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NickRoweFillea posted:What Laird Barron collection would you guys recommend The consensus appears to be (and I agree with it) that the short story collections are in declining quality. So just begin with The Imago Sequence and go onwards.
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Sep 28, 2014 10:10
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NickRoweFillea posted:What Laird Barron collection would you guys recommend None, don't read Laird Barron read Brian Evenson.
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Sep 28, 2014 11:47
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fez_machine posted:None, don't read Laird Barron read Brian Evenson. This is the right answer.
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Sep 28, 2014 13:59
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I tried Laird Barron's The Croning, Got about halfway in before i had to give up. The plot moves with a glacial pace, and the attempt at creating a slow burning sense of foreboding fails largely because the buildup is incredibly slow, and the dialogues between characters that are filled with clichees. Also Barrons' tendency to trail off from the story makes for a real disjointed and downright boring read at times. Maybe he is trying to mimic Stephen Kings' wordy digressions, but instead of contributing to the overall story it just fall flat on its face and adds nothing to the story or the characters. I'm not saying its nesscarily a bad book per se, but its definately not an "incredible tale of cosmic horror that surpass Lovecraft" that some people make it out to be. TL;DR you might wanna borrow it from the library and try it before you buy it. This book is not for everyone.
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Sep 28, 2014 19:38
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This might sound stupid, but this past weekend I was in Barnes and saw a book which, oddly enough, had a shining review from HP Lovecraft on the front cover. I can't for the life of me remember what it's called now, though. It had a pretty terrifying cover with some masked man in a yellow robe. I'm wondering if anyone may know what it is?
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Sep 28, 2014 22:08
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Sounds like it was probably The King in Yellow, by Robert Chambers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_in_Yellow
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Sep 28, 2014 22:20
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Found a bunch of fiction books published by Chaosium. Any of these titles hide gems? -Tsathoggua Cycle -Singers of Strange Songs -Return to Lovecraft Country -Nightmare's Disciple -Scroll of Thoth -Mysteries of the Worm -The Ithaqua Cycle -The Innsmouth Cycle -The Disciples of Cthulhu -Cthulhu's Heirs
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Sep 29, 2014 05:52
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If I remember right, the Chaosium version of Disciples of Cthulhu is pretty good. Price's "Dope War of the Black Tong" is a pastiche of Howard-style two-fisted pulp mythos, and is very entertaining if you like that kind of thing. I mostly remember Cthulhu's Heirs for multiple stories that were shockingly bad. "Just Say No" is about a group of Call of Cthulhu players getting hit by a truck. "Star Bright, Star Byte" is about Nyarlathotep eating people's souls in a chatroom. It does contain Campbell's excellent "The Franklyn Paragraphs," but that's also available in Cold Print. The only really good story I remember that's not readily available elsewhere is Schweitzer's "Those of the Air." Edit: A friend of mine read Scroll of Thoth and really liked it. I believe those stories are more sword-and-sorcery style mythos (a la Smith and Howard). I've wanted to pick it up, but even used copies are pricey.
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Sep 29, 2014 15:28
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Captain Mog posted:This might sound stupid, but this past weekend I was in Barnes and saw a book which, oddly enough, had a shining review from HP Lovecraft on the front cover. I can't for the life of me remember what it's called now, though. It had a pretty terrifying cover with some masked man in a yellow robe. I'm wondering if anyone may know what it is? I'd wager it was The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen. (edit - somehow completely didn't read the description of the cover, I blame a lack of coffee. So yeah, almost certainly TKiY.)
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Sep 29, 2014 15:28
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The Great God Pan is not well written but it's actually fairly creepy and worth reading, that having been said.
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Sep 29, 2014 19:18
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I'd like to read something by Brian Evenson. What would the thread suggest I start with?
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Sep 29, 2014 22:42
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AnemicChipmunk posted:I'd like to read something by Brian Evenson. What would the thread suggest I start with? Windeye.
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Sep 29, 2014 23:06
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Are there any modern weird writers that use florid prose? I know Lovecraft was the king of purple, as well as Poe, but these days it seems writers stick to the most common words and terms, and are terrified of adjectives. The reading I enjoy the most is done in admiration of a particular identifiable writing style, and so many new writers seem interchangeable.
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Oct 2, 2014 11:09
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Origami Dali posted:Are there any modern weird writers that use florid prose? I know Lovecraft was the king of purple, as well as Poe, but these days it seems writers stick to the most common words and terms, and are terrified of adjectives. The reading I enjoy the most is done in admiration of a particular identifiable writing style, and so many new writers seem interchangeable. Michael Cisco and Caitlin R. Kiernan might be what you're look for. Also Joyce Carol Oates if you want to push it.
