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MockingQuantum posted:That's so disappointing about Dead Silence, I absolutely love the (fairly small?) subgenre of "haunted spaceship" horror sci-fi, but there's not a whole lot of books that do it well. I might try reading it even knowing it's not great, lol. I feel like the last book in that genre that I enjoyed was Ship of Fools, and that's been out for ages at this point. Obscura was also in a similar vein but that one fell pretty flat for me. Have you tried The Last Astronaut? Not a bad haunted spaceship story.
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May 4, 2022 14:22
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MockingQuantum posted:I haven't read All the White Spaces, but on the subject of Antarctic horror, if you haven't read Michelle Paver's Dark Matter it is excellent. That goes for everyone in the thread, really, it's probably one of the better or best horror novels I've read in the last couple of years. Nothing groundbreaking, just solid and tense and entertaining. It's not even new, I think it came out in the early 2010s, but for whatever reason I never really heard anything about it until the last couple of years. Thanks for the rec, that looks right up my alley! I also saw she has a horror book called Thin Air that's a Himalaya climbing expedition ghost story, and I went ahead and picked that up too. I think the only other mountaineering ghost story I've read so far is The White Road by Sarah Lotz, which also has some great creepy caving sequences. (I love caving horror too, but it seems hard to come by!)
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May 4, 2022 14:50
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Flaggy posted:Have you tried The Last Astronaut? Not a bad haunted spaceship story. I really wanted to like this one cos I love the idea of spaceship-horror and also haven't found anything that's lived up to 'Ship of Fools' since reading it 10 years ago, but I couldn't finish The Last Astronaut. It felt like every character had been given a single driving motive, and that they would make whatever decision no matter how stupid so long as it fit with that motive. By the halfway point I was asking 'why would you do that' so frequently I just couldn't keep going. Looking forward to giving 'All the White Spaces' a shot as I love arctic exploration/horror and have already read Dark Matter and The Terror. I also recently finished Revelator which I loved, Southern Gods which was fine but not great, and Winterset Hollow which is more dark fantasy than horror maybe? Thought it was great though.
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May 4, 2022 22:43
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Orphans of Bliss, an anthology of addiction horror came out recently. It's the third in the series. The first was not great. The second was fantastic. So this final one should be good if the pattern sticks. Any other fellow addicts that like to read about addiction horror?
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May 8, 2022 02:06
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escape artist posted:Orphans of Bliss, an anthology of addiction horror came out recently. I am an addict and I cannot imagine something that would please me less to read.
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May 8, 2022 03:04
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Got Last Exit from the library, and according to my ereader it'll take about 17hrs to read, and I have it for 18 days 
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May 8, 2022 16:17
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm totally out of the loop so I'm not sure what shouldn't be missed or has just come out, but this seems like a useful list: https://tornightfire.com/all-the-horror-books-were-excited-about-in-2022/ Does Nightfire offer free ebooks like Tor proper does every month?
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May 10, 2022 16:05
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I could see them doing that in the future, but the imprint only just launched so they don't have a huge backlog to do the free ebook thing with yet. (At least with regular Tor, it seems like most of those free giveaways have been stuff like "book 3 in this series comes out in a few months, so here's a free copy of book 1 so get you interested and buy the other two!")
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May 10, 2022 16:50
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Yeah they haven't mentioned anything about a book club thing but I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a thing. I could see it being even better suited to Nightfire, given how many one-shot horror short stories and novellas there are on Amazon. That said, I have no idea how well (or not) those do, I know I've bought a good handful over the years and found new authors that way. I know I have a handful of free ebooks from Tor that are four novellas packaged together, like "Asian Diaspora Sci-Fi" and "New Voices in Cosmic Horror" or whatever, and that format seems even more suited to Nightfire.
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May 10, 2022 17:40
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It's more "dark fairy tale thriller" than horror, but the horror groups on Facebook have been fishing about it so... You ever read a book and, even before you finish it, you already know it's going to rank among your favorites of all time? I just binged Winterset Hollow over the course of 2 days and I can't believe how good it was. I'm shocked that this is the only book Jonathan Edward Durham has published because the prose is incredible.
