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Has anyone else here read American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett? It just got nominated for the Shirley Jackson award, and I wanted to recommend it to you avid fans of Laird Barron and cosmic horror if you haven't checked it out before. It's a tad long and drags a bit in the middle but altogether a fantastic read and wholly original.
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May 25, 2014 04:59
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It'd be a real coup for Bennett to score a second Shirley Jackson award. Had to look it up, but his debut Mr. Shivers won in 2010. Seriously though, check out that nominees list. You couldn't fit more Laird Barron on there if you tried. I'm pretty sure that speaks more to the overall stagnation of the genre than to Barron's skill. Has anyone read much Joyce Carol Oates? If so, is there a good place to start on her short fiction?
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May 25, 2014 05:44
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Robert Jackson Bennett is in fact the SA forums' own Spiny Norman, who hasn't posted since 2010 or '11 but who announced Mr. Shivers's publication with a thread in this 'yere very same Book Barn.
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May 25, 2014 08:46
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Friendless posted:It'd be a real coup for Bennett to score a second Shirley Jackson award. Had to look it up, but his debut Mr. Shivers won in 2010. Seriously though, check out that nominees list. You couldn't fit more Laird Barron on there if you tried. I'm pretty sure that speaks more to the overall stagnation of the genre than to Barron's skill. Frankly, it speaks to how bad that year was for nominations, because Mr. Shivers is almost as legendary as Johnny 'Five Aces' for being bad goon fiction. There was a legendary FYAD mock thread, who knows where it is now. A ton of fedora fetishism in that book. This year's noms look pretty good.
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May 25, 2014 11:16
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Friendless posted:Has anyone read much Joyce Carol Oates? If so, is there a good place to start on her short fiction? Oates is very prolific and her books vary so wildly in style and subject matter it's hard to say. Currently reading The Accursed as I make my way through this year's Shirley Jackson nominees and it's great but incredibly different from the stuff of hers I've read before (We Were the Mulvaneys, Zombie, Foxfire). Maybe try Black Dahlia & White Rose? It's part of the LA Noire series. fez_machine posted:Frankly, it speaks to how bad that year was for nominations, because Mr. Shivers is almost as legendary as Johnny 'Five Aces' for being bad goon fiction. There was a legendary FYAD mock thread, who knows where it is now. A ton of fedora fetishism in that book. Really? That's very disappointing because I really enjoyed American Elsewhere. Well, if anything I guess it speaks to someone's ability to grow as an author. I hope your opinion of Mr. Shivers doesn't keep you away from American Elsewhere because there is not a fedora in sight in that book.
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May 25, 2014 17:29
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I read Mr. Shivers when it came out on the basis of the recommendations it was getting. It wasn't fantastic, but it was a somewhat promising first novel. I've never picked anything else of his up since then, but I don't think I'd be averse to it. I don't remember anything about fedoras in that book, but considering it took place in the 1930s I don't think it'd be "fetishism" to have people wearing them.
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May 25, 2014 23:10
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Mr Shivers was ok. Not everyone's first novel is a Neuromancer or Lie of Locke Lamora. I had just read American Gods a few weeks before I read it so I probably liked it less than most (Mr Shivers was kinda cribbin' off that novel a bit). It also took itself a bit too seriously, but I think I might check out his new book anyway.
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May 26, 2014 01:31
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Laird Barron is doing an AMA on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/horrorlit/comments/26vfrs/laird_barron_ama/ I know a lot of people don't like him but I still feel at his best he is a pretty damned good writer. I'd actually like him to try a full-blown sci-fi story with cosmic horror elements and see how it goes, I feel like he's at his best when he's playing in the settings he writes extensively about, rather than being excessively cryptic (except for some outliers like Proboscis which are good regardless).
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May 30, 2014 14:55
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I read Ligotti's The Last Feast of Harlequin and there was a very Shadow Over Innsmouth feel to it, which I'm sure was punctuated by the dedication to HP Lovecraft at the end. It didn't quite have the same amount of sheer misery and misanthropy that the rest of his stories have, but it was a pretty great Lovecraftian story.
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May 30, 2014 16:16
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So apparently there will be a follow-up story and novel to The Croning with more sci-fi elements. I really enjoyed it despite it reeking of a short story writer's first longer work, and look forward to it. Oh, and the tale of humanity's end in The Croning doesn't tell the whole story of what will happen to us. I'm sure it will be depressing and probably pretty cool. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 00:35 on May 31, 2014 |
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May 31, 2014 00:33
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Neurosis posted:So apparently there will be a follow-up story and novel to The Croning with more sci-fi elements. I really enjoyed it despite it reeking of a short story writer's first longer work, and look forward to it. I hope it doesn't feature 80-year-olds acting like people decades younger.
