As a author I have a policy of not sticking my nose into the arena where my stories are under discussion, as I enjoy each listener/reader taking away what they will from the story, what it means to them. However, here I am fasinated by the perception that this story is political in any way or is a thinly masked sermon of any sort. The role of the "government" and it's actions towards the Deep Ones is clearly defined in The Shadow Over Innsmouth and this story is a continuation of what might have happened after those events through the eyes of the Deeps Ones and their descendents and the are not intended to in any way represent any social groups in human society today. Were this the case, I would gladly admit it. But as an author, I have never used writing as a platform for any political, or ideologica grandstanding as I actually hate that kind of fiction fro amy direction. I believe, for me as a writer and a reade, that fiction is a place to explore things beyond our mudane world. We are all inundated with politicized rage porn from all directions these days 24/7 and that conditioning makes us see it under every bed. Again, I cannot stand that kind of perspective in stories from any point of view and often find myself saying, GIVE IT A REST even if I happen to agree with the position on display. Several of my stories focus on the Deep Ones from their perspective and I try to explore posible experiences,fears, journeys, transformations, and yes agendas, from the position of these purely fictional beings, never as stand-ns for any human groups. I am saying all this not in any sort of defense of myself, but rather a defense of my borrowing of HPL's Deep Ones as they become my own characters. I believe they deserve to be looked at and explored and loved or hated on their own merits and many times outside of their relation to humanity, again, not as any metaphor or stand-in for any other people or groups. Such a strange creature with such a long legacy would have fascinating stories to tell. I hope we can enjoy them as they are, not as we are conditioned through the madness of contemporary media, to mispercieve them. Good night and good luck. And many thanks for the kind words from those who liked the story. They mean a lot. --Aaron Vlek

Ian's voice is wonderful. His pronunciation and enunciation are perfect. I'm sick, of A.I. and people who can't speak clearly.

"The human mind isn't capable of understanding the human mind. But it is all any of us have to work with." -The Attic Expeditions 👏👍👋

"Drain the Swamp" the sign of the times is showing

The art is pretty much how I feel at the wee hours of the morning finding a good story to listen to while finishing off my graveyard shift

To quote the great Peter Stormare in one on his best roles, "I do so love the old names!". A fantastic contribution to the mythos, thank you HB!

Major props to Vishnu Prasad in that this image has been on my recommendations for a week, and each times makes me exclaim aloud. It inexorably calls to mind the Shadow over Innsmouth, so no surprise at the intro to this one.

Caption of photo should say; "Man does Keto diet wrong way."

To the narrator: such mastery of pauses and pace

I love this! The name drops, the lore expansion. This is what the Mythos needs, modern fans expanding and exploring the world of Lovecraft with good tie ins to the original stories.

I love all the readers for horror stories, but you are my favourite. When I hear, Warren you fool,I settle down and enjoy. ❤

Make them sound as delightful as you'd like, I'm still with old Zadok Allen 🤔

Mythos March???? Dude, if I'd known, I would have subscribed years ago, already am now, but didn't know this was a thing, thanks for making the month of my birthday so much fun!

Thank you Ian!

Perfect timing. Thank you!

A great reading as always but did not really get into the story. In fact lost interest midway but hung in there till the end.

Just what I needed today-a new HorrorBabble!!

Really loved the humane element of this story. With the right sound and visual design, what an amazing videogame this would make!

Ian or rather Mr. Gordon, thank you for your amazing truly amazing service to us on UKposts

Many thanks as always Ian!😎

Perfect timing right as my shift started!!!

The thumbnail art is genuinely masterfull, and excellent job narrating this yarn of Azorhothery

That is some creepy-ass artwork! It reminds me of The Damp Man.

It's beginning to look alot like Fish-men, every where I go! 🎶 🖤🐙

The days HorrorBabble audios drop are very good days. And this one is deliciously Lovecraftian

Rejoice! A new HorrorBabble video is up and Warren is still dead.

Thanks for the story! Great narration as always!

I love this author! Always excited to see their work.

This is fantastic. Love to see the lore explored from a different in-universe perspective like this. Very nicely written and, as always, well read.

As always fantastic' though instead of hiding ones head under the duvet in fright of the story!! This time was because of the picture?? Cos it's the uncanny lookalike of my ex wife ahhhhh 😳 hahaha🤣😂😅...

Way to make me sympathise with fish-like-frogs and frog-like-fishes.

This is EVERYTHING I’ve ever wanted from the Mythos. Bravissimo.

Love the familiar family names creeping up again in a way that feels fairly natural and sensible. This tale was a good choice.

Fantastic story and narration! Dr. Gilman! How fitting. Amazing. Then, later, he lists the names of the research colleagues he works with. Awesome. Looking forward to reading more works by this author. Amazing tale. Thanks!!

