Malign Providence

The seeds of sinister Lovecraftian horror can be found scattered across these sixteen tales that depict a time and place that is at once familiar yet distorted through Jonathan Thomas’ cosmic horror lens. His Providence is of his own brand of mythos. His characters often fill the “everyman” void. There’s Justin in “Tempting Providence,” Dwight in “King of Cat Swamp,” and Ira in “We are Made of Stars,” who appear to follow the pattern of societal normalcy, adhering to the rules and keeping on the straight and narrow. However, when accosted by enigmatic entities — perhaps even supernatural — they find themselves left with little choice. Their fates are tied to a system beyond their control and universes beyond their reach. Stories like “Plenty of Irem” and “Gone to Doggerland” feature a troubled past coming back to haunt the living. The former features a man’s visit to a museum that provides a relic that invokes what should have been lost to the ravages of time. In the latter, Thomas explores the hardships involved with end-of-life care. There are also tales like “Mobymart after Midnight” and “The Poor in Spirit.” In these stories, protagonists encounter forces of evil on the grounds of a prosaic store, or two strangers with no perceptible connection share a symbiotic, parasitic relationship. Even if the monolithic creatures of Lovecraft’s work are only present in whispers and rumblings, there’s a prowess shared amongst these stories.