+TheADPHI Agreed. "The Walls of Eryx" I prize, because of its very outer space science fiction nature. Also in the sense of the wide spread neo-colonial imperialist spirit of its time of pre-WW II Earth, it makes the kind of social justice commentary that contributes to advances in pro human rights thinking.
For anyone who's interested. I was trying to find who the narrator was, having downloaded a huge collection of Lovecraft audiobooks years ago with these recordings among them and ending up liking this chap's accurate and not-overegged delivery best of all. Turns out the narrator's name is Gordon Gould (1930-) and he's probably best-known for appearing in more than 60 episodes of "CBS Radio Mystery Theater" through the late 1970s and early 1980s. That probably puts a ballpark date on these recordings. I always thought they sounded more "vintage" than that, but hey :)
These I believe were created by the Library of Congress for the blind. More recent than one may think. Conrad Weninger(?) recorded the other half of this collection. I honestly don't know who does it better, both outstanding. Cheers!
The best part of this whole work was the comparison between the main characters newfound enlightenment prior to his death and the callous nature of the official military report. I think that Lovecraft knew all too well just how terrible people really are.
@@3.142-x3b Or that this "enlightenment" is merely the voice of exhaustion. "Don't mess with it, it's too much work and will probably bite us in the end".
Shame he didn't remember the number one sure fire way to solve any maze: put your hand on the wall and follow it, its impossible to get lost in a maze if you do that. Interesting note, in the early 1900s scientists really did think that Venus was a lush jungle planet until we were able to determine the make up of it's atmosphere.
Never really occurred to me that the walls might actually be moving, I just took it as him not noticing subtle differences in the heights of the doors or something like that... I'm thinking that the strange gestures the lizard-men made could've been magic used to somehow control the movements of the walls, so they could be more tactical in sealing off passages, changing hallways, etc. It's hinted that the walls are moving, but it's also possible that they're not moving, one of those interesting bits.
It strikes me that Lovecraft made an error. The protagonist tries digging under the walls, but for various reasons can't get beneath them. But walls, even invisible walls, can not occupy the same space as the dirt which surrounds them. The space occupied by the walls would appear as a clearly visible void space extending down to the depth of the walls themselves. But what the hell...
The horror of claustrophobia without darkness or confinement that isolates the senses. To be trapped in a transparent maze with wide open spaces seen but unavailable would drive one mad. This story doesn't use the excessive vocabulary that you find in the horror tales, thus, the story is relaxing to read or hear.
darkmountain1 I don’t find his vocabulary in the horror stories particularly excessive. He uses a lot of synonyms. Though he does tend to digress and go off on tangents quite often. But I think his style suits his subject matter.
*Spoiler Alert* I was actually quite sad at the end, both for the fate of the prospector, and because of the company's refusal to heed the warnings of the prospector. This story was amazing.
@@sunray4389 Yes, Kenneth Sterling wrote the original draft - so the scenario and story outline are his - and Lovecraft then entirely re-wrote it for him, turning it into a finished piece and doubling the word-count. Sterling was a 16 year old high-schooler - and had been firiends with Lovecraft for a couple of years when they collaborated on this story. Lovecraft must've recognised that Sterling was a seriously bright kid. Indeed, Sterling got into Harvard and published his first scientific paper aged just 19. He went on to become a noted scientific researcher and medical doctor, making discoveries in treating thyroid problems. Unfortunately Sterling's first draft is lost so we can't be 100% sure how much of it is Sterling and how much of it is Lovecraft's revision / extension of Sterling's story. Lovecraft certainly added many of the colourful environment details, like the "farnoth flies," "ugrats," "wriggling akmans" and "efjeh-weeds" - all of which are cheeky puns based on the names of real-life people who Lovecraft didn't like very much ... so he turned them into Venusian pests :) The name of the main narrator character (Kenton J. Stanfield) seems to be a play on Sterling's name (Kenneth J. Sterling) so it seems likely that Lovecraft basically re-wrote the whole thing to amuse Sterling and himself, making Kenneth the (doomed) hero of his own story.
