Seven H.P. Lovecraft Stories

by H.P. Lovecraft, Phil Chenevert (Narrator)

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, better known as H.P. Lovecraft, was an American author of horror, fantasy, poetry and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction and many feel he is the acknowledged master of creepy, weird and unsettling stories. These are seven stories by Lovecraft that literally span his career; some being written when he was barely a teenager and one (The Shunned House) only published after he had died. Each story is unique and strange in it's own way but all of them come from the same mind that gave us the Cult of Cthulhu and other wonderful tales that generations now have enjoyed for their strangeness that resonates with our own inner fears. Some of these stories explore the depths of the human mind others the depths of human degradation and creepiness. I won't ruin the suspense by telling you which is which. Enjoy. Note that each story has a source E-link to the text for that story. (Summary by Phil Chenevert)

Genres: Audiobook, Fantasy, Horror

3 pages, Audiobook

Published May 17, 2013

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

[Lilla Szakács · Rating 1 out of 5]

Typical example of early 1900s writing. That is to say, terribly boring due to excruciating elaboration. And holy run on sentences! I know this was the style of the time, but it’s miserable to try and get through. The stories included in the audiobook are as follows:
1. The Beast in the Cave
2. The White Ship
3. Nyarlathotep
4. The Alchemist
5. The Shunned House
6. Dagon
7. The Tomb

[Brandi Briscoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened to this in audiobook format. Should have been titled "Seven First Person Accounts of Whining White Men, Doing the Same Shit in Different Locations and Somehow it Being a Totally Different Story." I am bias against his body of works for the blatant racism and anti-Semitic tonality, but now I'm just left wondering why people think his stories are so great. I'll end up listening/reading everything he wrote (including his horribly racist poems that aren't included in his "complete works"), but at this point I'm wholly unenthusiastic about doing so.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like any of the stories. The last one was the best, but it was weird, too. The first one was predictable. I like the beginning of the third story, but the ending was meh. The fifth story just droned on and then the payoff wasn't worth it. All of the stories annoyed me because they would finally get to the big reveal and then immediately end a sentence later. These were not encouragement to read more of his work.

[Lawrence Lui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eerie and fantastic tales that crescendo and spiral into dreamlike, feverish, almost hallucinogenic flights of fancy.

[Garrett Pruzinsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this bad boy at work definitely won’t steal any ideas for dnd

[Maureen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 I prefer Poe more.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a good example of the role of the audio narrator as mediator between author and audience, providing an additional layer of interpretation and influence that you don't get with traditional reading. In my experience most Lovecraft audiobooks tend to use serious, sonorous baritones (like this) as befitting one of the great horror authors of the twentieth century. Phil Chenevert on the other hand is a grandfatherly type well suited for lighthearted children's works, which really brings out the innate pulpiness of stories originally intended for Weird Tales magazine. I mean, the climax of "The Dunwich Horror" (not included in this collection but also narrated elsewhere by Chenevert) is basically the Ghostbusters fighting a giant invisible monster that kills rednecks.

[Corefunction · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of lesser-known works of Lovecraft. Enjoyable overall, and it is fun to see some of Lovecraft's works of horror that don't fall directly under cosmic horror.

[Jackie]

I'm not even bothering with making a "word document" to copy and paste, because I don't have a lot to say. This isn't the exact audio book I listened to, but I couldn't find the exact one. It was free on iBook. Unfortunately, I only remember the basic premise of the stories, because I forgot about them, but it wasn't that I wasn't intrigued by Lovecraft's stories, the narrator was dull. God Bless him he tried, but it was like if Data from Star Trek: Next Gen was reading it. A nice sounding voice but not enough energy and excitement. The premises had potential to catch my interest like a story about a family being cursed or Dagon, the last one, but the narrator didn't grab my attention. I am curious if the first story was about werewolf or if it was about a different Were creature. I got this to get me motivated to read Lovecraft, and it sorted of did, because I now I feel the need to pick up the bind-up I have. I am someone who has a rocky relationship with short stories, so maybe its not entirely the narrator's fault, but part of the blame goes to him. It was free, though.