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Whale Vomit posted:Thank you, yes. I liked Page Fire fine but I was really struck by how navel gazing and uninteresting the poem was. I actually wondered if that was maybe a layer of satire. I've been unnerved a few times while reading King, but there was The Eyeball Leech scene in It that made me loving recoil back when I read it. I would literally have nightmares about flying leeches coming out of my refrigerator.
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Jul 10, 2023 13:45
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Jedit posted:Who the gently caress is putting horror novels in a psychiatric ward? And particularly that one? The psych ward barely had any novels until I went. I had the employees shopping at thrift stores on their way home and bringing in random paperbacks. I improved that place with my time there. And myself. escape artist fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Jul 10, 2023 |
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Jul 10, 2023 16:16
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I managed to scare myself recently (as opposed to the ordinary anxieties of, yknow, living in our world) when I was falling asleep after reading a bunch of the recent UFO gossip. I read that stuff because I love it, not because I'm invested in it being true or untrue. One of the running themes in the UFO lore is that it's all being kept secret because there's some horrible truth to it which makes presidents cry, would disrupt society, etc etc. As I was in that delirious moment right before sleep I began to imagine that the aliens were interested in us primarily as a natural experiment, and that the moment we die (or shortly before) the aliens lift our neural patterns and begin running Experiments. And that's what the afterlife is—just an eternity of being subjected to increasingly insane, coldly parametrized experiences, forever. We all go there when it's over and we never get out. Like Roko's Basilisk but without the goofy reheated nerd Calvinism. Presidents know it, governments know it, there's just absolutely nothing to be done about it. Obviously this fear passed pretty quickly in the light of day but for a few moments it was remarkable to feel like a child hiding in the dark again. You can all make fun of me for my goony fear now
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Jul 10, 2023 20:58
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General Battuta posted:Obviously this fear passed pretty quickly in the light of day but for a few moments it was remarkable to feel like a child hiding in the dark again. You can all make fun of me for my goony fear now In college I binged the X-Files DVDs, and had an incredibly vivid dream in which greys had surrounded my house and were skittering around outside and peering in through the windows. To this day I sometimes keep the blinds closed at night, because the terror-adrenaline of that nightmare was so intense that I can clearly see the loving things if I look at a dark window of approximately the right shape and size. So, yeah, solidarity. Brains are weird.
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Jul 10, 2023 21:44
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General Battuta posted:I managed to scare myself recently (as opposed to the ordinary anxieties of, yknow, living in our world) when I was falling asleep after reading a bunch of the recent UFO gossip. I read that stuff because I love it, not because I'm invested in it being true or untrue. One of the running themes in the UFO lore is that it's all being kept secret because there's some horrible truth to it which makes presidents cry, would disrupt society, etc etc. Honestly sounds like a great short story concept
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Jul 10, 2023 21:51
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General Battuta posted:I managed to scare myself recently (as opposed to the ordinary anxieties of, yknow, living in our world) when I was falling asleep after reading a bunch of the recent UFO gossip. I read that stuff because I love it, not because I'm invested in it being true or untrue. One of the running themes in the UFO lore is that it's all being kept secret because there's some horrible truth to it which makes presidents cry, would disrupt society, etc etc. And I thought you said you didn't like Paradise 1
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Jul 10, 2023 22:09
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General Battuta posted:I managed to scare myself recently (as opposed to the ordinary anxieties of, yknow, living in our world) when I was falling asleep after reading a bunch of the recent UFO gossip. I read that stuff because I love it, not because I'm invested in it being true or untrue. One of the running themes in the UFO lore is that it's all being kept secret because there's some horrible truth to it which makes presidents cry, would disrupt society, etc etc. sounds like you should join us in the bird thread (click on my gang tag for directions)!
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Jul 10, 2023 22:15
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I read Penpal in a detox about 10 years ago and I remember feeling pretty freaked out by it. I doubt it would hold up on a reread tho unless I recreate the exact circumstances….
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Jul 11, 2023 00:32
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NASA guy Ed Harris (not that one) claims that Jimmy Carter cried when he learned the horrible truth that aliens made Jesus up to keep us in line UFO conspiracies don’t get nearly the chaos energy that mainstream political conspiracy theories get these days. Sad, imo.
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Jul 11, 2023 00:39
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Tiny Timbs posted:NASA guy Ed Harris (not that one) claims that Jimmy Carter cried when he learned the horrible truth that aliens made Jesus up to keep us in line 90s Art Bell style UFO conspiracy stuff was a magical thing. There’s a big archive of Coast to Coast AM floating around where you can go listen to the Fun Kind of Crazy, iirc
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Jul 11, 2023 00:50
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I got to chapter 9 of house of leaves.  This is so well done
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Jul 11, 2023 06:32
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I really wish there was more UFO horror fiction out there, it seems to be a weird hole in American fiction for how prevalent they are in urban mythology/conspiracy theories. Or maybe that's why, and there's some great UFO horror out there being marketed as nonfiction, lol. But yeah the whole subculture/phenomenon seems to have kind of evaporated in favor of more mundane and angrier political conspiracy theories, which is scary in a different way and a whole hell of a lot less fun.