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May 16, 2022 05:55
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Count Thrashula posted:It's more "dark fairy tale thriller" than horror, but the horror groups on Facebook have been fishing about it so... Got an elevator pitch? I just looked at the blurb on Amazon and it's not exactly a great pitch, but a lot of those are terrible so it's not super meaningful especially because it doesn't describe the tone or action in any specifics. It just gave me the idea that it's Redwall meets Midsommar, which I'm assuming is inaccurate so I'm happy to hear more.
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May 16, 2022 06:47
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A group of friends who are big fans of this book (sort of a watership down/redwall type of thing) go to visit the home of the author since one of them got an offer to come on a tour, but when they get there they find out that the story in the book is more real than they imagined and much darker than they know it to be, and... Yeah honestly midsommar isn't the worst comparison.
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May 16, 2022 07:07
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Count Thrashula posted:A group of friends who are big fans of this book (sort of a watership down/redwall type of thing) go to visit the home of the author since one of them got an offer to come on a tour, but when they get there they find out that the story in the book is more real than they imagined and much darker than they know it to be, and... Yeah honestly midsommar isn't the worst comparison. I said that as a joke like it was a pickles and peanut butter combo, but actually fantasy rodent story turned dark fantasy with horror elements could kind of be my jam. Who am I kidding, my To Read pile is getting anemic and I might need to 5-6 books to go at the drop of a hat these days. Sold.
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May 16, 2022 07:21
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Finished up Phantoms by Dean Koontz over the weekend. I thought it started off strong, but lost it's way halfway through with redundancies, extraneous subplots that don't add much to the story or world or characters, and what felt like the author trying to figure out what the actual monster in this book was going to be. It's an interesting homage to Lovecraft in many ways. Not just the amorphous Eldritch Horror that is the books "villain", but in the prose, the small town setting, the Learned Protagonist(s) observing things and spouting long passages of theories, even the prosaic fake-outs that Lovecraft loved ("They had no way of ever knowing it, but, in fact, that very moment would be the last that one of them would be a living creature..."). It's one of the few Lovecraft-inspired stories that reads like a Lovecraft story, but also realizes that modern audiences expect actions and resolutions and not just dream logic and characters musing on how insane they've become. I was surprised by the conservative streak through-out the book? Cops are good guys and heroes (except for the one cop who is bad, which we know because he has aspirations to sexually assault an underage girl), the government is super helpful and believes the heroes, a product of capitalism used for environmental recovery is the secret weapon against the villain... Even more bizarre misplaced fear occurs, like how bikers are coded as evil (Satanists, in fact), and they boast about rape and murder while they're getting high on marijuana; marijuana is, in multiple passages, referred to as a dangerous gateway drug that leads characters to use PCP or other hard substances (which has been proven false, and, in fact, is the opposite; marijuana use cuts back on harder substance abuse) or murder. Of the four sets of villainous characters, two of them are rapists and there's a bizarre section about bikers kidnapping girls for gangbangs. Just really strange stuff, Dean. The book concludes with a lot of passages of "Good vs. Evil", which feels incredibly shoe-horned and also, uh, irrelevant. There's this idea that the creature at the heart of the novel is Pure Evil, but it's also a reflection of Mankind's Penchant For Evil, but that also means there's Pure Good and possibly guidance from an Almighty. Except a wolf isn't evil for killing a deer, a snake isn't evil for killing a rat, a dog isn't evil for killing a bunny. Arrogance, narcissism and egotism isn't inherently evil, even if an Eldritch abomination is the one feeling them; they're human mental constructs we've built out of the belief that we're the best and smartest species on the planet. So the novel manages to posit that "Maybe this creature is only 'evil' because it learned it from humanity?" but then concludes that there's this binary of Good/Evil, which doesn't really make sense with actual human behavior, and how nature works. (Are humans Evil for factory farming? Yes. But does that mean we are ONLY Evil? No. etc.) It was a bit too long in the tooth. The characters bleeded together. The finale felt a little forced and too convenient. But you know what? It was fun and memorable.
