Cthulhu in the Deep South is a series of books set in South Carolina between the 1830s and 1860s. Usually, the action is set in or around Charleston, but two mysterious islands, named Ryland and Carcosa, also play a major role in the plot. Another common thread is people from New England, more specifically Arkham, finding themselves in South Carolina. But above all, the core of the series is the way that the creatures of H.P. Lovecraft combine with real world historical events to produce some fine historical horror.
Okay, so I think I ought to be upfront about a few things before we move forward. Many of you come here for my audio drama reviews. However, Cthulhu in the Deep South is a podiobook. It is like a standard audiobook; no bells and whistles beyond that. I listen to a lot of audiobooks, so I’m good with that. But I know some people feel differently, some I’m giving you all the info upfront. If that sounds good to you, let’s press on. I should also note that all six books of Cthulhu in the Deep South are also available as eBooks.
I was approached by Kirk Battle to review Cthulhu in the Deep South after he saw my review of Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature. Each season of Cthulhu in the Deep South is a book in the series. I’ll give general thoughts and remarks before we get into each individual book. I liked the way that Kirk Battle incorporates actual history into the story. Kirk includes a bonus episode at the end of each season. In the bonus episodes, he explains his thought process when crafting each book. Naturally, he talks about which works of H.P. Lovecraft he draws upon. However, he also talks about which primary historical sources he uses. He will also spends quite a bit of time discussing what those primary sources are, and what they’re about. As someone with a history degree, I very much appreciate all of this.
Okay, so let’s get into the individual stories. Book one begins in the 1830s. It follows a man from Arkham, Massachusetts. He was part of an ice harvesting crew. The crew have collected their ice from the Arctic, and now they’re bound for balmy South Carolina to sell the ice. However, strange things begin to happen. Our protagonist begins to wonder if, perhaps, the crew has brought more than just ice with them. Things get even stranger when our protagonist finds himself on a pair of twin islands, located just off the South Carolina coast, called Ryland and Carcosa. They are a strange otherworldly place where White planters seem to take orders from their own slaves. There is something strange about the people of Ryland and Carcosa. Almost as if they aren’t exactly human.
Okay, so Cthulhu in the Deep South starts out strong. Out of all the books in the series, this is the one that comes closest to mimicking Lovecraft’s writing style, and the general feel of a Lovecraft story. I don’t mean that as a slight against the other books in the series. Kirk Battle has stated that he wanted each of the books to have their own style, and to play into other genres. Overall, I would say he succeeded in that goal. But all of that is to say that the genre for the first book is straight Lovecraft.
That being said, and as previously noted, Kirk Battle also included quite a bit of historical research into this one. One detail is that a lot of the crew of the ice harvester are Black. A lot of free Blacks did indeed find work on sailing ships. Quite a few whaling ships had predominantly Black crews. I also liked the details the bonus episode gave about the history of ice selling. I’m alway fascinated how people were able to preserve ice in the days before refrigeration. Apparently, ice water wasn’t then instant hit you might think it would be. A lot of people didn’t like that it made their teeth hurt, and others were worried that ice water would be dirty. To be fair, that latter concern probably wasn’t totally unfounded. Not that room temperature water was much better, mind you. Still, ice salesmen often had to pay people to give ice water a try, and to sing its praises. A little underhanded, perhaps, be it certainly bore fruit in the long run.
Book one poses a question that crops up a lot throughout Cthulhu in the Deep South. That question is this: at what point is turning a blind eye towards something horrible the same as being complacent in it? Our protagonist comes from an abolitionist family, and considers himself on as well. However, he clearly holds deeply racist views of Blacks. True, he doesn’t own any slaves himself. However, he doesn’t really do much to oppose slavery, beyond some hollow words. This is, sadly, not to far removed from actual history. Many abolitionists were opposed to slavery on philosophical grounds. However, this didn’t mean they believed Blacks should be equal to Whites. The number of people who did was comparatively small. Many abolitionists proposed sending Blacks back to Africa. The nation of Liberia was the results of such attempts.
