Review of The Hounds of Tindalos
The very first Cthulhu Anthology of various writers was published in the late 60s by August Derleth. It was called Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. It was highly influential, because many would follow down through the years. It would become the major way of finding and reading Mythos fiction. Derleth wanted to include the best stories he could find, and among those, was The Hounds of Tindalos.
This was a story that heavily influence the Mythos, because the Hounds are used again and again in later stories. The idea that something could
was both unnerving and new. It’s not an idea you can put your finger on. There will come a time when the Mythos will become more about pastiche than new and refreshing, but is not that time. It’s fresh, and exciting, and it inspires writers big and small. Long gets to be at heart of that.
Due to the cleverness of the concept, this is a major Mythos piece because so many that follow will use them. While many call it the first non-Lovecraft Mythos story, it does not include a single Mythos element. The books on the shelves are normal ones from real life, and no mention is made in the past seeing scene of anything Mythos-ish. That’s one reason why it’s interesting.
While Hounds is a fine story, it is a bit derivative. One of the Gen 0 stories we will read later has a similar plot element. (“The Great God Pan” by Arthur Machen). We also see Lovecraft’s influence all over the techno-talk at the beginning. Anyway, this is a classic of the Mythos, in part because of the ideas. The writing is sufficient, but never superlative. You can also see how this story inspires, in part, Smith’s Ubbo-Sathla. In both cases a
I give it 3 out of 5 stars, in part because I feel the end meanders a bit and should have stuck with just the main story. Which would have improved it to 3.5.