The start of this story sounds like the Spanish colonization of Central America in space, just swap "crystal" for "gold". Edit: Avatar didn't steal the invisible labyrinth.
Incidental, it was not possible to determne the rotation of Venus until the 1950s when Radar(not Radio) Astronomy bounced signals off the planet and to everyone's suprise its' day was longer than its' year and it rotated backward(retrograde).
And to back you up! Think about that for a minute. RADAR astronomy! We shoot beams of light at planets and record signals bouncing off of their terrain, and we do it with what amounts to enormous one pixel "cameras". It's staggering how clever scientists can be!
Manned space travel and colony on a distant planet- still writing stuff down by hand. Older sci-fi is sometimes comical in this way- and I'm sure contemporary sci-fi will be viewed in the same way in the future ☺ Still, a masterfully well-written story!
JMG71586 I know! I love that the insanely advanced science of older sci fi stories is always tempered with the guy using like, a paper calender or something lol. It is pretty impressive that without those small clues, most sci fi stands up to current reading, like it could have been written recently or fifty years ago.
@@colemarie9262 I watched some really old Sci-Fi once - I forget what exactly- but the guy was flying around in his spaceship and had to send an urgent message to Earth. He got on his "intergalactic space phone" or something- and the device was as big as a dining room table and had a cord! lol
There really was no need for anyone to fall into this trap. Especially not for the protagonist, who had absolutly no reason to venture inside. But the other victim too: find the structure, contact headquarters, they send out a team like they did in the end. And even if he's foolish enough to get in and get trapped: radio to HQ, they send rescue team. The concept of being trapped in an invisible labirynth is an interesting one though, as others have written. Just hearing it caued me quite a discomfort.
Venus is the home of the 'shining ones' in real ancient legend. The Emerald Serpent is Green (ouroboros). Venus in the hermetic system is attributed to the metal copper, which oxidizes to verdigris (Green). Astronomy has proved that Venus is covered by clouds that reflect light. Venus is also called ''Lucifer'' or, LUX - Ifer, meaning Light Giver. This brings us back round to the Ancient name ''The Shining Ones'' How did the Ancients know about a symbolic (or real) green serpent, that came to earth to initiate mankind millions of years ago; according to Madame Blavatsky, in The Secret Doctrine ? I do not know, but it is strange... Lovecraft talking of man lizards from Venus. Lord Shiva is a Serpent as well. I love these weird stories. Thanks
These are so much better than the "LIVER BOX " recordings. Thank you, hopefully you are doing better. I have lung disease and brain disorders caused by being stupid and joining the military when I was younger. If there is " another side " I hope that I might meet you. Be well. Thank you. Only a little bit more than 1/2 way and, I noticed that he had read hansel and gretel in his youth. The general description is that of a human trying to find their way through life. No? The corpse could be the " body of christ " that people have been using to find their way through this lie of lies that we call life. It never quite gives up the answer. Never close enough to the truth. Does it matter if you believe when you die? Maybe, knowing the truth is a better feeling? No one has ever come back to say.
So they can travel to Venus but they don't have gps sos units for people wandering the planet alone (with hostile natives), nor even wireless communications of any kind... Lovecraft even mentions wireless communication in "at the mountains of madness" but doesn't think about future radios small enough for a man to hike with?
Story and first draft by Sterling, re-written (and expanded) by Lovecraft. Yes, you can tell the sci-fi setting didn't come from Lovecraft because (iirc) he showed no interest in spaceships and astronauts anywhere else in his own stories. HPL was "sweetening" a friend's attempt at writing weird fiction, basically, and maybe went a bit above and beyond :)
woah woah woah, wait a minute. This character could see Earth AND the moon with the naked eye through mist? Is he Superman? You sure as shit can't see Venus from Earth except as a twinkling star!
Yes. The uploader must have removed the sponsorship messages. Dubois: the only brand of Sponge Reservoir Mask with a patented attachment enabling you to smoke a cigarette without taking your mask off.
