The Devil's Rosary

The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume 2

De: Seabury Quinn, George A. Vanderburgh

Narrado por: Andrew Eiden

Today the names of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and Clark Ashton Smith, all regular contributors to the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the first half of the 20th century, are recognizable even to casual audiences of the bizarre and fantastic. And yet despite being more popular than them all during the golden era of genre pulp fiction, there is another author whose name and work have fallen into obscurity: Seabury Quinn.

Quinn's short stories were featured in well more than half of Weird Tales' original publication run. His most famous character, the supernatural French detective Dr. Jules de Grandin, investigated cases involving monsters, devil worshippers, serial killers, and spirits from beyond the grave, often set in the small town of Harrisonville, New Jersey. Collected for the first time, The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, edited by George Vanderburgh, presents all 93 published works featuring the supernatural detective. Presented in chronological order, this is the definitive collection of an iconic pulp hero.

©2017 The Estate of Seabury Quinn; Jules de Grandin stories copyright 1925–1938 by Popular Fiction Publishing Co.; Jules de Grandin stories copyright 1938–1951 by Weird Tales (P)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Name of a little green man

First and foremost, this series of stories were pulp fiction of the best kind, that is, over the top. They are not deep literature, but rather more like popcorn. Eat and enjoy!

However, when it comes to the reader, well I just wish I could give negative stars. Why? Let me explain.

I would not attempt to be an audiobook reader for a story written in Russian or Mandarin or Portuguese. Why not? Because I don’t speak the language. Similarly, this reader should not attempt to read books in English, and for the same reason. He doesn’t speak the language.

Many of us, when learning to read, are taught that if we see a word we don’t know, to sound it out. Most of the time, that is a good rule. However, some words are exceptions, and you just need to look them up.

Unfortunately, this reader didn’t do that. I gave up counting after fifty or so, when I was only a few hours in. I remember one stretch where he bobbled seven words in the first fifteen minutes of a story. These frequent mispronunciations kept yanking me out of the flow of the story, and completely ruined it for me.

So my advice is to buy the ebook and skip this audio version.

Lesser Performance

If you want an introduction to the many tales of Jules deGrandin, start with the first of these collections. The narration on that volume is smoother and dosn't contain the occasional mispronunciations that mar this reading. I also detected a couple of misread/incorrect terms in the reading.

It's a pity that a different reader was assigned to this compilation..

Perfect Pulp…

Pulp isn’t my genre of choice but that doesn’t stop me appreciating it. Quinn’s stories are fun when taken tongue-in-cheek, and definitely suspend all seriousness. I dare to listen at a stretch when doing mundane chores, as I do a lot of literature, fiction etc. that I don’t necessarily like but still don’t mind experimenting with.This collection is absurd, hilarious and completely over-the-top, and all those are compliments. Listen to appreciate the change and flux of modes, mores and all things resting on the tides of time. The narration is a little peculiar especially with the French mannerisms, but heck, it’s a work done in English, and I couldn’t care less if there were more mispronunciations or the like thrown in. It was lucid. Well done. Moving on to the next Quinn pulp collection - I’ve got a lot of mindless chores in my schedule.

Frustrating listening experience!

I loved the first volume! Paul Woodson captured the characters perfectly. I would have loved the second volume just as much if not for Andrew Eiden's narration, which distracted me the whole way through. It was a simple case of miscasting. Audiobook producers often overlook the fact that listeners prefer vocal and pronunciation consistency within a series. Thankfully, Paul Woodson will be returning to narrate the third volume.

I regretfully plan to return this recording of The Devil's Rosary, but won't hesitate to purchase it again if/when it is rerecorded by Paul Woodson.

Regarding Andrew Eiden, I intend to listen to another title narrated by him, one unrelated to the Jules de Grandin stories.

Dreadful horror at its mehst

If you’ve read any of the other stories by Seabury Quinn, then you know what your in for. 1930s Pulp fiction at its best and worst. Scantily clothes helpless women. Scary paranormal and exotic monsters. And a French investigator who is quick to shoot and torture, and who is always drinking at the end of the day.
O and the Racism! Just about every villain is a foreigner of some sort. For example, what is referred to here as “The Devils Rosary,” is in actuality prayer beads of the Tibetan Dali-Lama. Enough said.
Good stories from a certain perspective, but it is best to know what you are getting into period