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Fire Safety Doug posted:Also, what's everyone's take on Matthew Bartlett? I've tried getting into his stuff but I just find the writing style off-putting. I liked his short story collection Gateways to Abomination. It's also pretty short, so if you don't like the guys writing that might be a bonus?
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Oct 1, 2016 12:00
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Rough Lobster posted:I liked his short story collection Gateways to Abomination. It's also pretty short, so if you don't like the guys writing that might be a bonus? That's the one I've been reading. Some nice visions but I just find it's a chore to read.
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Oct 1, 2016 12:14
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MockingQuantum posted:On the subject of general horror (even though this may not qualify), has anybody read Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones? I'm looking for something with werewolf themes that doesn't make me want to gouge my brain out with a spoon. Holy poo poo, go buy The Devourers by Indra Das right now. I'm surprised it hasn't blown up as one of those crossover genre/literary hits: maybe it has too much gore and sodomy? It's a secret history of shapeshifters around Calcutta, stretching from the Mughal Empire to the modern day. Das is an incredibly tactile, olfactory writer - it's one of those books that you can taste and smell, for better or worse. Push through the faintly dreamlike opening chapter and it picks up quick.
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Oct 1, 2016 14:37
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Though not officially, the 2009 Japanese FF cosmic horror film Occult pretty much takes place in the Old Leech universe, even though it predates most of Barron's stories. So, if you're looking to immerse yourself in more Old Leechy fiction I'd definitely recommend it.
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Oct 1, 2016 15:13
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General Battuta posted:Holy poo poo, go buy The Devourers by Indra Das right now. I'm surprised it hasn't blown up as one of those crossover genre/literary hits: maybe it has too much gore and sodomy? Haha I just gave up on this book, it read like the author's weird pee fetish erotica. He used the word piss 40 times in the first 10%. If there was an interesting story here I couldn't find it over the buckets of piss everywhere.
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Oct 1, 2016 17:48
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Barron chat Spoilers for several stories below. Misc thoughts Rereading "--30--" in Occultation. Think I found a The Thing reference Anyway, I meant that Tommy Billings and his love of booze might’ve been responsible for the Siberian debacle. —You’re kidding, she said. —Listen, this is good. I’m surprised you haven’t heard. The team was partying at three o’clock in the morning and TB got a little crazy and dumped a full glass of liquor into some circuitry. It started an electrical fire and whoom! The site went up like a torch. —Color me dubious. That’s too convenient. —Less titillating than the espionage rumors, alas. Thoughts on identifying Baalphegor stories vs Children of the Old Leech stories Baalphegor -- Human Excrement -- Time is a ring (repeated in non Baalphegor stories in collections after The Imago Sequence & Other Stories) -- Cleft, a fissure, crack, parallax, hole : all either physical or temporal. -- Associated with sort of marionette strings or being slurped up into the sky but this imagery is also used in non Baalphegor stories? -- Wasps, fungi, insects -- Underground (shared by Children stories) -- Pinhole of red light (?) -- I'm really unsure what this symbolizes. I suspect it is Barron referring to Azathoth, but it could be some other Elder God, see my notes for Barron's color symbolism below. Children of the Old Leech -- We Love You -- Miller/Spy -- The Outer Dark -- Outer space -- Conversion of victim to Children culture/physiology -- Male and Female Children of the Leech duo -- Black Hole Sun -- Underground (shared by Baalphegor stories) -- Gourmand preparation of children provender. -- Theme of tormenting a human to make an awful choice, stated because of immortal ennui (The Croning). The Children are known to play with their food. -- Figure standing in shadow in a doorway -- Crawling out from under the bed, Crawling on ceiling -- Sign of the Old Leech; Oborous broken left of 12 o'clock. -- Rumpelstiltskin -- Wearing dead bodies like skin suit. Note use of colors "white", "pale" -- Wear black robes (Mysterium Tremendum, Six Six Six?) -- Something Scary Game? -- Manifest in the interior of a tree Explicitly, Obviously, Unambiguously Children of Old Leech stories: The Men from Porlock Mysterium Tremendum The Broadsword Six Six Six Possible Children of the Old Leech stories: --30-- (?) I think an argument can be made that the investigators are watching a place like in Mysterium Tremendum that leads to the Children. X's for Eyes