The Terror at Miskatonic Falls

Lovecraftian mythology and American folklore collide in this sprawling, shared-world horror anthology from Lucia (The Horror at Pleasant Brook). State trooper Steensma responds to a phone call made from the town of Miskatonic Falls, Mass., wading through an ungodly amount of snow and ice to unravel the bizarre occurrences that have seemingly annihilated the town’s population. An entity called the Long Man appears to be behind the influx of madness and death in the community, causing such bizarre phenomena as torrential snowfall, unidentified objects falling from the heavens, and a burning desire among the townsfolk to scrawl poetry on any available surface. The poems, appearing throughout each chapter and gathered from 33 contributors, slowly reveal the town’s and its residents’ histories, with Lucia’s prose providing only slight connective tissue. Steensma’s investigation concludes in a moldering mansion, where the Long Man finally makes itself known, threatening to swallow the trooper’s mind with otherworldly knowledge. With little plot to move things forward, the anthology may be most accurately described as an experiment in environmental storytelling, accompanied by spectral illustrations from Brady Moller and Danny Evarts. Readers looking for propulsive story won’t find it here, but the eerie feeling of wandering through an empty town may appeal to fans of the Silent Hill video game series. Illus. (Jan.)1