Okay, history is all well and good, but what about the Lovecraft? Book one takes inspiration from “The Shadow Out of Time.” So, unsurprisingly, the inhabitants of Ryland are members of the Great Race of Yith. I always thought that “The Shadow Out of Time” was one of the more underrated stories from the Lovecraft Mythos. I loved the way all of the different authors put their own signature styles into the story. I have also found the Great Race of Yith to be underrated, as far as Lovecraft creatures. It is mentioned briefly, but our protagonist attended Miskatonic University, which frequently pops-up in the works of Lovecraft.
There were a few minor anachronisms. For example, at one point, one of the Yith makes reference to dinosaurs and genetics. The term dinosaur didn’t come into common use until 1842, and Gregor Mendel was still a kid in the 1830s. Granted, the Yith are time travelers, but the protagonist should have been tripped up by such terms. Still, just a minor instance that I noticed. Overall, the historical research was extremely well-done.
Cthulhu in the Deep South comes out of the gate with a strong first book. Let’s see if it can mainline that momentum.
Book two takes place in Charleston, South Carolina only a few years before the outbreak of the American Civil War. The protagonist of book two is a woman from New England who married the son of a wealthy plantation owner. Her family has pretty much disowned her, as they are all abolitionists. Still, she was convinced that she can build a happy new life in the Deep South. She assumed that she could reform her husband’s plantation into a kinder gentler place. Oh how very wrong she was. Our heroine finds herself drawn into the casually, and not so casual, cruelty of plantation life. This tears her apart mentally, and it only gets worse when her young son Daniel dies. The protagonist begins to hear voices that sound an awful lot like Daniel. Has he returned from the dead? Our heroine teeters on the edge insanity and mental breakdown as South Caroline, and the South as a who, draws ever closer to secession.
Well, well, it would seem that Cthulhu in the Deep South was able to maintain that momentum quite well indeed. The main Lovecraft influence for this one is the Dreamlands Cycle. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was also a major influence on book two. However, the real horror from this one comes not from eldritch horrors, but from the all too real horrors of history. It is tempting to laugh at the protagonist’s naïvety. When you get down to it, there is no such thing as a truly benevolent slave owner. Slavery wasn’t horrible just because of the physical violence, but also the psychological violence that slaves endured. At any moment, you or your loved ones could be sold completely on a whim, and you’d never see them again. In fact, slave marriages often included the phrase “til death or distance do you part.” Slaves were property, not people, so slave marriages were not legally binding.
I’m reminded of something that Augustine of Hippo once wrote. He wrote about a friend of his who decided to go to a gladiator game. The friend assumed that, as a good Christian man, there was no way he’d get drawn into the violence and bloodshed of the arena. Well, suffice it to say, it didn’t take long for the friend to be jeering loudly for the gladiators to kill each other. The supposedly good Christian man had found himself drawn in by the arena.
It is in book two that we meet the most vile and despicable creature in all of Cthulhu in the Deep South: the heroine’s mother-in-law. Now, you might think I’m joking, but let me assure you that I’m not. On most plantations, it wasn’t the actual owner you had to watch out for. He’d usually be off playing sports, or hunting, or doing other rich people things. Oh, the overseers were certainly nasty, particularly to field slaves. However, it was the lady of the house you really had to watch out for. The wives and mothers of plantation owners were expected to run a tight ship. Many of them often took sadistic glee in the power they lorded over their slaves. They’d often do things like forcing slaves to whistle while they cooked, to ensure they slaves didn’t eat anything. Any slaves who failed to whistle would be hit with a wooden spoon. Kirk Battle drew upon the personal diaries of plantation owner’s wives for his historical research.
Our heroine is frequently tormented by her mother-in-law, who resents her for being a Yankee. Things only get worse when the protagonist’s husband becomes involved with the newly formed government of the Palmetto Republic. That was what South Carolina was called before the other Southern states formed the Confederate States of America. Kirk Battle mentioned that he wanted to tell a story where the protagonist is driven to insanity, per Lovecraft tradition. However, he wanted to depict that insanity as a means of escape and liberation, rather than a terrible fate. I won’t give away the ending, but Kirk certainly achieved that goal. Then again, given how horrible the main heroine’s life is, pretty much anything would be an improvement for her.
