Lovecraft's Monsters

By: Neil Gaiman, Ellen Datlow (Editor)

Narrated by: Bernard Clark

Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

Prepare to meet the wicked progeny of the master of modern horror. In Lovecraft's Monsters, H. P. Lovecraft's most famous creations--Cthulhu, Shoggoths, Deep Ones, Elder Things, Yog-Sothoth, and more--appear in all their terrifying glory. Each story is a gripping new take on a classic Lovecraftian creature.

Contributors include such literary luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Karl Edward Wagner, Elizabeth Bear, and Nick Mamatas.

Legions of Lovecraft fans continue to visit his bizarre landscapes and encounter his unrelenting monsters. Now join them in their journey...if you dare.

©2014 Ellen Datlow, Foreword copyright 2014 by Stefan Dziemianowicz, Introduction copyright 2014 by Ellen Datlow (P)2015 Audible Inc.

The ones that were good were really good!!!

Most of the stories are really good. Skip Blackest from pole to pole and the stand out story for me was Red goad black goat, it was really scary in my opinion; I wish it was a full length novel.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Its out there... you just have to find it

What disappointed you about Lovecraft's Monsters?

The sometimes lack of substance to the stories. A few were good but the vast majority were not. They didn't have the real meat to it like many of the off shoots of Lovecrafts stories do.

Has Lovecraft's Monsters turned you off from other books in this genre?

I am always looking and *listening for great Lovecraftian Cthulu Mythos stories. I have found some here and there. In this one the Neil Gaiman story was great, so were a few others yet some left me hoping the story would end soon as they were dry as the Sahara.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It was about Lovecraftian critters, that is its only true redeeming quality.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

PURPLE WARMTH

MUNDANE ANALYSIS
Let me start by saying I am not a Lovecraft Lover. I bought this because I feel that no matter the genre, that I will usually find an author in any anthology that is worth discovering. Plus I am a fan of Joe Lansdale. After trying to listen I find I would rather drink TWO FINGERS OF COFFIN VARNISH. I gave each and every story a shot, but very few interested me. I did enjoy a story by Brian Hodge. Bear had a good story going with really good characters and than it just ended. Newman and Spencer were okay, but the rest, meh.

VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WONDERS
If you are not familiar with Lovecraft, this would not be the place to start. Several of his individual stories are available at audio. I would suggest purchasing one of the them and you will know right off if you are a fan. His stories are often not describable. He will even mention that in his story. It is very common place in his stories for him to tell the reader that he could not describe a feeling, a sound, a look, etc... The stories are also usually open ended. All of this, is I guess, so you can use your own imagination to fill in the blanks. But what do I know, I am just a GREASY HUMAN.

58 of 74 people found this review helpful

A Unique and Fun Listen

I enjoyed the majority of the stories; however, a few did not meet my liking. More of a personal opinion than an assessment of the work. I would not recommend it for a long car ride, as you may start checking your mirrors for the Elder Gods and their underlings. If the car in front of you looks like it has inverted angles, it may be time for a change up.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Fun read

Had a good time with this one, quite a few good stories in here, but as usual with anthologies theres a few that sneak in that arent so great (werewolf vs cthulhu pls). Worth a listen!

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Good stories not many endings

I think that the editor pulled together a good grouping of stories that fit nicely into the Lovecraft storyline. However, many of the stories just end. I understand leaving some things to the imagination of the reader but a lot of the stories just leave you hanging with a feeling that they are unfinished. Because of this and the way they stories are pressed together by the reader sometimes you are not even aware that they have moved on to the next story.

6 of 8 people found this review helpful

Incredibly uneven

Stories ranged from pointless to great. A couple of really awful poems. Surprisingly, I deeply disliked Gaiman's story and almost returned this. Laird Barron and I will never click, I found his passable but frustrating. One promising piece ended up being a setup for a contrived pun. The final two stories were worth hanging on for. Bless Joe Lansdale for a really great horror story, definitely the best here and one I could say has only a tenuous mythic connection. Good performance outside of an overwrought reading of the introduction.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Brilliant and diverse

A great collection of stories; some short and creepy, some long and many-layered; sunk deep within the mythos. Fellow Lovecraft fans will enjoy it.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Fabulous Introduction to Lovecraft

Great stories, beautifully curated by Ellen Datlow and Neil Gaiman, with a compelling and mesmerizing performance by Bernard Clark, who is a vocal chameleon.

