After nearly a century of retellings and reinterpretations, the horrors of Lovecraft Country have still yet to be fully tapped. The latest journey into this eldritch world comes from Aconyte Books’ Arkham Horror series, populated with its own recurring series and characters. The Forbidden Visions of Lucius Galloway is the first book in the new Drowned City series, bringing with it both the merits and flaws intrinsic with being a series’ first book. Fortunately, the former far outweighs the latter.

The Story
The Lucius Galloway of the title is a celebrated poet whose latest collection, The Drowned City, is often interpreted as a metaphor for the state of modern (i.e., 1920s) society. What readers don’t know is that the anthology was based on strange, recurring dreams of an eldritch underwater civilization. Or, at least, most readers don’t know that.

As the book begins, Lucius is offered two paths: a visit to Arkham, or an academic job at Harvard. Preferring the prestige of Harvard academic work (and also knowing Arkham’s reputation), Lucius opts for the latter. Being a Black gay man in the 1920s (although only one of those aspects of his identity is readily evident) means his opportunities for unhindered research are few, placing him in good company with the women on the project whose access is similarly impeded. But while it is fulfilling work, being separated from his partner Rudi isn’t the worst part of it. The deeper he dives into the ancient poetry he’s helping to interpret, the more frequent and vivid his underwater dreams become. Before long, they become a part of his daily life, with tentacles grabbing at him during boating trips and swimming lessons.

What Lucius doesn’t know, but the reader finds out as early as page one, is that this project has an uncommon sponsor. The book’s author, Abdul Alhazred, is many lives (and many borrowed bodies) separated from his own work. Once someone helps him interpret his own ancient writings, he can open the gates of the lost city of R’lyeh for himself and the cultists descending on the city of Cambridge.

What Works
Right off the bat, Lucius Galloway is an excellent choice for a protagonist, especially knowing he’ll be leading a series of books. In many ways, he is a bit of a nobody in the Lovecraftian sense: the sort of small, insignificant life that can be so easily swept up in the affairs of gods and magicians. But in ways that matter, he flies directly in the face of Lovecraftian tropes—not to deconstruct or insult them, but to explore and transform them.

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One of Lucius’s talents as a poet is putting things into words that others cannot; his partner Rudi comments on this quite a bit, and Lucius himself will occasionally file away good turns of phrase for later use. In a setting where horrors are notably “indescribable,” having an audience association character who tries—who, moreover, rose to fame by describing the city of R’lyeh as seen in his dreams—provides a counterpoint to the old trope of horrors beyond words. The angles are non-Euclidian, the monsters are mind-bending, but Lucius will do his best to put them into words nonetheless.

Placing a Black gay couple at the center of the narrative is also an interesting choice, and one that could have gone a number of ways. However, Harris uses Lucius’s identity to highlight ways that these settings do have room for such characters, and in fact how Lovecraft’s own web of fear can be repurposed to house these stories. One of R’lyeh’s siren calls to Lucius is that it is a place so far removed from the human condition that it could offer him a life free from the sting of bigotry—a technical truth, granted, since all humans are equally insignificant in the eyes of the Elder Gods.

Lucius, at least so far, feels like a character who can support the weight of a series. He’s strong but has room to grow, and he brings multiple perspectives that make his view of this setting unique. And the final few pages of the book offer a cliffhanger that will terrify and tantalize anyone who knows even the basics of the Cthulhu Mythos.

What Doesn’t Work
Much of where The Forbidden Visions of Lucius Galloway falls short is not to do with the writing itself, but rather with the heaviness of writing a first book in a series. There’s a lot to do in one volume: introduce the central figure and concept that will carry the rest of the series, bring in other recurring characters, and balance all of that with this book’s “day players.” That last is where things get a little messy, primarily toward the end. Discussing them in too much detail would break the seal on some spoilers; in short, though, there is an attempt made at a red herring that ends up being spun out to such a degree that the character’s proper introduction (and setup for return in later books) comes a bit late to get one’s head around it.

