"When in Leng…" is a short story by American author Ron Shiflet. It contains extensive name-dropping of Mythos stalwarts such as Dagon and the Necronomicon.
Synopsis[]
When Robert Ballard's rich and eccentric friend Wendell Willis returns from his travels abroad, he jumps at the chance to sample his fine cooking. What Ballard does not know is that Willis has been living for months amongst the cannibalistic Tcho-Tcho people, and has picked up more than a few of their habits…
Characters[]
- Robert Ballard, an assistant librarian at an unnamed university.
- Wendell Willis, Ballard's friend since college, driven quite insane by the time the story takes place.
Publication History[]
"When in Leng…" was first published in the fanzine The Ancient Track in October 1998. It has since appeared in the collections Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos: Cthulhu's Creatures (November 2007) and They Thrive in Darkness: Mythos and Madness (June 2018).
Trivia[]
- Alan Peschke, a real-world Mythos author, is mentioned to have been a friend of Ballard and Willis's.
- Ballard is stated to live in Tenoka, Texas, a frequently-referenced location in the Mythos works of Ron Shiflet.