Anthologies can be tricky. On the one hand, they’re an excellent guarantee of variety along a theme. On the other hand, you can’t count on every story being one that will resonate. I’ve read anthologies where literally every single tale included was an absolute banger, and I’ve read others where I was, for the most part, only moderately and forgettably entertained. Lovecraft’s Brood, I think, falls somewhere in the middle of those extremes.
The story collection features a short introduction by the editor, Ellen Datlow, regarding cosmic horror and Lovecraft’s role in making it a favorite genre in the wider horror field. It describes cosmic horror as being defined by, in Lovecraft’s words, “a certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces” and a sense that whatever those forces are, they are indifferent to our own paltry plights as mere human beings. It is this atmosphere of dread that the stories in this collection lean into, rather than the “overt trappings of H. P. Lovecraft’s mythos.”
What this means is that you will not find stories of Cthulhu, Dagon, nightgaunts, cosmic hounds, or other creatures and gods invented by Lovecraft. Rather, you will read a story about a fighter jet that slips sideways between points in space, and brings something horrific back with it. You will read about the strange transformation induced by eleven occult books found in an estate sale, the plague of eye-centric suicides chronicled by a crime scene photographer, or the slow and steady unleashing of an apocalypse by an unsuspecting kitten. The dark corridor past the listless fan in your new subterranean workshop will call to you with promises of pain and belonging, and corners will become places of danger for the children sentenced there in their sleep.
Lovecraft’s Brood features nineteen stories of cosmic dread, with characters and situations of enough variety to offer something for every horror reader. “Agent of Chaos” by T. Kingfisher and “The Beholder’s Share” by Caitlín R. Kiernan were particular favorites of mine. Overall, the anthology was an enjoyable read and a solid collection of stories.
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