Tsathoggua (Michael Shea)

"Tsathoggua" is a short Cthulhu Mythos story by the late American author Michael Shea. 
==Synopsis==
The plot consists of two storylines whose characters intersect at the beginning and end. 
The first involves an old woman named Maxie trying to eke out an existence with her dying dog in the slums of San Francisco. She stumbles across a strange ooze which appears to be contaminating the locals, and is eventually shown that it’s origins lie with the Great Old One Tsathoggua. 
In the second, another elderly woman is infected by the creatures spawned from the ooze, turning them into one herself. While at first she believes her new condition to be a divine blessing, she soon comes to realise the horror of her predicament when she is swallowed alive by her new master. 
The story concludes with Maxie being introduced to a character from another of Shea's stories, Dee, who begins her education on the darkness which lies just out of sight of an unsuspecting population. 
==Characters==
*Maxie, a woman in her twilight years who still mourns the death of her husband.
*Maureen, another aged woman, also suffering through bereavement.
*Leon Petrov, an old man with some knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos.
*Dee, a middle-aged woman beginning her own induction into the supernatural.
*Vera, Maxie's friend.
*Tsathoggua, an ancient being of incredible power.
==Publication History==
*The Autopsy and Other Tales (2008)
*Copping Squid and Other Mythos Tales (2009)
*New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird (2011)
*Demiurge: The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales of Michael Shea (2017)
==Trivia==
*Dee mentions Scat, a character from a previous Michael Shea story, in the final paragraph.
Category:Expanded Mythos Works
Category:Michael Shea works