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Oct 2, 2014 13:08
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Origami Dali posted:Are there any modern weird writers that use florid prose? I know Lovecraft was the king of purple, as well as Poe, but these days it seems writers stick to the most common words and terms, and are terrified of adjectives. The reading I enjoy the most is done in admiration of a particular identifiable writing style, and so many new writers seem interchangeable.
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Oct 4, 2014 19:08
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Origami Dali posted:Are there any modern weird writers that use florid prose? I know Lovecraft was the king of purple, as well as Poe, but these days it seems writers stick to the most common words and terms, and are terrified of adjectives. The reading I enjoy the most is done in admiration of a particular identifiable writing style, and so many new writers seem interchangeable. Big difference between Poe and Lovecraft, though, is that the former is almost never purple. There's always some type of fantastic rhythm to it, somewhere between prose and poetry when he's at his best. Lovecraft lacks that finesse (is there anybody who, after reading At The Mountains of Madness, did not think that if they never heard the word "cyclopean" again it would be too soon?) but when he's on, he's on. In fact, I think that some of his best prose happens when he's restraining himself to the extreme and allows the full weight of horror to sink in through a terribly simple description. That last line of The Colour Out of Space, for example. While definitely not modern, nor really cosmic horror, Henry James' The Turn of the Screw comes to mind as a work with extremely florid prose that's also absolutely terrifying.
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Oct 5, 2014 10:34
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TOOT BOOT posted:Clive Barker's work was relatively novel at one time. He was too influential for his own good, now his stuff is not only not that scary, it seems derivative. I think that Barkers problem is that he can't just focus on one thing, his mind is all over the place, hence the promise of a dozen sequels to his books for the last twenty years, of which we've seen. Nothing. Then there are the paintings and the health issues which makes it worse. So we end up getting an Abarat every five years or so or these little lovely ideas he puts together on impulse (mr b gone). But I'm excited for The Scarlet Gospels in May
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Oct 5, 2014 13:15
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Anybody here familiar with The Manitou by Graham Masterton (or it's numerous sequels?) I thought it was a quick enjoyable piece of 70s pulp, if somewhat racist.
Borneo Jimmy fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Oct 5, 2014 |
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Oct 5, 2014 23:06
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Eric Heisserer, the guy that wrote "The Dionaea House," has been busy the last week.
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Oct 6, 2014 04:45
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Ornamented Death posted:Eric Heisserer, the guy that wrote "The Dionaea House," has been busy the last week. Interesting. I'm skeptical as gently caress given that you have the right mix of disappearance plus photographs plus Good story even if this is advertisement bullshit. Edit: Yeah. Nice viral marketing. Helical Nightmares fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Oct 6, 2014 |
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Oct 6, 2014 04:56
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Well it's a work of fiction so your skepticism is well-founded  .
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Oct 6, 2014 04:59
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Ornamented Death posted:Eric Heisserer, the guy that wrote "The Dionaea House," has been busy the last week.  That was a pretty awesome story. This is viral marketing? For what, eyedroppers?
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Oct 6, 2014 11:37
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Nuclear Tourist posted:That was a pretty awesome story. This is viral marketing? For what, eyedroppers? Pixar's Cars Cool story, though. Kinda makes me want to read House of Leaves or, really, any good haunted house story. Any suggestions? I'd prefer to move away from spooky ghosts and whatnot and go into strange geometry territory.
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Oct 6, 2014 16:48
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Have you read his Dionaea House piece? It's a similar online work, a bit longer than this one. I really like this nosleep post, also. This guy works so well in the epistolary/journal format. It's a shame his movies haven't been this good.
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Oct 6, 2014 18:16
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Borneo Jimmy posted:Anybody here familiar with The Manitou by Graham Masterton (or it's numerous sequels?) I thought it was a quick enjoyable piece of 70s pulp, if somewhat racist. Graham Masterton has written many, many enjoyable pieces of pulp horror. Charnel House and Tengu are two personal favorites of mine. He also has a sideline in sex instruction manuals which is simultaneously pretty amusing and creepy as hell.
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Oct 6, 2014 18:45
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Reading the book of Cthulhu, am most of the way through. I just finished the story in which an oldish man is living alone in a house, remembering his life and eradicating weird cosmic-horror pests from his garden, and has a pet 'crab'. So his son (matt?) left to investigate the south pole or something, but it seems like he didn't get far: a couple of dozen apples growing on trees in the orchard, have the face of his son who is apparently in great pain. At first I didn't really know what to make of the ending. Surely the old man noticed? Is the old man guilty of doing that somehow? Then I realised that it said that the crab 'seemed to have been a gardener' in its past existance wherever it came from, and that it checked up on the apple orchard twice in a single trip (it checked the orchard, then once again before they went inside). I assume that means that he's decided that this crab is totally harmless, but meanwhile it's the very thing behind the unknown disappearance of his son? Probably the creepiest story so far!