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May 16, 2022 16:15
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Franchescanado posted:I was surprised by the conservative streak through-out the book? Cops are good guys and heroes (except for the one cop who is bad, which we know because he has aspirations to sexually assault an underage girl), the government is super helpful and believes the heroes, a product of capitalism used for environmental recovery is the secret weapon against the villain... Even more bizarre misplaced fear occurs, like how bikers are coded as evil (Satanists, in fact), and they boast about rape and murder while they're getting high on marijuana; marijuana is, in multiple passages, referred to as a dangerous gateway drug that leads characters to use PCP or other hard substances (which has been proven false, and, in fact, is the opposite; marijuana use cuts back on harder substance abuse) or murder. Of the four sets of villainous characters, two of them are rapists and there's a bizarre section about bikers kidnapping girls for gangbangs. Just really strange stuff, Dean. Please read 77 Shadow Street
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May 16, 2022 19:42
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Count Thrashula posted:A group of friends who are big fans of this book (sort of a watership down/redwall type of thing) go to visit the home of the author since one of them got an offer to come on a tour, but when they get there they find out that the story in the book is more real than they imagined and much darker than they know it to be, and... Yeah honestly midsommar isn't the worst comparison. Isn't that just Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll?
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May 16, 2022 20:07
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Count Thrashula posted:A group of friends who are big fans of this book (sort of a watership down/redwall type of thing) go to visit the home of the author since one of them got an offer to come on a tour, but when they get there they find out that the story in the book is more real than they imagined and much darker than they know it to be, and... Yeah honestly midsommar isn't the worst comparison. Ok you sold me and i just ordered this. Also Watership Down is one of my all-time favorite books and I love Midsommar.
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May 16, 2022 21:32
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Just started myself. It's pretty hosed up in the best way through 5 chapters. Pretty sure I know where everything is heading though...
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May 17, 2022 01:25
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Franchescanado posted:Finished up Phantoms by Dean Koontz over the weekend. now you need to watch the movie
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May 17, 2022 15:37
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hopterque posted:now you need to watch the movie I'm probably going to, since CineD's doing the May Horror Challenge. I like how it's a shapeshifting monster, so Koontz gets to ask, "What's super scary? I know! Moths! Spiders! Worms! Mice!" The thing turns into spiders and worms over a dozen times.
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May 17, 2022 15:45
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That movie has the best stupid jump scare in the history of cinema. They do the classic stupid “open the cupboard but a cat jumps out” fake “scare”, but it’s a flushing toilet. I have no idea how anyone let that happen.
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May 17, 2022 16:14
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Since we're on the subject, which Koontz books are actually worth reading if you're not already a Koontz fan? My in-laws really pushed me to read some Koontz a few years back since they knew I was a big King fan and I only read one, but it was dumb enough that I had very little desire to read any more. I'm sure there are some that are probably worth reading though, right? I can't remember for certain because it's been a few years, but I think the one I read was The Face, and it was goofy and bad and nonsensical in a way that felt like it was probably just shat out for a paycheck, which I imagine is a lot of Koontz books. I don't know how you don't poo poo out a few books when you've written 100+ or whatever he's at now.
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May 17, 2022 17:45
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MockingQuantum posted:Since we're on the subject, which Koontz books are actually worth reading if you're not already a Koontz fan? My in-laws really pushed me to read some Koontz a few years back since they knew I was a big King fan and I only read one, but it was dumb enough that I had very little desire to read any more. I'm sure there are some that are probably worth reading though, right? The Face of Fear might be the one you read, and it's one of the better ones. Retired mountaineer being pursued through a skyscraper by a serial killer - ring a bell? Beyond that the only Koontz that stuck with me was Twilight Eyes, which is set in and around a carnival in the early 60s and was a big influence on They Live.
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May 17, 2022 18:34
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Jedit posted:The Face of Fear might be the one you read, and it's one of the better ones. Retired mountaineer being pursued through a skyscraper by a serial killer - ring a bell? I thought you liked The Funhouse, his novelization from the Hooper film? I almost grabbed that, but the differences seem way too drastic and concentrating on weird things that seem out of place from the movie.
