Tempting Providence and Other Stories

by Jonathan Thomas, Sherry Austin (Foreword by)

Overview

Jonathan Thomas follows up the critical and popular success of his collection from 2008, Midnight Call and Other Stories, with this new and substantial volume of weird tales long and short. The title story is a marvelous evocation of Providence yesterday and today, with much for the ghost of H. P. Lovecraft to dislike in the way his city has evolved. Providence is the setting for several other tales-tales that introduce us to such anomalies as a Lord of the Animals who seems to have an inexplicable sympathy with our four-footed friends, and a man whose quest for an extremely rare psychedelic album leads to something much stranger . . . In these twelve stories, Thomas fulfills the promise of his earlier work and shows that he has become one of the leading figures in contemporary supernatural horror. "Myth and archetype, as well as the influence of masters of the Gothic tale, seep in from the groundwater in Jonathan Thomas's world, but the landscape is wholly his own. The stories amuse, challenge, and unsettle." - From Sherry Austin's Foreword "I found ['Tempting Providence'] by Jonathan Thomas unexpectedly charming (if it's permitted to describe a horror tale as charming), not least in its evocation of old Providence . . . It certainly brought back memories of my own wanderings around the city in the '60s, the same 'wistful daydreams' his hero engages in, the sense that, if only HPL hadn't died so young, he might still be renting rooms in one of the neighborhood houses and enjoying a sundae or an evening stroll." - T. E. D. Klein

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780984480203
Publisher:	Hippocampus Press
Publication date:	08/20/2010
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.55(d)

Editorial Reviews

Quirky horrors steeped in surreality distinguish Thomas's uneven second collection (after Midnight Call and Other Stories). In the title tale, a Brown alumnus's return to Providence, R.I., reacquaints him with a vision he once had of native son H.P. Lovecraft as Lovecraftian horrors appear to be encroaching on the town. "Power of Midnight" tells of an audiophile's hunt for a rare album known in collecting circles as "the Necronomicon of vinyl" and the bizarre consequences of his quest once consummated. Although written in a mannered style that won't be to every reader's taste and hobbled by clichéd prose ("Craig was sure these guys could set the world on fire, if only they'd quit hiding their light under a bushel") as well as excesses that editorial fine-tuning might have corrected, these stories impress with their energy and originality. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly