I have both the Centipede and Dark Regions editions and while the Centipede is the much more comprehensive edition, it does not have the excellent Jason V. Brock story "The Man with the Horn," which is only in the Dark Regions edition.

The Dark Regions edition excludes the [a:T.C Boyle|7394743|T.C Boyle|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] story while adding the Brock story. It excludes the art galleries, comics, and the Lovecraft stories themselves. It does include a number of the illustrations. In a somewhat bizarre editorial oversight the author biography for the excluded story still appears!

Back to the Centipede press edition, this massive book cannot be overpraised. That given, at least for me, good as it was, the [a:Patrick McGrath|13072|Patrick McGrath|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1206557233p2/13072.jpg] and [a:T.C Boyle|7394743|T.C Boyle|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] stories seemed misplaced. Probably one of those cases where the editor wanted to get anything remotely appropriate from what would be considered more "literary" writers not necessarily associated with genre. The art galleries were strictly eh for me, the Kozowski, while creepy and well done enough, seemed to have little to do with the Cthulhu Mythos, and the Sargent was just not my kinda thing.

In a collection deep in four and five star stories, the masterful and much missed [a:Michael Shea|7213910|Michael Shea|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] delivers the best story for me, Beneath the Beardmore, which somehow manages to pay tribute to the [b:At the Mountains of Madness|32767|At the Mountains of Madness|H.P. Lovecraft|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388341769s/32767.jpg|17342821] while not being pastiche and being as scary as a Mythos story can be.

The book is a bitch to read making doorstop a euphemism. It's so massive you simply cannot read it in bed.

Unless you are a true collector the Dark Regions edition is going to be fine and you can probably find the Boyle story somewhere else. However the slipcased Centipede edition is one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen. ( )

4.5 stars

A generally high-quality collection of Mythos tales edited by master Lovecraft scholar Joshi, giving an overview of Lovecraftian fiction from outside the main circle of authors, from the 1930s to the present day.


Stand out stories: "[Anasazi]" Gemma Files, "John Four" Caitlan R. Kiernan, "A Gentleman form Mexico" Mark Samuels, "...Hungry...Rats..." Jospeph S. Pulver, "Far Below" , "The Deep Ones" James Wade, "In The Shadow of Swords" Cody Goodfellow, "Sigma Octantis" by and, of course, "Only the end of the World Again" by Neil Gaiman ( )