Black Seas of Infinity: The R’lyeh Cycle Book Two
Edited by William Holloway
JournalStone Publishing (June 28, 2024)
Reviewed by Andrew Byers
Black Seas of Infinity is William Holloway’s follow-up to his 2019 anthology, The Abyssal Plain: The R’lyeh Cycle (also from JournalStone). Like that earlier shared-world anthology, this is a collection of four novellas, each following the lives of characters in different parts of the world who are trying to survive through the collapse of human civilization, which has been brought about by the awakening of Cthulhu.
Let me briefly go through the anthology’s four novellas.
“And the Whole of Reality Shall Crash Upon Me” by Curtis M. Lawson: Sam is an agoraphobic comic book artist living in a New York City apartment building. He’s a man who has been isolated from his fellow human beings for years and hasn’t even left his apartment in about that long. The Event occurs and Sam begins to experience vivid, violent nightmares about being transformed into a monstrosity and brutally killing his neighbors. Sam dismisses these visions as mere dreams, then the disappearances begin. Excellent prose filled with gruesome imagery. Probably my favorite story in the collection.
“The Innsmouth Look” by Brett J. Talley: A Mythos heist adventure. A thief is hired to travel to Arkham—as the world ends—to recover a tome that has been housed at Miskatonic University. This was a fun, pulpy adventure, but felt very much like we need a sequel to see what happens next.
“The Ghost Map” by Gemma Files: Set in Toronto, this is the story of a mother separated from her family, trapped in their apartment building as the city and the people in it begin to transform around her. It reminded me of a more aquatic version of David Gerrold’s Chtorr series in some ways because it depicts an Earth that is in the midst of having all of its normal species and ecology altered into forms that are more suitable for Earth’s new masters. Here we see that the coming of Cthulhu means not just the onset of sanity-shattering psychological change but radical physical transformation as well.
“Clavis Perfectum: A Prelude” by William Holloway: The longest novella in the collection, and at first glance, it appears disconnected from the rest because it takes place prior to the apocalypse. Never fear, though, this is actually the origin story, as it were, of the end of human civilization. This is the story of a college professor enlisted to help a sheriff unravel the mystery of a sinister grimoire and a semi-deserted mansion (a la Thirteen Ghosts) in the middle of nowhere.
If you enjoyed The Abyssal Plain, you should definitely pick up a copy of this sequel and worthy successor to that first volume. We’ve now seen eight novellas across two anthologies set in this world, and I’d very much like to read a third. If you’re a fan of the Cthulhu Mythos and are craving some thrilling stories about life after the end of the world, definitely check this out.
