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keary's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
A very broad range of stories. Some at the beginning of the book were awesome but later on they became very disappointed and of varying quality.
bigbeardedbookseller's review
4.0
As a lover of both a good swashbuckle and the Cthulhu mythos I was immediately pulled to Swords v. Cthulhu when I saw it.
One of my favourites was 'Red Sails, Dark Moon' by Andrew S. Fuller, Lovecraft and pirates meet in a wonderful tale of derring do and monstrous presence, brilliantly pulp in its outlook but the writing takes it way above that.
Another worth mentioning was 'Ordo Virturum' by Wendy N. Wagner, a verdant tale of ancient possession and nuns, ancient horrors return to complete arcane tasks with an unexpected ending.
There wasn't a weak story in the book, some had faster pace than others, but this was balanced by the use of creeping horror and the realisation of certain doom that must befall the characters of the tale.
This is a great collection of swashbuckling tales of cosmic horror that respects both traditions and adds greatly to it, you can feel the love of the authors for the yarns that they're spinning.
I'm going to be getting their other collection, Shotguns v Cthulhu once it become available again (or if I find it on a lonely shelf of a bookshop) as the choices made by the editors were right for both themes and I trust them to deliver once more.
One of my favourites was 'Red Sails, Dark Moon' by Andrew S. Fuller, Lovecraft and pirates meet in a wonderful tale of derring do and monstrous presence, brilliantly pulp in its outlook but the writing takes it way above that.
Another worth mentioning was 'Ordo Virturum' by Wendy N. Wagner, a verdant tale of ancient possession and nuns, ancient horrors return to complete arcane tasks with an unexpected ending.
There wasn't a weak story in the book, some had faster pace than others, but this was balanced by the use of creeping horror and the realisation of certain doom that must befall the characters of the tale.
This is a great collection of swashbuckling tales of cosmic horror that respects both traditions and adds greatly to it, you can feel the love of the authors for the yarns that they're spinning.
I'm going to be getting their other collection, Shotguns v Cthulhu once it become available again (or if I find it on a lonely shelf of a bookshop) as the choices made by the editors were right for both themes and I trust them to deliver once more.
madbarron's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
davybaby's review
3.0
Hit and miss, as short stories often are. One I really enjoyed was “A Circle That Ever Returneth” by Orrin Grey, a fun choose your own adventure stuck in the middle of a bunch of other stories.
nghia's review
3.0
I read this collection of short stories slowly over several months. Any collection like this is bound to be uneven. 22 short stories by 22 authors all commissioned brand-new just for this anthology; they haven't scoured existing stories and selected the "best" of them. And I think the editors were brilliant to realize the overlap between old sword & sorcery stories -- with their dark gods and complicated morality -- and Lovecraft's own Cthulhu mythos and the potential of that intersection.
I think the best way to approach an anthology like this is to treat it like an expanded edition of one of the old pulp magazines of yesteryear. Weird Tales was published monthly and for 25¢ you got 12-15 stories. The vast majority were pretty low-quality and have been forgotten by history. They were never meant to be great literature. And you were intended, I think, to slowly read them over the course of the month until the next issue came out.
In those days, people didn't read 30 Cthulhu or 30 Conan the Barbarian stories back-to-back. You'd read one or two a month at most because that's all that were in this month's issue. When we binge them and them complain about the repetitiveness of their themes or structure or characters or whatever, I think we're somewhat missing the point.
These stories also come from a different kind of storytelling tradition. The concept of "character arcs" has come to completely dominate modern storytelling. It has even infested superhero movies, where we can talk about Iron Man's character arc over several movies from playboy bachelor to father.
But there's another tradition where the characters don't change. Instead they change the world around them. You can see this storytelling tradition in ancient Greek epics but also in the weekly/monthly heroes from the early days of mass media. Radio broadcasts of The Shadow or the Lone Ranger. Comics of Superman and Batman. Stories of detectives like Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Poirot.
