This is certainly the case of the dread Necronomicon, the black "bible" of the Cthulhu Mythos, concocted by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft from a childhood love of the Arabian Nights and a lifetime of dark imaginings. Despite what previous editions of the "Necronomicon" have tried to tell us, the text was never real. Lovecraft was explicit about that. It was a prop around which his tales of horror could be spun, his own grim creation.
We have all seen, however, several attempts to foist a faux Necronomicon upon us as the "real thing." There has been an Arabic Al Azif (the bulk of which was actually the same page printed over and over again), a grimoire of pseudo-Summerian mumbo-jumbo, and an occultist's attempt to prove that there must be a "real" Necronomicon because Lovecraft was too "simple" to have dreamed it up! None of these pretenders came close to the imagined majesty of the Black Book.
Until, perhaps, now.
"Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred" is a fan's delight. Author Donald Tyson (who, ironically, is in fact a real ritual magician with several books to his credit)makes no attempt at all to pass this off as a "real" Necronomicon. Instead, he brilliantly tries to re-create the tome as Lovecraft imagined it. It is a fiction, but a lovingly conceived one.
I had reservations before I picked it up. I am familiar with Tyson's genuine occult work--his books on the theory of modern ritual magick, and John Dee's Enochian system--are terrific. He also has experience as an editor of real occult tomes. A few years back, he produced a new version of Agrippa's "Three Books of Occult Philosophy," a genuine Renaissance grimoire and the great-grandady of the kind of magick studied in the Thelemic or Golden Dawn traditions. But because I knew of Tyson as a genuine occultist and editor of obscure grimoires, I was afraid he would try to pass off his Necronomicon as an authentic occult work. Fortunately, he doesn't; but his experience with the real thing makes this fiction feel all the more authentic.
This Necronomicon puts the author--Abdul Alhazred--front and center. The Necronomicon is, in fact, a tale of his travels, explaining how he came to be the dreaded "Mad Arab." We follow him from his youth, when he was mutilated and banished to wander in the desert after impregnating the daughter of a king, to his dark ascension as a powerful necromancer and disciple of the Old Ones. Tyson proves himself to be an adept storyteller; at first we pity the young Alhazred--his nose, ears, and manhood cut off in punishment for his crime--then watch in growing horror as he succumbs to madness wandering alone in the desert (forced to hide during the day and eat corpses left by desert caravans by night). Chapter by chapter we see him learn the secrets of the Old Ones, from the discovery of Serpent Men in the caverns below Irem, to astral journeys taking him as far as Yuggoth, Kadath, and R'lyeh. He plumbs the secrets of mythos races, penetrates the worship of Nyarlathotep in Thebes, wanders the ruins of Babylon, and comes at last to Damascus. We are treated with an encyclopedic view of the Mythos through Alhazred's own eyes.
I don't know if Tyson has ever played "Call of Cthulhu," but his version of the Mythos is highly gamable. He provides hints for dozens of spells, many of which Cthulhu fans will immediately recognize. He discusses a secret order of monks sworn to fight the servants of the Old Ones, and the travelogue style--each chapter exposing a fresh horror--would make a stunning campaign template. If nothing else, this Necronomicon would make a beautiful game resource. Its interior and cover art are genuinely creepy; the paper is of good quality, and the price is quite reasonable.
One of the things I really appreciated was the way Tyson wove Lovecraft's Mythos with genuine bits of history, myth, and magick to create an eerie sense of believability. This Necronomicon is a dizzying hall of mirrors, wherein at one instant one sees real life magical techniques (such as planetary magic squares) suddenly mated with pure dark fantasies (the Old Ones themselves). He makes allusions to the Bible (Eden and the Beast of Babylon), the Koran, Kabbalah, and the Arabian Nights. And he manages to do it all in such a way as to thrill and entertain rather than offend.
Which is not to say I recommend this book to younger gamers. The Necronomicon is a sanity-bending book in Lovecraft's tales, and Tyson pulls no punches in making it creepy, horrifying, and at times repugnant. He wouldn't be doing it justice otherwise.
This is really a must-read for all hardcore Cthulhu fans, and a treat for anyone into the horror genre. It is, hands down, the best "Necronomicon" fleshed out of HPL's imagination for the real world.
