The Exham Cycle

by Robert M. Price, James George Fraser, Sabine Baring-Gould

The Exham Cycle is the latest volume in Robert M. Price’s long-running series of weird fiction anthologies (begun by Chaosium in 1993), each one collecting stories that inspired a major tale by H.P. Lovecraft, plus subsequent tales by other writers inspired by that Lovecraft yarn. This time the focus is on HPL’s classic tale “The Rats in the Walls.” An introductory essay begins the book, and each tale thereafter starts with its own mini-essay aiming to enhance the reader’s understanding and enjoyment of the text. We boast the inclusion of important background material by James George Frazer and Sabine Baring-Gould, familiar to Lovecraft but not to many of today’s readers, plus great tales by Fiona Macleod, Irvin S. Cobb, Michael Harrison, Edgar Allen Poe, Peter H. Cannon, Robert M. Price, and that old rat catcher himself, H.P. Lovecraft. A special treat is the hilarious appearance of “The Rats in the Walls” from the obscure 1950s men’s magazine Zest. “The Rats in the Walls” derives its great power from the almost Jungian plumbing of the depths of heredity and heritage, as De la Poer, seeking to reconnect with his ancestry, unwittingly rediscovers cannibalism, blasphemy, and unspeakable perversion. His tragedy shows how the greatest horror may lurk deep inside us and is better left undisturbed in its sleep. Call it your Inner Azathoth—and start piping!

240 pages, Paperback

Published October 19, 2020

About the author

Robert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, asserting the Christ myth theory.

A former Baptist minister, he was the editor of the Journal of Higher Criticism from 1994 until it ceased publication in 2003. He has also written extensively about the Cthulhu Mythos, a "shared universe" created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Reviews

[Sylri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Price has done it again! Honestly, I don’t think I’ve been disappointed by one of his anthologies yet (speaking of, he might have actually written one of my favorite stories in this, but that’s me getting ahead of myself).

If I had to name a favorite Lovecraft story, I honestly think “The Rats in the Walls” has a strong claim to that spot. One of the last stories in Lovecraft’s gothic phase, and in my opinion definitely the best he wrote in that vein.

“Rats” is one of Lovecraft’s stories that always ends up staying with me way after I finished it (same with “The Colour Out of Space”, but for very different reasons). And now, thankfully since Robert M Price has been able to get this published, I can stay in Exham Priory longer by reading these stories!

I say stories, but some of the included chapters are actually non-fiction, which as far as I’m aware is a first for this series? I’m not sure if it’s because many Lovecraft disciples don’t choose “Rats” as their inspiration and so Price uses other material to fill the book, or they just add that much context to the story. Even if it was the case that he had a hard time finding enough appropriate stories, I’m glad the non-fiction sections were included, since they do a very good job of framing important sources that Lovecraft would have used or been inspired by.

My sometimes spoilery thoughts on some of the stories:


The Golden Bough
James George Frazer
Included are sections 34-37. The first three deal with the rituals and cult surrounding Attis (and his connection to Cybele), while the fourth talks about Eastern religions in the West. Very informative and interesting, and helps give a good glimpse into what Lovecraft was hinting at when he mentions Attis/Cybele worship (some gruesome stuff).

Curious Myths of the Middle Ages
Sabine M. Baring-Gould
Both myths here are interesting, especially the one about Bishop Hatto and the similar legends about being eaten by rats as karma for bad deeds. But St. Patrick’s Purgatory deals with Purgatory/Hell being underground. Kind of like Delapore descending down into the depths of Exham Priory…..

Ligeia
Edgar Allen Poe
Gonna be honest, this wasn’t a favorite of mine. There’s a scene in here that has similar visuals as a scene with “The Rats in the Walls”, but other than that there’s not a whole lot other than the fact they’re both Gothic and involve castles. But if I wanted a Poe story with a similar vibe to “Rats”, I think I would prefer something like “The Fall of the House of Usher”.
I find I’m not really into romances in my weird stories, like this and the romance in Chambers’ “The Yellow Sign” and “The Maker of Moons” (unless it’s Mexican Gothic which is LOVE).

The Sin-Eater
Fiona Macleod
This also wasn’t my jam. It had a really good atmosphere, but…. I do enjoy atmospheric stories that are light on plot, but this one just didn’t click for me. Probably has something to do with the dialogue/writing style. I’m no stranger to older reading material, but the local dialect used was a bit more work to parse through. I feel like both this and Ligeia are both good, but just not my jam. I was getting a little nervous at this point, cause I read these out of order and I read this after Ligeia. Thankfully things started looking up after this.

The Unbroken Chain
Irvin S. Cobb
This is my second Irvin S. Cobb story, and even though I really liked “Fishhead” I wasn’t expecting as much out of this. Turns out, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Even though it’s got some wildly racist, outdated views. But coming from a traditional (stereotypical even) long time Southern family…. A lot of the things said in here ring true to how certain people used to think, and still do to this day. My family genetics would be considered “tainted” just as our main character’s. And though it wasn’t confirmed until I took a genetic kit, my peepaw never wanted to answer questions about our heritage, so I had some clue as to what he wanted to hide. There’s a character in particular who talks about southern people being proud, especially the coastal plains sorts - so very, very true. So for him to then be suspicious that our main character didn’t like talking about his ancestry…. It all hit very close to home. So maybe enjoy is the wrong word, but this one is going to stick with me for a while.
Very relevant to “The Rats in the Walls” towards the end when Delapore is regressing through his ancestral lineage, as well as the idea of never being able to escape the sins and habits of your ancestors through your shared genetics. Heavily leans into biological determinism.