Book two of Cthulhu in the Deep South is a worthy follow-up to book one.
Book three takes place during the American Civil War. We follow a young Free Black man from Arkham. He felt the swell of patriotism and decided to enlist in the Union army. However, he soon finds himself facing discrimination from all sides. Many of his commanding officers assume that he’s trying to swindle money out of them. Most of his fellow Black soldiers are former slaves, and he has quite a bit of cultural difference with them. As for the Confederate soldiers he fights against, well, that goes without saying. Our protagonist is assigned to a dangerous mission to the islands of Ryland and Carcosa. It is a mission that will lead him straight into the heart of darkness.
I just didn’t enjoy this one as much as I thought that I would. Don’t get me wrong, book three had its moments, and it did have some interesting historical and literary influences. Still, I just feel like it never quite came together for me.
Let’s take a moment to talk about those influences. The main Lovecraft influence on book three is “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” The big non-Lovecraft influence is Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Kirk Battle admits that he’s always had a certain fondness for that novel. Yeah, I guess I can see the influence. Our protagonist goes on a riverboat trip with a man who slowly looses his mind. Some people say that Heart of Darkness is racist. I wouldn’t say that, but I do feel it could have been a bit harsher towards the horrors of the Belgian Congo. On the other hand, it was one of the first novels to speak-out against the horrors of European colonialism in Africa. Ultimately, Heart of Darkness is a product of its time; take a bad with the good.
I did like the historical details. Many freed slaves did indeed join the Union army. Many slaves ran towards the Union army whenever they were nearby. However, many of these former slaves needed to be taught how things were going to work now. Many slaves developed several forms of passive resistance against overseers. They might pretend that they didn’t hear the instructions, or they might do their work as slowly as possible. However, once the slaves joined the Union army, they had to be taught that doing such things was now treason. The Harriet Tubman cameo was also fun. Still it just wasn’t enough to salvage book three for me.
So, unfortunately, book three was a bit of a misfire. Let’s see if Cthulhu in the Deep South can shake it off and recover.
Book four begins in the middle of the American Civil War, and ends not too long after Reconstruction begins. We follow a Christian missionary abolitionist from Arkham. She is heading to South Carolina as part of an effort to help newly freed slaves make better lives for themselves. She finds herself on Ryland and Carcosa, naturally. She becomes acquainted with a conjuring woman named Mam Ruth. Mam Ruth is the leader of the Black community on the isles. Mam Ruth is also privy to the many supernatural happenings on the isles.
Ah, it would seem that Cthulhu in the Deep South recovered quite well. Book four is our first introduction to Mam Ruth. She becomes a very important supporting character from this point forward. Mam Ruth is a root doctor, which were practitioners of folk magic common in Gullah communities. Kirk Battle said he wanted to take a root doctor character, and make her into a wise sorcerer type character, like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. I liked that he drew from Gullah culture for inspiration. The Gullah are a very fascinating people group. They live in the Sea Isles, off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. Unlike most other enslaved peoples, the Gullah managed to retain a fair bit of the ancestral African culture. They also have a very distinctive dialect.
Another fun bit of real history is one of the characters who is part of the main character’s group. He’s an anthropologist who is interviewing the newly freed slave about if their traditions have roots in African culture. He is heavily inspired by an actual anthropologist who did pretty much the same thing. This wasn’t necessarily bad in and of itself, but the Black people he interviewed wished that he would talk more about the racism and discrimination they were facing. The main character disparages him, but she’s not as different as she’d like to think. Sure, she is trying to give the former slaves an education, but she goes about it in a very White Man’s Burden kind of way. She tends to put most emphasis on teaching them the Bible, and her primary motivation for teaching them to read is so they can read the Bible.
