The Dark Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft

Written by H. P. Lovecraft

Narrated by Wayne June

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 (Psycho), Wes Craven (The Craft, Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream), and Stephen King (Pet Semetary, Carrie, Children of the Corn), just to name a few.
The Dunwich Horror
The Call Of Cthulhu
These, perhaps two of his most well known tales are narrated for the first time, by Wayne June (Vampire, The Masquerade, Weird Tales) bringing to life the horrors from the mind of the Master himself, in the way that only he can.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Audio Realms
• Release date: Jul 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9781467696494

H. P. Lovecraft

Renowned as one of the great horror-writers of all time, H.P. Lovecraft was born in 1890 and lived most of his life in Providence, Rhode Island. Among his many classic horror stories, many of which were published in book form only after his death in 1937, are ‘At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror’ (1964), ‘Dagon and Other Macabre Tales’ (1965), and ‘The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions’ (1970).

Reviews for The Dark Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft

[chrisbookarama · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very atmospheric. A nightmare inducing read.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not nearly as good as I was hoping, Lovecraft is supposedly one of the greatest horror writers, but I didn't find this scary at all (and only moderately intriguing). Very disappointing

[coach_of_alva · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wayne June reads two of Lovecraft's best-executed stories, The Dunwich Horror and The Call of Cthulhu, in the tone of a staid man of common sense, say a business manager or a pedantic scholar, who has been brought unwillingly to believe in strange and terrible things. His approach underlines Lovecraft's strengths while covering his faults. An excellent afternoon's entertainment.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Includes The Dunwich Horror (1926) and The Call of Cthulhu (1928). Both creepy tales that are perfect for the fall.

[norabelle414 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

- audiobook - my first Lovecraft ever. The narrator was super annoying and his voice was really deep which made it hard to understand him over the sound of the wind and/or traffic when walking outside (which is when I do 99% of my audiobook-listening). Overall I liked the stories a lot but I think I will stick to reading Lovecraft in the future, especially to avoid this narrator. This volume contains The Dunwich Horror and The Call of Cthulhu.The Dunwich Horror - Crazy witch-man has a crazy albino daughter who has a crazy witch son who grows to be the size of a giant man by the time he's 7. They perform weird noisy rituals on an altarstone on a hill on the summer and winter solstice. They constantly buy lots and lots and lots of cows, which all disappear. But I'm sure they're not raising any kind of monster in their barn. Nothing to see here.The Call of Cthulhu - A man investigating his uncle's death uncovers the fact that many different cults from around the world worship the same octopus/man/monster and try to call him up from where he is resting. Very good, highly recommended if you like science fiction and short stories; I'll definitely be reading more.

[shannonlove65 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wayne June nails it. I've heard dozens of readings or performances of Lovecraft's works over the decades and the vast majority are mere pastiche but June really gets it

We've all experienced some event that deeply affected us viscerally but then found ourselves utterly incapable of explaining verbally to someone else just how much the event affected us. The other people may nod and follow along but we know, with desperation, that don't really get it.

That desperation of failed communication is the essence of Lovecraft's stories. They are all written as narrations, often conversations, in which the shattered narrator desperately attempts to explain with mere words events which did not merely frighten and threaten him personally but revealed existential threats to humanity species who the narrator understands to be not the lords of creation but mere cockroaches in the walls of god's abodes.

It is that desperation, communicated by the narrator's repetition, unspecific adjectives, and reticent to tell every detail that gradually draws the reader into filling the voids with his own imagination and thereby evoking in himself some of those same sensations of visceral, existential terror which words cannot ever communicate.

Lovecraft's ability to provoke the to create within themselves a visceral horror that mere words cannot convey is why so many writers, whether horror writers or not, admire and study him.

Bringing out the utter desperation of Lovecraft's narrators in an audio work takes special talent and thoughtfully utilized skill. June has that talent and skill.

An artist of verbal precision, almost more musician than voice actor or narrator, as June successfully conveys the desperation, not with words themselves, but with tone and cadence, unusual emphasizes and above all, artfully timed hesitations and pauses.

He's like a musician whose interpretation of a classic work you've heard a thousand times suddenly brings it to life anew when you hear him play. I've read, reread and heard read Lovecraft's stories many, many times yet Junes reading have brought them chilling life anew. Really enjoyable.

But for those who have never read or listened to Lovecraft be forewarned. He was a secular intellectual of the pre-1940s and that means he was fully immersed in the then scientifically accepted and widely socially embraced eugenist fears of racial degeneracy and genetic contamination. If you can't take a shot of old school scientific racism without a chaser, you won't be able to crawl inside the the world view of the narrators, so many of the stories will simply fall flat.

Still, have to say it again Wayne June nails the reading.

P.S. Don't make the mistake, as I did of failing asleep listening to the readings. Struggling to wakefulness in the dead night while a deep, guttural bass voice intones "Yog-sogoth, Azathoth, Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Shoggoth, etc" can give one a bit of start.