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May 17, 2022 18:41
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Franchescanado posted:I thought you liked The Funhouse, his novelization from the Hooper film? Oh, no, and neither does he. Koontz quite bluntly states in the preface that he did it for the money and that there was so little actual plot in the movie that he basically ended up getting paid adaptation rates to write an original novel.
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May 17, 2022 19:13
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MockingQuantum posted:Since we're on the subject, which Koontz books are actually worth reading if you're not already a Koontz fan? Phantoms, obviously  The two Moonlight Bay books are pretty good from what I recall, though at this point it is extremely unlikely he'll write the third. I also have a soft spot for the Odd Thomas books, but the only one I'd call good is probably Odd Apocalypse.
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May 17, 2022 19:38
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MockingQuantum posted:Since we're on the subject, which Koontz books are actually worth reading if you're not already a Koontz fan? My in-laws really pushed me to read some Koontz a few years back since they knew I was a big King fan and I only read one, but it was dumb enough that I had very little desire to read any more. I'm sure there are some that are probably worth reading though, right? I liked Odd Thomas, By The Light of the Moon is good and pretty different from his normal stuff, and I'd say Intensity is probably his best one.
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May 17, 2022 19:39
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Ornamented Death posted:Phantoms, obviously I did pick Phantoms because it's a top 5 on every "Best Koontz Novels", alongside Watchers, Strangers, Demon Seed. Watchers is the most recommended. edit: I think I had Whispers recommended to me years ago by someone who said it was his scariest book, when they were trying to convince me to give Koontz another shot after Velocity. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 19:54 on May 17, 2022 |
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May 17, 2022 19:50
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Jedit posted:The Face of Fear might be the one you read, and it's one of the better ones. Retired mountaineer being pursued through a skyscraper by a serial killer - ring a bell? Nope, I definitely read The Face. Something about a famous actor (who is improbably referred to, by the general public, as "The Face") getting sent these black boxes with riddles in the mail and there's some sort of serial killer coming after The Face, and his son Frick gets kidnapped or something. The main character is the The Face's head of security, and also his childhood friend comes back as a ghost that isn't a ghost, just a person who didn't actually die when everyone thought he did. But the not-dead friend is also possessed by a demon. I can almost guarantee that even my very vague recollections of the book I've barfed out here still make more sense than the book did.
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May 17, 2022 22:13
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MockingQuantum posted:Since we're on the subject, which Koontz books are actually worth reading if you're not already a Koontz fan? My in-laws really pushed me to read some Koontz a few years back since they knew I was a big King fan and I only read one, but it was dumb enough that I had very little desire to read any more. I'm sure there are some that are probably worth reading though, right? Lightning, but also I wasn't allowed to read it because it had cusses in it so that may have contributed to my enjoyment as a teenager. Nazis invent time travel but you can't go backwards in time at all due to paradoxes, so they can only go to the future. Basically it's a reverse-Terminator situation, with a lone Allied commando protecting a woman from Nazis from the past.
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May 18, 2022 16:38
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MockingQuantum posted:Since we're on the subject, which Koontz books are actually worth reading if you're not already a Koontz fan? I actually quite liked Intensity. It's a serial killer thriller but it's very stressful, and I burned through the audiobook really quickly.
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May 20, 2022 00:03
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I just finished Winterset Hollow and it just feels like white people clumsily fumbling at colonization metaphors crossed with Narnia talking animals. Well written, decently paced, but maybe there's some depth to it that I'm not getting. Oh oh the bad guys are actually multiple generations of a white colonizer family and the 'natives' [aka the magical talking animals] call the white colonizers 'buffalo' for some reason. Ok sure. Maybe this needs further rereads at a more careful pace to Get It, but for now I'm fine with leaving it at that. I do get the author is trying to say something here, though. I just can't sympathize with the main character that much either. Sorry about your childhood, bro. Idk, I feel like, personally, I'd feel more broken up if I learned that I came from a family of genocidal slavers. He sure murdered the hell of out his family's slaves, though. Great work, finishing the job. You could have gone home, do you feel like a hero yet? /reference to spec ops the line joke.
