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The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies Paperback – April 30, 2013

by John Langan (Author), Jeffrey Ford (Introduction), Laird Barron (Afterword)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 638 ratings
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"I want to be like John Langan when I grow up, okay? He blends meticulously crafted traditional narratives with joyous genre-bending and narrative rule-breaking. His stories are fiercely smart, timely, timeless, heartbreaking, and of course, flat-out scary. Langan fearlessly commits to his monsters, his characters, his readers, to his vision of the horror story and the messed-up, broken, frightening world we inhabit. Wide, Carnivorous Sky, indeed."-Paul Tremblay, author of The Little Sleep and Swallowing a Donkey's Eye.

John Langan has, in the last few years, established himself as one of the leading voices in contemporary horror literature. Gifted with a supple and mellifluous prose style, an imagination that can conjure up clutching terrors with seeming effortlessness, and a thorough knowledge of the rich heritage of weird fiction, Langan has already garnered his share of accolades. This new collection of nine substantial stories includes such masterworks as "Technicolor," an ingenious riff on Poe's "Masque of the Red Death"; "How the Day Runs Down," a gripping tale of the undead; and "The Shallows," a powerful tale of the Cthulhu Mythos. The capstone to the collection is a previously unpublished novella of supernatural terror, "Mother of Stone." With an introduction by Jeffrey Ford and an afterword by Laird Barron.

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  1. Print length
    324 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Hippocampus Press
  4. Publication date
    April 30, 2013
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.68 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1614980543
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1614980544
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hippocampus Press (April 30, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 324 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1614980543
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1614980544
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.68 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 638 ratings

About the authors

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  1. John Langan

    John Langan

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    John Langan is the author of two novels, The Fisherman and House of Windows, and three collections of stories, Sefira and Other Betrayals, The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies, and Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters. The Fisherman won the Bram Stoker and This Is Horror Awards for superior achievement in a novel. With Paul Tremblay, Langan co-edited Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters. He's one of the founders of the Shirley Jackson Awards, for which he served as a juror during its first three years. Currently, he reviews horror and dark fantasy for Locus magazine. In 2020, his fourth collection, Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies, will be published by Word Horde Press.

    John Langan lives in New York's Hudson Valley with his wife, younger son, and many, many animals. He holds a first degree black belt in the Korean martial art of Tang Soo Do.

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  2. John Langan

    John Langan

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    John Langan has taught reading and writing at Atlantic Cape Community College near Atlantic City, New Jersey, for over twenty-five years. The author of a popular series of college textbooks on both writing and reading, John enjoys the challenge of developing materials that teach skills in an especially clear and lively way. Before teaching, he earned advanced degrees in writing at Rutgers University and in reading at Rowan University. He also spent a year writing fiction that, he says, "is now at the back of a drawer waiting to be discovered and acclaimed posthumously." While in school, he supported himself by working as a truck driver, a machinist, a battery assembler, a hospital attendant, and an apple packer. John now lives with his wife, Judith Nadell, near Philadelphia. In addition to his wife and Philly sports teams, his passions include reading and turning on nonreaders to the pleasure and power of books. Through Townsend Press, his educational publishing company, he has developed the nonprofit "Townsend Library"--a collection more than thirty new and classic stories that appeal to readers of any age.

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
638 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mr. Anthrope
5.0 out of 5 stars Smart, literary horror worth savoring
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2014
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I loved this book. Lots of lengthy, meaty stories with exquisite sentences and paragraphs that stopped me in my tracks.

I had only read one story before ("The Shallows" in Ross Lockhart's BOOK OF CTHULHU) and while happy to read it again, it was a couple of other stories that really knocked my on my ass. "Technicolor" is an ingenious riff on/response to Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death," and originally appeared in Ellen Datlow's anthology of Poe-inspired stories. The final story is original to this collection, and "Mother of Stone" is worth the price of the book by itself.

The two short pieces, "Kids" and "June 1987. Hitchhiking. Mr. Norris" seemed a little incongruous with the rest of the book, but after reading the story notes, they make more stylistic sense. And yes, there are detailed story notes at the end of the book, something I always enjoy reading.

