"The Doom of Yakthoob"

by Lin Carter

originally published The Arkham Collector #10, September 1971

Abdul Alhazred tells us of his youth when he was apprenticed to a Saracen wizard named Yakthoob.  His best bud was a fellow apprentice, Ibn Gazoul.  They complain to Yakthoob because he's not letting them summon the biggest, most powerful demons.  Yakthoob tells them this will require the sacrifice of a soul - or the use of a rare elixir which can be purchased in Babylon.  He sends them there.

Ibn and Abdul return from Babylon with the potion.  Yakthoob summons the demon.  But it eats him.  It seems Ibn spent the money he gave them to buy the potion on booze and whores, and had subbed red wine for the elixir.

A humorous Clark Ashton Smith riff, and a complete throwaway.

"The Slitherer From The Slime"

by H.P. Lowcraft (aka Lin Carter and David Foley)
originally published Inside SF #3, September 1958

A traveler through Arkham on a dark and stormy night stops off at Castle Drumgool for shelter.  He is served drinks and invited to spend the night.  The owner has a strange library.  Upon being shown to his room, the narrator wigs out.

This is a completely silly but at least amusing little piece, laden with sophomoric but still smile-inducting humor (among the fearsome books owned by the castle's master are Winnie the Pooh and How To Win Friends And Influence People).  On the whole the joke is heavy-handed and even contemptuous.  Surprising since Carter was such a fanboy...

"The Vengeance of Yig"

by Lin Carter
originally published Weird Tales #4, 1983

Z'hu Gthaa, savant of the Ninth Circle, a resident of ancient K'nyan, is unhappy because his fellow K'nyan-ians would rather lounge around and engage in kinky sexual practices than indulge in the obviously more pleasurable act of studying the lore and magic of the ancient serpent-people of Yoth.  

Z'hu is determined, among other things, to learn why the serpent-people abandoned Yoth for other parts of the globe, after taking up the worship of Tsathoggua over Yig, their original deity of choice.  To this end, he descends into the even-more-subterranean-than-K'nyan region of Yoth.  There he soon finds the ruins of the serpent city of Zzoon.  Hieroglyphs there lead him even further, to a place called Ngoth, which turns out to be a big pit surrounded by megaliths.  While farting around in Zzoon, he is constantly menaced by giant snakes which take out several of his pack animals and slaves.

The hieroglyphs on the stones tell him the rest of the story.  The serpent-people didn't leave.  Yig revenged himself on them for turning to Mr. Toad-Blob, and turned them all into giant snakes.  The same giant snakes that have caused Z'hu all this trouble, and are now closing in on him, outnumbering his party vastly, as his atomic gun weapon runs out of charges...

Even by Lin Carter standards, this isn't much more than a throwaway; another Smith pastiche, this time set in the subterranean lands Lovecraft invented in "The Mound."  There's not much of a story here and the whole thing seems almost tongue-in-cheek.

"In the Vale of Pnath"

by Lin Carter

originally published Nameless Places, Arkham House, 1975

Eibon seeks the secret ingredient for the Ygthar Elixir.  According to the records of Zon Mezzamalech, its something called the Glund Fluid.  But none of Eibon's researches tell him what this Glund Fluid is.

Traveling to the Peaks of Throk, he learns that the Fluid is drawn from a giant, tortured living brain!

Another Smith pastiche from Carter.  Less inspired than some others.

"Shaggai"

by Lin Carter
originally published Dark Things, Arkham House, 1971

Eibon keeps summoning a demon named Pharol to answer a question about a passage in the Pnakotic Manuscripts.  Pharol keeps telling him he must talk to "the Dweller in the Pyramid".   

After visiting several other worlds, including Yuggoth, Eibon learns that he must journey to Shaggai, a planet everyones afraid of.

On Shaggai, he finds a gigantic pyramid, wherein the hieroglyphs and sigils and pictographs freak him out, and he finds a giant, white, luminescent dhole-thing eating slowly away at the planet.  He flees in horror.

An evocative but rather pointless bit of Smith-iana.

