The House of the Worm

Gary Myers' "House of the Worm" is an excursion into the rich worlds of H.P. Lovecraft. This slim volume from Arkham House is a collection of short stories that delve deep into his various Mythos. Myers admits in his introduction that he does take some liberties with his titular tale, "The House of the Worm", even admitting, in his own words, "…perhaps heresy…" is the best way to describe the story. Myers combines the creations of a number of Mythos contributors, illustrating his extensive knowledge of this sub genre. Each tale stands on its own, at times only taking place near another tale's happenings. Some of the stories, such as "House of the Worm" and "Yohk the Necromancer" deal with the worship of almost forgotten deities and its horrible results. Others like "Xiurhn" and "Passing of a Dreamer" handle human greed for wealth and/or power with that deliciously horrible HPL style. In fact, there seems to be an effort to at least approximate HPL's style throughout. All the stories all follow a single style as a result.