5 of 7 people found this review helpful

The best stories are the short ones

This anthology contains stories ranging in length from 15 minutes to a couple of hours. Sadly, the longer the story is in this collection, the less terrifying and interesting to continue it is.

There are a couple of examples, but the longest stories are not worth the time or the payoff.

4 of 6 people found this review helpful

contributors and content expertly sourced!

Ellen Datlow has again created an anthology of content and brings a collection of contributors that truly extend the works of Lovecraft in terms of their depth, breadth and range of voices and accents...

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Go on, it's well worth it.

Brilliant, fantastic, riveting. I bought this anthology for Neil Gaiman's involvement, but am blown away by all the contributors. I just wish there was some detail on the chapters as to what the title of the individual tales is and who the author might be.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

One more for my baby....

Would you try another book written by Neil Gaiman and Ellen Datlow (Editor) or narrated by Bernard Clark?

Yep

What did you like best about this story?

Good mix of HPL inspired stories, all an hour-ish long so great for a commute. Some better than others but good fun. Got to the monsters without the pages of vague waffle about architecture and bas-reliefs that the great man was so fond of.

Any additional comments?

Well worth a read, as with most short story collections, a chapter listing would be great rather than just numbers.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Some great stories amidst a hit-or-miss collection

At times, this collection is excellent. Lovecraftian horror written better than even the man himself could manage. At other times... Less so much. But the good massively outweigh the bad so if you like the written works of HP Lovecraft give this title a whirl! I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Its not lovecraft but its good ;p

Neil Gaiman dos it again, im a huge lovecraft fan, and this is a great addition to the mythos.

If your somone who enjoys the twists and turns, the supprises and darkness of lovecraft, you will enjoy this.

The only real differance is its got a more modern setting at times.

I would recomend this highly

Great narration but not perfect

About half the stories where great, the other half so so. Narration was spot on though.

Mixed collection of imaginative short stories.

Some stories are much better than others but the narration remains brilliant throughout. Have recommended based on the strength of some individual stories.

Brilliantly entertaining!

I planned to listen to this book every now and then as a means to kill short amounts of time, but I gotta say, I went through it in several days. Very entertaining!

Lovecraft goes postmodern

A collection of 18 short stories, novellas and poems of varying quality. There are a handful of weaker inclusions in this anthology, but on the whole the stories are good, if not downright excellent! As a lover of all things postmodern, I thoroughly enjoyed how each author used setting, time period and allusions to other famous pieces of literature to provide an exciting new perspective on the well established Lovecraftian lore.

Of the 18, my top 5 are:

5 - 'I've Come To Talk With You Again'. The mystery and the creep factor really gripped me!
4 - 'The Bleeding Shadow'. Noir horror set in the 1930's. Vivid, imaginative and evocative.
3 - 'Bulldozer'. Set in the Old West. An excellent set of characters and very gritty.
2 - 'The Same Deep Waters As You'. The ending to this one has really stuck with me!
1 - 'Children Of The Fang'. Some of the best characterisation I have ever seen and an amazing horror at the same time.

This anthology took me a long time to listen through, as I found myself listening to many of the stories two or three times and I would recommend another listener to do the same. All of the pieces here are rich in mystery, little details and references to Lovecraft and his contemporaries, making additional listens worthwhile!

By far my biggest praise for this audio version is the performance of Bernard Clark. He has an amazing range of voices and really breathes life into these stories. With 18 different stories, each with their own cast of characters, Clark could be forgiven for reusing voices, but he never does this, which really makes each piece stand out as an individual to me.

overall a great set of short stories

Many stories in this anthology are great and fantastically capture the lovecraftian spirit. however there are some (I'm looking at you frankenstein one!), that completely don't belong here. some of these are rather loosely set in the mythos, or try to experiment in expanding the universe. personally I think they are rather miss than hit, but I appreciate the idea. save for the frankenstein monster story - I wish there was anything else included instead of it. overall the good ones make up for the bad and to is definitely worth including in your library!