Roddy McDowell, The Hound
My introduction to the weird fiction of H. P. Lovecraft came not from reading but from listening. The bloke who lived across the street owned his own record store, and knowing of my love of monsters, he would sometimes give me horror records. One of these was Roddy McDowell's reading of "The Outsider" and "The Hound." Thus, those two tales served as my introduction to the fabulous world of darkness that is ye fiction of H. P. Lovecraft. Perhaps, having so loved these audio renditions of the two tales, that is why "The Outsider" and "The Hound" remain among my all-time favourite tales by H. P. Lovecraft, stories that have so keenly influenced my own writing.
I got a copy of Roddy McOwall's memorable record in 1963. I was 13 and my father had just retired from the Army. This was just days after I read a Lovecraft story for the first time. It was The Thing on the Doorstep and was in a hardcover collection of stories from the 1940's edited by Boris Karloff. Thank you so much for posting the recording.
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