Yep. The story dates from 1936 and that was a popular and acceptable way of saying it back then, considered to be more refined (i.e. posh) than the slightly awkward-sounding "a hundred." It has fallen out of fashion since, but you do sometimes hear people today saying "an hotel" - same concept.
Kenneth Sterling was the co-author of the story with Lovecraft. The reader is Garret Brubaker, who may also be heard reading "The Strange High House in the Mist."
At 53:18 I would’ve sworn he said “...could have advanced and fuck me” instead of “fought me” and I’m honestly, slightly disappointed it wasn’t “fuck me.”
I may be in the minority here but this is my least favorite of his work. Something about a guy attempting to feel his way out of an invisible maze for an insurmountable amount of time is boring. Felt like a stress fever dream.
smear a trail of mud on the wall, there's plenty of it. guess his vocabulary is greater than his problem solving skills, or logical thinking... but i already ascertained that from his other xenophobic works...
Except the mud did not stick to the wall. Soy idiots can not even recall the events in the literature they try to criticise. Also, one could take this as a less normie avatar. Except instead of switching sides, the protagonist dies and the company greed wins.
Lovecraft continues to surpass my expectations with each new story that I come across. Brilliant.
+TheADPHI Thanks for listening!
+TheADPHI Agreed. "The Walls of Eryx" I prize, because of its very outer space science fiction nature. Also in the sense of the wide spread neo-colonial imperialist spirit of its time of pre-WW II Earth, it makes the kind of social justice commentary that contributes to advances in pro human rights thinking.
+Tony Smith Lovecraft may voice ideas of the sort but he openly hated migrants and men of color.
+Andrew Paul Of course he hated them. Their cultural inferiority bred contempt in his heart.
For anyone who's interested. I was trying to find who the narrator was, having downloaded a huge collection of Lovecraft audiobooks years ago with these recordings among them and ending up liking this chap's accurate and not-overegged delivery best of all. Turns out the narrator's name is Gordon Gould (1930-) and he's probably best-known for appearing in more than 60 episodes of "CBS Radio Mystery Theater" through the late 1970s and early 1980s. That probably puts a ballpark date on these recordings. I always thought they sounded more "vintage" than that, but hey :)
These I believe were created by the Library of Congress for the blind. More recent than one may think. Conrad Weninger(?) recorded the other half of this collection. I honestly don't know who does it better, both outstanding. Cheers!
Caught in a labyrinth we cannot see, how apt, how current.
Thanks for the upload.
Antimony Cup My pleasure!
On venus ... not quite as current
2022 says hold my beer...🤔
The best part of this whole work was the comparison between the main characters newfound enlightenment prior to his death and the callous nature of the official military report. I think that Lovecraft knew all too well just how terrible people really are.
Thanks for listening! Cheers!
Through a callous mirror; I wonder whether you could also conclude that those dispairing and lost fall to these "empathic thoughts"?
@@3.142-x3b Or that this "enlightenment" is merely the voice of exhaustion. "Don't mess with it, it's too much work and will probably bite us in the end".
Am I the only one thinking this sounds exactly like a Twilight Zone episode? No doubt they got a lot of inspiration from HPL :)
kentekent Indeed!
Check out the classical film "voyage to the prehistoric planet" you can find it here on yt,it is like a prequel to this story's spirit.
@@badas45 even MST3K can barely make that watchable.
Shame he didn't remember the number one sure fire way to solve any maze: put your hand on the wall and follow it, its impossible to get lost in a maze if you do that.
Interesting note, in the early 1900s scientists really did think that Venus was a lush jungle planet until we were able to determine the make up of it's atmosphere.
It is highly likely that there are closing "doors" that the protagonist wasn't aware of.
The narrator said he thought the paths were changing
Never really occurred to me that the walls might actually be moving, I just took it as him not noticing subtle differences in the heights of the doors or something like that... I'm thinking that the strange gestures the lizard-men made could've been magic used to somehow control the movements of the walls, so they could be more tactical in sealing off passages, changing hallways, etc. It's hinted that the walls are moving, but it's also possible that they're not moving, one of those interesting bits.
that would make it even more interesting as in the end they find a passage right behind the guy. so the aliens WANTED them to find him
It strikes me that Lovecraft made an error. The protagonist tries digging under the walls, but for various reasons can't get beneath them.
