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Some wild variation in quality, here; there were a couple of pieces that made me wince to read them, and a few dark, creepy, really quite clever ones. On balance more good than bad--particularly appreciated "Hallowed Ground", the scene-setting of "Visions of Parin", the actual examining of what non-Euclidian might mean of "Delta Pi", and the ending of "Ankor Sabat".
This collection has possibly the most apropos title ever given to a short story collection. Torn Realities perfectly describes these excellent stories of people whose perfectly ordinary realities are abruptly torn asunder. In each case, the main character's day-to-day existence is encroached upon by a mystery, or a surprise, or an obsession that quickly spirals downward to become his or her downfall. To say that these tales are Lovecraftian, or Lovecraft inspired, is not to say that they are...
Quite the collection of Lovecraftian stories selected by Anderson, and very refreshing to find an anthology focused not on the Cthulhu Mythos, but rather on the themes that Lovecraft himself explored in his stories. It was nice to not have tentacles and Elder Gods taking center stage for a change. Each story takes the torch and runs with it in a different direction and the breadth of the sampling is the book's real charm. The opening story, "Opt-In" by J.W. Schnarr set the tone for the rest of t...
The back cover and the introduction state it outright: this is an anthology of Lovecraftian stories, not stories set in the Cthulhu Mythos, and that is possibly this book's greatest strength. Most of these stories center on fear of the unknown, forces from beyond time and space and similar Lovecraft themes without directly cribbing from the master, and that sets them apart from the flood of Cthulhu fan fiction that is so easily found plastered all over the internet. A great variety of stories, f...
Anderson has put together a fine collection of Lovecraftian stories. The quality varies a bit from piece to piece, but overall the anthology works.Two of my favorites from this collection are Delta Pi, by Matt Moore, and Hallowed Ground, by Jeff Suess. Delta Pi blends particle physics and obsession into a tight inter-dimensional horror story, a fresh take on the possible dangers of experiments at places such as CERN. As for Hallowed Ground, Anderson calls it "...a beautiful story of friendship a...