I am Providence
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3.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
For fans of legendary pulp author H. P. Lovecraft, there is nothing bigger than the annual Providence-based convention the Summer Tentacular. Horror writer Colleen Danzig doesn’t know what to expect when she arrives, but is unsettled to find that among the hob-knobbing between scholars and literary critics are a group of real freaks: book collectors looking for volumes bound in human skin, and true believers claiming the power to summon the Elder God Cthulhu, one of their idol’s most horrific fictional creations, before the weekend is out.
Colleen’s trip spirals into a nightmare when her roommate for the weekend, an obnoxious novelist known as Panossian, turns up dead, his face neatly removed. What’s more unsettling is that, in the aftermath of the murder, there is little concern among the convention goers. The Summer Tentacular continues uninterrupted, except by a few bumbling police.
Everyone at the convention is a possible suspect, but only Colleen seems to show any interest in solving the murder. So she delves deep into the darkness, where occult truths have been lurking since the beginning of time. A darkness where Panossian is waiting, spending a lot of time thinking about Colleen, narrating a new Lovecraftian tale that could very well spell her doom.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A conscious corpse relates the events leading up to his murder at the Summer Tentacular H.P. Lovecraft convention in Providence, R.I., in Mamatas's (The Last Weekend) humorous but sometimes meandering horror mystery. Antagonistic narrator Panossian, hated by many in the Lovecraft fan community, was found dead with his face missing. Just before he was killed, he was meeting someone who had offered to buy his copy of a rare book bound in human skin. Panossian's convention roommate, Colleen Danzig, searches for his killer among the event's eclectic and neurotic attendees: control freak convention organizer and Lovecraft scholar Bhanushali, racist Cthulhu cosplayer Ronald Ranger, drag queen Ms. Phantasia, stalker groupie Chloe, and Cthulhu cultist and chauvinist Norman. She also meets Thomas, the night coroner, who likes to doodle Lovecraft creatures. Things get weirder when Colleen and bookseller Hiram Chandler follow Bhanushali to dig up Lovecraft's dead cat, whose name is a racist slur. When Bhanushali's lieutenant, Charles Cudmore, is found dead behind the hotel, detective Antony Amato suspects a serial killer. Mamatas provides a heartfelt homage to Lovecraft lore, perfectly captures the antics of conventioneers, and comments on the cutthroat politics of online publishing and the recent discussions of Lovecraft's bigoted views. However, chapters of the deceased Panossian waxing nostalgic divert the action, and Colleen's sleuthing involves too much speculation and too little delving for solid answers.
Customer Reviews
A fun ride!
A lot of the reviews here seem to be disappointed, and I think it’s largely because their expectations were misaligned with what this book is actually doing. Nick Mamatas is clearly well versed in cosmic horror, and puts that knowledge to use in the best ways: making fun of our own kind, Lovecraft nerds. The characters are ones you love to hate, the story is gripping and interesting, with twists and turns, and a satisfying conclusion, and the book offers up nuggets of existential philosophy along the way, as one of the narrators is contemplating his death from the cold comfort of a morgue body drawer. I was enthralled, and finished this book quicker than almost any other book I’ve read. Is it amazing? No, probably not, but it is fun, enjoyable to read, and I have fond memories of the story now. This book is a mundane murder mystery at heart, so don’t go expecting monsters and cosmic dread, you’ll be disappointed like the other nerds who reviewed it here. As a nerd who wasn’t disappointed, I’d definitely recommend this book. It’s a good slice of humble pie for us Lovecraft nuts too.
So much less than I was expecting…
Well I’m relatively new to HP Lovecraft stories, in general, I read the descriptions for this book and wholeheartedly imagined a “-Con” where horrifically mythical things were happening behind every door, dark magic ran rampant, and murder was the least of the horrors to worry about.
Instead of that, you get an angsty-teen rendition of a bad Scooby-Doo adventure with the plot twist being given to you like the opening line from the movie Sunset Boulevard.