|
anilEhilated posted:Yeah. I mean, the vampires and elves are there since they've become part of the ongoing plot but the core of the book is closer to the older Laundry fare. It mostly follows up on Apocalypse Codex and Fuller Memorandum.
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 22:03
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 01:40 |
|
|
So I just remembered that the movie of the first book in the Southern Reach trilogy, Annihilation, has been in production, and it's supposed to come out early next year with Natalie Portman as the lead apparently? I loved the books a lot, and I love the Vandermeers in general, so I'm hoping the movie does it justice. e: and it's directed by Alex Garland, who did Ex Machina which was prettttttttty fantastic.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2017 22:44
|
|
|
Skyscraper posted:vampires and elves Hahaha what? I've got the first three books, so I might do one on one off and see where it goes from there. hopterque posted:Southern Reach trilogy These sound like a good romp.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2017 11:26
|
|
|
hopterque posted:So I just remembered that the movie of the first book in the Southern Reach trilogy, Annihilation, has been in production, and it's supposed to come out early next year with Natalie Portman as the lead apparently? I loved the books a lot, and I love the Vandermeers in general, so I'm hoping the movie does it justice. that's going to be poo poo. that entire series would be nothing without the clever use of language to avoid actually describing anything
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2017 11:44
|
|
|
Drunken Baker posted:Hahaha what?
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2017 16:24
|
|
|
Drunken Baker posted:Hahaha what? Superheroes make an uneeded appearance as well. A kaiju attacks Japan at some point and no one really mentions it other than like one comment.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2017 17:00
|
|
|
When i was reading Lovecraft first around age 12ish the Case of Charles Dexter Ward was the only one I found actually scary and not just fascinating, though I don't remember much of the story beyond that or why I found it scary. Casting Portman seemed a particularly bad choice for reasons only revealed in the later books, but apparently the film is based solely off of Annihilation and not the trilogy as a whole. I feel like you could make a really strong, suspenseful movie out of that first book.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2017 19:30
|
|
|
Hey guys I'm teaching a class on horror fiction and here's the reading schedule: Unit 1: Introduction M. Aug 28 – First day of class W. Aug 30 – Stephen King, “The Mist” (first portion) [1980] and excerpts from King, Danse Macabre [1981] M. Sep 4 – No class for Labor Day W. Sep 6 – Stephen King, “The Mist” (to end) M. Sep 11 – T.E.D. Klein, “The Events at Poroth Farm” [1972] W. Sep 13 – Clive Barker, “The Midnight Meat Train” [1984], Poppy Z. Brite, “His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood” [1993]. Selected works of criticism and journalism on “horror booms” Unit 2: Weird Fiction M. Sep 18 – Algernon Blackwood, “The Willows” [1907] and “The Wendigo” [1910] W. Sep 20 – Blackwood, “The Man Whom the Trees Loved” [1912] excerpt from S. T. Joshi, The Weird Tale M. Sep 25 – Making a canon: Arthur Machen, “The White People” [1904], M. R. James, “Oh Whistle and I’ll Come To You My Lad” [1904], Lord Dunsany, “How Nuth Would Have Practised His Art Upon the Gnoles” (1912), and excerpts from H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature [1925-1934] W. Sep 27 – Left Out of the Horror Canon?: Edith Wharton, “The Eyes” [1910] and “Pomegranate Seed” [1931] Unit 3: H.P. Lovecraft M. Sep 25 – H.P. Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu” [1928], “The Colour Out of Space” [1927] W. Sep 27 – Lovecraft, “The Shadow Out of Time” [1936], Joyce Carol Oates, “The King of Weird” (essay on Lovecraft) M. Oct 2 – Lovecraft’s Circle: Frank Belknap Long, “The Hounds of Tindalos” [1929], Robert Bloch, “The Shambler from the Stars” [1935], Fritz Leiber, “Smoke Ghost” [1941]. Selected letters by Lovecraft W. Oct 4 – Race and Racism in Lovecraft: Lovecraft, “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” [1931] and “The Horror at Red Hook” [1927]. Optional supplementary readings: “The Street” [1920] and “Medusa’s Coil” [1939] (cowritten with Zealia Bishop) M. Oct 9 – Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom [2016] (roughly first half – we’ll decide specific pages in class) W. Oct 11 – Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom (second half). Listen to or read LaValle’s interview on Fresh Air (link on Blackboard) Unit 4: Midcentury Horror Culture M. Oct 16 – Algernon Blackwood, “A Psychical Invasion” [1908] Lecture and discussion on the history of paranormal belief W. Oct 18 – Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House [1959] (roughly first third) M. Oct 23 – Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House (middle third) W. Oct 25 – Jackson, finish Hill House. Melanie R. Anderson, “Perception, Supernatural Detection, and Gender in The Haunting of Hill House” M. Oct 30 – Midcentury Pop Horror: Ray Bradbury, “The Jar” [1944], Charles Beaumont, “The Howling Man” [1959] and “Fritzchen” [1953], Richard Matheson, “Dress of White Silk” [1951] selected stories from EC Comics’ Tales from the Crypt [1950-1955]. In class: Listen to episodes of Lights Out (most likely “The Dark” [1937] and “Chicken Heart” [1938]) watch episodes