The Elder Ice: A Harry Stubbs Adventure

By: David Hambling

Narrated by: Brian J. Gill

In this novella set in 1924 London, ex-boxer Harry Stubbs is on the trail of a mysterious legacy. A polar explorer has died, leaving huge debts and hints of a priceless find. His informants seem to be talking in riddles, and Harry soon finds he isn't the only one on the trail - and what he's looking for is as lethal as it is valuable. The key to the enigma lies in an ancient Arabian book and it leads to something stranger and more horrifying than Harry could ever imagine.

Harry may not be an educated man, but he has an open mind, the bulldog persistence and fists like pile drivers - useful assets when you're boxing the darkest of shadows.

The story of mystery and horror draws on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and is inspired by Ernest Shackleton's incredible real-life adventures.

©2014 David Hambling (P)2016 David Hambling

Humorous, action packed listen

I really enjoyed this story. It's full of action, adventure and humor. The narration is excellent. I received a review copy at my request and voluntarily reviewed.

Great short story

Nice Cthulhu-esque short story. I hope the rest of the series are this well done.

A Great Lovecraftian Adventure

I’m a big fan of Lovecraftian horror books, so this (with its great cover artwork) piqued my interest. I’m glad I took a chance on it as I enjoyed it quite a bit. 

The action scenes were probably my favorite part of the book. I’m usually picky about how the action scenes are described and portrayed as it can make or break a book for me, but thankfully, the author David Hambling did a great job depicting the fights that Harry Stubs finds himself partaking in.

I also found the story’s progression and pacing to be well executed. The buildup of the characters and their backstories lead to a great final chapter that was well worth it. The only criticism I could think of was it was too short. Hopefully its future books expand on the story, and the main character Harry Stubs, even further.

I found Brian J. Gill’s performance to be very good. He exceled at the different accents between characters and made it a joy to listen to. I’ll be adding him to my list of Narrators to consider when making future purchases.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

The best Cthulhu adventure in years

THE ELDER ICE is a short investigative novel which is either set in the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft or somewhere very similar. It's very much like a Call of Cthulhu tabletop adventure with the premise of a solictor finding out about a man's possible occult encounters from his estate relics. In this case, I was genuinely surprised to find out it was set in the Cthulhu Mythos and kind of feel bad for bringing it up except I think it will encourage people who wouldn't read the novel normally to give it a shot.

The novel doesn't waste much time and doesn't deal with much actual occult content but deals, more, with the implications of it. Basically, this is a novel about an expedition to Antarctica which never actually gets to Antarctica. It might be resolved in future volumes but I felt a little disappointment there. On the other hand, I liked the Maltese Falcon-esque quest between multiple factions to determine if there's anything worth actually going to Antarctica for.

Harry is an enjoyable everyman protagonist who isn't quite educated enough in theology, biology, physics, or other matters to understand the implications of what he's encountering. He's too "normal" of a person to be effected by it the way a hardened scientist or warrior might be. Still, he's likable enough and I want to pick up the rest of the series because of it.

I appreciated the research done into concepts like the search for the North Pole and the horrific human cost involved in exploring Antarctica. I also like the serious question over whether the man who "might" have found the city of the Elder Things (which might not actually be the Elder Things but an entirely different race which inspired H.P. Lovecraft's writings) was just delusional or even the subject of a fantasy by his own investors desperate to recoup their losses by believing he found more than he did. The ambiguity works well and I liken it to a man who has a fragment of a UFO or a piece of the Holy Grail...or might not.

If I had any complaints, it's that this really does feel like the first half of a larger novel and it's instead more of an intimate journey rather than something big and epic. Sort of like how the Five Orange Pips ended not with Sherlock Holmes going out to fight the Ku Klux Klan in America but all of his enemies dying in a shipwreck.

The audio is excellent in this one and I appreciated the narrator's flourishes to make Harry come alive. No complaints whatsoever.

9/10

Great listen!

Well then. This was a very short audiobook (only coming in at about 3 hours) so this review is probably going to be pretty short as well!

This follows the exploits of Harry Stubbs, a former boxer and now solicitor who specializes in collecting on debts. He ends up following quite a mystery after investigating a rumor that Ernest Shackleton, despite being very much in debt at the time of his death, had found and brought back something priceless on one of his earlier Antarctic expeditions. Dun… dun…. duuuuuuuuuuunnnnn.

The prose was quite well done, and the story was well written. A fair amount of historical research regarding Shackleton’s expeditions went into this story, which was nice. A fair bit of boxing knowledge was in there too. I think it could have been a tad longer, but at the same time, I don’t mind a short audiobook to accompany an afternoon of work, and the story did wrap itself up before the end of the book. It wasn’t too short, I just wish it was longer is all.

This audiobook is narrated by Brian J. Gill, and I will tell you that if he didn’t do the introduction to the audiobook in his natural accent, I would have had no clue that he wasn’t British. He performed this one absolutely beautifully, making each character unique and bringing them all to life with really great accents. Very entertaining, at any rate. Doctor Evans, the tardigrade doctor was my favorite character. So excited about tardigrades! So, so excited.