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Oct 14, 2014 18:57
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I don't think I found it via this thread so hopefully I'm not just retreading old ground, but I've just finished The Tel Aviv Dossier by Lavie Tidhar and Nir Yanev, and it's probably the first novel-length piece of Lovecraftian fiction I've read that managed to do more than just harp on about tentacles. The first third is told from multiple intercut narratives which mistake an Old One invasion in Tel Aviv for a terrorist attack, and things actually get more interesting from there. Anyone else read it?
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Oct 14, 2014 21:20
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[quote="Eric Heisserer" post=""""] Most of the projects are, well, kind of boring. They're derivative, or too subjective to the person's own life. But now and then something truly unsettling crosses my desk. Those projects tend to get made, or at least get some traction. [/quote] What the gently caress kind of studio is he working at, where interesting projects get made and derivative ones don't? Because my Netflix is telling a whole 'nother story.
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Oct 14, 2014 21:23
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Is this the right thread for Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood chat? I picked up the two Penguin collections of their works, and I've been enjoying them quite a bit (although, weirdly, the Machen collection doesn't have "The Great God Pan").
Roark fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Oct 17, 2014 |
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Oct 17, 2014 22:27
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I love my Machen. I do think they're both some of the greatest writers.
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Oct 17, 2014 22:45
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I just bought that Penguin Machen book, and I agree with you guys, it was great. Machen does a very good job of setting up a story whose weirdness and horror expands far beyond the immediate mystery. The case may be solved, but the unsettling atmosphere resonates far beyond it. I also read Thomas Ligotti's Teatro Grottesco for this October. His style of unending decay and nihilism is really mesmerizing, and I love the atmosphere he creates in each of his stories. My only problem with him is that his endings are quite often pretty half-baked. He goes for the twist ending a little too often, and no matter what it often feels like he just doesn't know how to end his tales.
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Oct 17, 2014 23:47
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Roark posted:Is this the right thread for Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood chat? I picked up the two Penguin collections of their works, and I've been enjoying them quite a bit (although, weirdly, the Machen collection doesn't have "The Great God Pan"). I think Blackwood's story The Willows is one of my favorite pieces of weird fiction, it's like the 3rd story in "The Weird", and is really excellent.
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Oct 18, 2014 03:16
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Roark posted:(although, weirdly, the Machen collection doesn't have "The Great God Pan"). loving what
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Oct 19, 2014 14:52
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Neurosis posted:loving what To make it even more confusing, the cover of the collection is a painting of Pan. So...yeah. Still a good collection, but it's strange.
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Oct 20, 2014 15:54
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Roark posted:Is this the right thread for Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood chat? I picked up the two Penguin collections of their works, and I've been enjoying them quite a bit (although, weirdly, the Machen collection doesn't have "The Great God Pan"). "The Great God Pan" is available from Project Gutenberg if anyone needs it. I just finished "The Colony" by F.G.Cottam . I went in blind not knowing anything about the author or book other than the synopsis and found it an enjoyable, quick read. I will say that if you can't stand poor editing or formatting errors stay the hell away. I'm usually pretty lenient when it comes to that but it irritated me at times.
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Oct 22, 2014 20:40
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redreader posted:Reading the book of Cthulhu, am most of the way through. I just finished the story in which an oldish man is living alone in a house, remembering his life and eradicating weird cosmic-horror pests from his garden, and has a pet 'crab'. I'm pretty sure that Story is The Shallows by John Langan, in case anyone's interested. his collection The Wide, Carnivorous Sky, has some good stories. Technicolor, about a lecture on Edgar Allan Poe that turns sinister, was fantastic, and Mother of Stone, about the statue of a decapitated pregnant woman, was also very creepy.
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Oct 26, 2014 09:08
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I bought way too many kindle books yesterday because of this thread.
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Oct 29, 2014 15:37
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If any of you are the collecting sort, Thunderstorm Books has opened up slots in their Black Voltage book club for 2015. Black Voltage editions are really loving nice so if collecting horror books is your thing, this is definitely something to look in to. In actual weird fiction news, there's a hardcover omnibus of The Southern Reach Trilogy coming out next month. Ornamented Death fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Oct 31, 2014 |
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Oct 31, 2014 01:07
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I'm reading through the "New Annotated HP Lovecraft" right now. It's pretty comprehensive, but a bit dry at times. The footnotes are nice, but sometimes don't really add much, or seem to have little relevance to the stories. The appendixes are much the same, some are neat and useful, others seem almost irrelevant (such as the staff list at Miskatonic Univeristy, or Lovecraft in popular culture.) The introduction by Alan Moore is good, as well as the comprehensive background information on Lovecraft by Klinger. Overall, I found it well worth the $25 I paid. It probably is the most thorough anthology of Lovecraft out there, with a mix of academia.
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Oct 31, 2014 06:04
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Can anyone recommend similar Lovecraftian short stories like King's Crouch End?
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Oct 31, 2014 06:49
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