The Siphon -- really not sure Include Man with No Name: A Nanashi Novella into the Children of the Old Leech Cycle? Neurosis posted:There are some which are in the same world but don't touch on the Children themselves. The two stories with that immortal magician. I can't remember the names to put to all the Old Leech stories. He's said before he's toying around with a novel sequel to The Croning which would be... Well, it'd have to have more sci-fi elements if he intends to progress a broader plot, I guess. Mysterium Tremendum is probably my favourite Old Leech story. I agree in principle. There is a lot of imagery from what I am calling the Baalphegar Cycle and Children Cycle in Nanashi. Here is a passage about the wrestler Muzaki, who sort of acts like a demonic Virgil to Nanashi's Dante. But neither the dog nor the woman were reacting to his presence. Muzaki stood in the doorway of the bathroom. The wrestler loomed larger than life, clothing shredded, blood coursing from a dozen vicious cuts and gashes. Part of his face was crushed into butcher meat. His left arm was gone, hacked away near the elbow to match the stump of his left leg. He smiled through a mouthful of pulverized teeth. Gore slopped from his lips. He winked his one good eye and toppled backward and the door flew shut. Nanashi heard Goodbye, goodbye, love, as a rustle of dry leaves in his brain. Now woman and dog finally registered Nanashi’s presence. She patted the dog’s head. Her expression lost its animating dismay and smoothed to ice. She inclined her chin toward the front of the house. “Company coming.” Helical Nightmares fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Oct 2, 2016 |
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Oct 1, 2016 22:14
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Ornamented Death posted:20th Century Ghosts is a great collection, but much like later King collections, the actual horror short stories are few and far between. For example, probably the most popular story from the collection, "Pop Art," is absolutely not a horror story. It is however absolutely amazing
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Oct 1, 2016 23:36
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Helical Nightmares posted:Barron chat Thanks for the effort post, I like shared horror worlds, and I like Barron's stuff. However, these three stories are obviously, unambiguously Children of Old Leech stories. It's made very, very explicit.
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Oct 2, 2016 05:08
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Neurosis posted:Thanks for the effort post, I like shared horror worlds, and I like Barron's stuff. Yeah that's clear. I just threw everthing in one pot. Fixing...
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Oct 2, 2016 05:10
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Barron chat Here are some of my very brief observations about color symbolism in Barron's work. I'm spoilering this because, like most deconstructions of authors, some people get annoyed when they start to see the mechanics/internal rules the authors use. Red is most often associated with the totally unnatural. Recall that the pinhole of madness shines with a RED light. Evidence: Jaws of Saturn The protagonist observes the Warlock Phil Wary: "Afternoon bled into red evening and the stars emerged in the silver of sky through the window behind the couch. Franco was in a state of partial delirium when Carol knocked on the door. Mr. Wary smoothed his shaggy hair and quickly donned a smoking jacket. Carol came in, severe and rushed as usual. He took her coat and fixed drinks and Franco slowly strangled, his view curtailed by the angle of the closet door. " ... "In due course, Mr. Wary shut off the record player and the apartment fell quiet but for Carol's breathing. He said, "Come my dear. Come with me," and took Carol's hand and led her, as if she were sleepwalking, to a blank span of the wall. Mr Wary brushed aside a strip of brittle paper and revealed what Franco took to be a dark water stain, until Carol pressed her eye against it and he realized the stain was actually a peephole. A peephole to where though? That particular wall didn't abut another apartment--it was an outer wall overlooking the rear square and beyond the square, a ravine." ... " "Your turn," he said upon turning his attention to Franco. He unclasped the belt and led him to the wall, its peeling flap of ancient paper. The peephole oozed a red glow..... Vastation The peephole "During my explorations, I discovered a barred door behind a rack of jars and pots. On the other side was a tiny cell full of scrolls. These scrolls were scriven with astronomical diagrams and writing I couldn't decipher. The walls were thick stone and a plug of wood was inset at eye level. I worked the cork free, amazed at the soft, red light that spilled forth. I finally summoned the courage to press my eye against the peephole. I suspect if a doctor were to give me a CAT scan, to follow the optic nerve deep into its fleshy backstop, he'd see the blood-red peephole imprinted in my cerebral cortex, and