Dark Wisdom

The 12 simply narrated tales of terror in Myers’s second collection (after 1975’s The House of the Worm) perfectly accommodate their stripped-down Lovecraftian themes. In “The Web,” two Web-surfing teens get more than they bargained for when they hack into an online edition of the Necronomicon and activate one of its spells. “The Big Picture” tells of an ordinary guy whose fascination with stereoscopic games and picture puzzles sensitizes him to horrors that lurk behind the facade of the visible world. In “Understudy,” a Hollywood special effects artist who sculpts lifelike rubber monster outfits saves the day on an underwater monster flick when he brings in his living model to body-double for the movie’s star. “What Rough Beast” chronicles a terrified hitchhiker’s flight from the eerie cult leader who arranged her impregnation. Myers often leavens the horror with wry humor, avoiding the cardinal horror sin of overdramatization. Fans of the Cthulhu mythos will welcome this new compilation from one of horror’s most able contemporary practitioners. (Dec.)