Slight Spoiler Warning: I have attempted to write this review without spoiling the ending of any of the stories. However, there are readers who prefer to know nothing about a story before they read it. If you are one of those folk, you should avoid reading any further.
Delta Green: Dark Theatres is the second Delta Green short story anthology. The blurb on the back of the book says:
Delta Green: Dark Theatres presents eight new stories of intrigue and horror, eight theatres in which desperate actors enact clandestine passion plays for the grim amusement of alien gods.
While the stories in the first anthology Delta Green: Alien Intelligence sometimes felt like "more of the same", each of the Dark Theatres "passion plays" are — with a couple of exceptions — quite different from one another. Each presents a unique view of the Delta Green universe, widening that universe in turn. In the introduction to "As I See It", the editors write that an important sub-theme of the book is that, "the visceral horrors of the Mythos pale beside its shocks to our naïve view of the universe". I would argue that this is more than just a sub-theme of the book but a theme of the entire Delta Green melieu, but that doesn't alter the validity of their statement.
All but two of the stories span more than one period in time, either through the use of flashbacks or by framing an adventure from the past with a denouement and/or set-up in the present. If it wasn't for those two stories, I would have thought it was a deliberate theme. Instead, the use of flashbacks and framing devices appear to be just a coincidental style choice.
Alien Intelligence's publication coincided with the release of the first Delta Green roleplaying game book. It felt more like a game supplement than a fiction collection. This issue is mostly absent from Dark Theatres, which is more mature than the first anthology. For the most part, the stories hold their own as professional science fiction, as opposed to the semi-pro "gamer fiction" feel of the stories in the first anthology. This limits their use as game source material, but increases their value as fictional narratives.
Unfortunately the editing of the book is a little uneven. I thought the stories would have been better laid out in a different order, and more than one story would have been better if it had been tightened up. In spite of that, Bob Kruger and John Tynes do an admirable job of assembling the collection. With one notable exception, I enjoyed each story, though — naturally — some more than others.
What follows is a review of each story in the anthology.
"Once More From The Top..." by Adam Scott Glancy
I must confess that I am predisposed to liking the first story, "Once More From The Top..." by Adam Scott Glancy. I'm a miniature gamer and a Call of Cthulhu roleplayer. I've long wanted to combine both interests and run a game set during the infamous Innsmouth raid of 1928, where U.S. Marines and the Navy contained a town overrun by Deep Ones. The raid was mentioned in H. P. Lovecraft's story, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". The Delta Green rule book uses this as the genesis of the Delta Green organization itself. The raid is the focus of this short story.
The story is framed as an account by one of the marines who participated in the original raid. Two modern day Delta Green operatives visit him in a nursing home to record his story of the raid. This is the umpteenth time he's told it, but they encourage him to repeat it "once more, from the top" to capture any previously omitted details. The bulk of the story is a flashback to 1928, and the military action that took place in a small fishing village on the Massachusetts coast. The author wrote this part of Delta Green's history for the original Delta Green sourcebook, so it is only natural that he write the story.
If you want literature, look elsewhere. This is simply a rollicking combat tale set in the Cthulhu Mythos. I quite enjoyed it, in spite of some flaws. The leathernecks are all out of Central Casting: the grizzled sergeants, the brave veterans, and the frazzled rookies. The characters aren't the focus of the story, the action is. The pacing is tight, and the imagery quite vivid. There are some inconsistencies with this story compared to the action detailed in Chaosium's Escape From Innsmouth campaign supplement. As examples, the raid if focused only on the town (with no mention of the tunnels described in Escape From Innsmouth), the marine force seems larger in the story than in the supplement, and many of the soldiers are armed with tommy guns. I wasn't crazy about this last item as I thought it would require too many of the marines to utilize unfamiliar weapons. It also meant that I'd have to find 25mm World War I U.S. Marine figures with tommy guns, in order to be faithful to the story! This is a small nit to pick, and it's only an issue for Keepers who want to maintain consistency between Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green.
