Snicker-snack
September 21, 2012 9:57 AM   Subscribe

Boojum, a spacefaring Cthulhu Mythos story run through the filter of Lewis Carroll by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear (Interview). A sequel in the same universe, Mongoose, Appeared in the Ellen Datlow edited anthology Lovecraft Unbound. An audio of Mongoose is available at the Drabblecast (part 1, part 2), as well as a further sequel, The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward (part 1, part 2)
posted by Artw (31 comments total) 35 users marked this as a favorite
 
Huh, interesting. I'll have to give it a second read but my first instinct is this feels more McCaffrey than Carroll, except in names.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:02 AM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Woot!

I *so* wanted to post about these stories when "Wreck" went up, but alas, I could not. (Not without getting banned, anyway.) The whole series is cockeyed and delightful.
posted by Scattercat at 10:03 AM on September 21, 2012


Totally enjoyed Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward (in that "this is so weird that it's just the far side of completely creeping me out" sort of way), now putting Mongoose on the MP3 player and wondering how I'm going to slip reading Boojum in amongst the work today so that nobody notices, but I'm caught up before I listen to Mongoose on the ride home.

Thanks!
posted by straw at 10:07 AM on September 21, 2012


I'm guessing if you hunt around you'll find Boojum as audio as well - MeFi tends to lean heavily towards text as a preference do I emphasised that in the post. Mongoose is IMHO the best of the three, BTW, worth picking Lovecraft Unbound up for by itself (though the rest is great).
posted by Artw at 10:13 AM on September 21, 2012


I read Boojum somewhere online before, and enjoyed the hell out of it. Glad to know there's more stories. Once again, Artw makes the day awesomer. Thanks for this!
posted by KingEdRa at 10:16 AM on September 21, 2012


Yeah, I'd kind of love to read the others but I just have trouble listening to audio stories. (I kind of dislike them, as a general trend, but I realize I'm alone in that, or nearly). Perhaps I'll pick up the collection. On second read, the Boojum definitely reminds me of McCaffrey, but even more of one of my favorites, Alien Earth. Love the whole living ship thing. Still struggling to grok more of a Carroll connection besides the superficial, but maybe it's more apparent when you've read the others. Still, would read a novel in this universe based on "Boojum" alone.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:17 AM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


I think Boojum may have been kicking around previously as a PDF.

PhoBWanKenobe - it's mainly the names, though I think maybe the sensibility of the poems sneaks through a little into some of the creature descriptions and behaviors.
posted by Artw at 10:25 AM on September 21, 2012


Boojum in audio format:
part 1 and part 2.
posted by Lorc at 10:25 AM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


PhoBWanKenobe - it's mainly the names, though I think maybe the sensibility of the poems sneaks through a little into some of the creature descriptions and behaviors.

A smidge, and I guess with the whole "eat" thread. I think I was just expecting a touch more of a snark hunt, something a little more absurd. But those are my own nits; I don't expect anyone to share them!
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:28 AM on September 21, 2012


Boojum is also a chain of buritto shops in Belfast, NIreland.
posted by Damienmce at 10:29 AM on September 21, 2012


I look forward to reading/listening to these as I'm on a bit of a Lovecraftian kick at the moment... and re Carol vs Cthulhu, always though Jabberwocky fit well into the mythos.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:30 AM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Of course the best Lovecraft in Space story of all time remains Alien.
posted by Artw at 10:31 AM on September 21, 2012 [5 favorites]


I really liked Boojum and Mongoose. I'll give this a try (though I prefer my stories in text.)

Mongoose is IMHO the best of the three, BTW, worth picking Lovecraft Unbound up for by itself (though the rest is great).

