Dear Authors,

I blame my ignorance of all things H.P. Lovecraft for my lack of fervor in this quick little review. The story was fun, funny, and I was introduced to many creatures and places from Lovecraft's imagination. What this book did do was open up an avenue of interest for H.P. Lovecraft. Thank you.

Yours Truly,
J.D. McCoughtry

Thank you, NetGalley and Clash Books, for the opportunity to read this e-arc.

Unfortunately, this didn't do much for me.

I was really looking forward to the Lee/SanGiovanni combo, and the promise of a Lovecraft pastiche/homage seemed like a perfect fit for the two, but the end result was a mishmash that played up all of the things that I've grown weary of from Lee & Lovecraft.

I'm a huge Lovecraft fan, but I can call a spade a spade and say that I find some of his work unreadable. The stories that get too deep in the weeds with dreams and faraway lands just make my eyes glaze over. Similarly, when he gets too descriptive about strange geometry, unnatural angles, weird architecture...I'm out. And on the Lee side, I feel like I've outgrown his often childish sexual perversions and innuendo. And this book is almost ALL of that stuff combined and multiplied.

The basic storyline is clever and fun: A Lovecraft-hating critic finds himself perving on the wrong goth girl, and is sent reeling through a greatest-hits of Lovecraft's stories and settings as punishment.

The book starts strong, but eventually bogged down into lengthy descriptive passages of mystical rocks, cosmic visions, rooms with weird angles....by the end, I was past ready for it to just stop.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. It just didn't click with me.

Fun horror book heavily influenced by hp Lovecraft. Step into the many worlds of Lovecraft. Thanks for netgalley and clash for the opportunity to review.

Professor Everard is a mediocre academic but a breakout star on the convention scene. His books lauding little known horror authors get him speaking engagements and more importantly: groupies. No more trawling bars for fresh ass when the horror girlies are all throwing themselves at him. The gravy train is derailed when Everard writes a book exposing Lovecraft as an overhyped hack. Then, he can't even fill out a Q&A session, let alone attract his usual bedfellows. One chick sticks around, though. Maybe he should have taken her seriously when she said she was a witch, but Everard was too busy staring at her tits...

This novella is a parody romp through Lovecraft's universe, one part poking fun at sexed up con attendees, and one part the vicious comeuppance of a misogynistic lech. I think if you were a Lovecraft superfan you might enjoy this more than I did. Or if your sense of humour aligns more with the authors'. I enjoyed the first half but I was getting bored well before we got to Dunwich.

I just couldn't get into this, I know the main character is meant to be unlikeable but this meant it made reading the book with any kind of enthusiasm really hard to do

Bosoms bosoming really is off-putting no matter if satire.

Strange Stones was a wild ride, to say the least. If you're into extreme horror with no boundaries, this one's for you. Lee's prose is graphic and unrelenting, plunging you headfirst into a nightmarish world of depravity and violence. There were moments that genuinely made my skin crawl - in a good way.

The plot is twisted and unpredictable, keeping you on edge from start to finish. The characters, while not exactly likable, are certainly memorable.

However, be warned, this book is not for the faint of heart. It's brutal, disturbing, and often disgusting. There were times when even I, a seasoned horror fan, had to take a break. Some of the scenes are so extreme that they might be gratuitous for some readers.

Overall, Strange Stones is a masterclass in extreme horror. It's a visceral, shocking, and unforgettable experience. If you're looking for something safe and comfortable, look elsewhere. But if you're ready to be pushed to your limits, this book will deliver.

This short novel by two legends, Ed Lee and Mary SanGiovanni, reads like they put Lovecraft's Mythos in the blender with Alice in Wonderland, to produce a grotesque, cheerful, but not very bright baby, hungry for intrafictional puns, cerebral comedy and slippery weird horror!

Predictably, there are tentacles, Soggoths, Old Gods and eldritch monstrosities, but they're all being served side by side with a horror lit professor's humorous, sexist, dirty thoughts, the recondite shenanigans of an often horny scholar, who finally finds his match when he DARES to publish a book criticizing Lovecraft's fine oeuvre. So this may be read as a revenge story of sorts; or a mythopoetic spoof of high culture; or a what if-type of story (ie. "what if Lovecraft was right?").

No matter which way you pick to digest this thinly veiled horror satire, the book delivers an energetic romp through Lovecraft's work (I was strongly tempted to write "Lovecraft's Country"), frolicking boisterously and intimately both with the master's work and that of his spiritual descendants.

Get ready for some brainy Lovecraftian fun!

A quirky, weird, fun easy read, Although this book won’t fill you with that feeling of fear and anticipation that you get from those hardcore horror stories, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Perfect if you want to get yourself ready for the upcoming spooky season.

