A Pagan classic.

Interesting look behind the curtain at one of Lovecraft's influences. Better written than most of Lovecraft's oeuvre, but with some of the same flaws. It was enjoyable enough for a doing-chores listen, but not one I'm likely to revisit (though I would like someone to rewrite the story from Helen's POV and excoriate the men).

Basic premise: an experiment into "piercing the veil" goes badly,

Spoiler

produces child

, Helen

Spoiler

(the child)

grows up weirdly with a sinister not-imaginary friend in the "Great God Pan", becomes a disturbing adult who serially ruins husbands and other people, and is found out for what she is/has done, then

Spoiler

will apparently be offered a choice of suicide or arrest, but we never see that part or what she chooses, or if she just finds a way to ruin the offerer

.

Elements of this made it into the Dunwich Horror and From Beyond, and possibly, now that I think about it, The Thing on the Doorstep. Helen is given a much more active, if still unsympathetic, role than Lovecraft generally manages with his female characters, but there's still a strong element of misogyny (particularly in the opening, where the experimenter considers it okay to experiment on his charge because, apparently, he rescued her from the streets, so she belonged to him now). No obvious racism on display (unless the constant 'olive skin' reference are such?), so there's that.

Interesting, but only recommended to hardcore weird fiction fans who are interested in the origins of some common tropes.

I listened to this on audio, as read by Shea Taylor, who was very good when he forgot he was performing (but came across as a bit over-conscious of giving a performance in places). Still, a good reading, and Taylor has a decent repertoire of voices.

After rereading [b:Stephen King's N.|7006562|Stephen King's N.|Marc Guggenheim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1492728218l/7006562._SX50_.jpg|7251072] and learning that it was inspired not by Lovecraft but by this novella, I looked it up and was pumped to find it on Project Gutenberg. I really liked it-- as with many 19th century gothic horror stories, there's a lot of "the horror was too great to put into words" deflection which can sometimes get annoying, but I actually found it to be pretty effective here. I also liked how the story tracked from one person to the next, and could see how it had inspired the idea of contagious monster-inspired OCD for S.King. Anyway if you like weird horror and 19th century gothics, give this a read, it's short and enjoyable.

3.5 stars rounded up.

SO Victorian. SO repressed. SO creepy.

A classic recommended to me by the library (possibly because I recently read Dracula, which feels a bit like this), this book feels like it's either missing something or has a bit too much of something. It could have been a compelling short story, but as a short novel, it winds up being more than a little redundant, with the same things recurring again and again without much new insight. There are some really beautiful, chilling passages here, and a solid cosmic-horror feel of something being irredeemably terrifying just below the surface of the world, but not enough connection between that horror and any sort of philosophy or reality of existence to really land.

Creepy, especially at the beginning but the story is anti- climatic.