The way that he takes no solace in the fact that he gave humanity a second history and doubled the lifespan of the planet's biosphere is pretty telling, that and the fact that he specifically set the drug to make him sleep so long that he'd see weather or not humanity avoided the same end a second time rather than just seeing if they evolved at all shows speaks volumes to his character.
This is reminiscent of Clark Ashton Smith’s wonderful Zothique story cycle, taking place on the dying Earth’s last continent. They were all published in one paperback by Ballantine Books in 1970.
@@HorrorBabble Would you consider recording Les Xipéhuz by obscure Belgian duo J.-H. Rosny? There’s an English translation called The Shapes which would make a fantastic audiobook. It’s a fascinating tale and arguably the first sci fi story
@@MaffBowers Good call! See this in the "The Navigators of Space " translated by the apparently indefatigable Brian Stableford. As far as I'm concerned, Brian would be a giant of SF just of the basis of his "Hooded Swan" series. In recent times he has translated vast amounts of early French SF, and recently some (very) "weird tales". He is lauded in France, but not in this country. Ho hum. Not JHR, but if anyone wants to dip into this daunting catalogue, I'd recommend Jules Lermina's "Panic in Paris" (1910): monsters rampaging through Paris, comedy English copper, in a romping good story.
BRILLIANT! ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY BRILLIANT! - I am an avid reader of all things horror & dark fantasy; some of my favorite authors being Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Brandon Sanderson, and Stephen King. - H.P. Lovecraft is another favorite of mine. I read a couple of his stories, here & there, throughout the years but it wasn’t until a year or so ago when I really became interested in his work, giving it a more in-depth look. After that, I was HOOKED!! So then, my journey into the cosmos began, and so did my discovery of HorrorBabble. 🎉 - It was HorrorBabble that introduced me to Weird Tales and other classics, making my reading journey even more fantastic!! 🖤🖤🖤
I just love these old scifi stories that have elements of existential horror. It's now a tie between this and the recent PKD story about the collapsing human space empire that take the top place for my favorite you guys have done. And perfectly voice acted, as always.
I guess just making clones was out of the question? Making starships, even generational starships, was beyond this Gan guys super science mega genius? Seems like a good example of sinking all your points into INT at the cost of WIS.
Indeed. As I read thoughts were popping up...if Galos had such powers, why did he wait until the great calamity happened. Could have stopped the prevented oceans drying up, used the dwindling humans to reproduce rather than saving the dead in order to resurrect ...
Beautifully narrated. How else would these obscure and strange tales be read today? Although I must say that I was hoping whatziz would wake up to a world peopled by - say, giant cockroaches. The anthrocentrism of the time is amazing: as if "man" could exist without nature! Goodness gracious, wizard, restore nature first, take plants and water, algae and fish out of the past. The world will then live!
"In truth, much as the owners of cats hated these odd folk, they feared them more; and instead of berating them as brutal assassins, merely took care that no cherished pet or mouser should stray toward the remote hovel under the dark trees. When through some unavoidable oversight a cat was missed, and sounds heard after dark, the loser would lament impotently; or console himself by thanking Fate that it was not one of his children who had thus vanished. For the people of Ulthar were simple, and knew not whence it is all cats first came." More to come; same cat place, same cat time.................as always Remain in light.
The first thing I thought of was years back, Eric Weinstein talking of the possibility of a nuclear holocaust, and he used the phrase [casually as someone like him would] "we cannot tolerate a reboot to tardigrades". I always thought that if he was starting a band (and he does have some musical talent), that's certainly what he should call it, Reboot to Tardigrades. It's funny how much that maps onto this story... (I think it was on his first or second JRE if anyone was curious.)
I loved the way, after raging at the cosmos, defying extinction, exalting Man, he resurrects a series of uninspired mishaps (still shambling about right now and entertaining millions on TV by trying to eat our brains), he then tries…no, no spoilers! But after patiently watching 4 billion years of his own work you’d think he might have stayed awake until Man evolved….or did he he? A great story! Beautifully delivered as always in a way the author would have been proud to hear!
“The place was an ancient cemetery; so ancient that I trembled at the manifold signs of immemorial years…” Keep up the good work and, as always, stay safe!
@ Konix. Well, traveler of desolate worlds, here you are again. Did you drag Warren with you to see the sights? Verily tis true that misery loves company etcetera etcetera 😱💀
@Joseph Kelly. Great that you brought in writings of C Ashton Smith that I haven't heard anyone mention. I sure would like to get my hands on that paperback...hoping against hope that it is still available somewhere. Many thanks!
He could have forced the mad people to reproduce; their children would not have been mad. Yes, terribly unethical, but he does not seem concerned with ethics.
It would be fun if he woke up and the dinosaurs had never died out because there wasn't a second disaster, and they had evolved into an intelligent, or several intelligent, entities. And much nicer than humans.
