The Horror at Oakdeene and Others

By: Brian Lumley

Narrated by: Joshua Saxon

Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

The Horror at Oakdeene and Others is another of Brian Lumley's collections of short stories, with many of them involving the Cthulhu Mythos.  

Stories included in this collection:  

"The Viking's Stone"
"Aunt Hester"
"No Way Home"
"The Horror at Oakdeene"
"The Cleaner Woman"
"The Statement of Henry Worthy"
"Darghud's Doll"
"Born of the Winds"

©1977 Brian Lumley (P)2020 David N. Wilson

Very Lovecraftian.

The British narrator was a good choice for this book. I would recommend this for fans of Lovecraft, and the more modern settings I think make the stories more readable by a modern audience.

Great addition to any H.P. Lovecraft library

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Having the opportunity to enter the world of H.P. Lovecraft and his supernatural, dimensional, and occult styles, the author brings us several stories to enrapture the listener. I found that I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and intend to relisten to it very soon. Two stories I liked very much were "Aunt Hester" and "The Horror at Oakdeene", both mention The Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred and in Oakdeene the book "Cthäat Aquadingen", I believe Lovecraft fans would enjoy these stories, and those who are discouraged by the unusual spelling or pronunciation of the names and places may find listening to them easier than attempting to pronounce the words.
The narrator did a great job of keeping the stories flowing and was able to produce different tones and voices for the characters of the stories. I found the audio to be of great quality with no discernable distractions. I enjoyed the way the narrator was able to pace the stories even when the action was taking place in the various stories.
Overall I think the book is a great listen, and would recommend to all who want to have more of H.P. Lovecraft's world, or to any looking for a bit of supernatural to enliven their evening.

The Horror at Oakdeene and Others

This was a pretty good group of stories. I really enjoy Born of the Winds. The rest were good, but not great IMO. I may need to back off these types of stories for a while to appreciate how good they are once again.

This audiobook was given to me at my request for my free and unbiased review.

The Horror of Oakdeene

I truely enjoyed the main story.The eerie scene setting was wonderful!I also liked another,though I can not recall the name. Narration by Joshua Saxon was terrific! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'

Brilliant narration

I'll start by saying that the narration was superb. It's so hard to find a semi decent narrator much less a great one. The stories have so far failed to truly capture me but I presume it has to do with the genre and nothing to do with the prose. I'll be the first to admit that although I'm very into horror and dark fantasy, Lovecraftian novels are usually way over my head. But even though I, personally, didn't connect with this particular title, I still enjoyed listening to it and would highly recommend it to those who might have a better grasp of the material than myself.

I would definitely try something else from this author and narrator, especially if paired together again.

I was provided this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review of my own volition.

Good narration, redundant stories

It would be a 5/5, but as other reviewers have mentioned, over half the content of the audiobook (and most of the better stories) can be found in the longer "Haggopian and other stories", also by Lumley. Save your money and buy that one, skip this.

All very well and good

All great stories but i think a lot of them are also on 'Haggopian and Other Stories: A Cthulhu Mythos Collection' which to me was a bummer i wanted newer/different ones.
That aside these are great stories, and even having heard them once, one did scare the crap out of me.

The Master's Voice

BRIAN LUMLEY is The Master.
JOSHUA SAXON is The Master's Voice.
These two gentlemen were MADE for storytelling.

Loved!

To me, Brian Lumley is such a unique author. Maybe I don't read/listen to enough stories in this genre? Who knows. I love his stories because he's able to create such great imagery.

As for Joshua Saxton, he always kills me with his "American" accent. It's like a different person takes over the narration. I love his accents and he's an awesome narrator. What more can be said?

While I love this batch of stories, unfortunately, I'd already listened to several of them so it didn't take me long to "finish."

Honest Review in Exchange for Promotional Copy

5 out of 5 stars overall. I can confidently say that the author Brian Lumley is a talented story teller in the horror genre and that Joshua Saxon did a good job narrating. Another excellent short story anthology. Dark legends, myths and occultism. My second time to listening to a Brian Lumley audiobook and I can now say I'm a fan.
"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

Not What's Expected; Thankfully.

The Horror at Oakdeene and Others is my first venture into the worlds of Brian Lumley, a writer I heard about way back when I was a schoolboy obsessed with the books of Stephen King. I never read any Lumley then, and – amazingly – it has taken me a further (cough!) thirty years to get around to it, and only when – I have to admit – I was offered a free audiobook to review.

I'm glad I didn't read Lumley back when I was a teenager. I was very much into more grounded storytellers back then and the horrors I preferred may have been fantastical but they took place in worlds of school kids and realities I could see unfolding around me. I think back then Brian Lumley would have left me cold, and this may have put me off him for life; and that would have been a stone-cold sin because Brian Lumley is, in a word, awesome; and Joshua Saxon, the man narrating this collection of stories, is no less so.

The Horror at Oakdeene and Others consists of eight stories of vastly varying lengths and with the opening tale, called The Viking's Stone, I was initially thinking that this would be less than an enjoyable book to get through.

I think now that this may have been an adjustment I required to get into Lumley's world. I was not expecting an amalgam of Lovecraft and Poe (two authors I respect greatly) and I certainly wasn't expecting someone to be so successful at it (which as I writer myself I found more than a little irritating).

As The Viking's Stone gave way to the second story, Aunt Hester, I found myself in more comfortable ground and steadily my enjoyment of Lumley's strange though oddly familiar world grew; but it was when I heard the next tale, No Way Home, that I knew that this wouldn't be the last Brian Lumley book I would be experiencing.

Of the eight tales No Way Home was my favourite and The Viking's Stone was my least; but I suspect that another reader would feel differently; in fact I believe it a firm possibility that my next listen to The Horror at Oakdeene and Others my thoughts may be completely different.

Lumley creates rational arguments on the irrational occurrences within his tales that sit in the readers mind long after the book is closed. Rational arguments that whisper of eldritch horrors with the same maddening combination of plausibility and absurdity that a physics professor talking about string theory may have. Enjoyment of Lumley's work takes the ability to release oneself from what that same physics professor might call “traditional reality”, and be willingly led by an author who might just be a madman down a road far less travelled than most.

This is certainly not my last excursion into the lands of Lumley which means, unfortunately, I have to decide where next to go in his considerable catalogue of works.

First Class Horror Collection

The Horror at Oakdeene and Others is a typically strong collection of stories from Horror Grand Master Brian Lumley.
The title story and Born of the Winds are both top tier Cthulhu Mythos entries.
Other favourites of mine from this collection were No Way Home (mysterious and otherworldly), The Cleaner Woman (a burglary goes VERY wrong) and Auny Hester (sinister and creepy), but as usual with Lumley, there isn't really a weak link here.
Joshua Saxon's narration is an absolute triumph. He's clearly a natural storyteller and his work throughout this audiobook is outstanding.
A must for fans of Lumley, Lovecraft and epic horror. Highly recommended.