But walls, even invisible walls, can not occupy the same space as the dirt which surrounds them. The space occupied by the walls would appear as a clearly visible void space extending down to the depth of the walls themselves.
But what the hell...
The horror of claustrophobia without darkness or confinement that isolates the senses. To be trapped in a transparent maze with wide open spaces seen but unavailable would drive one mad. This story doesn't use the excessive vocabulary that you find in the horror tales, thus, the story is relaxing to read or hear.
Thanks for your feedback. Cheers!
darkmountain1 I don’t find his vocabulary in the horror stories particularly excessive. He uses a lot of synonyms. Though he does tend to digress and go off on tangents quite often. But I think his style suits his subject matter.
thats because he co wrote it with a 15 year old
"i looked at the time and saw that it was only 4:20...so i blazed it"
what no gambrel roof?
And isn't something supposed to be 'eldritch'? ;)
+Devo Davis hah!
I bet the walls supported a gambrel roof...but it was invisible :)
No blasphemous abnormalities either!
The base totally should have been in New Arkham!
*Spoiler Alert*
I was actually quite sad at the end, both for the fate of the prospector, and because of the company's refusal to heed the warnings of the prospector. This story was amazing.
"I shall rest a while longer and later do some more groping"
-H.P. Lovecraft
Lovecraft was not only a brilliant writer writer of horror but of science fiction as well
Well this is certainly different from his other works
IronBahamut this story is co-written by Kenneth Sterling, I think the idea for it was more his than HPL.
@@sunray4389 Yes, Kenneth Sterling wrote the original draft - so the scenario and story outline are his - and Lovecraft then entirely re-wrote it for him, turning it into a finished piece and doubling the word-count.
Sterling was a 16 year old high-schooler - and had been firiends with Lovecraft for a couple of years when they collaborated on this story. Lovecraft must've recognised that Sterling was a seriously bright kid. Indeed, Sterling got into Harvard and published his first scientific paper aged just 19. He went on to become a noted scientific researcher and medical doctor, making discoveries in treating thyroid problems.
Unfortunately Sterling's first draft is lost so we can't be 100% sure how much of it is Sterling and how much of it is Lovecraft's revision / extension of Sterling's story. Lovecraft certainly added many of the colourful environment details, like the "farnoth flies," "ugrats," "wriggling akmans" and "efjeh-weeds" - all of which are cheeky puns based on the names of real-life people who Lovecraft didn't like very much ... so he turned them into Venusian pests :)
The name of the main narrator character (Kenton J. Stanfield) seems to be a play on Sterling's name (Kenneth J. Sterling) so it seems likely that Lovecraft basically re-wrote the whole thing to amuse Sterling and himself, making Kenneth the (doomed) hero of his own story.
Something I love about lovecraft: He doesn't waste any time defining thw setting.
"Nothing will be left when we're done." Epitaph for Humanity
It's rude to leave anything on the plate. 🍽️
7:34
"...the time was only four-twenty"
I bet.
NICE.
+Ken Viers awesome, I will finish rolling at that point :D
Kenspiracy a like to think hp's drug of choice would be a hallucinogen or opium...
@@Tadesan likely weed and opium, what id have done back then. now just weed, opium is dirty these days.
In the walls of your life.. it applies to how we are trapped in our freedom too.
Thanks for listening! Cheers!
"the time was only four-twenty" he says while reaching for the blunt
Thanks for uploading these. Really appreciate it.
Thanks for listening!
Wow, Avatar totally stole this story.
Thanks for your feedback.
The start of this story sounds like the Spanish colonization of Central America in space, just swap "crystal" for "gold". Edit: Avatar didn't steal the invisible labyrinth.
