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-This book was originally published by Prime in 2003, it was also a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award.
Quote:
MONSTROCITY combines elements of science fiction and horror in the vein of H. P. Lovecraft, and is set in the milieu of Jeffrey Thomas's acclaimed collection, PUNKTOWN.
From Publishers Weekly:
Lovecraft fans skeptical of contemporary Cthulhu Mythos fiction will find much to appreciate in Thomas's intriguing brew of eldritch lore, cyberpunk and noir. As in the stories in the author's acclaimed collection Punktown (2000), humans living in a huge sprawling colony city on a distant planet share the urban landscape with a culturally diverse set of alien races: Punktown makes L.A. look like Mayberry. As a joke, Christopher Ruby helps his girlfriend conduct a ritual from Abdul Alhazred's dreaded tome the Necronomicon, but its apparent failure later proves to have been a tragic success. Christopher discovers that many of the alien races in Punktown have their own versions of Alhazred's mythology, one of which tells of a sleeping god who can take the form of a great temple in order to lure sacrifices inside. He realizes that Punktown is in fact a living, organic being, an avatar of this dark god who feeds on our fear and pain. Thomas wisely leaves the question open as to whether his narrator is sane or a serial killer with a particularly morbid fantasy life. The mythos here serves as a metaphor to explore human suffering, to ask if it's the result of outside manipulation or of our own nature. Thomas expands on Lovecraft's themes in new and exciting ways while retaining his own distinct authorial identity.
Copyright 2003
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