"The Howler in the Dark"

by Richard L. Tierney
originally published Crypt of Cthulhu No. 24, Lammas, 1984

Irving Hamilton, and American architect and antiquarian (surprise) and his Brit Clyde Mayfield are on foot in the highlands(I think), and come face-to-face with the ruins of Duncaster Abbey ("How delightfully gothic!" sez Irv).  It turns out the Abbey is occupied, by a couple of weird Americans no one likes very much.

At the local bookshop, Hamilton learns the history of the Abbey.  Built by Hugo de Taran in 12 century, with a nasty rep for playing host to pagan rites and human sacrifice. Eventually in the 17th century the church of Scotland descended and burned the witches.

People are going missing in the community, and the two American weirdos are prime suspects.  Irv and Clyde pay a visit to the two oddballs (named John Taggart and "Pitts" - no front name given).  The place is mostly in ruins, and the library contains the usual suspects (gimme an N!).  While visiting, they hear a weird howling, and Taggart `n' Pitts excuse themselves to deal with it.

The next day Hamilton reads of an outbreak of a strange disease called "screaming death" among American visitors to the UK.  

They decide to pay another visit to the Abbey.  They find Taggart/Pitt are out and decide to go exploring.  They find the local Constable in the dungeon in a bad state - a living head somehow kept alive ala Futurama.

This is actually a fun little tale and Tierney builds up some nice atmosphere, but its basically a rehash of Derleth/Lovecraft pastiches with a particularly silly ending which robs it of its punch.

"Countdown for Kalara"

by Richard L. Tierney

originally published Space and Time # 56, 1980

John Taggart is a student with a crap job, no money, and a hard-on against the human race.  One night he finds what appears to be a shotgun in the snow.  No ordinary shotgun - when you look through the site, you find not our world, but the world of the Jurassic era.  Not only that, if you pull the trigger, you shoot what you targeted in the site - in the Jurassic era.  Lucky John brings down a pterodactyl.

Moments later, a smokin' hot space chick appears in the basement of his apartment and picks him up and carries him off to her spaceship.

Not long after, John's former schoolmate, Jeremy Pitts, another intellectual and nihilist, and five weird-ass aliens materialize nearby and start searching for John.

 Meanwhile, John finds himself interrogated about the gun, something called "The Alliance", and discovers the ship has left earth - or rather, has left the present.  It, and he, are back in the Jurassic.  And he sees the hot chick (whose name, it tuns out, is Ylandra) and her male cohort handing the gun back to members of The Great Race.  John escapes from the ship and runs smack into his ol' buddy Pitts and his alien buddies.

Pitts informs him that he left the gun for him (John) to find, cuz he wanted John to join him on his quest to rid the prehistoric galaxy of the Kalarans, a race of basically humans who are nominally under the protection of The Great Race.  With the burgeoning war between the cone-bods and the flying polyps, Pitts figures The Great Race will be distracted while he blow up Kalara.  Oh, and by the way - Ylandra and her buddy are Kalarans.

Much space-opera action ensues, including daring escapes and the wackiest assortment of aliens this side of the cantina scene in "Star Wars".  John sides with Ylandra, but they cannot save Kalara.  Stealing a ship that can move through time, Ylandra drops John off back in the 20th century, while she flies off to some unknowable future.  John realizes that the asteroids and debris around Jupiter are the remains of Kalara, destroyed millions of years ago.

This is a wild space-opera, pure "Star Wars" stuff. It is, in fact, a sequel to P. Schuyler Miller's "The Sands of Time", a 1937 short story about time travel (this story, as well as "Countdown for Kalara", can be found in Chaosium's The Yith Cycle collection), and its Lovecraft connection is limited to a cameo appearance and an extended discussion of their history.  The story's probably more of interest to Miller fans than Lovecraft fans.  But it is a fun ride.