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Book Review: The Old One and The Sea by Lex H. Jones, illustrated by Liam ‘Pais’ Hill

The Old One and The Sea by Lex H. Jones, illustrated by Liam ‘Pais’ Hill

Sinister Horror Company, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1912578160

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

The Old One and The Sea introduces children to a now-famous author and one of his most famous creations, reimagining the childhood of Howard “Howie”  Phillips Lovecraft and his first encounter with the extraordinary. Taking place just after World War I, in the coastal town of Innsmouth, Howie’s father is missing in action, and he and his mother have a close relationship, although he is curious about the world around him and prone to take risks. With no other children and few other adults around he has preserved a fearless sense of wonder in the world that most older children and adults grow out of,. His only companion, Mr. Derleth, is a brusque former soldier who has seen terrible battles, and studies the sea and the stars, and the mysteries he sees in them. One night, when Mr. Derleth has noted that the stars are in an unusual alignment, a black stone pillar rises out of the sea, and Howie decides to explore it. Once he’s reached the top, he accidentally summons a great creature from the sea: surprised, he falls off the pillar and into the water. The creature saves him, and when Howie really looks at the creature, instead of seeing a monster, he sees the tendrils that saved him flowing from the round head of the creature, and black, endless eyes that reflect the stars. Howie names the creature Oolu, and a strange friendship begins between the lonely boy and the equally lonely creature that has risen from the sea. Both are grieving: Howie for his father, and Oolu for his friends in the city of Rlyeh, lost to the bottom of the sea. Jones’ depiction of grief here, especially the grief of a child, rings very true. It’s there, but without making the story entirely about grief.

Then sailors discover that Oolu has risen, and recognize him as Cthulhu, the Great Old One, a monster who destroyed their ship, and decided to attack him. Howie runs to Oolu, chased by his mother and Mr. Derleth, to face the sailors. Mr. Derleth, who still has his military skills, runs the sailors off, terrified. Mr. Derleth notes to Howie, “Fear can be a powerful motivator”. Howie makes a plan to use his imagination to write stories about Oolu, using the name Mr. Derleth used, Cthhulu, but to make the stories scary to keep people like the sailors from ever attacking his friend again.

This is not a frightenting book. It is a tale of friendship, loyalty, grief, love, and family that honors wonder and imagination.Lex H. Jones has given us a gift in this idyllic fictional portrait of Lovecraft, reminding us that he, too, was once a child with curiosity and imagination. There couldn’t be a gentler introduction to the Cthulhu mythos than this book. In fact, it is entirely possible for a child who has no knowledge of Lovecraft of Cthulhu or even any interest in horror to enjoy this delightful, fantastical story.  The illustrations by Liam ‘Pais’ Hill, in pastel colors with simple, cartoony line drawings, add to this impression. In all honesty, The Old One and The Sea is the most refreshing children’s book (and I read a lot of children’s books) I’ve read this year.

Jim McLeod of Ginger Nuts of Horror wrote a nice introduction to this book on when horror lovers can best introduce the genre to their children, and how, and on how much availabilty of children’s horror fiction (and fiction that uses horror concepts and tropes) has changed, It has changed quite a bit over the last 15-20 years, and that’s been exciting to see. Lex Jones has added a lovely title to that genre that I hope both librarians and parents will share with the children they encounter. Recommended.

 

 

Posted on October 22, 2019 by , 1 comment

Graphic Novel Review: H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness Volume 1 adaptation and artwork by Gou Tanabe, translation by Zack Davisson

H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, The First Volume adaption and artwork by Gou Tanabe, translated by Zack Davisson

Dark Horse, 2019

ISBN13: 978-1506710228

Available: Paperback, Kindle, comiXology

In this Cthulhu mythos tale, an expedition team from Miskatonic University headed by Professor William Dyer travels to Antarctica early in 1931. Lake, a member of the team, becomes increasingly obsessed with discovering the secrets of a rock sample they excavate early in their exploration. He leads a separate team to push forward to find more. They find looming black mountains, seemingly unnaturally formed caverns, and a complete zoological sample of a large creature that resembles a creature described in the famed Necronomicon housed at Miskatonic University. As scientists are wont to do, Lake dissects the specimen. The two camps had been communicating regularly via radio contact, but when Lake stops responding, Dyer and the rest of the team make the trek to Lake’s camp. When they arrive, however, they come across a grisly scene: the crew and sled dogs assigned to the camp are dead, and the bodies are mangled or dissected. The team also finds a star shaped mound of snow near the scene which turns out to contain an inhuman discovery. After recovering the remains of eleven bodies, they find that one of the members of Lake’s camp, Gedney, is missing.

Volume 1 of Gou Tanabe’s manga adaptation of H.P Lovecraft’s novella At the Mountains of Madness is a beautiful and haunting version of this story. Tanabe’s artwork is an interesting and effective balance between the darkness of the caves and confined spaces to vast and breathtaking landscapes. A major difference, which I found to enhance the story, was that it was told from the point of view of both camps. The original was told from the perspective of only the main camp. This, combined with the added dialogue between the camps and artwork depicting the emotional reactions of the characters involved, created more of a sense of fear and foreboding than Lovecraft’s work. I can’t wait to see what Tanabe does with the continuation of this story in Volume 2. I would recommend this title for those who enjoy cosmic horror, manga from the horror genre, or different interpretations of Lovecraft (even those that he clearly based off of other works—in this case, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket). If you are a purist, this probably isn’t for you. Highly recommended.

 

Contains: corpses, dissected human body

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on October 2, 2019 by , Reply

Help a Reader Out: Are Myths Fiction or Nonfiction?

Interestingly, this question popped up in keyword searches a number of times, so I’m going to briefly address it.

“Are myths fiction or nonfiction?”

The answer probably depends on who you ask and why. I imagine that if you ask an atheist, you’ll get the answer “fiction”. But in the wonderful world of the Dewey Decimal System, books (and other media) on mythology are in the 200s, the category for philosophy and religion. So for straight mythology or books about mythology, it’s considered nonfiction. Poetry (like Homer’s Odyssey will generally end up in the 800s, with other books of poetry. Yes, poetry is considered nonfiction.

Novels and stories inspired by mythology usually end up getting pulled from the 800s and end up shelved with fiction, though. So if you’re asking because you want to know where Rick Riordan’s books fall on the shelf, you’ll find those in fiction. And if you are asking about a graphic novel, it kind of depends on the library. Some libraries will shelve all graphic novels under 741.5, the number for that format, and some pull the graphic novels into a separate section and shelve them by either subject (my daughter’s elementary) or author (my son’s middle school).

So the answer is that, especially in the library, it’s complicated. And sometimes it is kind of hard to figure out. If you’ve encountered Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods”, it probably falls in nonfiction, even though it is written in the annoying contemporary voice of a fictional character(that’s just my personal opinion, my kids love it) and “updated” versions of many myths. But the novels will end up shelved in fiction. Ultimately, though, the myths of a culture are stories of their gods, and their religion, and as long as people believe in gods, mythology is nonfiction.

It occurs to me that, given that this site focuses on horror fiction, someone reading this might think “Well, what about the Cthulu mythos? That’s a mythology, right? Why isn’t Lovecraft in the 200s?” As it was originally the invention of one person recognized as a writer of fiction, and how that person felt about religion is publicly known, I don’t see why it would be anywhere except in fiction. If you do know a person who worships the Elder Gods, please encourage them to seek help.

Posted on October 19, 2017 by , Reply
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