August Derleth (1909–1971)

This is the longest 'collaboration' I've read between August Derleth and HP Lovecraft and turns out to be almost wholly Derleth based on a few short fragments of HPL's. It does read that way, although seems better than most of Derleth's efforts until the last third where it degenerates into his usual tendency of throwing in everything including the kitchen sink in his efforts to name check all the Old Ones, their minions and the various forbidden books about them. The main issue though is the rushed conclusion which for me spoils what should be a great scene of enormous suspense and scariness. So definitely going back to HPL for the real deal, although this effort is not awful and there are some novel elements - the old tower, stone circles, Native American beliefs etc - that I haven't so far encountered in the other collaborations.… (mer)

A series of five linked novellas with characters in common, in the usual Derleth style of extending Lovecraft. So we have updates here including nuclear weapons. The trouble is, Derleth has an obsession with the Deep Ones and Cthulhu so we don't see any other aspect of the mythos apart from the hero professor's ability to use minions of Hastur, an enemy of Cthulhu, to let him and his latest helper escape at the end of each. Each story is a journal left by the latest helper but they are all rather cardboard cutout in personality and it's easy to confuse them especially in the last novella where all are reunited with the professor. So can only really give it a 2 star as it does get very samey and boring with the continual very similar storylines.

On the plus side, it has an attractive cover by Bruce Pennington, as a companion piece to his cover for 'The Mask of Cthulhu'… (mer)

Well, unlike August Derleth's Lovecraft pastiches, I was able to read it to the end. Overall, I liked it but there were stories that dragged in the middle or where the mystery seemed a bit trite for a Holmesian story. The stories also seemed to find and adhere to a formula fairly early on but I didn't really mind that all that much. I'm all for pulp Holmesian stories and these for the most part fit the bill. However, they lack any real atmosphere (as does any of his writing that I've happened upon) and the characters were interchangeable, there are no real memorable characters of note here even the Broken Faced Man! So, would I recommend this one to someone seeking a little lighter Holmesian fair, sure, it's not stellar but it is pretty close to the real thing. I did get jolted more than once expecting to read Watson rather than Parker.… (mer)

August Derleth was an American author working in the genres of fantasy, horror, mystery, crime, regional and science fiction. He founded the publishing house Arkham House and published the writings of H P Lovecraft.
The Outer Reaches is a collection of science fiction short stories published in 1951. I read the paperback version which states that 'This edition contains 10 of the 17 stories that appeared in the hard-bound edition' There is no introduction by Derleth and so it appears he did not have to work too hard to put this together. The collection features stories from the usual suspects writing in 1951:

Co-operate or else - A. E. Van Vogt
Goodnight Mr James - Clifford Simak
Critters - Frank Belknap Long
Death Sentence - Isaac Asimov
This is the Land - Nelson Bond
Ylla - Ray Bradbury
The Green Cat - Cleve Cartmill
Pardon My Mistake - Fletcher Pratt
The Plutoniam Drug - Clark Ashton Smith
Farewell to Eden - Theodore Sturgeon.

Its quite an impressive array of science fiction story writers from that era and the quality of the writing is fairly good for this genre. The stand-out story is Ylla by Ray Bradbury from his Martian Chronicles collection, this one really does contain that sense of wonder that one finds in the best science fiction. Bradbury creates an alien environment that leaves the reader wanting more. Like most of the stories there is a twist, but Bradbury doesn't pull something out of the drawer at the last minute, but builds his story nicely to its climax. This cannot be said for the story by Isaac Asimov. Clark Ashton Smith's 'The Plutonium drug' has an interesting scenario built around the idea that discoveries on other planets will result in finding new wonder drugs. Nelson Bond's 'This is the Land' is an atmospheric creation of one of the last human burials on earth and Farewell to Eden by Theodore Sturgeon is a good story about a couple escaping from the doomed earth to start afresh.

The Green Cat by Clive Cartmill contains the phrase "It was writing, but not as we know it", which just may have been the first time this phrase was used. Of course the similar misquoted phrase from star trek has taken on a life of its own since then. Nothing sensational in this collection and as I have previously read the best story I rate this as 3 stars.… (mer)