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The latest episode of Riverdale, "Tales from the Darkside," had an At the Mountains of Madness reference (I can't get this on Imgur for some reason so here is a direct link): http://cdn1us.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeekus/files/styles/article_width/public/2017/11/img_8018.png Sadly there aren't any more Lovecraft references in the show because it is a teen drama based on Archie comics, of all things. I'm holding out hope for the horror-themed Sabrina spinoff, though.
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Dec 5, 2017 01:24
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The Deep is a trash heap garbage book but maybe in a charming way. The biggest problem is that it’s always on, there’s no escalation: from the moment Lucas enters that station he’s being hosed with by evil laughter and hallucination sons and mom maggots and then when he flashbacks to his childhood everything is also horrible and things are chasing him through the dark and popping out of storm drains and poo poo. It’s just balls to the wall through the hole in the wall into the evil dimension crazy poo poo. It doesn’t do very much with its setting except to repeat that it’s very dark and under lots of pressure. Contrast with a better book, Sphere (shout out for so many childhood nightmares!) which gets a lot of mileage out of the technical horror of the habitat and its systems - the habitation cylinders feel like real places with unique underwater problems, and we see them decay and break as the situation worsens. The Deep’s Trieste, however, is a malignant spider maze flooded with supernatural darkness from second one, and there’s no real breakdown of systems or survival challenges to counterpose the psychological/supernatural horror. It doesn’t do much with its great biohorror hook - we don’t get a phase of scientific investigation into the ambrosia before Event Horizon starts 69ing Hellraiser all over the page and it’s off to mutant bee death womb tunnel trauma. I wanted more foreplay before the tentacles started coming out of the walls! My favorite thing about The Deep is how hosed everyone is. They’re so completely doomed and in over their heads that it’s almost a twist: you just can’t believe how utterly boned the whole venture was from the get go.
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Dec 5, 2017 08:33
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The Barron story Proboscis was a weird little one that a couple of days later has me dreaming of various insect-like humans living among us. edit: whoops, got the wrong name Bilirubin fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Dec 5, 2017 |
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Dec 5, 2017 15:40
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I just finished T.E.D Klien's The Ceremonies the other day. I enjoyed it on the whole, although I felt like it was overly long by maybe 100 pages. Is it worth reading the short story it was based off - The events at Poroth farm? I read The Ciper by Kathe Koja earlier this year from a recommendation in this thread. I don't think I really understood what was going on with the video tape recording - everyone was obsessed with watching it over and over, what was happening in the footage? Was there some sort of being or person in the hole that 'turned around to face the camera' or have I got the wrong end of the stick? I am going to read Laird Barron's The Imago Sequence next. I read The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and loved it. My favorite stories were the first one about the game hunter, and the one about the gangster.
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Dec 5, 2017 15:53
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General Battuta posted:My favorite thing about The Deep is how hosed everyone is. They’re so completely doomed and in over their heads that it’s almost a twist: you just can’t believe how utterly boned the whole venture was from the get go. General Battuta posted:Contrast with a better book, Sphere (shout out for so many childhood nightmares!) which gets a lot of mileage out of the technical horror of the habitat and its systems - the habitation cylinders feel like real places with unique underwater problems, and we see them decay and break as the situation worsens. General Ledger posted:I read The Ciper by Kathe Koja From what I understood, that was what the main character saw, that other people didn't see, but maybe I'm misremembering?
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Dec 5, 2017 16:38
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Bilirubin posted:The Barron story Proboscis was a weird little one that a couple of days later has me dreaming of various insect-like humans living among us. Yeah I really liked that one. It's very different in tone to his other works. a little incoherent and not in his normal dream-state way, since it's not entirely clear what triggers the protagonist's paranoia so hard. While it's not as abstract as the drug trip scenes he's fond of there's enough there that does seem definitely off that it's unsettling. The protagonist is also just a normal guy rather than the macho tough men he prefers (I don't mind them either) Neurosis fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Dec 6, 2017 |
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Dec 5, 2017 22:13
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any 'best horror of the year' lists out?
