Weirder Shadows Over Innsmouth Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Cover

  Praise for Weirder Shadows over Innsmouth

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Introduction

  WEIRDER SHADOWS…

  by Stephen Jones

  THE PORT

  by H. P. Lovecraft

  INNSMOUTH BANE

  by John Glasby

  RICHARD RIDDLE, BOY DETECTIVE

  IN “THE CASE OF THE FRENCH SPY”

  by Kim Newman

  INNSMOUTH CLAY

  by H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth

  THE ARCHBISHOP’S WELL

  by Reggie Oliver

  YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW

  by Adrian Cole

  FISH BRIDE

  by Caitlín R. Kiernan

  THE HAG STONE

  by Conrad Williams

  ON THE REEF

  by Caitlín R. Kiernan

  THE SONG OF SIGHS

  by Angela Slatter

  THE SAME DEEP WATERS AS YOU

  by Brian Hodge

  THE WINNER

  by Ramsey Campbell

  THE TRANSITION OF

  ELIZABETH HAS KINGS

  by Caitlín R. Kiernan

  THE CHAIN

  by Michael Marshall Smith

  INTO THE WATER

  by Simon Kurt Unsworth

  RISING, NOT DREAMING

  by Angela Slatter

  THE LONG LAST NIGHT

  by Brian Lumley

  Afterword

  Contributors’ Notes

  Acknowledgments

  About the Editor

  Also Available from Titan Books

  PRAISE FOR WEIRDER SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH

  “A testament both to Mr Jones’ skill as an editor and the talents of the authors he has picked to contribute this time around… One of the best Lovecraft-inspired anthologies ever, Weirder Shadows over Innsmouth doesn’t have a bad story in it. Full marks to Mr Jones and his authors for breathing new life into the subgenre, whether it be by natural methods or through the gills they hopefully haven’t acquired as a result of meddling with those Weird and Shadowy things best left alone by the rest of us.” THIS IS HORROR

  “All the stories that Jones has selected—once again a mix of reprints and originals—reflect some aspects of Lovecraft’s original… The best stories in Weirder Shadows Over Innsmouth prove, as those in Jones’ previous compilations did, that Lovecraft’s concepts of cosmic horror and the set pieces that he used to express them, continue to inspire contemporary writers working in the tradition he inaugurated nearly a century ago.” LOCUS

  “Weirder Shadows is a fine finale to the Innsmouth trilogy; a well-curated, reverent homage to one of the most influential pieces of horror fiction ever written.” RUE MORGUE

  “These are the kind of stories Lovecraft might have written if he had been born a generation or two later than he was.” CRITICAL MASS

  PRAISE FOR WEIRD SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH

  “Not just H. P. Lovecraft fans will revel in this fine follow-up to Jones’ Shadows Over Innsmouth, a World Fantasy finalist. As in its predecessor, the stories in this anthology draw inspiration from Lovecraft’s classic novelette of alien miscegenation, ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth,’ but avoid Cthulhu Mythos clichés.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

  “Jones has brought together some of the industry’s top-notch authors… This collection is strongly recommended for Mythos fans. Due to the overall quality of the writing, though, it is strongly recommended for everyone else, too.” HELLNOTES

  “Fascinating and recommended.” ALL HALLOWS

  PRAISE FOR SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH

  “If you love Lovecraft then this anthology is a must have. Story after story presents you with situations and characters that Lovecraft himself could have created. I’m hard pressed to think of another effort that stays so true to the original.” SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE

  “A very strong anthology, buttressed by some outstanding art by Dave Carson, Martin McKenna and Jim Pitts.” THE SCREAM FACTORY

  “The individual authors have been free to employ a wide variety of approaches.” NECROFILE

  “Fans of Lovecraft’s Mythos will enjoy the stories.” SF SITE

  “Good, slimy fun.” SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

  “A fascinating idea for a horror compilation.” LANCASHIRE EVENING PRESS

  “This is an intelligent, witty anthology.” THE GOOD BOOK GUIDE

  “Lovecraftians will rejoice.” BOOKLIST

  Other macabre collections of Lovecraftian horror available from Titan Books

  Available now:

  ACOLYTES OF CTHULHU

  BLACK WINGS OF CTHULHU, VOLUME ONE

  BLACK WINGS OF CTHULHU, VOLUME TWO

  SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH

  WEIRD SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH

  Coming soon:

  BLACK WINGS OF CTHULHU, VOLUME THREE

  THE MADNESS OF CTHULHU

  WEIRDER SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH

  Print edition ISBN: 9781783291311

  E-book edition ISBN: 9781783291328

  Published by Titan Books

  A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd

  144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP

  First Titan Books edition: January 2015

  2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Stephen Jones asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  Copyright © Stephen Jones 2013, 2015

  Illustrations © Randy Broecker 2013, 2015

  Originally published by Fedogan & Bremer

  ‘Introduction: Weirder Shadows …’ copyright © Stephen Jones 2013, 2015.