"The Acolyte of the Flame"

by Lin Carter
originally published Crypt of Cthulhu #36, Yuletide, 1985

Athlok, a member of the Pnakotic Brethren, comes to believe he is the subject of a prophecy who will save Hyperborea from the encroaching ice age.

Through his hubris, he ends up releasing the Great Old One Aphoom Zhah, who only hastens the ice age.

Another minor Smith pastiche from Carter.

"The Utmost Abomination"

by Lin Carter
originally published Weird Tales, Fall, 1973

Eibon recalls how he was once apprenticed to Zylac, after his pops was done by the priesthood of Youndeh.
Zylac has an unfortunate obsession with the magical writings of the serpent-men, and learns to read their language in order to study their writings.  Eibon finds this creepy.

Evidently, he's got a point, since Zylac ends up transforming into a giant snake-thing before being killed.

Very minor Ashton-Smithia from Mssr. Carter.
 

"The Stairs in the Crypt"

by Lin Carter

originally published Fantastic, August 1976


Avalzaunt the necromancer dies, and his mummified bod is interred in a crypt.  However, a few years later, life returns and he becomes a living dead thing.

 Avalzaunt enslaves the local ghouls, and sends them on errands of vengeance.  Eventually, he finds a way out of the crypt and begins to participate himself.  

One night he attacks the Abbott of Carmotha, and is slain with a ceremonial dagger which destroys the undead.

A minor but actually quite humorous bit of Smith-ian grue.

"The Light from the Pole"

by Lin Carter
originally published Weird Tales #1, Zebra 1980

Pharazyyn, yet another Hyperborean sorceror starts to experience pretty much everything Evagh (his buddy) did in "The Coming of the White Worm".  Various bits of mystic investigation reveal that Rlim Shaikorth was only the hearld and harbinger of Aphoom Zah, an even worse entity.  Discovering there is no escape from his fate of being taken by Aphoom Zah, Pharazyn offs himself.

This little tale is little more than a blatant and shameless rehash of Smith's "Coming of the White Worm", only with less imagination.  

Of course, there's a reason for this - Carter took a fragment of an earlier draft Smith wrote for "Coming", finished it and published it as a "posthumous collaboration".  

I know Carter needed material to fill up the pages of his Weird Tales revival, but this is pretty sad.

"The Secret in the Parchment"

by Lin Carter
originally published Crypt of Cthulhu #54, Eastertide, 1988

Ptomeron, rejected by his love Zeetha, in prehistoric Ultima Thule, retires to a remote tower where he studies magic no one else will touch.

He constructs a device that focuses something called the "Z Light", allowing him to see into subterranean worlds.

Peering in, he finds a horde of maggot-like creatures crawling on a woman's body.  Zeetha's.

A rather grotesque little sketch by Carter.

"The Descent Into the Abyss"

by Lin Carter

originally published Weird Tales #2, Zebra, 1980

Haon-Dor, a sorceror of prehistoric times, and possibly not human, plans to enter the world of "gray-litten" Y'quaa in search of sorcerous wisdom.

 To get there, he needs some tablets said to be in the possession of Ubbo-Sathla, who's burbling away in the depths of Mount Voormithadreth.  So of HD goes to Mt. V.

His journey is eventful, sorta, as he meets Zulchequon, The Dark Silent One, Qumyagga, a shantak, Nug, King of the Ghouls, and K'Thugoul, The Original Shoggoth.  None of them even try to stop him, however.

Finally, he finds Ubbo-Sathla, who accidentally(?) tilts one of the tablets towards him.  What he sees causes HD to lose his shit, and he spends the rest of his days in the caves of Voormithadreth.

A shameless retread of Clark Ashton Smith's "The Seven Geases", lacking the Smith-ian charm.  In his introduction in the collection Book of Eibon, Robert M. Price's attempts to justify the tale as some sort of Bibilical scholarship, so to speak.  But it's bull.  Carter was really phoning it in with this one. 

