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Barker's quality runs the gamut, and it's been a mostly downward trajectory since he started. "The Hellbound Heart" is a fantastic little book. "The Books of Blood" is really fun horror. "Cabal" and "The Damnation Game" were decent. I've mostly avoided his fantasy stuff, which was the majority of work he published post 80's, but his recent return to horror is not good. "The Scarlet Gospels" is full of great imagery, but is so poorly conceived and written that I'm still in disbelief that Barker actually wrote it (if any book ever needed illustrations to keep you interested, it was this one). All the more disappointing if you had been waiting for it for well over a decade like many Barker fans were. Just terrible.
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Feb 8, 2016 01:32
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Re: MockingQuantum Re: Barron Most of it is yes focused on the Washington area --(Artic) However here is an audio book of an story featuring the Wyld Hunt and the Iditarod, Frontier Death Song. Has some great arctic scenes. http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/frontier-death-song/ --(Environment) Also by Barron try The Men from Porlock (The Beautiful Thing that Awaits Us All) and --30-- (Occultation) --(Environment) Don't forget HPL's the Shunned House --(Artic) Biogenesis by Tatsuaki Ishiguro (MD) is a book I haven't really spoken about yet but it has some fantastic original stories about medical mysteries with mythic resonance and I put it VERY FIRMLY next to Lovecraft and Ligotti on my shelf. Dr Ishiguros fiction is very biologically technically deep (ie you have to have a professional understanding of evolution or tissue culture to get the full understanding of some of the stories) but despite that I highly HIGHLY recommend the story that starts with describing hypothermia. I don't have my copy of the book on hand and I can't recall the title. I think it is "Snow Woman". The story is about a found woman with pure white hair, no memory, and a body temperature of 75.2 F in prewar Japan. The the medical technical nature of his writing does not impede the reader from experiencing the weird mythic atmosphere of the story or its delicate touching humanity. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZNG4MA0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1 Helical Nightmares fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Feb 8, 2016 |
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Feb 8, 2016 01:59
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Ex-Priest Tobin posted:I'm sure it's been discussed somewhere in this read but what is the goon take on Clive Barker, particularly the Books of Blood? I prefer horror fiction with a more classy prose style - Ligotti is by far my favourite, and Barron and Strantzas aren't bad. There was a lot of trashy horror fiction written in the 80s, is Barker actually worth getting into? Barker's early work was his best by far: the Books of Blood were extraordinarily raw and savage and several ended up being filmed. At the time he wrote them, he was living a marginalized lifestyle as a rent boy; the more comfortable and well-off his life became, the more the quality of his books declined as he lost all sense of immediacy and urgency.
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Feb 8, 2016 07:13
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MockingQuantum posted:Hey so I'm looking for some fairly specific recommendations-- I'm working on a project that's cosmic-horror inspired, and we'd like to track down some good short stories or novellas that have a theme of alien nature or the surrounding environment (a la Southern Reach) or specifically cosmic horror that puts heavy focus on unhospitable or Arctic environements (a la Mountains of Madness). I've read some Laird Barron, but I've been led to believe that a lot of his stuff is at least marginally focused on the Pacific Northwest or settings like that, is that true? I love Ramsey Campbell's Midnight Sun https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/876145.Midnight_Sun Description: Found naked and snowblind in the icy wastes of the far north, where shamans were said to practise ancient rituals, Edward Sterling died soon afterwards. Three generations later, Ben Sterling unwittingly invokes an awesome power For more traditional Yog-Sothery try The Ithaqua Cycle: http://www.amazon.com/The-Ithaqua-Cycle-Wind-Walker-Wastes/dp/1568821913 Description: The elusive, utterly supernatural Ithaqua roams the North Woods and the wastes beyond, as invisible as the wind. Hunters and travelers fear the cold and isolation of the north. They fear ten times more the advent of the mysterious Wind-Walker. Its malign power haunts their dreams, and its burning eyes their nightmares. Blackwood's "Wendigo" sparked a trail of influences still apparent in horror fiction today. This collection includes that progenitor tale, three stories by August Derleth, and ten more from a spactrum of contemporary authors including Brian Lumley, Stephen Mark Rainey, and Pierre Comtois. Vladimir Sorokin's The Blizzard might also be what you want: http://www.amazon.com/The-Blizzard-Novel-Vladimir-Sorokin-ebook/dp/B00XHHRX1W/ Description:Garin, a district doctor, is desperately trying to reach the village of Dolgoye, where a mysterious epidemic is turning people into zombies. He carries with him a vaccine that will prevent the spread of this terrible disease, but is stymied in his travels by an impenetrable blizzard. You might want to consider the Vandermeer published Leena Krohn: Collected Fiction, It Came From the North: An Anthology of Finnish Speculative Fiction, and JAGANNATH if you want some genuine northern weird fiction.