Great reading of a fantastic story, thanks! I first read this many years ago, in one of the many old paperback anthologies in my bookcases, and it's been a favorite ever since.
I don't get it, the crazy people from the past would probably have produced normal children. He tried it with far less possible success with the reanimated dead, but he didn't think to try out with the mad people? I find that very hard to believe.
SPOILER ALERT > > > > > > > > > > > > I know I'm going to be a party wrecker on this one, but this is the story of a man who basically figured out necromancy, time manipulation, suspended animation and terraforming , but couldn't have figured out artificial insemination which has been performed first in 1770. I mean, I know that this is rather a figurative and not strictly a sci-fi story, but still....It is the plot blackholes gaping in the sky that bring true horror to the reader. Yet, Sam Raimi could make something good out of the first part.
Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable. Coco Chanel Fabulous tale and on of the most grotesque beginnings I’ve ever heard ☠️
There's already a really good LIBRIVOX reading of it available and considering that it's nearly 8 hours long maybe that's asking for a huge investment of time for a limited return, it gets a bit weird and bit boring after about a third of the way through and then picks up again towards the very end so I'm not sure how many listeners would want to listen to it all the way though anyway ? Although I did and I absolutely enjoyed it.
I think Eris123 here as made a good point. We are open to the possibility in the future, but it would require a great deal of effort to pull off. An adaptation might be a more interesting option for future consideration.
That was super! Well read as always, and a reminder of the great days when even relatively short SF could take on an epic character, something now tragically largely erased from modern short "SF". Also an example of EH playing with ideas about terraforming, which he was one of the earliest to put into his writing (OK, here more re-terraforming Terra).
171-✅👍🏻 A great story and Fabulous job! However, 'tis a good reminder as to why we cremated our bodies after the spirit moves on! So we have peace. Just breeding the two mindless humans.. in the long term you have a human race.. or he could breed the female with his own seeds..🧐🤔😉
@@HorrorBabble I understand it, it's just me not you, I love the stories so I tend to skip the first 30 seconds so I haven't a clue of what's about to entail 😀
The way that he takes no solace in the fact that he gave humanity a second history and doubled the lifespan of the planet's biosphere is pretty telling, that and the fact that he specifically set the drug to make him sleep so long that he'd see weather or not humanity avoided the same end a second time rather than just seeing if they evolved at all shows speaks volumes to his character.
This is reminiscent of Clark Ashton Smith’s wonderful Zothique story cycle, taking place on the dying Earth’s last continent. They were all published in one paperback by Ballantine Books in 1970.
We're going to record the Zothique stories eventually.
@@HorrorBabble Well this just made my night. There's nobody really doing audio of stories from the Dying Earth genre. It's an untapped market.
Excellent comparison!
@@HorrorBabble Would you consider recording Les Xipéhuz by obscure Belgian duo J.-H. Rosny? There’s an English translation called The Shapes which would make a fantastic audiobook. It’s a fascinating tale and arguably the first sci fi story
@@MaffBowers Good call! See this in the "The Navigators of Space " translated by the apparently indefatigable Brian Stableford. As far as I'm concerned, Brian would be a giant of SF just of the basis of his "Hooded Swan" series. In recent times he has translated vast amounts of early French SF, and recently some (very) "weird tales". He is lauded in France, but not in this country. Ho hum.
Not JHR, but if anyone wants to dip into this daunting catalogue, I'd recommend Jules Lermina's "Panic in Paris" (1910): monsters rampaging through Paris, comedy English copper, in a romping good story.
BRILLIANT! ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY BRILLIANT!
- I am an avid reader of all things horror & dark fantasy; some of my favorite authors being Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Brandon Sanderson, and Stephen King.
- H.P. Lovecraft is another favorite of mine. I read a couple of his stories, here & there, throughout the years but it wasn’t until a year or so ago when I really became interested in his work, giving it a more in-depth look. After that, I was HOOKED!! So then, my journey into the cosmos began, and so did my discovery of HorrorBabble. 🎉
- It was HorrorBabble that introduced me to Weird Tales and other classics, making my reading journey even more fantastic!! 🖤🖤🖤
The horror of inevitability, I quite enjoyed this one. Thanks as always Ian & Jen.
I just love these old scifi stories that have elements of existential horror. It's now a tie between this and the recent PKD story about the collapsing human space empire that take the top place for my favorite you guys have done. And perfectly voice acted, as always.
Wow, what an ending! I initially had thought of "Empire of the Necromancers", but it turned much darker on account of its indifference. Thank you.
What is this story you speak of, stranger?
I guess just making clones was out of the question? Making starships, even generational starships, was beyond this Gan guys super science mega genius?
Seems like a good example of sinking all your points into INT at the cost of WIS.