The whole reason millions of people tuned in was because they never changed. They were a fixed point, a constant. The world changed but they never did. We see echoes of this same thing in sitcoms like Cheers and Seinfeld where the same characters in the same locations tell the same jokes 22 times a year for 10 years.
Instead of devouring Swords v. Cthulhu in a handful of sittings, spread it out. Don't binge this like it is modern prestige TV with character arcs and some overarching plot. It doesn't have any of those things. Dip into it leisurely.
A lot of the stories lean too heavily on Cthulhu's mythos. I had the same problem with [b:Hammers on Bone|30199328|Hammers on Bone (Persons Non Grata, #1)|Cassandra Khaw|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1464918942l/30199328._SY75_.jpg|50650411]. Of course one problem is simply they expect you to thrill at merely namechecking some reference from H.P. Lovecraft's writing. "Oh, it's a shub-niggurath!" But a bigger problem is it misunderstands a fundamental part of what Lovecraft was even trying to do. Why didn't Lovecraft just write about zombies and vampires and werewolves? They had all become too familiar and too formulaic to evoke true terror. In his short story "The Unnameable" he makes this point directly, that the true terrors of the universe aren't classifiable or nameable.
Yet too many of these stories rely on name-checking a classifiable terror.
But that's kind of okay. After all, just like those old issues of Weird Tales this book was never intended to be high literature. And as long as you don't read them back-to-back many of them can be quite fun.
I think the best way to approach an anthology like this is to treat it like an expanded edition of one of the old pulp magazines of yesteryear. Weird Tales was published monthly and for 25¢ you got 12-15 stories. The vast majority were pretty low-quality and have been forgotten by history. They were never meant to be great literature. And you were intended, I think, to slowly read them over the course of the month until the next issue came out.
In those days, people didn't read 30 Cthulhu or 30 Conan the Barbarian stories back-to-back. You'd read one or two a month at most because that's all that were in this month's issue. When we binge them and them complain about the repetitiveness of their themes or structure or characters or whatever, I think we're somewhat missing the point.
These stories also come from a different kind of storytelling tradition. The concept of "character arcs" has come to completely dominate modern storytelling. It has even infested superhero movies, where we can talk about Iron Man's character arc over several movies from playboy bachelor to father.
But there's another tradition where the characters don't change. Instead they change the world around them. You can see this storytelling tradition in ancient Greek epics but also in the weekly/monthly heroes from the early days of mass media. Radio broadcasts of The Shadow or the Lone Ranger. Comics of Superman and Batman. Stories of detectives like Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Poirot.
The whole reason millions of people tuned in was because they never changed. They were a fixed point, a constant. The world changed but they never did. We see echoes of this same thing in sitcoms like Cheers and Seinfeld where the same characters in the same locations tell the same jokes 22 times a year for 10 years.
Instead of devouring Swords v. Cthulhu in a handful of sittings, spread it out. Don't binge this like it is modern prestige TV with character arcs and some overarching plot. It doesn't have any of those things. Dip into it leisurely.
A lot of the stories lean too heavily on Cthulhu's mythos. I had the same problem with [b:Hammers on Bone|30199328|Hammers on Bone (Persons Non Grata, #1)|Cassandra Khaw|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1464918942l/30199328._SY75_.jpg|50650411]. Of course one problem is simply they expect you to thrill at merely namechecking some reference from H.P. Lovecraft's writing. "Oh, it's a shub-niggurath!" But a bigger problem is it misunderstands a fundamental part of what Lovecraft was even trying to do. Why didn't Lovecraft just write about zombies and vampires and werewolves? They had all become too familiar and too formulaic to evoke true terror. In his short story "The Unnameable" he makes this point directly, that the true terrors of the universe aren't classifiable or nameable.
Yet too many of these stories rely on name-checking a classifiable terror.
