Ornamented Death posted:An actual Durtro first edition or the Mythos edition? There's a huuuuuuuuge difference . Mythos (it was only $10) -- I wish I had the Durtro, but it's up there with the Vollmann complete set & signed Infinite Jest 1st-ed. hardcover on the list of "books I'm not allowed to Google anymore".
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# ? Aug 25, 2012 03:32 |
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# ? May 16, 2024 17:24 |
mdemone posted:Mythos (it was only $10) -- I wish I had the Durtro, but it's up there with the Vollmann complete set & signed Infinite Jest 1st-ed. hardcover on the list of "books I'm not allowed to Google anymore". It's really not that expensive anymore. There's a copy on eBay with a $115 buyout price. Most of Ligotti's books have started to come down in price. The only real exceptions are the new SubPress reprints, because they're the hot new thing at the moment, and the truly rare stuff like Death Poems and The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and other Gothic Tales.
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# ? Aug 25, 2012 03:42 |
Wow, I started looking for a copy of the first Fall of Cthulhu TPB and it seems like new copies are quickly soaring above the $200 mark. Used it is! Were the comics that popular when they came out, or is this just taking advantage of a niche market?
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# ? Aug 31, 2012 02:12 |
MockingQuantum posted:Wow, I started looking for a copy of the first Fall of Cthulhu TPB and it seems like new copies are quickly soaring above the $200 mark. Used it is! Were the comics that popular when they came out, or is this just taking advantage of a niche market? Its the latter unfortunately.
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# ? Aug 31, 2012 03:09 |
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Just a heads up, everyone here need to drop everything and go watch Cabin in the Woods. Its basically Laundry Files: The Movie.
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# ? Sep 1, 2012 07:37 |
Mr.48 posted:Just a heads up, everyone here need to drop everything and go watch Cabin in the Woods. Its basically Laundry Files: The Movie. Well I've seen the movie, but that makes me feel as though I need to bump Laundry Files up my required reading list.
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# ? Sep 1, 2012 07:55 |
Noctuary and Grimscribe ebooks are $2.99 right now.
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# ? Sep 8, 2012 02:03 |
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Ornamented Death posted:Noctuary and Grimscribe ebooks are $2.99 right now. Thanks for the heads up. Also, I just finished Apocalypse Codex. I enjoyed it more than I did The Fuller Memorandum and I can't decide if I like the "in" jokes and consistent callbacks, which are then explained again in full, or hate them. It makes it hard to recommend to friends that haven't started with The Atrocity Archives. This might be a pipe dream, but I wouldn't mind a collection of short stories featuring Howard, Mo, BASHFUL INCENDIARY, & JOHNNY PRINCE that has a larger overarching theme of events. Or, better yet, Accelerando meets Mahogany Row. MockingQuantum posted:Well I've seen the movie, but that makes me feel as though I need to bump Laundry Files up my required reading list. I you don't like The Laundry Files you just don't like fun. Dr. Benway fucked around with this message at 11:15 on Sep 8, 2012 |
# ? Sep 8, 2012 11:06 |
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The prose and pacing are kind of poo poo in the Laundry Files so I could understand people not liking it. I found it okay but nothing remarkable. I should add I finished reading Declare a couple of weeks before reading the Laundry Files so it would probably always look bad by comparison. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 11:29 on Sep 8, 2012 |
# ? Sep 8, 2012 11:23 |
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I felt like the first two Laundry novels have a very different voice from the next two, which is probably because the first two are pastiches of particular styles and the other two are Stross being Stross.
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# ? Sep 8, 2012 11:40 |
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Also, I can see why people might object to the female characters. They're far from the worst in spec-fic/urban fantasy, but Stross does sometimes edge slightly into Jim Butcher-esque greasy neckbeard territory.
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# ? Sep 8, 2012 15:06 |
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Neurosis posted:I should add I finished reading Declare a couple of weeks before reading the Laundry Files so it would probably always look bad by comparison. See that's funny, I've never felt emotionally invested in any of Tim Powers' characters. I could give a poo poo less if they lived, died, or did anything at all. I've stopped reading Declare about half way through some months ago and have no interest in finishing it any time soon. I finished Three Days to Never through sheer pigheadedness that there was going to be a pay off. It's a shame too because I hear that the plot of Anubis Gates is really good.
