Message-ID: <38C9348A.A53B8D21@connect.ab.ca> Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 10:44:43 -0700 From: Abaddon Reply-To: abaddon@connect.ab.ca Organization: World Crime League X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.6 (Macintosh; U; PPC) X-Accept-Language: en,pdf MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.necronomicon,alt.horror.cthulhu Subject: Re: The Book of Power: Evaluating the Necronomicon (was ...) References: <89hbe4$hg3@bolt.sonic.net> <89kl9l$89a@bolt.sonic.net> <6gatbs8glkos38bsu8viun4e095n9ngb5d@4ax.com> <89njmm$7bp@bolt.sonic.net> <89nua7$2or$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <89p48h$1l8@bolt.sonic.net> <89ps2h$fc8$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <89qg6r$rs2@bolt.sonic.net> <8a9jif$g25$1@nnrp1.deja.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NNTP-Posting-Host: ts14146.connect.ab.ca X-Trace: 10 Mar 2000 10:47:14 -0700, ts14146.connect.ab.ca Lines: 61 Path: typhoon.sonic.net!pants.skycache.com!dca1-hub1.news.digex.net!intermedia!howland.erols.net!torn!newsfeed.telusplanet.net!hekyl.ab.tac.net!skylite.connect.ab.ca!ts14146.connect.ab.ca Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick.tyagi:21976 alt.magick:182614 alt.necronomicon:10350 alt.horror.cthulhu:54125 vonjunzt@hotmail.com wrote: > No review, per se, but its contents include a number of fictional > stories, the texts of the Sussex Manuscript (the first fan > Necronomicon) and the Carter version (the one which Mr. Prinn > keeps bringing up), plus Price's "Critical Commentary on the > Necronomicon". The latter alone is worth the price of admission > for such a task as you have outlined. > > -- > Yrs., > > Daniel Harms > http://www.necfiles.com/ > > Just completed that volume. There are a few okay short stories in which the "Necronomicon" figures (though at times only tangentally), and one excellent story by Fred Chappell "the Adder", which I have seen in other anthologies. As for Carter's "Necronomicon", well, don't bother reading it unless you are either a hard-core Lovecraft scholar or masochist. It is a mishmash of lines lifted from HPL, Derleth and other rather poor Lovecraftian authors. It is too long, boring, full of references that sound like Carter made them up as he went along. To put it suscintly, it is one of the worst pieces of pastiche I have ever read. Fred Pelton's "the Sussex Manuscript" is much much better both as a piece of fiction and as a "translation" of the Necronomicon. It works on many levels, provides a G vs E interpretation of the Mythos that is much more plausible than Derleth or Carter, and at least attempts to sound and look like a contemporary manuscript (supposed Medieval English) in which Pelton actually does a half way decent job (my specialization in my English BA is Middle English Literature). Price's psuedo-scholarly "A Critical Commentary on . . ." is the jewel of the collection and is worth the cover price alone. Price has enough skill and knowledge to pull of a critical paper on a non-existant book and make it sound real. His editorial and fiction skills shine and he's not a half bad scholar either. If you are going to buy this volume, do so for the fiction and Price's essay. Skip Carter's overlong travesty altogether, and get right to the good stuff. Abaddon. -- "We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. . ." --H.P. Lovecraft