A great deal of the meat of the story—how Lucius the poet becomes embroiled with Aconyte’s greater Arkham Horror setting beyond the Mythos itself—is packed and condensed into the end. On the one hand, it makes some degree of sense for Lucius’s introduction to be a bit of a whirlwind; on the other, it leaves the book feeling somewhat imbalanced and the payoff a bit too swift. There’s a bit of anxiety that comes with seeing the eldritch horrors unleashed with not nearly enough pages left to give them their due. As interesting and evocative as Lucius’s own experiences were, it feels like a little of that could have been trimmed to give the climactic battle some breathing room.

Final Score
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
The Forbidden Visions of Lucius Galloway is a creative dive into Lovecraft Country that suffers from the understandable weight of being a series’s first book. Building up a character who is unique, lovable, and followable led to a squashed third act, but it’s hard to say if there’s any better way around that.

That doesn’t stop this book from being an excellent read. Lucius Galloway belongs in the Mythos: a man whose only desires are to live, love, and write, finding his poetic voice repurposed to describing the indescribable. With the heavy work of Book 1 done, the rest of this series promises to be even stronger.

Once again I have had a blast with an Arkham horror story. I have read every Arkham horror novel and every new one becomes my new favorite. I enjoy reading them and I have never played the game so keep that in mind. You do not have to play the game to understand the story. I’m sure playing the game will make reading the books more fun. What really kept me into this new story is that there is going to be a part 2 coming next year. I don’t remember if there has been a 2 part Arkham book yet.

Another great title from my favourite Arkham publisher right now, plus one of my must-buy authors... Happy days!

This is such a unique book in terms of Lovecraftian mythology and horror fiction as a whole. Our protagonist is a black man in his 60s, a poet and academic who is forced to hide his homosexuality because of the world he lives in, which is the 'rational world', not the monstrous one of his dreams. The baseline sorrow that he's unable to openly love his partner was a beautiful thread throughout, as a touchstone back to 'reality' until he's fully pulled into the otherworldly horrors. I've no doubt this will continue in future tales, as several matters were left unresolved, and I'd certainly be glad to see more of this relationship.

Also, having a heroine who's a feisty academic old lady was just a joy for me! I've known so many historians and archaeologists like this, it was wonderful. I'd love a prequel about her adventures perhaps? Such a brilliant alternative to Indiana Jones!

The story was gripping in itself as events gradually unfold and secrets are revealed (I did NOT see the twist, oh my gods, my heart), and having the Mad Arab himself as an occasional perspective was stunning. The Great Old Ones are usually 'offscreen' in these stories, and he's always seemed to count among them, but to see his thoughts, his psychopathy and a little background to his evil was fascinating. I still hate him though, as he really is a proper baddie!

The subtext of being gay, being black and being female was very telling, as so many heroes in Lovecraft (if not all of them?) are white middle-class men, and all of these class restrictions made for additional difficulties when trying to survive and understand just what's going on. Very natural and excellent to see.

We might not have been in Arkham itself, but this book showed how far the tentacles of Cthulu and his ilk reach. There's so much potential in the tales, and I'm so very appreciative that this series is mining the variety of both humanity and monstrosity in how their eternal battle continues.

I've seen what's coming next and already can't wait!

Received as an ARC from Netgalley:

This was another excellent entry into the Arkham Horror line with a unique perspective and a very tense ending. This book plays around a lot with dream logic and obsession which fits the world extremely well.

Our lead characters are all much older than the normal leads of most fiction. Lucius is in his 60s and as such he isn't the rip roaring hero of most pulp. Making him a queer black man makes this something Ole HP would never tackle. The characters are incredibly well drawn and likeable. The pace is a bit slower, but that works well for the story being told.

Many book spaces have had this erroneous claim lately that reading isn't political and a book like this perfectly highlights why YES IT VERY MUCH IS. In the 1920s women had to fight in order to get access to academic circles, being able to get into certain libraries were restricted, and the same of course for people of colour in the era.

Great cosmic horror tale!

I really liked the development of Abdul Alhazred as a character. The book did feel a little too passive; I kept waiting for things to amp up.

slowbrun and ominous horror with a lot of very well done buildup to the more dramatic scenes that appear at different points. 4.5 stars, rounded up. tysm for the arc.

Oooh this was creepy! The insidious way the main character was watched and manipulated was unnerving!

