The Bequest; An Homage to H.P. Lovecraft

By Donald Healey

As its subtitle declares, the novelette, The Bequest is and homage to H.P. Lovecraft, an author who Stephen King has called, "the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale." Building on Lovecraft's oft used central theme of forbidden knowledge, The Bequest, weaves a spine tingling tale of: powerful deities, ancient rites, unquenchable evil, and a man at the mercy of a vast and empty cosmos. The book delivers suspense with a satisfying punch and is written in a first person narrative style that feels instantly familiar to Lovecraft fans. Whether you are a Lovecraft aficionado or just like a good scary story, download your copy today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donald Healey
• Release date: Sep 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9780985729134

Donald Healey

Denise and Don have been happily together for 40 years. They both attended the University of California at Riverside, California State University Humboldt, and Lane Community College in Eugene Oregon. Between them they've worked all sorts of jobs ranging from pot washer and bicycle mechanic to pharmacy technician and hair stylist. For the past 10 years, Denise has been a professional tour manager leading groups for Holland America, Let's Go Travel, and most recently Collette Vacations. Before leaving to travel, Don was a vice president of the University of Oregon Foundation in charge of their information systems. They launched their around the world trip from Eugene, Oregon, but today they reside in Prescott, Arizona where they are reestablishing a home base and planning their next adventure.

Book preview

The Bequest

An Homage to H.P. Lovecraft

Donald Healey

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Granite Mountain Books, LLC

Prescott, AZ

Copyright 2012 Donald Healey

All rights reserved. No portion of this ebook may be translated or reproduced in any form except brief extracts by a reviewer for the purpose of a review, without written permission of the copyright owner.

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Published by: Granite Mountain Books, LLC

Prescott, AZ 86301

Smashwords Edition

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Contents

Chapter 1 - My Uncle’s Obsession

Chapter 2 - Janet’s Bequest

Chapter 3 - An Air of Wrongness

Chapter 4 - Ecstatic Fantasy

Chapter 5 - Mania

Chapter 6 - The Dead God Awaits

About the Author

Chapter 1

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My Uncle’s Obsession

Evil exists in the world. I don’t mean biblical evil like Sodom and Gomorrah, coveting your neighbor’s wife, or debasing yourself before false idols and graven images. Just beyond our imagination scrabbling at the edges of our nightmares something far worse abides; a hungering indescribable evil, powerful and hoary long before the Australopithecines took their first tentative steps in Olduvai Gorge. We humans stumble along in tranquil ignorance as in the eye of an unsuspected storm while maelstroms of infinite blackness swirl about us. A merciful god must exist, for how else do we account our minds’ inability to comprehend the horror that waits in restless slumber?

I decided to write down these particulars, not to try to make sense of what occurred, for that is a task beyond the gifts of a sane mind, but rather as a warning to others who would at their own peril tread the same path. I will hold nothing back save the location of the place and the true names of some of those involved. No matter what I write or do, I’ll never sleep soundly again. When I awake from diseased fancy, screaming, drenched in sweat, I think I would rather suicide that relive those loathsome days. I say that I am sane, but it is a tenuous sanity.

It began as good or ruinous events often do, as a family matter. Two years ago, on a cold cheerless day in November, I sat at my kitchen table toying with a stack of unopened mail. Just visible, tucked in among the usual dead forest of advertisements, offers and solicitations, lay an official looking envelope. Its gold embossed return address proclaimed its origin, The Offices of Atterly, Clyde, and Dunn, Attorneys at Law. I pulled the heavy envelope toward me and eyed it with a revulsion that I couldn’t ascribe. Debts, due