of The Twilight Zone, (most likely “The Howling Man” [1960] and “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” [1963]). Optional supplementary readings: Stephen King, “The Monkey” [1980] and “The Mangler” [1972] and further excerpts from Danse Macabre T. Oct 31 – Happy Halloween! Unit 4: Philosophical Horror W. Nov 1 – Horrifying Modernists: Jorge Luis Borges, “The Library of Babel” [1941], “Everything and Nothing” [1960] and “Ragnarök” [1960]; Franz Kafka, “In the Penal Colony” [1919] and “The Cares of a Family Man” [1919]; Donald Barthelme, “Game” [1965] M. Nov 6 – Thomas Ligotti, “The Clown Puppet,” “The Red Tower,” and “Sideshow, and Other Stories” [all 2006] W. Nov 8 – Ligotti, “The Shadow, The Darkness” [2006] M. Nov 13 – Ligotti, “Professor Nobody’s Little Lectures on Supernatural Horror” [1986] and excerpt from The Conspiracy Against the Human Race [2010] W. Nov 15 – Licit or Illicit Borrowings?: The True Detective-Ligotti Controversy and Resolution. Dossier of materials on Blackboard. In class: Episode of True Detective M. Nov 20 – No class for Thanksgiving break W. Nov 22 – No class for Thanksgiving break Unit 5: The Horror of Everyday Life M. Nov 27 – Crowds and Neighbors: Ray Bradbury, “The Crowd” [1943], Shirley Jackson, “The Summer People” [1950], Charles Beaumont, “The New People” [1958] W. Nov 29 – Joyce Carol Oates, “Big Momma” [2016] (in The Doll-Master) and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (on Blackboard) [1966] M. Dec 4 – Oates, “Soldier” [2015] and “Gun Accident: An Investigation” [2015] W. Dec 6 – Last Day of Class. Oates, “The Doll-Master” [2015], Ligotti, “Dream of a Manikin” [1986] (on Blackboard)
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 02:49
|
|
|
Very cool. I would take your class. Danse Macabre is a pretty underrated book. If you don't mind irrelevant critique, in "Unit 5: The Horror of Everyday Life" I would include Harlan Ellison's "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" which won the 1974 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short Story. Part of me wants to say "where is 'The Yellow Wallpaper'?" It would fit in great with The Haunting of Hill House. God "The Street" sucks. I understand why you included it but man it blows. Love the focus on Ligotti. Helical Nightmares fucked around with this message at 05:47 on Aug 28, 2017 |
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 05:41
|
|
|
It's not explained in the reading schedule but to avoid going too far back into the 19th century at which point things like Dracula and The Turn of the Screw become fair game, I've cut anything before 1900 off. The Machen story just barely counts and is cheating a little bit as it was written pre1900 but published post1900. Students will hear a little about the longer tradition of gothic literature and the Klein story helps to point to that but I'm really most interested in exploring the emergence of "horror" as a genre of commercial fiction in the 20th century. I'd love to include Ellison and thought about putting "I have no mouth and I must scream" especially as he'd fit in easily with the authors who wrote for tv. The Street is not great and is basically juvenalia but it's only an optional reading. One of the cool things about Lovecraft's racism is that be at least gets a good head of steam going on people who are today "white." Serves as a nice contrast to our contemporary white nationalists and hopefully will set up Oates's "Soldier" toward the end
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 06:50
|
|
|
Rough Lobster posted:Superheroes make an uneeded appearance as well. A kaiju attacks Japan at some point and no one really mentions it other than like one comment. To be more precise, superheroes are humanity's psychological reaction to the stars becoming right and more and more people spontaneously becoming able to alter reality. The vampires were an early, limited example of that, and the elves are a straight-up, gently caress-off alien invasion/refugee crisis as the walls between worlds begin to collapse. The latest book involves the Great Old Ones beginning their takeover, and Britain having to pick its patron. The genre stuff is always flavouring on an ongoing apocalypse.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 07:51
|
|
|
Dr. Video Games 0081 posted:It's not explained in the reading schedule but to avoid going too far back into the 19th century at which point things like Dracula and The Turn of the Screw become fair game, I've cut anything before 1900 off. The Machen story just barely counts and is cheating a little bit as it was written pre1900 but published post1900. Students will hear a little about the longer tradition of gothic literature and the Klein story helps to point to that but I'm really most interested in exploring the emergence of "horror" as a genre of commercial fiction in the 20th century. You should have them read "And Cain Rose Up" just to be an rear end in a top hat and really freak them out
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 10:03
|
|
|
Darth Walrus posted:To be more precise, superheroes are humanity's psychological reaction to the stars becoming right and more and more people spontaneously becoming able to alter reality. The vampires were an early, limited example of that, and the elves are a straight-up, gently caress-off alien invasion/refugee crisis as the walls between worlds begin to collapse. The latest book involves the Great Old Ones beginning their takeover, and Britain having to pick its patron. edit: to put some content in here, Stross is at his worst when he thinks he's being clever, and the back-patting from those was audible