Bravo to both author and narrator. Well done.

This was amazing!! I would love to hear more stories about the dream-swimmers. It felt a bit like a Lovecraftian Inception!

That's very creepy art.

Needed this today, thank you!! 💜

Enter the pool at the shallow end,and dream swim to the sound of the deepest darkest depths of imagination, keeping within your lane,💀

❤‍🔥

That thumbnail reminds me of gwent's selfeater monster/relict 😊😊

It's set in lovecraft's world, yes. But it lacks his style, and even his finesse. In lovecraft's work, you rarely see the protagonist take a truly active role. Things happen to them, but they almost never push back in a violent or forceful way. If they do, it is either pointless, or it still ends badly for them.

So he was insane? He just threw all the patients into the sea and killed the staff? Or maybe it was all real and eldritch evil wins over more reasonable human evil. Perfect ambiguity and a true Mythos story.

Thank you ❤

Sounds like a Delta Green project

Ohhh, Dr. GILL-man! ;) Another great story & Lovely narration. Thank you!

I'm hoping that the Dream Swimmers have more adventures. I got a serious 'cycle' vibe from this, much like the John Silence or Carnacki stories, where this 'team' might have to deal with other misunderstood inhabitants of the Lovecraftian canon.

I think that’s maybe the best Innsmouth look illustration I’ve ever seen 🤘properly creepy. Magic ❤

I wasn't sure I'd like this tale but I really did. I'm glad the Majestic Marsh had a happy ending.

beautiful story with real people. Innsmouth - a magical place. Ian’s reading bringing all this to us. thanks, sweetie-person 🌷🌱

Wow just wow keeping the Lovecraft mythos alive 😎

This story sounds nice & hopeful but is but the beginning of another nightmarish era in Innsmouth.

Wonderfully read, Ian! A great addition to the mythos. The subtext in the story is interesting. I consider it malleable, honestly, but I wonder what Vlek chose for it to mean. More enjoyable to leave it a mystery, perhaps!

Is this the one with Green Goblin and Batman?

Love this! Well read, and well written! Bringing Innsmouth closer and closer. I love it.

Carnacki the Ghost Finder is the best

Vlek is always amazing and never fails.

Mr. Warren's demise is being grossly exaggerated.

Thank god for not using AI. Seriously love that. Praise Yeshua. Lord of light in a world of darkness. I walk without fear because I know you wait for me

I know I’m the millionth person to ask this but it’s worth a shot - where does “You FOOL !!!…Warren is dead.” come from ? How can I properly mourn Warren if I don’t know the specifics of his demise ? I am thrilled to be returning to Innsmouth after so long. I very seldom comment on this channel because there’s nothing I have to add. As far as I’m concerned and as a horror fanatic this is the best channel on UKposts. Nothing more to be said.

This highlights a problem with a lot of fiction. It's just another permutation of stuff we definitely heard before

Magnificent once again. I think this is my new favorite. Well done sir.

Truly a disturbing thumbnail. Bravo Horror Babble, bravo 👏!

Another amazing tale! What a month!

Woooo! Edit to add: just finished it. Great story and reading!

One of the best out of very many I have heard .

Great tale from Ms. Vlek and amazing telling Ian. She has many Lovecraftian tales and great to hear on Horrorbabble. 💀

Aaron Vlek! Hells yeah!

Excellent. Thank u .😀

I like this story, but I feel it's missing a conclusion. Is it turning the Lovecraftian horror around to make the humans just as horrible? Or is it trying to say that the doctor's good intentions misled him into freeing monstrosities? It's difficult to say here, and considering Lovecraft himself would have very clearly chosen the latter, I wish this would more firmly go into the former, portraying the Innsmouth people and Deep Ones as regular people with no anti-human agenda.