  ‘The Port’ by H.P. Lovecraft. Originally published in Driftwind Vol. 5, No. 3, November 1930.

  ‘Innsmouth Bane’ copyright © John Glasby 2005. Originally published in H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror. Vol. 1, No. 2, Spring 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.

  ‘Richard Riddle, Boy Detective in “The Case of the French Spy”’ copyright © Kim Newman 2005.

  Originally published in Adventure Vol. 1. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  ‘Innsmouth Clay’ copyright © August Derleth 1971. Originally published in Dark Things.

  Reprinted by permission of Arkham House Publishers Inc.

  ‘The Archbishop’s Well’ copyright © Reggie Oliver 2013.

  ‘You Don’t Want to Know’ copyright © Adrian Cole 2013.

  ‘Fish Bride’ copyright © Caitlín R. Kiernan 2009. Originally published in Sirenia Digest No. 42,

  May 2009. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  ‘The Hag Stone’ copyright © Conrad Williams 2013.

  ‘On the Reef ’ copyright © Caitlín R. Kiernan 2010. Originally published in Sirenia Digest No. 59,

  October 2010. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  ‘The Song of Sighs’ copyright © Angela Slatter 2013.

  ‘The Same Deep Waters as You’ copyright © Brian Hodge 2013.

  ‘The Winner’ copyright © Ramsey Campbell 2005. Originally published in Taverns of the Dead.

  Reprinted by permission of the author.

  ‘The Transition of Elizabeth Haskings’ copyright © Caitlín R. Kiernan 2012. Originally

  published in Sirenia Digest No. 74, Ja
nuary 2012. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  ‘The Chain’ copyright © Michael Marshall Smith 2013.

  ‘Into the Water’ copyright © Simon Kurt Unsworth 2013.

  ‘Rising, Not Dreaming’ copyright © Angela Slatter 2011. Originally published in Innsmouth Free

  Press No. 3, February 2011. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  ‘The Long Last Night’ copyright © Brian Lumley 2012, 2013. Originally published in different form in Weird Tales No. 360, Fall 2012. Reprinted by permission of the author and his agent.

  ‘Afterword: Contributors’ Notes’ copyright © Stephen Jones 2013, 2015.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

  In memory of

  PHILIP J. RAHMAN

  (1952–2011)

  who cared too deeply.

  INTRODUCTION

  WEIRDER SHADOWS…

  FOLLOWING ON FROM the World Fantasy Award-nominated Shadows Over Innsmouth (1994) and Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth (2005), this third volume was intended to conclude a loosely connected trilogy of anthologies inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s 1931 novella.

  As readers of the previous volumes will be aware, it has been far from plain sailing. After the trials and tribulations involved in getting the first book published, I had hoped that the follow-up volume would have found a ready and enthusiastic audience. Unfortunately, due to a number of reasons beyond my control, that did not happen.

  After having turned out a number of worthwhile and beautiful books from the late 1980s onwards, by the beginning of the new century publisher Fedogan & Bremer was starting to struggle. Despite producing a number of new titles by Hugh B. Cave, Donald Wandrei and Howard Wandrei in the early 2000s, along with a new “Cthulhu” anthology edited by Robert M. Price, the money was no longer coming in as regularly as it had once been. The economics of book-selling were already beginning to change, and for a small operation such as Fedogan & Bremer, this meant that it had wait longer and longer for payment for bookstores and dealers, with the inevitable result that there was not always enough money to invest in new projects.

  It perhaps didn’t help that the publisher’s accounting system was also not as good as it should have been, and orders went unfulfilled for long periods. Although they set up a distribution deal with Arkham House—somewhat ironic, considering that F&B was initially created to fill a gap in the market left by that imprint—even that venerable small press publisher was going through some tough times itself.

  On top of all that, publisher/editor Philip Rahman had his own personal demons to contend with.

  I therefore suggested to Philip that we do another “Innsmouth” anthology. The first book had been a success, going into a rare second printing for F&B and selling to a number of paperback markets around the world. If the follow-up volume did as well as its predecessor, then it should generate enough revenue to kick-start the imprint’s publishing programme again.

  Philip readily agreed, and in November 2005 he launched Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth with a terrific party at the World Fantasy Convention in Madison, Wisconsin.

  And that was when it all started to go wrong.

  Fedogan & Bremer’s management problems worsened. Accounts were not being kept and royalties were no longer being paid regularly. Although Philip managed to get contractual copies of the book to the various contributors, for reasons not fully explained he was unable to send me my own personal copies. Perhaps even more traumatically, first Philip’s old friend Peder Wagtskjold died, and then his second wife and long-time soul mate, Diane Landon, passed away only a few days after the couple were married. It was a double blow from which he would never really recover.

  Not long afterwards the imprint all but ceased operations, and the hardcover print-run of Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth simply disappeared from distribution. Without any spare copies of my own to circulate amongst other publishers, there were no other editions produced.

