Reviews

Lovecraft fans skeptical of contemporary Cthulhu Mythos fiction will find much to appreciate in Thomas's intriguing brew of eldritch lore, cyberpunk and noir. As in the stories in the author's acclaimed collection Punktown (2000), humans living in a huge sprawling colony city on a distant planet share the urban landscape with a culturally diverse set of alien races: Punktown makes L.A. look like Mayberry. As a joke, Christopher Ruby helps his girlfriend conduct a ritual from Abdul Alhazred's dreaded tome the Necronomicon, but its apparent failure later proves to have been a tragic success. Christopher discovers that many of the alien races in Punktown have their own versions of Alhazred's mythology, one of which tells of a sleeping god who can take the form of a great temple in order to lure sacrifices inside. He realizes that Punktown is in fact a living, organic being, an avatar of this dark god who feeds on our fear and pain. Thomas wisely leaves the question open as to whether his narrator is sane or a serial killer with a particularly morbid fantasy life. The mythos here serves as a metaphor to explore human suffering, to ask if it's the result of outside manipulation or of our own nature. Thomas expands on Lovecraft's themes in new and exciting ways while retaining his own distinct authorial identity. (July) Forecast: The sex and violence may put off fans of more traditional horror, but not just Lovecraft buffs are going to buy this novel, given the high praise for Punktown from the likes of China Mi?ville, Ellen Datlow and Paul Di Filippo. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.