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Dec 6, 2017 05:30
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"The Lovecraft Reread" takes on J.R. Hamantaschen’s darkly comic skewering of Lovecraft fandom in "Cthulhu, Zombies, Ninjas, and Robots!" When I read the summary, I knew I had to get the ebook.
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Dec 7, 2017 01:01
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As a child I once idly picked my nose for close to half an hour, depositing my bogeys into a flat tin of Coke I kept besides the sofa I was sitting on. Hours later, thirsty beyond belief and too lazy to head to the kitchen, I took a huge swig of that warm, disgusting mixture. And now, twenty years later, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench... THAT DISGUSTING CAN OF COKE IS CHASING ME! - The Deep
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Dec 7, 2017 12:54
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Drunken Baker posted:As a child I once idly picked my nose for close to half an hour, depositing my bogeys into a flat tin of Coke I kept besides the sofa I was sitting on. Hours later, thirsty beyond belief and too lazy to head to the kitchen, I took a huge swig of that warm, disgusting mixture. This is 100% accurate, and still doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the book. It's ridiculous, but I still loved it. I do need a palate cleanser, though. Any good books out there that do horror pretty subtly and really well? I'm thinking horror that doesn't really lay all its cards on the table, leaving you guessing what actually happened. Stuff like A Head Full of Ghosts or The Haunting of Hill House.
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Dec 7, 2017 17:10
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Yeah. I'm about 50 pages from the end of The Deep. I'm pretty sure what the twist is. It's been fun, but I can't help but think (based on this one book alone) that Nick Cutter's forte might be short stories rather than full on novelas. The little "incidents" are all great and horrible but the overall story feels like a racks there just to hang them all on.
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Dec 7, 2017 18:02
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Drunken Baker posted:Yeah. I'm about 50 pages from the end of The Deep. I'm pretty sure what the twist is. It's been fun, but I can't help but think (based on this one book alone) that Nick Cutter's forte might be short stories rather than full on novelas. The little "incidents" are all great and horrible but the overall story feels like a racks there just to hang them all on. Yeah, I think that lines up with what Battuta was saying earlier. Cutter writes great moments, but the story doesn't hang together well, and relies on near-constant escalation that is just not going to be possible to deliver for most readers. I had great fun with the book, but it was one that I needed to read in bite-sized bits or it would start to show its cracks and/or be kind of fatiguing to read.
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Dec 7, 2017 18:04
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MockingQuantum posted:Yeah, I think that lines up with what Battuta was saying earlier. Cutter writes great moments, but the story doesn't hang together well, and relies on near-constant escalation that is just not going to be possible to deliver for most readers. I had great fun with the book, but it was one that I needed to read in bite-sized bits or it would start to show its cracks and/or be kind of fatiguing to read. Hahahaha I just realized what's going on in your avatar
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Dec 7, 2017 19:28
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MockingQuantum posted:Yeah, I think that lines up with what Battuta was saying earlier. Glad I wasn't alone! Was skimming the thread to avoid spoilers so I missed that. I had fun with it. The ending in particular. It subverted what I thought was going to happen. I figured The Triest as BEING the Ambrosia because the first sample was show to be assimilating the plastic jug it was in and the Ambrosia itself was the driving force behind everything. But nope, goblins. The BIG question is what to read next. loving hell. I think I've picked up drat near every book recommended in the thread (for better or worse). I should try and make a spreadsheet or a list and just stick to it. I dropped Skullcrack City to read The Deep but it's left me in the mood for something darker than Skullcrack. It's a good problem to have, I guess.
