Then they saw the trickles of blood running from under his hat. They crowded round and persuaded Waters to stand still while one of the men took off his hat, stiff with blood, to inspect the injury.
The back of Waters’ head came off with it.
Now that October has officially begun, it’s time for another month of horror-themed book reviews. And what better way to start than with two new novellas by David Hambling, author of Shadows from Norwood (first book I ever reviewed for Pixelated Geek!) and many other suitably Lovecraft-themed stories.
These two novellas introduce us to the character of Harry Stubbs. A former boxer in the 1920’s, Mr. Stubbs is far from the punch-drunk thug I was expecting when I started these. I’ve gotten used to the idea that fictional characters who had to give up boxing either hated that kind of life from the very start, or they end up spending all their time trying to convince someone to let them back into the ring. Harry’s different though; he loved being a boxer, but he walked away when he started losing matches and had the sense to realize that it took all the joy out of fighting for a living if he was just doing it as a job, without any hope of being a champion.
Still, he does enjoy a good fight, and while he’s trying to improve himself and make a living at something that doesn’t necessarily involve throwing his weight around, he does find quite a few opportunities in these two stories to let go of all his efforts at being a gentleman and just start throwing punches.
The Elder Ice has Harry working for solicitor’s office, trying to recoup the debts of one Earnest Shackleton. Yes, that Shackleton, famous Antarctic explorer, and in this case a wildly imaginative treasure-hunter with no practical skills but a real talent at getting people to pour money into his latest ventures. The author takes a lot of artistic license with real historical figures in these stories, so don’t be surprised to hear that Shackleton’s trips to the Antarctic weren’t done for fame or scientific discovery, but were actually an attempt to find the treasure from a lost city hidden in the ice. This story is an homage to one of Lovecraft’s favorite themes: explorers trying to find an artifact from a mysterious civilization that was already ancient when humanity was still living in caves.
In Broken Meats we see another of Lovecraft’s favorite themes: amateur but extremely fanatical scientists trying to push the boundaries of science in very horrible directions. Harry – now out of a job thanks to his last adventure – has had to take on work as a guide to a local dignitary from Shanghai, Mr. Yang, who’s business seems to be somehow involved with séances and possibly necromancy. This is a less straightforward story than The Elder Ice, and the plot wanders entertainingly from a shooting at a bar where the victim has already been dead for a year, to a war between two viciously dangerous Chinese clans, to hints of Jack the Ripper and what that famous serial killer might have been trying to do with all those chopped-up body parts.
We think we own the place, but it is only ours until they wake again. WE are pets to them, or else we are vermin.
I’ve always enjoyed stories written in a Lovecraft style (sometimes I like them even more than the original Lovecraft, since the original stories can be a bit quaint, and a modern writer can turn Lovecraft’s vision into something that a contemporary reader can identify with.) And to me the very best Lovecraft stories will always have at least one section that can give you a real chill, one moment where you realize, right along with the characters, that there’s something going on that’s so much bigger, and darker, and older, than anything we thought they were dealing with. Both of these stories have at least one of those moments, and I think Harry Stubbs is an interesting enough character that I hope we see more of him in future stories punching his way out of attacks by eldritch creatures from beyond time.
If you want to check out more of David Hambling’s work, both of these stories are available for purchase separately, and his first collection of short stories has now been updated and re-released this year as The Dulwich Horror and Others.