There are four other stories in here, and all of them are well worth reading, slowly. Many of these tales were selected for year's-best anthologies, and that seems right.

Jeffrey Ford provides a short but informative introduction, Laird Barron contributes a fictional (?) afterward, and the remarkable Santiago Caruso created the beautifully macabre cover art. There is pretty much nothing not to like about this book.
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Nick
4.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Collection
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2023
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Certain stories are better than others. However, the ones that are good are excellent. The parody of Our Town juxtaposed with a zombie apocalypse and “Mother of Stone” are both more than worth the price of admission.
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C. Derick Varn
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2013
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John Langan’s collection, The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies, is a broader abyss than Ogawa’s Revenge (as the title suggest). Langan’s prose shifts and deliberately incorporates modernist twists and variations that do not allow one kind of voice to sink in. Langan does have a formula: take on a literary trope, be it some modernist style meta-fictive, overlaying of different genres, etc., and then add in a genre limitation such as the vampire story or the werewolf story or the Lovecraft mythos tale. At first this sounds like a trite approach or an attempt at pastiche, but a considerate reading of his work reveals that it is not. Meta-fictive elements are used throughout the story although they are more in line with Langan’s set of limitations.

The first story, however, seems weak, and slightly knocked me back. It seems to be a more typical tonal horror piece involving at professor. Langan is a professor, and such a figure sits in more than one story. This, however, is a false lull. The next novella is “How the Day Runs Down” which is a zombie apocalypse story narrated as if it were Our Town. The existential dread of Thornton Wilder is often lost in the million trite performances, but it is encapsulated and expanded upon in a way that would be impulse in an episode of The Walking Dead. The core issue is even Our Town’s bleak afterlife is affected by the apocalypse so not even true death comes as an escape.

The next story “Technicolor” builds on the Masque of the Red Death, with a professor playing the role of main character. Indeed, the story starts as a lecture on the symbolism of Poe but takes a far grimmer turn. The intersection of real history, Poe’s biography, and fictive occultism is breath-taking. The laying of the history and myths of Prosper Vauglais, Poe’s Prince Prospero, the myth of Proserpina, and Poe’s wife alone is impressive. There are two stories inspired by Lovecraft, but one particularly sticks with me: “The Swallows.” This story pits the truly other-worldly with a narration of the end of a domestic disturbance. The linking between the completely human and the utterly alien leaving one with chills.

The meta-fictive, “The Revel,” and last novella, “Mother of Stone” both involve successful uses of the second person narration. “The Revel” being the more avant garde of the two, and depending on the formatting and ellipses created from screen writing conventions, but also being one of the only werewolf stories that ever chilled me: the overlaying of commentary on werewolf filmic genre as well as the psychology of the bestial. “Mother of Stone” picks up on the otherwise problematic theories of Marija Gimbutas, but develops through a female folklore professor’s exploration of something truly horrifying. There are also a few filmic cliches employed by Langan here, but they are used to undermine themselves and leave the reader lost.

The title story, found in the center of the book, is written in a style that reads a by like almost journalistic realism about war, and an vampire that inverts almost every stereotype or rule of the genre. It is the least meta-fictive of the story and is ridden in a more hardbitten style. Its straightforward narrative breaks the mold of the better stories in the collection, but the helplessness and humanness contrasted with the utterly outside and alien keeps the more developed theme of the book together.
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Brett Lamborn
3.0 out of 5 stars Fair to Middling Horror Short Stories
Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2022
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Rather than recite the plots of each of Mr. Layman's included short stories and a novella (others' will do that I'm sure), I'd rather Gove general impressions. The stories are of mixed variety, some better than others, and two or three strike me as using themes close to the author's heart, academia for example and upstate New York. I find short stories frustrating because the good ones end too soon, and the bad ones aren't short enough. A serviceable horror collection and a recommend for fans of the genre or.Mr. !any an generally.
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Will Shannon
4.0 out of 5 stars Dark, literary, disturbing
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2017
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An excellent collection of short stories that's not afraid to tackle genre staples like vampires, the undead or werewolves with a fresh eye and angle, culminating in the chilling "Mother of Stone". Most all it's the humanity that shines through- these may be stories about things that lurk in the dark or at the edge of vision, but it's the strength of the characters that keeps you reading. highly recommended.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, Frightening Literary Horror
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2017
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I didn't know what to make of Langan when I first began this collection. The first couple stories are not written in a typical horror story format (The first being written as a stage play, while the second takes the form of a professor's lecture). They weren't bad by any means, but we're not what I expected and threw me for a loop.

