The Dark Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft, Vol 1

The Dark Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft #1

by H.P. Lovecraft, Wayne June (Narrator)

Howard Phillips Lovecraft has been hailed by literary critics as the inventor of modern horror, and a cultivating force behind such modern writers as Robert Bloch, Wes Craven and Stephen King, just to name a few. "The Dunwich Horror" and "The Call of Cthulhu," perhaps two of his most well-known tales, are narrated for the first time, by Wayne June, bringing to life the horrors from the mind of the Master himself, in the way that only he can. OverDrive Listen audiobook, does not have an ISBN at source.

Duration 03:30:17

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Audiobook, Fantasy, Classics, Short Stories, Science Fiction

3 pages, Audiobook

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction.

Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.

Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

— Wikipedia

Reviews

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than plot or story, Lovecraft's work is all about atmosphere and mood. These two iconic stories, The Dunwich Horror and The Call of Cthulhu, are masterpieces of Lovecraft's atmospheric art, the best known of his many tales. If you are new to Lovecraft there is no better place to start. Wayne June, the narrator on this audiobook, has the perfect voice and reading style to do these chilling tales justice.

[TRex_TeaTime · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. It's just way too verbose to be remotely scary, sometimes it's hard to follow what's happening because the descriptions are so long and convoluted. Positive- audio book narrator has a fantastic voice for it.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This contains "Dunwich Horror" and "The Call of Cthulhu" and these were both originally published in the late 20s. I guess the first thing that is overwhelmingly apparent is how influential these works are as I could discern elements of so many works of fiction and film from these two novellas. Ghostbusters and Hellboy were practically lifted from the pages. These are dark and foreboding with language that forms a bridge from Poe and Hawthorne to the modern. I understand that Stephen King was also highly influenced by Lovecraft's work.

[Deanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old fashioned style "horror." Lengthy descriptions of dark, mysterious places and creepy, otherworldly creatures. No graphic violence. Clean language. Wasn't scary. In fact, it was a little boring. I can't understand the fandom.

[Steve Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobody reads Lovecraft like Wayne June.

[Hannah Schumacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked that this was just two of his novellas, which made it feel more approachable since I hadn’t really read him before. I liked “The Dunwich Horror” a lot more, I think because he took the time to place it in rural Massachusetts and drew the story out in maybe a more grounded plot. It was very different structure/narrative-wise from “The Call of Cthulhu”, which events felt a little removed from me due to how the narrator was piecing together the records of other people. The mythos of that one is compelling though, the format makes sense for the story and it has more to take away from reading. However the pitting of White Man Science vs Pagan Evil Native Cults does limit the imagination :/

[Alex Richey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was gorgeously written, but hard to follow. This narrator does an excellent job, especially with the Cthulu speak.

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

No wonder Lovecraft is called "the Father of Modern Horror" -- this is AMAZING. "The Dunwich Horror" ranks right up there with Dracula and "The Fall of the House of Usher" as truly horrific stories. Calling these stories "terror" is misguided -- "horror" is much more appropriate. Lovecraft doesn't terrorize you with shock and guts and gore. Like Poe and Stoker, he gives us a glimpse of what we're dealing with, then leads readers through a logical, chronological process towards the full picture. He doesn't ruin the moment by stating the obvious, or trying to shock. He hands you puzzle pieces one-by-one, waiting patiently while you fit them together. Handing over the final piece, he walks away, leaves you thinking, "Does this mean what I think it means? Can't be. I must have missed something!" So you go over and over the details, until everything clicks together and the full extent of evil dawns on you.

The comparisons with Bram Stoker are fully warranted -- both men use a combination of a journaling motif with a researcher's report to tell their stories. Their diary/report device is widely imitated, and never well; but when they use it, it's powerful. I'm surprised that Lovecraft was never apart of my English class curriculums. He should be required reading. The Five Stars are fully warranted.

Can't wait to listen to the other Volumes of this collection.

