Recently I saw that the latest issue of Crypt of Cthulhu, #115, came out, and for reasons that will be clear, I figured I need to also review the latest issue of Eldritch Tales that came out too soon for my article on that.
Both are from Robert M. Price through his Cryptic Publications and are made available from Amazon on print-on-demand and Kindle. And both are strangely similar than I expected. This is because I expected that Eldritch Tales would continue to be all-fiction with Crypt being more non-fiction. You’ll see below.
Both are digest-size, 8.5- by 5.5-inches, and neither have any copyright notices.
Eldritch Tales #9 came out in February 2023, though there is no date on it. It’s marked as vol. 2 #9, with an editorial by Price dated February 2021 (?!?). It’s more a commentary than editorial on the issue, the stories, and when we might get another issue. The issue comes in at 64 pages.
This issue has six stories by J.J. Travis. I’m not familiar with the author, but they have had stories in a lot of anthologies, some that I have heard of. The only info on the author and such is on the back cover, and apparently, all of the stories were written 20-some years ago but are only now seeing print. The first three are linked with the same character and should be read in order. Another is a Sherlock Holmes tale. The others are stand-alone supernatural tales, though one has a villain with the same name as the villain from the Holmes tale. I found all pretty good.
Crypt of Cthulhu #115 came out in early July 2023. And in layout and content it looks almost exactly like Eldritch Tales #8 and 9. I kind of almost felt it should have been Eldritch Tales #10, but for the non-fiction items.
This time we get eight stories by C.L. Rossman, or Constance Rossman, along with a couple of very short poems that aren’t in the table of contents. I would recommend at least reading the first three stories in order, as they are loosely connected. There is a one-page intro of her. And if that was all we had, we’d be at the same length as Eldritch Tales #9.
Rounding out the issue are three other works. From Darrell Schweitzer, we get a very short story plus an interview with Richard A. Lupoff. And from Chuck Hoffman is a scholarly comparison of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness and James Hilton’s Lost Horizon.
There’s no editorial, so again, I have no idea when we’ll get the next issue.
Now, I do have to warn people you may have some difficulties finding Eldritch Tales on Amazon. I had to look around to find the print editions of them. They seem to be messed up in terms of listings, so you may have to search by not only “Eldritch Tales,” but by “Robert Price” and “Robert M. Price.” You should be able to find Crypt with little problem.
Now, I did enjoy both issues, but I would have liked to have seen more non-fiction in Crypt. Like I indicate, it seemed to me that Price took what was supposed to be Eldritch Tales #10 and added the non-fiction articles he had on hand and turned it into the next issue of Crypt. I guess it’s better than nothing.
I will have to keep an eye out for the next issue(s), which I don’t think we’ll see for a while. He also just put out another volume of Flashing Swords and a new Thongor collection, both from Ramble House.
