Robert M. Price (ed.)– Shub-Niggurath Cycle (Chaosium 1994, 227 p.)
Among the most familiar names in the Lovecraftian litany, Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Wood, the Goat with a Thousand Young, is never met personally in Lovecraft's stories, but is often referred to in rituals and spells. This deity was spread and adapted as Lovecraft crafted and revised tales spawned by other authors. Here for the first time in a comprehensive collection of all the relevant tales concerning Shub-Niggurath.Introduction - Robert M. Price
The Horn of Vapula (1932) - Lewis Spence
The Demoniac Goat (1947) - M. P. Dare
The Ghostly Goat of Glaramara (1979) - J. S. Leatherbarrow
The Moon-Lens (1964) - Ramsey Campbell
The Ring of the Hyades (1989) - John S. Glasby
A Thousand Young (1989) - Robert M. Price
The Seed of the Star-God [Simon of Gitta] (1984) - Richard L. Tierney
Harold's Blues (1976) - Glen Singer
Dreams in the House of Weir (1980) - Lin Carter
Visions from Yaddith (1988) - poem by Lin Carter
Prey of the Goat - Margaret L. Carter
Sabbath of the Black Goat - Stephen Mark Rainey
The Curate of Temphill (1993) -Peter Cannon and Robert M. Price
Grossie - David Kaufman
To Clear the Earth - Will Murray
At least editor Price plays fair with his readers and states beforehand that Shubb-Niggurath is not much more than a cool sounding name Lovecraft amused himself with, mostly in his revisions. It didn't hinder Price to make an anthology out of this nothing, though.
To say that this is a waste of money and effort would be unfair. There
are some nice stories included, unfortunately those are the two Jamesian stories by Lewis Spence and M.P. Dare, which have a goat in it. If this is enough, I guess
How I Met your Mother qualifies as Mythos TV either, there were three episodes with a goat in it. I wondered why Dare's
The Demoniac Goat wasn't included in any of those Satanist anthologies by Haining or others when checking. It is not earth-shattering, but okay with its satanist Reverend Tudor. (I wondered if the name was supposed to be a historic joke.) And maybe Spence really read Lovecraft and thought: Goat!
Apart from the The Moon-Lens, an early Campbell, and Harold's Blues by Glen Singer, who at least tries to do something new, the rest are mostly the worst of pastiche writing. Lin Carter's "poem" are 4 pages of verse which qualify at best for a fanzine, but not a professional publication. His story - in which the editor again constructs a far-fetched reason why it belongs here - is an example of the dullest pastiche writing 101, right down to the italics ending.
John Glasby's story is also a dull Mythos pastiche, and while M.L.Carter's story has sex as the topic, a few good ideas and a decent ending, its hero only needs to think of a cross to repel beastly Shubb-Niggurath possessing his comatose wife. To convert – and de-mythologize - HPLs ideas to a Christian good vs. evil concept may arguably August Derleth's worst sin; this here is a good example why this is so preposterous.
The less is said about the two Price contributions is the better, and Tierney's Simon of Gitta Fantasy story is a matter of taste; I thought it deadly dull - as all the Simon stories - and the connection to the Mythos is reaching.