@@ingold1470 first thing I thought of as well
@@Beastlybeast71 same
Incidental, it was not possible to determne the rotation of Venus until the 1950s when Radar(not Radio) Astronomy bounced signals off the planet and to everyone's suprise its' day was longer than its' year and it rotated backward(retrograde).
And to back you up!
Think about that for a minute. RADAR astronomy! We shoot beams of light at planets and record signals bouncing off of their terrain, and we do it with what amounts to enormous one pixel "cameras". It's staggering how clever scientists can be!
Sounds like the concept for avatar..
Mandip Sandhu Thanks for listening!
But way better.
An atypical story for Lovecraft, but enjoyable none the less.
After all, it's Lovecraft. ;) Cheers!
Manned space travel and colony on a distant planet- still writing stuff down by hand. Older sci-fi is sometimes comical in this way- and I'm sure contemporary sci-fi will be viewed in the same way in the future ☺
Still, a masterfully well-written story!
Thanks for listening! Cheers!
JMG71586 I know! I love that the insanely advanced science of older sci fi stories is always tempered with the guy using like, a paper calender or something lol.
It is pretty impressive that without those small clues, most sci fi stands up to current reading, like it could have been written recently or fifty years ago.
@@colemarie9262 I watched some really old Sci-Fi once - I forget what exactly- but the guy was flying around in his spaceship and had to send an urgent message to Earth. He got on his "intergalactic space phone" or something- and the device was as big as a dining room table and had a cord! lol
Hand-written notes are still used in field surveys on Earth, mostly because it's more reliable than carrying a tablet around.
Thanks for the upload...excellent!
You are very welcome! I'm glad that you like the upload. Cheers!
My favorite HPL short story! Richard Stanley adapt please and thanks for the upload!
Reaching for we know not, we thus go through life tilting at windmills that are not there
i love lovecraft, i love this channel!
I love your channel so much!!
+Avraham Ish Shalom Thank you so much! Cheers!
There really was no need for anyone to fall into this trap. Especially not for the protagonist, who had absolutly no reason to venture inside. But the other victim too: find the structure, contact headquarters, they send out a team like they did in the end. And even if he's foolish enough to get in and get trapped: radio to HQ, they send rescue team.
The concept of being trapped in an invisible labirynth is an interesting one though, as others have written. Just hearing it caued me quite a discomfort.
It's a trap!
Thanks for listening!
Hey +Free Audio Books for Intellectual Exercise, thanks for all these Lovecraft stories. I enjoy them very much!
Watch the classic film on YT "Voyage to the prehistoric planet" it takes place on Venus.
I think holding the crystal called the lizards and closed the doors. Similar to setting off an alarm.
Venus is the home of the 'shining ones' in real ancient legend. The Emerald Serpent is Green (ouroboros). Venus in the hermetic system is attributed to the metal copper, which oxidizes to verdigris (Green).
Astronomy has proved that Venus is covered by clouds that reflect light. Venus is also called ''Lucifer'' or, LUX - Ifer, meaning Light Giver.
This brings us back round to the Ancient name ''The Shining Ones''
How did the Ancients know about a symbolic (or real) green serpent, that came to earth to initiate mankind millions of years ago; according to Madame Blavatsky, in The Secret Doctrine ?
I do not know, but it is strange... Lovecraft talking of man lizards from Venus. Lord Shiva is a Serpent as well.
I love these weird stories. Thanks
These are so much better than the "LIVER BOX " recordings.
Thank you, hopefully you are doing better. I have lung disease and brain disorders caused by being stupid and joining the military when I was younger.
If there is " another side " I hope that I might meet you.
Be well.
Thank you.
Only a little bit more than 1/2 way and, I noticed that he had read hansel and gretel in his youth.
The general description is that of a human trying to find their way through life.
No?
The corpse could be the " body of christ " that people have been using to find their way through this lie of lies that we call life.
It never quite gives up the answer.
Never close enough to the truth.
Does it matter if you believe when you die? Maybe, knowing the truth is a better feeling?
No one has ever come back to say.
Can someone please tell me the name of the guy who read this? I love his voice!