Of course, later in the book, the protagonist runs into trouble trying to get charities in New England to help the former slaves. Most charities focus on helping Union soldiers and their families. Certainly an admirable cause, but it also highlights a major part of the North’s reaction to the Civil War.
Book four begins in the middle of the American Civil War, and ends not too long after Reconstruction begins. We follow a Christian missionary abolitionist from Arkham. She is heading to South Carolina as part of an effort to help newly freed slaves make better lives for themselves. She finds herself on Ryland and Carcosa, naturally. She becomes acquainted with a conjuring woman named Mam Ruth. Mam Ruth is the leader of the Black community on the isles. Mam Ruth is also privy to the many supernatural happenings on the isles.
Ah, it would seem that Cthulhu in the Deep South recovered quite well. Book four is our first introduction to Mam Ruth. She becomes a very important supporting character from this point forward. Mam Ruth is a root doctor, which were practitioners of folk magic common in Gullah communities. Kirk Battle said he wanted to take a root doctor character, and make her into a wise sorcerer type character, like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. I liked that he drew from Gullah culture for inspiration. The Gullah are a very fascinating people group. They live in the Sea Isles, off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. Unlike most other enslaved peoples, the Gullah managed to retain a fair bit of the ancestral African culture. They also have a very distinctive dialect.
Another fun bit of real history is one of the characters who is part of the main character’s group. He’s an anthropologist who is interviewing the newly freed slave about if their traditions have roots in African culture. He is heavily inspired by an actual anthropologist who did pretty much the same thing. This wasn’t necessarily bad in and of itself, but the Black people he interviewed wished that he would talk more about the racism and discrimination they were facing. The main character disparages him, but she’s not as different as she’d like to think. Sure, she is trying to give the former slaves an education, but she goes about it in a very White Man’s Burden kind of way. She tends to put most emphasis on teaching them the Bible, and her primary motivation for teaching them to read is so they can read the Bible.
Of course, later in the book, the protagonist runs into trouble trying to get charities in New England to help the former slaves. Most charities focus on helping Union soldiers and their families. Certainly an admirable cause, but it also highlights a major part of the North’s reaction to the Civil War.
There are many reasons why Reconstruction failed. I would say the biggest was that the South was granted amnesty way sooner than it should have been. Thanks at lot, Andrew Johnson. Southerners, including several former Confederate generals, were able to fight Reconstruction from within Congress. That Confederate leaders never got hanged for treasons is, in my humble opinion, one of the biggest mistakes in American History.
All of that having been said, the second biggest reason Reconstruction failed was the apathy of Northerners. I would compare Reconstruction to the War in Afghanistan. It was a very controversial military operation, there were numerous calls to pull out, and everything went to hell when the troops actually did pull out. Northerners might have been willing to fight to end slavery, but weren’t necessarily going to invest in the Black community afterwards.
Cthulhu in the Deep South manages to dust itself off and stand proud once again with book four.
Book five is set in 1866. It follows a man from New England who has recently moved to Charleston. He’s a bit of a hustler and a conman, and is always looking for a get-rich-quick scheme. He has recently become part of a group of similar-minded men of fortune who are looking to strike it big by finding buried treasure.
I’m just going to be honest, this was probably the weakest book in the whole series. In fairness, Kirk Battle said that book five was where he struggled the most as a writer. He wanted to tell a story from the perspective of a Carpetbagger. Problem is, there aren’t really any primary sources to use. Carpetbagger was a pejorative used by Southerners against Northerners who moved to the South following Reconstruction. The Lost Cause Narrative painted Carpetbaggers as evil swindlers who swindled innocent Southerners. In reality, however, most “Carpetbaggers” were, basically, White Northerners who didn’t totally hate Black people. Same goes for Scalawags, who were viewed as basically like Carpetbaggers, but Southern rather than Northern in origin. Again, most “Scalawags” were simply White Southerners who didn’t totally hate Black people.