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Feb 8, 2016 10:44
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MockingQuantum posted:Hey so I'm looking for some fairly specific recommendations-- I'm working on a project that's cosmic-horror inspired, and we'd like to track down some good short stories or novellas that have a theme of alien nature or the surrounding environment (a la Southern Reach) or specifically cosmic horror that puts heavy focus on unhospitable or Arctic environements (a la Mountains of Madness). I've read some Laird Barron, but I've been led to believe that a lot of his stuff is at least marginally focused on the Pacific Northwest or settings like that, is that true? I'm not sure if it's what you're after, but maybe The Crystal World by JG Ballard?
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Feb 8, 2016 17:52
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Skyscraper posted:I'm not sure if it's what you're after, but maybe The Crystal World by JG Ballard? I don't even really know what I'm after. Kind of looking for inspiration for a project. Thanks for the recommendations, friendly horrors.
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Feb 8, 2016 21:22
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"On Ice" by Simon Strantzas from the Burnt Black Suns collection should fit the bill too.
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Feb 9, 2016 09:48
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MockingQuantum posted:Hey so I'm looking for some fairly specific recommendations-- I'm working on a project that's cosmic-horror inspired, and we'd like to track down some good short stories or novellas that have a theme of alien nature or the surrounding environment (a la Southern Reach) or specifically cosmic horror that puts heavy focus on unhospitable or Arctic environements (a la Mountains of Madness). I've read some Laird Barron, but I've been led to believe that a lot of his stuff is at least marginally focused on the Pacific Northwest or settings like that, is that true? The Night Land is a full novel, but it definitely has the inhospitable environment theme down.
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Feb 10, 2016 15:03
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ZeusJupitar posted:The Night Land is a full novel, but it definitely has the inhospitable environment theme down. Aw, good call.
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Feb 10, 2016 17:03
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Read the James Stoddard rewrite if you read The Night Land though.
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Feb 10, 2016 17:11
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Neurosis posted:Read the James Stoddard rewrite if you read The Night Land though. Yes, definitely this. Also be prepared for the pacing to feel more like that of a ship's log than a condensed narrative.
