himself caught up in the vampire world and later
opposed to his sibling, who has allied himself with
the enemies of humanity. The trilogy is particularly
violent at times, but Lumley created a genuinely
different vampire lore for the series.
Keogh returns, or rather we are treated to pre-
viously untold adventures, in Necroscope: The Lost
Years,published in two volumes in 1995 and 1996,
the second volume later called Resurgence.Keogh
battles more of the alien vampires, but on a less
grand scale than in the previous books. Three
more volumes followed. Necroscope: Invaders
(1999) casts a new character in the role of speaker
to the dead, as the vampires threaten to invade
once again. The battle continues in Necroscope:
Defilers (2000) and concludes in Necroscope:
Avengers(2001). Although the series remains pop-
ular, the later volumes are at times repetitive.
Although it is for his novels that Lumley is
most noted, some of his short fiction is excellent,
such as “Fruiting Bodies” (1988) and “The
Viaduct” (2002). The best of his many collections
are Fruiting Bodies and Other Fungi(1993), Return
of the Deep Ones(1994,) and Beneath the Moors and
Darker Places(2002). Lumley is a reliable writer of
highly suspenseful and usually quite violent stories
that are often enhanced by an unusually inventive
imagination.
“The Lurking Fear”H. P. Lovecraft(1922)
One of the recurring images in the work of H. P.
LOVECRAFTis a community in decay, either at the
instigation of outside forces, such as in “THE
SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH” (1931), or simply by
inbreeding and racial or cultural flaws, such as in
this story. Early in his career Lovecraft was heavily
influenced by classic British horror writers, and
this story feels as though it might have been set in
a rural part of England, although it is, in fact, situ-
ated somewhere in the state of New York.
Martense Mansion has apparently been aban-
doned for many generations. It was built by rich
Dutch settlers who were unhappy when the British
took over the colony and retreated from the world,
breeding within the family and cutting themselves
off from most outside contact. The pivotal event
came when one of the young males in the family
went off to war, returned to find himself ostracized
by his own family, and later died at their hands.
Although the house is empty and partially ruined,
the local residents blame the building and the ap-
parently extinct family for a series of mysterious
deaths over the years, each of which takes place
during or following a thunderstorm.
The protagonist is an outsider who wishes to
investigate these incidents, which have culminated
with the terrible slaughter of an entire small com-
munity. He recruits two other men to help him
keep vigil in one room of the mansion, and during
one stormy night both of his companions are ab-
ducted right before his eyes. The only hint of the
party responsible is a glimpse of a distorted shadow.
Theories abound, including the possibility that it is
the ghost of young Martense, killed by his own
family, but the investigator believes that there is a
living, organic cause, not a supernatural one. He is
eventually proven right.
He discovers a system of tunnels under the
house and grounds and narrowly escapes when a
horde of filthy, barely human creatures emerges
from their underground lair. It is the remnants of
the Martense family, now grown numerous, living a
troglodytic existence that they interrupt only when
disturbed by the sound of thunder from the surface
world. Like many of Lovecraft’s stories, there is no
dialogue, simply a straightforward narrative history.
Although not as polished or imaginative as some of
his later work, it reveals many of the attitudes and
images that would recur throughout his writing
career.Lynn, Elizabeth A.(1946– )
Elizabeth Lynn produced an impressive number of
very good short stories plus two novels, one sci-
ence fiction and one fantasy, all within the span of
three years during the late 1970s. The short stories
included excellent pieces such as “I Dream of Fish,
I Dream of Bird” (1977), “The Dragon That Lived
in the Sea” (1979), and the title story of her first
collection, The Woman Who Loved the Moon and
Other Stories(1981). More significantly, she wrote
the Tornor trilogy, consisting of Watchtower(1979),
which won the World Fantasy Award, The Dancers
of Arun(1979), and The Northern Girl(1990).224 “The Lurking Fear”