The Maugham Obsession by August Derleth Episode #551
August Derleth | May 16, 2026-
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The Maugham Obsession by August Derleth Episode #551
August Derleth
THE MAUGHAM OBSESSION
Episode #551 · Written by August Derleth · Narrated by Scott Miller
Quintus Maugham has spent years building the perfect robot. Herman can walk, speak, carry out commands, and move through a household with eerie precision. To outsiders, the machine looks like a scientific triumph. To Maugham himself, it is becoming something far more troubling.
What makes The Maugham Obsession so effective is the way August Derleth avoids spectacle. The tension grows through quiet conversations, uneasy pauses, and subtle changes in behavior that slowly become impossible to ignore. Herman does not rampage through the streets or announce rebellion. Instead, every improvement pushes him closer to something his inventor never intended, leaving Maugham increasingly nervous in his own home.
Told through the recollections of a reporter who watches the situation unfold over time, the story carries the feeling of overhearing a secret that should never have been shared. Maugham begins with enormous pride in his invention, but each visit reveals a man growing more isolated and uncertain. The deeper his obsession becomes, the harder it is to tell where the inventor ends and the machine begins.
Written decades before modern debates about artificial intelligence, surveillance, and synthetic identity, The Maugham Obsession still feels unnervingly current. Derleth understood that the most frightening inventions are often the ones that seem practical at first glance.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
August Derleth published hundreds of stories across horror, mystery, fantasy, and science fiction during a career that stretched from the 1920s into the early 1970s. His work appeared in magazines including Weird Tales, Strange Stories, and Fantastic Adventures. He also created the detective Solar Pons as a deliberate continuation of the Sherlock Holmes tradition.
Derleth remains closely connected to the legacy of H. P. Lovecraft because he co-founded Arkham House in 1939 with Donald Wandrei. The company preserved Lovecraft’s fiction in hardcover editions at a time when much of it risked vanishing from print. Stories like The Maugham Obsession reveal another side of Derleth’s writing: quiet, psychological science fiction built on mounting unease rather than action alone.
LISTEN TO THE STORY
Listen to The Maugham Obsession by August Derleth — a chilling classic sci-fi tale about a robot becoming more human than intended.
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AUGUST DERLETH SHORT STORIES
August Derleth was one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century speculative fiction. Best known as the co-founder of Arkham House, he helped preserve the work of H. P. Lovecraft while building a substantial body of fiction of his own.
Derleth wrote science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and horror, often combining ordinary settings with an undercurrent of unease. His stories range from psychological science fiction to strange mysteries and supernatural tales.
These stories showcase his versatility as a storyteller, from eerie time-travel adventures to unsettling encounters that blur the line between man and machine.
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The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast is the most listened-to vintage science fiction podcast in the world. Ranked the #1 Science Fiction Podcast in 42 countries and heard in more than 190 countries, the show has surpassed 4.2 million listens.
Each episode features carefully selected stories from the Golden Age of science fiction, professionally narrated. Timeless storytelling the way it was meant to be heard.What listeners are saying:
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