Leaving Arkham behind and venturing out into the wider world, Aconyte Books’ Arkham Horror anthology Secrets in Scarlet – edited by Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells – brings together nine authors with globetrotting tales of occult adventure, ancient mysteries and sinister clandestine organisations. Following government agents, artefact hunters, art thieves and more, these nine stories gradually build up a picture of competing agencies, cults and secret societies all searching for objects with the potential to unlock terrible powers, though whether to use those powers or prevent them from falling into the wrong hands remains to be seen. Some stories feature protagonists actively involved in this dangerous search, while others are merely caught in the middle, but one thing unites them all – the consequences of failure are utterly deadly.
Few reading experiences are as satisfying as a genuinely themed anthology, and while these nine stories could all be enjoyed in isolation there’s real value in reading them one after the other. While not narratively connected, each story explores the concept of dangerous occult artefacts and powers, the ruthless groups and individuals who seek them out, and the impact they can have on the people who come into contact with them. More than that, characters and concepts introduced in one story are referenced in others, whether that’s the ‘Foundation’ and its Commissioner Qiana Taylor or the ‘Red Coterie’, the mysterious group whose members include the Lady with the Red Parasol, the Claret Knight and the Red-Gloved Man. These powerful characters are mostly pitched as direct antagonists or mysterious, ambiguous presences, with the focus largely on ordinary people relying on skill, determination or sheer blind luck to see them through.
There’s no real standout story here, each one taking an enjoyably different approach to exploring common themes. Some are darker and/or more overly occult than others, and one or two go a bit harder on the exposition (something that readers who prefer to retain a little ambiguity might not enjoy as much), but in general the tone is more occult adventure than full-on horror. This works well with the global nature of the stories – taking in North and South America, Asia, Africa and Europe – and the underlying themes of espionage, investigations and secret societies. The other key theme is really moral ambiguity, as any sense of there being black and white lines – the Foundation being ‘good’ and the Red Coterie ‘evil’, for example – is quickly dispelled. These stories live in the grey – one way or another, most of these characters find themselves dealing with the darker sides of life.
A few stories finish leaving a clear sense of there being more to come in those characters’ arcs – some might find this frustrating, others intriguing, but what’s clear is that there’s a lot of fuel here for exploring more of this side to Arkham Horror. As always with Aconyte’s world-expanding fiction though, there’s no requirement to be particularly familiar with the setting before starting out, and as a whole this anthology stands up brilliantly as a compelling collection of satisfyingly pulpy and horror-tinged 1920s-set adventures [I’m certainly not familiar with Arkham Horror as a game, or any of the backstory to characters in the game]. Readers looking for an entertaining, action-packed anthology full of magic, mystery and danger, exploring a complex world full of tenuous alliances and the looming threat of cosmic horror, will likely find a lot to enjoy here.
Review copy provided by the publisher
See also: all of the other Arkham Horror reviews and interviews on Track of Words
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