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Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu books
The Shub-Niggurath Cycle: Tales of the Black Goat with a Thousand Young
Call of the Cthulhu series
240 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1994
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About the author
Robert M. Price
405 books239 followersRobert 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 19, 2015
This book I guess is a victim of its own success. The series was started some years ago when the role playing game (also published by Chaosium) was riding high.
The series aimed at publishing stories from the mythos both famous and not so famous with the idea of bringing back in to print those lesser known or published stories - usually following a specific theme - in this case Shub-Niggurath.
The reason why I say this was a victim of its own success was that ideal I have just mentioned meant that the stories varied ALOT in both style and content but also ease of reading. Some of the connections were very tenuous and I struggled to follow what was going on. I guess that could be said about any themed anthology but with just about everything changing except its connection to the central character and at times even that was only implied.
This series of books (I have lost count of how many there are and the series has evolved over time) represents a massive collection of work much of which you will not find anywhere else - so for a true fan of H P Lovecraft's legacy this series is a must however do not expect to see any work of his in this book.
The series aimed at publishing stories from the mythos both famous and not so famous with the idea of bringing back in to print those lesser known or published stories - usually following a specific theme - in this case Shub-Niggurath.
The reason why I say this was a victim of its own success was that ideal I have just mentioned meant that the stories varied ALOT in both style and content but also ease of reading. Some of the connections were very tenuous and I struggled to follow what was going on. I guess that could be said about any themed anthology but with just about everything changing except its connection to the central character and at times even that was only implied.
This series of books (I have lost count of how many there are and the series has evolved over time) represents a massive collection of work much of which you will not find anywhere else - so for a true fan of H P Lovecraft's legacy this series is a must however do not expect to see any work of his in this book.
March 12, 2016
This is quiet frankly one of the best collections of short stories I've read in a long time. Normally, in a collection, there are a few stories that are below par but this collection varied from excellent down to good; dwelling primarily in the former category.
The stories are printed in chronological order of writing/publication. As the title suggests, they're primarily themed around the Great Old One Shub Niggurath. The early stories concern supernatural tale with a "goat" theme and the later stories are more classically Cthulhu mythos inspired. These earlier stories all very much read like M. R. James' tale of unease; a real pleasure for myself.
As the theme of Shub Niggurath is developed from Lovecraft's original writing, the stories dwell less on the goat aspect and more on the otherworldly horror of S.N.
My one criticism is that some of these stories are shoehorned into this collection to pad it out as they don't, in my opinion, focus on S.N. That said, though, all of the stories are of high quality and I would prefer a collection like this than one with lower quality tales that may be a bit closer to the mark. This one collection I will definitely pick up again to browse through.
The stories are printed in chronological order of writing/publication. As the title suggests, they're primarily themed around the Great Old One Shub Niggurath. The early stories concern supernatural tale with a "goat" theme and the later stories are more classically Cthulhu mythos inspired. These earlier stories all very much read like M. R. James' tale of unease; a real pleasure for myself.
As the theme of Shub Niggurath is developed from Lovecraft's original writing, the stories dwell less on the goat aspect and more on the otherworldly horror of S.N.
My one criticism is that some of these stories are shoehorned into this collection to pad it out as they don't, in my opinion, focus on S.N. That said, though, all of the stories are of high quality and I would prefer a collection like this than one with lower quality tales that may be a bit closer to the mark. This one collection I will definitely pick up again to browse through.
February 12, 2016
A collection of stories based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. These are, to me, only slightly better than the original Lovecraft stories. Just not a fan of his writings. Not recommended
March 14, 2011
While the eponymous Shub-Niggurath is what binds these stories together, they nevertheless are rather disparate. No homogenous concept of the entity emerges and while this might be due to the fact that Shub-Niggurath is not elaborated in Lovecraft's original mythos tales (as editor Robert M. Price notes), there is also the problem that Shub-Niggurath is not very present in some of these stories except by name.
There is no text by Lovecraft included and most of the stories are written rather by the latter-day epigones of the writer, such as Lin Carter, Richard L. Tierney and Robert M. Price. While there is no exceptionally good story to be found, neither is an extremely bad one. There are one or two weak stories but most of them are entertaining reads even if they lack the horror or lingering dread that makes a good mythos tale.
There is no text by Lovecraft included and most of the stories are written rather by the latter-day epigones of the writer, such as Lin Carter, Richard L. Tierney and Robert M. Price. While there is no exceptionally good story to be found, neither is an extremely bad one. There are one or two weak stories but most of them are entertaining reads even if they lack the horror or lingering dread that makes a good mythos tale.