Mongoose is also in New Cthulhu which is also an excellent anthology (in part by cherry-picking 2 stories from Lovecraft Unbound.)
posted by Zed at 10:37 AM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


We picked this up (Lovecraft Unbound) at a reading in Brooklyn during our honeymoon. Went because my wife is a big Caitlin Kiernan fan and she was reading, but all the readers (and stories in the anthology) were great. The central mandate of the anthology was to write stories that weren't Lovecraft pastiche in the standard A-B-Unspeakable Horror mold, but rather kind of sideways looks at the material. Good stuff.
posted by Shepherd at 10:59 AM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Black Wings is another recent worthwhile one, with Keirnan's "Pickman's Other Model" as a standout.
posted by Artw at 11:33 AM on September 21, 2012


I just finished Black Wings. I found about a third of it really good, including the Kiernan and William Browning Spencer's "Usurped" (which I'm naming just because I found it online.)
posted by Zed at 11:51 AM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


The anthology that impresses me most with it's lineup at the moment is The Book of Cthulhu. It's loaded with awesome stories. All ones I've read though...

Looks like a volume II is on it's way.
posted by Artw at 11:55 AM on September 21, 2012


Yeah, Black Wings is GREAT. It has Laird Barron's The Broadsword in it, which is one of the most terrifying things I've read in years.
posted by KingEdRa at 12:15 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Heh. I thought you were talking about Black Wings 2 (UK edition and an ultra-limited US hardcover already out) but now I realize you mean The Book of Cthulhu 2. Joshi says there'll be a Black Wings III. He also says he's doing yet another version of a Lovecraft biography, this one massively illustrated, to be released on Oct. 18 and available only at Barnes & Noble (but I find it fishy that something allegedly to be released in a month continues to have so little web presence.)
posted by Zed at 12:17 PM on September 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


This bodes ill for the Baker; I'll tell you that three times.
posted by The Bellman at 12:18 PM on September 21, 2012


That is not dead which can eternal lie. Yet with strange aeons even death may die... but Joshi will still be knocking out Lovecraft biogs
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:24 PM on September 21, 2012 [3 favorites]


It really is a good time for Lovecraft anthologies... or horror in general given that everything Datlow puts out seems to be great.

On a slightly pulpier note Shotgun V. Cthulhu is looking good.
posted by Artw at 12:26 PM on September 21, 2012


this is highly coincidental. (or not, considering the material!)

I am coming pretty close to finishing up "H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction" which I picked up a while ago and was considering making an AskMe on if there were any good anthologies of the expanded mythos.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 12:28 PM on September 21, 2012


I wrote a short story about five years ago that basically posits Godzilla as one of the least of the Great Old Ones, torn through a rip in the ether caused by nuclear testing in the Pacific. Forgot all about until right now. Huh.
posted by Shepherd at 12:31 PM on September 21, 2012


and was considering making an AskMe on if there were any good anthologies of the expanded mythos.

I asked such a question a couple of years ago. But New Cthulhu and Book of Cthulhu are newer than that. And nearly all of Delta Green is available again electronically or print on demand.
posted by Zed at 12:42 PM on September 21, 2012


Heh. Looks like I'd just read the lamentable The Hive by Tim Curran. I'm very picky where alleged sequalising of Mountains of Madness is concerned.
posted by Artw at 12:50 PM on September 21, 2012


And nearly all of Delta Green is available again electronically or print on demand.

This is the best thing I've heard all day!
posted by winna at 2:40 PM on September 21, 2012


ArgentCorvid: "
I am coming pretty close to finishing up "H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction" which I picked up a while ago and was considering making an AskMe on if there were any good anthologies of the expanded mythos.
"

Oh man, the comments on that page:

"...making it the most textually flawed edition of Lovecraft's tales ever published! This is a tragick irony..." (emphasis mine)

Lovecraft fans will not be denied!
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 7:04 PM on September 21, 2012


making it the most textually flawed edition of Lovecraft's tales ever published! This is a tragick irony...

lest anyone here be misled, the textually flawed one is the first edition Barnes & Noble Lovecraft Complete Fiction. The current edition by all reports, is good. But it's such a big and heavy volume, I'm happier with my 3 Penguin trade paperbacks (with annotations.)
posted by Zed at 7:21 PM on September 21, 2012


I don't think mine is a first edition, but it does have quite a few typo/OCR type errors in it that are a little distracting.

That first comment on the B&N page is a little over the top.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:48 AM on September 22, 2012


The happiest story about Hastur you'll read all day.
posted by Zed at 11:42 PM on September 26, 2012


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