The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana: A Guide to Lovecraftian Horror (Call of Cthulhu)
You just found out that you've inherited a copy of Reverend Winter-Hall's translation of the Sussex Manuscript. (What is it? Is it dangerous?) At night in your dreams you hear people chanting, "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn," over and over again. (What does it mean?) You desperately need to know what the Pnakotic Pentagon looks like. And where Olaus Wormius was born. And how to find the Laniqua Lua'huan. Not to mention the Twin Obscenities, the Wailing Writher, and the Tikkoun Elixir.Who you gonna call?Encyclopedia Cthulhiana.Or rather, to give its proper and full title,Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, Being an Investigation into the Myth-Patterns of the Xothic and Commorium Legend-Cycles with Notes on the Alhazredic Demonology, or, A Compendium of Lore Relating to Those Beings Who Once Ruled the Universe and Those Who Have Revered and Renounced Them, As Expressed Through the Mythology of All Cultures and Explained in the Works ofH.P. Lovecraftand Others in a Manner Thought to Be Fictional by the Uninitiated and Rational.This 400-page second edition by Daniel Harms is the ultimate reference to the names and vital stats on characters, deities, monsters, locations, sigils, and infernal tomes that pertain to what is more casually known as theCthulhu Mythos. Harms lays it all out in a tone of absolute seriousness, whether he's writing about the Dimensional Shamblers, the Empty Triumph of the Flying Polyps, or Bugg-Shash--"an inky blackness covered with many eyes and mouths which emit a chittering sound." Contains a foreword with a brief history of the Mythos, notes on the second edition (about 60 percent larger than the first), suggestions for further reading, brief notes on its use in theCall of Cthulhugame, A to Z entries, four appendices (three on the Necronomicon, plus a time line of the Mythos), and a bibliography.--Fiona Webster