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May 31, 2014 00:41
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GENDERWEIRD GREEDO posted:I hope it doesn't feature 80-year-olds acting like people decades younger. Yeah, that was really dumb. He could've made Donald in his 50s, having a grown up son in the military and acting as spry as he did, but no, he had to be in his 80s.
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May 31, 2014 01:58
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GrandpaPants posted:I read Ligotti's The Last Feast of Harlequin and there was a very Shadow Over Innsmouth feel to it, which I'm sure was punctuated by the dedication to HP Lovecraft at the end. It didn't quite have the same amount of sheer misery and misanthropy that the rest of his stories have, but it was a pretty great Lovecraftian story. Interesting. It seemed more similar to The Festival in my view. Poutling posted:Has anyone else here read American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett? It just got nominated for the Shirley Jackson award, and I wanted to recommend it to you avid fans of Laird Barron and cosmic horror if you haven't checked it out before. It's a tad long and drags a bit in the middle but altogether a fantastic read and wholly original. Glad you guys recommended American Elsewhere. Honestly I didn't feel like it dragged in the middle. It just felt to me that the book was so intricate. There was so much interesting backstory and a valid reason for every creepy weird detail. I really like how he handled the cthulhoid beings. Though they were given some understandable human-like emotions and motives (which I usually hate because it makes the monsters sympathetic and less likely to induce the sensation of cosmic horror), the author used several different methods to hammer home the point that even though they ape humanity the monsters are truly alien.
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Jun 2, 2014 00:52
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Helical Nightmares posted:Glad you guys recommended American Elsewhere. Honestly I didn't feel like it dragged in the middle. It just felt to me that the book was so intricate. There was so much interesting backstory and a valid reason for every creepy weird detail. I really like how he handled the cthulhoid beings. Though they were given some understandable human-like emotions and motives (which I usually hate because it makes the monsters sympathetic and less likely to induce the sensation of cosmic horror), the author used several different methods to hammer home the point that even though they ape humanity the monsters are truly alien. I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. I do agree with you that there was a reason for all the backstory, I understand why he included it after the fact but during the reading of it, I felt that it dragged and skimmed a few pages in the middle. Nevertheless, I finished the novel in one day of intense marathon reading because it was compulsive and hard to put down. I actually loved the combination of realistic emotions and horrific creatures here, though you're right - without such a deft touch it would have come across really terribly. That ending though, definitely worth the long set up!
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Jun 2, 2014 16:51
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Can this thread be about bizarro fiction too? I had no idea the genre even existed
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Jun 12, 2014 03:25
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I'm around 70% of my way through Brian Hodge's Prototype. I was attracted to read it because I really enjoyed For Whom the Gods Must Destroy. I was expecting something a little more overtly horrific or sci fi on the back of that story. Instead this so far has been a character study of a disaffected outsider damaged not just by his upbringing and society's general indifference but also by abnormal biology which results in a high level of aggression and violent tendencies. His friends are more classically disaffected individuals, who are also quite damaged. It's not bad, and I found myself identifying quite a bit with the isolation of some the characters and how they choose to define themselves in ways that separate them from society. Worth a read if you like outsider stories, anyway. There's a plot thread about the protagonist's provenance which I assume is going to dominate the remainder of the novel, although what I've seen so far on this thread hasn't been that interesting, which surprised me since it was the main hook that got me to read the book. Is there anything else by Hodge worth reading? Maybe something more patently horror?
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Jun 15, 2014 17:23
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NickRoweFillea posted:Can this thread be about bizarro fiction too? I had no idea the genre even existed The genre hijacked by writers who couldn't get published and decided their books were poo poo ''ironically'' then created a cult around it? Yeah, why not?
