Blind Read Through: H.P. Lovecraft; In the Walls of Eryx

This was such a spectacular escape from the classic Lovecraftian stories.  This is a Science Fiction/Horror story, that deals all together with the concepts of despair, fear and claustrophobia.  This is also the first story in which the narrator actually dies in the story.  There is very little to connect with the cannon in the narrative, but it is totally worth it.  The only possible connection would be the main residents of Venus (where the story takes place), which are reptilian creatures with tentacles.  These could be a form of a descendant of one of the Elder Gods.

The story follows our narrator, Kenton Stanfield, as he is on a quest to find a crystal on the surface of Venus.  He travels through a jungle and eventually gets through it, and in a big open marsh he sees a body with the crystal he is looking for. When he approaches the body he finds an invisible wall.  Eventually he finds his way past the wall and gets the crystal from the body, only to find that it wasn’t a wall at all, but an invisible labyrinth.

The rest of the story is a psychological profile in fear, and a brilliant one at that.  If you have no interest in Lovecraft, this is the story for you to read, and if you love Lovecraft, then you must devour it!