It’s refreshing when you get a self-published audiobook that has such great narration. I listen to many of them, and have found many with such good narration, but there were also quite a lot that weren’t so good, so I’m always curious when I pick up one where it’ll fall on that spectrum. This one is on the really good side, so hooray! :D

All told I had a really good 3 hours with this one. It was quite an entertaining listen, with some really interesting and unique ideas that were presented really well. All and all, I think I can safely say that I had 4/5 stars of a good time with this one.

*This honest review is based on a free review copy of the audiobook.

Stumbling onto Stubbs

I stumbled across David Hambling while listening to the various anthologies put out by C. T. Phipps . Hambling has the best stories in the bunch. It has the right mix of post Victorian grit with an easily identifiable protagonist. The narration isn't as well done as the other anthologies. (Stubs is much more gravely and cockney).

I just started Broken Meats and I hope it is just as good... the "Chinese" accent is horrendous and kinda racist. (I'm not that far in) Being a pulp fan you have to just rewrite some of that in your head.

Note: I paid for this book and did not receive it for free for a review. Some of us are just that unlucky.

Brilliant! - I highly recommend this book!

The Eldar Ice: A Harry Stubbs Adventure ( book I )

"The Eldar Ice" = "At the Mountains of Madness"

I love Lovecraft.
I love H. P. Lovecraft. I discovered HP Lovecraft in high-shool, along with heavy metal music, and I have been an annoyingly enthusiastic fan of both ever since. I’ve read everything Lovecraft’s written.

Now I hunt for stories and books that take place in the literary mythology that he invented. In his life time Howard Phillips Lovecraft invited other writers to write with-in the worlds he created with his mythos characters, alien-gods, monsters and inter-dimensional - creatures, and thus he started an unending generation of literature in his dark universe. A feat no other writer has ever duplicated.

“The Eldar Ice” is one such book, and a very good one too.

I really enjoyed the lead character, Harry Stubbs. Harry is a retired boxer looking for another trade. His skills as a fighter, and his large muscular physique, make him a fresh take apart from the usual bookish professors in Lovecraft tales. Here’s a character who can punch his way out of a sticky mess, even one with very inhuman monsters.

What’s better than a creepy horror story in H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos? A creepy horror story in H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos with some action thrown in, I say! That is exactly what’s on the menu in these Harry Stubbs books.

Without sacrificing the mood, or the time period, in H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos original tales these stories all take place just after the turn of the century. Limited technology makes hunting the unknown so much creepier through dark foggy London streets.

It’s a smart well written story. Also of note; we are lucky to have a very good narrator make the tale come alive with out taking it over. The only problem I have with "The Eldar Ice: A Harry Stubbs Adventure" is that it’s too short.

I highly recommend this book.

Cracking Mythos Tale

What made the experience of listening to The Elder Ice: A Harry Stubbs Adventure the most enjoyable?

A well written tale with believable characters and evident research on the historicla and scientific topics touched upon in the story.

What did you like best about this story?

There were enough twists in this short tale to keep it interesting. The mythos was present, but not overused. key to a good mythos tale.

What three words best describe Brian J. Gill’s performance?

The accent of the reader jars with a native of the British Isles on the pronunciation of some words, and the Welsh and Irish accents erred on the side of comically stereotypicla, but was otherwise well done.

Any additional comments?

Disclaimer: I received a copy from the author in exchange for a fair review.

New-to-me author, had a good time with Harry

The author contacted me about reviewing this book. I haven’t read many books like this one, as I don’t read a lot historical stories, but I do love a good mystery, so I thought I would give this one a try. My understanding is that this has a Lovecraft aura to it. As I’ve never read Lovecraft, I can’t comment on it, but seems to be a common theme from others who’ve read this work. There is also the Cthulhu mythology in the story.

Harry Stubbs is former military and boxer, turned collections agent. Here, Harry is asked to investigate the now deceased Ernest Shackleton. He is to find out what or if Shackleton found anything when he was exploring Antarctica. Stubbs gets more than he bargains for with this investigation. He is chased by assassins and more, when he was expecting just digging up information without much, if any, danger.

This is a short story, coming in at less than three hours. But it is a full and complete story, taking place in the 1920s. As I’ve said, I don’t read much historical stories, but you can really feel the research that the author did with this story. Mostly, I noticed his research into Antarctic explorations (and that of the Arctic as well), boxing and even the occult of the times. I really fell into the story and the history that went along with it. It made me want to read more about the early explorers of Antarctica.

Harry Stubbs is also a great and fully developed every-man type of character. I really liked Harry. I felt he really wanted to do a good job for his employer and better his station in life, as a guy without a huge amount of education. He wants to see this investigation thing become a bigger part of his role, instead of just being muscle to collect on debts.

If you like stories with science fiction and investigations, set in the past, this is a great story for you to try.

Narration
This is my first time with Brian J. Gill narrating a story. I thought he did a good job with the accents and different voices of the characters. He really brought Harry to life in this story. I would listen to him narrate more stories.

**I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.

A great start to a new series

What did you love best about The Elder Ice: A Harry Stubbs Adventure?

The story was well crafted. I was able to immediately get into it.

What did you like best about this story?

Great historical choices.

Which character – as performed by Brian J. Gill – was your favorite?

Harry Stubbs

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No.

Any additional comments?

Try it. It is fun to listen to.