Drabblecast 213 - The Haunter of the Dark

[StalinSays]

Feature: The Haunter of the Dark by HP Lovecraft
Poem: The Fungi from Yuggoth by HP Lovecraft



Wednesday, August 10, 2011
I have seen the dark universe yawning
Where the black planets roll without aim—
Where they roll in their horror unheeded,
Without knowledge or lustre or name...

The Fungi from Yuggoth
Art by Bill Halliar

[Unblinking]

Yay Lovecraft! I'm glad to see the old Lovecraft stories run here every August. That's a cool tradition. I haven't read many Lovecraft stories so it's nice to have a place to catch up on them occasionally.

This one was good, along the lines that Lovecraft seems to be the most known for. I love the classic Weird Tales style illustration, very nice.

This wasn't my favorite of Lovecraft's (I think it'd be hard to beat The Music of Erich Zann), but also wasn't my least favorite. Good solid Lovecraftian goodness. I like the Lovecraft Month tradition--keep it up! And I'm very much looking forward to seeing what original cosmic horror style stories you comissioned this year. Last year's Lovecraft-style stories were among my favorite Drabblecast stories of the year, so I am looking forward to this.

[Talia]

I have now read/heard exactly two Lovecraft stories, both due to Drabblecast. :p Pretty creepy, I enjoyed them, but not necessarily enough to seek out more of his stuff - his writing style's a little overwrought for my tastes.

Keen for those commissioned stories! Last year's were so good.

[Unblinking]

I have now read/heard exactly two Lovecraft stories, both due to Drabblecast. :p Pretty creepy, I enjoyed them, but not necessarily enough to seek out more of his stuff - his writing style's a little overwrought for my tastes.

Keen for those commissioned stories! Last year's were so good.

If you want to listen to The Music of Erich Zann, my absolute favorite Lovecraft story I've heard yet, that was done in Pseudopod 100:
http://pseudopod.org/2008/07/25/pseudop ... rich-zann/

It's somewhat slow to begin with; I think that can be chalked up to differing literary styles over the ages. Now most people insist on a hook beginning to keep people reading, but back then there wasn't such a glut of available reading material. Anyway, if you listen, give it some time to develop.

[tbaker2500]

Wow! What an episode.

I've been slow to listen to this one. I've been really busy at work, and didn't have an hour.15 to listen. But I went to bed early last night, for the express purpose of listening. That was dumb. Lovecraft does not equal getting to sleep.

Well anywho. The only Lovecraft I've read/heard has been here. I must say, I'm becoming more of a fan. The poetry was a bit hard to understand, but then the main story. If you have time for the slow pace, it was a great story! Really enjoyed it. Lovecraft seems to enjoy spending a large amount of time methodically describing the physical properties of a scene. Unusual for modern works, but quite handy to build the mental picture.

After listening to the main story, I went back and listened to the poetry again. It was much more better then, me having been booted up into Lovecraft mode.

Norm makes an interesting point. There is a lot of stereotypical themes in this Lovecraft story; but if he's an originator of the stereotype, it's quite enjoyable to listen to! Which reminds me, I need to fix my stereo.

Also, who did the poetry artwork?

[cinnamon]

I finally listened to this tonight. I have such a love-hate, Bickersons kind of thing going with HP Lovecraft. I adore him, but sometimes I want to tell him to just get to the point already. This was well read though, I enjoyed the ride.

[NoNotRogov]

Ever since my brother and I started buying randomly assorted Lovecraft collections as kids, I've had an off and on thing going with the Mythos; with a rather irregular development resulting in it being only more recently that I actually availed myself to the big name stories like Shadow Over Innsmouth - which wasn't as expected - and the Dunwhich Horror, which exceeded all expectation.

I've read, or attempted to read, Haunter before; just as I listened, or attempted to listen, to it three or more times here on the Drabblecast in the past week. It's not a quality particular to Lovecraft, I've just been having trouble focusing and I'm used to fully immersing myself in Lovecraftiana - listening to The Whisperer in Darkness before sleep was great for atmosphere and letting myself fully visualize the world, but I always kept fading out around the end and had to relisten multiple times, yet still didn't get a clear reading beyond the most general details.

That's what happens with me here as soon as Blake is exploring the church, meaning I tend to waste my focus on the introduction and lose it by the first real investigatory goodness, then get it back again for a little while only to lose it by the big climactic conclusion.

I don't think I can give it another shot, I've killed enough time listening to it and have heard the same parts over and over again already.

Anyway, I'm particularly glad to have gotten another crack (or several) at this story, so thanks to the Drabble zaibatsu for recording it.

[jennybean]

I am FINALLY getting caught up on my drabblecast now that my son has gone to Kindergarten. I love hearing Lovecraft tales, because while they are overwrought to read, the style is fun to listen to. Norm makes it that much better.
Also, I live quite close to Providence, and I know the area that Lovecraft was writing about-- Federal Hill is *still* mostly populated by Italians.
One little quibble-- it's pronounced
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/ ... rragansett
not that way Norm pronounced it. Although it totally should be pronounced that way, that would be much more badass.

[Polecat]

I'm another listener whose only contact with Mr. Lovecraft is through the Drabblecast - life is too short to deal with all those adjectives, though the story itself was indeed groovy. Writing that I find myself asking "Story, what story?" - there was no plot to speak of, only a developing situation described in highly theatrical terms. Odd how a piece of writing so technically bad (that is only my personal opinion, I'm not an expert on these matters) can be so effective.
One other thing - does anyone know where I can get a nice clean copy of the Necronomicon? it sounds rather fun.

respectfully

The Polecat

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Seems like this would have been a great episode for Norm to riff off of that great Dio song...

Do your demons - do they ever let you go?
When you've spied - do they hide -deep inside
Is it something that you know?
You're a victim - just a sacrifice in time.
We're a lie - you and I.
We're words without a rhyme.

There's no sign of the morning coming.
You've been left on your own
With a Haunter of the Dark.

[Discodave]

This is a great story, and the second time I have heard it read. Another great podcast I have found a while back is called, HPPodcraft.com. Since 2009 Chad Fifer and Chris Lackey have been discussing mythos matters and going through the whole stockade of Lovecraft stories. Just recently they wrapped up four episodes covering Norm's favorite, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". You can check them out at www.hppodcraft.com, or just find them on Itunes.

Im not trying to steal any thunder from Ol' Norm, because his reading was the best by far. His voice reverberates the dread that is implied in this tale. Most people can't stand reading H.P.'s stuff, but it easier to listen too. At HPPodcraft.com you can find fully produced readings of "Cool Air", "The Cats of Ulthar", "From Beyond", "The Picture in The House", "The Haunter of The Dark", and coming soon through donations, "The Call of Cthulhu".

[StalinSays]

Idunno, I'm fully under Lovecraft's spell: the overabundance of exposition brings me to a slow boil, ready for all kinds of cryptic, spooky what-not with spectral unfathomable horrors flying to and fro. Think Norm nails it with the breakdown audio.

Also, said it once, say it again: love me some Bill Halliar art!

[uncre8d1]

Big Lovecraft fan. I think I have all his published, extant work. Granted, some of them seem more like revisions of earlier stories than original work, but I like all of them.

@Unblinking: agreed, it's hard to beat 'Erich Zann,' though I would propose 'Pickman's Model' as a contender...

[Unblinking]

@Unblinking: agreed, it's hard to beat 'Erich Zann,' though I would propose 'Pickman's Model' as a contender...

Thanks for the recommend! I think I've only read about half a dozen Lovecraft stories, and that isn't one of them.