Hugh B. Cave (1910–2004)

This classic 1955 novel set in Haiti is a mixed bag of good to mediocre writing, realistic snippets of every day Haitian life, and observations on racism and religious domination and co-operation. I enjoyed reading it yet was well aware of its limitations. Though Cave's intention is to defy racism and religious domination, it is not always clear that the author himself is free of all racist assumptions, and he definitely supports the idea that Christianity is a more healthy life choice than show more Vodou, in some ways. Yet that he was even considering that Vodou had anything to offer, that Haitians had anything to complain about with missionaries, was pretty powerful stuff especially at the time it came out. If one missionary read this book and questioned some of his or her assumptions, it would have done its job. So kudoes to Cave. Apart from that, it is a well plotted, interesting story with a bit of woodeness that is made up for by all of the ways it flows well and fascinates. show less

Super creepy collection of [a:Hugh B. Cave|8637|Hugh B. Cave|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1288993349p2/8637.jpg]'s best horror stuff. Certainly the best collection of Cave I have ever seen, hardly a clinker in the batch. On the more grue side of the pulp era and not as polished as other pulp writers but this is made up for in the creepiness and excitement of these stories. Excellent gruesome illustrations by Lee Brown Coye just improves the look and feel of the stories. Really a beautiful show more edition.

Carcosa Press only released 4 books in it's short lifetime, this was the first. Hard to find in first edition but fortunately reprinted in a trade edition (I think it is the only Carcosa title ever reprinted). Not sure if the reprint includes the original illustrations, but still worth picking up even without these.

I tended to rate books too high in the past but this is a definite five stars even on reappraisal. show less

I would say that Hugh B. Cave was not a great innovator, but a solid and capable writer in the terse pulp fiction style. His fiction consists of vampires, voluptuous women, men of action, and the mad. His writing reminds one of pulp era tales of the criminal underworld, with quick paced action, smoking revolvers, and fists connecting squarely with jaws, but his antagonists tend to the supernatural and science fictional rather than your run-of-the-mill gangsters and gun molls. All in all an show more enjoyable collection of pulp horror tales. show less

Pulpy horror fiction at its best! I found a reference to this author when I was researching short stories related to the Cthulhu mythos, so I bought the book to add to my collection. At 475 pages, this book is filled with 26 very bizarre pulp horror stories by the late author Hugh B. Cave. The editor, Karl Wagner, contacted Cave about putting together some of his best work in one volume, as it had been spread about in various publications a la Weird Tales, beginning in the 1930s. As with any show more anthology, there are some that are great and some not so hot, but overall, it was a very very fun and entertaining read.

There are 2 stories featuring Nyarlathotep for you Mythos fans out there: "The Isle of Dark Magic," and "The Death Watch."

A word of warning: many of these stories were written at a time when racial stereotyping (vernacular, jargon, profiling) was not negatively viewed as it is today, so it is a bit racist in today's thinking.

I would definitely recommend it to aficionados of the pulp genre (I'm fast becoming one myself), to horror readers who want something completely different, and of course, the two Mythos-related stories to Mythos readers. show less