 Caffey’s narration in this is perfect for the backwoods setting of the novel. He lets the characters and their emotions breathe while also bringing the explosive finale to life. The sound of his read is crisp, as is expected from an expert audiobook publisher, and the pacing clips along, letting you knock over this one in just over five hours. Book Title: The Howling Author: Gary Brandner Narrator: Stephen Caffey Publisher: Encyclopocalypse If there’s one thing horror fans are known for, it’s their love of the genre’s classics, indefatigable stalwarts, and influential masterpieces. You really don’t have to spend much time talking to lovers of paperback horror novels to realise that love of the genre often equates to collections of goodwill paperbacks with trashy covers, re-issues of ‘lost’ but nonetheless beloved tomes, and a thriving marketplace for original books. One of the publishers going out of their way to make sure genre fans get to experience the books that shaped horror is Encyclopocalypse. To be quite blunt, they are absolutely killing it. Their audiobook version of Gary Brandner’s iconic werewolf novel The Howling is a prime example. It’s not a stretch to say that most readers of this site will be familiar with the film adaptation of this novel (and, if you’re one of those who’s thinking about The Howling IV right now, I salute you). Of course, the film is one of the 80s most iconic creature features and a rightful favourite of many. Having said that, if you haven’t read the book, you really need to check this out. Brandner’s original novel is fantastic. Despite having a few of his books on my shelf, including this one and The Howling III, which, much to my chagrin, isn’t about marsupials, I’d never read his work before now. That was a mistake. It also shows why the work Encyclopocalypse is doing is so vital. This is far more than a fondly remembered slice of B-Grade paperback trash. This is a superbly written novel that’s full of creeping dread, terrifying action pieces, empathetic characters and engaging relationships. Yes, there are moments when the novel demonstrates its age, but it’s so well plotted and written, that I’m surprised it’s not spoken about as much as it should be. I even had a look in Paperbacks from Hell to see if Brandner warrants a mention. Alas, he does not. But enough about the original novel. We’ve established that it’s a top-notch work of horror fiction, and that it deserves to be read. If you’re like me, though, and your shelves are stacked with hundreds of classics, you might be wondering why you should bump this to the front of the list, particularly if all of those books are in competition with the plethora of new releases coming your way in this golden age of horror fiction. Basically, it’s really good, and the fact it’s on audio allows you to cheat a little. Personally, I love the fact I can consume audiobooks on my morning commute, and whittle down the to-be-read pile at the same time. This is probably why I’m so enamoured with Encyclopocalypse. They allow me to do that, but they revitalise these novels with the pristine sound quality of modern audiobooks. If you’ve ever accessed your library’s audio collection and found yourself with a really dry version of an old favourite, you’ll know that narration and sound quality plays a big role in just how engaging the book is. Sometimes, it’s tedious. With Encyclopocalypse, it never is. Caffey’s narration in this is perfect for the backwoods setting of the novel. He lets the characters and their emotions breathe while also bringing the explosive finale to life. The sound of his read is crisp, as is expected from an expert audiobook publisher, and the pacing clips along, letting you knock over this one in just over five hours. Put simply, they’ve revitalised one of the novels that blasted werewolf movies into the top tier level of 80s creature features, and made it accessible for everyone. Snatch it up. Now, if someone wants to get this Australian creature feature writer to pen a novelisation of The Howling III: The Marsupials, I’m all ears! The Howling: The Howling Trilogy, Audible Audiobook – |
Archives
May 2023
|
RSS Feed
|
|