Jared Shurin [ed.] – The Book Of The Dead

[dem bones]

Many thanks to Jared Shurin for the Jurassic survival kit which arrived in yesterday's post, "two books of mummies & one novelette with an alien possessed zombie monster (Lovecraftian, no less)."

Jared Shurin [ed.] – The Book Of The Dead (Jurassic London, 2013)

Garen Ewing

John J. Johnston – Introduction: “Some Words from an Egyptologist”

Paul Cornell – Ramesses on the Frontier
Jesse Bullington – Escape from the Mummy’s Tomb
David Thomas Moore – Old Souls
Lou Morgan – Her Heartbeat, An Echo
Molly Tanzer – Mysterium Tremendum
Adam Roberts – Tollund
Gail Carriger – The Curious Case of the Werewolf that Wasn’t, The Mummy that Was and the Cat in the Jar
Jenni Hill – The Cats of Beni Hasan
Maurice Broaddus – Cerulean Memories
Michael West – Inner Goddess
Sarah Newton – The Roof of the World
Glen Mehn – Henry
David Bryher – The Dedication of Sweetheart Abbey
Den Patrick – All is Dust
Maria Dahvana Headley – Bit-U-Men
Jonathan Green – Egyptian death and the afterlife: mummies (Rooms 62-3)
Louis Greenberg – Akhenaten Goes to Paris
Roger Luckhurst – The Thing of Wrath
Will Hill – Three Memories of Death

Blurb:
The Book of the Dead addresses the most fascinating of all the undead: the mummy. The mummy can be a figure of imperial dignity or one of shambling terror, at home in pulp adventure, contemporary drama, or apocalyptic horror. The anthology is published in collaboration with the Egypt Exploration Society, the UK's oldest independent funder of archaeological fieldwork and research in Egypt, dedicated to the promotion and understanding of ancient Egyptian history and culture.

This anthology includes nineteen original stories of revenge, romance, monsters and mayhem, ranging freely across time periods, genres and styles. The stories are illustrated by Garen Ewing, creator of The Adventures of Julius Chancer and introduced by John J. Johnston, Vice Chair of the Egypt Exploration Society.

Available from Jurassic

With grateful thanks to Jared Shurin, John J Johnston, and Maria J Pérez Cuervo

[dem bones]

Two stories in. If they are all as strong as this pair, we're in for an interesting time of it. Ironic that one of the characters - the shrewdest, as it turns out - has already dismissed mummies as "just zombies wrapped up in rags." Seems there's a bit more to them than that!

Garen Ewing Escape from the Mummy’s Tomb

Jesse Bullington – Escape from the Mummy’s Tomb: A teenage love triangle. Seth Rashul, a Londoner bullied by his peers on account of his dark skin and Egyptian roots, strongly identifies with Boris Karloff's character, Ardath Bay, in The Mummy, who eventually gained his revenge on the English tomb-defilers. Seth has a crush on Richard, aka 'Wolfman,' his best pal and fellow horror fan, who, our wannabe Pharaoh believes, is a reincarnation of his beloved Princess. The fly in the ointment is Kelly Webb, a spiky Goth who Richard has taken to snogging the face off in the back row of the cinema. Seth initially despises "the Karnstein chippie," until she drags him on a date in Abney Park Cemetery, unwittingly instigating a violent racist attack.

Lou Morgan – Her Heartbeat, An Echo: Dave, a night-watchman at the British Museum, falls in love with the mummy in the golden mask whose heart rests at her feet in a cat-headed jar. But the exhibition lasts only three months before the Princess's remains are once again boxed up and flown on to New York. Dave, mortified at losing her, causes a commotion and has to be escorted from the building. The lonely, tired Princess shares his grief.

[dem bones]

Michael West – Inner Goddess: Professor Masters, expert Pathologist and predatory bondage-freak, ensnares young co-ed Elizabeth Wilson in his long established sex-for-good-grades racket. Perhaps fortunately for Elizabeth, the University is examining the mummified remains of several Priests and Priestesses of Bast at the time. The Cat-headed Goddess seemingly manifests in the lab, encouraging Elizabeth to take hideous revenge. Not only a properly horrible horror story, but the nearest thing I've read to a Fifty Shades Of Grey / Blood From The Mummy's Tomb mash-up.

Den Patrick – All is Dust: Jeremy, a poor little rich kid, steals three Caponic jars from the British Museum for use in a cocaine smuggling operation, only to abandon his harebrained scheme when news of the theft is broadcast across the World's media. Too bad his stash is now contaminated with the dust of centuries dead Pharaohs! On sampling the wares, Moon, a particularly rebellious art student and the daughter of the Egyptian Ambassador in London, is possessed by the spirit of Sobekneferu who is not in forgiving mood.

[dem bones]

"You young ones want the scares and blood of it all. Always with the blood - never enough evisceration for your prurient minds. But for us, the old folks, we cling to the hope of contact with the other side ...."

After the twin horrors of yesterday, a relatively gentle interlude.

David Thomas Moore – Old Souls: They meet by chance on a railway platform. Did she-who-was-once-Phoebe but realise it, they have much catching up to do - several thousand years worth. As the narrator ruefully reflects, the reunion of soul mates century by century isn't the Paradise its cracked up to be.