On his 200th and something day lost in the Taklamakan desert, Warren spotted a lone, dusty white bearded figure in tattered robes and a turban standing next to a donkey. In the old man's hand hands he clutched a board nearly as weathered as himself. Scrawled on it in wild Arabic was a single word: "Out." Curious, Warren broke from the caravan to meet him. "Out? You mean out of here?" he asked. The man nodded his assent, "Yes, Effendi. I alone know the way out. Though I ask payment for my humble services." Warren was taken aback, "How much?" The old man grinned, "How much do you have, Effendi?" After much haggling, Warren paid the old man 100£, 5,000CN¥, 10,000₹, and 6 cigarettes - half up front, half on arrival. "Call me Warren" Warren said. Stuffing the payment in his, robes the old man nodded at a high dune some miles away and started off, donkey in tow in a slow walk. Warren took some minutes to bid farewell to his Arab rescuers, who assured him he'd be back. Then he raced after the old man. In the first mile a passing Song official sneered at them from his palanquin. "Idiots!" he spat in Mandarin. "You could spare yourselves exhaustion if you rode the donkey." The old man shrugged, mounted the animal, and bade Warren to get on too. The donkey struggled through the sand with much complaint with the two passengers. They'd hardly gone another mile when they passed the gaggle of Chinese airline passengers. A matronly woman in a Gucci dress clutching a small dog yelled, "How can you be so inhumane! You'll wear the poor animal out! It's animal cruelty, I say! The poor beast!" Chagrined, Warren dismounted and led the donkey. They'd made almost another mile before a pair of Buddhist monks crossed their path. "Look, oh student" the eldest monk said. "See how fatuous belief in tradition leads to an old man tyrannizing the younger generation, riding the donkey in comfort while his son walks in the hot sun." The old man shrugged, dismounted, and urged Warren to remount the donkey. The old man led the donkey. Hardly another mile passed before the elder of a pack of Nasrani Christians admonished his followers aloud "Look how we approach the Second Coming as the world falls further into Sin! The young man rides while his elderly father walks. Shame!" Shaking his head, Warren dismounted and they both set off on foot, donkey in tow. Mercifully they didn't see anyone else. Zig zagging up the high dune, they finally reached the summit, Warren panting for breath. Looking out he despaired at seeing only another continuous dune vista. Significantly lower dunes, to be sure. But dunes stretching far as his eye could see. Worse, in the distance he sighted the ominous dust cloud of the evening sand storm. He looked darkly down at his companion, who smiled beatifically up at him from a seated position. Lighting one of Warren's cigarettes, the old man said in a weedy but calm voice, "Always in motion, the sands of the Taklamakan. So, too, the planets, moons, and son heavens above. Certainly the travelers of ages who walk, walk, walk seeking escape. It is the will of Allah. There is only one way to escape it. That is to be...still." Exhausted and with no options, Warren sat hugging his knees and watched the sandstorm approach as the light dimmed. 10 minutes later the old man flicked his cigarette away, the ember arcing into the night. Then he partially unwound his turban to cover his face. Warren did likewise with his keffiyeh just before the sand wave engulfed them all. Warren jerked forward and woke with a start, his forward motion stopped by a seat belt. "We're here Effendi!" the turbaned old man in the front seat said, looking over his shoulder at Warren through the plexiglass. As if in a dream, Warren unbuckled himself and climbed out of the hackney cab. Shutting the door, he noticed they'd stopped in a pub. A pub in London by the looks of it. God he could use a pint he thought and started towards it. "Ahem" he heard behind him. Remembering, Warren turned and reached into his pockets for the fare. The bills came out - along with a copious amount of sand. He handed them through the window to the weathered brown hands. The old man nodded, "It was good meeting you, Warren." Warren realized he'd never asked the old man's name. But he didn't need to. He knew. Adding a generous tip, Warren grinned, *"You fool! Warren is dead!"*

Thanks for another great story!

I enjoy Aaron Vlek's stories.

So happy someone wrote a sequel to Shadow Over Innsmouth. Wonderful story!

Eyy

I forgot what year you had mentioned this story was written in, so I genuinely thought this was a near-contemporary story to Lovecraft, like 1930s or 1940s at latest. It captured the style of early-mid 20th century horror literature so perfectly, aside from one or two exceptions.

One of the best channels on youtube, amazing story and reading.

Great listen!

Here's hoping for more Aaron Vlek stories

Another great story! Thank you so much.

Miskatonic is world reknowned.. !

Absolutely the best. Someone espied my dreams of a pro-deep one story and wrote it for me.

Such deplorable people! So much delicious subtext!

Oh Nice! I like the longer content.

Loved this one. :D

3:50 The idea that Lovecraft exists in the universe he created and is just the same pulp author as his irl self is kind of hilarious

there is nothing wrong with wanting to be a fish. again. to shed the limbs and hair and other accumuled fleshy layers of aeons. a wise preemption of the coming global flood, where land is but a memory.

I enjoyed this addition to the Mythos very much!

Awesome work as always

You are still finding stonking mad bangers after all these years. Please invite Mr Vlek to gibber eldritch secrets any time he likes! I love these fresh expansions to the mythos.

MORE CARNACKI !!!!!

What a great story, weaving together so many of lovecraft's character lineages and story arcs.

"Dr. Gillman" I see what you deed there Aaron :)

Fantastik story!

yayy!!!

Good thing the illustration isn't disturbing looking or anything like that ...

This is simply brilliant 👏

That was an awesome story.

Sorry but no one's ever going to make me feel sympathy for the Dagon people.

13:55