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to the author and the publisher.

This was a great addition to the Arkham Horror world! This is about the translation of an ancient text which has driven earlier translators max, this time a translator is paired with a poet to spread the cognitive load in the hope that they will succeed, though they don’t actually know what they truly hold or who they are working for.

Our main character Lucius is offered a post at Harvard to help with the translation of the text. Lucius is a wonderful main character. He’s so fascinating. He is a sixty year old man who is deeply in love with Rudi, his partner of many years but they have to hide their relationship due to intolerance of the time period. Furthermore he faces intolerance due to his skin colour which leads to people treating him unfairly and with suspicion. We see him being kind and courteous even in the face of other people’s intolerance. He’s truly brave and caring too. When he tries to face his fear of deep water in spite of terrifying experiences, we see his open mind and courage.

A big theme throughout this book is nightmares, Lucius’ partner suffers from them and the further Lucius gets into his work, the worse his become too. We see horror from multiple angles with this work, from human prejudice, to vivid nightmares and a dangerous being. This was entertaining and a great read.

The Forbidden Visions of Lucius Galloway is a slow-burn horror, less pulp and more the type of horror actually written by Lovecraft and his contemporaries, where half of it is just daily life with nightmares but you as the reader are becoming more and more aware of all of the things horribly wrong and feeling greater and greater dread. It's incredibly well-written and extremely engaging. I do think that perhaps it could have been a touch shorter; there are parts of it that retreat the same ground narratively and emotionally a few times, but none that actually interfered with my enjoyment. There <i>was</i> one part of the mystery I felt a little lied to about by the narrative, but again, not so much I couldn't find my own explanation for it. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

I truly and deeply appreciate the Arkham Horror authors, and Aconyte Books, for making a noted effort to make the majority of their books reflect a diverse experience. There is an appeal especially in Lovecraftian horror to minorities--ironically, maybe, given Lovecraft's overwhelming fear of both visible and invisible minorities, but as a whole while nobody excuses Lovecraft's bigotry (terrible even for his time period), he still wrote books that spoke to an experience of being othered. As a queer person, I understand that pervasive fear of being in danger from the people around you while also a sense of awareness that they are the ones who are likely to hate and fear you for being different; this is integral to reading Lovecraft's work, and a huge reason why it has such an appeal despite its cruelty, and why there is such a huge surge in reclamation works from non-white, female, and queer authors. Arkham Horror as a line seems to <i>get</i> this, and numerous books I've read from them call on this experience. In this case, Lucius is a mid-60s gay Black academic, and every part of this is tied into the story; he has to be secretive about his relationship with his 'roommate' (given the time period) and he has to tangle with not knowing if people around him are being weird in a way that relates to the nightmares he's having, or simply if they're prejudiced against having a Black man visiting Harvard. It's stunningly effective and really speaks toward both that genre trend and makes the story work VERY well.

Great characters, stunning writing, a chilling slow-burn horror. I will definitely pick up the next book when it comes out; I'm very worried about poor Rudi!

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

written by Carrie Harris with cover art by Martin M Barbdu and published by Aconyte Books.

Thank you to Aconyte Publishing, who provided me with a preview copy of this release to review. Per Aconyte’s site…

An ancient book holds the key to unlocking an otherworldly horror in this gripping new mystery from the world of Arkham Horror

When poet Lucius Galloway is invited to take a prestigious position translating a classical text at Harvard University, he’s suddenly thrust into an unknown world of strange languages, mystical symbols and sanity-shattering nightmares. Haunted by dreams of horrors lurking beneath the waves, Lucius must do everything in his power to solve the mystery at the heart of the translation before the hidden figures dogging his footsteps catch up to him and transform the world forever.

“The Forbidden Visions of Lucius Galloway” marks the return of author Carrie Harris to the Arkham Files line after her fantastic entry in 2022’s short story collection “Secrets in Scarlet”, where she introduced readers to the history of the “Girl in the Carmine Coat” in a wonderful tale of sisters, thievery, and consequences. In her newest effort, Mrs. Harris has returned to provide another introduction to the yet-to-be-released Seeker Investigator Lucius Galloway.

