Summary: Horrific consequences result when three individuals learn that the monstrous creatures that populate author H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos—alien beings so far beyond human comprehension that to even view one of them would drive a man mad—aren’t fiction.
Bloch: “For many years I’ve had repeated requests from Lovecraft fans who wanted a Cthulhu Mythos story from me and having read so many pastiches from Derleth and others, I felt no desire to add yet another limitation to the list—so in order to oblige, it was necessary to come up with something slightly different. Casting about for a solution, I hit upon the plot for this novel, which would allow me to employ several styles and include an element of tongue-in-cheek which in no way negated the homage. What I set out to do, then, was to write a Mythos novel which would be recognizable as my own work, rather than just one more pseudo-Lovecraft effort.”—The Robert Bloch Companion
Bloch: “For many years I’ve had repeated requests from Lovecraft fans who wanted a Cthulhu Mythos story from me and having read so many pastiches from Derleth and others, I felt no desire to add yet another limitation to the list—so in order to oblige, it was necessary to come up with something slightly different. Casting about for a solution, I hit upon the plot for this novel, which would allow me to employ several styles and include an element of tongue-in-cheek which in no way negated the homage. What I set out to do, then, was to write a Mythos novel which would be recognizable as my own work, rather than just one more pseudo-Lovecraft effort.”—The Robert Bloch Companion