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From the pages of
ALT.HORROR.CHTHULHU
The Gardens of Lucullus
A review by
icarpenter, 2005
…The Gardens of Lucullus, by Richard Tierney and Glenn Rahman, is a trade paperback published by Sidecar Preservation
Society in 2001. It lists for $15.95. I got a copy from Shocklines with free shipping. My copy was signed by
the authors. It is a handsome production. There is a nice painting of a Roman court on the front... The book
was printed "xerographically." Page count was 275….
…Moving on, this is a Simon of Gitta book.... There is a character who is a Hibernian gladiator, Rufus Hibernicus.
I think he is the creation of Glenn Rahman, and the two authors must have collaborated to bring their characters
together in imperial Rome.
The novel reads like a superior Sword and Sorcery work, with obvious antecedents in Robert E. Howard. What is
different is the setting, in ancient Rome during the rule of Claudius and Messalina. The historical detail and
accuracy are very rich and really add to the attractiveness of this novel… The city comes alive under the authors'
pens. The saga is fast-paced with some nice action sequences and some magical duels. Best of all is the scheming,
plotting, and intriguing, which are well thought out….
So how does this appeal to the [HPL] Mythos fan? Well, it turns out that Messalina and some crafty Vestals are
actually priestesses of Magna Mater, and Magna Mater is actually an entity from beyond our space/dimension.
She has many names, one of which is Shupnikkurat. Her idol is represented as a black male goat head with the torso
of a termite queen. She/it is using human servitors to open a way for her/it or her/its spawn to cross into
our world. At one point Simon is matching wits with her servitors and invokes Nodens.
I found it interesting to depict Shupnikkurat as female; usually it is male.
These eldritch things transcend gender, so it was neat to read a conception different from the norm…. So the
plot is basically Messalina and her cronies using magic to control Claudius, while trying to invoke the Magna
Mater's entry into our world. Fortuitously for the world, Simon and Rufus get drawn into the plot, and Simon
has sufficient training in sorcery to recognize the dangers.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend to all fans of the REH tradition. If you like Conan I can't imagine
you won't like The Gardens of Lucullus. It is an attractive book, well written, well
plotted, and thoroughly researched, attractively priced…
From the Pages of the Harrow
© 2004 Dru Pagliassotti
All rights reserved.
The Gardens of Lucullus
Richard L. Tierney & Glenn Rahman
2001, Sidecar Preservation Society
ISBN 0-9711520-0-4
Why hasn't The Gardens of Lucullus
received more critical notice? This stirring Roman fantasy is a compelling addition to the Cthulhu Mythos, plausibly
veiling the Old Ones in the guise of the cult of Cybele. From sun-drenched gladiatorial arenas to shadowy gardens
to the darkest pits of underground cultists, the book grabs and holds the reader's attention in a tale that hearkens
back to the classics of H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Bloch and Robert E. Howard.
Perhaps the problem is that the book hasn't been clearly marketed as part of the Mythos, a disservice to HPL fans
everywhere. Neither the cover nor the sales blurb really tells you what to expect. But although I came to Gardens
expecting only Roman swords and sorcery — The Gladiator with magic — I got all that and more.
The opening chapters of The Gardens of Lucullus set Rufus Hibernicus, a gruff veteran gladiator whose mercenary tendencies conflict with his own
fundamentally good nature, against the Rome-hating sorcerer Simon of Gitta in a gladiatorial clash of tigers and
humans that vividly evokes the thunder of cheering crowds and the smell of sweat and dust. But when a battered
and blood-covered Simon is smuggled out of the arena beneath the nose of mad Caesar Tiberius Claudius and his conniving
wife Empress Valeria Messalina, at the same time that freed sorcerer Polybius reconstructs the secret to eternal
youth, imperial politics and the occult meet head-on. Hibernicus and Simon find themselves teamed up under the
patronage of Julia Agrippina the Younger, dead Emperor Caligula's sister, to find out what Valeria Messalina is
up to.
It doesn't take long for Hibernicus and Simon to realize that they're not simply embroiled in the usual Roman stew
of corrupt politics. When they witness secret rites that reveal the depth of corruption to which the noblest women
of Rome have fallen, they realize that much darker forces are at work than mere greed and hatred. Who is Shupnikkurat,
and what exactly is going to happen if the empress's Grand Ceremony goes off as planned? Can Hibernicus' gladius
and Simon's eclectic magicks possibly be enough to keep the Outer Gods at bay?
The Gardens of Lucullus compares favorably with the best classic pulp swords and sorcery novels — Hibernicus and
Simon are a time-honored heroic combination, the former heartily carnal and the latter quietly intellectual, both
bound together by their genuine concern for the lives of innocents. The rest of the characters are sketched with
bold pulp strokes, from plotting priestesses to debauched noblewomen, from canny politicians to loyal prostitutes.