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Feb 10, 2016 19:43
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So I read The Light Is the Darkness and frankly, it was okay except that I really hate being dropped in media res for no particular reason, and then never really giving a poo poo or caring what happens to the characters because I'm just assumed to be into them for being boring caricatures. Are any of his other novels less - like that one? It never really felt like horror or thriller, it was just this dude who's a cro-mag wannabe who pit-fights for ludicrous piles of money, and then archaelogy! my sister! rargh! and it was over. I kinda thought the book sucked, frankly. What of this author with a ludicrous name and image, is any good? Because if it's all about incestuous cavemen traveling through time I'd rather go read Mockingjay. I guess having an eyepatch and some big dogs gives the dude some goon cred but he really strikes me as someone I'd point and laugh at - even if I knew who they were. Laird Barron has the worst name and the worst bio-pics on his books that I've seen since early-90s-era R.A. Salvatore, and I have a hard time taking him seriously if his "horror" stories are really all about Jean-Claude Van Damme-level supermen winning everything without any real backstory and no epilogue outside of "oh I got the girl and it's my sister, we'll gently caress for eternity because I was a bad-rear end cage fighter! coyo7e fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Feb 11, 2016 |
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Feb 11, 2016 05:30
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coyo7e posted:So I read The Light Is the Darkness and frankly, it was okay except that I really hate being dropped in media res for no particular reason, and then never really giving a poo poo or caring what happens to the characters because I'm just assumed to be into them for being boring caricatures. Are any of his other novels less - like that one? So it was okay except that you hated the style, the plot, the characters, the author's name, face and... eyepatch? I mean, it's OK to not like a writer but calm down, dude. I generally like Barron but didn't like The Light Is The Darkness very much. He's just more at home writing short stories, which are a better place to start – but perhaps you should just find someone whose photo doesn't send you into a frothing rage.
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Feb 11, 2016 08:43
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coyo7e posted:So I read The Light Is the Darkness and frankly, it was okay except that I really hate being dropped in media res for no particular reason, and then never really giving a poo poo or caring what happens to the characters because I'm just assumed to be into them for being boring caricatures. Are any of his other novels less - like that one? The Light is the Darkness is weird and not very good, and I like Laird Barron a lot. Many of his stories are about the same type of character (it's definitely one of his signature touches), but usually they die horribly to something they can't understand or deal with. If this is the first Laird Barron book you've read you've definitely started in the wrong spot, his short story collections are (in my opinion), excellent, although I know there's plenty of posters here that don't like him at all.
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Feb 11, 2016 12:09
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Anyone read Limbus, Inc.? Recommended by a friend; only read the first story, but I liked it.
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Feb 21, 2016 10:36
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Fire Safety Doug posted:So it was okay except that you hated the style, the plot, the characters, the author's name, face and... eyepatch? On the other hand, I back to backed TLiTD with The Library at Mount Char and whiloe Library wasn't much horror either, it was quite weird, didn't have a protagonist that felt like a write in space marine, and I enjoyed the heck out of it.
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Feb 23, 2016 20:15
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coyo7e posted:You seem to be projecting a hell of a lot there, man. If anybody is raging I'm thinking it's you, because I made fun of an author you really love. I will check out his short stories however, since everyone in this thread seems to be going wild over The Light is the Darkness, I picked it up and it wasn't really anything like I was expecting from a horror thread recommend I mean it's a weird tale to be sure but it came across a bit more like an author self-insert a la Monster Hunter, Inc, etc, where the protagonist is the best at everything, never really runs into anything resembling an obstacle, and then sails off into the sunset. The Light is the Darkness is the second weakest of Barron's writings next to X's for Eyes. (they are both pulp) Start with the short story collections.
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Feb 23, 2016 20:56
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coyo7e posted:You seem to be projecting a hell of a lot there, man. If anybody is raging I'm thinking it's you, because I made fun of an author you really love. Plenty of people in this thread don't care for his stuff, but what kind of constructive criticism is "Laird Barron has the worst name and the worst bio-pics on his books that I've seen since early-90s-era R.A. Salvatore"? It's his real name as far as I know, and I think the eyepatch and dogs aren't just props either. Hell, I fully agree admit some of his bios etc. come across as a bit pretentious and I think his longform stuff is weaker than the short stories. It's the strangely personal attacks that I think are weird.
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Feb 23, 2016 20:58
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Making fun of a fantasy/horror author for being goofy is like making fun of a chef for being fat
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Feb 23, 2016 21:05
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Thanks to the numerous people in this thread who recommended The Book of Cthulhu. It's amazing. "A Colder War" is one of my favorite short stories, and I knew the book was quality as soon as I saw it in there.
