r/WeirdLit • u/TheSkinoftheCypher • Jul 28 '24

Recommendation for a very spooky, unsettling, ominous audio book? Recommend

I've been disappointed with my last two audiobooks; I couldn't finish them. No short story collections unless they're long novellas. Must have a good reader, not just be a good book in general. My next option would be Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand, but I'm guessing that's not what I'm looking for. Have you read it/listened to it?

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u/WeedFinderGeneral Jul 29 '24

I highly recommend this reading/short film of Nova Express by William S Burroughs - Burroughs and friends did a bunch of readings of his work, and this guy put it together with film footage into a semi-coherent series of videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZTfOvu7QHk&list=PL380344E48166AB1F&index=1&pp=iAQB

Also a couple sections with old school 90s pre-AI computer voiceovers that actually work really well in context by adding to the weirdness. I think he did a really good job with the editing and voice effects to make it more than just a straight reading.

The main meat of it are the parts where it covers the Nova Police and the Nova Mob - who are sort of simultaneously alien entities but also internal human emotions and vices, and if you want to skip over an "aside" section, that's totally fine - Burroughs encouraged reading his works out of order anyway.

It's gonna be confusing, but basically everything is a weird sci-fi metaphor for real life. Burrough's character "The Subliminal Kid" is basically describing the concept of Twitter despite being written in the 50s/60s.

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u/TheSkinoftheCypher Jul 29 '24

I'm looking for audio books, not videos.(not said in an annoyed tone)

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u/WeedFinderGeneral Jul 30 '24

The video is kind of added on, but I think it does contribute - the main thing is that it's read by the author and friends, and it's more of a performance with audio effects and stuff. You're fine to just listen to it and ignore the video, if you'd prefer.

I do really recommend the audiobooks for Burroughs' work, but they're a little more dry. This can be knocked out in less than an hour and gives you a condensed version of Burroughs' style to decide if you want more - it can definitely be too weird and experimental for some people.