Review: Twice Upon an Apocalypse

The Cthulhu Mythos is like chocolate; it can be added to nearly anything to make a good thing even better.

Twice Upon an Apocalypse, the latest release by Crystal Lake Publishing re-imagines the traditional tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson through the lens of Lovecraftian horror to create a dark and sweet confection that is sure to excite the palate of any gourmand of weird fiction.

This anthology collects twenty one classic tales with a horrifying new twist, including The Pied Piper of Providence; The Fishman and His Wife; Cinderella and Her Outer Godfather; Sweet Dreams in the Witch-House; and Fee Fi Old One, and when I first saw the list of story titles I knew that this book was one I had to have.

One might consider it a risky move to release a book of re-imagined fairy tales upon a public already suffering shell-schlock from the interminable barrage of revisionist tales that Hollywood has bombarded us with in recent years.  But Twice Upon an Apocalypse proves that there is room for fresh ideas in over-saturated markets if they are done right.  Indeed, the multitude of banal fairy tale remakes sets this book apart, like a glittering gem sitting atop a heap of dross.

This being an anthology of stories contributed by various authors, not all of the tales were to my taste, which is only to be expected.  However, the ones I liked, I liked a lot, and my favourite story in the collection, Little Maiden of the Sea, deftly married The Little Mermaid to The Dunwich Horror in an unholy union that was worth the price of admission on its own.

If dark and twisted re-tellings of old classics seasoned with a dash of wry wit is something you would enjoy, then I definitely recommend this collection.