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Jun 15, 2014 17:40
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ravenkult posted:The genre hijacked by writers who couldn't get published and decided their books were poo poo ''ironically'' then created a cult around it? Surely you are not suggesting that such fine tales as: - The Morbidly Obese Ninja - The Faggiest Vampire - Ocean of Lard (Choose Your Own Mindfuck Fest #17) and - The Kobold Wizard's Dildo of Enlightenment +2 (an Adventure for 3-6 Players, Levels 2-5 are anything other than modern American masterpieces! Why, that would be absurd! I just hope "The Haunted Vagina" lives up to its thrilling premise. They are pretty dreadful stories and the prose is functional at best. Shock-value and grossouts are the main draws for anyone reading these, I think. They do make me laugh though they are a bit embarrassing to have on the shelf. The Faggiest Vampire is a pretty wholesome children's story once you get past the language. Thing is, this dude is massively prolific. He does seem to get better with time so if you don't mind reading some of his practice stories and have a bit of a warped sense of humor then you'll find some pretty tired plots redone with very silly new premises. He writes love stories but they take place between unlikely protagonists. He'll do an action-adventure story and it's just bizarre crap that's been anthropomorphized because it makes him laugh. I doubt you'll ever see these folks win any literary awards or get any notice but so what? Not everything has to strive for that kind of recognition. I still crack open The Morbidly Obese Ninja and laugh my way through the pages. Who knows how this stuff will be seen in the future? HP Lovecraft published his stuff in tawdry pulp magazines of the day but here we are, nearly a century later all chattering about his legacy. Maybe Lovecraft's racism was ironic, ya know? 
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Jun 15, 2014 19:15
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Neurosis posted:Is there anything else by Hodge worth reading? Maybe something more patently horror? His collections are damned good and mostly horror. You may also want to check out Worlds of Hurt - I haven't read it yet, but the blurb sounds pretty interesting.
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Jun 15, 2014 20:11
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And now I'm imagining the shocking tale of The Colon Out Of Space: It was just a colon out of space—a frightful messenger from unformed realms of infinity beyond all Nature as we know it; from realms whose mere existence stuns the brain and numbs us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open before our frenzied eyes.
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Jun 18, 2014 01:16
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That's like, the good bizarro. There's some terrible poo poo out there.
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Jun 18, 2014 01:55
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Sobatchja Morda posted:And now I'm imagining the shocking tale of The Colon Out Of Space: I'm an ancient being of unspeakable horror, you probably haven't heard of me. 
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Jun 18, 2014 02:01
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Ornamented Death posted:His collections are damned good and mostly horror. You may also want to check out Worlds of Hurt - I haven't read it yet, but the blurb sounds pretty interesting. This is pretty good. I'm 70-something percent through it now, maybe halfway through the title story. Its premise is pretty much pursuing the notion of a jealous arsehole God who enjoys feeding on our negative emotions as much as it does our adulation. The other major element is immortals afflicted with certain hungers which keep them youthful (semen, flesh, eyes, blood, etc.) There are 4 stories dealing with this setting based around this. The major story deals with a guy who has had a near-death experience where he was 'dead' for 38 minutes. 6 years later he had a complete breakdown, recalling what happened to him while he was dead and the horrible things awaiting us all. It's very pessimistic and creates not just an indifferent world as with cosmic horror, but one where the big players have an extremely malignant attitude towards humanity. My only criticism is that the protagonists of the first 3 stories are rather unlikable.
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Jun 18, 2014 04:09
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You'll probably be interested to know he plans to write another story in that setting later this year. No word yet on length, though.
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Jun 18, 2014 04:51
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Ornamented Death posted:You'll probably be interested to know he plans to write another story in that setting later this year. No word yet on length, though. Awesome! Wow, the ending to World of Hurt was a downer. Not terribly surprising, I suppose, but part of the twist at the end made me want to throw my Kindle across the room in a fit of pique. Reading Crescent by Phil Rossi right now. Prose hasn't impressed me at all so far, but I need to scratch the cosmic horror itch.
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Jun 19, 2014 06:21
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Really enjoy reading some of the things recommended in this thread. I've been wanting to read some more Ramsey Campbell after reading some of his short fiction online. So far I've been recommended: The Parasite Demons by Daylight The Doll Who Ate His Mother The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants The Height of the Scream Dark Companions The Count of Eleven Cold Print Alone with the Horrors The Hungry Moon Should I add anything else (or avoid)?
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Jun 21, 2014 04:12
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I was a little skeptical of the premise but Cthulhu's Reign was not a bad anthology at all.
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Jun 21, 2014 04:32
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TOOT BOOT posted:I was a little skeptical of the premise but Cthulhu's Reign was not a bad anthology at all. No, it was bad. Way too many stories were just an excuse for someone to get hosed by an elder thing. Good Cthulhu anthologies include the two Book of Cthulhu entries, any of the Black Wings entries, and, if you have a LOT of money burning a hole in your pocket, Centipede Press's upcoming A Mountain Walked anthology.