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Dec 8, 2017 11:15
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Rough Lobster posted:I have it up for a possible next read I read Marc Laidlaw's The 37th Mandala: Trip report: Can't recommend this. Not much happens, I could never get a good feel for the "monsters", and there's a very offputting, Stephen King-esque child sex scene that the story could really have done without. It's a shame because the central idea (hack writer adapts a malevolent old text by putting a positive spin on it to attract a large audience, causes all hell to break loose) is one that could be pretty drat good with the right treatment.
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Dec 8, 2017 22:27
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most stories could do without child sex scenes imo. just imo
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Dec 8, 2017 22:43
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or actually sex scenes at all
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Dec 8, 2017 22:43
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johnsonrod posted:You guys should give Peter Watts's Rifters trilogy a shot if you're looking for seriously weird, creepy deep sea horror books. It's a bit rough in places since it was his first series , but he does underwater horror waaaaaay better. Be vaguely warned that there's some weird sex torture scenes in the third book I think, though I don't remember them being as bad as some people initially sold them as. Basically some of the characters that Watts writes are hosed up.
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Dec 9, 2017 01:07
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A character gets graphically raped and tortured while being quizzed on biology for about half the book, then she's abandoned to die by her friends who forgot about her. It's pretty rough. I love Starfish and like Maelstrom quite well, though.
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Dec 9, 2017 02:09
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General Battuta posted:I love Starfish and like Maelstrom quite well, though.
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Dec 9, 2017 11:38
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Skyscraper posted:It's good that you're warning people, but that could've used a spoiler tag. i for one enjoy the element of surprise in discovering that the science fiction novel i just picked up is 3/4s torture-rape. it really adds to the overall experience, for me
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Dec 9, 2017 20:01
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Levitate posted:Be vaguely warned that there's some weird sex torture scenes in the third book I think, though I don't remember them being as bad as some people initially sold them as. Basically some of the characters that Watts writes are hosed up. That’s the best kind of torture
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Dec 9, 2017 22:44
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dammit now I feel like I need to read the book again to confirm my memory that it wasn't that explicit or pervasive but that's like really not the right reason to re-read a book
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Dec 10, 2017 06:08
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Paralax was another pretty good short story. As was Haluciginia. Coming down in favor of this Laird Barron guy, but wish his manly man hard drinkin to forget the death of the love of his life wasn't such a trope.
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Dec 11, 2017 19:45
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Bilirubin posted:Paralax was another pretty good short story. As was Haluciginia. Coming down in favor of this Laird Barron guy, but wish his manly man hard drinkin to forget the death of the love of his life wasn't such a trope. If it makes you feel any better, Swift to Chase has a manly woman hard drinkin to forget the time she almost died.
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Dec 11, 2017 20:17
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MockingQuantum posted:If it makes you feel any better, Swift to Chase has a manly woman hard drinkin to forget the time she almost died. It is a variation
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Dec 11, 2017 23:12
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MockingQuantum posted:If it makes you feel any better, Swift to Chase has a manly woman hard drinkin to forget the time she almost died. And The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All has a hard-drinking lady who leaves her husband for another lady and gets mixed up with werewolves in Washington.
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Dec 11, 2017 23:38
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General Battuta posted:A character gets graphically raped and tortured while being quizzed on biology for about half the book, then she's abandoned to die by her friends who forgot about her. It's pretty rough. I don't remember it being that graphic, or at least not that extensive if it was graphic, at all. Like a few paragraphs then maybe some references here and there. It spends a lot more time on the roots of the torturer's sadism and I have to wonder if that hasn't coloured people's memories such that they recall more explicit depictions of pain infliction for sexual gratification than there were. My memory could just be faulty of course. at any rate, it didn't put me off the book that much because at no point did i feel like watts was getting off on what he was writing, and it was meant to be awful. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Dec 12, 2017 |
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Dec 12, 2017 08:39
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No, it’s very graphic, I don’t want to be an absolute loving weirdo and repeat from memory but there’s no merciful haze of abstraction.
