like a weapon, and when he gets back to his rooming house, he hides it, but not too well evidently, as later he and the weapon are grabbed by an alien girl, and taken to her spaceship and flown away to an alien world, and on the way there he learns how to communicate with the woman. When they land he finds out that she is in cahoots with the Great Race, and escapes, gets lost, and finds his way back, only to get captured again, this time by a bunch of aliens who are the woman’s enemies and would like to destroy her homeworld, and eat her and her kind. There are lots of twists and turns in this novella, and it could easily have been longer. Lovecraftian pulp like this is stuff we rarely get to read now-a-days, especially as this is more than just an adventure story, it is a story about the redemption of Taggart.●●●●●●●●The last story in this anthology is "The Winds Of Yith" by Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire (1951-2019), and innit a scholar starts something he shouldn’t have and has to be rescued, and redeemed in the bargain, by an even more powerful magician. An interesting story in which a man finally learns his place, and his worth, in the world. Not a horror story, but a melancholy weird tale with a positive message. A great tale. R. I. P. Mr. Pugmire.●●●●●●●●This anthology is also graced with a great cover by Steven Gilberts Steven Charles Gilberts: 1962-0000), and another fantastic "Introduction" by editor Robert M. Price (Robert M. Price: 1954-0000), who also does the story notes which puts each story in its place in the Lovecraftian pantheon. Each of these Price edited books are important, and interesting, collections and anthologies of professional fictions, and fan-fictions. Good stuff for the weird fiction fan.

A wonderful collection of stories that MAY have influenced The Shadow Out of Time and the many stories that was after influenced by Lovecraft’s book. Some of them are very interesting and some are good. None are bad but one or two felt out of place.

One of the weakest of Chaosium series which includes other volumes of greatness. Confusing writing except for reprint of Lovecraft himself. Tried to read through, could not finish long first novella. Tried the rest and fell asleep on different days which seldom happens. Salvation Army gets this one.

Some good, some eh, some bad. Still, I gotta get 'em all, by which I mean the Chaosium Cthulhu fiction books.

Full disclosure: The last time I read horror fiction was back when Stephen King wrote stories as Richard Bachman. I picked up The Yith Cycle because I know one of its authors. To my friend's credit, he never asked me to review the book. I'm reviewing it because The Yith Cycle is a milestone for me as a reader. It is my introduction to "weird fiction," which I found to be surprisingly fun.This book, edited by Robert M. Price, is an anthology of works of 10 authors. As the book's title suggests, it is a tribute to H.P. Lovecraft, whose novella, "The Shadow Out of Time," as well as his part in "The Challenge from Beyond," are among the featured stories.There are 14 stories in all, most of which are probably familiar to the typical horror-fiction fan. A three-part round robin, "The Horror from Yith," is worth noting. It utilizes Lovecraftian elements from "The Shadow Out of Time," such as The Great Race, the flying polyps, and the Great Race's practice of transferring their minds to human bodies. The stories in this round robin were first published in Nyctalops between 1973 and 1975.The first part, "The Shadow from Yith," by Alan D. Gullette, introduces Christopher Evans-Douglas, a math professor plagued by a recurring dream about strange, winged creatures. He retreats to a cabin in the wilderness of Idaho, where, one night, he dreams about the planet Yith. A member of the Great Race has transferred its mind to Evans-Douglas. As a result, he gets to see the city of Czymra, where he encounters glasslike spheres; visits the Great Race's library; and learns that members of the Great Race have been jumping from planet to planet because of their mortal fear of something pursuing them. Evans-Douglas grows terrified, and he flees.In the second part, "The Horror from Yith," by Walter C. DeBill Jr., Evans-Douglas has disappeared. DeBill introduces new characters--Laszlo, Aldecoa, and Dunaway--who are looking for Evans-Douglas. In the wilderness, they find the body of a 10-foot creature, neither animal nor man. This inauspicious beginning of their search leads to an encounter with the creatures, and ultimately, to Dunaway's death. The men, however, find Evans-Douglas in the cabin. He is unconscious, his body still controlled by the Great Race. This reinforces the men's belief that the Great Race is active on Earth, and they mention someone named LaRue, who is in search of the ruins of the Great Race's city in Australia, the same ruins mentioned by Lovecraft in his novella.The last part of the round robin, "Beneath the Dunes," by Ted Pons, introduces Kasimerz Grodek, the man who hired Laszlo's team to retrace the route taken by LaRue -- the same route taken by Lovecraft's Peaslee expedition. Grodek learns that Laszlo and Aldecoa have disappeared in Australia. The rest of the story unfolds in the form of log entries written by Laszlo for Grodek. The log reveals that the missing pair did locate the ruins and that they descended to the sand dunes beneath. Laszlo found LaRue, but he also found his partner, Aldecoa, in a similarly shocking state as LaRue.I found this book abundantly strange to satisfy my curiosity about the genre, but less scary than I had expected. To fans of Lovecraft, this book is a "must read." To first-time readers like me, it is a good introduction to a whole new and wonderful world of weird fiction.

I wasn’t as impressed with this volume of Chaosonium [sic] books. The stories are fine - I think that it is the theme itself, I just don’t find Yith asbinteresting as I hoped I would.Still it is a further addition to my Cthulhu Mythos collection and that can’t be bad.