[Rana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok so this guy was REALLY torn up about a lot of stuff... don’t know why he felt the need to write it down but he did and here we are decades later on goodreads wasting even more of the universe’s time. Blessed be

[Gabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

*A strong 3.5/5

It’s always hard to give just one broad rating to audiobooks and anthologies, let alone a combination of both, so I’ll break my ratings down here.

Audiobook: 4.5/5 — The Dunwich Horror had some weird audio mixing issues that took me out of the story. The table of contents (as displayed on my library’s app, at least) was also not super user-friendly.

The Dunwich Horror: 3.5/5 — Some of Lovecraft’s physical descriptions were overall impenetrable, and the plot backtracked on itself in a way I found difficult to navigate as a reader. I couldn’t discern any literary value to this narrative choice, either, besides serving to further obfuscate the creature’s origin. I enjoyed Lovecraft’s specific brand of paranoid, existential horror, though.

The Call of Cthulhu: 4/5 — This title has a lot to live up to, and it didn’t disappoint! I’m confused by the narrator’s wish to never reveal the story, and yet telling the entire thing anyways, but such is the nature of the Lovecraftian trope “It was indescribable… I will now describe it in vivid detail.” Perhaps the narrator’s choice points out a significant inner conflict between the very human desire to share the horrors we’ve experienced with others so that we need not bear it alone and a more heightened sense of duty to humanity as a whole. Thus, a human, ironically, plays god by gatekeeping knowledge.

Also in Cthulhu, Lovecraft’s descriptions felt much more developed and visceral, and I enjoyed the clear narration that gave marked indications of the story’s timeline. There was just enough ambiguity to make readers doubt the narrator, but not enough to take them out of the storyworld. The paranoid racism throughout also speaks profoundly to something intrinsic to the horror genre: searching for blame, and fearing that which we cannot contain, control, or understand. It’s also just plain racism on the author’s part, of course, which its own kind of horror. Yikes.

[Sue Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was only two stories by H.P. Lovecraft - classics in any case - The Dunwich Horror and The Call of the Cthulhu. Narrated by a guy who has the voice for horror (I'm sure he narrated documentaries for sh*t we had to watch in high school!) - deep, scratchy and monotone.

Regardless - the stories were classic horror. The unknown evil that is pervading and invisible with a bunch of unwitting locals left to deal with the strangeness and overcome the Aliens.

It was obvious that H.P. Lovecraft has a thing for evil Aliens. And tentacles...... he must have cringed at tentacles (like I do with spiders and their creepy legs *shudder*).

But fear not - spoiler alert - the aliens are always defeated.

You definitely have to be in the right frame of mind to read this (the audio is great by the way, as you just let yourself go back to a time when there's no fast way to deal with anything), as we're so not in this world anymore it becomes almost hard to relate to. Still .........tentacles. Right?

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been writing a Lovecraft influenced book lately (hold for applause) and figured reading through a few of these classic stories would help get the creative juices flowing. I've written more extensive reviews of these stories elsewhere, but I will include any new observations this time around.

The Dunwich Horror: What impressed me most this time around was the parts of the story he didn't tell. This story is a classic example of letting the reader fill in the blanks with their own imagination to terrifying effect.

The Call of Cthulhu: I remember not being super impressed with this one the first time I read it but liked it a lot more now. There are still rickety moments where the big bad doesn't seem nearly bad enough to do all the damage people fear but I really loved the detective story aspect of it. Lovecraft did a great job of creating a whole world here. It's no wonder that countless authors that have followed in his footsteps have loved playing in it.

[Badseedgirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

All true horror fans should read the classics. No matter how boring, or tedious, or overtly racist, or how f*cked up they are. Every horror fan should ready the classics.

I have always wanted to love Lovecraft. He is the father of horror and the weird. He gave us the "Old Gods" but HE IS JUST SO BAD.

I believe I am just one of those people who loves works "inspired" by H.P. Loveraft and not necessarily someone who loves HIS work.

I'm ok with that. I am going to try and take down a few more of the more "well known" of his work and call it good.

[Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again - you have to acknowledge what you're getting into with some classics. Lovecraft was super racist, and some of that comes through in this. I think it is possible to look at elements of the book as a product of their time, and ignore the racist stuff.
I particularly enjoyed it because I've enjoyed other works that are clearly Lovecraft inspired, and to see the original context for those ideas is super cool.

[Rickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dunwich Horror - 4 stars
Call of Cthulhu - 4 stars

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, and incredibly influential. Calling it overwrought might be missing the point, but it's hard to escape the fact that large sections are just bad. It's also exactly as racist as everyone says. The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a better Lovecraft introduction, having as it does, an actual plot.

[Matt Bohince · Rating 3 out of 5]

Might have to reread this one in print. The prose is impressive but a bit hard to follow as an audiobook

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this collection of works from the master of cosmic horror. I wholeheartedly recommend the audiobook version narrated by Wayne June. He has the perfect vocal talent to convey Lovecraft's atmospheric world-building and knee-weakening existential dread.

[James Bullinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun ideas but boring style.

[Jim Moriarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feels warm and snuggly. Like a squid.

[Deyth Banger · Rating 2 out of 5]

"April 25, 2017 –
30.0% "1:26:24"
April 25, 2017 –
20.0% "1:09:24"
April 25, 2017 –
5.0% "50:30"
April 25, 2017 –
5.0% "34:28"
April 25, 2017 –
1.0% "Nothing More than a complex story which is has one purpose.... to confuse you.

H.P. Lovercraft = A man of complexity and confusion!"
April 25, 2017 – Started Reading"

- The first question was, what in fucking hell am I reading?

I started reading H.P.Lovercraft mainly because Stephen King got inspired from this guy and that's the main motivation behind his all works... but still... this shows why some Stephen King works are fucked up as hell others are damn good...

...

I reached 2 hour - 02-00, and it sucks!

[Jordan Estes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lovecraft writes scary stories. He will tell you how scary they are over and over again. He will tell you how deeply cosmically terrified all the characters are for most of the story. Some will randomly die of fright, some will never be the same, but I promise you will probably survive this one unscathed.

[Jesse Kidder · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book for this series, and boy was it dull. The book tells you over and over again how scaring, chilling, and terrifying these creatures are. But doesn't make you feel scared, chilled, or terrified. The imagination is there, but the narration left you feeling unfulfilled. The same can be said about the first three volumes, I couldn't continue on after that...

[Chad]

I've been reading a lot of spooky and disturbing stuff this fall, including works by Joe Hill, Brian Evenson, Paul Tremblay, Dan Chaon, and others, but nothing hits quite like some Lovecraft. I admit, I haven't read tons of Lovecraft, but the mythology he creates is so unique, fascinating, frightening, and so ahead of its time that it's baffling to think of the creativity behind these stories. The monsters and myths here lie often on the periphery. Lovecraft doesn't give us a really solid look at any of his monsters in either of these stories, and that fear of the 'unknown' works really well here. The stories read almost like found footage narratives, in which everyday people try to piece together the clues they've been given that lead to world-altering revelations. The reader spends time with these scholars, never fully in the thick of things, but getting just enough to understand the terrifying implications. Fantastic, fantastic stuff. The one thing that rubs me wrong is Lovecraft's exoticizing of people of color. You can call Lovecraft a 'product of his time' or whatever, but that doesn't make the racism any more digestible.

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the audiobook as I'm trying to get more into audiobooks as I feel they could help me read while on the go.

I have already read both of these books in their physical form and I felt as though the narrator made these books lacked in the area's which were important. I found the following:

The Dunwich horror is one of the best books by H.P. Lovecraft in my opinion and heavily influences a lot of his other books. I feel as though this book lacked a great deal of depth and felt as though there were times in which it could have been expanded upon, also it's hard to tell that it was being read in the third person perspective.

The call of Cthulhu was the second book which I listened to in this option and while I did enjoy it. I feel as though there are parts which I could use to explain other things or even you have missed in the audiobook.

I feel as though you should do yourself a favor and get the complete works from H.P. Lovecraft rather than just some of the books. I really do enjoy his work and the way the narrator told each of the stories were rather hard to understand or even follow, that is why the book gets 3/5 stars for me.

