The Hands That Reek and Smoke

"The Hands That Reek and Smoke" is a short Cthulhu Mythos story by the late American author W. H. Pugmire, first published in his collection Sesqua Valley and Other Haunts (2008, Mythos Books) Title: "The Hands That Reek and Smoke" at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
==Synopsis==
The narrator, a jaded and cynical artist, listens in contempt as his friends wax lyrical about a new personality on the scene, a mysterious man named Nyarlathotep. Finally persuaded to visit the newcomer and take him as their muse, the narrator falls under Nyarlathotep's spell as so many have before. However, on their return home, they witness what has become of one of their friends, and realises that there may be more to this charismatic stranger than meets the eye.
==Publication History ==
*Sesqua Valley and Other Haunts (2008, Mythos Books)
*The Tangled Muse (2010, Centipede Press)
*The Book of Cthulhu II (2012, 2022, Night Shade Books)
*The Strange Dark One: Tales of Nyarlathotep (2013, Miskatonic River Press)
*Der dunkle Fremde (2018, Blitz)
*An Imp of Aether (2019, Hippocampus Press)
*Die lauschende Leere (2022, Bärenklau Exklusiv)
==References==
Category:W. H. Pugmire works
Category:Expanded Mythos Works