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May 20, 2022 05:40
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Yeah that was my main issue with it as well. It's well written and I really enjoyed the read, but the subtext made me really wonder what if any point the author was trying to make given how the novel plays out.
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May 20, 2022 19:53
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I'm holding off on discussing the metaphor/themes of the book cause I'm only a tick over halfway through, but I think that repeatedly describing one of your antagonists as a "builder bear" was a bit of an own goal. Am I the only one who chuckles every time that gets used?
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May 21, 2022 07:30
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Just FYI I'm about seventeen chapters into between two fires by Christopher buehlman and it's amazing, 10/10 The characters are all compelling, it's dark and gritty and full of weird hope and the depictions of horror are incredible
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May 21, 2022 15:43
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Kerro posted:Yeah that was my main issue with it as well. It's well written and I really enjoyed the read, but the subtext made me really wonder what if any point the author was trying to make given how the novel plays out. Sometimes authors just want a specific setting and it's not meant to be that deep. At least, not with that subject matter. I've thought about it a lil off an on and I don't think the Winterset Hollow author was really trying to say anything particular. Not like, oh say, Gemma Files with Experimental film and the history of social eugenics, esp. neurodivergence. I think the author was trying to do something with generational trauma for the MC, but for me, everything else overshadowed that. If it was trying link the generational trauma between the magical animals and the MC, meh. I can't see it. We got more about the prison and torture that the enslaved magical animals endured than what the MC hinted he went through. I'm not comparing trauma or saying one is more valid than the other. But at the end of the book all I remembered was the prisons cells, the rabbit talking about his dead family taxidermied in a semi secret room, and the bear being unable to speak like the other animals because he was raised as a cub on the island as a slave. That kinda completely over shadows the vague poo poo MC inner monologued about from time to time. I can appreciate the unique setting and premise. I like the genre of 'group goes to isolated location and die one by one because of a murderer within the group AND/OR someone in said location is hunting them like animals'. I think the book pulled all that off in a refreshingly different manner, and I was never bored with the action sequences. It's like like Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand where you can see the concept, there's nothing 'wrong' per se with the novel. But there's potential there to explore deeper and go further. Regardless of the author's own race / ethnicity, even. Like, Hari Kunzru did a pretty great job as a nonblack british man of color in exploring antiblackness in US history! Craig Laurance Gidney explored dark fantasy / horror with A Spectral Hue! It can be done! Just not with this book. I also felt uncomfortable at the indigenous slave animal metaphor because the enslaved rabbit was made to cut off his own leg and eaten. That is something that's happened to Black people who were enslaved in us history. I think that's a hosed up thing to include in the book in this specific context. I don't know if the author is familiar with slavery in us history but I'm far less interested in buying and reading whatever other works he publishes. The whole thing is a well written mess. I enjoyed it. I didn't like it. The duality of man. Xiahou Dun posted:I'm holding off on discussing the metaphor/themes of the book cause I'm only a tick over halfway through, but I think that repeatedly describing one of your antagonists as a "builder bear" was a bit of an own goal. No I loved it. The bear was my fave character, I was really rooting for him!
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May 21, 2022 17:42
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sephiRoth IRA posted:Just FYI I'm about seventeen chapters into between two fires by Christopher buehlman and it's amazing, 10/10 Yeah i really, really loved it. I recommend it to basically everyone I can now and it's one of the favorites of the last few years for sure.
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May 21, 2022 17:45
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Wounds was extremely disappointing after NALM, didn't grab me at all.
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May 21, 2022 21:31
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Mr. Nemo posted:Wounds was extremely disappointing after NALM, didn't grab me at all. I felt the same way. NALM was the peak.
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May 21, 2022 22:04
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Haven't read NALM, Wounds is kinda eh. I haven't finished it yet.
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May 21, 2022 23:40
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