originally published New Dimensions 7, 1977
Frankenstein's monster lives. That is to say, he's still lost in the arctic as he was at the end of Frankenstein. Unable to die, he survives natural disasters and wanders lonely and miserable. He finds a shipwreck and takes supplies from it. He finds himself in a another world inside the hollow earth. He avoids and fights dinosaurs, and a giant ape (which he kills). He finds a race of primitive men who dwell in city-states. He becomes a warlord and, eventually, an emperor. He is deposed. He journeys deeper into the earth. He encounters giant white birds that cry "Tekeli-li!" He encounters the star-headed old ones, and shoggoths. He escapes. He emerges from the underworld and sees Moby Dick fighting the Pequod.
"Black As The Pit.." is one wild ride, tying up "hollow earth" theorists John Cleve Symmes and Jeremiah Reynolds, the Franklin Expedition, Poe's Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, King Kong, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Lovecraft and probably several more I'm missing.
Howard Waldrop is a Southern sci-fantasy author with a long career. not much fame, but a fair amount of respect. This is the only tale of his I've read and, based on this one, I'd like to read more. About Steven Utley I know even less but his "Silurian Tales" sound pretty interesting. Now let's get down to this puppy: "Black As The Pit.." won an award, I believe. Not undeservedly because it's a hell of a lot of fun. It's place in the HPL world is pretty tentative, to be honest - the star-heads and shoggoths make only a cameo appearance. Nonetheless, it suggests the ways the various genres and authors outputs can be blended. It's a very fun story and well worth a read.
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