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 The capstone to the collection is a previously unpublished novella of supernatural terror, "Mother of Stone".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

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.

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.

Amazing

The stories at some points were hard to comprehend but overall it was an amazing experience!

Literary expansion for the horror genre

I was first exposed to John Langan in the Lovecraft's Monsters anthology (an excellent listen) and really enjoyed his contribution. Now, finally, I'm delving deeper into his stories.

The Wide Carnivorous Sky & Other Monstrous Geographies is billed as a horror anthology and while the subject matter is solidly in the horror category, each of the stories is more of an exercise in stretching writing muscles and exploring avenues other than a standard story format. One is a college lecture about Edgar Allan Poe, another is based on the play Our Town and yet another is a screenplay adaption of a werewolf attack, etc. Many of the stories are actually about character development. It isn't until after you're finished that Langan's subtle creation showing their merits and faults makes them completely and utterly believable. You might not like them, but the thought never enters your mind they seem unrealistic or fabricated.

So if you're looking for gripping, intense, scary gore, this isn't the collection for you. Langan is all about the slow burn, building to a final reveal. His stories make you think. He puts you right there, dealing with the situation, like...being eaten alive. I never realized there'd be repercussions, but a news article about a shark attack brought all the details I'd listened to, to the forefront of my brain, making the dry accounting of the survivor's experience very visceral and disturbing. So there's hidden benefits to Langan's stories! ...if you consider that a benefit.

Several of the stories are seriously creepy while most are more mind bending. As in any anthology, some stories will become favorites while others won't, but I have to say all are worth exploring. His writing is polished, articulate and literary. Literally. If you're into the written word, you'll enjoy his exploration into the various formats filtered through a Lovecraftian lens.

Eric Martin's narration is excellent. His voice has a neutral quality to it that perfectly suits the material and best of all he's attuned to what Langan is trying to communicate. In one story he starts out bland, ho hum, boringly normal. As the story progresses his voice work expands, adding subtle enhancements to the character, till late in the proceedings you recognize the MC is insane. It left me blinking at the close, amazed at Martin's skill at paying out line, never realizing when I became hooked. Martin does this throughout the collection. The whole evolution makes for a vivid experience.

Well worth the credit.

And I'm always frustrated when the audiobook fails to include a listing of the stories as well as a breakdown of where they start. So here you go:

Table of Contents

CH1 Introduction: Reading Langan, by Jeffrey Ford
CH2 Kids
CH3 How the Day Runs Down
CH5 Technicolor
CH7 The Wide, Carnivorous Sky
CH10 City of the Dog
CH12 The Shallows
CH13 The Revel
CH15 June, 1987, Hitchhiking. Mr. Norris.
CH16 Mother of Stone
CH19 Story Notes, Acknowledgments

Not very frightening or provocative.

Narrator was ok. stories to me were uninspired. nothing gave me the chills. just okay