The Great God Pan and Other Weird Tales (1890) – Arthur Machen Free Audiobook

Written by Arthur Machen
Read by Peter Wickham
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
Publisher: 2017 Naxos AudioBooks

The Great God Pan (1890) is an eerie and otherworldly mystery about a diabolical operation and its terrifying repercussions. After rescuing a young woman from the streets of London, Dr. Raymond uses her as a test subject for brain surgery aimed at “lifting the veil” of reality, to see the supernatural and the “great god Pan”. The operation is a disaster and leaves the subject lobotomized. Years later, London becomes afflicted with a strange series of male suicides connected to a beautiful but sinister woman named Helen. Just who is she, and what is her connection to Dr. Raymond’s failed experiment?

Included are his masterpieces “The White People,” about an innocent’s unwitting indoctrination into foul rites of sorcery; “The White People” is an exercise in the bizarre leaving the reader disoriented and on edge. From the first page, Machen turns even fundamental truths upside-down, as his character Ambrose explains, “there have been those who have sounded the very depths of sin, who all their lives have never done an ‘ill deed'” setting the stage for a tale entirely without logic.

The Green Book is a precious artifact procured from the possessions of a dead woman, and carefully kept in secret by the aged and studious Ambrose. Cotgrave is loaned the Green Book to further his understanding of the occult secrets that Ambrose is so reluctant to talk about.

“The Inmost Light” is a masterful tale in which we uncover the confessions of a scientist delving into the occult. Two gossipers, transforming seemingly insignificant details into something chilling, piece enigmatic clues together..

“Novel of the Black Seal,” which uncovers the survival of a malignant race of “little people” in present times; and “Novel of the White Powder,” in which a drug brings on a terrifying transformation in a victim who abuses it.

His story “The Red Hand” (1895) tells of a grisly murder committed with the most unusual of weapons, an ancient stone axe.

The Shining Pyramid, –In the remote hills of deepest old England, Vaughn is worried when he discovers inexplicable changing symbols next to his home. With no one else to ask for help, he seeks out his old friend and investigator Dyson. Together they work to uncover the mysterious truth about the changing symbols.

A Fragment of Life, his short novel from 1906, overlays his unique mystical theology with his psycho geographic visions of the grey streets of London, and blends them with…a love story. A young husband and wife, Edward and Mary Darnell, notice weird, dark forces crowding around their lives, and these odd happenings begin to wreak a strange alchemy in them.

“In a comfortable, approachable style, actor Peter Wickham creates the feeling of relaxing in a nineteenth-century English drawing room while swapping tales of the macabre, fairy folk, and undiscovered worlds. In a tone that is equal parts beguilement and wonder, Wickham leads listeners through this late-nineteenth-century collection of nine short stories, including the title tale and the superb “White People.” The works focus on Arthur Machen’s early influences: his vast knowledge of Welsh folklore, the occult, and a short stint in medical school. Long a favorite of horror meisters from H.P. Lovecraft to Stephen King, Machen was one of the primary architects of modern horror and dark fantasy. This collection is an excellent introduction to his gentle and eerie worlds.”—Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award