through the hole, Darkness, the quaking mass at the center of everything where a sonorous wheedling choir of strings and lutes, flutes and cymbals crashes and shrieks and echoes from the abyss, the foot of the throne of an idiot god." Red light here is directly referencing Azathoth. Hallucigenia Before the main character encounters the cursed barn with the unnatural therein, there is red and yellow imagery. "The crumbling grade almost tripped him. At the bottom, remnants of a fence--rotted posts, snares of wire. Barbs dug a red zigzag in his calf. He cursed, lumbered into the grass. It rose coarse and brown, slapped his legs and buttocks. A dry breeze awoke and the yellow dandelion blooms swayed toward him" The Broadsword After the protagonists harrowing ordeal with the Children there is this passage: “It is always hot as hell down here,” Hopkins the custodian said. He perched on a tall box, his grimy coveralls and grimy face lighted by the red glow that flared from the furnace window. “There’s a metaphor for ya. Me stoking the boiler in Hell.” ... "“ Finish it off. I’ve got three more hid in my crib, yonder.” He gestured into the gloom. “Mr. 119, isn’t it? Yeah, Mr. 119. You been to hell, now ain’t you? You’re hurtin’ for certain.” Pershing drank, choking as the liquor burned away the rust and foulness. He gasped and managed to ask, “What day is it?” Hopkins held his arm near the furnace grate and checked his watch. “Thursday, 2: 15 p.m., and all is well. Not really, but nobody knows the trouble we see, do they?” Thursday afternoon? He’d been with them for seventy-two hours, give or take. Had anyone noticed? He dropped the bottle and it clinked and rolled away. He gained his feet and followed the sooty wall toward the stairs. Behind him, Hopkins started singing “Black Hole Sun.” " Hopkins appears to stand at the exit between the unnatural Children's world and the real world of the Broadsword hotel. Reverse psychopomp if you will. Six, Six, Six At the end where the main character is exposed to the unnatural there is the following line "The family patriarch stood, dressed in a black robe with the cowl thrown back. He was flushed and beaming with paternal joy. His left hand rested upon his son’s head. Her husband made a labored sawing motion and the feet twitched and danced, slapping against the floorboards. The room blurred in and out of focus and began to slide toward the crimson edge of her vision. She made a small sound and the trio glanced toward the stairs. They seemed surprised to see her." Red and black are often associated with each other, and with the unnatural in Barron's stories. Evidence: The Broadsword "He imagined lost caverns and inverted forests of roosting bats, a primordial river that tumbled through midnight grottos until it plunged so deep the stygian black acquired a red nimbus, a vast throbbing heart of brimstone and magma. Beyond the falls, abyssal winds howled and shrieked and called his name." Six, Six, Six Please see the above Six Six Six quote and note that "black robe" and "flushed" are in adjacent sentences. "Figures, distorted by the shuddering frames, skulked between the boles of the trees, capered as the light downshifted to red, then black, and when the panel brightened, beneath a conical hat a white, lunatic face with strips of flesh peeled to chipped bone leered at her, twisting a stork neck to get a better view. She screamed even as the ghoulish visage rippled and morphed into a hillock amidst a sea of long grass beneath a too-full moon. More figures loped and gamboled toward the foreground; tall, yet stooped, garbed in cowls and robes, sinewy arms raised in an apish manner." The Forest "He inhaled to scream and jerked awake, twisted in the sheets and sweating. Red light poured through the thin curtains. Nadine sat in the shadows (ie color black)at the foot of his bed. Her hair was loose and her skin reflected the ruddy light. He thought of the goddess Kali shrunk to mortal dimensions." Vastation Before murdering the potter and encountering the peephole "The sun lowered and flatted into a bloody line, a scored vein delineating the vast black shell of the land. When the potter squatted to demonstrate an intricacy of a mechanism of his spinning wheel I raised a short, stout plank and swung it edgewise across the base of his skull" ---- Anyway, Barron uses a lot of consistent color imagery in all three collections (The Imago Sequence & Other Stories, Occultation, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All) to foreshadow the pretense of the unnatural. I'm not going to cite examples here, but there is similar evidence that the colors blue and green represent normalcy, while the colors yellow and orange represent a warning transitional location or state between reality and the unnatural. So does Barron simply follow the ROYGBIV spectrum? I don't think so. Violet is more than once associated with "unnatural" passages but I'm not sure exactly what the symbolism is or if there is any. Also in the Nanashi Novella, the color symbolism other than his consistent use of red/black as unnatural is different than in previous work. Yet to figure it out.