Indeed. As I read thoughts were popping up...if Galos had such powers, why did he wait until the great calamity happened. Could have stopped the prevented oceans drying up, used the dwindling humans to reproduce rather than saving the dead in order to resurrect ...
Beautifully narrated. How else would these obscure and strange tales be read today? Although I must say that I was hoping whatziz would wake up to a world peopled by - say, giant cockroaches. The anthrocentrism of the time is amazing: as if "man" could exist without nature! Goodness gracious, wizard, restore nature first, take plants and water, algae and fish out of the past. The world will then live!
Thank you! Such great narration, and this story is one of a kind!
Thank you ☺️
"Oh, no!.. I've slept too long!" - Ash, Army of Darkness :D
"In truth, much as the owners of cats hated these odd folk, they feared them more; and instead of berating them as brutal assassins, merely took care that no cherished pet or mouser should stray toward the remote hovel under the dark trees. When through some unavoidable oversight a cat was missed, and sounds heard after dark, the loser would lament impotently; or console himself by thanking Fate that it was not one of his children who had thus vanished. For the people of Ulthar were simple, and knew not whence it is all cats first came."
More to come; same cat place, same cat time.................as always Remain in light.
Outstanding as always thanks so much Ian hope you're well!😎👍
HorrorBabble is so dang awesome!
I expected crab people evolve.
Am a bit disappointed that we didn't get crab people.
i expected something similiar
“Glandular Injection” is another good band-name.
Napalm Death-style thrash metal I’d vouchsafe.
I was thinking an adult film title. It would take place in a hospital.
I collect a list of good metal band names. Usually they are just fun facts of half sentences so a little long but the implications are HEAVY.
@@markrpatterson9717 “Paging Dr. Stiffrod…”
@@CJM-rg5rt dude you gotta share let's hear it
The first thing I thought of was years back, Eric Weinstein talking of the possibility of a nuclear holocaust, and he used the phrase [casually as someone like him would] "we cannot tolerate a reboot to tardigrades". I always thought that if he was starting a band (and he does have some musical talent), that's certainly what he should call it, Reboot to Tardigrades. It's funny how much that maps onto this story... (I think it was on his first or second JRE if anyone was curious.)
Wonderful. Truly wonderful.
Yes tragic in its way... yet... beautiful in it's simple inevitably. Thanks for the tale old bean. Love from the US CT
I loved the way, after raging at the cosmos, defying extinction, exalting Man, he resurrects a series of uninspired mishaps (still shambling about right now and entertaining millions on TV by trying to eat our brains), he then tries…no, no spoilers! But after patiently watching 4 billion years of his own work you’d think he might have stayed awake until Man evolved….or did he he? A great story! Beautifully delivered as always in a way the author would have been proud to hear!
“The place was an ancient cemetery; so ancient that I trembled at the manifold signs of immemorial years…”
Keep up the good work and, as always, stay safe!
@ Konix. Well, traveler of desolate worlds, here you are again. Did you drag Warren with you to see the sights? Verily tis true that misery loves company etcetera etcetera 😱💀
"Harley, how many times do I have to tell you, take than damn bucket off your head and stop mucking about; it wasn't that funny the first time."
Took me awhile to get into it, but I ended up loving it. Nice writing style, feels almost biblical or otherwise ancient. Thanks for sharing.
Bleak. Loved it.
Excellent. Highly evocative.
@Joseph Kelly. Great that you brought in writings of C Ashton Smith that I haven't heard anyone mention.
I sure would like to get my hands on that paperback...hoping against hope that it is still available somewhere. Many thanks!
Greatest narrator of all time unrivaled
I haven’t read this story in years. Beautiful reading.
A really good one. Loved it. Very atmospheric. I just love that depressive proto-sci-fi stuff.
Your channel is wonderful I love stories like this
You root for the protagonist and his mad mission throughout. This tale touches on destiny, evolution, the limits of science, time slippage, on and on.
I thought I was witnessing the birth of the Imperium of Man, but I was simply witnessing a tragedy
What happens when you forget to put your clock forward before setting the alarm.
Superb! But it seems that the scientist never considered to use his genetic material to the purpose he had in mind.
He could have forced the mad people to reproduce; their children would not have been mad. Yes, terribly unethical, but he does not seem concerned with ethics.
Thank you,!
Loved it! Excellent narration as always.
Rather depressing, but interesting. Thank you!
He's on the right track. He needs to recreate young Earth's conditions once more, but also set up some sensors to wake him up earlier.
This tale personifies the old saying , you can't win for losing.
That was really quite a treat. Thank you guys for your work
Great job 👍
It would be fun if he woke up and the dinosaurs had never died out because there wasn't a second disaster, and they had evolved into an intelligent, or several intelligent, entities. And much nicer than humans.