But that's kind of okay. After all, just like those old issues of Weird Tales this book was never intended to be high literature. And as long as you don't read them back-to-back many of them can be quite fun.
aksel_dadswell's review
5.0
Read my complete review here: https://larvalforms.wordpress.com/2016/07/12/swords-v-cthulhu-review/
This is the kind of collection that makes you lie to yourself as you promise to read just one more story, just one more before you surrender to a nightmare-riddled sleep, but you’re not to be trusted and so the promises keep falling and breaking until dawn bullies the night away and reveals you, eyes dry and heart stammering and this beautiful big volume of short story-shaped terrors clutched in your trembling hands.
But gratuitous metaphors aside, this is a superb anthology that mates pulp madness with a seriously sharp sense of character and world-building and blind, sweat-soaked terror, giving us a unique creature far removed from the herd of pallid pastiche that can be a danger for any anthology with Cthulhu (or other related Mythos terms) in its title.
Read my complete review here: https://larvalforms.wordpress.com/2016/07/12/swords-v-cthulhu-review/
This is the kind of collection that makes you lie to yourself as you promise to read just one more story, just one more before you surrender to a nightmare-riddled sleep, but you’re not to be trusted and so the promises keep falling and breaking until dawn bullies the night away and reveals you, eyes dry and heart stammering and this beautiful big volume of short story-shaped terrors clutched in your trembling hands.
But gratuitous metaphors aside, this is a superb anthology that mates pulp madness with a seriously sharp sense of character and world-building and blind, sweat-soaked terror, giving us a unique creature far removed from the herd of pallid pastiche that can be a danger for any anthology with Cthulhu (or other related Mythos terms) in its title.
Read my complete review here: https://larvalforms.wordpress.com/2016/07/12/swords-v-cthulhu-review/
bent's review
2.0
These stories were OK. There were a few relatively absorbing ones, but none that I felt really blew me away. A good number were fairly mediocre. I think I might be starting to tire of Cthulhu. One can't only take so many tentacles.
nonesensed's review
4.0
A collection of varied short stories that pit their main characters against all manner of lovecraftian horrors, in many different ways. As a whole, these stories bring a delightful mixture of horror, action/adventure, mystery and even some humor to the sub-genre that is eldritch horror.
There was no story here that I outright disliked, though I have some I liked better than others, which is only human. I liked St. Baboloki's Hymn for Lost Girls for its dream-mood and folklore like tone. I liked The Dreamers of Alamoi both for its premise and its main character's plight. I liked A Circle That Ever Returneth In for its interesting take on the multiple choice style of story telling. I liked Without Within because of its ending, it felt very "classic Lovecraft" in the better connotation of that phrase. I liked The Living, Vengeant Stars for it's combination of action/adventure and horror. And I liked Bow Down Before the Snail King! because it was really funny.
Definitely recommend this short story collection!
There was no story here that I outright disliked, though I have some I liked better than others, which is only human. I liked St. Baboloki's Hymn for Lost Girls for its dream-mood and folklore like tone. I liked The Dreamers of Alamoi both for its premise and its main character's plight. I liked A Circle That Ever Returneth In for its interesting take on the multiple choice style of story telling. I liked Without Within because of its ending, it felt very "classic Lovecraft" in the better connotation of that phrase. I liked The Living, Vengeant Stars for it's combination of action/adventure and horror. And I liked Bow Down Before the Snail King! because it was really funny.
Definitely recommend this short story collection!
jdhacker's review
4.0
The title of this anthology is a little misleading, implying a sense of kitsch and lack of seriousness; this could not be further from the truth. The introduction discusses the fact that this falls more within the Conan-sequence sword and sorcery camp of fantasy, rather than high fantasy. I would say these stories go a step further than that. While I agree that sword and sorcery frequently incorporates Lovecraftian mythology elements, and are certainly dark and action packed, these particular stories have a sense of bleakness and futility that is much more reminiscent of true lovecraftian fiction. Many also fall firmly within the realm of weird fiction, as we are left with a sense of confusion, a lack of clear explanation for what has just transpired.
