Anthology explores horror giant's Welsh roots

A new anthology highlights the Welsh roots of an American giant of horror literature who has had a huge influence over the last 100 years.

The book, Cthulhu Cymraeg: The Night Country, features six authors from Wales who have written stories inspired by Rhode Island-born writer H.P. Lovecraft.

“When he died in 1937, Lovecraft was virtually unknown outside the readers of a few pulp magazines, including Weird Tales,” said the book’s editor, Mark Howard Jones.

“Since then his influence has expanded exponentially until now every year sees dozens if not hundreds of books, films and games issued that are inspired by his stories.

“Next year marks the centenary of his most famous story The Call Of Cthulhu, which is where the new anthology takes its name from.”

The American writer drew inspiration from three British authors - Algernon Blackwood, Lord Dunsany and, most importantly, Caerleon-born Arthur Machen.

“It’s still not widely known inside Wales that Machen was such a huge impact on this increasingly influential author,“ said Jones.

Machen wrote dozens of bizarre tales with the novels The Great God Pan (1894), The Novel Of The Black Seal (1895) and The Hill Of Dreams (1907) often featuring the Welsh legend of the Tylwyth Teg (The Fair Family).

Jones explained: “Several experts have said that without Machen, Lovecraft would not have been the writer we know today and maybe his work wouldn’t have been so successful.

“In a 1927 essay, Lovecraft said, ‘Of living creators of cosmic fear raised to its most artistic pitch, few if any can hope to equal the versatile Arthur Machen.’ You can’t get higher praise than that!

“Because of Machen’s enormous impact on Lovecraft’s writing, it could be argued that Lovecraftian horror, as it’s known, is one of the few areas of world literature that Wales can claim to have had a hand in helping to inspire.”

The new anthology gives six authors from Wales the chance to showcase stories influenced by Lovecraft’s stories, bringing that inspiration back home.

The stories by internationally-published authors J. L. George, Paul Lewis, John Llewellyn Probert, C. M. Saunders, Charles Wilkinson and Mark Howard Jones all present their own unique take on Lovecraft’s uncanny creations.

They feature cosmic and folk horror, Welsh legends and history, and a cast of new and well-known characters in stories set both in Wales and around the world.

“Wales has a genuine stake in this sort of writing and I think It’s important to say that,” said Jones.

Cthulhu Cymraeg: The Night Country, issued by American publisher Macabre Ink, is available as a paperback and ebook from Amazon.co,uk. An Audible audiobook is due next month.