August Derleth (1909–1971)

This is the longest 'collaboration' I've read between August Derleth and HP Lovecraft and turns out to be almost wholly Derleth based on a few short fragments of HPL's. It does read that way, although seems better than most of Derleth's efforts until the last third where it degenerates into his usual tendency of throwing in everything including the kitchen sink in his efforts to name check all the Old Ones, their minions and the various forbidden books about them. The main issue though is the rushed conclusion which for me spoils what should be a great scene of enormous suspense and scariness. So definitely going back to HPL for the real deal, although this effort is not awful and there are some novel elements - the old tower, stone circles, Native American beliefs etc - that I haven't so far encountered in the other collaborations.… (mere)

A series of five linked novellas with characters in common, in the usual Derleth style of extending Lovecraft. So we have updates here including nuclear weapons. The trouble is, Derleth has an obsession with the Deep Ones and Cthulhu so we don't see any other aspect of the mythos apart from the hero professor's ability to use minions of Hastur, an enemy of Cthulhu, to let him and his latest helper escape at the end of each. Each story is a journal left by the latest helper but they are all rather cardboard cutout in personality and it's easy to confuse them especially in the last novella where all are reunited with the professor. So can only really give it a 2 star as it does get very samey and boring with the continual very similar storylines.

On the plus side, it has an attractive cover by Bruce Pennington, as a companion piece to his cover for 'The Mask of Cthulhu'… (mere)

Well, unlike August Derleth's Lovecraft pastiches, I was able to read it to the end. Overall, I liked it but there were stories that dragged in the middle or where the mystery seemed a bit trite for a Holmesian story. The stories also seemed to find and adhere to a formula fairly early on but I didn't really mind that all that much. I'm all for pulp Holmesian stories and these for the most part fit the bill. However, they lack any real atmosphere (as does any of his writing that I've happened upon) and the characters were interchangeable, there are no real memorable characters of note here even the Broken Faced Man! So, would I recommend this one to someone seeking a little lighter Holmesian fair, sure, it's not stellar but it is pretty close to the real thing. I did get jolted more than once expecting to read Watson rather than Parker.… (mere)