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story titled Cthulhu is exactly the reason why I started reading HP Lovecraft. The ironic thing is that due to the availability in the library it ended up being the last of the stories I read I ended up reading all five books of his collection of stories and Cthulhu was literally the last story I read,

So altogether it was worth the wait. As to the other books, meh. Hot and cold. Some of the stories were quite imaginative, the rest were quite repetitive. The theme of the haunted, evil House was way too common. However, some of the descriptions were quite horrific. In a very best way.

Specifically, Cthulhu was quite the descriptive, horror story, very deserving of Stephen King’s attention, and recommendation. Which is why I began this exploration of his work to begin with.

But I think these five books, read in almost reverse order, will be enough for me. I understand why they’re considered classics, and how they inspired Stephen King, and other horror writers. That’s why I’m happy I read them, and I respect HP Lovecraft all the more for his impact on the horror genre.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume contains 2 stories, The Dunwich Horror and The Call of Cthulhu.

Cthulhu is likely Lovecraft's best known creation, and for good reason. It weaves its way into many of his other stories, and it really is larger than life. Think Thanos of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. An ancient god, whose followers are few but fiercely loyal to the death. Any student of culture or literature should read at least this one story, for its existence has become ubiquitous in North America today. I myself follow @Cthulhu4america, a funny Twitter account created for the 2016 American election

The other story in this volume tells the long and twisted tale of magic, monsters, and uncertain parentage. As well, the use of the Necronomicon, a repeated book in Lovecraft's writings, makes an appearance here. A creepy tale, worth reading.

[Tomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I preferred "Call of Cthulhu" to "The Dunwich Horror," although I have to say I didn't much enjoy either as a story - the mythology and imagination is so strong, however, that I came away curious to read more Lovecraft and impressed with just how influential the world he created seemed to be. In these two stories, I heard echoes that reverberated not just in works like Rosemary's Baby, Children of the Corn, Twin Peaks, and Prince of Darkness, but, amazingly, also in the local urban legends I heard growing up - specifically, the eerie demonic turns and mythical albino colonies on Hicks Road in San Jose seem clearly drawn from "The Dunwich Horror." I was much more impressed than enthralled, but it's fascinating and haunting enough for me to give it a little boost in my rating and push it over the line to 4 stars.

[miha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nekje sem prebral da so njegove zgodbe o tem kako je človek nepomemben ob grozni neizmernosti vesolja (cosmic horror - mogoče bolj grozne stvari na vesoljski ravni, ki jim je malo mar za človeštvo, če se ga sploh zavedajo). In kako je likom to da znorijo ob nemoči dojemanja nedoumljivega, pravzaprav edina logična posledica.

“That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die”

Je pa treba kr pozorno poslušat, piše na svoj način in veliko je opisovanja, ni samo akcija na akcijo, ampak morš skoz opisovanje okoli razbrat kaj se dogaja. Zelo močen je pripovedovalec. Zgodba o Cthulhu-ju, je pa kot da bere ven iz nekih zapisov, nekega dbnevnika.

Ne vem točno zakaj sm se lotu poslušat Lovecraftove stvari, ampak nekej me vleče, da mal več spoznam kaj je pisal.
Mogoče tud zato da vidm nad čem je ce igralni svet navdušen, k je tolk igr na njegove zgodbe.

[Lia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every once in a while I like to try new things, books I wouldn’t normally read. I guess this just confirms why I don’t normally read horror stories.

The writing was very evocative, and I felt compelled to stop and look up many words (not a normal occurrence with an audiobook). He seemed to choose his words with such care that I didn’t want to leave their meanings to the chance associations of my brain instead of their true definitions. That, and I had no idea what “cyclopean” meant.

Despite Lovecraft’s way with words, I feel like I see enough sadness, misery, and horror playing out in the world around me on a day to day basis that I don’t need to go looking for more, even of a fantastical nature. There are plenty of courses of evil here and now without conjuring more of them up from the deep.