So close, no matter how far...
Thanks for visiting and listening! Cheers!
it was good, i shed a tear
So they can travel to Venus but they don't have gps sos units for people wandering the planet alone (with hostile natives), nor even wireless communications of any kind...
Lovecraft even mentions wireless communication in "at the mountains of madness" but doesn't think about future radios small enough for a man to hike with?
I think they mean "Kenneth Sterling with HP Lovecraft" because this does not sound like Lovecraft at all.
Story and first draft by Sterling, re-written (and expanded) by Lovecraft. Yes, you can tell the sci-fi setting didn't come from Lovecraft because (iirc) he showed no interest in spaceships and astronauts anywhere else in his own stories. HPL was "sweetening" a friend's attempt at writing weird fiction, basically, and maybe went a bit above and beyond :)
Whoops I jumped straight to the end and missed you entire story. Though it was odd it started in the middle
It happened to me as well while watching other video. :D
How right you are!? Hand on the wall will do it, its like how you can cheat death if you wish really hard.
Holy jesus! what are these goddamn animals!?
Fear and Loathing in Las Venus. Lol.
Does anyone know who the speaker is? I love his voice, especially on this old timey microphone
Gordon Gould.
I particularly like his reading of "The Temple" (although that one should logically be a German accent)
Want to thumbs up but it's at 420 and I'm smoking weed. It would be karma.. but I do like this.
💯
Was this a prediction of The Vietnam War”?
What collections are these
woah woah woah, wait a minute. This character could see Earth AND the moon with the naked eye through mist? Is he Superman? You sure as shit can't see Venus from Earth except as a twinkling star!
Planets don't twinkle 👍
@@guileweaver1574 Do some actual research and then come back.
@@Kazuma11290 Here you go
earthsky.org/space/why-dont-planets-twinkle-as-stars-do/
@@guileweaver1574 Oh, so you're just splitting hairs. Adorable.
@@Kazuma11290
Just a quick question before I go. If Venus twinkles in your world, what color is the sky ?
Is this a fucking commercial for Dubois Sponge Reservoir Masks?
Yes. The uploader must have removed the sponsorship messages. Dubois: the only brand of Sponge Reservoir Mask with a patented attachment enabling you to smoke a cigarette without taking your mask off.
"an hundred yards"??
Yep. The story dates from 1936 and that was a popular and acceptable way of saying it back then, considered to be more refined (i.e. posh) than the slightly awkward-sounding "a hundred." It has fallen out of fashion since, but you do sometimes hear people today saying "an hotel" - same concept.
39:50 (Bookmark)
what is the name of the guy reading?
+wtfdudekk hes voice is awsome
wtfdudekk gordon Gould
66,594 , soon be 66 ,600
Thanks for visiting!
@@TheRecluseeee been listening to much of late, very good stories.
Who is the narrator please?
Kenith Sterling. He says it at the beginning.
Kenneth Sterling was the co-author of the story with Lovecraft. The reader is Garret Brubaker, who may also be heard reading "The Strange High House in the Mist."
At 53:18 I would’ve sworn he said “...could have advanced and fuck me” instead of “fought me” and I’m honestly, slightly disappointed it wasn’t “fuck me.”
Mispronounced tapirs but that's reasonable. Only mistake I've heard in all of his audiobooks.
Lol 420 likes.
Thanks for listening! Cheers!
I may be in the minority here but this is my least favorite of his work. Something about a guy attempting to feel his way out of an invisible maze for an insurmountable amount of time is boring. Felt like a stress fever dream.
smear a trail of mud on the wall, there's plenty of it. guess his vocabulary is greater than his problem solving skills, or logical thinking... but i already ascertained that from his other xenophobic works...
Milan Smidt you have little imagination and and an unsavory self righteous attitude.
Except the mud did not stick to the wall. Soy idiots can not even recall the events in the literature they try to criticise. Also, one could take this as a less normie avatar. Except instead of switching sides, the protagonist dies and the company greed wins.
thanxxxx :D
My pleasure!