The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies

By: John Langan

Narrated by: Eric Martin

Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

John Langan has, in the last few years, established himself as one of the leading voices in contemporary horror literature. Gifted with a supple and mellifluous prose style, an imagination that can conjure up clutching terrors with seeming effortlessness, and a thorough knowledge of the rich heritage of weird fiction, Langan has already garnered his share of accolades.

This new collection of nine substantial stories includes such masterworks as "Technicolor", an ingenious riff on Poe's "Masque of the Red Death"; "How the Day Runs Down", a gripping tale of the undead; and "The Shallows", a powerful tale of the Cthulhu mythos. The capstone to the collection is a previously unpublished novella of supernatural terror, "Mother of Stone".

©2013 John Langan (P)2018 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Fans of highly original modern horror fiction will find this volume a must-read." (Publishers Weekly)

Intelligent and haunting

A great mix of artistry and good old fashion horror. Langan plays with form and style while serving up some genuinely creepy and engaging stories.

incredible horror shorts

Brilliant, well-written horror short stories that drew me in and didn't let go. Cannot recommend this enough.

modern classic horror

short and to-the-point with no fluff. these are the kind of stories that I like.

LANGAN = LOVECRAFTIAN EXCELLENCE!

The "Lovecraftian" enthusiasts will definitely be enthralled by this epic collection of short stories and novellas by John Langan, including one of my all time favorites and title horror story: "The Wide Carnivorous Sky". This is by far one of the most creatively genius anthologies of the H.P. Lovecraft "Cthulhu Mythos Circle" or "Lovecraftian Circle"; stories that are rooted in the Cthulhu Mythos or other Lovecraft dimensions, universe's; the nightmares HP Lovecraft called: "Cosmic Horror". There are a surprisingly large number of authors whose majority of work is aimed specifically to the "Cthulhu Mythos" with a handful of their own non-Lovecraftian fiction and attempts of original content; however, of these authors there are not very many that do HP Lovecraft justice: Caitlin Kiernan (probably the best) Laird Barron, Neil Gaiman, and John Langan. These are the most important writers in the Cthulhu Mythos today. Original despite a Lovecraftian fruition, meaning these authors are highly intelligent and creative, genius. If you like horror, thrillers, an occasional Xenomorph, some of epic proportion, the supernatural, science fiction, fantasy and the macabre, this is exactly all that and more. I also highly recommend one of John Langan's stand alone novel "the Fisherman" one of the best horror novels I have read since Ania Ahlborn's "The Bird Eater" and Kings "Dr Sleep".

Papa Laughing-Bear, Hangtown Ca (So Lake Tahoe)

The Definition of Modern Literary Horror

John Langan proves that he is a master storyteller with the collection of tales included in The Wide, Carnivorous Sky & Other Monstrous Geographies. It's a diverse selection of tales, with some common threads of meta-commentary and a love of classic horror woven throughout many of them. This is an exceptional example of what's meant by literary horror when the term gets bandied about. There's a clear appreciation for the written word and it comes across as what feels like an almost meticulous process of selecting just the right words every step of the way.

We begin with a couple of stories that approach the zombie theme from vastly different directions, the second of which, "How the Day Runs Down," was one of the most original and entertaining things I've had the pleasure of reading. While it isn't--on the surface--overtly comedic, there's something about a zombie plague as experienced by Thornton Wilder that manages to amuse the reader/listener to a great extent.

"Technicolor" showcases both Langan's appreciation of the classics and his knack for metatextual analysis within the stories he tells, this time focused on Poe as he plays with the true story of the man's life and then blurring the line between fiction and reality.

The titular story, "The Wide, Carnivorous Sky," is a vampire tale unlike any other I've had the pleasure of reading...and that is a damn shame because I would love to read more stories like this one.

"City of the Dog" and "The Revel" tackle other supernatural creatures with the same deft hand Langan used when approaching zombies and vampires.

"The Shallows" presents a cosmic horror tale that's as eerie and discomforting as anything written by Lovecraft, filled with tension and dread that are palpable to the reader.

"June, 1987. Hitchhiking. Mr. Norris." is a bit more flippant than the other stories included, but when one discovers that it's meant to be a sort of cruel and horrifically humorous tribute to the fantastic Laird Barron, that all starts to make sense.

"Mother of Stone" is the perfect tale to cap off the collection. It draws the reader in and fills them with a disquieting sense that the real world may not be quite what we believe it to be. This is one of those stories that makes you happy to know you're reading fiction, though the investigation at the heart of the tale makes it feel all too real. It felt, much like "The Shallows," like Langan was delving into the realm of cosmic horror, but in a far more practical and plausible fashion...which made the story delightful.

Eric Martin's delivery as the narrator is superb, and fully captures the literary qualities of Langan's work.

Fantastic collection by a marvelous writer

Fantastic stories and the narration is spot on--reality bins all around you while the narrator continues with slight, ironic detachment that is absolutely perfect for the tone of these masterpieces of horror.

A great read

This narrator does a fantastic job for this fantastic story. Both book and narrator mesh extremely well.

Excellent and unique horror collection!

I’ve had John Langan recommended by various acquaintances over the years due to my love of The Big Three weird tale writers (Lovecraft, Howard, and Smith). And quite honestly, he knocked it out of the park with this collection. While the stories are a bit longer than I’d anticipated, they are all masterfully paced and executed, making you invested in each character even though you know they might be gruesomely red-shirted at any moment. Eric Martin’s performance, too, is top-notch and quite fitting for the subject material.

not impressed.

the narrator was the best part. most of the stories were too long and didn't amount to much. very disappointing.

Some extremely good material, but also very mixed

It's tough to come up with a rating for books like these. There's some very good material in here that holds its own unsettling tone, and the author often makes good use of a distinctive voice, with stories consisting of a one-sided narration making remarks to offscreen characters. But the are also quite a few that I either lost interest in and skipped, or paused for a bit only to forget to come back until weeks later. I think it's the longest lasting audiobook I've listened to because of that, which isn't exactly a good thing.
Because of that drawback, I have to give it a middling review overall. The high points are strong enough that I'd still recommend giving out a try, just with the caveat that not all of the stories may hit that hard.