"The Bell in the Tower"

by Lin Carter
originally published Crypt of Cthulhu #69, Yuletide 1989

An old fellow lives in London, and screams whenever the church bells ring.  A fellow boarder at Gray's Inn, where he resides, named Williams, befriends the strange old coot.  Who just happens to be Lord Northam, scion of an ancient and once-wealthy Yorkshire family.  But he won't discuss that fact, or anything about the crumbling family castle and its underground vaults.  

One night, Williams finds a copy of the Necronomicon at a used book-store, and buys it dirt cheap.   Thinking the old guy will find it interesting(!), Williams shows it to him.  Lord Northam, it turns out, has a story....

It seems the family was always drawn to the outre, even back to Roman times.  By the time LN reached adulthood, he was drawn to the usual subjects, and the usual library list - and the Northam family castle had a library full of the usual.  There he found a copy of the Necronomicon, many years prior.  He also found a sealed-off tower, and therein an enormous silver bell, inscribed with "Nug-Soth" runes.  And a ritual in connection with said bell.

The ritual, involving hallucinogenic drugs and, of course, the tolling of the bell, summoned a procession of human figures on the fields below the tower, from all eras of mankind.  Northam soon became addicted to the ritual, and kept repeating it.  Less human figures began to join the processions.

Northam realizes the procession is making its way to the crypts underneath the castle.  He decides to visit there himself, and finds a misshapen, undead thing chained there.  One with an uncomfortable family resemblance...

This is definitely a change of pace for Carter.  Though overly florid and overdone, it genuinely recalls Lovecraft's earliest horror stories.  Not only that, it is entirely effective.   Almost certainly the best Carter Cthulhu story I've come across.  Not a home run, but definitely a good hit.

 

"The Strange Doom of Enos Harker"

by Lin Carter and Robert M. Price
originally published Crypt of Cthulhu #69, Yuletide 1989

Paxton Blaine goes to work as a secretary for Enos Harker, a strange scholar and priest of an obscure Christian sect.  His job is translating and cataloging data and quotes from the usual sources.  

Harker is an oddball.  Worst of all, he's half-covered in bandages all the time - allegedly due to an eczema or scleroderma-type illness.

Blaine becomes more and more disturbed by what he's scribing.  Harker seems to get worse and worse.  One night, with Harker in bad shape, Blaine gets a look at how repulsive he is under the bandages - Harker's features are actually changing shape.

 Harker explains that years ago, he journeyed into Asia on missionary work, and found his way to the fabled Plateau of Leng.  There he was taken in by a sinister cult, and took part in grotesque, cannibalistic ceremonies.  He also learned that he himself was an avatar of Nyarlathotep.  He believes himself to be the herald of the end of the world, and plans to avoid this fate by leaving Earth for the Dreamlands or some other far-off dimension.  

Soon after, Enos Harker disappears in a flash of unearthly lightning.

This is a decidedly unusual, and effective, Carter tale.  

While the Lovecraftian structure is still present, it seems less an attempt to ape an HPL story.   It also recalls more early, Poe-influenced Lovecraft.  The tone, however, is not particularly Lovecraftian.  Harker's extended mystical theorizing and the gruesome and creepy details of his experiences with the Leng cult are more reminiscent of Thomas Ligotti or Clive Barker.  This is not a great story, but it is decidedly effective and its curious that, so late in his game, Carter seemed to be finding a voice of his own.  Or is that all the work of Price?

"Perchance To Dream"

by Lin Carter
originally published Crypt of Cthulhu #56, Roodmas, 1988

Parker Winfield, at the urging of his friend Muriel van Velt, visits a psychic investigator named Zarnak.

It seems Winfield has been tormented by strange dreams of a submerged, ancient city ever since he inherited some antiquities from his grandfather.  Zarnak finds among them an image of Ythogtha.  He destroys it with a star-stone.

A very minor tale, though the Dr. Strange-like Zarnak is an amusing character.

"The Feaster from the Stars"

by Lin Carter
originally published Crypt of Cthulhu #23, Hallowmass, 1984 

Lord Voorth Raluorn becomes constable of Commorium and dabbles in sorcery.  After trashing devil-worship ceremony, Voorth is haunted by dreams of the Tsatoggua-like entity whose idol he destroyed.  Which turns out to be Zvilpogghua, possibly an offspring of ol' Tsath.

