Shout / Kill / Revel / Repeat

An outrageously good collection from Scott Jones.
Most of the stories here were already published prior to collection, and I *believe* all the original stories have since seen print in other collections as well. Which is not to say you shouldn't pick this up...Its Jones' unique stew of mysticism, science fiction, lovecraftian horror, with social commentary for spice on full display.
There's clearly either some world building going on, or just Jones working out a number of ideas, themes, and story elements that will finally gel together in Stonefish. Whichever of those is true, its a fascinating process to watch, and well re-creates the feeling Lovecraft created that there was something coherent and *bigger* going on, when it fact it is show more and always was chaos. We even see Jones' much vaunted First Law, Everything Hungry, make appearences throughout. If I have one minor complaint, its that that there are a couple sensory turns of phrase (the calving of an ice shelf) that feel a little repetitive, but only because stories originally written to be read on their own all collected in one place.
Some of these definitely feel like they fall within the Stonefish mythos ('The Amnesiac's Lament', 'The Spike', etc.). Others are squarely in the bounds of Jones' unique take on Lovecraft's universe (the titular 'Shout/Kill/Revel/Repeat', 'Wonder and Glory Forever'), some touch on other classics of weird fiction (I loved the King in Yellow riff of 'Perfect Ten'), and others are something completely separate and different ('The Transition of Toby the Twitch'). If I had to identify a story that didn't really land for me, I'd say it was Abraxas.
If you like a deeply mystic take on weird fiction, that defies easy classification and still moves fast while being thought provoking, please pick up Jones work. show less