Tales of Yog-Sothoth

A variety of settings and tones enhance Phipps’s solid anthology of six stories featuring Yog-Sothoth, “the supreme god in H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos.” Among the stronger entries is Phipps’s own contribution, “The True Name of God,” in which master assassin Ali ad Fariq agrees to aid a rabbi whose community is plagued by a killer targeting young women each Sabbath, removing their hearts without leaving a wound. David J. West successfully integrates cowboys and cosmic horror in “The Haunter of the Wheel.” Set in 1864 Montana, the story follows a legendary gunman, whose prominence has placed a target on his back, as he discovers the grisly slaughter of a wagon party, apparently committed by a rampaging bear. The standout is David Niall Wilson’s “The Dun WHAT? Horror,” a riff on Lovecraft’s “The Dunwhich Horror,” which sees a man hoping to access the Necronomicon by consulting a book collector. The strong plotting and prose throughout artfully place Lovecraft’s mythology in multiple cultures and time periods. Devotees of the Cthulhu Mythos will be gratified. (Apr.)