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 17:08
|
|
|
Eh, I don't know. Equoid is very much Lovecraftian circlejerking and I still consider it the best thing to come out of that series.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 18:13
|
|
|
anilEhilated posted:Eh, I don't know. Equoid is very much Lovecraftian circlejerking and I still consider it the best thing to come out of that series.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 19:03
|
|
|
Equoid is good because it actually manages to be both: 1) funny (Bob finding an official British Government wartime document from 1940 requesting invincible, flying, carnivorous steeds) and 2) scary (a little girl being hollowed by a creeping horror out and operated like a puppet to ensnare another child) The Lovecraftian stuff is what makes the series good. It's just when they try to mix that with elves, vampires, and superheroes (no matter how he justifies them) that the series starts falling flat.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 19:10
|
|
|
Rough Lobster posted:Equoid is good because it actually manages to be both: Also, off-topic, I just got done reading "Whom the Gods Would Destroy" by Brian Hodge and it was as good as this thread said it would be. I'm wishing they'd make a movie out of it and show it as a double feature with Absentia.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 19:28
|
|
|
Skyscraper posted:Yeah, you're right on all counts. I guess it's hard being able to say why unicorns work so much better than elves, when they're both patently ridiculous. now read World of Hurt and be absolutely destroyed inside
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 19:32
|
|
|
BENGHAZI 2 posted:now read World of Hurt and be absolutely destroyed inside Anyone know of other good Hodge? Those two are specifically what get recommended the most in this thread.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 19:40
|
|
|
Darth Walrus posted:To be more precise, superheroes are humanity's psychological reaction to the stars becoming right and more and more people spontaneously becoming able to alter reality. The vampires were an early, limited example of that, and the elves are a straight-up, gently caress-off alien invasion/refugee crisis as the walls between worlds begin to collapse. The latest book involves the Great Old Ones beginning their takeover, and Britain having to pick its patron. this sounds really dumb man Dr. Video Games 0081 posted:Hey guys I'm teaching a class on horror fiction and here's the reading schedule: how are you teaching an entire class on horror without including a single aickman story
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2017 23:13
|
|
|
Skyscraper posted:Yeah, you're right on all counts. I guess it's hard being able to say why unicorns work so much better than elves, when they're both patently ridiculous. I just finished "Whom the Gods Would Destroy" and for some reason it didn't click with me. The ending was so "eh" thats probably more my fault than anything though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2017 03:53
|
|
|
A while back I asked for... some sort of recommendation, I think it had something to do with horror novels with otherworldly objects or something bizarrely specific. In any case, I've forgotten the reason it was recommended, but I've started From a Buick 8 and I'm really digging it so far. I've read a lot of Stephen King, so I guess you could call me a fan, but I also recognize he's got a lot of issues that tend to appear in a lot of his books. So far, though, this one feels just very tight and well told. Also the troopers remind me a lot of cops I knew growing up, so it feels familiar in a really interesting way.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2017 05:20
|
|
|
Yeah part of Stephen King's continued appeal is that he does Americana so well. He really does have that small town vibe, small-town cop, Etc down.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2017 07:43
|
|
|
chernobyl kinsman posted:this sounds really dumb man Can't teach em all without arranging the class more as a survey than it is. Plus I don't know Aickman well.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2017 15:53
|
|
|
Dr. Video Games 0081 posted:Can't teach em all without arranging the class more as a survey than it is. Plus I don't know Aickman well. Flaggy posted:The ending was so "eh" thats probably more my fault than anything though. Skyscraper fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Aug 29, 2017 |
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2017 16:21
|
|
|
coyo7e posted:Yeah part of Stephen King's continued appeal is that he does Americana so well. He really does have that small town vibe, small-town cop, Etc down. Also I think he just has a better handle on writing believable and relatable characters than most horror writers, especially those trying to ape his style or that were clearly influenced by him. In particular recent horror sometimes seems to have a problem with main characters that don't feel unbelievable or just like walking plot devices. House of Small Shadows kind of leaps to mind as an example. Great book, but the protag felt like she was only half-there sometimes.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2017 16:30
|
|
|
Skyscraper posted:Me neither. Throw us some recommendations, Chernobyl!  Also is "Aickman's Heirs" any good? I keep on getting recommendations from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Aickmans-Heirs-Simon-Strantzas/dp/0981317790
