The Children of Old Leech: A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron
Read The Children of Old Leech: A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron Online
Authors: Ross E. Lockhart,Justin Steele
Tags: #Horror, #Anthology, #Thriller
Critical Acclaim for Tales of Jack the Ripper
Critical Acclaim for The Book of Cthulhu
Introduction: Of Whisky and Doppelgängers - Justin Steele
Pale Apostle - J. T. Glover & Jesse Bullington
Good Lord, Show Me the Way - Molly Tanzer
Love Songs from the Hydrogen Jukebox - T.E. Grau
The Old Pageant - Richard Gavin
Notes for "The Barn in the Wild" - Paul Tremblay
The Golden Stars at Night - Allyson Bird
The Last Crossroads on a Calendar of Yesterdays - Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
The Woman in the Wood - Daniel Mills
Brushdogs - Stephen Graham Jones
Of a Thousand Cuts - Cody Goodfellow
Tenebrionidae - Scott Nicolay & Jesse James Douthit-Nicolay
Critical Acclaim for Ross E. Lockhart’s
Tales of Jack the Ripper
“
Tales of Jack the Ripper
manages to walk that fine line between entertainment and exploitation with real finesse. It’s a gripping group of stories about one of our most enduring mysteries, and well worth your time.”
—
FEARnet.com
“...there are enough original and inventive approaches to this most bedeviling of true-crime mysteries to suggest that Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel Murders of 1888 will continue to inspire imaginative speculations for some time to come.”
—Stefan Dziemianowicz,
Locus
“You need to get up off your lazy duff and buy this collection.”
—
Shock Totem
“…there’s enough variation of theme and style here to interest almost any crime or horror reader…”
—
The Big Click
“Readers interested in Jack the Ripper will love this anthology. Horror fans in general should be quite pleased.”
—
Tangent
“Most of the authors explore the Ripper’s mind, and it is indeed a place of grue and madness. [...] Yet, taken one by one, the stories show a remarkable level of skill and power.”
—Richard A. Lupoff,
Locus
“
Tales of Jack the Ripper
marks a strong debut for Word Horde. Lockhart, in usual fashion, has managed to put together a strong, multifaceted anthology that explores the Ripper legend at length. If this book is indicative of what’s to be expected from his new press, than readers have much to look forward to.”
—
The Arkham Digest
“Judging from the author lineup in this book, Word Horde will not have time for your Mickey Mouse bullshit.”
—
HorrorTalk.com
“The bottom line is these are all excellent stories, all about Jack.”
—
Hellnotes
Critical Acclaim for Ross E. Lockhart’s
The Book of Cthulhu I
&
II
“The enduring allure of H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, now nearly a century old, is evident in this representative anthology of modern tales, most of which were written in the last decade.”
—
Publishers Weekly
(Starred Review)
“Gathering Cthulhu-inspired stories from both 20th and 21st-century authors, this collection provides such a huge scope of styles and takes on the mythology that there are sure to be a handful that surprise and inspire horror in even the most jaded reader.”
—Josh Vogt,
Examiner.com
“There are no weak stories here—every single one of the 27 entries is a potential standout reading experience.
The Book of Cthulhu
is nothing short of pure Lovecraftian gold. If fans of H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos don’t seek out and read this anthology, they’re not really fans—it’s that simple.”
—Paul Goat Allen,
BN.com
“
The Book of Cthulhu
is one hell of a tome.”
—Brian Sammons,
HorrorWorld.org
“…a stunning collection of Lovecraft inspired tales all centered around the infamous Cthulhu myth.”
—Drake Llywelyn,
Dark Shadows Book Reviews
“...thanks to the wide variety of contributing authors, as well as Lockhart’s keen understanding of horror fiction and Lovecraft in particular, [
The Book of Cthulhu
] is the best of such anthologies out there.”
—Alan Cranis,
Bookgasm.com
“As he did for his previous anthology, Lockhart has cast his net far and wide to haul in outstanding stories from publications both well-known and obscure, none sampled more than once. He has also commissioned four new stories, several so good that they are likely to be selected for reprint anthologies in the future.”
—Stefan Dziemianowicz,
Locus
“The second volume of
The Book of Cthulhu
exemplifies the richness of Lovecraft’s legacy: gloomy terror, mystery, thrills, vivid action, chilling visions, satire, science fiction, humor—all of that, and then some, is crammed into more than 400 pages awaiting readers eager for some apocalyptic horror.”
—Dejan Ognjanovic,
Rue Morgue
“…any fan of Lovecraft can’t afford to miss out on this one.”