I took a break from this collection after those and read Langan's novel "The Fisherman" , and was thoroughly impressed. Going back to finish The Wide Carnivorous Sky, I was happy I did.

The stories all seem to have classic roots, yet are often written in a wholely original manner, while always being intelligent and entertaining. I especially enjoyed the title story, City of the Dog, and Mother of Stone.

I think this guy is one of the best writers working today, and I highly recommend this book, as well as The Fisherman and his first collection "Mr. Gaunt". I look forward to reading his first novel "House of Windows".
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Ray Cluley
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb collection
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 6, 2023
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You just can’t go wrong with Langan. This is a terrific collection and each story is top tier stuff. Highly recommended.
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Arno Gündisch
5.0 out of 5 stars Durchgestylter Horror, wie man ihn selten antrifft
Reviewed in Germany on November 1, 2020
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In dieser Sammlung läßt John Langan traditionelle Horror-Themen im neuen Gewand auferstehen: den Zombie ("Kids", "How the Day runs down"), den Vampir "(The Wide, Carnivorous Sky"), den Ghul ("City of the Dog", den Werwolf (The Revel). "The Shallows" knüpft auf eine höchst originelle Art an H.P. Lovecraft an und "Technicolor" ist eine sehr eigenwillige Interpretation von Edgar Allan Poes "Die Maske des Roten Todes".
"Mother of Stone" schließlich (mein absoluter Favorit neben der Titelstory) weits auf ein uraltes Fruchtbarkeitssymbol hin, das sich auf unheimliche Art in der Gegenwart manifestiert.
Interessant ist die Perspektive des Autors: er erzählt oft eine Geschichte über das Entstehen einer Geschichte. Während die Handlung fortschreitet, läßt er uns an seinen Gedanken teilhaben, er stellt sich quasi neben seine Schöpfung (siehe hier insbesondere "How the Day runs down", "Technicolor" und "The Revel").
Die Titelstory, sowie "Mother of Stone" entfalten ihre Komplexität aus den Erinnerungen der einzelnen Akteure, die Haupthandlung findet oft in der Vergangenheit statt, die aber weit in die Gegenwart hineinreicht. Am Ende bleibt der Leser mit der quälenden Ungewißheit zurück, ob das nun wirklich alles war-oder ob das Paranormale dem Menschen wieder mal überlegen ist...
Dem geneigten Leser sei viel Spaß an der Gänsehaut gewünscht, aber Vorsicht, John Langan ist etwas für Slow Readers, da er viel Liebe zum Detail offenbart. Das Gruseln schleicht sich auf leisen Sohlen heran, bevor es zuschlägt...
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Client d'Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect
Reviewed in France on September 3, 2019
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Good read. Technicolor in particular
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spider queen
5.0 out of 5 stars Strong collection, great writing
Reviewed in Canada on February 1, 2017
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Very, very, very good.

The eponymous title crops up in collections and anthologies. It won't scare the liver out of you, but I bet you read it again and again every time you come across it. It's one of the most gripping stories ever, I think.

So I was so glad to have found this collection--the stories are all good. Some are great. And there's another one in here that rivals "Wide, Carnivorous..." in my opinion.

I devoutly wish Mr. Gaunt, his previous collection, was available in anything other than hardcover--and by preference, in Kindle. Please?
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L.P.
5.0 out of 5 stars Inventive horror
Reviewed in Australia on November 30, 2021
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This is my first John Langan and I really enjoyed the way he approached each story -even the one I wasn't crazy about. His unique spin on different properties was brilliant and each story contained stylistic challenges that left me wondering what he was really onto.
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