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2017 21:40
|
|
|
Helical Nightmares posted:
The only one of the stories I remember offhand reading is Seaside Town by Evenson. It's a very solid short piece. You'll have already read it if you keep up with Evenson's anthologies, though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2017 21:58
|
|
|
Helical Nightmares posted:
i enjoyed it, yeah. there are a couple of stinkers but c'est la vie. if you like aickman you should derive enough pleasure from it to make it way more than worth the $2 ebook price tag. oh man, aickman. he does not get nearly enough attention and it's a criminal shame. his influence on ligotti seems palpable, and his stories have the same kind of dream-logic to them. the difference is that ligotti's stories usually end up making a kind of sense, whereas aickman excels in giving you enough information to know that something is going on, but rarely enough to know why it's going on. there's always the sense that everyone in the story knows more than the narrator, even that the world is conspiring against him. not all of his stories are horror, strictly speaking (though most are) - he preferred the term 'strange stories' - but they are all weird and haunting and unsettling. it's extremely difficult to get all of his stories; his two-volume complete works has only been printed once and now goes for around $400. a lot of them have been reprinted, though, and you can some of his stuff in ebook format for very cheap. i would start with Dark Entries, which contains Ringing the Changes - probably his most famous story, though imo he's written much better. chernobyl kinsman fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Aug 29, 2017 |
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2017 22:12
|
|
|
chernobyl kinsman posted:i enjoyed it, yeah. there are a couple of stinkers but c'est la vie. if you like aickman you should derive enough pleasure from it to make it way more than worth the $2 ebook price tag. you forgot a /url there :p I'll see if my local library has Dark Entries on ebook. I've heard that's a thing now.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2017 22:30
|
|
|
Dark Entries ebook goes on sale a lot, too. I got it for $2 a while back. Still haven't gotten around to it though, maybe I'll check it out after I finish Charles Dexter Ward and report back.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2017 15:31
|
|
|
Skyscraper posted:right but the flavour in question is poo poo I posted in the 'pos scifi thread that I like the Laundry books despite Stross's best efforts to the contrary. The Superheroes book is definitely the lowest point in the series so far, it's from Mo's point of view who I find an unpleasant character even though this book was meant to show why she seems so sharp and bitter in the Bob books, and the actual storyline isn't particularly fun. It does have the first showing of a new character who will be very important in the later books, but in such a seemingly retconned state that you might just be better off meeting him somewhat abruptly in his next outing rather than going 'eh but wasn't he..?'
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2017 19:16
|
|
|
People are always bitching about Mo, but I've never really understood why. Well, I *suspect* why, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2017 20:17
|
|
|
chernobyl kinsman posted:it's extremely difficult to get all of his stories; his two-volume complete works has only been printed once and now goes for around $400. a lot of them have been reprinted, though, and you can some of his stuff in ebook format for very cheap. i would start with Dark Entries, which contains Ringing the Changes - probably his most famous story, though imo he's written much better. This came out quite recently: http://www.valancourtbooks.com/the-late-breakfasters.html The ebook version should scratch the itch for those looking for a reasonably priced introduction.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2017 21:54
|
|
|
Anyone have recommendations of some lovecraftian or otherwise fantastic horror, where the descriptions are simple instead of the standard drawn-out mess of unfathomable adjectives and adverbs?
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2017 22:07
|
|
|
Dr. Video Games 0081 posted:Hey guys I'm teaching a class on horror fiction and here's the reading schedule: You're missing Ramsey Campbell from your survey. May I suggest adding “At the Back of My Mind: A Guided Tour,” his autobiographical introduction to "The Face That Must Die", to this section? It's arguably better than book itself and certainly a classic of horror. Completely harrowing. Campbell is one of the missing links between the Lovecraft circle and modern horror, given that he wrote a number of very influential Lovecraftian stories at very young age while in correspondence with Derleth. (There's also Bloch and Jack Ketchum's relationship). The other thing is when you do the EC comics stuff throw in some early Mad as well, in its early days it was just as steeped in doing humorous horror comics as in any other parody, hugely influential on Sam Raimi (at the very least), others have commented on the almost traumatising effects that it had on them as kids in 50s and 60s, it was still rough stuff when I read them as a kid in 90s. (The Mad comics I would consider to have a classic horror structure would be Melvin Mole, Howdy Dooit, Bat Boy and Rubin!, and Mickey Rodent, also check out those covers, it was sold as a horror comic).
