Glynn Barrass published a chapbook from Rainfall Books where he listed a number of novels as being of interest to Cthulhu Mythos fiction fans. Some have been difficult to obtain, including this one. One reason is that the chapbook was printed in the UK, and a number of these titles are from UK small presses. Now, having tracked down a number of them, I suppose it is just as well that they never saw release in the US.

My copy of The Dark Destroyer by John Glasby dates to 2005, from Sarob Press in Wales. This 187 page books was rather expensive; my copy ran about $45 from a used book source, including shipping. I think a copy or 2 are still for sale online if you are so inclined. The effective cover art is by Paul Lowe, showing a shadowy horned figure in a desolate place, surrounded by menhirs in the setting sun. It was the best thing about the book.

I think I've read a few Glasby stories; there were several of them in the cycle books from Chaosium but none of them were memorable. The Dark Destroyer is set in the village of Redforde. The de Vernis family conjured up something evil a few hundred years ago and it still lurks in the countryside, trying to exert a malevolent influence. Alan Garvey, an occultist, is contacted by his friend, village doctor, Paul Weston, to help fight against nefarious doings as the Dark Destroyer seems to have been unleashed to cause unrelieved mayhem. So how is it related to the Cthulhu Mythos? Well a few occult tomes are cited, the Book of Dyzan and the Necronomicon. In the Necronomicon they find a passage that some other names for the Dark Destroyer are Nyarlathotep and Azathoth (Azathoth *and* Nyarlathotep are the same entity, you ask? Yep, that's the way it is in The Dark Destroyer.). That was about it for the direct mythos refernces. Some ways that it was not like typical mythos writing include the fact that a crucifix has power over the agents of the Dark Destroyer as does a talisman called the Solomon Seal. The evil entities/entity can't really manifest physically but rather occupy the bodies of those recently killed. Also the good guys manage to triumph without too much strain on their sanity. Evil can be banished forever; it is not some awesome entity indifferent or oblivious to human views of the cosmos.

Basically this book wasn't worth the candle; it was a rather weak effort. The writing is labored, the dialogue stilted, the characterizations non existant. Moreover it was tediously plotted. It took me forever to finish it. I kept dropping it to pick up my technical journals, a very bad sign. Nothing is scary; it's all too boring. I don't like being told over and over how much horror/terror/mind numbing fear the characters are experiencing without being allowed to feel a little myself. I mean, there was a passage in Balak by Rainey that was really intense! Here I was exasperated from start to finish. If it had been cheaper I would have punted on it. I will not go excitedly yipping to the bookstore for Mr. Gaslby's next book. Spend your hard earned Cthulhu bucks elsewhere. ( )