The third of four titles in the "Lairs of the Hidden Gods" anthology series of Lovecraft inspired fiction from Japan, "Straight to Darkness" offers more unique cosmic horror tales in English for the first time. With awesome cover art drawing from the four seasons, this "autumn" entry includes some very interesting takes on the "Cthulhu Mythos." Like any anthology, there is a mix of ideas, and while I can't say I really enjoyed all of them, there is some neat, scary stuff in here for devotees of Lovecraft. The translation in a few of the tales were a bit stilted, but for the most part, I feel that they come through with all of their spookiness intact. Some were traditional pastiches such as Kida Junichiro's "Keepsake of the Grandfather," in which a family heirloom from the South Pacific brings strange and unwelcome attention in 1930s Japan, while others, such as Takeuchi Yoshikazu's "She Flows," take an entirely mundane but bleak look at the horror of life for a pair of young women in the soul numbing ennui of contemporary Japan (not Lovecraftian in style, but Lovecraftian in spirit, perhaps?).

My personal favorites were Sano Shiro's "Horror Special," which deals with strange goings on at the filming of an adaptation of the "The Dunwich Horror" for Japanese TV and Aramata Hiroshi's "The Road," in which a Japanese tourist in Providence, RI, encounters ghosts from Lovecraft's life. "C-City," by Kobayashi Yasumi, just might be the best interpretation of Cthulhu in the modern world I've seen yet. ( )

Mythos fans everywhere should rejoice at the release of Straight to Darkness, the third volume in the landmark series of modern Lovecraftian fiction from Japan. This book shares all of the strengths of the previous two volumes. The cover art by Yamada Akihiro is phenomenally gorgeous, showing a demon statue concealed in autumnal woods...or is it a statue? I thought there was no way the painting gracing the cover of Inverted Kingdom could be bettered but I stand corrected. The book is POD and production qualities are good; there were no obvious editorial gaffes. Translations were seamless with no awkwardness coming between the reader and the story (unlike Inverted Kingdom where a few things fell jarringly on the ear (or eye)). Page count is about 330. This includes the introductions, cover sheets for the stories, individual story introductions, nonfiction essay and author and translator minbios, but still allowed a generous page number for each story. The introduction by Asamatsu Ken was just perfect at setting the mood. The introduction by Robert Price (yes, he's back, and no, he's not going away) was an amusing comparison of the Cthulhu mythos and the Godzilla mythos. I would avoid reading the individual introductions until you finish the actual story as they can contain spoilers. For the most part they were useful. The nonfiction essay was about the Cthulhu mythos in rock and roll, and was a very diverting read but didn't seem to have much to do with Japan. Price was $20, not discounted but available for free shipping on Amazon if you buy $25 worth of stuff. Here are the contents:

ASAMATSU Ken - Foreword: "Quivering Brainstems" translated by Edward LIPSETT
TANAKA Hirofumi - "The Secret Memoir of the Missionary - Prologue" translated by Daniel DAY
KIDA Jun'ichiro - "A Keepsake of Grandfather" translated by K. Bird LINCOLN
SANO Shiro - "Horror Special" translated by Daniel DAY
ARAMATA Hiroshi - "The Road" translated by Kathleen TAJI
TAKEUCHI Yoshikazu - "She Flows" translated by Nora Stevens HEATH
KOBAYASHI Yasumi - "C-City" translated by Kathleen TAJI
TOMONO Sho - "Straight to Darkness" translated by Toshiya A. KAMEI
SHIMOTSUKI Aoi - "Sounds Out of Space, or, Cthulhu Metal" translated by Jerome WOODS

***Spoilers may follow - you have been warned***

I found this book mesmerizing. Once I dipped into it I could not put it down and had to read it through a sleepless night. The writing was of uniform high quality. To be fair, however, there were no brilliant gems like Terror Rate or A Night at Yuan-su from Inverted Kingdom. On the other hand there were no stories like The Horror in the Kabuki Theater that rubbed me the wrong way.

Tanaka Hirofumi - "The Secret Memoir of the Missionary - Prologue" - For this story it would be worthwhile to read a brief history of the early introduction of Christianity into Japan. I, of course, did not need to do this because I had read Shogun (um, er...). This was a very inventive use of that time in history, using actual figures from the period, substituting the worship of a Great Old One for God, after the missionaries are waylaid and converted (as it were) en route to Japan. Tanaka san may write a sequel or continuation for us some time in the future and I can only hope we will ever see a translation of it.

