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 The capstone to the collection is a previously unpublished novella of supernatural terror, "Mother of Stone".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)

Forgot the Horror

The actual horror aspect of the stories never really gears up. Langan seems so interested in trying new forms (a play, a college lecture, narrating a movie, with the reader as the protagonist) that it never seems to kick the actual subject into gear. The constant new form of the story distracts and undercuts any building tension, so the result just falls flat.

Additionally, every single character speaks in the same manner as the writer. A combat veteran has the same vocab and mannerisms as a suburban housewife, both of which sound like the exposition. So the individual characters are simply not engaging.

Great stories!

The highlights for me were The Wide Carnivorous Sky and Mother of Stone, but nothing bad in the whole book.

I think I got it free. worth it either way

I recieved this book free of charge for an honest review. I think... it was essentially a collection of writing prompts. they were all enjoyable and left you wanting more. they were short enough to feel like they could be added to without to much effort with main points already drawn out and ready to be used. while also being self sustaining. if I were a teacher I think I'd be tempted to use this as an outline for an assignment I really liked it personally.

If I was a CIA/NSA interrogator...

... I would force people to listen to this book.

One story was good (Technicolor). The rest were either boring, confusing or a waste of time. My OCD is the only thing that made me finish this book. Narrator was fine but not good enough to justify any other story.

'Two broke girls' had six seasons. This is the only thing that can possibly explains why people enjoy this book.

Because they are morons.

Love it!

The performance, the content, all of it is good. Love this collection of stories! Definitely recommend.

modern classic horror

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

Excellent Collection

JL is in top form w/ unique styles and excellent storytelling. Cosmic horror is very difficult, and as a short story doubly so. I especially loved “Mother of Stone”, “The Wide, Carnivorous Sky”, and “ How the Day Runs Down”.

Performance wise, this was one of the best audio books I’ve listened to. EM maximized the writing, with his ability to sustain the dread while also nailing the funny parts.

Bravo.

I liked it, but found it lacking.

There are some really good stories in here and a few I struggled on to hold my attention. Listen John knows how to write and he writes very well (I loved The Fisherman book he wrote ) but I found this collection lacking for some reason. Maybe it's just me, I'm not sure. But if you question yourself on buying the book, I'd purchase The Fisherman first and come back to this one.

Solid Contemporary Horror

This collection of stories was a refreshing change from my usual sci-fi and weird fiction genres. Langan's more modern treatment of classic horror concepts was interesting to experience.

A great read

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