Brian Lumley (born 2 December 1937 - January 2024) was an English horror-fiction writer and a major contributor to the Cthulhu Mythos, inventing a number of new Great Old Ones, Elder Gods, grimoires, and Mythos locations.
Born in County Durham, England, Lumley discovered the Cthulhu Mythos at age 13 or 14, when he read Robert Bloch's "Notebook Found in a Deserted House".[1]
He joined the British Army in 1958, and was well into a 22-year career there when he began corresponding with Arkham House's August Derleth. Derleth selected two of his first stories, "Cement Surroundings" and "The Sister City", for inclusion in the 1969 anthology Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Arkham House later published two collections of Lumley's short fiction, The Caller of The Black (1971) and The Horror at Oakdeene and Others (1977), as well as his first novel, The Burrowers Beneath (1974).
Many of Lumley's Mythos stories fall into three main series: one featuring the occult investigator Titus Crow, another taking place in Lovecraft's Dreamlands, and the Primal Land stories taking place in prehistoric Theem'hdra.
Lumley later achieved mainstream success with the Necroscope and Psychomech books.
On 28 January 2024, Lumley's wife Barbara Ann announced his death earlier in the month via social media platform Facebook [2].
Selected Bibliography[]
Mythos-Related Fiction:[]
- "The Cypress Shell" (1968)
- "Cement Surroundings" (1969)
- "The Sister City" (1969)
- "Rising with Surtsey" (1971)
- "A Thing About Cars!" (1971)
- "The Night Sea-Maid Went Down" (1971)
- "The Thing from the Blasted Heath" (1971)
- "In the Vaults Beneath" (1971)
- "Ambler's Inspiration" (1971)
- "Haggopian" (1973)
- "Aunt Hester" (1975)
- "Born of the Winds" (1975)
- "What Dark God?" (1975)
- "The Fairground Horror" (1976)
- "The Statement of Henry Worthy" (1977)
- "The Horror at Oakdeene" (1977)
- "The Kiss of Bugg-Shash" (1978)
- "The House of the Temple" (1980)
- "The Second Wish" (1980)
- "Recognition" (1981)
- The Return of the Deep Ones (1984)
- "The Statement of One John Gibson" (1984)
- "Cthaat Aquadingen" (1984)
- "The Running Man" (1987, included in the Call of Cthulhu supplement Green and Pleasant Land)
- "Dagon's Bell" (1988)
- "Synchronicity or Something" (1989)
- "The Taint" (2005)
- "The Hymn" (2006)
- "The Changeling" (2013)
- The Gathering (2017)
Titus Crow Series[]
- "Billy's Oak" (1970)
- "An Item of Supporting Evidence" (1970)
- "The Caller of the Black" (1971)
- "De Marigny’s Clock" (1971)
- "The Mirror of Nitocris" (1971)
- "The Viking's Stone" (1977)
- "Darghud's Doll" (1977)
- "Name and Number" (1982)
- "The Black Recalled" (1983)
- "Lord of the Worms" (1983)
- "Inception" (1987)
Titus Crow Novels[]
- The Burrowers Beneath (1974)
- The Transition of Titus Crow (1975)
- The Clock of Dreams (1978)
- Spawn of the Winds (1978)
- In the Moons of Borea (1979)
- Elysia (1989)
Primal Land Series[]
- "The House of Cthulhu" (1973)
- "Tharquest and the Lamia Orbiquita" (1976)
- "Mylakhrion the Immortal" (1984)
- "How Kank Thad Returned to Blur-Esh" (1977)
- "Cryptically Yours..." (1977)
- "The Sorcerer's Dream" (1979)
- "Treasure of the Scarlet Scorpion" (1982)
- "Isles of the Suhm-Yi" (1984)
- "Told in the Desert" (1984)
- "Curse of the Golden Guardians" (1991)
- "The Sorcerer's Book" (1984)
- "Lords of the Morass" (1984)
- "The Wine of the Wizard" (1984)
- "Kiss of the Lamia" (1985)
- "To Kill a Wizard!" (1988)
- "In the Temple of Terror" (1997)
- Sorcery in Shad (1991)
Dreamland Series[]
- "Dylath-Leen" (1971)
- Hero of Dreams (1986)
- Ship of Dreams (1986)
- Mad Moon of Dreams (1987)
- Iced on Aran (1992)
Collections[]
- The Caller of The Black (1971)
- The Horror at Oakdeene and Others (1977)
- The House of Cthulhu and Other Tales of the Primal Land (1984)
- The Compleat Crow (1987)
- Fruiting Bodies and Other Fungi (1993)
- Dagon's Bell and Other Discords (1994)
- Return of the Deep Ones and Other Mythos Tales (1994)
- The Second Wish and Other Exhalations (1995)
- A Coven of Vampires (1998)
- The Whisperer and Other Voices (2001)
- Beneath the Moors and Darker Places (2002)
- The House of the Temple (2004)
- The Taint and Other Novellas (2007)
- Haggopian and Other Stories (2008)
- Earth, Air, Fire & Water: Four Tales of Elemental Mythos Horror! (2017)
References[]
- ↑ The Taint and Other Novellas, "Introduction", Brian Lumley.
- ↑ Barbara Ann Lumley's post on the Facebook Necroscope Fans page, 28 January 2024