Levi
Stoltzfus, the ex-Amish magus, battles Nodens of the Thirteen near
LeHorn’s Hollow, with help from Maria Nasr and Adam Senft, in a
battle that culminates on Halloween night. There are numerous
references to the Goat-Man and the forest fire of 2006. Nodens has
been known as “Shub-Niggurath,” but this is not its true name;
its temples can be found on “the twin moons of distant Yhe and the
fungal gardens of Yaksh.” There are references to Nelson LeHorn and
Saul O’Connor, and LeHorn’s copy of the Daemonolateria
is featured. There is a reference to a group of hunters who died in a
mysterious fire near LeHorn’s Hollow. Tony Genova and Vincent
Napoli are mentioned. Levi mentions various occult groups, like Black
Lodge, the Kwan, and the Starry Wisdom sect. Maria Nasr places a call
to retired Detective Hector Ramirez. Adam Senft was incarcerated
alongside Karen Moore. A minor character, Cecil Smeltzer, thinks
about his late brother Clark and his nephew Barry. Levi mentions
Nyarlathotep in a spell, and also refers to the Lost Level. Nodens
is not the Celtic deity, nor the Lovecraftian entity, but is instead
the greatest of the Thirteen, pre-Universal beings that travel the
multiverse destroying entire realities. They are the primary villains
of Keene’s Labyrinth saga. The Goat-Man, the fire of 2006, Nelson
LeHorn, Saul O’Connor, and Adam Senft are from Keene’s novel
Dark
Hollow,
to which this novel is a semi-sequel. While Nodens is not
Shub-Niggurath, it may have disguised itself as that entity at times.
Yhe and Yaksh are Cthulhu Mythos locales. The
Daemonolateria
appears throughout Keene’s works, including Dark
Hollow
and
“Caught in a Mosh.” The deceased hunters are from Keene’s short
story “Red Wood.” Tony Genova and Vincent Napoli are mobsters who
reappear throughout Keene’s multiverse. The versions mentioned here
are native to the CU, but other versions can be seen in Keene’s
novels Clickers
II,
Clickers
III,
and Clickers
vs. Zombies
(cowritten
with J. F. Gonzalez), and in the short story “The Siqqusim Who
Stole Christmas.” Black Lodge is a secret occult organization that
also appears throughout Keene’s multiverse, including the short
story “The Black Wave,” and in other universes, such as those of
Earthworm
Gods II: Deluge
and
Clickers
vs. Zombies.
The Kwan are from the works of horror author Geoff Cooper; they play
a major role in Keene and Cooper’s novel Shades.
The Starry Wisdom sect is from H. P. Lovecraft’s story “The
Haunter of the Dark.” Detective Ramirez appears in Keene’s novels
Terminal
and
Dark
Hollow.
Karen Moore and Clark and Barry Smeltzer are from Keene’s novel
Ghoul.
Nyarlathotep is the crawling chaos of the Cthulhu Mythos. The Lost
Level is from Keene’s novel of the same name. A short follow-up
story, “The Ghosts of Monsters,” can be found in Keene’s
collections
Unhappy
Endings
and
Blood
on the Page,
and takes place about a year later. Keene’s novel
Darkness
at the Edge of Town
takes
place in one of his many parallel universes, and shows what happened
in a world where Levi died years earlier and was not around to stop
Nodens. A follow-up story, “The House of Ushers,” sees Adam Senft
traveling to the version of Hell created by horror author Edward Lee
in his novel
City
Infernal
and
its sequels.
No comments:
Post a Comment