The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The first time I heard of Singers of Strange Songs was in a Chessex catalog, where a mock-up of the cover was shown along with a brief description. I must admit being amused by the mock-up, with its picture of an otherworldly being, underneath of which were the words "An Appropriate Subhead Goes Here." As I mentioned in my review of Fatal Experiments, about two years ago I heard a rumor Chaosium was in dire financial trouble and needed any sales it could get. To show my support I made a massive purchase of Chaosium products, among them Singers of Strange Songs. Here are my thoughts on those fine tales, story by story.

City Out of Time: A nice little poem.

Cement Surroundings: A fine tale by Mr. Lumley, though I admit I would have enjoyed it more if I'd read it years ago. Due to my twelve years of playing Call of Cthulhu I've already learned all the powers, vulnerabilities, and breeding habits of the entities involved in this story. Thus the shocks normally gained from reading the tale were lost to me. That's just the way things are, though, and there's no one to blame for that.

Bad Soil: Another fine tale. I'm unfamiliar with Mr. D'Ammassa's work, but hope to see more of it in the future. I think its best point was that it was one of a handful of Mythos stories containing a Mythos entity I was already familiar with, but whose identity I was unable to guess before it was revealed; I was quite certain the being responsible for the bad soil was one of those unique fungi horrors that so often crop up in Lumley's tales.

The Temple of Yig: Yet another fine yarn! It seems very hard to find a good Mythos tale set in the modern day that doesn't involve the beginning of the end of the world or the stars becoming right. Yes, I know both Bad Soil and Cement Surroundings also achieve the goal of an unearthly horror affecting the world with almost no one the wiser, but I found the use of the carnival to spread the horror of Yig especially enjoyable. Mr. Burleson (who, like Mr. D'Ammassa, I've never heard of before but whose work I hope to see again) must also be complemented for firing up the imagination with his descriptions without an excess of words; I received no feeling that the author was paid by the word, unlike other Mythos stories I've read in which everything from furniture to wainscoting is described in painstaking detail, so painful you end up skipping the descriptions to get to the heart of the tale.

Not to Force the Rhymes: At first I though I would hate this story, with its Abba-bashing and what I thought would be a punk's-eye view of the Mythos. Instead it was a good tale, with Dr. Jones a fine example of just how disturbed a man who fights the Mythos can become, and the author makes a fine use of the idea that mankind's emotional extremes can gain corporeal form. In fact, Mr. Adams is the first person I've seen who has addressed the question that if raw evil can take physical form why can't raw good? That question has rankled me since I first read of the gestalt theory. Mr. Adams also gets a tip of the hat from me for creating a Jack the Ripper story I actually enjoyed. I've only read one other Jack the Ripper story I found entertaining, and that back in sixth or seventh grade.

In His Daughter's Darkling Womb: I did not care for this story, but I can not give an exact reason why. It's a terrible thing, to dislike (not hate, just dislike) a story and not be able to give an exact reason why. I guess I'll just have to say it didn't tickle my fancy and leave it at that.

The Reliable Vacuum Company: Excellent! It takes great skill to write a humorous Mythos tale without going over-the-top or forgetting the Mythos is supposed to be a main part of the story, rather than something just tacked on for a few extra laughs. Mr. Smith is certainly in possession of such skill, as his tale of (I presume from the stock they had possessed) ex-Walmart employees meeting the Men from Leng shows. I presume Reliable was a mispronunciation of R'yleth. The only problem with these kind of tales is that reading too many at once dulls their enjoyment, which rules a collection of humorous Mythos tales out. Still, one such tale a collection would be appreciated, particularly if Mr. Smith were to write it.

The Nullity of Choice: I've read many Mythos stories by Mr. Tynes, along with a few for Shadowfist/Feng Shui, and only once have I enjoyed them. This tale is not the one I enjoyed. Oh, the premise is good, but as with 99.9% of Mr. Tynes tales I failed to enjoy it. While nowhere as bad as his other works, this tale still suffers from the overdescription he is so fond of giving. Also, the banter between the two policemen quickly became boring; just an all-around bad story, I'm afraid, but not as bad as. . .

Where I Go, Mi-Go: I can't even begin to express how terrible this story was! Another one of those tales where evil would never exist if two people would just stay away from one another. Oh, and the best way to fight the evil is to "get it on," as they say, to produce a Christ-like messiah to save the world? If this story were any worse it would have to be written by Rob Liefeld.

Subway Accident: A pleasant little tale about our old friends, ghouls. Good work on Mr. Nicoll's part.

