May saw the publication of the horror anthology Urban Cthulhu: Nightmare Cities, edited by Henrik Sanbek Harksen and featuring a story by Teeming Brain columnist T. E. Grau. As you’ll recall, T. E. writes The Extinction Papers for us, and as you’ll see if you read his bio on our Teem page or check out his section of our Bookshelf, he’s a rising author of idea-driven and stylistically rich horror fiction.
Note that Urban Cthulhu also features a story by Joe Pulver, for whose latest book, the mind-bending fiction/poetry collection Portraits of Ruin, I wrote the introduction.
As of very recently, Urban Cthulhu is available at Amazon. Its cover copy indicates the interest it holds for fans of horror fiction in general and Lovecraftian fiction in particular:
What lurks in the damp recesses of urban existence?
These new tales of weird fiction are a blend of urban horror, pulp noir and dark fantasy. Lovecraftian horrors and Cthulhu Mythos monsters have never been this gritty.
From haunted Kingsport across the globe to shadowy Berlin and the otherworldly music of Bangalore. From kind, sexy neighbors to cyberpunk paranoia an The King in Yellow. A journalist’s search with unexpected results. What really happened to Walter Gilman, and what is the origin of the witch Keziah Mason? And witness humanity fail against the forces from beyond.
From weird sounds to screams of madness.
Entropy. Chaos. Disorder. Death.
Beneath cities, on the outskirts of ruined, aeon-old cities and INSIDE cities. The stench, the decay, the hopelesness … it is everywhere.
Welcome to Urban Cthulhu: Nightmare Cities.
Here are the contents:
- “Dancer of the Dying” by Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
- “The Neighbors Upstairs” by John Goodrich
- “Carcosapunk” by Glynn Owen Barrass
- “Architect Eyes” by Thomas Strømsholt
- “Slou” by Robert Tangiers
- “Ozeelah’s Lake” by Morten Carlsen
- “The Statement of Frank Elwood” by Pete Rawlik
- “In the Shadow of Bh’Yhlun” by Ian Davey
- “The Screamer” by T. E. Grau
- “Night Life” by Henrik Sandbeck Harksen
- “the guilt of each … at the end…” by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr
Ted (T. E.) describes his story in this anthology as “the longest piece I’ve ever written, and … the most grueling to construct and refine.” A reviewer for the venerable Horror World praises the book itself for successfully evoking “cold cosmic terror done right in the urban setting … Looks, brains, street smarts, and with a cosmopolitan world view, what’s not to love about this sexy volume of new tales playing with the wonderful toys Lovecraft left to the world?” He also calls out T. E.’s story (and also Joe’s) for special praise.
This is excellent news, and we’re all happy to bring it and the anthology to your attention. Congratulations to Ted for the well-deserved recognition.
Hey, thanks so much for this shout out, Matt. “Urban Cthulhu: Nightmare Cities” is an excellent antho, and I’m very, very proud to be included in it.
Unfilmable.com just put up another fine review: http://unfilmable.blogspot.de/2012/08/review-urban-cthulhu-nightmare-cities.html
But, of course, I might be biased… 🙂
Thanks for the Unfilmable link, Ted, and congratulations on getting yet another prominent shout-out. This bodes well.