The Rats in the Walls
H.P. Lovecraft
Oh my, just…. Such a good story! I think I already got a lot of my thoughts about it out earlier, so I don’t have too much more to say here that wouldn’t just be me repeating myself. An amazing gothic horror tale - one of the last of Lovecraft’s Poe-inspired stories, and an excellent send-off for this phase of his writing! And though many don’t consider it a proper Mythos tale, there is a reference to Nyarlathotep being deep down in the earth with piping flutes (obviously these traits were merged into Azathoth later on). Now having dove deeper in August Derleth’s Mythos works, I’m assuming this is the justification to make Nyarlathotep an Earth elemental.

Some Very Odd Happenings At Kibblesham Manor House
Michael Harrison
This was a very well done, eerie yet simple tale. This one goes into the Attis/Cybele cult stuff that is mentioned in “The Rats in the Walls”. Not explicitly a Mythos tale, though there are enough weird happenings in here that you could certainly interpret it in that light if you wish. Gruesome implications without actually being gorey - the buildup and reveal was wonderfully done. Looking into the author more, it doesn’t look as if they were especially prolific and many of these are out of print, which is a shame.

Cats, Rats, and Bertie Wooster
Peter H. Cannon
An author who has been a little hit or miss for me, as I need to be in the right mood for straight up parody when I’m reading Lovecraft-related stuff. This is cute, but since I’ve never watched or read any Jeeves and Wooster (though I’d certainly like to give it a watch at some point in the future) I’m probably not the target audience for this. But who knows, I bounced off of Cannon’s “The Letters of Halpin Chalmers” pretty hard on first reading, but once I realized what it was trying to do I appreciated it much more on the second read. Hard to say if that will happen for this story, since I had some sort of idea of the kind of tale it would be the first time around. Time will tell.

Exham Priory
Robert M Price
This was soooooo good!! I’m glad Price is ok with including his own stories into anthologies he edits, because this collection would have been poorer for not having this story in it. This is a sequel that takes place soon after the end of “The Rats in the Walls”, involving the researchers that Delapore had taken down with him to see what the heck was going on beneath his new house. They decide to go back to search for their recently missing compatriot…. And because curiosity is the sin of every good scientist.
Funny story, I read the original version of this story for this collection and it wasn’t until I read the introduction Price wrote for it in this collection that I learned he had apparently expanded on it a good deal for its new inclusion here. Well, what else could I do but to see how the two compared? While the original almost reads as something Lovecraft could have written himself, the revised version is much more explicit in describing the depravities of the de la Poers, as well as prolonging our present day characters’ sufferings.
It’s hard for me to choose which I prefer, as both have their own merits. I might have to give it to the original though, since even though the expanded details are fun to know from a fangirl’s point of view I don’t think they were necessary. Also could be because some of the atmosphere towards the end reminded me of a scene in particular from the movie Bone Tomahawk, which I’m still scarred by and get uncomfortable whenever I’m reminded of it. So not the story’s fault, but makes me uncomfortable by association.
Overall, whichever version you do decide to read, this is an amazing “The Rats in the Walls” sequel/pastiche. I love the references Price makes to the legends of Bishop Hatto, which he so kindly includes previously in this book. Since this is the last story in the anthology, it feels like everything you’ve read up to this point coming together.

The Whippoorwills in the Hills
August Derleth
It’s a shame that it’s getting harder and harder to find Derleth’s Mythos stories in print, nevermind the fact none of them have been collected together digitally as an ebook. I have to assume this is due to his estate. Which is unfortunate, but what can you do? It wasn’t even included in this collection as was the original intention for whatever reason, so I ended up reading this story in this collection , which has the most painfully boring cover for a collection of Mythos stories ever. And generic to boot. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was about some kind of thriller. Back in the day I had originally read the story in this , while still not being the best at least conveys its contents a bit better.
Ahem. As to the story itself, since I read it in another book I had forgotten which theme I was reading it for and assumed it was Derleth pastching on “The Dunwich Horror” rather than “The Rats in the Walls”. Until you get to the ending and which smacks you in the face with its “Rats” influence and I suddenly remembered what had prompted me to read this in the first place. And suddenly all of the other details, such as the whippoorwills standing in for the rats, made me realize I was being a bit thick. I had been distracted by all of the talk of the Whateleys and Dunwich. Price mentions the “The Shadow Out of Time” angle, and there does seem to be a little of that as well. It’s definitely a hodge-podge of different Lovecraft stories, which makes for an interesting blend.
Not my favorite of Derleth’s Mythos tales, like many that fall into his brand of Mythos-style haunted house stories, but it’s still a bit of fun.
Also made me a bit melancholy that that amount of birds in one area would probably be unthinkable today. Sad.



Apparently Joe Pulver’s “... Hungry … Rats” was supposed to be included in this, which makes this the second Price-edited anthology that was supposed to have a Pulver story which got pulled. Not sure if there’s something going on with Pulver’s estate, but since I don’t know if I’ve read a Pulver story that I ever liked (I actually tend to strongly dislike them) I don’t know if I consider it a huge loss. I do hate that I’m missing out on the Price introduction that would have preceded it, but oh well. Might be worth saving however many minutes of my life that I would have spent having to read the thing to finish this book, though since it’s collected in A Mountain Walked: Great Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, it looks like I’ll probably have to endure it at some point in the future anyway.

Overall, though this one might have started out a little shaky in the first half, the stories really come through in the latter half of the book. For those Lovecraft fans who love “The Rats in the Walls” or his gothic phase, this is a wonderful collection to pick up.

I love that Price is still working to get some of these very hard to find stories back in print. His efforts are such a boon to the Mythos community!