A Horror Bookworm Recommendation
Strange Stones by Edward Lee & Mary SanGiovanni
https://horrorbookwormreviews.com/

Professor Robert Everard, a noted academician and author, is attending a discussion panel at a horror convention. He is there to discuss his new book, Over-Rated: The Life and Work of H.P. Lovecraft. Not exactly the best setting to push an anti-Lovecraft book. There, he meets an exotic ‘witchy’ woman that proves to Everard the Cthulhu Mythos is very real indeed. Subsequently, he finds himself on another plane of existence where Lovecraft’s imagination is now reality.

Authors Edward Lee and Mary SanGiovanni tap into the Otherworld where cobblestone streets, twisted architectural churches and the Old Gods exist. Strange Stones wraps its tentacular arms around the reader as Lovecraftian genetic horrors are exposed. Lee and SanGiovanni cleverly incorporate locations such as Innsmouth, Dunwich and the Miskatonic River into a para-dimension full of nightmarish monstrosities and madness. These two authors deliver their abhorrent insanity with unique multi-faceted twists and turns.

If you are a Lovecraft fan, this novel is gonna knock your Necronomicon socks off. If you are not a fan, Lee and SanGiovanni still have you covered with scenarios of netherscape occults and unbound evils. This unholy communion of Lee’s and SanGiovanni’s written word is some major cosmic darkness. These two authors blend together as well as two multi-faceted polyhedrons used for math-based witchcraftian incantations. (that’s Lovecraftian for ‘two peas in a pod’)

The human mind is not sophisticated nor equipped to comprehend Lovecraft’s horrific works of fiction. Beware, some say madness is the result. Will you, the fellow reader, take the challenge and visit those dark in-between terra-scapes of cosmic horror? If so, Strange Stones await you. A five star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Horror Bookworm Recommendation.

I grabbed this because I have enjoyed HP Lovecraft stories in the past, and thought the premise was intriguing. Anyone who is a fan of that type of fiction would really get a kick out of this story! It reads like well-written fan-fiction (which IS a compliment, I promise). A reader who is familiar with some of Lovecraft's heavy hitters (like myself) would get a giggle of excitement revisiting the various settings. It's basically a short adventure story into a dimension of eldritch horror with a protagonist that you will love to hate. On the negative side, there was a bit too much sexuality for my taste, and by that I mean the more violent bits. It pulled me out of the campiness of the story and made me uncomfortable. That is very much a personal qualm, and I think a lot of horror readers out there won't be turned away by it in the slightest.

There are many authors that have paid tribute to H.P. Lovecraft in their works - Neil Gaiman has done it several times, always enjoyable; Stephen King has outdone himself with his amzingly eldritch short story "Crouch End"; and only recently, the marine horror movie "Underwater" did it very effectively - but "Strange Stones" falls short. The creeping feeling of looming terror thqat Lovecraft does so well dissipates in the face of overly sexist comments (does the main character really have time to think about how busty the witch was while fearing for his life and sanity?) and flying guts. The one thing I thought was hilarious is that the main character - so unlikeable that I was rooting for the tentacles - made some very good points about H.P. Lovecraft being problematic. A good way of introducing at least a bit of critical reading into the story.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

Strange, Odd, Weird, and just the right amount of unanswered questions to make you think well after the story has ended.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this.
What a wild ride this was! Professor Everard is a HP Lovecraft critic, touting his book at a convention when things take a turn for the worse, leaving him in Lovecrafts universe with very little to guide him. This is a short, very descriptive novel with an amazing ending! Not for your HSP's but great!

3.75

I was really unsure of this book at the start because the concept was super novel, which can usually make for a really good or really shit execution.

I’m pleased to say this novella was the former, a super fun foray into the world of H P Lovecraft that reads like really well written fan fiction (which I mean as a compliment). I’m also a sucker for an unlikeable protagonist you still want to root for.

The cover is awesome although It feels slightly misleading, to me it reads super lit-fic which this is not. I wish I had read more Lovecraft before starting this but that’s completely on me being impatient and wanting to read what’s in front of me. I will certainly be re-familiarising myself though.

Thanks NetGalley and CLASH for the ARC.

This is such a great twist on the Lovecraft lore, taking a female rage perspective with a twist of Twilight Zone style lesson learning. The main character is extremely unlikeable and that might be a problem for a longer novel but for this novella it is perfect because the reader gets a bit of a thrill with each new torment Everard is subjected to in Lovecraft’s world.

I loved how things just kept getting worse and the horrors and monsters bigger and more cosmic and Old God, leading up to a crazy finale. Quick read, lots of fun, definite recommendation!

Homage to Lovecraft in a a very good wizard of oz style adventure for out protagonist, although instead of a teenage girl just trying to get home, we have a middle aged male literary professor. Instead of ruby slippers anc a path down the Yellow Brick Road to the magical city of Oz, Edward Lee takes the reader on a labyrinthine journey, story by story, venturing through various hellish Lovecraftian settings in desperate attempts to locate gemstones with the potential to drive you mad and the chance to traverse across the multiverses and jump into alternate Lovecraftian universes in an attempt to escape back to reality.