The High Rollers: A story that started well but quickly (pun not intended) floundered. The Deep Ones in this tale are portrayed as being so powerful that the U.S. government would never have stood a chance against them in 1928, and this lack of attention to continuity made this quite an unentertaining tale.

A Forty Share in Innsmouth: An excellent tale, though after reading The High Rollers and seeing Innsmouth in the title of this work I was a little worried I was going to be disappointed again. Instead I found a fine tale in which a deity of the Mythos gets to suffer horribly, just as mankind usually suffers at the hands/claws/pseudopods of such deities. I throughly enjoy tales in this style, and hope to see more in the future. The author of this tale is C.J. Henderson, the author of the fine tale Free the Old Ones in the "Made in Goatswood" anthology. I feel he is one of the best short story Mythos writers around today. Just don't look for any of his novel-length fiction; last month I completed a two-year long quest to find one of his horror novels, only to find Mr. Henderson had written a tale so bad I could have done better at age ten.

Shudder Wyrm: Just as A Forty Share in Innsmouth was enjoyable for its "Mythos deity gets its butt handed to it" plot twist, so was Shudder Wyrm enjoyable for having the majority of the characters already familiar with the Mythos and ready and able to combat it. Again, I hope to see more stories like this in future anthologies.

Spaghetti: Much like Cement Surroundings, I would have enjoyed this story more if I had read it years ago, before I had read other stories inspired by this tale. Oh, well. . .

Well, those are my opinions on the stories found in Singers of Strange Songs. I really enjoyed the book, something I have not done of late with most works I've read, and am quite happy to let everyone know what a good job was done on it.

