Night Shade Books unleashed The Book of Cthulhu onto an unsuspecting world. Critically acclaimed as "the ultimate Cthulhu anthology" and "a 'must read' for fans of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos," The Book of Cthulhu went where no collection of mythos tales had gone before: to the very edge of madness... and beyond. For nearly a century, H. P. Lovecraft's tales of malevolent Great Old Ones existing beyond the dimensions of this world, beyond the borders of sanity, have captured and held the imaginations of writers and aficionados of the dark, the macabre, the fantastic, and the horrible. Now, because you demanded more, anthologist Ross E. Lockhart has risked all to dive back into the Cthulhu canon, combing through mind-shattering manuscripts and moldering tomes to bring you The Book of Cthulhu 2, with even more tales of tentacles, terror, and madness. Featuring monstrous stories by many of weird fiction's brightest lights, The Book of Cthulhu 2 brings you even more tales inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's greatest creation: The Cthulhu mythos. This year, the stars are right... Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fhtagn!

Tales of tentacles, terror, and madness from the publisher who brought you Wastelands, The Living Dead, and Brave New Worlds First described by visionary author H. P. Lovecraft, the Cthulhu mythos encompass a pantheon of truly existential cosmic horror: Eldritch, uncaring, alien god-things, beyond mankind's deepest imaginings, drawing ever nearer, insatiably hungry, until one day, when the stars are right.... As that dread day, hinted at within the moldering pages of the fabled Necronomicon, draws nigh, tales of the Great Old Ones-Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Hastur, Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, and the weird cults that worship them-have cross-pollinated, drawing authors and other dreamers to imagine the strange dark aeons ahead, when the dead-but-dreaming gods return. Now, intrepid anthologist Ross E. Lockhart has delved deep into the Cthulhu canon, selecting from myriad mind-wracking tomes twenty-seven sanity-shattering stories of cosmic terror. Featuring fiction by many of today's masters of the menacing, macabre, and monstrous, including Laird Barron, Caitlin R. Kiernan, and Thomas Ligotti, The Book of Cthulhu goes where no collection of Cthulhu mythos tales has gone before: to the very edge of madness... and beyond! Do you dare open The Book of Cthulhu? Do you dare heed the call?

1888: A killer stalks the streets of London's Whitechapel district, brutally--some would say ritualistically--murdering women. With each slaying, the killer grows bolder, his crimes more extreme. So far, there have been five victims (that we know of): Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly. The story of Jack the Ripper captured lurid headlines and the public's imagination, and the first fictionalization of the Ripper killings, John Francis Brewer's The Curse Upon Mitre Square appeared in October of 1888, mere weeks after the discovery of Jack's first victim. Since then, hundreds of stories have been written about Bloody Jack, his victims, and his legacy. Authors ranging from Marie Belloc Lowndes to Robert Bloch; from Harlan Ellison to Maureen Johnson; from Roger Zelazny to Alan Moore have added their own tales to the Ripper myth. Now, as we arrive at the quasquicentennial of the murders, we bring you a few tales more. From the editor who brought you The Book of Cthulhu comes Tales of Jack the Ripper, featuring new fiction by many of today's darkest dreamers, including Laird Barron, Walter Greatshell, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Ed Kurtz, Joseph S. Pulver Sr., Stanley C. Sargent, E. Catherine Tobler, and many more.

""Chick Bassist" is utterly savage. Lockhart's style waxes poetic as a modern Beat giving us a glimpse into Rock & Roll hell." - Laird Barron, Shirley Jackson Award-winning author of "Occultation" and "The Croning"

Erin Locke, the Queen of Rock, wakes up at the crack of noon.

""La Cucaracha" has infested her dream, and now echoes through her hotel room. "What the fuck is that?" Erin's voice is muffled by the thick blankets that completely cover her. Beside the lump that is Erin lies a black Ibanez bass guitar. A Heroes for Goats sticker adorns its reflective surface. Erin thrusts one arm out from beneath the blankets and fumbles for the nonexistent alarm clock. She's still slogging off fragments of her dream, that goddamn recurrent creep-out where she's a praying mantis, translucent green, perched on the crest of a burning city, devouring her still-copulating preymate. This time her meal had worn her father's face. Those dreams were the worst."

"Chick Bassist" welcomes you into punk rock hell, the friendless disillusionment of waking up in a shitty motel room in California with half a joint and an empty six-pack, radio blaring Lou Reed, concrete ocean on all sides and a blazing inferno within.