A Buffet of Creepy Weirdness

HorrorBabble's second collection of Ultimate Weird Tales is every bit as enjoyable as Volume I. The great advantage here is that you can pick and choose which stories you like best and not feel cheated for skipping the ones you don't. HorrorBabble has done us the benefit of, mostly, keeping each story to a single chapter so that it's never particularly difficult to find the story you want from the contents in the summary of the audiobook. If you've listened to a few story collections, you'll know how frustrating it can be when a publisher runs the stories together and puts the chapter breaks all willy-nilly. It seems a small benefit, but it's a big deal and I'm grateful HorrorBabble puts in the extra work. It means you can jump over chapters to get past a story that isn't your favorite -- and rest assured, there will be stories in a collection of this size that just aren't your cup of tea -- and get on to the ones you love.

Now, let's talk about the stories. HorrorBabble has done quite a job of building a large but interesting selection. You will, of course, find Lovecraft and Howard and Doyle, but also lesser-known works by William Hope Hodgson and Abraham Merritt. As well, when the collection touches such luminaries as M.R. James, you will find yourself listening to a story you might not have heard before, such as "The Haunted Dolls' House" or Robert Bloch's "The Night they Crashed the Party".

Finally, let us turn to the matter of the narrator. Ian Gordon is terrific. His narration is perfectly-suited for these kinds of horror stories -- atmospheric, tinged with fright and apprehension, and very British indeed. That's not to say he can't handle strong emotion or throw a great fight into you. Oh, he certainly can and does! You will find a couple additional treats in the collection from Mr. Gordon in the form of three of his own stories, which are most definitely at home among the rest.

In short, buy this collection. Listen to the stories you like and skip over the ones you don't. You will get excellent value and a whole bunch of great stories, performed very well.

11 people found this helpful

Once more unto the weird dear friends

HorrorBabble did it again! Ian and Jen have delivered another healthy helping of the weird in this second collection of tales. Among the usual suspects like Blackwood, Hodgson, James and Lovecraft we get a wonderful assortment of other authors and lesser known works that really make this collection, like it's predecessor, shine that uncanny light that those of us with tastes for this kind of literature embrace and let wash over us.

Ian's discretion in the tales he chooses and his ability in reading are the keys to the collections being so magical. Tales from Lovecraft's friends like Howard's “The Black Stone” and Long's extraordinary “The Hounds of Tindalos” are standout tales from the expanded Cthulhu mythos. We get a few gems from Lovecraft's protégé Robert Bloch as well. Ian includes some more modern tales including a dystopian story from Frank Herbert and a humorous dip into the paranoia that you'd expect PKD to conjure up.

Another great collection from HorrorBabble that brings out the Great Old Ones as well as more obscure but equally wonderful tales of the weird, including a few more contributions from Ian himself. This assortment of tales has something for everyone and the reading makes the tales all the more enjoyable. Bravo!!

7 people found this helpful

never ever buy anything from HorrorBabble.

These are among my very favorite authors. Unfortunately, I hadn't noticed who was reading these stories. Half of the time I couldn't understand what he was saying and his inflections were grating on the ears to the point I was only able to get a couple hours into the book before giving up.

6 people found this helpful

Life may be like a box of chocolates some people

But there are no unpleasant bites found here for those of us who greatly prefer those of the darker variety. Plunge the depths looking for the strange box containing the Shining Trapizohedron with Bloch among the other gems in this collection. Well done!

5 people found this helpful

A worthy addition!

Horrorbabble's Ultimate Weird Tales Volume II takes the reader into odd jungles, colonial outposts, hunting adventures, and the edge of insanity. A great mix of pulp and genre classics, this volume leaves me excited about what the next will look like. It is great to see these canonical and all-but-lost stories brought to life with Ian's fantastic narrative style.

4 people found this helpful

Excellent collection of older Weird Tales!

