Three years ago I purchased a copy of That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley and just never got around to reading it. Sometimes my TBR list just gets out of control.
When the publishers of That Which Should Not Be reached out to me about reviewing the sequel, He Who Walks In Shadow, I figured it would be a good idea to read Talley's first foray into the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft.
As much trouble as I've had reading many of the works of H.P. Lovecraft, I found myself easily engrossed in modern day tale of Lovecraftian horror. Talley covers many of the themes found in the writings of Lovecraft with Carter Weston setting out from Miskatonic University on a mission to obtain an ancient book known as the Incendium Maleficarum, a companion to the Necromonicon.
When Carter Weston travels to the port town of Anchorhead he meets four old timers each with a tale of other worldly horrors to tell.
Brilliant at times, solid story-telling, steeped in Lovecraftian mythos, even if the writer takes some liberties here and there, it all results in a hell of a tale.
There were a few times when the story became bogged down, but they were few and far between, and when the story is hitting on all cylinders it's as good as story-telling can be.
Occasionally the writing was downright poetic. "The night was still, dead. People speak of the calm before the storm, but more truly remarkable is the calm after the blizzard. No birds sang, no dogs barked. Silence has a sound, and I heard it that might."
That Which Should Not Be is available as an e-book, paperback, and hardback from JournalStone Publications.
A joy to read for every horror fan. Recommended.
A native of the South, Brett Talley received a philosophy and history degree from the University of Alabama before moving to witch-haunted Massachusetts to attend Harvard Law School. Brett loves every kind of fiction—from horror to literary to historical to sci-fi—as long as there are fantastic characters with a compelling purpose. There's still magic to be found in fiction, the mysterious and the unknown still beckon there, and the light can always triumph over the darkness, no matter how black the night may be. Brett writes when he can, though he spends most of his time working as a lawyer so that he can put food on the table. That is, until the air grows cool and crisp and fall descends. For then it is football time and Brett lives and dies with the Alabama Crimson Tide.
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