And before I forget, I must swallow my pride and congratulate Scott D. Aniolowski for both his fine work in choosing the tales found in this book and his explanation given in the book's introduction on why each story is not given an individual introduction. Several times while reading anthologies edited by Mr. Price I have found a story spoiled for me because he gave away key information in the story introduction. Perhaps Mr. Price feels that all who read the anthologies must have read the reprinted stories elsewhere, and thus no harm is done in spilling the secrets in the story introduction, but I fear I must tell him otherwise.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Singers of Strange Songs
Author: Adams, Burleson, D'Ammassa, Gresh, Henderson, Jens, Lumley, Nicoll, Rainey, Smith, and Tynes Category: Fiction Anthology Company/Publisher: Chaosium Line: Call of Cthulhu Cost: 12.95 Page count: 238 ISBN: 1-56882-104-2 SKU: 6014 Capsule Review by Ralph Dula on 05/11/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Modern_day Horror Comedy Conspiracy	The first time I heard of Singers of Strange Songs was in a Chessex catalog, where a mock-up of the cover was shown along with a brief description. I must admit being amused by the mock-up, with its picture of an otherworldly being, underneath of which were the words "An Appropriate Subhead Goes Here." As I mentioned in my review of Fatal Experiments, about two years ago I heard a rumor Chaosium was in dire financial trouble and needed any sales it could get. To show my support I made a massive purchase of Chaosium products, among them Singers of Strange Songs. Here are my thoughts on those fine tales, story by story. City Out of Time: A nice little poem. Cement Surroundings: A fine tale by Mr. Lumley, though I admit I would have enjoyed it more if I'd read it years ago. Due to my twelve years of playing Call of Cthulhu I've already learned all the powers, vulnerabilities, and breeding habits of the entities involved in this story. Thus the shocks normally gained from reading the tale were lost to me. That's just the way things are, though, and there's no one to blame for that. Bad Soil: Another fine tale. I'm unfamiliar with Mr. D'Ammassa's work, but hope to see more of it in the future. I think its best point was that it was one of a handful of Mythos stories containing a Mythos entity I was already familiar with, but whose identity I was unable to guess before it was revealed; I was quite certain the being responsible for the bad soil was one of those unique fungi horrors that so often crop up in Lumley's tales. The Temple of Yig: Yet another fine yarn! It seems very hard to find a good Mythos tale set in the modern day that doesn't involve the beginning of the end of the world or the stars becoming right. Yes, I know both Bad Soil and Cement Surroundings also achieve the goal of an unearthly horror affecting the world with almost no one the wiser, but I found the use of the carnival to spread the horror of Yig especially enjoyable. Mr. Burleson (who, like Mr. D'Ammassa, I've never heard of before but whose work I hope to see again) must also be complemented for firing up the imagination with his descriptions without an excess of words; I received no feeling that the author was paid by the word, unlike other Mythos stories I've read in which everything from furniture to wainscoting is described in painstaking detail, so painful you end up skipping the descriptions to get to the heart of the tale. Not to Force the Rhymes: At first I though I would hate this story, with its Abba-bashing and what I thought would be a punk's-eye view of the Mythos. Instead it was a good tale, with Dr. Jones a fine example of just how disturbed a man who fights the Mythos can become, and the author makes a fine use of the idea that mankind's emotional extremes can gain corporeal form. In fact, Mr. Adams is the first person I've seen who has addressed the question that if raw evil can take physical form why can't raw good? That question has rankled me since I first read of the gestalt theory. Mr. Adams also gets a tip of the hat from me for creating a Jack the Ripper story I actually enjoyed. I've only read one other Jack the Ripper story I found entertaining, and that back in sixth or seventh grade. In His Daughter's Darkling Womb: I did not care for this story, but I can not give an exact reason why. It's a terrible thing, to dislike (not hate, just dislike) a story and not be able to give an exact reason why. I guess I'll just have to say it didn't tickle my fancy and leave it at that. The Reliable Vacuum Company: Excellent! It takes great skill to write a humorous Mythos tale without going over-the-top or forgetting the Mythos is supposed to be a main part of the story, rather than something just tacked on for a few extra laughs. Mr. Smith is certainly in possession of such skill, as his tale of (I presume from the stock they had possessed) ex-Walmart employees meeting the Men from Leng shows. I presume Reliable was a mispronunciation of R'yleth. The only problem with these kind of tales is that reading too many at once dulls their enjoyment, which rules a collection of humorous Mythos tales out. Still, one such tale a collection would be appreciated, particularly if Mr. Smith were to write it. The Nullity of Choice: I've read many Mythos stories by Mr. Tynes, along with a few for Shadowfist/Feng Shui, and only once have I enjoyed them. This tale is not the one I enjoyed. Oh, the premise is good, but as with 99.9% of Mr. Tynes tales I failed to enjoy it. While nowhere as bad as his other works, this tale still suffers from the overdescription he is so fond of giving. Also, the banter between the two policemen quickly became boring; just an all-around bad story, I'm afraid, but not as bad as. . . Where I Go, Mi-Go: I can't even begin to express how terrible this story was! Another one of those tales where evil would never exist if two people would just stay away from one another. Oh, and the best way to fight the evil is to "get it on," as they say, to produce a Christ-like messiah to save the world? If this story were any worse it would have to be written by Rob Liefeld. Subway Accident: A pleasant little tale about our old friends, ghouls. Good work on Mr. Nicoll's part. The High Rollers: A story that started well but quickly (pun not intended) floundered. The Deep Ones in this tale are portrayed as being so powerful that the U.S. government would never have stood a chance against them in 1928, and this lack of attention to continuity made this quite an unentertaining tale. A Forty Share in Innsmouth: An excellent tale, though after reading The High Rollers and seeing Innsmouth in the title of this work I was a little worried I was going to be disappointed again. Instead I found a fine tale in which a deity of the Mythos gets to suffer horribly, just as mankind usually suffers at the hands/claws/pseudopods of such deities. I throughly enjoy tales in this style, and hope to see more in the future. The author of this tale is C.J. Henderson, the author of the fine tale Free the Old Ones in the "Made in Goatswood" anthology. I feel he is one of the best short story Mythos writers around today. Just don't look for any of his novel-length fiction; last month I completed a two-year long quest to find one of his horror novels, only to find Mr. Henderson had written a tale so bad I could have done better at age ten. Shudder Wyrm: Just as A Forty Share in Innsmouth was enjoyable for its "Mythos deity gets its butt handed to it" plot twist, so was Shudder Wyrm enjoyable for having the majority of the characters already familiar with the Mythos and ready and able to combat it. Again, I hope to see more stories like this in future anthologies. Spaghetti: Much like Cement Surroundings, I would have enjoyed this story more if I had read it years ago, before I had read other stories inspired by this tale. Oh, well. . . Well, those are my opinions on the stories found in Singers of Strange Songs. I really enjoyed the book, something I have not done of late with most works I've read, and am quite happy to let everyone know what a good job was done on it. And before I forget, I must swallow my pride and congratulate Scott D. Aniolowski for both his fine work in choosing the tales found in this book and his explanation given in the book's introduction on why each story is not given an individual introduction. Several times while reading anthologies edited by Mr. Price I have found a story spoiled for me because he gave away key information in the story introduction. Perhaps Mr. Price feels that all who read the anthologies must have read the reprinted stories elsewhere, and thus no harm is done in spilling the secrets in the story introduction, but I fear I must tell him otherwise. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)