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Feb 23, 2016 21:20
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Blitz recommendations Finished the Delta Green anthology Extraordinary Renditions. Most of the stories are quite good. Significantly above par for a weird fiction/new Lovecraftian fiction short story collection. -Good: The Color of Dust (Laurel Halbany), A Spider With Barbed-Wire Legs (Davide Mana), Le Pain Maudit  (Jeff C. Carter) - terrifying and then look up the reality it is based on , Cracks in the Door (Jason Mical), Ganzfeld Gate (Cody Goodfellow) HOLY CRAP, Utopia (David Farnell), A Question of Memory (Stolze), PAPERCLIP (Kenneth Hite), Passing the Torch (Adam Scott Glancy) Amazing action and fear generated from intelligent foes.... ok pretty much the entire bookAlmost done with Children of the Old Leech -The Good: Pale Apostle (JT Glover and Jesse Bullington), Walpurgisnacht (Orrin Grey), Snake Wine (Jeffrey Thomas), The Old Pageant (Richard Gavin), Notes for "The Barn in the Wild" (Paul Tremblay)-- really good in terms of structure. Helical Nightmares fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Feb 23, 2016 |
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Feb 23, 2016 21:46
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Fire Safety Doug posted:It's his real name as far as I know, and I think the eyepatch and dogs aren't just props either. I'm not sure about the name, though I suspect it is his real name, but the eye patch and dogs are absolutely not props. Dude lost his eye when he was a kid, and he spent a lot of his teenage and young(er) adult days racing dog sleds.
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Feb 23, 2016 21:47
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How dare that man have an eye patch and own dogs. Piece of poo poo.
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Feb 23, 2016 22:12
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Hey cyclops, howsabout you tell Fido to fetch you a glass eye for the photo shoot, huh?!
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Feb 23, 2016 22:52
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Why are you guys racist against pirates? 
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Feb 23, 2016 22:53
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Speaking of Barron, is it just me or is Procession of the Black Sloth a slog to get through? I've been jumping around Imago Sequence and Occultation but finally sat down to actually read all the ones I'd skipped before, and this one is just... not holding my interest. And maybe I'm a bad person because of it but I really liked Old Virginia and --30--.
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Feb 23, 2016 23:15
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MockingQuantum posted:Speaking of Barron, is it just me or is Procession of the Black Sloth a slog to get through? I've been jumping around Imago Sequence and Occultation but finally sat down to actually read all the ones I'd skipped before, and this one is just... not holding my interest. Nah that story loving blew, I caught on to the twist early because I kept telling myself "Boy I feel like I'm in hell reading this"
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Feb 23, 2016 23:16
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TheWhiteNightmare posted:Nah that story loving blew, I caught on to the twist early because I kept telling myself "Boy I feel like I'm in hell reading this" Hahahahaha. Which one of the 18 hells is that. Hell of interminable weird fiction.
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Feb 23, 2016 23:19
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Helical Nightmares posted:Finished the Delta Green anthology Extraordinary Renditions. Most of the stories are quite good. Significantly above par for a weird fiction/new Lovecraftian fiction short story collection. I may check that out, then. I read Denied to the Enemy a while back and wasn't really impressed. If you like that kind of stuff, I'll recommend The Harrison Peel Files . Although somewhat lacking, they're entertaining enough.
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Feb 24, 2016 21:22
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I thought Denied to the Enemy was pretty good for what it was. Well worth the 99c I paid for it, at least  .
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Feb 24, 2016 22:41
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MockingQuantum posted:Speaking of Barron, is it just me or is Procession of the Black Sloth a slog to get through? I've been jumping around Imago Sequence and Occultation but finally sat down to actually read all the ones I'd skipped before, and this one is just... not holding my interest. Old Virginia was so good, the whole "clotted screams" part stayed with me for ages and actually even creeped me out, which is pretty rare. I don't think many authors are out there that can sustain a long-form horror story, the genre just feels better in short form to novella sized pieces.