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Jul 11, 2023 18:28
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Movie wise I guess you could consider Fire in the Sky as UFO horror at times, but I know of nothing book wise. Also, speaking of UFO movies, I found the recent The Vast of Night quite excellent. A must watch in my opinion. Edit: Of course The Thing, Body Snatchers, etc. tons of UFO horror. I don't know why I went to Fire in the Sky. nate fisher fucked around with this message at 20:08 on Jul 11, 2023 |
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Jul 11, 2023 19:56
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Probably because the UFO horror sequence in Fire in the Sky is insanely e: meant to say “insanely good” but honestly this is better
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Jul 11, 2023 20:18
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John Keel's Mothman Prophecies is so good as a piece of literature although it's presented as nonfiction
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Jul 11, 2023 20:22
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escape artist posted:John Keel's Mothman Prophecies is so good as a piece of literature although it's presented as nonfiction I read it in college and it may be one of the last books to legitimately freak me out, though that could be due to junior-year sleep deprivation more than anything.
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Jul 11, 2023 20:50
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MockingQuantum posted:I really wish there was more UFO horror fiction out there, it seems to be a weird hole in American fiction for how prevalent they are in urban mythology/conspiracy theories. Or maybe that's why, and there's some great UFO horror out there being marketed as nonfiction, lol. But yeah the whole subculture/phenomenon seems to have kind of evaporated in favor of more mundane and angrier political conspiracy theories, which is scary in a different way and a whole hell of a lot less fun. There's a podcast, Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, that is ostensibly aimed at the RPG crowd but features an academic of horror, the occult, and the weird with an eidetic memory (Ken Hite) and covers a lot of subjects in the name of providing material for horror and investigative gaming (and cooking and film reviews, because they're food and film nerds). They talk a lot about the nature of conspiracy theories and belief, and had an episode a while back where the evaporation you're describing was the subject of a segment. Ken's argument, if I remember correctly, is that UFO mythology filled a specific American cultural niche, and that it was essentially outcompeted by the modern QAnon insanity like an invasive species, which then in turn terraformed the cultural landscape so that Fun UFO Conspiracies and the like can never get off the ground. nate fisher posted:Also, speaking of UFO movies, I found the recent The Vast of Night quite excellent. A must watch in my opinion. "A must watch" is not an exaggeration, Vast of Night is incredible. It's honestly better going into it knowing nothing, even knowing it's related to UFOs will diminish it a bit because the buildup is great, but it's not defined by the buildup and the reveal, so it's still worth your time.
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Jul 11, 2023 21:27
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I'm reading tommyknockers and this scene where Gard is drunk at a party is like... man this is somehow rougher than expected lol I think I might skip it
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Jul 12, 2023 05:52
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SniperWoreConverse posted:I'm reading tommyknockers and this scene where Gard is drunk at a party is like... man this is somehow rougher than expected lol I think I might skip it arglebargle
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Jul 12, 2023 12:40
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def has the vibe of being a plastered rear end in a top hat down
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Jul 12, 2023 12:46
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I can tell you that the book start gaining momentum after that episode and picks up steam. Then there's a break where it kind of resets, then picks back up again. The pacing gets weird around at the middle 3rd of the book. But please keep reading if you are in any way interested in the story. Tommyknockers is one of my favorite books, flaws and all. I seem to recall him having a brief mental flash of "oh I should just shut up" then just completely goes past that.
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Jul 12, 2023 12:56
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SniperWoreConverse posted:I'm reading tommyknockers and this scene where Gard is drunk at a party is like... man this is somehow rougher than expected lol I think I might skip it stick with it till he gets to Maine and you meet more of the townspeople. it's just picking up steam
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Jul 12, 2023 13:42
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UFOs get real weird and racist at a point: (from Wendy Painting’s Aberration in the Heartland of the Real)
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Jul 13, 2023 00:23
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Lil Mama Im Sorry posted:Aberration in the Heartland of the Real Someone asked about actually being scared by books, and stuff like this is the closest I've ever gotten. Aberration in the Heartland of the Real, The Devil's Chessboard, and CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties are all conspiracy heavy but they are well written, researched, and will definitely put something in your brain that's hard to get rid of. Also, Ligotti.
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Jul 13, 2023 02:10
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R.L. Stine posted:Someone asked about actually being scared by books, and stuff like this is the closest I've ever gotten. Aberration in the Heartland of the Real, The Devil's Chessboard, and CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties are all conspiracy heavy but they are well written, researched, and will definitely put something in your brain that's hard to get rid of. I’d add Weird Scenes Inside The Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & The Dark Heart Of The Hippie Dream and Programmed to Kill: The Politics of Serial Murder by Dave McGowan. Don’t really care about their accuracy, as Horror they’re excellent. Also, Ligotti.