Bullington has edited other anthologies for Stonskin Press, and both he and the imprint itself do a good job of recruiting authorial talent for their collections. While there are one or two stories in here I found a bit of a slog to finish, on the whole it was an excellent example of what can be accomplished by placing weird fiction in various historical ages. One or two of the stories I was struggling with really turned around after a few pages and became some of my favorites of the collection. There’s even a really novel use of something which other children of the 80s like myself may remember with fondness, the choose your own adventure story, by one of the authors.
Bullington has edited other anthologies for Stonskin Press, and both he and the imprint itself do a good job of recruiting authorial talent for their collections. While there are one or two stories in here I found a bit of a slog to finish, on the whole it was an excellent example of what can be accomplished by placing weird fiction in various historical ages. One or two of the stories I was struggling with really turned around after a few pages and became some of my favorites of the collection. There’s even a really novel use of something which other children of the 80s like myself may remember with fondness, the choose your own adventure story, by one of the authors.
jennaelf's review
5.0
Note: I received a copy of this book from one of the editors in exchange for a review. This is an excerpt from my post on my own blog (jenna-bird.blogspot.com) about this book.
===
Most remarkable about this collection overall was the zest and gusto that I felt from many of the stories. I had a strong sense that this was reflective both of the authors and the editors in charge of the project.
Hands down, my favorite of the lot was Orrin Grey's "A Circle That Ever Returneth In" which draws the reader in with a Choose Your Own Adventure narrative, using Lovecraft's "Shining Trapezohedron" (from "The Haunter of the Dark"). Grey is deft with his application of the second-person narrative, and the piece evoked a lot of nostalgia for old D&D modules. But, lest you think the format is all fun and games, Grey doesn't let readers off the hook; this narrative is true to the sense of dread and entropy endemic to the Mythos. On my first read-through, I probably got the best ending a poor soul could hope for... (A small note: this was also the most problematic story for me to enjoy in the true spirit of things, since I was reading from a PDF. At the time of this writing, there is no digital option on Amazon, but be aware.)
In juxtaposition to Grey's playful approach, other authors offered darker and more stark stories. John Hornor Jacobs' "The Children of Yig" is one story to take a Norse approach, yet steers clear of making heroes out of a historically violent culture. Still, it was easy to slip into Grislae's story; there is always sympathy to be had, even when your protagonist is a pillaging, murdering raider--particularly when that protagonist must inevitably come up against creatures of the Mythos.
Overall, this collection is solid and I would happily recommend it to readers interested in fun stories that still remain true to the heart of despair that beats in the dark universe of the Mythos...
===
Most remarkable about this collection overall was the zest and gusto that I felt from many of the stories. I had a strong sense that this was reflective both of the authors and the editors in charge of the project.
Hands down, my favorite of the lot was Orrin Grey's "A Circle That Ever Returneth In" which draws the reader in with a Choose Your Own Adventure narrative, using Lovecraft's "Shining Trapezohedron" (from "The Haunter of the Dark"). Grey is deft with his application of the second-person narrative, and the piece evoked a lot of nostalgia for old D&D modules. But, lest you think the format is all fun and games, Grey doesn't let readers off the hook; this narrative is true to the sense of dread and entropy endemic to the Mythos. On my first read-through, I probably got the best ending a poor soul could hope for... (A small note: this was also the most problematic story for me to enjoy in the true spirit of things, since I was reading from a PDF. At the time of this writing, there is no digital option on Amazon, but be aware.)
In juxtaposition to Grey's playful approach, other authors offered darker and more stark stories. John Hornor Jacobs' "The Children of Yig" is one story to take a Norse approach, yet steers clear of making heroes out of a historically violent culture. Still, it was easy to slip into Grislae's story; there is always sympathy to be had, even when your protagonist is a pillaging, murdering raider--particularly when that protagonist must inevitably come up against creatures of the Mythos.
Overall, this collection is solid and I would happily recommend it to readers interested in fun stories that still remain true to the heart of despair that beats in the dark universe of the Mythos...
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