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2017 23:30
|
|
|
Yeah Campbell is another one I'm aware I'm leaving out but don't know well enough to make an informed selection about, so thanks for the recommendations. That essay might make a good supplementary reading from what I can tell, especially since one of the goals of the course is to have them reading critical work by horror authors alongside the fiction, and also doing some investigation into how the genre was shaped by publication venues, informal networks of fans and authors, etc. I'm not an expert on the genre by any means, but I'm trying to find a way to make it more approachable. As far as I can tell, with the exception of a few major figures and Joshi's scholarship it's been surprisingly "unprocessed" by academia, at the same time a lot of writers and fans have built up their own critical apparatus and canons in small periodicals and online.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2017 23:41
|
|
|
Dr. Video Games 0081 posted:Yeah Campbell is another one I'm aware I'm leaving out but don't know well enough to make an informed selection about, so thanks for the recommendations. That essay might make a good supplementary reading from what I can tell, especially since one of the goals of the course is to have them reading critical work by horror authors alongside the fiction, and also doing some investigation into how the genre was shaped by publication venues, informal networks of fans and authors, etc. I'm not an expert on the genre by any means, but I'm trying to find a way to make it more approachable. As far as I can tell, with the exception of a few major figures and Joshi's scholarship it's been surprisingly "unprocessed" by academia, at the same time a lot of writers and fans have built up their own critical apparatus and canons in small periodicals and online. I completely agree! But even with Joshi, there's the fact that he won't acknowledge the current Lovecraft boom is more directly attributable to the Call of Cthulhu RPG than any literary excellence on Lovecraft's part. Just as D&D created generic fantasy (note not the fantasy genre) by taxononomising and formalising it's influences, so too did Call of Cthulhu, which was further increased by Chaosium's fiction publishing branch re-issuing and creating new anthologies of Lovecraftian literature. Fluffy Cthulhu can be laid right at Sandy Peterson's feet. I mean the True Detective guy is such a nerd that he probably read Delta Green and almost certainly John Tynes' essay on The King In Yellow in it's second supplement, an early version of which exist here: https://web.archive.org/web/20080624072054/http://www.tccorp.com/pagan/pp_tuo1.html#Hali But essentially after the 50s (heck probably since black and white Frankenstein) you can't get a purely literary genealogy of horror, it becomes all mixed up with TV reruns, comic books, monster magazines, video fanzines, New York exploitation cinemas, games and internet sites.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2017 00:14
|
|
|
Yeah, even though Joshi has done more (probably many times more) research on this material than anybody, he's not really located in the academy or beholden to the same norms of discourse. That's of course fine: there's nothing that promises that work done by people employed by universities is better than those who aren't. But some of his positions are a little weird to me, like not seeming to understand why it might not be best for a major award to be a bust of Lovecraft when he would have seen some of the writers winning it as subhuman. I do intend to discuss the popularization and cute-ification of Cthulhu with the class.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2017 01:04
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 01:40 |
|
|
Skyscraper posted:Already did! I liked World of Hurt specifically and not his other books in the series. It's the cosmic horror that works so well. without pity, without purpose is a good novella in a similar vein. he ranges all over the horror spectrum. at its lowest key is prototype, which is about a guy who has a weird genetic condition which amps up his levels of aggression to insane levels, but is otherwise a reasonable person. not at all about anything supernatural, just the pain of being cursed with this incredibly antisocial quirk by the roll of the dice. he's also written a bit of dark fantasy horror in the tales of the lost citadel anthology (and there was some talk of him writing a book in that setting) - i still want to get my hands on that book, i think fantasy horror is sadly underdone! and the standard 'friends on a trip encounter something evil' like in oasis. all of his stuff is pretty solid, but it's the cosmic horror where he absolutely destroys. there's another short story about cosmic poo poo being baked into readings from space which, when turned into an audio score by a musician and audio engineer, makes people go loving nuts (and he has some interesting ancestry, too), which was pretty good, but i can't remember the name. i think the best bet is to get an anthology of his stuff and work through it, i can't remember reading anything he's read that is straight up bad, and you'll get variety and a sense of his different styles and which appeal to you.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2017 01:19
|
|
