Black wings III

his third installment of S. T. Joshi s critically acclaimed Black Wings series contains seventeen stories by some of the foremost writers in contemporary weird fiction, using the ideas, imagery, and atmosphere of H. P. Lovecraft s tales as springboards. Jonathan Thomas opens the book with a chilling tale of biological horror set in Lovecraft s native Providence, Rhode Island. Caitlín R. Kiernan melds brooding melancholy with Lovecraftian cosmicism in her tale, while Simon Strantzas weaves an ingenious variant on Lovecraft s concept of the ghoul. Darrell Schweitzer and Donald Tyson probe the notion of alternate worlds in their tales. This volume takes the reader on imaginative journeys around the world. Don Webb finds Lovecraftian horror in the wilds of Texas; Peter Cannon s characters encounter the denizens of Innsmouth on a trip to China; Mollie L. Burleson enlivens the American Southwest with terrors out of history. Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., revivifies Lovecraft s ancient New England seaport of Kingsport, Massachusetts, while in their collaborative tale W. H. Pugmire and Jessica Amanda Salmonson do the same with Lovecraft s iconic Arkham. The volume concludes with a searching rumination on Lovecraft s early tale From Beyond by Brian Stableford. Black Wings III demonstrates how H. P. Lovecraft s work continues to inspire some of the best in contemporary weird writing. CONTENTS Introduction by S. T. Joshi Houdini Fish Jonathan Thomas Dimply Dolly Doofy Donald R. Burleson The Hag Stone Richard Gavin Underneath an Arkham Moon Jessica Amanda Salmonson & W. H. Pugmire Spiderwebs in the Dark Darrell Schweitzer One Tree Hill (The World as Catalysm) Caitlín R. Kiernan The Man with the Horn Jason V. Brock Hotel del Lago Mollie L. Burleson Waller Donald Tyson The Megalith Plague Don Webb Down Black Staircases Joseph S. Pulver, Sr China Holiday Peter Cannon Necrotic Cove Lois Gresh The Turn of the Tide Mark Howard Jones Weltschmerz Sam Gafford Thistle s Find Simon Strantzas Further Beyond Brian Stableford