  Despite attempts by friends and family to help, Philip’s health deteriorated as his situation worsened, and he was found dead on July 23, 2011. For a while it looked as if his untimely passing would also mark the end of the publishing imprint that he co-founded.

  But then something remarkable happened—with the aid of Dwayne H. Olson (who had helped rescue Shadows Over Innsmouth from being a “widowed” book back in the early 1990s), Philip’s business partner and F&B’s co-founder Dennis E. Weiler stepped in to sort things out.

  Within a year he had recovered all the remaining stock—including all those unsold copies of Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth—from several warehouses scattered across the United States; he organised the royalty system, paying out long-overdue sums to those who were still owed money, and he even managed to finally get me my contractual copies of the second “Innsmouth” anthology.

  Even better, Dennis reorganised the company—issuing a new catalogue to promote the existing stock and creating an online retail presence for the first time—while also looking around for new projects to publish.

  During the course of our correspondence, I happened to mention that Philip and I had envisioned the “Innsmouth” books as forming a loose trilogy, and Dennis immediately asked if I would be willing to put together a third volume under the Fedogan & Bremer imprint.

  Two years later, this present compilation was the result. Thankfully, this time nothing went wrong. Even better, Titan Books started reprinting the trilogy in handsome paperback editions, and the publication of this title from them marks the first time that all three volumes will have been in print in uniform editions at the same time.

  Overseas reprintings of the earlier books continue to appear, and although this series was always envisioned as comprising only three volumes, it has subsequently been suggested that I should consider adding a fourth instalment entitled Weirdest Shadows Over Innsmouth…

  But for now, once again taking Lovecraft’s original story as inspiration, prepare to be introduced to the Massachusetts seaport and its ichthyoid denizens years before that fateful FBI raid in February 1928. From there, Dagon’s blasphemous spawn spread out across the globe as the offspring of that decaying fishing town undergo their own, often bizarre, metamorphoses.

  While the world changes, so through eldritch rituals and human sacrifices the Deep Ones’ masters—the terrifying Great Old Ones themselves—make ready to escape their prisons throughout space and time when the stars are right, so that they may once again reclaim the Earth as their own.

  As the final shadows gather and the waters continue to rise, mankind begins its ultimate struggle for survival against a pantheon of dark gods and their batrachian foot-soldiers…

  Iä-R’lyeh! Cthulhu fhtagn! Iä! Iä!

  Stephen Jones

  London, England

  THE PORT

  by H. P. LOVECRAFT

  Ten miles from Arkham I had struck the trail

  That rides the cliff-edge over Boynton Beach,

  And hoped that just at sunset I could reach

  The crest that looks on Innsmouth in the vale.

  Far out at sea was a retreating sail,

  White as hard years of ancient winds could bleach,

  But evil with some portent beyond speech,

  So that I did not wave my hand or hail.

  Sails out of Innsmouth! Echoing old renown

  Of long-dead times. But now a too-swift night

  Is closing in, and I have reached the height

  Whence I so often scan the distant town.

  The spires and roofs are there—but look! The gloom

  Sinks on dark lanes, as lightless as the tomb!

 
INNSMOUTH BANE

  by JOHN GLASBY

  I AM WRITING this narrative in the sincere belief that something terrible has come to Innsmouth—something about which it is not wise to speak openly. Many of my neighbours, if they should ever read this account, will undoubtedly assume that any accusations I make against Obed Marsh are based upon jealousy since there is little doubt that he, alone, is prospering while those of us who lost much during the years of depression are still finding it difficult to profit from this strange upturn in fortune which is his alone.

  My name is Jedediah Allen. My family left Boston and settled in Innsmouth in 1676, twenty-one years after the town was founded, my grandfather and father being engaged in trade with the Orient, prospering well following the success of the Revolution. The war of 1812, however, brought misfortune to many Innsmouth families. The loss of men and ships was heavy, the Gilman shipping business suffering particularly badly.

  Only Obed Marsh seemed to have come out of the depression successfully. His three vessels, the Sumatra Queen, Hetty and Columbia still made regular sailings to the islands of the South Seas. Yet there was, from the very beginning, something odd about these voyages. From the first, he returned with large quantities of gold trinkets, more treasure than anyone in Innsmouth had ever seen.

  One rumour had it that this hoard of gold had been discovered by him concealed in some secret cave on Devil Reef, left there by buccaneers more than two centuries earlier—that he covertly ferried it ashore on nights when there was no moon. Yet having seen some of these artefacts for myself, for Obed displayed many of them quite openly, I was more inclined towards the former explanation as to their origin.

  Certainly, the objects were beautiful in their intricate workmanship and design but this was marred by an alienness in their imagery. All of the objects appeared to have an aquatic motif. To my eye, they had disturbing suggestions of fish or frog symbols, totally unlike any of the Spanish trinkets from the West Indies.

  There was also something strange about the metal from which they were fashioned, which indicated a non-European source.

  My attempts to get Obed to divulge any information about them all met with evasiveness. He would neither confirm nor deny any of the rumours.