The point of view character makes racist remarks about the African-American Delta Green agent. I suspect this is just to show the nonagenarian is from another time, and I'm sure there are people just like him. Still, I found the racism a little over done, especially since the U.S. military desegregated more than 50 years ago. I thought it more likely that he'd have learned to hold his tongue many years ago. If his racism stemmed from the operation in Innsmouth — which would be an interesting piece of character development — or from senility, it certainly wasn't made clear in the text. I found the racism particularly jarring since he comes across as a sympathetic character elsewhere.
The bulk of the story occurs in 1928, but the beginning and ending occur in the late 1990s/early 21st century. I thought that this framing device diluted the horror of the main portion of the story. We know the character survives whatever happened in 1928 because we meet him in the first page, yet he is the character with whom we have the greatest emotional attachment. By giving away the fact that he survives into his 90s, the horror of the situation is somewhat diluted. I think the story would have been stronger if the reader had not been told upfront that the main character was retelling a past event.
In spite of my criticisms, this story is one of the more vivid in the collection.
"Night and Water" by Dennis Detwiller
Dennis Detwiller's post-Delta Green work includes the World War II superhero roleplaying game, Godlike. This story, and his Delta Green novel, Delta Green: Denied To The Enemy, are set in World War II Europe. This story involves a Delta Green operative interrogating a Karotechia officer. As in the previous story, the bulk of "Night and Water" is a flashback, in this case to the time when the two men originally met, during a Delta Green operation to destroy a Nazi occult-based weapon.
Dennis makes better use of the framing device in "Night and Water" than Scott did in his story. The first section foreshadows events in the flashback rather than give them away, and the section after the flashback is climax rather then denouement.
I found "Night and Water" to be vaguely unsatisfying, like a snack that failed to fully quench a hunger. I wanted more to happen in the flashback portion. There isn't as much action as in the previous story, and there is only a small hint of horror. What bothered me most was the event that set up the flashback's pivotal plot complication. I saw it coming almost from the moment the protagonist entered the Nazi lair. Dennis wasn't deft enough at misdirecting my attention, and the plot complication became far too obvious.
That having been said, this story could easily be converted to a World War II Delta Green scenario. It also whetted my apetite for Dennis' full length Delta Green novel.
"Russian Dolls" by Robert E. Furey
"Russian Dolls" is the only pure horror story in the collection. It is framed as a Majestic-12 report on an insane member of Saucerwatch, and the tale they were able to extract from the person during his more lucid moments. The report's details are told as a flashback about a handful of Saucerwatch members that caught a ride on a UFO, and were taken to a Mi-Go base on Yuggoth. Left to their own devices, the group searched the facility. They soon discovered that it was far from "user friendly".
For some reason this story reminded me of the Stephen King story, "The Raft". Both stories have a group of people essentially blundering into something that, at first, seemed relatively benign, but which turned out to be deadly. (Okay, catching a ride on a flying saucer is only going to seem benign to the most ardent E.T. hunter, but the author does a good job of presenting the groups' motivation.)
Unlike the characters in the King story, the characters in "Russian Dolls" are essentially passive. They wander around and bad things happen. The base is a remarkably nasty death trap with no obvious (or even subtle) way out. In the King story, there was a way out if the character acted at the right moment. In "Russian Dolls" the characters weren't given an option of actively working toward their escape.
I liked the way the characters were portrayed, especially given the length of the story. The horrific scenes are remarkably presented. The imagery is the most haunting of any story in the anthology. It also has the most potential for use in a Delta Green scenario. You'd be hard pressed to come up with a better description of a Mi-Go base than is presented here. The framing device gives away part of the plot since you know at least one person survives the trip right from page one. It's less of an issue than "Once More From The Top..." because the subject is insane, foreshadowing the horror that is to come. "Will he survive?" is replaced with, "What drove him insane?" Instead of detracting from the story, the framing device increases the suspense.
"As I See It" by Greg Stoltze
For some reason I found this to be the least memorable of the stories. That's not to say that this is a poor story, as it is superior to several in the book. I think it's because it has a scene reminiscent of a scene in "The Fast Track" and because the story jumps about in time.