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Feb 24, 2016 22:42
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Evfedu posted:I don't think many authors are out there that can sustain a long-form horror story, the genre just feels better in short form to novella sized pieces. I think short novels work pretty well - longer than novellas, but nowhere near King's doorstoppers. I've been reading a fair amount of pulpier horror lately, like Keene, Cesare, and Janz, and they all are consistently good when keeping things around 200-300 pages. Of course, this also depends largely on your tolerance of pulp horror.
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Feb 24, 2016 22:46
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Helical Nightmares posted:The Light is the Darkness is the second weakest of Barron's writings next to X's for Eyes. (they are both pulp) I fully agree. I think Laird Barron is actually really bad at novels and novellas. He has serious pacing problems in longer form works, and the whole story ends up feeling rushed and badly put together. I read The Light is the Darkness and X's for Eyes first, which was definitely a mistake. His short stories are much much better.
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Feb 24, 2016 23:11
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Hate Fibration posted:I fully agree. I think Laird Barron is actually really bad at novels and novellas. He has serious pacing problems in longer form works, and the whole story ends up feeling rushed and badly put together. I read The Light is the Darkness and X's for Eyes first, which was definitely a mistake. His short stories are much much better. I think The Croning is an exception to this though, but that's because it's built almost more like a series of interlinking short stories about the same characters instead of one long book.
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Feb 25, 2016 02:15
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hopterque posted:I think The Croning is an exception to this though, but that's because it's built almost more like a series of interlinking short stories about the same characters instead of one long book. Agreed. The Croning is a frame story around several short stories. Granted, the frame story has a lot of well thought out links to connect it to each short story so the overall narrative makes sense. Even though I like the Croning I think it is weak in a lot of places (pacing, repeat all the themes over and over holy poo poo). For me the definative "Children of the Old Leech Cycle" stories are the Broadsword, Men from Porlok, and I think a couple others I'm missing. I do appreciate The Croning for fleshing out Barron's Old Leech mythos though.
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Feb 25, 2016 04:31
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I thought X's For Eyes had some cool bits, but having never read those boys' adventure books it apparently is a pastiche of, a lot of it fell kinda flat. From the short stories, Mysterium Tremendum is one of my favorites that hasn't been mentioned yet.
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Feb 25, 2016 09:20
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i liked xs for eyes. i also liked the light is the darkness though which most people hate. his old leech stories - of which i put mysterium temendum as the best - are the most consistently good, i think. the croning was great for a concentration of that stuff, though some bits didn't work - it was really obvious it was a short story writer's first novel. also there is no way the protagonist was in his 80s.
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Feb 25, 2016 11:31
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Neurosis posted:also there is no way the protagonist was in his 80s. This was the one part that constantly made me shake my head. Like, I don't get why he made the choice to have him be that old, he could have made him 20 years younger and everything about the story still would have worked.
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Feb 25, 2016 19:22
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So like a total neckbeard I just bought the Necronomicon. I've never read Lovecraft before, so where should I start since this is a collection of all his poo poo. I've heard that his writing is incredibly bloated with description of things like houses and other kind stuff like that but what really sparked my interest is how he built up a horror for pages where the payoff is just a black person.
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Feb 26, 2016 20:02
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Phi230 posted:So like a total neckbeard I just bought the Necronomicon. I've never read Lovecraft before, so where should I start since this is a collection of all his poo poo. I've heard that his writing is incredibly bloated with description of things like houses and other kind stuff like that but what really sparked my interest is how he built up a horror for pages where the payoff is just a black person. I'm sure you'd get multiple different answers on what is or is not worth reading in the Lovecraft bibliography. I personally think most of his stuff is pretty dated or really just not that great, and you can especially skip pretty much everything he wrote before 1923, with a couple of exceptions. (The Outsider & The Music of Erich Zann). Besides that, all of the mythos stories are pretty decent. I would recommend not starting with any of the longer novellas or with Call of Cthulhu. Soooo... The Colour out of Space, maybe? Beats me, I read them all and honestly wouldn't reread most of them.
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Feb 26, 2016 20:48
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