There were some fun ideas. I liked how book five drew parallels between the Plat-Eye of Gullah Folklore and the Shoggoth from the Lovecraft Mythos. And there’s a bit towards the end that draws upon “The Thing on the Doorstep” for inspiration. Unfortunately, on the whole, I just couldn’t get into book five. Oh well, maybe book six will improve things.
Book six takes place during the 1870s. We follow a young Black woman who managed to get sent up North to get an education. Unfortunately, the North didn’t prove to be the land of opportunity she was hoping for. So, she moved back to South Carolina to be with her sister. It is a very turbulent time for Charleston. There’s a lot of unrest and race riots. Still, our heroine has managed to land a job as a maid for a wealthy family. They’re very peculiar folks. In fact, at times they almost seem not quite human. Things only get strange when she discovers a mysterious metal box in the attic. The box introduces itself as Mam Ruth.
It has often been joked that the even number Star Trek movies tend to be better than the odd numbered ones. I’m not sure I’d agree with that; the only truly bad Star Trek movie was Final Frontier, though that was the fifth movie. I’m tempted to say that the same pattern holds true with Cthulhu in the Deep South. Book six was a significant improvement over book five.
Kirk Battle said that he wanted to write book six as maid fiction. Think like the parts of Downton Abby that focus on the servants. It is a genre that hasn’t been popular in decades, but I feel that Kirk Battle pulled it off pretty well. He also drew upon the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler. Well, not just in book six. Kindred informed Cthulhu in the Deep South in general. Kindred is a great book, so I’m glad to hear it was an inspiration. In terms of Lovecraftian influences, we’ve got “The Whisperer in Darkness.” The mi-go do appear, and their habit of putting brains into canisters plays a big role in the plot. We also get “The Thing on the Doorstep” once again.
We also get some insight into social dynamics. Our protagonist finds herself competing against another housekeeper named Maeve. Maeve is a recent immigrant from Ireland, and constantly tries to sabotage the protagonist. Maeve particularly resents that the protagonist got the coveted job of house cook, which pays better than being just a maid. Maeve can’t cook to save her life, but still resents loosing the position. Of course, our protagonist can give just as good as she gets. I’m reminded of something Chris Rock once said about how there’s nothing a White man who only has a penny hates more than a Black man who only has a nickel.
Our protagonist is presented with a tantalizing proposition. She could switch bodies with someone from 1968, and escape the horrors of her own time. Of course, to do that, she’d be condemning someone from 1968 to a life in the 1870s. And, as far as she knows, there’s no guarantee that 1968 will necessarily be much better. In fairness, while 1968 was better than Reconstruction, there was still plenty of racism and discrimination. Still, interesting plot to have someone from the past contemplate potentially escaping to a better future.
And with that, we’ve covered all six books that are part of Cthulhu in the Deep South. It is a series that combines Lovecraftian horrors with the real life historical horrors of the 19th Century South. There were a couple misfires along the way, but on the whole, it is an excellent series of novels. Kirk Battle is planning more entries in the series, however, he’s taking a break from Cthulhu in the Deep South. He’s currently working on a purely historical fiction novel set in the Reconstruction era South titled These Hallowed Halls. And yes, it is available both as an eBook and a podiobook. I wish Kirk Battle the best of luck with all his future endeavors. I’m sure they will be excellent.
Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.
All of that having been said, the second biggest reason Reconstruction failed was the apathy of Northerners. I would compare Reconstruction to the War in Afghanistan. It was a very controversial military operation, there were numerous calls to pull out, and everything went to hell when the troops actually did pull out. Northerners might have been willing to fight to end slavery, but weren’t necessarily going to invest in the Black community afterwards.
Cthulhu in the Deep South manages to dust itself off and stand proud once again with book four.
Book five is set in 1866. It follows a man from New England who has recently moved to Charleston. He’s a bit of a hustler and a conman, and is always looking for a get-rich-quick scheme. He has recently become part of a group of similar-minded men of fortune who are looking to strike it big by finding buried treasure.