Jenni Hill – The Cats of Beni Hasan: As a rule, I'd have nothing to do with talking cats, but Dr. Rashid Shenouda's brood have a grisly revenge story to share and their version of events following the desecration of a temple is far more reliable than that of the Doctor's. As told to Monty, aged beagle of Prof. Elizabeth Cricklewood who, we fear, will not long survive her visit.

Not exactly The Orgy Of Bubastis but then, nothing is, and for that we should be eternally grateful.

Nobody here but us mummies

Maurice Broaddus – Cerulean Memories: JaQuon Wilson, a nine-year-old latch-key kid, skips school to visit the creepy old guy who buys artefacts of the dead. JaQuon wishes to sell his late brother's skateboard. Our brave little hoody leaves considerably richer and, likely, traumatised for life, having become the only other person to set eyes on the centrepiece of the macabre collection. Nasty!


Eight stories in (I'm struggling to do Paul Cornell's opener any kind of justice. Imagine a version of Nick Cave & the Bad Seed's Dig! Lazarus! Dig!" with Ramesses I loose in America), not a duffer among them. Pop culture references to date include Facebook likes, Silk Cut, Tron: Legacy, Public Image Limited, TENA Lady, and "IKEA is what happens to people in lower tax brackets."

[dem bones]

Molly Tanzer - Mysterium Tremendum: Harriet Quildring is selling off several ghastly mummified items from her late husband's collection, chief among them, a cat said to have belonged to Nehesy, "The Black Pharaoh." Desperate to score brownie points with Dr. Ingolstadt, her immediate supervisor at Miskatonic University, Marjorie Olenthiste, junior acquisitions librarian, agrees to a date with the old bat's wretched nephew. Edgar takes her to the Coliseum Theatre for a performance by his handsome and slightly notorious friend, Petar Zupan, stage magician. The Maestro's speciality is the public mummification of a plucky volunteer from the audience. Against all her instincts, Marjorie steps forth ....

[andydecker]

I read two of Tanzer's stories in Cthulhu anthologies. I liked them a lot. A promising writer.

[dem bones]

Nov 15, 2015 19:41:17 GMT andydecker said:

I read two of Tanzer's stories in Cthulhu anthologies. I liked them a lot. A promising writer.

For a story set in Arkham which references Miskatonic Library early on, Mysterium Tremendum is far from the "Ichor of the Squamous ones" nonsense I was dreading, though there's a likeable almost-early-Weird Tales feel to it. Something I've greatly enjoyed about Book Of The Dead is that so many of the authors are new to me but to date they have all delivered.

[andydecker]

The story The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins is more Clark Ashton Smith then the usual Lovecraft. Hour of the Tortoise is more difficult to categorize and doesn't work as well at the end. For my taste, I hasten to add. But I think you can read her in small doses only.

You are right, dem. There are a lot of good writers in those anthologies. It is kind of sad that most of them will never get the recognition or even success they deserve because the publications remains obscure.  

[dem bones]

Nov 15, 2015 21:24:17 GMT andydecker said:

You are right, dem. There are a lot of good writers in those anthologies. It is kind of sad that most of them will never get the recognition or even success they deserve because the publications remains obscure.  

I emphasise that many of the authors are new to me. Reading the bio's at back, several have impressive track records as professionally published novelists, screenwriters (Dr. Who, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc), editors and what have you. Post Christmas, am planning to invest in a copy of companion volume, Unearthed, which opens with Going Forth By Night, John J. Johnson's history of the mummy in popular lit.

Jonathan Green – Egyptian death and the afterlife: mummies (Rooms 62-3): One of the shorter pieces. The security guard keeping watchful eye over the mummified remains of Priestess Henutmehyt has been diligently performing his task for far longer than his current employers could possibly imagine.

[dem bones]

Variety! A throwback to Conan-Doyle this next, featuring an overbearing psychic sleuth.

Roger Luckhurst – The Thing of Wrath: A Victorian Gentlemen's Club setting for the controversial Professor Ferrara's bizarre account of a murder investigation in London, 1880. Three men - one the most prominent Orientalist of his day - have been done to death thuggee style, in and around the British Museum, one of several strange aspect of the case being that, on each occasion, the ligature was improvised from scraps of newspaper. The culprit is eventually identified as a demented young demon-raiser who must destroy a pair of inscribed slabs before he can summon the Devourer of Souls! You might be wondering how a mummy fits into all this? Don't come expecting the usual shambler in mouldering bandages is all I'm prepared to give away.

[dem bones]

Louis Greenberg – Akhenaten Goes to Paris: "Hows monotheism treating you these days?"

Akhenaten travels to the French capital to pays a visit to his father at the Petit Palace. Long used to arousing suspicion, our hero opts to travel by crate (when you're held together by a body-stocking and prone to flaking, customs officials are one hassle you can do without). It's been several years since his previous visit, and there is much new to marvel at; the magnificent architecture; the splendid Metro system; the chic Goths; the casual and not-so-casual racism of certain elements of Parisien society ....

