“That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons death may die.”

 

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

There was a poet. His true name is now lost, but he is remembered as Abd Al Hazred, “Servant of the Devourer”, or “The Mad Arab”. The path that led to his madness is a long one, but it ended with this, The Necronomicon, book of the dead.

Few original copies remain – at least one is held in the University of Miskatonic in Massachusets – but some translations survive.

There was a poet. His true name is now lost, but he is remembered as Abd Al Hazred, “Servant of the Devourer”, or “The Mad Arab”. The path that led to his madness is a long one, but it ended with this, The Necronomicon, book of the dead. Few original copies remain – at least one is held in the University of Miskatonic in Massachusets – but some translations survive.

Here is an account of the Mad Arab’s wanderings in the nameless wastes of the Arabian deserts, his discovery there of the lost city of Irem and of the terrible secrets hidden beneath it’s ruins. Here is the naming of the laws of the dead. Here is soul travel, witchcraft and the summoning of demons. Here are the Elder Gods, the Old Ones, Yog Sothoth, Shub Niggurath and dread Cthulhu. Those who drink of this well of evil will be changed, those who attempt to master it’s secrets will be lost for all time.

This is probably the most complete, authentic and convincing version of the dread book known to devotees of HP Lovecraft. The author, Donald Tyson, claims it to be fictional.

But we know better, don’t we?

(PS, I’m afraid that the Kindle edition does NOT come bound in human skin. You’ll need to buy the soft cover edition for that.)

 

Reviewed by:

Campbell McAulay

Added 15th April 2015

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Campbell McAulay