Lu will make his gaming debut as the Seeker investigator in the upcoming “The Drowned City” expansion for the Arkham Horror LCG releasing in Q1 2025. “The Drowned City” is shaping up to be a major event for the Arkham Files IP. The marketing for associated releases points to this being a turning point for Asmodee’s version of Arkham MA with Aconyte releasing not just a short story collection about the campaign, as they did for “Night of the Zealot” and the “Scarlet Keys”, but a trilogy of novels meant to introduce important characters and themes that will be present in the LCG's campaign. Before players can build the future of Lu, readers have the opportunity to pick up this release and see Mrs. Harris’ beautiful explanation of the poet’s motivations, goals, and how he first becomes exposed to the mythos.

Mrs. Harris uses the majority of the narrative in “The Forbidden Visions of Lucius Galloway” to drive home the relationships surrounding Lu and how they inform his life. His mother Alice, who passed away years earlier, is still thought of regularly as Lu credits much of his personality to her teachings and readers are consistently reminded of the lessons she taught and the tension in their relationship. The love of his life, Rudolph “Rudi” LaChappelle, is an outspoken partner whom Lu cares for deeply, but the couple is forced to hide their affection due to the taboos of the 1920s. As shown in the preview chapters of this release the story picks up with Rudi hosting a party to celebrate Lucius having been awarded the Howard, a fictional literary prize the author named after H.P. Lovecraft. It is at this party that the poet’s life shifts as Lucius gets a lead on a summer job at Harvard University working on a translation of a recently donated historic document in the hopes of publishing an analysis of what said document contains. Within this academic setting, the majority of the mystery of this story takes place as Mrs. Harris allows readers to be aware of the forces arrayed against Lucius while also doing a wonderful job of masking the character’s true relationship to Lu. This allows the reader to create their own mental map as they ponder what is truly meant in any given encounter beyond the surface conversation.

Lu’s academic partner for the summer is Helen Berringer a sarcastic, elderly academic who specializes in translation but whose career has been hampered as a result of being a woman pursuing, what was viewed at the time, as a man’s job in academia. Readers get a great deal of interaction between Lucius and Helen as they slowly recognize the importance of the document they are spending their summer working on. This partnership drives most of the reader’s exposure to the inner personality of Lu, as well as the humor found in the story, and is well executed. The importance of this friendship to Lu allows for the character's choices throughout the second and third acts to feel natural and earned as readers understand fully what the friendship means to those involved.

Another key factors that led to the success of this novel for me is Mrs. Harris's balance between Lovecraft’s classic work and the Arkham Files IP itself. Without H.P. Lovecraft this setting I so enjoy simply would not exist, but it must be said that his perspective on the world and its inhabitants was shameful and his stories were often bleak. One of the primary reasons that the Arkham Files succeeds, for me, is that the creatives involved take what Lovecraft established as a starting point, but then move past his limitations, embracing a more inclusive and hopeful perspective. Challenges are not easily overcome but the investigators can save the world, and themselves, in the face of cosmic adversity. One of the aspects of this release that sets it apart from other Aconyte releases is a more purposeful blending of Lovecraft’s original creations with characters from the Arkham Files IP. Harvey Walters makes a brief appearance, to help set the story in motion, but Mrs. Harris also makes time to put a spotlight on an agent of an established secret society who has not been seen outside of the LCG up to this point. The character's involvement in this book turns them from a player some players may know to a more fully formed part of the IP with a perspective that is unique and whose adventures I hope we return to at some point in the future. Alongside these A.F. contributions, the opening line of this book brings one of the most recognized recurring names in all of Lovecraft’s original writings into the Arkham Files IP for the first time, the author of the Necronomicon, Abdul Alhazared. Typically the adversaries presented in Aconyte’s book are engaging original creations of the author. I found it a nice change of pace to see someone presented with a tie to the original fiction of Lovecraft being brought forward for a modern audience. Readers gain insight into the cultist’s personality, goals, and obstacles throughout this tale, taking a name readers may recognize and giving it a backing worthy of the vile scribe. The choice of featuring Alhazared and his fowl creation in the introduction of this multi-media event was a smart choice that shows the stakes have risen in this encounter, much more so than the standard awful events the investigators are trying to address and I can foresee how Abdul Alhazared's actions in this book will have a direct impact on the future of the Arkham Files IP as “The Drowned City” comes. 

“The Forbidden Visions of Lucius Galloway” is another unique take on the Arkham Files universe from Aconyte Books. Featuring engaging character work, it does the heavy lifting of being the first part of a trilogy, leaving plenty of room for future stories, while managing to wrap up the arc it set out to establish and leaves readers with a full understanding of Lucius Galloway and his life.

I hope you enjoyed this look at “The Forbidden Visions of Lucius Galloway”. If you would like more updates about the history of Arkham, its residents, and events tied to the area then you can find me on Twitter or Bluesky and bookmark this site for future updates. If you have any questions or wish to request specific content, please use this contact form. 

Best regards

Dude in progress

This was such a great start to the Drowned City series, it had that overall concept that I wanted and enjoyed from the Arkham Horror universe. The plot was wonderfully done and worked with the other books in both this series and from Carrie Harris. It left me wanting to read more in this series and from Carrie Harris.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Aconyte Books for an advance copy of this new novel of horror dealing with dreams, possession, the perils of being different in society, those fears we have of things around us, and the dangers that we are better off not knowing about.

Many a writer has drawn on their dreams for their creations. The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge dreamed of a stately pleasure dome in Xanadu, though it was stopped by a knock on the door from a weary traveller. Mary Shelley dreamed of a person returned from the dead using the modern fire of electricity, a story that still haunts us today. Robert Louis Stevenson dreamed of a man with two personas good and the debased evil that we keep within us, Hyde away deep inside. Many a songwriter draws on dreams, singing of beautiful worlds, edens from the past, familiar, yet somewhat disquieting. Dreams can tell us much, much about ourselves, our wants desires, and what we should stay away from. Reminding people that things did come before us, Older ones. Older ones who remember the old ways, and long to return this world back into what they knew best. And maybe what they need is a dreamer, a poet to lead the way. The Forbidden Visions of Lucius Galloway, book one of the The Drowned City is part of the Arkham Horror series, written by Carrie Harris, and tells of a poet, his many fears, his dreams, and the odd things that seem to follow him as he attempts to translate an ancient text.

Lucius Galloway has always wanted to be a writer, and has finally late in life found acclaim for his poetry. Lucius plagued with headaches, a fear of water, motion sickness, and the strain of being a black man in 1920's America, who also happens to be gay, has just won the Howard prize for poetry. The book Drowned City seemed to have come to him much in dreams, dreams that still bother him, and seem to have migrated to his boyfriend Rudi, giving Rudi horrible nightmares and sent him sleepwalking out into the streets of New York. An offer comes to Lucius to help a scholar Helen Berringer translate a rare manuscript that has just been offered to Harvard. Being a woman, many of the libraries and colleges services are barred to woman, something Lucius can understand. Lucius agrees and travels to Harvard, meets Helen who he finds quite smart and knowledgeable and begins to work on this translation. The pages are unbound, full of strange words, pictures, of lost buildings and ideas, much of which reminds him of his own work the Drowned City. Things also seem odd in Harvard. Lucius has many strange incidents in water, people seem to be following him, his sleep is disrupted, and work seems to be done without him knowing it. Strange shadows seem around, as well as smells. Lucius is afraid he might be losing his mind, or at least he hopes he is. For what is happening might be far worse.

Another great entry in this series, made better by the fact that it is written by an author I have enjoyed quite a bit. Carrie Harris has a very good understanding of the lore that Lovecraft created, dropping little Easter eggs in places, and getting the feeling right. Moving the story to Boston was a good idea, as it limits the people who are probably familiar with the usual eldritch lore, and giving a better feeling to what the 1920's was like to black men and women in the halls of elite education. Harris understands that creepy is better than jump scares, and Harris does this well, keeping the story moving, reveling secrets slowly, and letting things breath, before the ichor starts to flow. The characters are all interesting and well-developed, the bad guys bad, the good guys confused, and the threats real. Not just a good Arkham novel, but a very good horror novel period.

Fans will enjoy this, and will as forward to more as I am. I can't wait to read what Carrie Harris does next.