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Jul 13, 2023 20:18
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Chill la Chill posted:I've been reading House of Leaves (courtesy of being reminded it exists after watching MyHouse.wad explanations) and I really enjoy the format. Are there other horror books that are in a similar format like a documentary? Kestral posted:There's a podcast, Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, that is ostensibly aimed at the RPG crowd but features an academic of horror, the occult, and the weird with an eidetic memory (Ken Hite) and covers a lot of subjects in the name of providing material for horror and investigative gaming. Kenneth Hite created a book that is literally Dracula (the Bram Stoker public-domain classic) but with notes in the margin and, well, un-redactions from the precursors to the SAS as British Military intelligence attempts to figure out what the creature is, and how to recruit it to fight for England. Think: the scene where Dracula has to wait to be invited in, with the line from the letter circled and an arrow pointing to the margins with the red text "WEAKNESS??!" Very, very fun and basically the reason public domain needs to exist and should be expanded, a truly transformative work. 
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Jul 14, 2023 00:54
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Yeah I finished tommyknockers & only now am adding up that some of the stuff from dark tower probably came from the Shop. Weird that I read all the dark towers and remember only like half. And a lot of that was pretty poo poo. Lil Mama Im Sorry posted:UFOs get real weird and racist at a point: Oh poo poo post this in bird watchers'
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Jul 14, 2023 08:57
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Tommyknockers was pretty good, but the depressing thing about it is nukes could have been a way out of global warming. King didn't realize the "Dallas cops" & TM mentality set were already running exxon as much as the Shop & everything else. It's fair to say nuke plants shouldn't be run by people with alien psycho mentality but ofc they already have been running the whole world, & a fantastical cursed woods (and the part about the reverend bit understanding human nature) is misattributing -- maybe there is a soul cancer in humans, but it's not part of human nature I think Also this book is legitimately a fuckin tabletop rpg campaign, almost without any modifications this could be socketed into call of cthulu or something E: shotgun up the rear end in a top hat of the world is a turn of phrase that stuck with me SniperWoreConverse fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Jul 15, 2023 |
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Jul 15, 2023 02:11
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Digging The Gone World but drat the author really isn’t shy about ripping straight from True Detective
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Jul 15, 2023 03:08
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Lil Mama Im Sorry posted:Digging The Gone World but drat the author really isn’t shy about ripping straight from True Detective Tomorrow and Tomorrow is much better. It's an insanely accurate truism that you have your whole life to write your first novel and 18 months to write your second.
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Jul 15, 2023 05:40
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Lil Mama Im Sorry posted:Digging The Gone World but drat the author really isn’t shy about ripping straight from True Detective True Detective wasn't shy about ripping straight from Alan Moore so
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Jul 15, 2023 06:31
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GrandpaPants posted:True Detective wasn't shy about ripping straight from Alan Moore so or Ligotti for that matter
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Jul 15, 2023 06:39
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SniperWoreConverse posted:Tommyknockers was pretty good, but the depressing thing about it is nukes could have been a way out of global warming. Did you pick up on the Tommyknocker mentality and worldview during the last conversation with Bobbi? I think that kind of sums up nuclear proliferation theme the book is going with the last 3rd. Also, the cursed woods bit is because the alien ship has been leaking gas into the woods for thousands of years. I also want to say that the Tommyknocker ship is implied to be sentient to a degree. Just another instance where the creation has gotten away from the creator. drat I love that book. "Grim and cheerless orgasm." is the line that stuck with me haha.
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Jul 15, 2023 12:02
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GrandpaPants posted:True Detective wasn't shy about ripping straight from Alan Moore so Yeah im not defending the sanctity of True Detective or anything, its just jarring and stands out (much like TD’s “influences”)
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Jul 15, 2023 13:42
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I like that Gone World is so openly about "True Detective but the cosmic horror stuff is Really Definitely Out There And Coming For Us". I admire its frankness. It even performs the same trick of reification on True Detective's narrative structure, changing the multiple timeframes of the investigation from a nonlinear narrative device to an actual, in-universe investigative technique.
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Jul 15, 2023 15:13
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alf_pogs posted:or Ligotti for that matter And Robert W Chambers. But it's not really a ripoff as much as an homage.
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Jul 16, 2023 11:31
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Vargatron posted:Did you pick up on the Tommyknocker mentality and worldview during the last conversation with Bobbi? I think that kind of sums up nuclear proliferation theme the book is going with the last 3rd. Yeah, my take is that ironically king's generation, and ours, and probably the ones before and after, have already irl been becoming. If they believe it or not, or realize or not.
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Jul 17, 2023 10:09
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Honestly I think if Tommyknockers was written today, the nuclear holocaust theme would be replaced with climate change. Just one of those repeating "humans are gonna kill themselves" things that every generation seems to do.
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Jul 17, 2023 13:20
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Edit: nm I mixed up Tomorrow and Tomorrow with Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow when I searched lol
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Jul 17, 2023 14:32
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Idk. Some people never left the cold war
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Jul 17, 2023 14:44
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