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The Imago Sequence
- And Other Stories
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Anthologies & Short Stories
Non-member price: $36.54
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Publisher's Summary
The title story of this collection - a devilishly ironic riff on H. P. Lovecraft's "Pickman's Model" - was nominated for a World Fantasy Award, while "Probiscus" was nominated for an International Horror Guild award and reprinted in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 19. In addition to his previously published work, this collection contains an original story.
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What listeners say about The Imago Sequence
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Zachary
- 14-03-2020
Agonizingly Dull and Meaningless
Full disclosure - I couldn't sit still for all of this.
The most interesting story I read from start to finish took AGES to build up to "he was always dead...sort of - don't ask".
After listening further started to feel like slowly cranking a vice shut on my head, I began skipping around, listening for a few seconds here and there, searching for SOMETHING interesting. Every story I sampled like that just droned on and on and on like a rambling drunk who loves the sound of his own voice. NOWHERE did I land where something engaging was happening; the author's tone manages to make even slightly curious things like a man's face getting chewed off sound about as intense as a shopping list.
It doesn't help that Laird Barron is absolutely addicted to the kind of flowery, pace-strangling metaphor that infests the pages of the literary "classics" they force-feed you in school; you might drag yourself through six or seven increasingly florid parenthetical statements only to discover that it was all symbolic, just a really painful way to describe the 'difficulty' of choosing whether to be as boring as grass growing or paint drying. I think my favorite part was when I landed on a spot that sounded halfway promising, with bubbling in a lagoon and ichor and darkness, and it ended with the narrator deliberately looking away. Cue sarcastic clapping - book goes in the bin.
11 people found this helpful
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- Daniel Wiffen
- 18-07-2019
Dear god what is that?!
This collection stories is quite interesting because the concept of a happy ending is relative. Imago will come for you and you die screaming. I recommend this for any Lovecraft enthusiast and lover of the dark recesses of fantasy and sci-fi.
8 people found this helpful
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- W. Warren
- 27-06-2019
Embracing the Cosmic Horror within
First off, I will say that this was an enjoyable read, and if you are at all interested in expanding your scope of cosmic horror, this will be a great addition to your repertoire.
If you are like me and found this collection via a search for contemporary cosmic horror, AND you are a dyed-in-the-wool H.P. Lovecraft fan and are expecting an exacting replica of his work, then I believe you will be disappointed; while the spirit of the “law” as it were is there, the letter definitely is not. Stories in this collection proffer a very “sink or swim” style that, while more organic than the very clinical and exactingly dry Lovecraftian style, does not give you much to go on when trying to decipher motive and inclination of the characters telling the story; you will find that unlike Lovecraft’s “survivors” who more often than not lived to tell their tale despite their madness and end their wretched life on their own terms, Barron’s characters are “happened upon” and found to be narrating their own individual madness as it unfurls without deference to a potential future reader’s humours or misgivings.
I must admit I was personally a tad disappointed in how the involuntarily antagonistic “evils” found in these tales were less “Bestiary of Cosmic Madness” and more “Dictionnaire Infernal”; while the execution ended up enjoyable, I will admit to hoping for recognizably adherent additions to the overall Lovecraftian Mythos (i.e.: this is not a Cthulhu Mythos collection). I will also admit to sometimes being left markedly hungry after the conclusion of each story, as often the through-line of each tended to unravel and fray (no doubt in parallel to the characters’ sanities); while I appreciate this as a device, sometimes I wanted something a little more concrete.
All this being said, I enjoyed this book, and I do feel that the definite nods to Lovecraft are appreciable by those who are and who are not aware of the cosmic horror legacy. All in all, I would say that this collection is 80% of the spirit of Lovecraftian Horror with 5% of the racism (and to that point, any racism you may find in this book is more incidental to individual characters and not so nauseatingly ingrained into the very fabric of the story and writing itself). I liked this collection and kind of wish to read it again as I get the feeling that my attentions were trained on finding the familiar and may well have missed devices and plot points exclusive to the author; if you need more cosmic horror in your life (and honestly, who doesn’t?) then I definitely recommend this collection.
9 people found this helpful
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- Vermillion
- 05-09-2020
No straight answers
The narrator did a bang-up job. And it is abundantly clear to me that Barron is a very gifted writer. But this audiobook is like a tale told by a man who is both drunk and high out of his mind. If he doesn’t pass out on you before a story properly concludes, he raves so that one cannot be satisfied that a particular story has a point. I also do not share Barron’s admiration of HP Lovecraft’s fictional work. I would have straight answers from our tale bearer but he cannot be relied upon. Was it worth the time I spent listening? I do not know.
2 people found this helpful
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- Ryan P.
- 13-01-2021
Fantastic Narration and Horrific Revelries
Love Laird Barron's work, and Ray Porter brings it to life expertly.
Barron's horror generally "seeps in." It's not a-mile-a-minute fare, if that's what you're after, but I find it immensely enjoyable. Barron sets a tone and relentlessly draws you into it.
Likewise, Ray Porter just seems to "click" with Barron's tone. His varying voices for each character give them all unique personalities and characteristics that both accentuate and add to Barron's work in a way that just feels... perfect.
I easily recommend this and The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All short story collection to anyone looking for this type of horror experience (I think "slow burn" does it a disservice, but it's certainly not the opposite).
1 person found this helpful
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- Paul Griswold
- 29-12-2020
Pornographic and boring?
I'm returning & deleting this one. I fell asleep while listening (it's a bit of a snooze fest) and when I woke up, I got to hear Ray Porter saying something like, "she wrapped her lips tightly around his c**k" and that was the end for me.
It's like someone asked a high school-aged boy to write what they think a fantasy porno would sound like. Zero imagination, poor writing, terrible vocabulary.
How do things like that make it past the editor?
1 person found this helpful
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- Brian Foudray
- 06-10-2020
One of the best horror audiobooks of all time.
I absolutely loved this book and the narration as well. This is one of the most well written horror anthologies I've ever read.
1 person found this helpful
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- Brent
- 30-09-2020
Fantastically creepy
I’m a sucker when it comes to eldritch horror, and the Imago Sequence certainly didn’t disappoint.
1 person found this helpful
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- Hugenoot
- 29-08-2019
Enjoyed it so much that I got it on Kindle aswell
Some of the stories have lodged in my imagination. The narrator is good and suits the author's hard-boiled characters, although I would say his imitation of female voices made me uncomfortable and comes across as a bit sexist.
3 people found this helpful
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- John Allred
- 29-09-2018
fantastic!
This collection was superb! I will always be a fan of Laird Barron!. I look forward to his next collection!
5 people found this helpful
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- Si
- 30-04-2018
Let me guess... ancient evil.
This is the third Barron book I've read. Two novels and this collection of short stories. He writes well but he's a one trick pony. Every story - and I mean literally every one - is the same as the previous one except with new characters in a different location. Ancient evil in the jungle, ancient evil in the desert, ancient evil in China, ancient evil in a cave, and so it goes on. And on top of that the stories are inconclusive and unsatisfying. Someone encounters an ancient evil in *insert location here* and ends up in a bad way, probably.
The narration by Ray Porter is exceptional.
6 people found this helpful
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- mrs sylvia frazer
- 06-12-2017
One of the best...
This is an excellent audio book, Laird Barron's tales are gritty, dark, horrifying and really, really well written. Ray Parker is perfectly suited to narrating these wonderfully dark and thought provoking stories. His vocal/character range is amazing. Top Notch! 10/10 all round.
1 person found this helpful
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