I have never read H.P. Lovecraft before, and it seems his stories reinterpreted by modern authors has come onto my reading radar. I read The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle earlier this year and that novella was a reinterpretation of Lovecraft’s story, The Horror at Red Hook. Now, I have finished The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson, and this novella is a reinterpretation of Lovecraft’s story, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kindath.

This novella tells the story of a middle-aged professor, Vellitt Boe, as she goes on a quest to find a former student, Claire Jurat, who has crossed over from the dream world into the waking world with her lover, Stephan Heller. Vellitt’s journey takes across a world where ghouls, gugs, and other creatures from the dream world coexist with human beings. As with most journeys, there is a self-discovery that changes the traveler for better or worse.

I will admit I was not sure if Vellitt’s journey changed her for the better. As a reader, I could not help feeling a distance from the protagonist, as if the narrative wanted to keep me as a reader at arm’s length from having an emotional connection with Vellitt Boe. There were glimpses into her life before she became a professor, and having a cat as a traveling companion added another layer to her personality. Still, I wanted to feel like I was going on this journey with Vellitt Boe. I did not get that feeling as a reader.

I’m not sure if Lovecraft’s story has the same emotional distance as Johnson’s reinterpretation. But I sense from reading The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe that it might be the case. Johnson writes in her acknowledgments that she read Lovecraft’s story at ten. She was thrilled and terrified by his story. Also, Johnson was uncomfortable with the racism in his story and the lack of women in it as well. And she was returning to this story as an adult to make sense of it. While reading Johnson’s reimagined version, I sensed a connection, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that I wasn’t included as a reader in helping the storyteller make sense of it.

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe is a unique fantasy novella that deserves credit for re-imagining Lovecraft’s work with a middle-aged female protagonist (uncommon in the fantasy genre) but did not let me truly get to know Vellitt Boe. That’s a missed opportunity. However, I do want to read more of Kij Johnson’s work, and her originality is a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre.