““Now” he continued “let me ask you another question. What do you think of the people who made formal submission two months ago? Who live over there?” Ptolemy pointed to the northwest coast. To where one of the tributaries of the Indus broke of and enclosed an area of low coast and islands largely cut off on the northward side by huge swamps. A dubious broken belt of land and water.

Seleucus hawked and spat. “That for those people! Dirty b******s! – all stinking of fish. Stupid nasty starring eyes looking at you without blinking. Ugly wattled necks like old women. It looked to me as if some of the catamites had webbed fingers. Just like peasants who go about their business with their cousins too much”.

Both men shuddered.”

Listen to this chilling story masterfully blending the grandeur of Alexander the Great's campaigns with the chilling cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. A story written by Stephen Sinclair author of Widdershins, Wandering Oscar, the Bad Bathmat, Revert, Miracles, the Seeker's Gambit, the Marcian, Colonialism, the Frantic Frank and the Perpetual Motion Machine and many others.Read by Naya Nomikou.

Come join us!

#AlexanderTheGreat #HistoricalHorror #Lovecraftian #DeepSeaHorror #DivingBell #OriginalHorrorStory #CreepyStories #AudioHorror #NarratedHorror #AncientEvil

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Before the pyramids, before Babylon, before humans were anything more than “Thumb Thumb Apes”, two creatures walked between our world and the Lands of Dreams: the Cats, and the Zoogs.

In the twin cities of Sholl and Haberon, beneath the brooding mountain of Sholl-Haberon, a quiet war played out that would reshape the boundaries of reality itself. The Zoogs came with cunning and guile, seeking the blood of children and the warmth of the fire. The Cats came with defiance, refusing to kneel and in doing so, earned a place in our world forever.

Everything is better because the Cats are here. And if you’ve ever seen your cat staring at nothing in a dark corner…perhaps they’re watching what remains of the Zoogs, still trying to find a way back.

🔔 Subscribe for more original Mythos tales, dream-lore, and cosmic horror.

#CthulhuMythos #Lovecraftian #Dreamlands #Zoogs #Cats #HorrorStory #CosmicHorror

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doublens.substack.com

Why do some of us find more comfort in a bleak ghost story than in relentless positivity? In this piece of a sprawling, good-humoured defence, we wander through the shadowy territory of Weird Fiction. From Lovecraft and Machen to Robert Aickman’s quietly surreal strangeness.

We tackle four prickly questions:

1. Isn’t weird fiction very morbid, violent, and depressing? (Spoiler: Radiohead and real ale may hold the answer.)

2. Who actually reads this stuff? (A friendly pushback against Houellebecq’s “people who love life do not read.”)

3. Do you have to believe in the supernatural to enjoy it? (Why the physicists are secretly laughing at their own models.)

4. Is it even real literature? (Angry librarians, evangelical nay-sayers, and why England’s metaphysical thinkers chose ghost stories over philosophy.)

Expect dry humour, library anecdotes, a woman nicknamed “Mrs Rhyme-With-Witches,” and a man walking through the woods holding a dryad’s still-attached breas.

Weird Fiction is rarely as gory as you fear, and far stranger than you imagine.

Come join us. Let us know what you think.

If you enjoy our work, a like and a share go a long way.

#WeirdFiction #Lovecraft #RobertAickman #MRJames #HorrorLiterature #StrangeStories #BookTube #LiteraryEssay #WeirdTales #CosmicHorror #DefenseOfWeirdFiction #Houellebecq #RadicalUncertainty #GhostStories #LiteratureLovers

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doublens.substack.com

Welcome to the place where Foundation Protocol (SCP) meets Lovecraft's Dream Cycle!

“And.... someone. Someone. It wasn’t me. Has written something all over my notes. Again, again and again.

Zoog’s Zoog’s Zoog’s!!”Cosmic horror, weird fiction, and scientific dread, echoing the tones of Lovecraft's "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" and Chambers' "The King in Yellow".

00:00 Specimen Five – Express Horror Story Introduction

00:00:12 Unknown Creature Analysis: Fur, Teeth, and Predator Traits

00:00:50 Scientific Examination of a Cryptid-Like Specimen

00:01:17 Primate Hands, Raccoon Paws, and Other Anomalies

00:01:39 Underground Base Explosion and Creature Connection

00:02:07 Why Cats Fear Specimen Five

00:02:26 Disturbing Odor and Movement Patterns

00:02:45 Catfish-Shaped Monster: Anatomy Breakdown

00:03:04 The Yellow Eyes That Defy Biology

00:03:41 Dream-Seeing Organs? Strange Neurological Discovery

00:04:05 Impossible Anatomy: No Digestive System

00:04:24 Zoogs! The Unexplained Writing in the Notes

00:04:47 Horror Story Ending: The Cats’ Final Reaction

Come. Listen.