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Oct 2, 2016 06:46
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ShutteredIn posted:Haha I just gave up on this book, it read like the author's weird pee fetish erotica. He used the word piss 40 times in the first 10%. If there was an interesting story here I couldn't find it over the buckets of piss everywhere. I was going to mention how much piss there is in this book but I was afraid I'd sound like a weird piss fetishist. It's about dogs (well, huge doglike beasts), tho, so it felt Very Authentic to me  e: I almost quit at the dirty toenails though General Battuta fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Oct 2, 2016 |
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Oct 2, 2016 15:02
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Mike Minnis The exceptional modern Mythos writer whom time forgot. Sometime in the late 90s, a German gentleman by the name of Mike Minnis took pen to paper. What flowed was a heady distillate of cosmic horror in the architecture of a fictional craftsman. He published 40-odd short stories hither and yon about the burgeoning internet, mostly at small congregations of weird fiction devotees with names like “thousandyoung.net”, “netherreal.de” and “nightscapes”. Unfortunately the internet does what it is wont to do. These sites collapsed and disappeared somewhere in the mid 2000s. I had searched for them a decade ago, and could not find hide nor hair. I read a rumor that Minnis was a casualty of the Iraq war (untrue). Perhaps there was a conspiracy against the Lovecraftian sites then? Well no, unless you consider the economics of the dot-com bust a Majestic 12 invention. However we all know the dread couplet. That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons, even death may die. I found a post on good old Ligotti's forums. Thanks to those fans of weird fiction and the Internet Wayback Machine I was able to recover the full text of ten of his stories. I have copied them to pdf, and for the sake of convenience I have posted them to a file sharing service for download. As a disclaimer, I am not benefiting financially from this in any way. I have simply consolidated the pdfs so that more fans of weird fiction can discover and enjoy this great author’s work. Let Him Rise https://www.mediafire.com/folder/t6792v35951vg/Mike_Minnis_Wayback_Machine_Archive What will you encounter therein? A range of times and fictional voices fitting the pervasive scope of Lovecraft's Mythos. I Walk the World's Black Rim is a Beowulf retelling. Knuckerhole a story of England during the blitz and good neighbors. After all, the Whateley came from somewhere. Bones of a Toad brings the harshness of Medieval life to the center stage. One caveat friend, as I stay thy hand from the dread tome: read Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Dunwitch Horror and The Thing on the Doorstep first. Necessary? No, but enlightening on the path in the dark. If you like Mike Minnis' work, just give the man $2 for the kindle edition of Your Poisoned Dreams, a collection of ten Mythos short stories. At that price it is an absurd steal. Right now it's even cheaper than that because of an Amazon sale. https://www.amazon.com/Your-Poisoned-Dreams-Horror-Stories-ebook/dp/B00JPBN0DO When I posted the above in GBS here was a response: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3789225&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=9#post464049722 Better Fred Than Dead posted:
Enjoy, dear reader. And if you like it, for the love of the Old Ones leave an Amazon review. Edit: vvvThank you! Be brutally honest. Helical Nightmares fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Oct 2, 2016 |
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Oct 2, 2016 16:17
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Pulled the plug on that one for the price, the world desperately needs more good Lovecraftiana. Will report/review when I'm through.