"As I See It" travels along two timelines simultaneously, hopping from the late 60s/early 70s, and 1988. In the early time period an FBI agent receives a "gift" during a cult raid that allows him to peer beyond time and space. In the later period the agent — now ravaged by time and the side effect of his "gift" — is called in to help the FBI with a case involving a religious cult. The FBI agent's contact in 1988 is Dr. Rebecca Marks, a character featured in Greg's Alien Intelligence short story, "Potential Recruit".
"As I See It" is a moody, textured story with interesting characters. I think it suffers only because it appears right before "Suicide Watch" and has elements in common with "The Fast Track". I think it would have been better placed as the third story in the anthology, with "Russian Dolls" as the fourth. As it is, three stories in a row, beginning with "As I See It", and four of the last five are fairly "typical" Delta Green investigations. By contrast, the first three stories in the book are totally "atypical". In my mind, "As I See It" got lost in the shuffle.
"Suicide Watch" by Arinn Dembo
Arinn Dembo's novella is arguably the best story in the collection. At 120 pages in length it is the longest. Set in 1994, a Delta Green cell investigating a series of "spontaneous human combustion" deaths discovers a connection with an American rock group on tour in Europe. The main character, Agent Chandler, joins the rock group ostensibly as a bodyguard for the group's lead singer and creative visionary, Christopher Lanois. The rest of the cell continues to investigate the mounting number of deaths. The novella is told from Chandler's point of view with frequent flashbacks to a Delta Green mission in Vietnam and Cambodia in the early 70s, where he was captured by the Tcho-tcho.
"Suicide Watch" has the best defined characters of any story in the anthology. Not only are they well defined, but there is actual character development. The relationship between Chandler and Lanois is primary and nicely presented. Just as well presented is Chandler's unrequited love for another member of his cell. By the time you're finished, you believe that real people inhabit the story.
This may in part be attributed to the fact that Lanois is based on a real person: Kurt Cobain, of Nirvana. The connection is obvious to anyone with even a passing knowledge of the grunge movement of the early 90s. At first I thought the connection between Cobain and Lanois was clever. Then I thought it had devolved into parody (his wife's group is called "The Abyss", an obvious riff on Courtney Love's group "Hole"). By the end of the story, after I read about Cobain and Nirvana's final European tour, I was back to thinking it was clever.
The novella should be shorter by about 10%. While the writing is quite good, the story could use some tightening. For instance, there is a lovely scene with Lanois and Chandler in a record store. As well crafted as the scene is, it doesn't say anything about the characters that hadn't already been said, it doesn't propel the plot, and it doesn't provide any exposition. It could stand to be cut. So, too, could the opening scene, though some of the characterization would need to be introduced in another way. The hook for the Delta Green agents are cases of "spontaneous human combustion", but after the story begins in earnest there is hardly a mention of it.
The link between the main plot and the flashbacks is pretty weak. The flashbacks mostly exist to introduce a macguffin and to give the story a shot of action. The flashback sequences are so distinct from the main plot that they could be a story in their own right. I would have preferred more character development in the flashbacks as a way of linking them to the main plot. If this was the intention, Chandler's development during the flashbacks wasn't very noticable.
If this sounds like I'm picking too many small nits, I am, only because "Suicide Watch" aims higher than the other stories in the book. A better editor could have made a good story even better.
"The Corn King" by John Tynes
If "Suicide Watch" is arguably the best story in the anthology, "The Corn King" is inarguably the worst. The focus of the story is Major General Reginald Fairfield, the man whose death triggered the formation of the modern Delta Green organization. This is the penultimate Fairfield story, explaining the circumstances around Fairfield's last mission, which resulted in Majestic-12 storming Fairfield's fortress home a several months later. Fairfield personally leads two Delta Green operatives against a Majestic-12 operation. One of the agents is a woman, Jill Sanders. The other agent is David Nells, who is an important character in John's novel Delta Green: Rules of Engagement.
