Titanic 1912: A Lovecraft Mythos Novel Read online

  “Howard?” John said.

  “And like a light, we wink out. Thank you,” he whispered, “because you care, I have been. I was. I cheated Chaos.”

  “Howard?” Jenny whispered back, but that was the last he said as he passed on. “What did that mean, John?”

  “Maybe that love and friendship made him real. I do not know. It was some sort of…validation. He felt he won, anyway.” John tidied the covers and smoothed the blanket until it looked as if their friend were sleeping.

  Leaving the hospital room, the Mortons closed the door and told the nurse to let the doctor know. They asked her to take care of things. John and Jenny, holding hands, left and walked out to sit in the little park across from the hospital. It was chilly, and Jenny shivered, remembering one other time she had been as cold.

  On another bench, a young man sat scribbling on a pad of paper, licking the end of his pencil, looking to the clouds, and then writing again. He thinned his lips with frustration and marked out a line, sighing.

  “I can always tell when a man is a journalist,” John said to him, “I watched Stead and Howard do that. Never mind, friends of mine.”

  The man laughed and introduced himself, “Is it that evident, yes? I want a very interesting story and have nothing.”

  “Just interesting?”

  The man shrugged, “No, I want to have people think.”

  “What if I told you about the night the Titanic sank and how cold we were and how afterwards, our dear friend wrote the most extraordinary stories, papers, and novels about terrible alien creatures and a cruel universe?”

  “Oh? How fascinating,” the man said, leaning forward, “a writer, you say?”

  “A very talented one. And I’ll say this, he was not mad.”

  The man waited.

  John leaned back against the bench and sighed, “Let me tell you about Howard Phillips Lovecraft.”

  (Fort Worth 2013)

  Read on for a free Dead Bait story

  Afterwards:

  People often ask how an idea came about. I want to share that after I remark upon a few items that are sticking in my mind.

  Most of the events pertaining to the sinking of Titanic are accurate to the best of my knowledge after exhaustive research. Actual names of many were used, but the personalities are fictional although many of the actions have been documented. At no time was any real person’s name used as a victim to the fictional mythos. I felt it was vital to retain complete respect to all of those who were lost or who survived. I love the story of the ship because it embodies the human spirit and sacrifice.

  I spent hours and hours doing research and attended the Titanic Exhibit in Fort Worth, Texas. I was most amazed that so many relics were found in almost perfect condition (after sinking 12,000 feet). For some reason, the porthole on exhibit really got to me and made it very real. If I could have one item, it would be that porthole with its jagged brass casing. Perfume samples still have the scent intact and some of the clothing is almost pristine. I saw Mr. Murdoch’s pipe.

  I went into this, unsure who or what was to blame and prepared myself that some people might be less than heroic. Instead, I found the men (especially of First Class) to have been honorable and heroic. I believe Officers Murdoch, Lightoller, and others acted more professionally and intelligently than imaginable. Sadly, they were not trained to fill lifeboats. Mr. Lightoller became a true hero as I researched his actions and I feel a strong connection to his memory.

  I have dedicated this book to Mr. Lightoller’s memory.

  Mr. William Stead and Mr. John Astor did write the books that I wrote about. Mr. Astor’s book described incredible ideas including using solar energy and I found it very imaginative. It reminded me of the wonderful “Twilight Zone” episodes about alien worlds and space travel.

  Maggie Brown has been often referred to as “the unsinkable Molly Brown” but her name was Margaret, and she was not called Molly. I tried to stay true to the facts with her. She was not only a philanthropist but involved in laws for human rights and ran for a political office before women were afforded the right to vote. She is someone I would have liked very much.

  How 1200 bodies vanished has never been explained fully. It is possible the life belts failed, causing the dead to sink, but this doesn’t explain this mystery sufficiently.

  It is true that William Stead and others penned books before the disaster that were almost a perfect prediction. Many did leave the ship due to unease, claim nightmares, or psychic dreams of the impending event. The mysteries truly are remarkable.

  The Captain of Carpathia was a staunch believer in sea monsters and had filed many reports of sightings. I like this.

  Megaladons have been extinct for about two million years but was the largest water predator to have lived; they probably preferred warm water. I scuba dive and have never felt threatened by a shark; however, once, while swimming in Galveston, Texas, I was circled by a hammerhead and “peeing in one’s pants” does happen.

  Howard Phillips Lovecraft not only designed an entire universe, but was a prolific letter-writer, and has influenced generations of horror writers. While he was not on Titanic (sorry, I made that up), he was a lot of fun to give a new story to. I think he would be happy with my version.

  When I decided to write a sea story and Severed Press’ Gary Lucas said he wanted a megaladon, I was mystified. ‘Jaws’ is an amazing movie and book, but besides that, I have never been very impressed with fish horror. (Although Severed Press has the Dead Bait anthologies and they rock.)

  I always think that the people can just get out of the water and (bingo) they are safe. No story. Also, the idea that a meg appears in modern time after popping out of a rock, iceberg, egg (!), science lab, or anywhere else feels very dues ex machina.

  I thought first to isolate people on a ship that was sinking and of course it had to be Titanic. I love historical horror fiction. Once I had the location, I needed to know how Meg got there but I knew he was old so it was logical he came with more old monsters and (bingo again) I knew he was one of the Old Ones.

  I could have left it at that and done fine, but on a whim, I checked dates and found that HPL fit perfectly (as per age and writing). Although this was terribly ambitious (with a strange assortment of book devices), there was not one second that felt forced as I wrote. Strangely, every element fell into place so smoothly that at times, I forgot HPL was not there.

  This is how I get my ideas. I had Megaladon. I asked “who, what, where, when, why, how” and I had the entire vision within minutes. I never outline a book and I didn’t this time but allowed the timeline of Titanic to lead me and honestly didn’t know how it would end, until…it did.

  RIP:RMS Titanic

  (CD)

  © 2013 catt dahman

  [email protected]

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book, including the cover, and photos, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher. All rights reserved.

  The characters, places and events depicted are fictional and do not represent anyone living or dead. This is a work of fiction. The statistics and information about Titanic are based on research and are as close to full accuracy as possible. In some cases, I took small liberties.

  For David and Nic who toured the Titanic exhibit with me: thank you for sharing in my interest.

  Thank you, Gary, for allowing me this ambitious project

  Dedicated to those who survived the disaster and their families, and to those who lost their lives. Above all, dedicated to Commander Charles Lightoller who was an amazing hero.

  For those with further interest or who would like to see what the ship looked like (inside and ou
t) and how the disaster occurred, and pictures of some of the survivors : http://www.cattd.com

  Nineteen tales of fishy horror available for just $2.99 here