Who’s in the mood for a little existential dread? More specifically, who is looking to dip their toes into the mystifying sub-genre of cosmic horror? While cosmic horror (or Lovecraftian horror) is a form of storytelling credited to renowned author H.P. Lovecraft (of whom readers will either consider a literary trailblazer or hugely problematic), it’s actually much scarier than aliens and tentacles and Cthulhu. And if you know me, I love when things get scary.
Stephen King once wrote in a 2019 Entertainment Weekly article: “Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there's little fun to be had in explanations; they're antithetical to the poetry of fear.” In context, King was referring to Hollywood’s tendency to place meaning and “big explanations” into a scary story, thus ruining the chilling mystery of the unknown, shining a light in a dark closet. But I personally believe the quote also sums up not only horror as a genre, but more specifically cosmic horror as a sub-genre.
Cosmic horror deals very specifically with the lack of explanation and logic, the fear of the unknown, the fear of man’s own insignificance in the cosmos, the loss of sanity in the wake of our reality being more alien than we thought. It’s about our purpose in life or our dreams, moralities, and human laws meaning absolutely nothing in an uncaring universe. Maybe that uncaring universe is filled with ancient uncaring gods or maybe it’s completely empty outside of our tiny blue planet. Regardless, that… is… terrifying!
Here are a few cosmic horror recommendations from diverse perspectives that reclaim and reimagine the Lovecraftian mythos and are excellent places to start if you want to get into the genre.
“Whatever is here is exterminating the last of us. Like a god.”
All the Fiends of Hell is a chilling story that opens with a sickly, bedridden man awakening in the middle of the night to the strange sound of bells. When he glances out his window, feverish and fatigued, he happens to witness all of his neighbors “falling up” into an alarmingly blood red sky. The next morning, he awakens alone, wondering if he’d had a terrible nightmare or if he’d truly seen his entire world raptured away. His small neighborhood in the south of England is silent, the doors to all the houses are left open as if their occupants had fled in a hurry, and there is no signal for his phone to operate. What has happened?
Having been impacted and inspired by H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds as well as real-life catastrophic events throughout our globe’s history—pandemics, world wars, etc.—All the Fiends of Hell is about mankind facing extinction in the wake of an unfathomable and unforeseen invasion by an unknown entity. We as readers along with the characters in the book aren't sure of what these invaders truly are. (Aliens? Angels? Gods?) They are simply an unknown threat to humanity. What’s brilliant about the apocalyptic terror Nevill has created is that he doesn’t dwell on the “how” and “why” of the horrors taking place, but instead wants readers to focus on human relationships when civilization has collapsed, the desperate need to survive, and the shattering of one’s sanity when our familiar, comfortable reality is no more. It taps into the very real fear of human beings’ irrelevance within the void of our illimitable universe. We, the readers, are reminded that while we might all feel safe in our homes for now, none of us are exempt from our worlds falling apart. Our sustained existence is not guaranteed.
Readers who love aliens, apocalyptic narratives, existential dread, and cosmic horror will devour this book.
"The houses had names and addresses and porch lights and welcome home mats on their doorsteps. By contrast, the shack defied shape. It defied color. It was an assortment of nondescript grays. There was definitely something about it. How had they never seen it before?"
Shelter for the Damned follows Mark, a troubled teenage boy who--surprise surprise--constantly feels misunderstood and wrongly judged by his parents and his peers. When he and his friends discover an abandoned shack where they can smoke cigarettes in secret, Mark senses something otherworldly within its walls, something that calls to him and makes him feel safe. After this first encounter, Mark starts to develop an obsession and constantly wants to return to the shack, selling it to his friends as a cool hang out where they can always smoke in secret. This idea, however, does not interest his friends who don’t understand his weird fascination. Nevertheless, the shack and whatever calls to him from inside becomes a drug from which Mark starts suffering withdrawals whenever he is distanced from it. As the story progresses, our protagonist starts to become restless, angry, paranoid, violent, and isolated--wishing to eradicate his dependence on the shack while simultaneously needing it desperately.
Themes of adolescence, rage, toxic masculinity and addiction are portrayed in a terrifying but comprehensible way, and the book manages to succeed in pulling at empathetic heartstrings while simultaneously delivering a very dark, surreal story that will occupy minds for ages.
“I bear a hell within me," Black Tom growled. "And finding myself unsympathized with, wished to tear up the trees, spread havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed the ruin.”
Urban fantasy meets cosmic horror in this dark novella reimagined from H.P. Lovecraft’s short story The Horror at Red Hook. Set in New York during the Harlem Renaissance, the story follows Charles “Tommy” Tester, a young black man hustling to provide for his ill father as both a musician and salesman of sorts. When an eccentric millionaire offers to pay him to play for a special party he is hosting, Tommy thinks he’s finally caught a break. Instead, he discovers he has come face to face with something incomprehensible to the human mind, a dormant force unfathomable to the sane.
This is not just a story of dark magic and kings and madness. This is a story of poverty, police brutality, racial injustice, and a black man’s rage. LaValle’s storytelling is powerful and the supernatural elements used to speak to his audience are what makes this novella perfect for folks new to cosmic horror.
A Different Darkness and Other Abominations
“Fear feeds on fear, in a vicious circle.”
Having previously read Italian author Luigi Musolino’s short story Uironda in Valancourt Press’ Book of World Horror Stories Vol. 1, I was thrilled to learn an entire collection of Musolino’s stories had been published.
A Different Darkness and Other Abominations is a mix of both folk horror and cosmic horror, each story delving into strange phenomena, myths, legends of Italian lore, bad omens, abominations of nature, and madness.
In Les Abominations des Altitudes, scientists find themselves immersed in the journal of a deceased climber who had journeyed up treacherous mountains and discovered a cursed object. Queen of the Sewers follows a young pregnant couple bothered by a nauseating smell they assume requires a plumbing fix, but are then faced with a creepy lore that’s hiding in their pipes. The Last Box blends unimaginable grief with circus contortionism, and in Black Hills of Torment, a town descends into madness after being imprisoned in a circle of dark mountains that appeared seemingly from nowhere. This collection also includes two novellas: Pupils in which the children of a small town start acting strange after they are told a dark story at school, and A Different Darkness in which parents grieving the disappearance of their child find solace and obsession in a bottomless hole found in their basement, a black void where they think they hear the sound of their child’s sweet laughter. Chills, chills, chills! Every word is filled with mystery and darkness and terror.
I have read many short story collections in my lifetime and I can honestly say there wasn’t a single story in this book I did not like. I loved all of them and am now a huge fan of author Luigi Musolino ! I truly hope the U.S. gets more translated editions of his work! Also bravo to James D. Jenkins for his brilliant translation work!
“Memories are powerful, even when they’re wrong. Believe a memory, and it becomes the past. Past shapes present, bound in a chain. The memory becomes real.”
A Light Most Hateful is about Olivia, a young woman working a boring job in the sleepy small town of Chapel Hill. She’s lived there 3 years after running away from home, and her only bright spot in her dreary existence is her best friend Sunflower. When a strange summer storm arrives and the residents of Chapel Hill start turning into mindless rage-zombies, Olivia must fight for survival and hunt down her best friend as reality begins to crumble. Cosmic, queer, trippy, and at times heart-wrenching, this was a story that was bizarre in the best way imaginable and there are some wild twists!!!
If I've convinced you to give the sub-genre of cosmic horror a try, here are more books and media to consume:
[HONORABLE MENTIONS]
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-Christina James is a Readers' Services Assistant at Lawrence Public Library.
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