I’m just going to be honest, this was probably the weakest book in the whole series. In fairness, Kirk Battle said that book five was where he struggled the most as a writer. He wanted to tell a story from the perspective of a Carpetbagger. Problem is, there aren’t really any primary sources to use. Carpetbagger was a pejorative used by Southerners against Northerners who moved to the South following Reconstruction. The Lost Cause Narrative painted Carpetbaggers as evil swindlers who swindled innocent Southerners. In reality, however, most “Carpetbaggers” were, basically, White Northerners who didn’t totally hate Black people. Same goes for Scalawags, who were viewed as basically like Carpetbaggers, but Southern rather than Northern in origin. Again, most “Scalawags” were simply White Southerners who didn’t totally hate Black people.
There were some fun ideas. I liked how book five drew parallels between the Plat-Eye of Gullah Folklore and the Shoggoth from the Lovecraft Mythos. And there’s a bit towards the end that draws upon “The Thing on the Doorstep” for inspiration. Unfortunately, on the whole, I just couldn’t get into book five. Oh well, maybe book six will improve things.
Book six takes place during the 1870s. We follow a young Black woman who managed to get sent up North to get an education. Unfortunately, the North didn’t prove to be the land of opportunity she was hoping for. So, she moved back to South Carolina to be with her sister. It is a very turbulent time for Charleston. There’s a lot of unrest and race riots. Still, our heroine has managed to land a job as a maid for a wealthy family. They’re very peculiar folks. In fact, at times they almost seem not quite human. Things only get strange when she discovers a mysterious metal box in the attic. The box introduces itself as Mam Ruth.
It has often been joked that the even number Star Trek movies tend to be better than the odd numbered ones. I’m not sure I’d agree with that; the only truly bad Star Trek movie was Final Frontier, though that was the fifth movie. I’m tempted to say that the same pattern holds true with Cthulhu in the Deep South. Book six was a significant improvement over book five.
Kirk Battle said that he wanted to write book six as maid fiction. Think like the parts of Downton Abby that focus on the servants. It is a genre that hasn’t been popular in decades, but I feel that Kirk Battle pulled it off pretty well. He also drew upon the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler. Well, not just in book six. Kindred informed Cthulhu in the Deep South in general. Kindred is a great book, so I’m glad to hear it was an inspiration. In terms of Lovecraftian influences, we’ve got “The Whisperer in Darkness.” The mi-go do appear, and their habit of putting brains into canisters plays a big role in the plot. We also get “The Thing on the Doorstep” once again.
We also get some insight into social dynamics. Our protagonist finds herself competing against another housekeeper named Maeve. Maeve is a recent immigrant from Ireland, and constantly tries to sabotage the protagonist. Maeve particularly resents that the protagonist got the coveted job of house cook, which pays better than being just a maid. Maeve can’t cook to save her life, but still resents loosing the position. Of course, our protagonist can give just as good as she gets. I’m reminded of something Chris Rock once said about how there’s nothing a White man who only has a penny hates more than a Black man who only has a nickel.
Our protagonist is presented with a tantalizing proposition. She could switch bodies with someone from 1968, and escape the horrors of her own time. Of course, to do that, she’d be condemning someone from 1968 to a life in the 1870s. And, as far as she knows, there’s no guarantee that 1968 will necessarily be much better. In fairness, while 1968 was better than Reconstruction, there was still plenty of racism and discrimination. Still, interesting plot to have someone from the past contemplate potentially escaping to a better future.
And with that, we’ve covered all six books that are part of Cthulhu in the Deep South. It is a series that combines Lovecraftian horrors with the real life historical horrors of the 19th Century South. There were a couple misfires along the way, but on the whole, it is an excellent series of novels. Kirk Battle is planning more entries in the series, however, he’s taking a break from Cthulhu in the Deep South. He’s currently working on a purely historical fiction novel set in the Reconstruction era South titled These Hallowed Halls. And yes, it is available both as an eBook and a podiobook. I wish Kirk Battle the best of luck with all his future endeavors. I’m sure they will be excellent.
Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.
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