I just wanna start off by saying I’ve been reading a lot of Lovecraft styled fiction lately. I love the Lovecraft world and even more so the newer generation’s voice given to a world created over 100 years ago by a man who could arguably be one of the greatest writers of the horror genre. Publishing houses like Myth Ink Books and Strangehouse have brought forth authors that carry on the tradition that is Lovecraft fiction and it is just as impressive as it is entertaining. I highly recommend either publishing house if you’re looking to delve into the deep with these authors and their tales.
David Hambling is one such author that brings a fresh voice to an old school way of story telling. I really enjoyed this Lovecraftian-esque novella, be it short, it was certainly not lacking in content. I was asked for an honest opinion of this book so here it is:
Hambling’s Lovecraft style is quite superb. He has an amazing tone and feel to his words which I found out very quickly after reading his collection SHADOWS FROM NORWOOD which I also highly recommend. (I’ll be posting that review shortly).
In The Elder Ice, our main character is an ex-boxer turned debt collector named Harry Stubbs who has been hired to retrieve an ancient artifact for the law firm he works for. The artifact in question belonged to a polar explorer who had exuberant debts to be paid. After the explorer’s death, Harry is sent to retrieve the valuable artifact to settle the amount owed. Harry soon finds out that his informants are not the only ones with an interest in what he is after, and what he is after is far more powerful and ancient and will truly test the ex-boxer’s skills.
I love the character of Harry. Hambling really could have gone the direction of dumb, one dimensional, meat head on this one, but instead really gave him substance. One wouldn’t think an ex-boxer would be a good fit for a law firm, but having him as the enforcer makes sense. I enjoyed getting to read what was going through his mind when he was being threatened. It was like getting a glimpse into the mind of a boxer, and the final scene with him and the Big Bad, is really pretty awesome.
All in all, I loved this novella, from the characters, to the plot, to the twist, the whole short book was jam packed with excitement and intrigue. I really enjoy what Hambling does with Lovecraft fiction, it’s spectacular.
A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR !!!
DAVID HAMBLING: Why is David Hambling writing Lovecraftian fiction?
As a teenager I was enthralled by HP Lovecraft. His fiction was like nothing I had ever encountered: intense, hallucinatory stories about eldritch alien terrors beyond human comprehension. I was fascinated; I devoured every story of his I could find.
I even looked up what ‘eldritch’ meant.
Flash forward a few decades and I am a freelance science writer, blamelessly crafting pieces for WIRED, Popular Mechanics, New Scientist and others from the seemingly mundane region of Norwood, South London.
Like most of South London, Norwood is obscure even to Londoners. We have no great historic buildings or famous residents. Everything is relatively modern. It is not an inspiring area, or so I thought.
My view of it was changed after a gigantic oak tree toppled into our garden one night, making a noise like the end of the world, a roaring and rending which went on and on. The cat was terrified.
The next morning the oak was stretched out like a giant fallen from another world, which in sense it was. I found out that the tree was one of the primeval survivors from the old North Wood which gives Norwood its name. Everything is modern because a couple of centuries ago this was all woodland.
Norwood was the notorious haunt of witches, outlaws, hermits, smugglers and other colourful characters. There was an encampment of gypsies here for over a century; Londoners would make the journey to have their fortunes read. Before that, the ancient forest was the home of Celtic tribes and their druid priests who – according to the Romans, anyway – carried out human sacrifices in the sacred oak groves.
It is, in short, every bit as worthy a setting as Lovecraft’s witch-haunted Arkham. Every piece of research turned up colourful, unexplained happenings crying out for tales to be woven around them. Tales with roots as deep and dark as the ancient oaks. A whole Necronomicon of Norwood stories began sprouting in my brain like alien parasites. I had to get them out somehow.
So I started writing.
GET THE BOOK HERE:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1291969861/
