Dagon by Fred Chappell

[Middoth]

                                                                                                                     Dagon by Fred Chappell (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968)

                                                                              

                                                                                                   the cover of the Dave Ross from 1987 edition literally conveys the content

                         

The Reverend Peter Leland and his wife Sheila retire for a couple of months to write theological work and conceive the Reverend Jr. Their happiness is confused by ugly neighbors who may or may not be Deep Ones, dreams of underwater cities and a collection of shackles in the attic.

[Middoth]

the moon draws wrong has the wrong horn draws wrong has the wrong horn draws wrong has the wrong horn this night evermore this very night this night evermore this very night evermore this night evermore darkness Cthu—

[drauch]

I think about this one a lot. Not necessarily the ambiguous cosmic nature of it, but more-so the sleazy fetid house nearby that a chunk of the book is spent in. Its description channels a lot of odd, abandoned homes I've seen alongside the roads that I've always wondered what they were about.

[Middoth]

Europe is probably full of haunted houses.

In my city, at best, there are 2-3 houses that theoretically can house a ghost. But in reality, they only haunt one house... and it is out the city limits.

As for the book ... on the one hand it is good that there was not a single spoiler that could prepare me for it. Deep down I was expecting something like "Harvest Home"

What I liked was the disappointed expectations of the Cthulhu hounds.

The beginning of the book is very traditionally Lovecraftian despite the presence of a woman. The hero rummages through the correspondence and I still see the cultist's happy sigh when the word Sothoth comes across

Poacher Morgan looks to be the purest Deep One creature. His daughter Mina........"He couldn’t guess her age, maybe fourteen or fifteen or six­teen" . I reread it on purpose to make sure. Well, I didn't understand the secret of her noseless appeal. But with women you never know. If Deep Ones blood flowed in Leland's veins, this attraction would be more understandable.

But it was not like that!
Leland's further behavior goes beyond not only logic, but also the author's arbitrariness supported by plausibility.
I liked the character of Coke Rymer, he brought the plot to life a little.
And I would like a detailed description of the tattoo that was done to Leland, I did not quite understand what kind of drawing was applied to him

[andydecker]

Another one I never read. I bought it years ago in a translation and never came to it, read a few conflicting reviews from "boring" to "masterpiece" and thought it better to read it in its original because of the subtleties. But never looked it up. Hm, should post the cover.

Maybe someday ...

[Middoth]

It reminded me of movies: "Wake in Fright", "Nightmare Alley" and even "Martyrs".
The Cthulhists must be furious that they were being deceived.