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# ? Sep 8, 2012 21:08 |
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I read the first Laundry Files book and couldn't get over the fact that female lead whose name I can't remember was kidnapped by Nazis and taken to an airless parallel universe where she was stripped naked and strapped to a bed with a weighted apparatus of blades covered in bones and strips of human skin and whatnot hanging over her, ready to drop on her at any moment and brutally kill her and she just sort of got over it and moved in with the protagonist. I found that rather offputting.
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# ? Sep 8, 2012 21:12 |
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Keep reading them. She doesn't.
Dr. Benway fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Sep 8, 2012 |
# ? Sep 8, 2012 21:32 |
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Just popping in to say that Chicago's own Hyde Park Community Players is adapting one of H.P. Lovecraft's stories into a "radio" play to be performed live in front of an audience next month. They don't say which story, and it's probably not very faithful to the source material, but it'll be a cheap date and you'd be supporting community theater. If you live on the South Side, then why not go? Plus, they're doing "The Thing on the Fourble Board," a classic radio play about a group of roughnecks who drilled too deep and discovered something horrific.
Pththya-lyi fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Sep 26, 2012 |
# ? Sep 26, 2012 10:34 |
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I don't believe it has been mentioned in this thread, but Move Under Ground by Nick Mamatas is a very interesting piece of Lovecraftian/weird fiction. It's a mashup of Lovecraft's mythos and Jack Kerouac's On the Road. In it Jack witnesses the rise of R'lyeh off the coast of California. He then heads on a road trip to save the world from unspeakable horrors. Very curious read, especially if you've read both Lovecraft and Kerouac (or are at least familiar with Kerouac.) The author released the ebook for free and you can read it here, either on the site or in pdf: http://www.moveunderground.org/
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# ? Sep 26, 2012 20:03 |
Since this thread is now kind of encompassing any sort of weird horror print media, I feel it's worth it to recommend Broodhollow by webcomic creator Kris Straub. It's a Lovecraftian and humor comic, which is an odd mix, but it shows a lot of promise. The first comic can be found here. It's still very new (maybe a month old now) so there's not much of an archive built up, but like I said, it could turn out really well.
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# ? Nov 4, 2012 21:09 |
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Child of Fire by Harry Connolly is excellent, and the other books in the series (Twenty Palaces) are about as strong. Urban fantasy and cosmic horror where trafficking with things you shouldn't winds up with everyone hosed.
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# ? Nov 4, 2012 22:27 |
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I'm about halfway through my complete collection of Lovecraft's writings Kindle eBook, and I'd like to delve deeper into his letter writings. Any suggestions on where to start?
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# ? Nov 17, 2012 21:30 |
Granbar posted:I'm about halfway through my complete collection of Lovecraft's writings Kindle eBook, and I'd like to delve deeper into his letter writings. Any suggestions on where to start? How much are you looking to spend? Hippocampus Press has the most comprehensive volumes, but they are pricey.
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# ? Nov 20, 2012 02:19 |
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Preferably digitally if available? I'm located in Norway, so shipping would probably kill me.
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# ? Nov 20, 2012 15:46 |
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Is there anything on a level with A Colder War? That was so great, and nothing has really matched it since.
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# ? Nov 21, 2012 06:15 |
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MoreLikeTen posted:Is there anything on a level with A Colder War? That was so great, and nothing has really matched it since. I definitely havent read anything that was as pitch-perfect as A Colder War.
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# ? Nov 21, 2012 08:29 |
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MoreLikeTen posted:Is there anything on a level with A Colder War? That was so great, and nothing has really matched it since. Tim Power's Declare isn't as intense but it follows the same commies-and-cthulu theme. Synopsis: quote:Declare opens with a brief, enigmatic prologue set in 1948, in the course of which we see an unidentified man fleeing in terror down the slopes of Mount Ararat, pursued -- quite literally -- by demons. The narrative then jumps ahead some 15 years and introduces us to that fleeing figure: Andrew Hale, a former intelligence agent who has built a successful second career as Voieal posted:Child of Fire by Harry Connolly is excellent, and the other books in the series (Twenty Palaces) are about as strong. Echoing that Connolly's work is fantastic.