True to form, the old man, aka Amenhotep III, stubbornly refuses to rejoin the living - rather brood in storage until the next exhibition than suffer the company of "the rats, those creatures we were cursed to spawn" - but Akhenaten feels genuine warmth toward the modern world, even if it is not always civil to him.

As Franklin recently noted in regard to the UK Subs Party In Paris, this bittersweet fantasy has acquired an added poignancy in light of last Friday's atrocities.

[dem bones]

Garen Ewing

Tell them about the honey mummy ....

Maria Dahvana Headley – Bit-U-Men:

To date, our mummies have been a sympathetic bunch overall though not, I stress, in a sick-making "reluctant vampire" way. The nameless hero of Bit-U-Men is arguably the most tragic of all.

Chicago, 1924. In the continued absence of his gallivanting, globe-trotting father, young Chet Savor is managing the Savor Sweet factory, and hating it. An aspiring poet, Chet is in awe of his father's super-efficient secretary, Miss Klein, who invariably over-rides his decisions and treats him like a nuisance retard. Part of the problem is that Miss Klein - who'd be stunningly attractive if only she wouldn't dress like a dowdy widow - has no interest in men .... until Savor snr. mails Chet a crate which he is advised to open with the utmost care. Yes, the old man has invested in a mummy. Not just any old mummy, but a mellified man, preserved in honey. Mr. Savor intends to grind him to powder for use as the secret ingredient in a new candy bar. The mummy is perfectly OK with this, in fact, he volunteered for the position. "I was lonely. I was in the dark for a long, long time. I came to be of use." The effect on Miss Klein is astonishing. Suddenly it is "call me Shira," and she flings herself at the mellified man in a most un-Miss Klein-like way. Shira whisks him away to her hotel room for mutually satisfying love action and, to Chet's dismay, they shack up, never to part until she's literally eaten his face off (relax, it's a very slow process, a few skin flakes at a time and he's good for a couple of decades yet). The candy bars are a huge success. Chet and Miss Klein are wed on the understanding that he keep to his own room while she spends her nights in bed with the mummy. Everybody is as "happy" as they are likely to be. But the author is prone to lobbing in a tragi-comic grenade when you least expect, and there are twists and turns aplenty before this (pun seriously unintended) bitter-sweet fantasy plays out. Another strong best-of-book contender.

[dem bones]

Back among the hollowed out dead.

David Bryher – The Dedication of Sweetheart Abbey: No one could doubt the Lady Dervoguilla of Galway's devotion to her late husband, John Balloil, but stitching his dessicated remains to her back is perhaps taking this whole inseparable-even-in-death thing too far. When illicit lovers, Brother Seth and Brother Ares, earn her displeasure, she resolves to make an example of them. The new Abbey will stand as testimony to their passion. Strictly not for the squeamish. Even hardened readers may require emergency throw up in nearest bin après juicy bits.

[dem bones]

Adam Roberts - Tollund: Jutland, 1333 A.H (Alternative History?). When Gamul joins the archaeological team at Tollund he finds his colleagues in denial over the series of mysterious deaths surrounding the dig. "The fact is, there's a certain type of Egyptian who likes nothing better than grisly stories of the bog mummies, coming to life and turning human victims to sludge." Hussain Gurbati and the team are forced to re-evaluate their position when the mummy takes to picking them off.

The bog man, revived by nanotechnology, is indirectly responsible for several spectacularly revolting deaths. Its victims suffer instant decomposition or explode in meaty chunks. It is as well for us that those who reanimated him - life forms from the distant future who have mastered time travel - mean humanity no harm!

[dem bones]

"Blasted English, blemishing about the world. Is nowhere safe?"

Gail Carriger - The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn’t, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar: Set in something called the Parasol Protectorate universe ("Parasolverse"), which, coupled with title, initially scared me off. Get past those obstacles and it's actually good fun.

The chief parasol babe is Miss Alexia Tarabotti, who, I'm led to believe, is one of those 'steampunkers' all you 'way out' young creatures are so gaga about. Anyway, she's not in this one. It's her dad, Alessandro, and Floote, his imperturbable valet, take centre stage. Mr. Tarabotti is a 'spell-breaker' and international Dandy of mystery in the employ of the Templars. He's quite the all round sportsman, too (pugilism and spin bowling are specialities). When the occasion demands, he gads about the continent in a gold jacket, with invisible pockets for weapon storage.

Setting is Luxor in an alternate 1841. Balloon travel is big, the supernatural has been integrated into the daily scheme of things (at least, it has in the British Isles: Rest of the World wisely regard the idea of consorting with vampires and werewolves as an abomination that can only end badly). A shady archaeologist has sought out Alessandro's assistance in , presumably, reviving a mummified were-jackal, half-in, half-out of human shape. Opposing interested parties include a werewolf - whose shape-changing abilities are restricted to British soil, and, on behalf of Her Majesty, 'Glory of Empire' xenophobe Baronet Percy Phinkerlington, the alt-day's equivalent of a Hooray Henry.

Sub-plot involves a dead cat in a glass of formaldehyde.

Put it like this. We've strayed far from A Visitor From Egypt/ The Mummy's Ghost comfort zone.