Subscribe now and let the horror unfold…

#CosmicHorror #WeirdFiction #Lovecraftian #Dreamlands #SpecimenFive #ExpressHorror #KingInYellowVibes #AudioDread

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doublens.substack.com

Ages and ages pass and Oscar suffers the repercussion of his actions. “His pain had been a sea, but a final drop had fallen, and it became an ocean. All the oceans.”

The Angel had told him that only flesh would ease the pain.

But he had also told him that maybe he had a chance at redemption.

This is the final part of the story.

If you liked the story, leave us a comment. Or share it with someone who might enjoy it!

Written by Stephen Sinclair.

Narrated by Naya Nomikou.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doublens.substack.com

The story follows Lord Henry de Quarterly, a wealthy Elizabethan nobleman who attempts an immortality ritual using dark magic from the “Liber Nefastus Nomina” (The Book of Unlawful Names).

When the ritual backfires, he becomes Wandering Oscar - a skeleton bound to a hill, suffering eternal pain and thirst for blood.

“Wandering Oscar” is written by Stephen Sinclair.

Narrated by Naya Nomikou.

Stay connected for the 3rd and final part of the story, coming next Sunday.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doublens.substack.com

The story follows Lord Henry de Quarterly, a wealthy Elizabethan nobleman who attempts an immortality ritual using dark magic from the “Liber Nefastus Nomina” (The Book of Unlawful Names).

“Wandering Oscar” is written by Stephen Sinclair.

Narrated by Naya Nomikou.

This story comes in three parts. Stay tuned for the next two.

Post picture by betidraws on Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/users/betidraws-23986844/

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doublens.substack.com

Welcome to our first Podcast where we present to you "My Lady of The Sea" - An Express Horror Story.

A painter loses the use of his hands. The sea calls him home. Listen to “My Lady of the Sea,” an express horror story set in the Cthulhu Mythos following the events of H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow over Innsmouth.The dark secrets of the Marsh family and the terrifying call of the Deep Ones.

Written by Stephen Sinclair.

Narrated by Naya Nomikou.

00:00:00 My Lady of the Sea (Stephen Sinclair Horror Story)00:00:17 Artist Cursed by a Strange Disease00:02:21 The Cave and the Ruined Church00:03:36 The American Rembrandt's Exile00:04:36 Ancient Fish Symbol Discovered00:06:02 The Mysterious Woman by the Sea00:06:42 Terrifying Dreams from the Deep00:07:13 The Bernice Marsh Revelation00:08:24 The Ocean Calls Him Home00:08:35 Secret Passage Behind the Cave Wall00:09:01 The Web-Footed Ones Arrive00:09:31 Horror Story Ending

“The painter, John McDonald wept.

Normally he did not express much emotion. To such an extent that at Harvard there had been jests about ‘his cold northern heritage’ and he’d been called ‘Dead John’ and ‘Rock McDonald’.

But the truth had - of course, been, that like many of his kind, he felt things so deeply that they could not be expressed with southern frivolity. His sentiments were too vast.

But he bitterly wept now. Because he could no longer paint. Couldn’t even hold the brush. He’d tried. And it had fallen pathetically from his grasp. The disease had progressed to the stage where his fingers not only curled inwards. They actually seemed to have shortened. The mottled growths of skin between them grown worse.”

There you have it! If you enjoyed that, a like and a share go a long way. And drop a comment for Naya & Stephen. While you’re at it, subscribe to DoubleN-DoubleS!

[The music used on this episode was produced by Sascha Ende, under CC BY 4.0 License. Link: https://ende.app/en/

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A philosophical piece of poetry. Something that sits between science fiction and moral reflection. The core idea is strong: discovery tests character more than knowledge.

“From very early boyhoods hour.

I have asked.

Are there mountains of crystals that soaring majestic into a sky of vermilion and many moons?

Never sullied by our eyes.

Reposing in adamantine solidity. In the sea of time”

Written by Stephen Sinclair.

Read by Naya Nomikou.

The music used on this episode was produced by Sascha Ende, under CC BY 4.0 License. Link: https://ende.app/en/

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doublens.substack.com

Today we’ve got something different. We’ve got a piece where Stephen shares his thoughts on the future of weird fiction and why he believes it has got a future.

“Of all the writers of fiction of the last hundred and fifty years, only four will be read or listened to into ‘deep future time’.

The so called, mainstream authors - the literary Avant-Gard and their adoring ‘respectable critics’ will all disappear like smoke. All of them. A few writers work will survive as regional curiosities. With no global reach.

The likes of Hemingway and Steinbeck will have a few readers. But overwhelmingly they will be the preserve of academics.

The big ‘air port authors’ will be completely forgotten.

Who are the writers who will go on and on? Far into the future?”

And that’s today’s post, folks! Give this a like and a share, and let Naya & Stephen know what you thought in the comments. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to Doublen-DoubleS below!

[The music used on this episode was produced by Sascha Ende, under CC BY 4.0 License. Link: https://ende.app/en/

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit doublens.substack.com