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# ? Nov 22, 2012 10:01 |
I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that The Book of Cthulhu 2 came out towards the end of September. I finished it the other day and while it isn't quite as good as the first one, it's still one of the best mythos anthologies to come out in recent memory. The last two stories, "Sticks" by Karl Edward Wagner and "Hand of Glory" by Laird Barron, are particularly good.
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# ? Nov 26, 2012 06:01 |
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coffeetable posted:Tim Power's Declare isn't as intense but it follows the same commies-and-cthulu theme. S Declare is a bit heavier on the John le Carre spy fiction than it is on the cosmic horror. The horror is fed to you slowly. In the end, it works on both levels and as an excellent work of historical fiction, and is a fantastic read.
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# ? Nov 26, 2012 09:47 |
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I thought I'd resurrect the thread to mention this Kickstarter project I spotted on Joe Lansdale's Facebook page, aiming to fund an unthemed horror anthology edited by Ellen Datlow. With only four days to go, it's still almost seven grand short of the $ 25,000 goal. Would be a shame for it to fail, so have a look! Aspiring writers might be interested in some of the goals that let you bypass the publisher's slush pile. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/191888411/fearful-symmetries-an-anthology-of-horror?ref=home_location Disclaimer – I have nothing to do with this project personally.
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# ? Jan 7, 2013 15:21 |
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Fire Safety Doug posted:Aspiring writers might be interested in some of the goals that let you bypass the publisher's slush pile. Classy. I'm looking for recommendation for haunted house novels. I've read: Any King book. Any Joe Hill book. Haunting of Hill House Legend of Hellhouse Birthing House House
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# ? Jan 8, 2013 11:48 |
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ravenkult posted:Classy. The House Next Door, Anne Rivers Siddons. If you can tolerate comics, you may also want to check out Lot 13 by Steve Niles and Glenn Fabry.
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# ? Jan 8, 2013 14:05 |
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ravenkult posted:Classy. Drawing Blood, Poppy Brite.
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# ? Jan 8, 2013 14:31 |
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ravenkult posted:Classy. Do you want to expand on this? I had a peek at your post history and saw that you have some experience/interest in the field... Are you frowning at it as a money-grab? Don't want to derail the thread too much, just wondering.
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# ? Jan 8, 2013 19:10 |
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It's two things: 1. I think the kind of backer reward where you get to talk/play/get feedback from the creator is bullshit. Taking money from writers (at the tune of 500$ no less) is just lovely, IMO. 2. Moneygrab, yeah. It's a combination of the backer levels($25 for an anthology in print, $35 for digital plus print), total amount and the perceived value of what you get. Getting my facebook feed bombarded for the last week hasn't helped either. Anyway, I'm cranky.
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# ? Jan 8, 2013 22:58 |
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I'm sure it's already been mentioned, but Philip K. Dick has written a few stories that could fall into the realm of (future) cosmic/existential horror. Some of his short stories have given me nightmares over the years. The short story Faith of Our Fathers seems somewhat cosmic horror-like... Alcholism Rocks fucked around with this message at 16:28 on Jan 9, 2013 |
# ? Jan 9, 2013 15:39 |
ravenkult posted:1. I think the kind of backer reward where you get to talk/play/get feedback from the creator is bullshit. Taking money from writers (at the tune of 500$ no less) is just lovely, IMO. The $550 reward is for an hour and a half of Ellen and Brett's time to talk about publishing and editing; I'd say it's geared more towards people aspiring to be publishers (or become bigger publishers) rather than people looking to get published. The same goes for the $350 Ellen reward. The $350 McAllister reward is for time with a writing coach; that was going to cost money anyhow, so I don't think your criticism applies. The $350 Shephard reward, though, is pretty much what you're describing. However, that seems to be obvious as no one has claimed it yet. The only reward that I'd consider lovely is the "bypass the slush pile" one. There's no guarantee that Brett will do anything with your story, just that he'll give it a priority spot on the reading stack. I predict there will be at least 25 terrible writers that are going to be pissed that ChiZine isn't publishing their Lovecraftian opus even though they paid their hundred bucks. In other news, Bad Moon Books is going to be publishing an expanded edition of Ligotti's Death Poems later this year. It's one of the rarer Ligotti titles, so I'm looking forward to it coming back in print.
