The Essential Lovecraft Audiobook By H.P. Lovecraft, Leslie S. Klinger - editor cover art

The Essential Lovecraft

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The Essential Lovecraft

By: H.P. Lovecraft, Leslie S. Klinger - editor
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Marc Vietor, Scott Brick, Simon Vance, Jonathan Davis, Jay Snyder, Mirron Willis, Kevin Kenerly, Dan Bittner, Chris Ciulla, Vikas Adam, Gregory Connors, Jason Culp, Timothy Andrés Pabon, full cast
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About this listen

Forty-eight of H.P. Lovecraft’s most important stories are brought together in this collection–available only from Audible–selected and with introductions by the award-winning, best-selling Lovecraft editor Leslie S. Klinger. Howard Philips Lovecraft was the early 20th-century genius who, almost singlehandedly, pioneered horror and scientific fiction, only to die in near-obscurity. Rediscovered by critics and scholars in the 1970s, Lovecraft’s work has influenced—by their own admission—every major horror or science-fiction writer of today.

Full cast of narrators include:

  • Fred Burman
  • Kevin Pariseau
  • Matt Godfrey
  • Peter Berkrot
  • Robert Fass
  • Timothy Andrés Pabon
  • Paul Woodson
  • Avi Roque
  • Raphael Corkhill

Foreword narrated by Leslie S. Klinger

Chapter 1: The Tomb narrated by Fred Berman

Chapter 2: Dagon narrated by Gregory Connors

Chapter 3: Polaris narrated by Simon Vance

Chapter 4: Beyond the Wall of Sleep narrated by Dan Bittner

Chapter 5: The Transition of Juan Romero narrated by Raphael Corkhill

Chapter 6: The Statement of Randolph Carter narrated by William DeMerritt

Chapter 7: The Doom That Came to Sarnath narrated by Peter Berkrot

Chapter 8: The Terrible Old Man narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla

Chapter 9: The Cats of Ulthar narrated by Vikas Adam

Chapter 10: Facts concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family narrated by Simon Vance

Chapter 11: The Temple narrated by Sascha Rotermund

Chapter 12: Celephaïs narrated by Simon Vance

Chapter 13: From Beyond narrated by Mirron Willis

Chapter 14: Nyarlathotep narrated by Kevin Kenerly

Chapter 15: The Picture in the House narrated by Neil Hellegers

Chapter 16: Ex Oblivione narrated by Jason Culp

Chapter 17: The Nameless City narrated by Jonathan Davis

Chapter 18: The Quest of Iranon narrated by Avi Roque

Chapter 19: The Outsider narrated by Raphael Corkhill

Chapter 20: The Other Gods narrated by Vikas Adam

Chapter 21: The Music of Erich Zann narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

Chapter 22: Herbert West: Reanimator narrated by Jay Snyder

Chapter 23: The Unnamable narrated by William DeMerritt

Chapter 24: The Hound narrated by Raphael Corkhill

Chapter 25: The Lurking Fear narrated by Jay Snyder

Chapter 26: The Rats in the Walls narrated by Paul Woodson

Chapter 27: The Festival narrated by Fred Berman

Chapter 28: Under the Pyramids narrated by Jonathan Davis

Chapter 29: The Shunned House narrated by Robert Fass

Chapter 30: The Horror at Red Hook narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla

Chapter 31: He narrated by Marc Vietor

Chapter 32: Cool Air narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon

Chapter 33: The Call of Cthulhu narrated by Matt Godfrey

Chapter 34: The Silver Key narrated by William DeMerritt

Chapter 35: Pickman’s Model narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla

Chapter 36: The Strange High House in the Mist narrated by Kevin Kenerly

Chapter 37: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath narrated by William DeMerritt

Chapter 38: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

Chapter 39: The Colour Out of Space narrated by Gregory Connors

Chapter 40: History of the Necronomicon narrated by Simon Vance

Chapter 41: The Dunwich Horror narrated by Marc Vietor

Chapter 42: The Whisperer in Darkness narrated by Kevin Pariseau

Chapter 43: At the Mountains of Madness narrated by Scott Brick

Chapter 44: The Shadow over Innsmouth narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

Chapter 45: The Dreams in the Witch House narrated by Dan Bittner

Chapter 46: The Thing on the Doorstep narrated by Jason Culp

Chapter 47: The Shadow Out of Time narrated by Kevin Kenerly

Chapter 48: The Haunter of the Dark narrated by Neil Hellegers

©2024 Leslie S. Klinger (intro) (P)2024 Audible, Inc.
Anthologies & Short Stories Horror Scary
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About the Creator- H. P. Lovecraft

About the Creator

H. P. Lovecraft (Howard Phillips Lovecraft) was born in Providence, RI, in 1890 and lived most of his life there. During his lifetime he published his stories and novellas of horror and the macabre in pulp magazines, including Weird Tales. His writing grew in popularity after his death in 1937. Today, his work is revered and studied as masterpieces of horror and dark fantasy.