Now *that* one I like! Oh, a paradise of dinosaurs!!
Ok. That was good.
Masterpiece.
Thank you.
Great reading of a fantastic story, thanks! I first read this many years ago, in one of the many old paperback anthologies in my bookcases, and it's been a favorite ever since.
Great video.
I don't get it, the crazy people from the past would probably have produced normal children. He tried it with far less possible success with the reanimated dead, but he didn't think to try out with the mad people? I find that very hard to believe.
My take: the last man himself was somewhat deranged prior to the commencement of his experiments. I mean, who wouldn't be in such a situation? Ian
RIP Warren
Reminds me of till a the seas
Was thinking that myself. Especially hearing the beginning.
I'm glad his solution wasn't to use his living, sane self to mate with the dead ones (or the crazy ones, I did that once).
SPOILER ALERT
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I know I'm going to be a party wrecker on this one, but this is the story of a man who basically figured out necromancy, time manipulation, suspended animation and terraforming , but couldn't have figured out artificial insemination which has been performed first in 1770. I mean, I know that this is rather a figurative and not strictly a sci-fi story, but still....It is the plot blackholes gaping in the sky that bring true horror to the reader. Yet, Sam Raimi could make something good out of the first part.
You'd think he'd just clone people or uplift animals into a semblance of humanity
I love the last man on earth stories
A grim tale.
Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable.
Coco Chanel
Fabulous tale and on of the most grotesque beginnings I’ve ever heard ☠️
Still hope for the day you narrate Hodgson's "The Night Lands". A monumental task to be sure, but an amazing tale.
There's already a really good LIBRIVOX reading of it available and considering that it's nearly 8 hours long maybe that's asking for a huge investment of time for a limited return, it gets a bit weird and bit boring after about a third of the way through and then picks up again towards the very end so I'm not sure how many listeners would want to listen to it all the way though anyway ?
Although I did and I absolutely enjoyed it.
@@Eris123451 yeah, I've had that one on my phone for 6+ years. Definitely boring after killing the slug until the final leg of the return.
I think Eris123 here as made a good point. We are open to the possibility in the future, but it would require a great deal of effort to pull off. An adaptation might be a more interesting option for future consideration.
Hodgson you say?
@@Eris123451 Sounds like the House on the Borderland.
fascinating........
Curiously weird tale. Reminds me of the likes of The Nightland.
I love the peace that surrounded Galos in this story even though he was all alone.
wow what a fantastc story
👍👍
That was super! Well read as always, and a reminder of the great days when even relatively short SF could take on an epic character, something now tragically largely erased from modern short "SF".
Also an example of EH playing with ideas about terraforming, which he was one of the earliest to put into his writing (OK, here more re-terraforming Terra).
He should have just bred the insane time traveler's like cattle. Harsh but survival of the species and all that.
Yes your are right,depressing but very interesting 😊black humor👍😁😘❤‼
Well, that was different. 😊
Poor Warren
I have some pretty crazy dreams almost every night but I love it.
Funny how our scientist couldn’t escape the inevitable.
All through the narrative, I kept thinking of the tune by King Crimson -- "Epitaph."
In!
❤❤
There is an essence of CAS here, similar in poetic style to “The Last Incantation”.
I did this once.
I wonder if Kirby Drew from this for the origin of Galactus
Dude should have checked his baking half way though.
He probably will on his 2nd attempt.
Zohr? Zorr? Szaor? Zzour? Zoar? ANSWER ME! 👿🖤
Quite extraordinary that English too evolved.
Hamilton clearly left out the bit about the protagonist inventing a universal translator...
The creature evolves to the niche and the language of english has evolved quite a lot as well
171-✅👍🏻
A great story and
Fabulous job!
However, 'tis a good reminder as to why we cremated our bodies after the spirit moves on! So we have peace.
Just breeding the two mindless humans.. in the long term you have a human race.. or he could breed the female with his own seeds..🧐🤔😉
Otherwise our remains will belong to big pharma
Mustard mitt am proper intruiged by this one’s tagline….
The mind boggles.
Well mine does anyway.
"Mustard Mitt" -- talk about band names...
Don't it just figure!
irony alert. The author of this exceptional sci-fi fable is dead. Another powerful reading.
Galos Gan = Cthulhu
Gaylos 😂
sorry I'm so immature at times
Poor Warren is again dead 🤣🤣i hope he would a friendliy ghost someday👻😂hi dear H.B curious at your narration and story 😘❤🤗🥰‼
Warren died twice, in this one.
Why say what the story is about in the intro ?, if I hear the gist I won't listen any further.
All stories published in WT were given a brief synopsis -- just like movies are given loglines.
@@HorrorBabble I understand it, it's just me not you, I love the stories so I tend to skip the first 30 seconds so I haven't a clue of what's about to entail 😀
Wow...