There is a big structural flaw with this story, the same one found in Rules of Engagement, and the short story in Alien Intelligence, "The Dark Above". John uses multiple point of view characters, and uses them to the extreme. All three of the Delta Green protagonists are point-of-view characters at some point, which is excessive for a story that is only about a dozen pages long. It seems like he couldn't decide if Sanders or Nells should be the focus of the story, then realized that he needed to give Fairfield some "face time" just to even things out. The obvious main character is Sanders, as she's introduced first she's a rookie, and she's the most interesting and identifiable character in the story. Instead, she has to share the spotlight with the bland Nells and the super powered Fairfield — apparently based on the Clint Eastwood character in Heartbreak Ridge
Fairfield is cliched to the point of ridiculousness. He is supposedly pushing 80, yet he's easily the best shot and most agile of all the agents in the story, including the perennial Delta Green bad ass, Adolph Lepus. It's not unlikely that Fairfield was capable of this kind of activity with the aid of magic, but if John meant to imply Fairfield's abilities were magically based he was too subtle. Even magic wouldn't help Fairfield's characterization. When Fairfield first meets Sanders, he starts ripping into Nells for bringing a woman along. I stopped reading for a moment and thought, "Don't tell me... I bet she yells back at him, and he smiles and says something like, 'Okay, she'll do.'" My guess was almost bang on, which wasn't hard since my guess was based on one of the most overused cliches in adventure fiction.
The characters don't develop beyond their cliches, the ending is unfulfilling, and the whole story reminds you that Fairfield's final stand would have been a far more interesting tale.
"Good Night, Bach Ma, Good-Bye" by Benjamin Adams
No other story in the collection has such a strong sense of place. The story is set in Vietnam, on Bach Ma mountain. A Delta Green agent is sent to the mountain along with a "friendly" to investigate an archaological find. The find was part of the work done by the friendly's late father. While on the mountain, the characters discover a strange indigenous people. The people and the site are inextricably linked, both to each other and to the fate of the world.
I liked the story, though it won't be for everyone, particularly since it doesn't follow the usual Delta Green model. There is very little "tradecraft", and no gun play. Those readers who think that every Mythos story set in Vietnam must include the Tcho-tcho will be disappointed. Instead, "Good Night, Bach Ma, Good Bye" offers a character study that focuses on the interaction between the agent and the friendly.
I thought it was a little too easy to see where the story was going, but I enjoyed the journey. I can still close my eyes and see myself on the mountain. It, and "The Corn King", are the only two stories that don't have flashback elements, which makes it a welcome change from the other stories.
"The Fast Track" by Martin E. Cirulis
"The Fast Track" is about revenge. A female Delta Green agent, hurt by the loss of a loved one and tainted by a powerful Delta Green nemesis, sets about to destroy the organization quite literally from within.
Martin Cirulis is a professional writer. It shows. This story is perhaps the most polished of all in the collection. Through flashbacks we see the character develop from a loyal agent to a tool obsessed with revenge, but that's not where her development ends. John Tynes should study the story to see the benefits of focusing the point of view on a single character, and when it is okay to switch that point of view. It's hard to do a "break into the impenetrable fortress" plot without a deus ex machina or stupid guards, but Martin does a credible job of it.
Three stories Dark Theatres add to the Delta Green canon. "Once More From The Top..." gives a detailed account of something quickly mentioned in the rule book, but some Keepers might prefer the version in Chaosium's Escape From Innsmouth. "The Corn King" describes Fairfield's penultimate engagement with Majestic-12, but it's not likely to generate more than a passing remark in a Delta Green campaign. "The Fast Track", however, covers the thorny issue of Delta Green's order of succession in the event of Alphonse's demise. Whether this story is considered "definitive" or not is open to speculation. In any event, Delta Green Keepers would be well served by reading this story. It will certainly have the greatest impact, of any of the stories here, on my own campaign. This is probably why "The Fast Track" is my favorite story in the anthology.
February 2, 2005
