"Discovery of the Ghooric Zone"

 by Richard Lupoff  

originally published Chrysalis, August 1977

It's March 15 2337 and the starship Khons with its crew of nymphomaniac cyborgs is bouncing around Pluto when they discover Yuggoth and its satellite/neighbors Thog and Thok, Lovecraft's "Ghooric Zone".  The date is significant, being the day of HPL's death.  One crewmen is versed in Lovecraftian and wonders how HPL could have known of these planets in his time.  They make a landing on Thog.  There they find terrifying cyclopean ruins straight out of "At the Mountains of Madness".  To their dismay, they also find shoggoths...

This is a pretty friggin' weird story, written in a cinematic style that abruptly cuts from scenes of the main tale to scenes from the history of earth in future centuries to the moment of Lovecraft's demise and its place in history.  The endless descriptions of the cyborg crew get tiresome and silly, end even moreso their sexual antics, which seem like 70's era attempts at shock now.  That being said the exploration of Thog, which accounts for the final couple pages, are pretty damn evocative but I wish the two dozen that preceded it had been as interesting.  

"Lights! Camera! Shub-Niggurath!"

by Richard A, Lupoff 

originally published The New Lovecraft Circle, Fedogan and Bremer, 1996

On a planet-sized space station called Starret, the entertainment industry is #1.  Far future.  They decide to make a film version of "The Dunwich Horror".  They do so.  It's a big hit all over the known universe.

I really had to struggle to get through this one.  It's not funny and it's not fun.

"The Whisperers"

by Richard A. Lupoff
originally published Fantastic, September 1977

Mario Cipolla and Annie Epstein work for the Millbrook High school paper, and have a chance to interview the hottest rock group around, The Whisperers, before their show at San Francisco's Winterland.

The Whisperers are apparently a synth/vocal duo, and all their songs are about the Great Old Ones, etc.  Mario and Annie watch their sound check and Mario starts to feel weird.  During the interview, The Whisperers tell Mario that they are using the concert audience as part of a ritual to unleash The Great Old Ones.

Pretty superficial stuff that mostly shows Lupoff knew the local mainstream rock scene in SF in the 70's.  Somewhat prophetic in imagining a synth/vocal duo, but the idea that such an outfit singing about obscure occultisms would get critical acclaim and hits is a bit much for this rock fan to swallow.  

"The Adventure of the Voorish Sign"

by Richard A. Lupoff

originally published Shadows Over Baker Street, 2002

Holmes and Watson are visited byLady Fairclough, whose husband has disappeared and whose brother has married a sinister foreign woman.  Their marriage ceremony was off, too, being presided over by a mysterious priestess who made a bizarre hand gesture that Lady F. cannot even replicate. This vague info is enough to tip off Holmes, who leads them all to the Lady's family home, known as the Anthracite Palace.

There, her new sister-in-law unabashedly invites them all to take part in a ceremony sponsored by her religion, the Wisdom Temple of the Dark Heavens.  Everyone agrees.  

Holmes fills Watson in on his secret library of occult tomes, which skips the usual titles but does contain the complete works of Arthur Machen(!).  And he explains his certainty that the mysterious hand gestures is surely the "Voorish Sign", a magical pass of great power and evil.  

Ceremony time!  Holmes and Watson sabotage the attempt to summon some extra-dimensional horror, and dynamite the castle, escaping in time with Lady Fairclough and her brother.

An amusing enough tale, but pretty minor stuff.  Interestingly, Lupoff portrays Watson ala Nigel Bruce's interpretation, as a bumbling boob, rather than the more traditional Doyle-esque Watsons.