About the Editor

Leslie S. Klinger is considered one of the world's foremost authorities on H.P. Lovecraft as well as those icons of the 19th century Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, Frankenstein, and Jekyll & Hyde. Klinger has edited numerous anthologies of stories relating to Lovecraft, Holmes, vampires, horror, and Victorian fiction. Klinger’s The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft (2014) was shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Award, and a second volume, The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft: Beyond Arkham, was published by Norton in 2019 to widespread acclaim. He has also been the technical advisor for several Lovecraft- and vampire-related projects. Klinger is a longtime member of the Horror Writers Association and lives in Los Angeles.

The Essential Lovecraft - Stories
The Essential Lovecraft - Featuring

What listeners say about The Essential Lovecraft

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Very well done!

The narration was fantastic! Before this audiobook set I had very little experience in lovecrafts work, this was a great listen.

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Perfect

I have no words, thank you so much, this collection was much needed, the best out there, thank you for making it easier for everyone to consume the genius of LoveCraft.
do WarCraft next ;)

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Great Introductions and Narration

While I’m not a fan of all of Lovecraft’s stories, this a great way to experience almost every piece of his work. The introductions by Klinger provide valuable context to each work, and he never attempts to avoid the bigotry that plagues much of Lovecraft’s writing. There are some genuinely great ideas here, even if the writing never lives up to the potential— it’s a shame that he died so young, as his writing seemed to only improve as he grew older and more comfortable with his collection of mythologies.

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The Most Socially Just of the Many HPL Colllections

Editor guides you by hand through the mean, mean world of a bigoted man he and other SJWs somehow adore.

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A perfect into into love craft

I have been interested in love crafts work in passing but have never read any of his books for one reason or another but I saw this and decided to pick it up. It starts with some of the history of love craft and at the start of each story it talks about another snippet of his life around the time he wrote that story and I found these small snippets very interesting and I now find myself even more interested in his history and the other books that where not included in this collection. And of course the books were awesome I didn’t love all of them but if you like the genre you will have to find some interesting stories in the 50 hours

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A good Lovecraft Collection... BUT...

First off, this is a very good and complete collection of Lovecraft work, so I recommend it highly as a lifelong fan... The actors who read the stories are quite good, and as a lifetime Lovecraft fan, I feel it is important to have a collection like this out there. So if you are already into Lovecraft, or are getting into his work, this would be for you either way.

HOWEVER... I have one big gripe with this particular collection, and that is the editor and his notes. I like having some history on Lovecraft, but the editor seems to go out of his way to do literally EVERYTHING I hate that other editors have done with Lovecraft...

Modernism. As with many others, this editor goes into long boring apologies and apologies about lovecraft's racism and other personal flaws, and quite frankly, it's tiresome.

Yes, Lovecraft was a xenophobic, neurotic, racist, twerp whose pros had many flaws (again, I am a lifetime avid fan of his).... But I ask, "So what???" I certainly don't endorse any of these personal flaws, but I also recognize that those was made him into the person who made a very interesting and enthralling world that has influenced pop culture for a hundred years...

So, yes, I might not like him at a dinner party, but I still love his work, and the need to apologize for it all is just played out.

Also, the editors pronunciation of Cthulhu annoys me even though he claims it's the one that Lovecraft himself came up with himself. (He pronounces it "Klu-Lu," but I like the more popular, "Ka-Thu-Lu.")

In summary, get the collection, and maybe just fast forward through the editor's notes.

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Great, but is it “Cthulhu” or…. Lulu🙄

The editor kept mispronouncing the name of Lovecraft’s most notable invention—Cthulhu, pronounced Ca-thu-lu not Clu—lu! Though, the author himself makes much ado of the weird combination of letters comprising the name of the alien god, narrators (many of those in this book in fact) and fans of the Cthulhu universe, have used the former pronunciation. The mispronunciation by the editor is so jarring that it impacts one’s ability to fully appreciate immersion into the universe presented in the book. Otherwise, the performances were amazing, and the back stories of the stories provided context for understanding the circumstances and the psychology of the author when these stories were being written… A very worthwhile read!😊

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Loved the narration and introductions

A haunting journey into Lovecraft’s world that horror fans must hear! I really enjoyed the introductions by scholar Leslie Klinger, as each one gave me a bit of valuable context without spoiling the story Plus all narrators’ performances truly captured the horror and suspense perfectly. Highly recommended!

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introductions ruined it

The introductions to each story are unnecessary. We get it, you want to hammer home the fact the Lovecraft was a racist. if that bothers you, don't listen to his work. I'm here for the writing, not the man's feelings on today's hot button topics.

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More kvetching about racism

is it possible to enjoy Lovecraft without hamfisted commentary telling us what we should think about hos racism, or proclamations on how we all must accept our "collective guilt?" (actual words)

Also, the narration is often highly stilted, and the narrator for Dagon weirdly sounds like a southern antebellum gentleman. Skip this, check out the HPLHS collection instead.

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