arkham-nightsArkham Nights: Tales of Mythos Noir
Glynn Owen Barrass & Ron Shiflet
Celaeno Press
2016
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons

Celaeno Press is a relatively new small press publisher who has been up to bat twice before this latest release. With their first release, Beyond the Mountains of Madness, they took a terrifying return trip to one of H.P. Lovecraft’s more famous locales of lunacy. They followed that up with a party In the Court of the Yellow King, an anthology of tales inspired by Robert W. Chambers’ primrose patriarch. This new book, a collection of Cthulhu Mythos collaborations by authors Glynn Owen Barrass and Ron Shiflet, prove that Celaeno Press’ third time is also a charm.

Arkham Nights collects seven chunky tales of noir-tinged Cthulhu mythos madness, and I love it for that. I like all flavors of Lovecraftian inspired/infused fiction, from the more traditional tales to the very experimental oddities, and everything in between. One of my favorite subgenres of this subgenre is the hard-boiled tough guy vs. cosmic horror story, and that’s where these tales would fall. Yes, the unstoppable forces of the Cthulhu Mythos are usually not vanquished here, so fear not Lovecraftian purists, but these protagonists are not the typical fainting milquetoast academics that populate so many similar tales. They are far more capable, sometimes even badass, and that makes these stories that much more frightening. These are the heroes that in other tales should win, but here, more often than not, the best they can do is survive and live to fight another day. If you like the tough and gritty mixed up with the unnameable and insane, Arkham Nights is the book for you.

As for the authors, Glynn Owen Barrass is one of the best authors working in weird fiction today. Full disclosure: I’ve worked with him on a number of projects over the years, but please don’t take this as me pitching for a friend. Take that as more proof of just how good he is at what he does. Do you think I would team up with someone that would make me look bad? With someone I didn’t have total and absolute respect for? Hell no. It is because Glynn is such a gifted story teller that I feel blessed and honored to have worked with him.

Ron Shiflet I do not know as well, but every one of his stories I’ve ever read I have liked. This book has only reminded me of the fact that I need to seek out and read more from this author as soon as possible. That is something I would recommend everyone doing.

In Arkham Nights, Shiflet and Barrass blend together seamlessly and deliver seven very good Noir-drenched tales of cosmic horror. It’s hard-boiled PIs vs horrors from beyond time and space, what’s not to love about that? This might be a little book, topping just over 200 pages, but it is fairly priced and well worth every penny for fans of pulpy horror. You can get it at any of the best online book sellers, or you can visit the home of Celaeno Press at www.celaenopress.com

Arkham Nights is highly recommended.

About Brian M. Sammons

Brian M. Sammons has penned stories that have appeared in the anthologies: Arkham Tales, Horrors Beyond, Monstrous, Dead but Dreaming 2, Horror for the Holidays, Deepest, Darkest Eden and others. He has edited the books; Cthulhu Unbound 3, Undead & Unbound, Eldritch Chrome, Edge of Sundown, Steampunk Cthulhu, Dark Rites of Cthulhu, Atomic Age Cthulhu, World War Cthulhu and Flesh Like Smoke. He is also the managing editor of Dark Regions Press’ Weird Fiction line. For more about this guy that neighbors describe as “such a nice, quiet man” you can check out his infrequently updated webpage here: http://brian_sammons.webs.com/ and follow him on Twitter @BrianMSammons.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This