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Oct 2, 2016 18:15
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I just finished Charles's Stross's newest laundry files and I felt it was a nice change of pace for the series. I definitely liked it more then the previous two books, and ended up liking Alex as a character. Also, I recently finished Tim Powers- Declare, and I thought it was fantastic. Is anything else by Tim Powers worth reading?
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Oct 3, 2016 01:02
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On Stranger Tides, which can also boast of being the inspiration for the Monkey Island games and Pirates of the Carribean films.
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Oct 3, 2016 01:05
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Nothing I've read from Powers (The Drawing of the Dark, Anubis Gates, On Stranger Tides, The Stress of Her Regard, Last Call) has come close to matching Declare in my opinion. Most of them are still good, though, and if you have some familiarity with the time periods they're set in the books will probably be a little more satisfying. I find myself going to wikipedia a lot to understand some of the historical characters. Also a lot of his books share similar themes. I probably like Drawing of the Dark and On Stranger Tides the best out of those. I heartily recommend avoiding Three Days to Never at all costs.
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Oct 3, 2016 05:34
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Most of Powers' stuff is at least good, although Declare is easily the best. If you liked the way he interweaves history with fantasy, I'd suggest Stress of Her Regard. If you liked the modern fantasy aspect, go for Last Call or Medusa's Web (which is basically Three Days to Never done right... uh, right-er). Drawing of the Dark, On Stranger Tides and The Anubis Gates are more of entertaining, light-hearted romps through pieces of history. A lot of people like them and they're good fun, but not as deep or interesting IMO. I also like Dinner at Deviant's Palace a lot, it's basically a post-apocalyptic take on the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Avoid Three Days to Never and Hide Me Among the Graves. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 10:02 on Oct 3, 2016 |
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Oct 3, 2016 10:00
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I got a book of Algernon Blackwood stories and it's pretty great. Favorites so far are definitely "The Willows" and "The Wendigo." Dude has a knack for making nature seem really threatening, but not malevolent. Sometimes feels kinda transcendentalist, even the more villainous characters come across as pretty sympathetic. "Ancient Sorceries" is killer too, if a little bloated.
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Oct 3, 2016 19:11
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anilEhilated posted:Most of Powers' stuff is at least good, although Declare is easily the best. If you liked the way he interweaves history with fantasy, I'd suggest Stress of Her Regard. If you liked the modern fantasy aspect, go for Last Call Last Call occupies a special place in my heart. It's the book that kicked off my love of Fantasy stories that have modern day settings. And even though it has none of the typical tropes of the genre, it often is still a work I use as a benchmark for Urban Fantasy.
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Oct 4, 2016 04:47
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my bony fealty posted:I got a book of Algernon Blackwood stories and it's pretty great. Favorites so far are definitely "The Willows" and "The Wendigo." Dude has a knack for making nature seem really threatening, but not malevolent. Sometimes feels kinda transcendentalist, even the more villainous characters come across as pretty sympathetic. "Ancient Sorceries" is killer too, if a little bloated. have you read m. r. james? read m. r. james next
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Oct 4, 2016 05:01
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chernobyl kinsman posted:have you read m. r. james? read m. r. james next Every single M.R. James story: *Earnest young Oxbridge academic investigates old house/ ancient book/ mysterious artifact* *Oh no, there's a spooky ghost associated with it!* *Earnest young academic: "Gosh, what a horrible experience! The world is a stranger place than I had previously imagined!" (Thoughtfully sips pint of bitter and relights pipe)* only kidding, M.R. James is the absolute bestest writer of scary stories     
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Oct 5, 2016 22:01
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chernobyl kinsman posted:have you read m. r. james? read m. r. james next I haven't but he's now next on my list, the post above definitely solidified that any other early weird/horror writers worth reading? Arthur Machen is one I haven't read yet either. I read a bunch of Edgar Allan Poe's more sci-fi stories last year and they varied from "pretty neat" to "oh god why am I reading this" (mostly "Eureka," ugh).
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Oct 6, 2016 05:17
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my bony fealty posted:any other early weird/horror writers worth reading? Arthur Machen is one I haven't read yet either. I read a bunch of Edgar Allan Poe's more sci-fi stories last year and they varied from "pretty neat" to "oh god why am I reading this" (mostly "Eureka," ugh). Machen rules, "The Great God Pan" is essential reading. I also really like Clark Ashton Smith although I can't think any particular stories offhand.
