Alhazred

Set in the Middle East, this read takes you to a place reminiscent of the classic tales of the "The Arabian Nights.", "Aladdin's Lamp" or the"The 7 Voyages of Sinbad". But this novel hooks you from the very beginning, and for those not mentally prepared will knock you back on your heals, if not right unto the floor! All the while woven into a wonderful story that grabs you and doesn't let go, as you experience, through the chronicles of Alhazred, his degradation as he falls further and further into a slow downward spiral, becoming a creature of darkness, a monster, a Ghoul. All in the name of his very survival. It is a black, fantastic journey that from the very beginning takes you hostage, right along with Alhazred, on his desperate journey. A trip showcasing his transformation from victim, to one of evil. While all the while on a quest for redemption to regain the goodness of everything in his past life that was ruthlessly taken from him. His character being half hero and half antagonist, as he tries to rescue his very existence, with so much lost in life and Love. This book is not for the timid minded reader, no. But rather for hardcore horror fans. It pushes the boundaries of acceptability or righteousness and delves into a darker occult subject matter; blood, gore and the embracing of many different aspects of all things evil. All covered and used with a wild creativeness, as you journey with the Mad Arab as he descends to places so dark, one only hopes there is no basis or any truths behind them in reality. A great read, in fact I have to say, a masterpiece in modern Horror/Fiction. If ever made into a quality motion picture, it would no doubt take the world by storm and shock the world similarly to the effect the first Exorcist film had on society in its heyday. A Lovecraft tale on horror steroids best describes this tale. You wont want to put Tyson's masterwork down until it's finished, and you wont soon forget its original black story line.

Donald Tyson is a well respected magician, post-theologian, thinker and creative artist from Canada. He is the author of numerous books of fiction and non-fiction related to or based upon occult themes. In this novel (which is a companion piece to his "Necronomicon") he tells the in-depth biographical life story and adventures of Alhazred, the mystical author of the afore-mentioned blasphemous tome: The Necronomicon. Readers familiar with the modern day mythology which was spawned by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, American horror writer and "amateur" poet and critic, will be delighted at the great level of depth this knowledge will cast upon the events of the novel. Those, however, UNFAMILIAR with the Cthulhu Mythos of Lovecraft and other writers will still derive great enjoyment from this non-stop thrill ride! A few things struck me about Donald Tyson's "Alhazred": the writing puts you at-the-scene. The rhythm and pacing of this work is so masterful as to be downright eerie. In semiotics, the study of the sign and signification, great emphasis is placed upon such subtleties as - how long it takes you to read a paragraph versus how much time of the story that paragraph conveys, or... how much connotation is available in a given symbolic device in a story, and how much rhetorical space the story gives you to process such symbolism, or... recurring patterns of sign systems where with each successive instance of appearance an added layer to an over-all significatory puzzle or meta-poetry embedded in the text is achieved, etc. This author achieves such novelistic "special-effects" with ease and aplomb, the novel wears its erudite, literature-friendly cast with ease. The story naturalizes and conceals its very strangeness, so that at turns you feel enmeshed in a strange who-done-it, only to turn a harrowing corner into the screaming realms of purest madness. I whole-heartedly and absolutely recommend this great work of fiction to anyone with a stout heart and unflinching nerve. The promised thrills are absolutely delivered, but, more... there are embedded seedlings of idea which will sprout and mature to convey great life wisdoms long after you finish reading! - Stanley Gemmell :-D

The story was in-depth and descriptive about Alhazred's travels. The only thing i didn't care for was that he had a follower, and the "madness" aspect of Alhazred didn't seem to play much of a part in the book. In contrast he seemed mostly level headed and stealthy, and made logical actions throughout the book.

This is the 2nd book in the series. HP Lovecraft wrote some very weird horror stories. One of my favorite authors.

This novel is excellent, especially considering it's basically very long form fan fiction. Tyson did his homework when he researched the Cthulhu mythos for information on Alhazred, and then let his imagination run very very wild in the writing of this novel. The descriptions are amazing, and the dialogue is very well done. I expected a slow leadup to the story, but by the end of chapter one the main character is on his journey and as a reader you're on it with him.One thing I noticed, and this may be good or bad depending on your preference, is that Part 1 has much more of a pulp fiction feel to it than Part 2. By this I mean it's much more of a plot driven story where it's clear Tyson knew where the story was going. Part 2 is more character driven and situational, and in that sense it's more literary, but doesn't have the pace of Part 1. The plot twist at the end is very well done, though I won't spoil it.I enjoyed every second of this story. 5 tentacles.

