Space Eldritch II: The Haunted Stars

I would really love to give this book 5 stars but I can't. There are a few stories that are well worth 5 stars, and some that are just worth 4 . Then there is a novella that just did not fit in with the idea of the anthology.Let me start with what made this book worth the creds.Dead Waits Dreaming by Larry Correia: For me this was the most lovecraftian story in the bunch. While not totally original it smacked with what made Lovecraft so damn creepy. After reading the book I went back and reread this one. And it still gave me chills after the second time. The only thing missing from this one was the Lovecraft cliché at the end “I can hear them crawling up the stairs, they know I am here...”The Implant by Robert J Defendi: While reading this one I felt like it was a War hammer 40k Lovecraft story. If Robert has written any more stories based upon this universe I would love to get my hands on them.Plague Ship by Steven L. Peck: This one has to be the most original out of the bunch. It really dealt with the concept of mankind peeling back the layers of the universe. Then one day we find something looking back at us. Plus it had a varmint rabbit thing with a vicious streak a mile...Space Opera Episode Two. by Micheal R Collings: If Plague Ship was the most original this one was the most disorienting. Even the prose was written in a style to confuse you. At first I was WTF mate. Whats with all the typos and grammar fubars. Then as I continued I realized that it conveyed how alien the story was. Another one that I reread just to see how Micheal did it.The rest of the short stories while entertaining, did not really stick with me. Seed by D.J. Butler was my least favorite. SORRY, man I must be becoming a prude in my old age. But overall they fit with the idea of the anthology and let my mind run around in space with icky tentacle thingies trying to kill me.The main problem I had with the book was the novella at the end. Fall of the Runewrought by Howard Tayler. While a interesting story it felt way out of place in this anthology. It would have been better off in a book with other characters like Harry Dresden, Sandman Slim, and Joe Ledger. Me personally, would rather have had them squeeze a few more stories in instead of this one. Still will not stop me from picking up the first Space Eldritch to read the other Runewrought story.

I recognized a few authors... hence the purchase. But I was pleasantly surprised there is some chops in here.Every author has been added to my 'watch list' and this lead me to order a few other books.Very good embrace of subject and ability to immerse the reader.Where's my Space Eldritch 3!

The story delivers. It does not require reading the other story in the setting. It builds from the prior story and answers the question of what story you can have that moves forward without the world ending.This rating is for the price/performance of buying the collection for just one story. Subject to revision to five stars if any of the other stories are worth reading.Fall of the Runewright(s) is solid, has more depth if you've read the other story but can be read completely independently of it. Again has a character you would like to see more stories about (same as the last short story did -- perhaps in the future?). Interesting setting. Nice developments and twists.Sudden ending.Too sudden (though complete), which is why only four stars. Of course, rating a book only four stars because the value to price is weighted on only one story which is good, but not quite good enough to justify five stars for the whole book ...I suspect I'll edit this later to five stars.

I first read Redneck Eldritch and loved the very alternate take as yet more tentacles.is getting old. From that compilation the "Outhouse Story" with the Boy (with his powerful magic) and his Dog is my favorite.I was sceptical about Cthulhu in space - but this is a very great compilation and even moreso than Rednecks there's a lot to do in space. I assure you if you have played with fortune telling runes that you'll never look at them the same way again. Nor use them with a nicked or cut finger !So if you have eventually tired of yet another Cthulhu tired mythos attempt - then I highly recommend this Space as well as Redneck Eldritch compilations. There's a 2dn book in the Space series and it's pretty good too.As with most compilations some authors are stronger than others. But the diversity in thsi series is very refreshing.

I'm a huge fan of other work of one of the authors of this anthology. So, just like last year with Space Eldritch, when he plugged it on his site and mentioned he had a story I came right away and bought my copy. Just like last year; each of the stories was a fun ride. While I liked them all, I was anticipating a particular story so much that I'll have to go re-read the others again to get their full effect. Out of the book, Fall of the Runewrought was my favorite. Having read Flight of the Runewright last year, it made me think. Certain elements discovered in 'flight' are considered common knowledge in 'fall' leading the reader to believe an appreciable amount of time has passed between the stories. The question begged is whether the events of 'fall' were triggered by 'flight' and if so how much time could possibly have passed and what else is to come.

This should have been a real rip-snorter but sadly wasn't as scary as it could have been. Think about it: H. P Lovecraft-style goings-on in outer space? They say no one can hear you scream out there! Most of these fell way short of the scream factor for me. There were a few exceptions such as "A Darklight Call'd On The Long Last Night Of The Soul" in which terraforming goes badly awry, and "Seed," that gave a hard and nasty twist to the old idea that Mars needs women. One thing that I found amusing about these stories was something that perhaps only a native Utahn like myself would notice, namely that most or perhaps all of the authors are Mormons and mostly based in Utah. How did I know? Well, "The Queen In Shadow" gave it away pretty badly. So if the idea of H. P. Lovecraft in space and filtered through a sometimes too obvious Mormon point of view sounds fun to you, buy it. If not, run like Cthulhu's tentacles are after you!

Eldritch Horror combined with science fiction is a great concept and this book makes the concept shine. The first Space Eldritch was good, this is great. The stories cover a range of science fiction genres and almost all of them are fantastic.If you like good, entertaining, new science fiction do yourself a favour and buy this book.

I really liked these stories, with their range of settings and strange events. I only had two concerns/disappointments1) it wasn't available on Kindle for Windows 8 so I couldn't read it on my Surface; and2) Being set in space or on alien worlds made some of the stories less Lovecraft and more "Alien". Strange hostile alien creatures are much less disturbing on a strange hostile alien planet then they are in the woods of New England or the sewers of Manhattan.