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Oct 6, 2016 08:01
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my bony fealty posted:I haven't but he's now next on my list, the post above definitely solidified that Eureka isn't a story. That's kinda like reading An Elementary Treatise on Determinants, With Their Application to Simultaneous Linear Equations and Algebraic Equations because you liked Alice In Wonderland
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Oct 6, 2016 16:39
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my bony fealty posted:I haven't but he's now next on my list, the post above definitely solidified that Machen is essential. "The Great God Pan" was mentioned, and I'd also throw in "The White People", "The Novel of the Black Seal" and "The Novel of the White Powder". For Ashton Smith, I'd recommend "The Dark Eidolon", "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros", "The Treader of the Dust", and any of his Zothique stuff. Penguin put out The White People and Other Weird Stories (Machen) and The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies (Ashton Smith) a few years ago, and they're my go to recommendations for collections that give a good overview of their careers (although, fair warning, the Machen collection excludes "The Great God Pan" due to its length). William Hope Hodgson is also great for early writers. He wrote some kind of horrific sea stories, but he's probably best known nowadays for his cosmic short stories and his two cosmic novels, The House on the Borderland and The Night Land. The Night Land is a Dying Earth story that's pretty grim even for Dying Earth stories.
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Oct 6, 2016 17:00
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The Vosgian Beast posted:Eureka isn't a story. yeah this is very odd to me eureka is still worth reading though, if only bc poe was, somehow, more or less spot on about the big bang
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Oct 6, 2016 18:11
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chernobyl kinsman posted:yeah this is very odd to me What. On my list now.
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Oct 6, 2016 18:24
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my bony fealty posted:any other early weird/horror writers worth reading? Arthur Machen is one I haven't read yet either. I read a bunch of Edgar Allan Poe's more sci-fi stories last year and they varied from "pretty neat" to "oh god why am I reading this" (mostly "Eureka," ugh). Oliver Onions' "The Beckoning Fair One" in the Widdershins collection is a good one. Writer isolates himself, descends into madness -- maybe it's supernatural, maybe not, etc. And I don't know what category to put it in nor how to summarize or sell it, but A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay is one of the more hallucinogenic things I've ever read. (In fact I'm sure it's come up in this thread; hell, this may be where I first learned of it.) It starts over a seance in an Edwardian parlor and moves quickly into a completely different universe either light years or quasi-theosophical dimensions away, where a protagonist wanders around discovering entirely new mythologies and cosmologies. I glanced at the wiki to refresh my memory and even the contents summaries sound batshit. quote:Maskull awakes alone in a desert on Tormance and finds that he has new organs in his body, such as a tentacle (known as a magn) stemming from the heart and protuberances on his neck. A woman comes to him and exchanges blood with him (making it easier for him to live on Tormance, and harder for her), and says: that she is called Joiwind, her husband Panawe, and both live to the North in Poolingdred; that she understands his speech thanks to a forehead organ, the breve, that reads minds; that Surtur is called Shaping, or Crystalman, and created everything (she also implicitly says that he is God); that they do not eat, out of respect for living things, but drink gnawl water; and that the chest tentacle is used to increase love for other creatures.
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Oct 7, 2016 05:06
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You guys know of any books about dudes who move in to an isolated house or cabin in the woods or something like that and then weird poo poo happens? It's my comfort book food. Talking about stuff like Winter Haunting.
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Oct 7, 2016 11:53
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The Events at Poroth Farm: TED Klein Six Six Six, The Redfield GIrls, Hallucigenia (beginning), Frontier Death Song (ending), Blackwood's Baby, Mysterium Tremendum (ending), The Carrion Gods in Their Heaven, The Men from Porlock: Laird Barron Chartreuse, Rules for Monsters (sort of) : Mike Minnis https://www.amazon.com/Your-Poisoned-Dreams-Horror-Stories-ebook/dp/B00JPBN0DO The one where Sandy Peterson got the idea for the Dark Young. I forget it now.
