Brian Lumley’s “Lord of the Worms” and “Return of the Deep Ones”: Rediscovering Two Forgotten Gems of the Cthulhu Mythos
Introduction: A Personal Descent into Lumley’s Abyss
Few authors have carried the torch of H.P. Lovecraft’s cosmic horror with as much imagination and boldness as Brian Lumley. A British author with a lifelong passion for the occult and the unknown, Lumley has written his way into horror legend with both his original Necroscope series and his extensive contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos.
While Lovecraft created the architecture of cosmic dread, Lumley furnished its rooms with new horrors — breathing vigor, emotion, and physicality into what others treated as sacred relics. Yet somehow, even many longtime Lumley fans have missed his Mythos tales entirely. Until, like some barnacle-crusted grimoire surfacing from the deep, Return of the Deep Ones finds its way into your hands.
My Journey into Lumley’s Mythos
I have been a fan of Brian Lumley’s books since the early 1990s, having discovered his bestselling Necroscope around that time. I was blown away by his dark vision of vampires and the idea of Harry Keogh being able to speak and indeed interact with the dead. I shared this book with several friends who loved it almost as much as I did.
What I can’t figure out is how I missed Lumley’s contributions to Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos entirely. H.P. Lovecraft is one of my favorite authors of pulp fiction and cosmic horror. I’ve been a fan since finding a copy of The Lurking Fear and Other Stories in my high school library. It included Dagon, The Lurking Fear, From Beyond, and, of course, The Shadow over Innsmouth. I instantly fell in love with Lovecraft’s stories and later devoured The Doom That Came to Sarnath, At the Mountains of Madness, and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward — which remains my personal favorite, followed closely by At the Mountains of Madness, The Call of Cthulhu, and The Thing on the Doorstep.
I came across Brian Lumley’s Return of the Deep Ones a few weeks ago while scrolling through book recommendations on Audible. After reading the overview, I immediately clicked “add to cart” and purchased the audiobook. I barely turned off the player over the next three days — it was that good.
After finishing the book, I did a quick search on YouTube to see what others thought of this fantastic collection. To my surprise, I couldn’t find any dedicated reviews for Return of the Deep Ones. Could it be that the world of eldritch and cosmic horror was as unaware of this book as I had been? It didn’t seem likely. But still, no one was really talking about it. So I decided to share my thoughts here.
Brian Lumley and the Living Mythos
Before diving into the two standout novellas, it’s worth appreciating how Lumley approaches Lovecraft’s universe. Where August Derleth categorized the Mythos into elements and moral dichotomies, Lumley reclaims its chaos. His gods and monsters aren’t pawns in a cosmic chess game — they are forces of nature, indifferent, eternal, and often hungry.
He writes with the vigor of Robert E. Howard, the atmosphere of Clark Ashton Smith, and the psychological tension of Robert Bloch. Yet through it all, Lumley’s voice remains his own: brisk, visceral, and unflinchingly modern.
His Mythos isn’t frozen in time; it’s alive. It moves, mutates, and reaches out — just as The Deep Ones themselves do.
“Lord of the Worms”: Dark Apprenticeship and the Price of Knowledge
“Lord of the Worms” might be one of Lumley’s most underrated works — a story that fuses Gothic tradition with Lovecraftian fatalism. Set in the English countryside, the story follows a young writer hired to assist a reclusive elder author, Titus Crow. What begins as a literary mentorship quickly turns sinister as the protagonist uncovers Crow’s obsession with necromancy and forbidden lore.
This story feels like an echo of Lovecraft’s “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.” Both explore the dangerous temptation of resurrecting the past and the inevitable decay that follows meddling with the dead. But Lumley’s approach is more immediate — more human.
Crow’s rituals involve ancient grimoires, occult worms, and a transference of essence that borders on vampirism. The worms aren’t mere vermin; they’re conduits, symbols of the immortality that festers rather than flourishes. Lumley’s visceral descriptions of decay, of life feeding on death, are pure Clark Ashton Smith in spirit, yet his pacing has the muscular energy of Howard.
The creeping dread builds with cinematic precision. Lumley layers unease upon unease until the horror erupts in full view — not as a shock, but as a grim inevitability. “Lord of the Worms” isn’t just about magic gone wrong; it’s about the arrogance of those who believe they can command death itself.
It’s also worth noting that Titus Crow — the necromantic figure at the story’s core — later became a recurring character in Lumley’s broader Mythos cycle. But here, in his original form, Crow feels more like a corrupted avatar of forbidden curiosity — a man who looked too long into the abyss and found it staring back through the eyes of a worm.
“Return of the Deep Ones”: The Call Beneath the Skin
Where “Lord of the Worms” is claustrophobic and earthbound, “Return of the Deep Ones” is vast, tidal, and mercilessly cosmic.
Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” gave us the foundation for this subgenre of aquatic horror — the idea of human bloodlines intermingling with Dagon’s spawn beneath the sea. Lumley takes that foundation and expands it, replacing Lovecraft’s quiet dread with a kind of existential awakening.
Set along the British coast, the story follows a man slowly uncovering his ancestry — and realizing that his connection to the ocean runs deeper than mere fascination. Lumley’s descriptions of the sea are breathtaking: phosphorescent waves, the scent of brine and decay, the feeling of something listening beneath the water.
Where Lovecraft’s protagonists recoil from such revelations, Lumley’s confront them. His characters don’t merely succumb to transformation; they accept it as destiny. The Deep Ones, in Lumley’s world, aren’t metaphors for degeneration — they’re emblems of evolution.
That philosophical shift marks Lumley’s true innovation. He keeps the cosmic indifference that defines Lovecraft but introduces agency — an element of choice, however futile. His characters are not passive victims of fate but conscious participants in their own damnation.
The pacing here is deliberate, almost hypnotic. The reader feels the inexorable pull of the tide, the seductive whisper of the deep. By the time the final revelation comes, it’s not terror that dominates — it’s awe.
Lumley transforms Lovecraft’s hereditary horror into something mythic. The protagonist’s acceptance of his amphibious heritage becomes almost spiritual, a rebirth into an ancient covenant with the sea. It’s terrifying, yes — but it’s also beautiful in a grim, primeval way.
Eldritch Echoes: The Circle of Influence
Both stories reflect Lumley’s deep understanding of the writers who built the Mythos before him.
-
From Lovecraft, he inherited cosmic indifference and an obsession with the forbidden.
-
From Derleth, he took the ambition to organize the unnameable — but rejected the impulse to moralize it.
-
From Robert E. Howard, he absorbed a kinetic energy, a willingness to fight even when defeat is inevitable.
-
From Bloch, he learned psychological nuance — how terror can grow from the cracks of the human mind.
-
And from Clark Ashton Smith, he borrowed a painter’s eye for decay, describing rot with poetic reverence.
In “Lord of the Worms” and “Return of the Deep Ones”, all these influences swirl together like ocean currents, forming something uniquely Lumleyan — horror that moves, breathes, and hungers.
Why Lumley Still Matters
In an age where “Lovecraftian” often means surface-level tentacles and madness, Lumley reminds us what true cosmic horror feels like. His stories don’t rely on monsters alone; they rely on ideas — corruption, inheritance, mortality, and the inescapable vastness of creation.
He takes the Mythos seriously, but not reverently. His fiction acknowledges Lovecraft as foundation, not gospel. That creative courage is what keeps Lumley’s stories fresh even decades later.
Reading “Lord of the Worms” and “Return of the Deep Ones” back to back feels like tracing evolution itself — from soil to sea, from death to rebirth. They show how the Mythos can grow, adapt, and survive, just like the horrors it depicts.
The Sea Still Calls
If you’ve ever loved Lovecraft, Bloch, Howard, Smith, or Derleth, then Brian Lumley deserves a place on your shelf — or in your Audible queue. “Lord of the Worms” and “Return of the Deep Ones” prove that the Cthulhu Mythos remains a living tradition, capable of growth and reinterpretation.
Lumley doesn’t imitate Lovecraft — he resurrects him, and perhaps, refines him for a modern age. These tales are soaked in atmosphere, dripping with cosmic despair, and yet brimming with vitality.
I enjoyed Return of the Deep Ones so much that I have already ordered a copy of Lumley’s The Taint and Other Novellas to dive into next. If they are half as good as the stories above, I’m sure I’ll be screaming their praises.
Till then remember, “We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.”
— H.P. Lovecraft
The sea still calls, the worms still whisper, and if you listen closely — you can hear both.
No comments:
Post a Comment