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Jun 21, 2014 05:21
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Quick reminder. Book 5 of The Laundry Files will be available on the 3rd. There's a somewhat humorous competition underway on Charlie's Blog and he posted the first chapter there today. Edit: Just checked and Amazon has the kindle release date as the first. Dr. Benway fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Jun 30, 2014 |
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Jun 27, 2014 21:15
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The Spectral Link by Ligotti is out now. Amazon has copies available. If you're thinking of getting it, I'd act now. The publisher is sold out of the trade edition and I don't anticipate Amazon's supply will last long.
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Jul 1, 2014 02:36
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Dr. Benway posted:Quick reminder. Book 5 of The Laundry Files will be available on the 3rd. There's a somewhat humorous competition underway on Charlie's Blog and he posted the first chapter there today. My copy actually got here from Amazon on the afternoon of the 30th.  I'm only a little ways in but it seems like it has everything I've been looking for so far!
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Jul 1, 2014 08:03
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The Kindle versions of Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Grimscribe, and Noctuary are on sale for $2.99 through the 7th.
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Jul 3, 2014 02:08
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I'm part of this new book bundle thingy. Has some Lovecraftian fiction among other things and it's pay what you want. http://arcanebundle.com
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Jul 4, 2014 00:16
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Ornamented Death posted:The Kindle versions of Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Grimscribe, and Noctuary are on sale for $2.99 through the 7th. The only Ligotti things I can get on Kindle are still Teatro Grottesco and The Conspiracy against the Human Race. Goddamnit.
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Jul 4, 2014 05:12
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Neurosis posted:The only Ligotti things I can get on Kindle are still Teatro Grottesco and The Conspiracy against the Human Race. Goddamnit. I don't know if it helps, but the Nook and Kobo versions are on sale for the same price.
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Jul 4, 2014 05:22
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Hey, so the new Laundry book, The Rhesus Chart, is really good.
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Jul 4, 2014 09:28
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Pope Guilty posted:Hey, so the new Laundry book, The Rhesus Chart, is really good. I"m reading it right now. Wooooo! I wish he could publish these faster or had more short titles in the same universe. Go Charlie Stross!
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Jul 4, 2014 18:15
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CuddleChunks posted:I"m reading it right now. Wooooo! I wish he could publish these faster or had more short titles in the same universe. Go Charlie Stross! Well, there's one bit of good news for us Laundryphiles--his blog has stated that the next one will be out next year (July 2015, ostensibly), and there are hints that the one after that might only be a year apart, too. I'm really looking forward to a faster progression of the Laundry series for at least a while, because (Rhesus spoilers) The Rhesus Chart, while filled with the usual great Laundry flavor, didn't feel to me so much like it progressed the CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN scenario in the same way the previous books did. Yes, it did some things that will be significant going further forward into CNG--Angleton's death(incapacitation?), Mo's being pushed apart on her own path--but we weren't shown the actual world changing that much, the way the previous two books did by releasing and then freeing the Sleeper. In The Fuller Memorandum and The Apocalypse Codex there was a sense of the world as a whole slowly slipping under the shadow of some great existential menace, whereas that was sort of in stasis here--CNG didn't become less of a threat, but the crisis that actually takes place in this novel didn't seem like an integral part of the acceleration. It felt more like one of the episodic side-stories. None of which to say is that I didn't enjoy it immensely, of course. edit: Charlie's blog has a good spoiler thread going that has some discussion and at least a few points of helpful confirm/deny/clarify responses from the man himself. I recommend checking it out if you don't already. JerryLee fucked around with this message at 07:48 on Jul 5, 2014 |
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Jul 5, 2014 03:02
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CuddleChunks posted:I"m reading it right now. Wooooo! I wish he could publish these faster or had more short titles in the same universe. Go Charlie Stross! Have you read the stories "Down on the Farm", "Overtime", and "Equoid"? They're all published online and quite good.
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Jul 5, 2014 08:05
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Pope Guilty posted:Have you read the stories "Down on the Farm", "Overtime", and "Equoid"? They're all published online and quite good. Yes. Equoid was especially creepy. I'm loving the universe he's created and the sheer drudgery of the bureaucracy he works within. Good stuff!
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Jul 5, 2014 21:57
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