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# ? Jan 10, 2013 03:50 |
Ornamented Death posted:In other news, Bad Moon Books is going to be publishing an expanded edition of Ligotti's Death Poems later this year. It's one of the rarer Ligotti titles, so I'm looking forward to it coming back in print. Thanks for the heads up on this. Hopefully I can snag a copy before it instantly goes out of print like all the other Ligotti works. Is Subterranean Press done with the republishings? Is there even anything left to reprint? Also, as someone who doesn't have the originals, how do they actually compare with the reprints? I know Ligotti personally revised them, but I don't know if it's for the better or worse.
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# ? Jan 10, 2013 05:37 |
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Ornamented Death posted:The $550 reward is for an hour and a half of Ellen and Brett's time to talk about publishing and editing; I'd say it's geared more towards people aspiring to be publishers (or become bigger publishers) rather than people looking to get published. The same goes for the $350 Ellen reward. The $350 McAllister reward is for time with a writing coach; that was going to cost money anyhow, so I don't think your criticism applies. So what you're saying is I'm right. Not all of the backer levels are terrible but some of them are? I mean come on, the 28.000$ goal was to give writers 7cents/word instead of 6cents/word. Shouldn't the stretch goal give something to the backers instead? That's like having the Kickstarter for Wasteland say ''if we reach 500.000$, you're going to unlock our next stretch goal, where I get to buy a Lexus. Yay!''
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# ? Jan 10, 2013 12:08 |
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Well, Kickstarter was built as a way to show support to projects, not as a pre-order system, although that's the way lots of people now see it. You donate because you want to see the anthology made and show some love to Ellen Datlow & the writers involved – rewards are (supposed to be) secondary. If you look at it as getting the best bang for your buck, paying 500 $ to have Laird Barron use your name in a story is a pretty poor return. Having said that, I do agree that the slush pile thing is probably going to be disappointing for many backers, but any realistic writer should know that someone reading your novel does not mean they will publish it.
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# ? Jan 10, 2013 14:31 |
GrandpaPants posted:Thanks for the heads up on this. Hopefully I can snag a copy before it instantly goes out of print like all the other Ligotti works. Is Subterranean Press done with the republishings? Is there even anything left to reprint? Bad Moon typically does a TPB printing of their books, so it shouldn't go out of print too fast. As far as comparing the revised editions to the originals, I know Tom cleans up the language a lot, and sometimes edits scenes he found to not be succinct enough, but the you don't lose anything by reading the originals and not the revised editions, or vice versa. edit: Does Declare ever get to the spooky poo poo? I'm 100 pages in and reading about a bunch of mundane (as in, not supernatural) spy poo poo. I mean, it's competently written and probably very interesting if you're in to that kind of stuff, but I was promised some spooky poo poo and it is not delivering as of yet. Ornamented Death fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Jan 11, 2013 |
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# ? Jan 11, 2013 02:24 |
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Ornamented Death posted:edit: Does Declare ever get to the spooky poo poo? I'm 100 pages in and reading about a bunch of mundane (as in, not supernatural) spy poo poo. I mean, it's competently written and probably very interesting if you're in to that kind of stuff, but I was promised some spooky poo poo and it is not delivering as of yet. It does get into some very weird stuff. There's lots of digressions during which not much actual supernatural stuff happens. But the overarching antagonists are some very alien forms of life and there is a climactic confrontation with them. That said, if you're reading it for Mythos porn, I think you're going to be disappointed, and I personally enjoy e.g. the Laundry Files more for that reason even though Declare is, as you say, probably more competently written.
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# ? Jan 13, 2013 07:56 |
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# ? May 16, 2024 17:24 |
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Alcholism Rocks posted:I'm sure it's already been mentioned, but Philip K. Dick has written a few stories that could fall into the realm of (future) cosmic/existential horror. I had a cackling mad, "I-realise-I-can-see-Yog-Sothoth-coming"-type epiphany while reading The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldrtich when I realised what the title was referring to. It's not exactly horror and it's got a long build-up (as well as some fairly stodgy prose) but I couldn't put it down. It also had a surprisingly happy ending, at least in my eyes.
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# ? Jan 13, 2013 13:35 |