—Justin Steele,
The Arkham Digest
Also by Ross E. Lockhart
Anthologies:
The Book of Cthulhu
The Book of Cthulhu II
Tales of Jack the Ripper
Giallo Fantastique
(forthcoming)
Novels:
Chick Bassist
Also by Justin Steele
The Best of Arkham Digest: Writings on Weird Fiction
(forthcoming)
The Children of Old Leech
A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron
Edited by Ross E. Lockhart & Justin Steele
Word Horde
Petaluma, CA
The Children of Old Leech:
A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron
© 2014 by Ross E. Lockhart & Justin Steele
This edition of
The Children of Old Leech:
A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron
© 2014 by Word Horde
Characters, situations, and locales created by Laird Barron
© 2014 by Laird Barron, and are used here by permission
Cover design by Matthew Revert
Edited by Ross E. Lockhart & Justin Steele
All rights reserved
An extension of this copyright page appears on page 381
First Edition
ISBN: 978-1-939905-02-4
eBook ISBN: 978-1-939905-03-1
A Word Horde Book
For Laird
Introduction: Of Whisky and Doppelgängers
Justin Steele
I
f you value your health, sanity, and general sense of well-being, then you should stop reading this book right now. Close the cover, put it back on the shelf, and head on over to the non-fiction section. Pick up a book on fishing, or pottery, something safe. Anything but this book.
If you’re still reading you must be damaged goods, nothing to lose. Maybe you saw that I started with a warning and felt the need to prove me wrong, to prove that you like to live life on the edge, laugh in the face of danger, shit like that. Maybe the warning tugged at your curiosity, intrigued you enough to carry on. Just remember what happened to the cat.
I’m supposed to be writing an introduction. That’s what Ross wanted me to do anyway, but I owe some responsibility to my fellow man, and what we did with this here book, what we unleashed, well, it’s just
wrong
. I’m sitting here at my desk, a near empty glass of Lagavulin on the desk edge, the bottle in easy reach. Three feet from me, propped in the corner of the room, is a 12-gauge pump-loaded with double-aught buckshot. If that’s not enough I have two .45s and a recently sharpened hunting knife within reach, so no matter how it goes down, it won’t go down easy. But who am I kidding.
THEY
want me to write this. It’s part of the project. Until my part’s done I’m safe. At least I think so.
I should probably start from the beginning. Tell you how I first discovered this Lovecraft guy, and how reading his fiction kicked me off onto this whole “weird fiction” thing, but I’m sure you’ve heard that one time and time again so I’ll skip ahead a little bit. A few Cthulhu Mythos anthologies into my tentacle binge, I picked up Ellen Datlow’s
Lovecraft Unbound
, and was pleased to see an anthology striving to avoid falling into pastiche territory. It was during my late night readings that I discovered my first Laird Barron tale. “Catch Hell” did something to me that only a few special stories managed to do: upon finishing I reflected on the story for a minute or two, and then turned back to the first page and immediately reread it. After the second read I walked over to my computer and ordered
The Imago Sequence
and pre-ordered
Occultation
. There was no question that I had stumbled upon something special, something dangerous. Who was this Laird Barron guy? He looked like a pirate, or a grizzled Viking warrior. His writing was a blend of genres that I loved. One part pulp, one part noir, two parts pure cosmic terror, blended smooth and seasoned with a literary skill that few possessed. I had found weird fiction for the connoisseur. If I had only known what I was getting into.
Flash forward a few years later, and I’m sitting here in my dimly lit office space, gulping scotch and wondering how I ever let myself get drawn into this mess. The light from my lamp is reflecting off my tin poster of
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
. I let Clint Eastwood’s stoic squint and Lee Van Cleef’s predatory glare serve as reminders that I have to be tough, finish this up. The wind is whipping at the window and I find myself eyeing the 12-gauge once every few seconds.
In September or so I had a conversation with Ross Lockhart, the other man responsible for what we’ve done here. We were both huge fans of Laird’s fiction, recognized its power. By the end of our talk, the wheels were in motion. We were so excited, completely oblivious as to what the actual significance of the anthology would be.
Finding the authors to take part actually proved to be the easy part. Laird’s work is highly respected, and offers authors much to work with. Ross and I wanted to find some of the best writers of weird fiction and offer them a chance to play in Laird’s playground. They could use the more literal elements of Laird’s growing “Pacific Northwest Mythos” or utilize his themes. Pastiche was not welcome. We wanted the authors to use their own unique talents and voices in order to do Laird justice, yet not by simple mimicry.
The thing is, Laird’s fiction is powerful, and not just in the literary sense. Some theorize that there exists some fiction that has the ability to bleed into reality. The words serve a higher function, act as a sort of formula. When these words are read they open a gate to somewhere else, allow
them
to come over. What Ross and I have done is complete the formula, see? Laird’s works were the base, the true source of the power. With these stories we amplified it, radio towers strengthening the signal.