"The Faces at Pine Dunes" is a short Mythos story by British author Ramsey Campbell.
Synopsis[]
As a young man reaches adulthood, his father reveals his family legacy of witchcraft, and sacrifices himself to let the boy claim his birthright as a scion of the Great Old Ones.
Characters[]
- Michael, a twenty-year-old man on the cusp of learning his family’s heritage.
- Michael's father, a witch and descendant of the Old Ones.
- Michael's mother, a woman seemingly drawn into the family through deceit.
- June, Michael's new girlfriend and future mother of the next generation of witches.
Publication History[]
"The Faces at Pine Dunes" was first published in the collection New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by Arkham House in 1980. It was later reprinted in Campbell's own collection Cold Print in 1985, and again in Cthulhu 2000: A Lovecraftian Anthology in 1995.
Mythos Connections[]
- One of the locations Michael recalls visiting to during his family's nomadic life is the Severn Valley, the setting for many of Campbell's Mythos stories.
- Michael's fathers notebooks refer to Great Cthulhu, as well as the Necro (Necronomicon), Revelations Glaaki (The Revelations of Gla'aki) and Vermis (De Vermis Mysteriis).