January 21, 2014
Overall a fairly solid collection of "Mythos" fiction.
There are a few weak selections (Lin Carter, I'm looking at you) and a few early entries that quite literally have nothing mythos-tinged about them (an evil goat has no inherently Lovecraftian elements).
The quality of stories is better than average for writers working in Lovecraft's shadow, and some of them step out onto their own with great success, "Harold's Blues" by Glen Singer was exceptionally good, and Robert Price's "A Thousand Young" excellently illustrates the energy of a Shub-Niggurath cultist.
Certainly worth picking up.
There are a few weak selections (Lin Carter, I'm looking at you) and a few early entries that quite literally have nothing mythos-tinged about them (an evil goat has no inherently Lovecraftian elements).
The quality of stories is better than average for writers working in Lovecraft's shadow, and some of them step out onto their own with great success, "Harold's Blues" by Glen Singer was exceptionally good, and Robert Price's "A Thousand Young" excellently illustrates the energy of a Shub-Niggurath cultist.
Certainly worth picking up.
January 25, 2011
La maggior parte dei racconti è decisamente per appassionati, e si fa apprezzare soprattutto per il sapore un po' ruspante che li caratterizza. Il livello tende comunque ad alzarsi nella seconda metà del libro. Non mancano alcune gemme: "Harold's Blues", "The Moon Lens" e soprattutto "Grossie" nobilitano in qualche modo un'antologia che altrimenti sarebbe solo discreta.
September 22, 2012
Price has collected some very good tales about one of the more obscure of Lovecraft's pantheon. Very entertaining, and very interesting to see the innovations in Lovecraftian fiction some writers began trying to produce at the end of the last century.
June 21, 2017
A really good anthology devoted to the oft mentioned, but rarely featured Great Old One. If you're into Lovecraft and his ever expanding circle of disciples, this is definitely one to track down. If you just enjoy some odd tales, there are plenty contained within. Good stuff.
April 27, 2020
This is the seventh book in Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu series that I’ve read (though the fourth one published), and I note a couple of differences between this outing and the first six I’ve made it through. To start, none of the stories included herein were actually written by H.P. Lovecraft. That’s natural enough, given that he never wrote a story specifically about the Goat with a Thousand Young. Unfortunately, it’s also remarkable for featuring a relatively large percentage of off-topic stories. A couple of the early entries are about generic-brand demonic goats, connected to Shub Niggurath only by some fur and cloven hooves. Then later in the set editor Robert M. Price chooses to include a couple of stories that aren’t directly connected to the title figure in any way, though one of these entries, David Kaufman’s “Grossie,” is one of the better tales in the set. Price also stuffs in a couple of tales in which “Shub Niggurath” appears as little more than a stand-in for a more traditional Devil, almost as if someone used a find-and-replace function in a word processor to produce a tale that conformed to the book’s theme in order to facilitate a sale. I also thought it was disingenuous of Price to omit any discussion of the inherent racism of the name. A story tackling this thorny issue head-on would also have been a welcome addition. But even with such drawbacks in mind, this is still an entertaining read.
May 26, 2025
The Horn of Vapula: 2.5/5
The Demoniac Goat: 2/5
The Ghostly Goat of Glaramara: 4/5
The Moon-Lens: 5/5
The Ring of the Hyades: 3.5/5
A Thousand Young: 1.5/5
The Seed of the Star-God: 3.5/5
Harold’s Blues: 4/5
Dreams in the House of Weir: 3/5
Visions from Yaddith: 2/5
Prey of the Goat: 4.5/5
Sabbath of the Black Goat: 4/5
The Curate of Temphill: 2.5/5
Grossie: 3.5/5
To Clear The Earth: 4/5
Average: 3.3/5
Final: 3/5
A third of the stories have no connection to Shub-Niggurath at all, one of which doesn’t even have the goat theme to justify its inclusion (despite being one of the better stories)
The Demoniac Goat: 2/5
The Ghostly Goat of Glaramara: 4/5
The Moon-Lens: 5/5
The Ring of the Hyades: 3.5/5
A Thousand Young: 1.5/5
The Seed of the Star-God: 3.5/5
Harold’s Blues: 4/5
Dreams in the House of Weir: 3/5
Visions from Yaddith: 2/5
Prey of the Goat: 4.5/5
Sabbath of the Black Goat: 4/5
The Curate of Temphill: 2.5/5
Grossie: 3.5/5
To Clear The Earth: 4/5
Average: 3.3/5
Final: 3/5
A third of the stories have no connection to Shub-Niggurath at all, one of which doesn’t even have the goat theme to justify its inclusion (despite being one of the better stories)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews