STORY NOTES.
1. The quote in chapter one attributed to St. Etienne is quoted from a letter HP Lovecraft wrote to fellow author Robert E. Howard.
2. The description of the Shoggoths in chapter two is quoted from "At the Mountains of Madness."
3. The issue of Lovecraft's racially intolerant views I addressed through the vulgar Mrs. Barnstable and her reference to "Ignorant heathen savages" which is rebuked by the racially tolerant Doctor Finch.
Originally I had planned a multi genre Lovecraft crossover story featuring: Victorian London, Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper, Nikola Tesla, Doctor Who, the Elephant Man, Alien, The Thing, the Black Plague. Ultimately this idea was sensibly abandonded for a more traditional Lovecraftian tale (albeit one with a modern Sci-Fi/Horror sensibility), but I included some references to these elements as throwaway lines, for a bit of added "Victorian Colour" (I think these references work in context to the story).
THE SEQUELS.
I have ideas for two linked sequels to this story, neither of which are a direct continuation of the first story.
London 1893.
The first is a Steampunk Victorian Sci-Fi/Lovecraftian Horror set in The Black Mews, featuring Inspector Paxton and Sergeant Barnsley, who are investigating a strange case involving a derelict boat found drifting on the Thames near to the Lovecraftian degenerate Black Mews. There is evidence of foul play aboard this boat, and the crew are missing although there is a survivor. Paxton and Barnsley discover clues leading to the arcane cult of Black Mews dwellers and the megalithic stone structure on the Blasted Heath Finch observed in The Seduction of St. Etienne. They encounter Nikola Tesla and a team of physicists with steampunk apparatus, hired by Chinese crime lord Weng Chiang and his two "henchmen", two nine foot tall, heavily muscled, albinos. Weng Chiang is in reality the cruel dictator of the Tsan-Chan Empire in 5000 AD, stranded in the 19th century when he projected his mind into the body of an opium smuggler to escape the overthrow of his brutal regime, using the time travel method of the conehead race from The Shadow Out of Time. His body was destroyed in 5000 AD to prevent his return. Weng Chiang had discovered through his ill fated associate Antoine St. Etienne, that the megalithic stone monument on the Blasted Heath is a Time/Dimensional portal and he intends to utilise this portal to return to his time and avert the overthrow of his brutal regime. The Black Mews cult are intent on summoning their Lovecraftian God, an insubstantial creature that coalesces from a cloud of black smoke. Weng Chiang's "henchmen" also have an agenda relating to the megalithic portal, which due to all the conflicting attempts to control it, becomes locked on a nightmare dimension, unleashing hideous insectoid monstrosities which devour all in sight. Paxton, Barnsley, Tesla and the scientists escape to the underground chamber housing the portal's hideously "Gigeresque" power supply and must destroy it, thus returning the insectoid monstrosities back to their own hideous dimension.
SAMPLE SCENE: The Rift Into Hell Opens.
"It opens up a dimensional rift that can be focused on any given point in space and time." Langstrom explained to Paxton and Barnsley. Barnsley looked a bit all at sea, Paxton replied "And if I understand correctly, whatever is on the other side of that rift can then cross over freely into this dimension?". Langstrom cleared his throat before replying "That is correct Inspector", "The question I suspect I am not going to like the answer to is, what then is on the other side of the rift?" enquired the senior detective.
Langstrom didn't reply, an insistent alarm was sounding from the apparatus and he turned his attention back to his machinery.
"Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow." Tesla shouted at Langstrom as he frantically adjusted levers on his apparatus. Blue bolts of electricity were arcing between the steel nodes of the futuristic machinery.
"Damn it man, it's highly unstable. I'm reading transient sub-etheric fluctuations in the positron field matrix, they're increasing rapidly, if we can't get the hypergolic fluidic reactions under control the field will collapse entirely" Langstrom shouted back as he feverishly examined the meters and spun dials attempting to compensate. A low pitched electrical humming which rapidly increased in pitch and volume emanated from the apparatus, and several vacuum tubes blew out explosively in showers of sparks and flame. Langstrom quickly followed Tesla's command reversing the polarity and the insistent whine faded somewhat but didn't diminish entirely.
"The boson resonators are overloaded, the only way to shut it down now is to disconnect the portal's power supply."
Sequel Two is a Lovecraft/Giger/Alien/Prometheus crossover tale. I always believed that the Space Jockey race were part ot the pantheon of Elder Gods (I always thought a "Live" Space Jockey would bear a slight resemblance to Cthulhu), Alien was definitely inspired by Lovecraft, HR Giger was a massive HP Lovecraft fan, this story would see the meeting of the two, Gigeresque Lovecraft, a perfect match. I don't accept that the Prometheus Engineers are the Space Jockeys or that they created humanity or the Xenomorph, I believe the Aliens are a natural species. The Xenomorph itself does not feature in this story.
Space Jockeys Under the Desert.
Arabia. 1894.
Professor Langstrom's protege Noriko mounts an expedition to a remote desert location in the Middle East based on discoveries made in sequel one. Beneath the desert sands they discover vast subterranean caverns. Exploring these caverns they discover the ruins of a massive stone city that they date at being over a million years old. There are many humanoid skeletal remains, a race of giants nine feet tall, with a thick boned skeletal structure. They discover stone tablets, carvings and ancient manuscripts that depict the worship of giant beings of alien appearance. In a temple deep within the stone city they find evidence of grotesquely mutated human remains, and a skeleton of one of the strange Gods in a sarcophagus. This "God" was fifteen feet tall, a bipedal, two armed skeletal structure, a rounded skull with two cavernous eye sockets and a long, ribbed, tubelike elephantine proboscis.
During their exploration the scientists encounter Hyram Gant, an ex US Marine, turned bounty hunter, adventurer and soldier of fortune who has pursued a wanted tomb robber into the caverns. Exploring further they find the mutilated corpse of the tomb robber, and strange skeletal tunnels leading deeper into the caverns and in one cavern they discover a vast structure unlike anything on earth. It is a derelict Space Jockey Juggernaught space craft. The "Egg Chamber" doesn't contain facehugger eggs, but appears to have contained something vast and hideous. Noriko discovers the corpse of a famous explorer who went missing a year previously, Professor Edward Mansfield and a large portfolio of sketches, manuscripts and translations. They make camp and whilst they sleep the guards and most of the expedition personnel disappear.
Sequel Two is pretty much a "Remake" of "At the Mountains of Madness" with Space Jockeys and Engineers instead of Great Old Ones and Shoggoths, is it worth doing?
Would anyone want to read the above sequels? Is the Steampunk/Giger/Alien/Lovecraft crossover idea feasible? Does "The Seduction of St. Etienne" work as a Lovecraftian tale? This is my first completed prose fiction story, I think I have captured the Lovecraftian/Victorian prose adequately but any feedback from HP Lovecraft fans would be greatly appreciated.