Brian M. Sammons/Glynn Owen Barrass(ed.) – World War Cthulhu

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Brian M. Sammons & Glynn Owen Barrass (ed.) – World War Cthulhu (Dark Regions Press, 2014, 360 pages)

Contents:

Introduction
John Shirley - Loyalty
Stephen Mark Rainey - The Game Changers
T. E. Grau - White Feather
W. H. Pugmire - To Hold Ye White Husk
Robert M. Price - Sea Nymph’s Son
Edward M. Erdelac - The Boonieman
Neil Baker - The Turtle
David Conyers & David Kernot - The Bullet and the Flesh
William Meikle - Broadsword
Charles Christian - Long Island Weird: The Lost Interviews
Josh Reynolds - The Yoth Protocols
Lee Clark Zumpe - A Feast Of Death
Christine Morgan - The Ithiliad
Konstantine Paradias - The Sinking City
Cody Goodfellow - The Shape of a Snake
C. J. Henderson - Mysterious Ways
Edward Morris - Magna Mater
Brian M. Sammons & Glynn Owen Barrass - Dark Cell
Pete Rawlik - Cold War, Yellow Fever
Darrell Schweitzer - Stragglers from Carrhae
Tim Curran - The Procyon Project
Jeffrey Thomas - Wunderwaffe


This is not to be confused with World War Cthulhu published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd in 2013, edited by Jonathan Oliver. Same title, never a good thing.

A lot of solid entertaining entries. The topical range is wider then in its British counterpart as it is not only concentrating on WWII. As the theme commands a more hands on approach in storytelling, there also isn't much of those pretentious plotless word painting you often find in Cthulhu anthologies. Also there are no reprints, this is all original material. As a bonus there are illustrations for all stories.

The more memorable ones were:

Stephen Mark Rainey - The Game Changers
A tale of Vietnam. A patrol of G.I. in the jungle stumble upon a clandestine weapons test with material from another dimension.

T. E. Grau - White Feather
In the American Revolutionary War an enterprising Captain stumbles upon a colony of Innsmouth people with predictable results.

David Conyers and David Kernot - The Bullet and the Flesh
Harrison Peel and Emerson Ash are two soldiers working for covert operations. In Zimbabwe they are hunting a convoy of black market weapons. But the weapons are the spawn of Shub-Niggurath. It is a nice action story written like something of Andy McNab.

William Meikle - Broadsword
In WWII the Mi-Go suddenly take an interest in the war and threaten to destroy both London and Berlin. A commando is despatched.

How can you resist a story beginning with "Broadsword calling Danny Boy"?

Charles Christian - Long Island Weird: The Lost Interviews
The American Gold Coast in WWII. The story tells about the "Long Island Incident", from the viewpoint of different witnesses. It is a bit rambling, but also well written, as each of the interrogations and interviews has a distinct voice. From a house bought by William Hearst to a sunken Nazi-U-Boat and alcohol smugglers, there were a lot of nice ideas.

Josh Reynolds - The Yoth Protocols
In the 50s FBI agents Sarlowe and the enigmatic and creepy Indrid Cold are either hunting commies or controlling those monsters under the earth. In Oklahoma they check on the entrance to one of those cities deep in the earth and find disaster. This is a nice story, kind of Hoover's X-Files and the Cold War. Some great ideas here.

Pete Rawlik - Cold War, Yellow Fever
Another Cold War tale, this time what really happened at the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is a riff on The Colour out of Space and King in Yellow. American spies and Russian spies, battling Cthulhu & Co and having to work together because the monsters take over a Cuban city. Also some original ideas and very atmospheric.

With 22 stories this is a big anthology. Like its British counterpart it is doubtless one of the better realized Cthulhu themed anthologies on the market.