Cthulhu 2000: Stories

A true mixed bag, but well worth it for the high points.

The Barrens - 5/5 - nice evocation of the Lovecraft feel
Pickman's Modem - 2/5 - silly
Shaft Number 247 - 3/5 - intriguing and disturbing, but ultimately a bit too open-ended for me
His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood - 3/5 - well, now we know some specifics of what one gets up to when Baudelaire is passe and ennui is leading down the path to grave-robbing. And we probably prefer Howard's elided version. Yikes!
The Adder - 3/5 - promising premise, ridiculous wrap-up
Fat Face - 4/5 - a classic Shea tale, but not as good as “Copping Squid”
The Big Fish - 2/5 - private eye stories aren't my thing
I Had Vacantly Crumpled It into My Pocket ... But By God, Eliot, It Was a Photograph from Life! - 3/5 - dreamy and compelling, but I don't fully get the connection to Pickman
H.P.L. - 1/5 - Ugh. I hate it when HPL shows up as a character in weird stories, and this is the worst example I've encountered.
The Unthinkable - 2/5 - I'll give the story this -it's unapologetically Out There.
Black Man with a Horn - 5/5 - a must-read for any Lovecraft fan
Love's Eldritch Ichor - 3/5 - self-consciously silly, but fun and has many great turns of phrase
The Last Feast of Harlequin - 4/5 - wasn't confident about the “I study clowns” intro, but it really delves into the folklore research aspect and sticks with you in a nasty (i.e., successful) way
The Shadow on the Doorstep - 1/5 - what even is this? Didn't care, had to plow through it
Lord of the Land - 3/5 - pretty creepy
The Faces at Pine Dunes - 4/5 - very effective first-person account that pulls you in for the ride
On the Slab - 2/5 - I found this to be meh with delusions of profundity
24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai - 4/5 - not sure it's strictly speaking Lovecraftian, despite name-dropping R'lyeh, but it's extremely effective (and affecting) weird fiction