Welcome to Miskatonic University: Fantastically Weird Tales of Campus Life

While the idea of imagining H.P. Lovecraft’s legendarily weird Miskatonic University as a real college is an intriguing one, these 14 stories exploring different aspects of campus life there mostly miss the mark. Those that aim for scares—such as Bennett North’s “Glory Night,” in which a new faculty member is initiated into what makes Miskatonic different—offer no genuine chills. The best adopt an arch approach to the premise, as in Gina Marie Guadagnino’s “From the Inbox of Madness,” an epistolary entry that presents the university administration with the usual complaints to deal with, such as roommate trouble and a prospective student seeking additional financial aid; Guadagnino also snubs Lovecraft himself by having a graduate student senator submit a petition demanding that a dormitory named after “noted racist, jingoist, misogynist, and homophobe” Philip L. Howard be renamed. There are glimmers of humor, but for the most part, the execution of this potential-filled premise is disappointing. (July)