Podcast Review #28: Hoad’s Grim
Title: Hoad’s Grim (sorry, no graphic available)
Author: Jack Kincaid
Genre: Creature Horror
Released: August 2008 – March 2009
Located: iTunes, Author’s Site
Formats Available: podcast only at this time
Rating: Really and truly ADULT… STRONG R for violence, language, adult situations (read “sex”) and strong horror elements
Every so often, I ask for recommendations when I’m running a bit low on podcast material. I did this a while ago and Dan Rabarts (@rabarts on Twitter) recommended Hoad’s Grim. Being up for something different, I went looking for it. It wasn’t an easy find, but upon finding it, I FINALLY was able to download and eventually subscribe to this podcast (yes, in this case, two separate processes.) To be truthful, I was just feeling stubborn that day I think and decided I WAS going to listen to this story.
So, on to the review.
Synopsis: A synopsis is not provided for this podcast, or “audiobook drama” as the production repetitively refers to itself, so I will be forced to do something I’ve never done before, provide one of my own making (points subtracted).
Chad the handyman is charged with removing a freezer from the property once inhabited by the Hoad family. He does so. The next day it has returned. So begins a recurring series of disturbing occurrences, including suicide, murder, abduction and man ghouls and monsters. (Now you know why I don’t do synopsis.)
Production: I encourage you to look back two weeks at my review of Dan Sawyer’s Down from Ten at this point. I held that podcast up as the epitome of what production could be. I still do. Hoad’s Grim comes close at times though. If there is a difference, it would be in the fact that I believe that Hoad’s Grim was outsourced while Mr. Sawyer definitely was responsible for Down from Ten. Does this make the productions values less, or detract from the story in anyway? Of course not! This podcast really was created as an audiobook drama and contains NO metainformation. What you get is story, and only story.
Cast: According to the author’s site, all the voicework for this podcast was provided by four voices. At least four are all that are credited. None of these names were ones I was familiar with. Mr. Kincaid was included as one of these voices as well. Let me state that whether you like the character’s voices or not, they are done EXCEEDINGLY well. I don’t know if this was a paid cast or not, but the result does indeed sound very professional. (I will also say, that no, I DON’T enjoy all the character’s voices. They all are a bit overdone, but they do tend to grow on you. Even the narrator, which sounds like a European Vincent Price on crack.)
Story: This is definitely a unique story and one that reminded me greatly of a feature length story from The Night Gallery, Outer Limits or possibly The Twilight Zone if written by someone like Steven King.
I am not a huge horror fan. I like a good story, but I’ve rather overdosed on horror lately. I’ve got one or two more in the pipe, but for the most part I will be looking at other genres soon. Hoad’s Grim takes some work to like, or rather, at least it did for me. I will say I had to listen to approximately 3/4 of the eps before I was hooked. This might have been a bit due to the ebullience of the actors, but truthfully, I think it is more the story itself. I’m just not a big fan of King and similar writers.
After having said that, however, I will say that after I hit that 3/4 mark, I mainlined the rest of the eps and was really looking forward to seeing how the story ended. This podcast DID take me almost six months to complete, but I am now glad that I made the effort.
Oh, and by the way, let’s briefly talk about effort. The only place you’re going to find all the eps in one place is on the author’s site. And then only in download form. If you go to the RSS link, or iTunes you won’t be able to find the first 11 episodes. This really is inexcusable. I completely understand anybody that would give up on a story, regardless of ANYTHING else, when the author doesn’t make an effort to make the content available. (If the error is somehow on my part, I humbly and profoundly apologize, but after HOUR’S of annoyance, I don’t think it is.) That being said, I am glad I made the effort.
Verdict: Do you like Steven King? Gremlins and ghoulies? Blood and gore? Gross out images that really play with your mind? If so, Hoad’s Grim is for you and Mr. Kincaid’s has your number. If not? Run from this story like all the demon’s from hell are chasing you.
Disclosure: I do not follow Mr. Kincaid on Twitter. I don’t know if he’s even ON Twitter. I had previously never heard of him and have never heard of any members of the cast of Hoad’s Grim. Since I began doing podcast reviews, I’ve never reviewed a podcast I knew less about.
View from Valhalla 
Thank you as always for the honest Appraisal of this book. I think based on your recommendation I will not be reading it. I don’t discourage others, but I think I will offer this one up as a pass.
Fair enough. As I implied, this one is not for everyone. Thanks for the comment, and even more for taking the time to give it a read.
I used to read King, before he got so gory. I love trick the mind and truly scary stories, (ghosts and haunted places and such like The Shining) but why do they have to be gory? IMHO there is enough in the real world. And so, because of your honest opinion, neither will I go looking for this podcast. Thank you for being persistant!
I’m going to go a bit farther and say I can listen and/or read things like this MUCH easier than I can watch them. Gore in movies is getting beyond the point where anyone can truly justify it. A big screen adaptation of this story would have it’s gory moments indeed. However, to be fair, it truly would only be in the penultimate climax. Until then, it is much more creepy and psychologically spooky for the most part.
Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for taking the time to review Jack’s book, at my recommendation. Hoad’s Grim was the very first audiobook I ever listened to, before I even knew about RSS feeds and iTunes subscriptions, so I had completely forgotten about the download process. Looking back, if I had to manually download and import all the episodes now that I’ve grown used to the ease of hitting the “Get All” button in iTunes, I’d probably have become frustrated too.
Jack Kincaid can be found on Twitter as @jackkincaid9, and is currently working on a new science-fiction audiodrama with a cast of podfic folk including the inimitable Phil Rossi. Looking forward to that.
Thanks again for taking the time to review this book. I hope that a few horror fans out there will go and check it out. For anyone who’s interested in reading a little more, my review can be found here: http://podagogue.blogspot.com/2009/04/review-hoads-grim-by-jack-kincaid.html
Thanks so much for getting me to roam a bit out of my “box” Dan. Like I said in the review, I really did enjoy it once I got into it (even though it took a while to reach that point). I am also hoping that at least a few people check it out, as it does rank very highly in multiple categories. I really wish whomever is in charge of maintaining the site would go ahead and make the effort to get it onto podiobooks and/or iTunes. It does deserve to be heard by the audience that would appreciate it.