As for the questions that bothered me within those stories, the few ideas which were not clearly addressed were, for the most part, behind-the-scenes questions which could not have been presented in the stories themselves without significantly altering their narratives. Still, the gaps were very intriguing.
Why had the Great Race left their library in the desert of Australia to be found if it could be so disruptive to human history? Why did they not move it before Peaslee and company discovered it, if indeed they have traveled all of history? And most importantly, what became of the powerful “flying polyps” once they broke free of the Great Races’ wards? Wouldn’t the unstoppable beasts once more return to supremacy of the globe, erecting their black towers? Even more puzzling, if the Great Race’s weapons were no match for the extra-dimensional polyps, how did they force them beneath the ground in the first place? These questions haunted my mind. In this novel I attempt to answer them, as well as other questions I had considered in H.P.L.’s wonderful tale “Arthur Jermyn.”
Why had the ape race degenerated after constructing such a megalithic city—or did they? Why were there not other cities of the apes elsewhere on the continent? Or had the apes led to mankind as the story implies, with some inherent similarity in genetics between the white apes and humans?
It is hoped the reader understands I am not attempting to alter or change the stories in question, but to add a new layer of depth upon the almost limitless layers H.P.L. himself wrought decades ago.
Thank you for reading this book.
And, once more, thanks for everything, H.P.L.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to John Scott Tynes for working out specific cosmology issues, ideas about the Great Race, the flying polyps and the traitor’s plan, and, as usual, for his tireless (if a bit sporadic) editing efforts. Another tip of the hat to Adam Scott Glancy who created Joseph Camp, Major Cornwall, and many of the most basic concepts of the Delta Green universe, including the evil Karotechia and their plans on the coast of France. It is hoped I have not stepped on any of his creative toes with this effort. If so, too bad. (Just kidding, Scott!)
Thank you to John H. Crowe III for answering my boring and often endless questions about World War Two minutiae. “When did the Sten Mark II come into common use?” “Would a pistol explode if electricity of a high enough voltage was run through it?” “Field dress or battle dress for Waffen-SS in Belgium in 1942?” The man is a walking encyclopedia. Additional gratitude to Brian Appleton, who no doubt had to pore through this manuscript three times with a red marker until his eyes began to bleed. Sorry it wasn’t any shorter, Brian. I tried. I tried.
And a special thanks to all those who have made Delta Green such a success through their ongoing devotion to the idea!
Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy Page 31