Yet although the novel is clearly pulp, Tierney and Rahman have scrupulously researched their historical setting.
The Rome they describe is convincingly gritty and corrupt, ringing with authenticity from its convoluted politics
to its blood-soaked gladiatoral arena to its offhand comments about slavery, architecture, and economics. The gardens
of the title existed, as well - the "Horti Luculliani" were indeed coveted by Messalina, who had their
owner killed in order to get them. In addition, the authors accurately describe the adoption of Cybele the Magna
Mater by Rome, emphasizing the fertility cult's dark side of castrated priests and bull-killing rites and its link
to Dagon. Yet for all this, Gardens never slips into boring academic exposition; its historical accuracy is simply
a solid and unintrusive foundation for a lively pulp story of blood, betrayal, and dark magic.
The Gardens of Lucullus reads
like an old favorite — like one of those pulps you checked out of the library when you were a little kid and read
on a hot summer day, happily transported to ancient worlds with larger-than-life heroes while waiting for the ice-cream
truck to work its way to your block. Gardens honors pulp fantasy and horror without falling into the trap of strained prose and tired cliches
that so many other attempts to revive the genre have slipped into.
If I have any objection to the book, it would be that, while reviving so many other pulp conventions, Gardens also revives the hoary "women's
dark magic" theme, suggesting that only powerless and subservient women — such as slaves and prostitutes —
can be trusted, while powerful women are by definition corrupt. I guess that's better than the short shrift or
blatant sexual exploitation female characters get in so much other pulp fantasy, but it still makes me sigh.
Final word — The Gardens of Lucullus has
been ignored too long. Go out and buy a copy, and tell others about it. This overlooked book is ready to take its
place on the shelves of pulp fantasy and Cthulhu fans everywhere.
uuu
From the Pages of Randolph Carter's Eldrich Snake Den
A Review by Ken Faig, Jr.
Richard L. Tierney and Glenn Rahman, The Gardens of Lucullus (Theilman MN:
Sidecar Preservation Society, 2001), trade paperback, 273pp., ISBN 0-9711520-0-4, $15.95. Introduction by Robert
M. Price. . . .
This collaborative novel brings together Richard Tierney's Simon of Gitta and Glenn Rahman's Rufus Hibernicus for
high adventure set in the corrupt First-Century Rome of the Emperor Claudius. Claudius's consort Messalina has
become involved in a plot to the restore the worship of the Magna Mater and the dominion of the banished gods of
pre-antiquity. In the introduction, Bob Price extols the vivid portrait of First-Century Rome painted by the authors,
and I concur with Bob -- the brutal world of the gladiator's arena is particularly well-painted.
The authors tell a lively and complex tale. The survival of the Vestal Virgin Lucretia, who had been heavily involved
in the plot to restore the Cthonioi, leaves open the possibility of more adventures. Simon of Gitta's acceptance
of Roman citizenship (and the title Simon Magus) from the hands of Claudius at the end of the novel will also influence
the future development of author Tierney's wizard just as Roman citizenship influenced the career of St. Paul,
the apostle to the Gentiles.
There is a subplot that concerns the discovery by the wizard Polybius of the secret of eternal youth; and naturally
the women of the Magna Mater cult compete to secure the secret. The narrative of Polybius's subject Racilia is
well-told. One gets the sense that Tierney and Rahman have actually tried to imagine what the shedding of fifty
or sixty years of age would mean to a human being. The insatiable hunger of Racilia during the age-shedding process
is an interesting conceit.
There is certainly much sexuality in this novel although none of it seems out of place. The debasement of prostitution
is vividly contrasted with its role in some ancient cults. The lesbian gladiatrix Corinna is depicted in a particularly
vivid manner; and her abuse of Rufus's erstwhile slaves Fern and Holly, is even made the subject of a jurisprudential
discussion between the Emperor Claudius and his freeman Pallas. (Claudius's own relationship with the courtesans
Calpurnia and Cleopatra forms an interesting contrast with Rufus' and Corinna's enjoyment of Fern and Holly.) In
the end, Corinna is turned over to Rufus himself for "reform''.... I suspect co-author Rahman will have a
challenging story to tell when he narrates the future history of Rufus and Corinna -- which I certainly hope he
shall! I hope, too, that Rufus and Simon will have occasion to have more adventures together -- so that their gifted
creators may also once again have the opportunity to collaborate. I should like to learn how Simon fares as a Roman
citizen (under that brute Nero who is just a boy when this narrative takes place) and how the domestic relations
of Rufus and Corinna develop.
...The colophon indicates that the book was composed utilizing Adobe fonts and reproduced xerographically, -- yet
the book has the look of offset printing to me. Perhaps someone more learned than I can explain the distinction.