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Oct 7, 2016 12:18
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Swift to Chase by Barron is out today. I had no idea anything was even coming from him but did an Amazon search after being prompted by this thread and hit paydirt. Awesome.
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Oct 7, 2016 12:59
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Neurosis posted:Swift to Chase by Barron is out today. I had no idea anything was even coming from him but did an Amazon search after being prompted by this thread and hit paydirt. Awesome. Oh poo poo, a new collection? Awesome.
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Oct 7, 2016 16:04
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ravenkult posted:You guys know of any books about dudes who move in to an isolated house or cabin in the woods or something like that and then weird poo poo happens? It's my comfort book food. Talking about stuff like Winter Haunting. Mine too. Trying to write a short like it myself and finding it's hard to sustain tension effectively when there's only one character. Maybe it's just my inexperience though.
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Oct 7, 2016 19:05
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adam nevill's first short story collection, some will not sleep, drops on halloween on monday, the first english translation of mariko koike's 1986 japanese horror novel the graveyard apartment will drop. here's the PW review.
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Oct 7, 2016 21:02
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ravenkult posted:You guys know of any books about dudes who move in to an isolated house or cabin in the woods or something like that and then weird poo poo happens? It's my comfort book food. Talking about stuff like Winter Haunting. MockingQuantum posted:Mine too. Trying to write a short like it myself and finding it's hard to sustain tension effectively when there's only one character. Maybe it's just my inexperience though. I assume both of you have read it, but for people newer to (cosmic) horror, William Hope Hodgson's The House on the Borderland is essentially the foundation every other story of this type is built on.
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Oct 8, 2016 01:32
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Helical Nightmares posted:The one where Sandy Peterson got the idea for the Dark Young. I forget it now. Robert Bloch's Notebook Found in a Deserted House?
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Oct 8, 2016 02:27
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Dave Angel posted:Robert Bloch's Notebook Found in a Deserted House? Bingo. That's the one. Thanks!
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Oct 8, 2016 02:39
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Ornamented Death posted:I assume both of you have read it, but for people newer to (cosmic) horror, William Hope Hodgson's The House on the Borderland is essentially the foundation every other story of this type is built on. I have not, actually. I will bump it up my list though. On a mostly unrelated note, holy poo poo A Head Full of Ghosts. If you haven't read this yet, you are doing yourself a disservice. Rarely do I want to start a book again from the beginning immediately after finishing it, but this one hooked me.
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Oct 10, 2016 04:51
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The Vosgian Beast posted:Eureka isn't a story. Yeah I know but it was still included in the compilation so I just had to read it! Poe considered it his masterwork or something so it's good to read if you like him, just a chore. Thanks for the recs! I read The Night Land a while ago and it was great once I got used to the writing style and dumb misogyny. Has anyone read the original and the modern rewrite, does the latter do a good job of keeping the story intact?
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Oct 10, 2016 13:49
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my bony fealty posted:Yeah I know but it was still included in the compilation so I just had to read it! Poe considered it his masterwork or something so it's good to read if you like him, just a chore. Imo yes. I can't remember anything being lost. I mean, the love interest remains obstructive as poo poo and irritating, but it's not obviously misogynist or anything. I strongly recommend you follow it up by reading John C Wright's (yeah yeah, I know, Wright is crazy) Awake in the Nightland. The stories are strong continuations of the original in the themes and atmosphere, and Wright is a better technical writer. Misogyny is certainly no greater than the original, and I don't remember it being particularly offensive in that respect at all. The only potentially eye-rolling story was in the final tale, which (spoilers as to the general nature of the themes in that part)concerned divine love, which some have taken as Wright doing some Godbothering, but ironically he wrote that one when he was a hardcore libertarian atheist. Perhaps the story can be interpreted as him praising the ideal of a beneficent deity even if he thought it was intensely unlikely, idk. Anyway, I still enjoyed it - reading House on the Borderland makes the story make a lot more sense, as it ties into that, too - the other stories don't require any knowledge of that book.
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Oct 10, 2016 14:43
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