Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Alhazred is author Donald Tyson's attempt to recreate H. P. Lovecraft's fictional tome of cosmic horrors which form the basis of his Cthulhu Mythos. There have been other attempts to recreate mythical tomes that form the basis of Lovecraft's world, from James Blish notable attempt to recreate The King in Yellow in his short story, More Light to Chaosium Press' absolutely total artistic failure to recreate The Book of Eibon.

The reason Tyson's attempt works is simply because he has done his homework, he has an obvious love for the work of Lovecraft and his circle, and unlike Simon's execrable Necronomicon published by Avon, Tyson writes a work of fiction the Old Gentleman From Providence would have eagerly blessed.

The story starts with a young Abdul Alhazred telling his story of being thrown into the Great Desert in the Arabian Peninsula to die and his wanderings through the sand and dunes and its horrors as he learns the arcane, forbidden secrets of the Cthulhu Mythos. He wanders the labyrinth beneath the lost city of Irem, travels along the Nile where he visits monasteries and ancient tombs, the evil alleys and oubliettes of ancient Thebes, Memphis, and Alexandria and steals arcane secrets from the Monastery of the Magi and the horror they have entrapped there. Eventually Alhazred settles in Damascus to pursue his evil studies where through obvious supernatural means he dies horribly one day in the presence of its citizens.

Throughout, Lovecraft's quotes from the Necronomicon are seamlessly interwoven into the story line adding a spirit of "legitimacy" to the work.

It's a delightful read. It works. It isn't an insult to the intelligence.

Word of warning. There are some very strange people out there who believe the Necronomicon is real and actually base their world view on Lovecraft's fictional work. Don't let those who have never seen the world outside of mommy's basement ruin your enjoyment of a great work of horror fiction.

Before a long overnight flight I bought the book "Necronomicon; The
Wanderings of Alhazred" by Donald Tyson and read it non-stop without sleep
(do this with caution).

It came out in 2004 and is written as the words of the Mad Arab himself.

The style is much like reading "The Black Pullet"; a escriptive narrative told in the second person with his only referance to himself as "a wanderer".

The chapters, being short, make it very suitable for bed times stories about the Old Ones giving rich details of the Abdul Alhazred history of his wanderings. This includes all the standard Old ones, Cthulhu, Azathoth, Yig, Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath and Dagon plus rich descriptions of Alhazed
journeys that will, given the proper intent, insight dreams so be prepared.

He tells also of his encounters with those secretative cults that worship the Old Ones and how through gile, glamours and guzzeling boozes he earns their trust and takes their secrets.

For the Chaotician, the blessings of the book (IMO) is that it's light on ritual and rich on mythos, leaving the magician to develop ritual according to their liking. And there are a LOT of things to conjure and invoke.

An interesting note, the sigils of The Old Ones appear to be a combination of Their names drawn on the appropriate magic square. I can rationalize that as trying to fit these unholy names into some Qabalistic format.

On a personal note, about half way through the book I began to feel a affinity to the Old Ones. Their existence and purpose began to make sense as did my meaningless placement in this world.

I can hear them laughing at my mere existence amid the mad chattering of insects.

I?! I?! Cthulhu F'tang!!