"Saucers From Yaddith"

by Robert M. Price
originally published Etchings and Odysseys No.5, 1984

Narrator is part of a circle of artists and seekers.  He's giving an interview to a reporter from a tabloid, cuz only they are likely to print such a story.  They've tried meditations, occult.  Narrator wants to try hallucinogenics.  Interested in the work of a Dr. Martin Rhadamanthus, and a Dr. Phineas Whitmore.  Decides to dose himself.  He experiences bizarre visual and auditory hallucinations, and encounters a pair or insect-like entities.  He has a strange sense of something having been done to him physically.  When he visits a doctor not long after, he's surprised to learn that his blood type has somehow changed from O to A.

His researches lead him to Rhadamanthus, whose own researches have led him to a 17th century work on "organic transposition", which describes the same kind of hallucinations the narrator experienced uder the influence.  There is mention of another realm called "Yaddith".

He persuades the group to take mescaline with him.  When he comes out of it, he finds his buddies have been dismembered and sewn together into a human lattice structure.  He hacks it to pieces with an axe, then flees … knowing that the Yaddithians are still watching him...

Despite my resistance to Price continually publishing his own stories in his anthologies, I won't deny he's a capable writer.  Here he seems to be channeling Ligotti - which I'm sure a lot of contemporary HPL fans like.  Me, not so much.  It's an interesting tale but nothing special.

"The Burrower Beneath"

by Robert M. Price
originally published Fungi #16, Fall 1997

Eibon seeks the secret of immortality in the writings of Koth-Serapis, an ancient sorceror (ancient even in Hyperborean times!!).   He determines that he must contact the spirit of K-S.  

He travels to a distant isle, and finds a spot to perform his ritual.  A dhole-like creature appears to him, and snarkily informs him that the secret of eternal life entails become a living, decaying corpse - and if you're cool with that, it can be done.

Eibon realizes that the dhole-like creature is K-S, and is dissuaded from his plan.

An amusing bit of Smith-iana.

"Annotations for the Book of Night"

by Robert M. Price

originally published Mythos Online #2, July, 1997

Eibon acquires a fragment of a book said to contain important magical secrets.  Every day, the book seems to repair itself and more information filled in.  The ghost of the original owner appears, and Eibon hands the book over.

Another amusing Smith-ian pastiche.

"The Incubus of Atlantis"

by Robert M. Price
originally published Cosmic Visions #7, September 1997

Klarkash-Ton, a reincarnation of Eibon, learns to astrally project himself into the bodies of others.  He uses this talent to get inside the bodies of men while they're screwing, thus enjoying himself with the Queen of the king who is is patron.

The court magician Mozillan takes note.  When K-A tries to take his woman, he traps K-A in a bottle of Atlantean wine.

Another amusing bit of Smith-iana.

"The Soul of the Devil-Bought"

by Robert M. Price
originally published Cthulhu Cultus #5, 1996

Dr. Anton Zarnak, and his houseboy, Singh, are summoned by Jacob Maitland to the Sanbourne Institute.  

It seems that Maitland not long ago paid a visit to Winfield Phillips (c.f. "The Winfield Heritance") in order to attemp to buy the rest of his inherited occult library.  He finds Phillips with a new roomate, a Native American named E-choc-taqus, and in pretty bad shape.  He is unwilling to sell the collection, and, in fact, wants the rest of it, already donated to the Institute, back.

Zarnak knows the rest.  He, Maitland and Singh trek out to Winfield's pad, and enter the underground chambers through a secret entrance in the graveyard nearby.  There, a yugg leads them to a confrontation with Hiram Stokely, Winfield's deceased relative who, it seems, had in fact taken over Winfield's bod.  Much mayhem ensues but Zarnak saves the day.

After some decent build-up, this quickly descends into some pretty minor pulp territory.  Fun but inconsequential.

"The Green Decay"

by Robert M. Price

originally published Nightscapes, June 1997

Nabulus, a solitary wizard, has a prob.  He never gets laid.  So he creates a bronze statue of the perfect woman, and summons a life-force to inhabit it. Now he has a girlfriend.

 Aimoth, an acolyte and student of Nabulus, takes a fancy to her and puts the moves on her.  Since Aimoth actually has some experience with chicks and is a better lay, she comes to prefer him.

Nabulus finds out, and puts a horrible curse on them both, called The Green Decay, which is just what it sounds like.  But he himself is found dead.

An amusing but ultimately forgettable Smith pastiche.