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Dec 12, 2017 15:44
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Skyscraper posted:It's good that you're warning people chernobyl kinsman posted:i for one enjoy the element of surprise in discovering that the science fiction novel i just picked up is 3/4s torture-rape. it really adds to the overall experience, for me he sure couldn't have said chernobyl kinsman posted:the science fiction novel i just picked up is 3/4s torture-rape
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Dec 12, 2017 16:53
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Rifters is a textbook first Sci-Fi novel (I compare Rifters:Blindsight with Consider Phlebas:Use of Weapons). It's packed with great original ideas but also has a lot of bloat and timewasting. Starfish is 300 pages of interesting ideas, Maelstrom is 400 pages of really interesting ideas, and Behemoth is 600 pages of "OK this is the ending". Watts was dissatisfied with his publisher telling him to split Behemoth into two books, Betamax and Seppuku. A better publisher would have told him to cut Betamax entirely. It's worth it if you really enjoyed Blindsight and need more but it definitely would have benefited from more aggressive editing.
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Dec 13, 2017 04:20
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I suppose it makes sense that people are bickering over whether a torture rape scene was all that traumatic in the cosmic horror thread. They're all pretty bad y'all.
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Dec 17, 2017 07:23
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HIJK posted:I suppose it makes sense that people are bickering over whether a torture rape scene was all that traumatic in the cosmic horror thread. there is a huge degree of difference between chapters of torture porn where the author is clearly getting off on it, at one end of the spectrum, and a single line reference to something like that happening, at the other. the difference being as to what can be in a book without it becoming unreadable. no one's disputing that rape of any kind is a bad phenomenon, which seems to be what your post is getting at.
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Dec 18, 2017 07:36
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Neurosis posted:there is a huge degree of difference between chapters of torture porn where the author is clearly getting off on it, at one end of the spectrum, and a single line reference to something like that happening, at the other. the difference being as to what can be in a book without it becoming unreadable. no one's disputing that rape of any kind is a bad phenomenon, which seems to be what your post is getting at. Well that's not what my post was getting at. I was saying that all rape scenes are pretty loving bad. Cheers!
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Dec 18, 2017 16:00
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i would have thought it self evident there is a difference between a sadist wank fantasy and a brief scene that is highly unpleasant but not gratuitous and is effective in servicing themes, character development or narrative. no one was arguing that rape scenes are passe or nice things to read about. i don't find your interjection very comprehensible.
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Dec 18, 2017 16:17
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Neurosis posted:i would have thought it self evident there is a difference between a sadist wank fantasy and a brief scene that is highly unpleasant but not gratuitous and is effective in servicing themes, character development or narrative. no one was arguing that rape scenes are passe or nice things to read about. i don't find your interjection very comprehensible. My interjection was bemusement that people are actually arguing about how "bad" the scene is when IMO rape scenes are all equal in how hard they are to read. The shades of gray are in how the author handles it but it hardly matters whether it's gratuitous or not because it's a personal reaction. The subject matter is itself a trauma, ergo it's impossible to judge how comfortable one scene is compared to another, it all depends on your personal mileage. Hence: all rape scenes are pretty bad.
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Dec 18, 2017 16:42
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HIJK posted:My interjection was bemusement that people are actually arguing about how "bad" the scene is when IMO rape scenes are all equal in how hard they are to read. ok thanks
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Dec 18, 2017 16:47
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HIJK posted:My interjection was bemusement that people are actually arguing about how "bad" the scene is when IMO rape scenes are all equal in how hard they are to read. This seems completely insane.
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Dec 18, 2017 16:50
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a foolish pianist posted:This seems completely insane. Yeah, he just came in to say "goons arguing over how bad rape is! goons gonna be goons i guess  "
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Dec 18, 2017 16:55
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Skyscraper posted:Yeah, he just came in to say "goons arguing over how bad rape is! goons gonna be goons i guess It's definitely a strange thing to argue about but I'm not stopping anyone if they really want to go at it.
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Dec 18, 2017 17:12
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