From the ancient wizard Yzduggor, Voorth learns a ritual to summon Zvil, in the hopes of gaining his forgiveness.  

He performs the ritual, but is instead eaten by Zvilpoggua.

Amusing but very minor stuff.

"Behind the Mask"

by Lin Carter

originally published Crypt of Cthulhu #47, Roodmas 1987

Bryant Hoskins, a junior librarian at Miskatonic U, becomes enamored of certain books in the restricted section - y'all know what I mean....

Particularly taken with the R'lyeh Text, he steals it from the library.  He effs off to a remote cabin, where he studies it while trying to fend off increasing disturbing dreams, usually involving the Plateau of Leng.

His superior reports the theft of the book.  The cops arrive at the cabin to find Hoskins a raving lunatic.

Again, a very minor story though darker and less corny than Carter's usual.

"The Fishers From Outside"

by Lin Carter

originally published Crypt of Cthulhu #54, Eastertide 1988

Winslow Sloan is hired as an assistant by a Prof. Mayhew and taken to Africa on an expedition to find Lost Zimbabwe.  They find it, and something called "The Black Stone", a ten-sided sculpted stone with disturbing figures on each face.  It's what Mayhew has been searching for.  

Back home in the States, Sloan gets more and more uncomfortable as Mayhew digs deeper and deeper into the usual literature.  One night, Mayhew sends him on a (truly) pointless mission so he can be free to try out a ritual related to the stone.  Sloan gets back in time to see Mayhew being eaten by shantaks.

Very minor stuff from Carter, but short enough to make it an enjoyable enough bit of pulp horror.

"The Double Tower"

by Lin Carter

originally published Weird Tales, Winter, 1973

Zloigm the Necromancer is a serpent-man, living millenia before the rise of humankind.  He's also an expert in his profession of collecting sorcerous information from numerous and arcane sources.

His studies direct him to a being called Cryxyxll, an alien life form on another world that takes the form of a sentient mold.  Determining that this thing has info he needs, Zloigm pursues various magical means to make contact.  Although he does so, the results are disappointing.

Zloigm goes for a walk in his garden, and finds things changed.  So, too, his remote tower home has also been transformed.  Soon he finds his mind has been transferred into the mold, while the mold-thing's mind now inhabits his own serpentine body.  No biggie, he thinks - he'll summon one of his magical servants to right things.  Only then he realizes that, as a mold, he has no mouth to speak the necessary magical words...

Had Lin been reading Harlan Ellison?

An amusing little Klarkash-Tonian pastiche.

"Something in the Moonlight"

by Lin Carter

originally published Weird Tales #2, Zebra, 1981

Charles Winslow Curtis, M.D., goes to work at Dunhill Sanitarium in Santiago, CA in 1949.  There he is introduced to patient Uriah Horby, a seemingly normal and un-insane fellow - except that he fears the moonlight, and something that comes with it.  He's been studying the usual sources and trying various rituals to banish or at least keep at bay something that he believes comes with the moon.  Being a dip, Doc Curtis helps him gather materials from various libraries.

Unfortunately, the thing he needs most turns out to be illegible and cannot be copied.  Even more unfortunately, Horby isn't so nuts, and on a particularly moonlit night, something black and fishy rises from the nearby marsh and carries him off.

An entertaining bit of pulp spookery.  Nothing more.

"The Scroll of Morloc"

by Lin Carter
originally published Fantastic, October 1975

Yhemog is a shaman of the Voormis.  Pissed-off after having been passed up again for high priest, Yhemog decides he is now an atheist, and wants to stick it to the worship of Tsathoggua.

The Scroll of Morloc is an artifact housed in the Temple of Tsathoggua, sacred to the rival deity Rhan-Tegoth and his followers, the Gnoph-Keh.  Yhemog decides to take the scroll and perform the ritual in the temple, thus to defile it.

He gets into the temple, frees the scroll, performs the ritual, and finds himself transformed into a Gnoph-Keh.  Temple guards, finding a Gnoph-Keh in the temple, kill it quick.

Another amusing C.A. Smith pastiche.