"Enter the Cobweb Queen" is a short story by British author Adrian Cole. It forms part of his Nick Nightmare series of hardboiled/Mythos stories.
Synopsis[]
Nick Nightmare meets his friend Montifellini who says that one of his contacts, a man named Long Tall Sonny, wishes to meet with him, so the two travel to Ulthar to make the rendezvous.
Sonny explains that he wants to return to New York City with his companion, a woman named Zermillia, as the two are on the run from an extradimensional entity known as the Cobweb Queen. Nick's companion is suspicious of the woman, however, and strands the three on one of R'lyeh's peripheral islands in a different time (and likely a different dimension) telling them it is in fact modern-day New York.
There, Zermillia reveals that she is actually a summoner for the Cobweb Queen, a creature who travels to other dimensions to summon her mistress and her countless offspring to conquer them. However, as she performs her ceremony, the creatures of R'lyeh take exception to the Queen's intrusion, and battle breaks out between them and the Queen's children. During the ensuing chaos, Nick and Sonny slink off, and are whisked away by Montifellini.
Characters[]
- Nick "Nightmare" Stone, a paranormal private eye.
- Long Tall Sonny, an interdimensional hobo.
- Zermillia, a servant of the Cobweb Queen.
- Montifellini, a friend of Nick's and fellow occultist.
- The Cobweb Queen, a megalomaniacal extradimensional creature of great power.
Publication History[]
"Ender the Cobweb Queen" was published in the Wildside Press collection Weirdbook Annual 2 in 2019.