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Title: The Last Trumpet by Stephen Mark Rainey ISBN: 1-58715-211-8 Publisher: Wildside Press Pub. Date: August, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.86 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Recommendable R'lyehan reading
Comment: What a bore and nuiscance it is to read through the piles and piles of Lovecraft pastiches that have accumulated in the past decades. Sometimes one is left to wonder why ever H. P. L. encouraged anybody at all to contribute to his phantastic creation, forgetting too soon about some of the writers who have really done a lot to expand the mythos in its masterminds' sense, and to keep it alive through now almost 80 years, people like Fritz Leiber, Ramsey campbell -or Stephen Mark Rainey.
Not too full of hope, but impressed by the overwhelmingly positive reviews the book got, I started to read through the first story, and actually became so absorbed that I could not stop until I finished the last page. It is true, Rainey has managed something all too rare: to write explicit Cthulhu-Mythos fiction without being derivative (at least as far as it is possible), bringing in a whole lot of new -and not so new- interesting aspects and ideas with an originality and, particularly, quality of style that would have made H. P. L. proud !
Although the last of the stories seemed to me a little bit like one might imagine the multiplayer mode of the upcoming Doom III-game, it nevertheless gave me some quite unpleasant nightmares (and usually I did not get any from reading horror fiction since I read "The dreams in the witch house" by Lovecraft at age 14).
But to get to the point: Rainey's stories are all centred, in a way, around an imaginary Virginia County, surrounding the (fictious) town of Beckham, and around a couple of protagonists that are, often in a subtle way, connected to each other. But apart from that arkhamasque resemblance, the similarity to Lovecraft's imaginary Massachussetts realms ends. The southern background and the distinctly postmodern settings of the stories leave little room for comparison to Lovecraft's creations. A major influence on Rainey's book was obviously the role of SOUND in the opening of vistas into the great (and terrible) beyond, influenced (admittedly) by H. P. L.'s "The music of Erich Zann", and, certainly, some of his other, less explicit, stories & a variety of other sources. Whatever the origins, the idea is presented with overwhelming originality and a sense of weirdness that reminds of some of Ramsey Campbell's best and most disturbing stories in places. All of the stories, which Rainey published over a long period of time, are interconnected in a complex but enjoyable way, with a lot of cross-references, so that one is almost left uncertain whether this is a collection of short stories or a caleidoscopic novel.
The more playful of readers may also expect a lot of really enjoyable Mythos in-jokes that offer some relief from the partially almost unbearable darkness of the stories (be prepared e. g., to meet a certain ghoul named "Richard" under the most appropriate circumstances in a story that would have found the approvement even of Lord Dunsany himself, if he'd been in one of his most sinister moods).
Rainey manages easily to write in an almost dreamy and surrealistic Dunsanian, as well as in a realistic, dialogue-and action-based, stephenkingesque manner, but always keeps far away from merely copying these or any other writers, particularly never-ever copying H. P. L. himself. Read one of the deceased Lin Carter's stories (whose work as an editor I admire, but, frankly, not his writings) and compare it to one of Stephen Mark Rainey's best efforts as "To be like them", "Sabbath of the black goat" or "The fugue devil", and you will immediately recognize what unfathomable abyss lieth inbetween.
Highly recommended. I'm certainly up to buy anything the man has ever written.
Rating: 5
Summary: Horror at it's Finest!
Comment: The Last Trumpet is a bone chilling collection of short stories by Stephen Mark Rainey. All the stories though different, are inter-connected in an interesting way. A treasure worth keeping in your library. Very well written, it's true horror at it's finest. If you like all things Cthulhu as I do, you won't be disappointed. Breathes new life into the mysteries of "Avante Garde" 20th Century music.
Rating: 4
Summary: refreshing
Comment: really interesting read. rainey has a way of making something seem very fresh. his plots always seem original, even when they are not. great stories. great descriptions at times. what rainey is really master at, however, is the angle. he writes a story from a certain angle, making it very intersting. his stories are at their best the most refreshing stories i read in horror. very enjoyable
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Title: Balak : by Stephen Rainey Mark ISBN: 1587152630 Publisher: Wildside Press Pub. Date: 03 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Unspeakable and Others by Dan Clore, S. T. Joshi ISBN: 1587154838 Publisher: Wildside Press Pub. Date: August, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Occult Detectives of C. J. Henderson by C. J. Henderson ISBN: 1892669102 Publisher: Marietta Publishing Pub. Date: 01 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
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Title: Shadows Over Baker Street by MICHAEL REAVES, JOHN PELAN ISBN: 0345455282 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Shards of Darkness by E. P. Berglund, Robert M. Price, Peter A. Worthy ISBN: 0965943364 Publisher: Mythos Books Pub. Date: 18 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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