Kida Jun'ichiro - "A Keepsake of Grandfather" - To best appreciate A Keepsake of Grandfather you have to reread Out of the Aeons by Hazel Heald (actually by HPL, ghost written for Hazel Heald (how come no famous authors want to ghost write some stories for me?)). This story is a worthy successor to Out of the Aeons and more or less carries on with the history of T'yog.

Sano Shiro - "Horror Special" - This is the story of a Japanese film company making a movie of The Dunwich Horror some years after their movie of The Shadow Over Innsmouth was clouded by mysterious goings on. The entire crew is reassembled including the unusual special effects guy. Although the mythos breathes throughout the production it is never clear if it is real or just a bunch of stories, which adds to the effectiveness. You can decide what really happened.

Aramata Hiroshi - "The Road" - This was clearly my favorite story in the book. A big HPL fan from Japan on a train ride from NYC to Boston takes a not so spontaneous detour into the streets of Providence to walk in the Old Gent's footsteps. It turns out he's more successful than he expected, and that time and space are more malleable than is comfortable.

Takeuchi Yoshikazu - "She Flows" - This story gives us a glimpse into a dialogue between two young people who have had very difficult childhoods. While I liked it I couldn't really place it in the mythos, unless you think alienation as a theme merits inclusion. Oh, well, I was happy to read it.

Kobayashi Yasumi - "C-City" - After The Road, this was my next favorite tale. The world is trying to prevent the rising of R'lyeh and has gathered its top scientists into a remote village to come up with the best means to deal with this threat. As might be expected, there is no consensus and the machinations of the Great Old Ones pervade even this bastion.

Tomono Sho - "Straight to Darkness" - Another winner! In the future it is a winner takes all battle for dominance of the planet among all the alien forms and races that have ever inhabited earth. Maybe the Great Race did not plan carefully enough...this one actually would make a good video game!

That's about it! I was completely captivated. I feel compelled to say that I got a free reviewer's copy from Kurodahan Press (only the second time this has ever happened to me), but that did not influence my opinion. I would have bought a copy anyway. Urgently recommended! ( )

Here we are at Volume III of this four-volume series. I've already read half of Volume IV and I must say, I'll be quite sad to see this series end. Once again, it's an anthology, and once again, when you pick up one of these books, you have to kind of take what you get -- the great, the good, the not so hot. Luckily, most of the stories in here are really really good, so it is an enjoyable and often hackle-raising reading experience. Definitely one not to miss, and even better during a storm!

Here's the contents list, with a brief blurb about each story (don't worry, definitely no spoilers):

1. The Secret Memoir of the Missionary, by Tanaka Hirofumi -- an awesome story about the first missionaries to Japan, with a twist that will definitely give you the willies.

2. Keepsake of the Grandfather, by Kida Jun'ichiro -- A man's fiancee inherits a souvenir of her grandfather's time in the south seas, and things begin to go bump in the night. Very well done and definitely a creepfest.

3. Horror Special, by Sano Shiro -- Always trying to up the ratings, an actor insists on a tv show based on the work of HP Lovecraft and gets more than he bargained for. Another one that was well written and that sucks you deep into the mythos.

4.The Road, by Aramata Hiroshi -- One of my favorite stories in this book. A Japanese businessman is traveling in the US with his companions, and decides to step out of the train at Providence to soak up some of the HP Lovecraft atmosphere for the very few minutes the train is stopping there en route to Boston. But he misses the train, and spends a wild night on a tour of HPL's old haunts. Very well done, and definitely a no-miss.

5. She Flows, by Takeuchi Yoshikazu -- Not one of my favorites, but still well written. Actually, there seemed to be very little to do with the mythos in this story of a girl whose parents were beastly to her as a child, and the horrors that followed her ever since.

6. C-City, by Kobayashi Yasumi -- A winner of a story; set in the future, the world knows that it must protect itself against the awakening of Cthulhu, and leaves its fate in the hands of two competing camps of scientists. A fantastic story, one you won't forget for a while. One of my favorites.

7. Straight to Darkness, by Tomono Sho --the world alters in a minute as two people are stranded on the subway. Emerging from their underground prison, they find that life as they knew it no longer exists. Not one of my favorites, but very well written.

there's also a section of "Cthulhu metal" at the end, featuring lists of musical artists whose music was inspired by Lovecraftian themes (sorry, no Erich Zann).

Definitely a must-have if you're a collector; recommended for anyone who wants more of the mythos, or for those who enjoy Japanese horror writing. Overall, very good. ( )