Abdul al Hazred, better known as the Mad Arab, was the author of the Necronomicon ("Book of the Law of the Dead"); a notorious tome that recounted his learnings and explorations of the occult mysteries of the vast and trackless wastes of the deserts of Sana'a. Best known as a hagiography of the Old Gods; Yog Sothoth, Cthulhu, Baal, Yig, Nyarlathotep, etc the Necronomicon is, in fact, a completely fictional work that exists only within the Cthulhu Mythos started by HP Lovecraft and perpetuated by a raft of like-minded authors ever since Howard Phillips (that incorrigible old racist) first put pen to paper.However, Donald Tyson did in fact write and publish his own vision of  the Necronomicon, and a fine and convincing rendition it is too . He followed it up with this, supposedly a biography of the Mad Arab himself. It starts with Alhazred's transgression, disgrace, torture and exile from the court of King Huban ibn Abd Allah in Yemen and thence follows the layout of Tyson's Necronomicon, as Our Hero consorts with ghouls, explores dead cities, partakes of human flesh (the more gamey the better, it would seem) and dabbles in necromancy and self-resurrection. Well, I say "dabble"... more like immerses himself entirely without recourse even to a pair of water-wings. Hardly surprising that no one ever came to his cocktail parties.Like its predecessor, Alhazred is a well written and feverishly imaginative piece of work. It is fairly long and it does tend to drag through the middle. Having read Necronomicon immediately before hand, perhaps I was too familiar with the direction the plot was taking and with the occult details of the story within. Nevertheless, it's a good companion piece and adds flesh to the bones (so to speak...) of Tyson's addition to the Lovecraftian canon.Well worth a read, but please don't forget to appease the Elder Ones with a sacrificial virgin after each chapter. the Necronomicon, and a fine and convincing rendition it is too

You'd be mad, too, if you had had to go through what poor Abdul had to endure. Though he started off pretty well as a handsome youth gifted for poetry and brought in at the court of the king of Yemen, his rather too close intimacy with the princess earned him an horrendous punishment, and exile in the Rub-alkali, the most cruel desert of the world. How he survived and launched a quest to discover the secrets of magic, gathering the knowledge of the Old Ones which he'll finally set down in his blasphemous work, "Al Azif", better known as the "Necronomicon", is the subject of this fat but enjoyable novel, which manages to be consistent with the H.P. Lovecraft works you'll find in  Necronomicon: The Best Weird Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft (Gollancz S.F.) , yet enjoyable in itself, in case you're not familiar with HPL.While Donald Tyson works in a style much more modern than Lovecraft's, in case you wondered, the whole work dovetails nicely with the Providence author's hints, and the whole biography is exciting and fun. Alhazred turns out to be a rather unpleasant character, selfish and ruthless, yet captivating.Definitely worth reading, especially if you like H.P. Lovecraft. Necronomicon: The Best Weird Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft (Gollancz S.F.)

I wont go into the details of the book as a full a precise description of that is on this page already. I can say though, this is one of the best books I have ever read. very few times in my life have I read something that made the pages disappear and allowed a full immersion into the world and peoples therein. Not written in lovecraft's style but fleshing out and realising the legend of the mad arab perfectly. it was with creeping and awful dread that I realised the pages where becoming fewer and fewer and my time in that world, discovering alongside alhazred was drawing to a close...I am consoled now by reading Necronomicon : the wanderings of alhazred. alhazred's account of his travels depicted in this book and it follows the steps flawlessly.Could it be possible for more of alhazred's wanderings Mr. Tyson.....? Ia! Tyson Ia!ALhazred will be read again over and over until my sanity deserts me !

I totally enjoyed this novel concerning the Mad Arabs life encounters with the lovecraft entities and travels through the middle east. One really gets a feel for the places the author describes - the catacombes under the Sphinx, the road of philosophers in Damascus.I'd definately recommend this to anyone interested in the esoteric, horror or fantasy genres.

Enjoyed this books, bit grim and a bit long but for all that, it gave a new twist on the Necronomicon. Also on Lovecrafts writings about Cthulhu and the Mythos. Well worth the read. Tyson is a great writer with a lot of imagination. His other books in this group of books are well worth looking at.