"The Color Out Of Time" by Michael Shea

Ernst Carlsberg and his buddy Gerald (our narrator) are a couple of fruity old profs who like to drink (a lot!) who decide to take a vacation at a "dam-created lake which I shall not name" in a "New England region" which is apparently quite the tourist spot.

Not long after arriving, they notice a strange glow, of an indescribable color, floating around the lake.  Not only is it weird, it gives off a palpable aura of evil.  What's even worse, it drains both physical strength and stamina, to the point where one can barely move, and one feels a crushing depression when in its presence.

More weirdness in the area: exploring the woods, E&G encounter such niceties as enormous mutated insects and spiders, and mutant, gnarled trees that seem to be able to move on their own. The park rangers seem to have been effected - one is sickly but seems to recover thanks to a shot of liquor.  The other is gruesomely afflicted and seems to have checked out mentally.

Soon after a neighboring vacation boat crashes, and Ernst and Gerald find the tourists have clearly been attacked and killed by -- something.  The ranger station goes next.  Ranger Hazzard Harms dies in the aftermath, admitting that he knew something about the weird color, and admonishing them to contact his sister, Sharon.  Nugent, the local beaureacratic whatsit, does a half-hearted job of warning people off the lake, before flipping out, going home and killing his kids before killing himself (accidentally?) in a traffic accident.

Sharon is an old woman with a bazillion cats.  She's also an artist, whose work depicts strange and Cthulhu-ish scenes, including some with an approximation of the mysterious color.  She knew the Simes family (the basis for HPL's story "The Colour Out Of Space" - more on that in a second), personally, and Danny Simes was her best friend. Guilty over Danny's fate, she vowed revenge against the thing from the meteorite, and has spent her life preparing for a confrontation with it.  To further E & G's education, she gives them paperback copies of Lovecraft's fiction.  It seems she also knew Lovecraft, whom she contacted after reading "The Colour Out Of Space" in Weird Tales in the 30's, and recognizing that the story was based on the real-life experiences of the Simes family.  She came to know HPL, who admitted to her that many of his stories were fictionalized accounts of real events, and disclosed to her that the Cthulhu Mythos was more a "discovery" than an invention of his. 

Decked out with weapons and survival equipment, our heroes return to the lake, ready for battle.  They have surmised that the entity has grown stronger and bolder, even taking physical form (a spider-like critter) to prey on humans.

Back at the lake, E&G&S try to warn people to clear out, but are defied by a turd named Jeffry Hargis, the embodiment of a modern-day Trump supporter, albeit 32 years early (today he'd be out protesting about being asked to wear a mask in public).  

The brave trio carries on, eventually having a minor shoot-out with Hargis and pals before same are eaten by the spidery monster, which Sharon drives of with a star-stone given to her by HPL hisself.  The thing hightails its way back to the well it originated from - which happens to be at the bottom of the lake, of course.  Ernst manages to toss his star-stone in after it, which kills it, but not before it erupts, killing everyone on or in the lake except Gerald and Sharon, who live happily ever after.

Obviously, this is a sequel to "The Colour Out Of Space" and, obviously, it doesn't even come close to the power of the original.  But it is a fun read.  It's more than a little tongue-in-cheek and Shea even writes it in a sort of slightly modernized but distinctly Lovecraft-ish style, which adds to the fun.  A lightweight but enjoyable yarn with some nice moments (especially Sharon's confrontation with the beastie).