Update: I contacted the publisher, HorrorBabble about the lack of chapter titles. Their response makes sense and I wanted to update my review accordingly. Here was their response "I'll explain a little bit about the chapter titles. If you look at our latest releases, you'll notice that chapter titles are included (Ultimate Weird Tales 3, for example). Unfortunately, it's only in the last 6 months or so that Audible have added a feature that allows us to enter chapter titles. Frustratingly, they won't allow us to update any release prior to these changes. I'm sure you can appreciate how frustrating it is to be receiving negative reviews due to something Audible won't allow us to update."

I have also increased my rating from 4 to 5 starts, since the chapter title problem is not their fault, but rather Audible's. I don't think it's fair to penalize them for something they aren't allowed to do anything about.

I really enjoy these older tales, and HorrorBabble's Collections are a fantastic way to get them.

My favorite way to enjoy these is either laying in bed at night before I go to sleep, or in my little book nook where I'll follow along in a print book, if I happen to have the story in print. These are all older stories and out of copyright, so you can find them online or sometimes you can find a print book with many of them.

The reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because the individual chapters are not titled in Audible. When viewing them in the app, for instance, instead of seeing 1. Introduction, 2. Lukundoo (E. L. White), 3. Sredni Vashtar (Saki), etc., you just see Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, etc.

This is a real pain when you are looking for a specific story. I honestly don't understand where the disconnect is with including the chapter titles. I have other audiobooks that do title the chapters, so it's certainly something that can be done. I am always a little saddened when I get an audiobook that is a collection of stories but the titles to the stories weren't entered. It's very frustrating and makes the enjoyment less. Most audiobooks like this, where it's a collection of stories, you don't really listen to it from beginning to end - you pick and choose stories. When it's not labeled, it's frustrating. Thankfully, they do mention the name of the story immediately in the chapter, and each story has only one chapter. I had another audiobook (different publisher) that contained 47 stories broken up into 229 chapters, none of which were titled. It was impossible to find anything and I returned it. This is not nearly as bad.

Yes, can you see titling the chapters means a lot to me? :-)

I enjoy HorrorBabble's stuff. They put out quite a lot of content and it's very good. I appreciate how they are faithful to the original stories - they don't change anything or interpret anything - what you hear is how it was written. Ian Gordon, the narrator, does a good job - you can tell he's familiar with the stories.

3 people found this helpful

Another terrific collection from Horrorbabble

Horrorbabble has done it again. These stories are every bit as good as those in the first volume. This collection of 40 stories will carry you to an eclectic group of locations around the world with a variety of subjects and storylines. They are written by a "Who's Who" list of authors sure to please everyone. Some of the more popular authors included are Saki, Poe, Bierce, Benson, Lovecraft, James, Blackwood, and Nisbet. Many of these stories I had read before, there were a few I had not, but that were still very enjoyable. I love the way this audiobook is presented as most chapters are one chapter in length which makes it much easier for me to navigate. Ian Gordon is the perfect narrator for stories of this type. His readings hold your attention and are a delight to listen to. I highly recommend the purchase of this collection, and if you are new to Horrorbabble I strongly suggest you give them a try. I'm glad I discovered them.

2 people found this helpful

This is a winner.

This is a terrific collection of weird tales, most of which were originally published in the pulp magazines that were produced from the late 1800's until the 1950's. These stories cover that range with most of them from the 1920's and 1930's, so the stories while creepy are more Twilight Zone than slasher flick. The emphasis is on suspense and weirdness. Some of them are masterful, such as E.F. Benson's The Room in the Tower, Frank Herbert's Old Rambling House, W.H Hodgson's Demon's of the Sea, and Robert E. Howard's Pigeons From Hell. Out of the 40 stories there were only a couple that I found lacking. Some of the stories are just ok. The authors range from the very well known to some who have fallen into obscurity. Discovering these lesser known authors was a nice surprise. These stories are narrated by Ian Gordon, who does a very good job. He also contributes three stories to the collection. I definitely prefer his narration to his three stories.

1 person found this helpful

Ian is amazing.

Ian is an amazing storyteller and I love these collections. one of my all time favorite orators.

Loved this audiobook. BRILLIANT!

I love all of the writers. The mixture makes for interesting and easy listening. Great selections too!