|
Drunken Baker posted:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Will-Sun-E...+come+out+again anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Jan 12, 2018 |
#
?
Jan 12, 2018 16:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 03:52 |
|
|
Drunken Baker posted:You got a kindle? I've started a slasher series of books and I'm trying to make them read as a slasher film plays out, if that makes sense? If anyone wants a copy send me a DM or just say so in here and I'll whip up a few free codes. I DMed you about it but I didn't notice that it's all of $0.99. I think I can spare one eighth of a coffee for a book Also I have no idea what coffee costs these days, it's been years since I've been to a starbucks
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2018 19:40
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:I DMed you about it but I didn't notice that it's all of $0.99. I think I can spare one eighth of a coffee for a book What can a cup of coffee cost, Michael, eight dollars?
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 00:50
|
|
|
a foolish pianist posted:What can a cup of coffee cost, Michael, eight dollars? Well he's in the UK, it could cost that much for all I know And obviously my man Michael only provides me with the finest of hand-picked bespoke tea blends, no man can place a price on that
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2018 02:42
|
|
|
Fire Safety Doug posted:Re: Barron & PNW – this is going to make me sound like a fanboy, but his stories definitely upped my interested in the region and when I visited with the wife in 2016, I actually messaged him on Facebook to ask for tips. Ended up having a nice kayak paddle on Lake Crescent, and the Olympic Peninsula was definitely cool. Most people going there because of a book are Twilight fans, though. gently caress yeah, Lake Crescent. Have you read his short story “The Redfield Girls”?
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2018 18:49
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:I'm looking for a good horror novel that kind of captures the same feeling as classic slasher horror (Halloween, Friday the 13, etc). Any recommendations? You could be out of luck there, that's traditionally Richard Laymon country. The Rats by James Herbert might float your boat, though. No slasher killer, just the titular rodents, but it hits the same "nobody's died for 10 pages, have a set piece" beats.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2018 17:31
|
|
|
Gary the Llama posted:gently caress yeah, Lake Crescent. Have you read his short story “The Redfield Girls”? I have indeed, had to re-read it prior to the trip. That is a beautiful, but also very cold and very deep lake.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2018 21:16
|
|
|
I just picked up Paperbacks From Hell and it's a lot of fun. Anybody read any of Grady Hendrix's actual novels? The bookstore had Horrorstor and My Best Friend's Exorcism which both looked... neat? But also very gimmicky. I kinda love the gimmick of both, but I wouldn't run out and buy either without a recommendation.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2018 21:55
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:I just picked up Paperbacks From Hell and it's a lot of fun. Anybody read any of Grady Hendrix's actual novels? The bookstore had Horrorstor and My Best Friend's Exorcism which both looked... neat? But also very gimmicky. I kinda love the gimmick of both, but I wouldn't run out and buy either without a recommendation. I hope you got the paperback version of Paperbacks From Hell. And I'd also be interested in opinions on Hendrix's fiction.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2018 23:00
|
|
|
Jedit posted:You could be out of luck there, that's traditionally Richard Laymon country. The Rats by James Herbert might float your boat, though. No slasher killer, just the titular rodents, but it hits the same "nobody's died for 10 pages, have a set piece" beats. I always recommend reading that trilogy in reverse order, starting with Domain, because Domain is by far the best of them and I think reading the other two first probably dilutes its impact.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2018 23:07
|
|
|
I read My Best Friend's Exorcism, and while it was very gimmicky, I did enjoy it. It's a very quick, breezy read, far from perfect but fun. The cover was so cool that I had to buy it. Speaking of Paperbacks from Hell, I received a copy of this book for Christmas and it's really interesting, especially if you were like me and spent time in the dark back corner of B Dalton bookstores where they hid the horror novels. Paperbacks from Hell is also ruining my bank account, because while I still have many of the Zebra and Tor books that I bought as a teenager, I don't have half of what's covered, so of course it makes sense to spend $35 on an eBay auction for a paperback of The Gilgul.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2018 23:14
|
|
|
Horrorstör is lots of fun. Felt very JDATE in tone.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2018 01:50
|
|
|
Ornamented Death posted:I hope you got the paperback version of Paperbacks From Hell. I did, yeah. The local B&N had it, Horrorstor, and MBFE all in stock. I saw Paperbacks from Hell and knew I needed to have a physical copy. The other two would probably be fine as ebooks, though I might still pick up Horrorstor in hard copy cuz it's fun.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2018 04:12
|
|
|
I started Authority last night and I like it a lot more than I thought I would. I read ~25% of it in one sitting when I planned on just reading the first few pages.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2018 10:57
|
|
|
Professor Shark posted:I started Authority last night and I like it a lot more than I thought I would. I read ~25% of it in one sitting when I planned on just reading the first few pages. I've finished the trilogy now, I'd say that Authority was my favourite of the three. There are some prequel books due out soon, which I can't wait to get stuck in to.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2018 17:39
|
|
|
I totally got sidetracked about a quarter into the second book. Really looking forward to the film though. It's bonkers that its getting an adaptation at all, considering the source material. I just can't imagine how great the pitch must have been to get some mad executive to give it the green light and with what appears to be a fair budget too! 
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2018 18:06
|
|
|
Drunken Baker posted:I totally got sidetracked about a quarter into the second book. Really looking forward to the film though. It's bonkers that its getting an adaptation at all, considering the source material. I just can't imagine how great the pitch must have been to get some mad executive to give it the green light and with what appears to be a fair budget too! The pitch was Alex Garland's previous directorial effort, Ex Machina. He's got a great track record previous to that as well, having written/produced 28 Days Later, Sunshine, 28 Weeks Later and Dredd. Given everything we've heard about Annihilation's film adaptation, I'm insanely excited. It's by far my most anticipated for this year. I'm giddy about it like I was giddy about The Matrix when I was 7 years old hahaha.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2018 20:12
|
|
|
As the op of the CD thread... I would not get your hopes up. Apparently they stopped writing notes during one of the screen tests.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2018 23:05
|
|
|
Oh man, Garland is great. I forgot it was him doing it, yeah I'd give him free reign to do something good and...Professor Shark posted:The suits thought it was too "thinky". loving hell. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2018 10:14
|
|
|
Professor Shark posted:As the op of the CD thread... I would not get your hopes up. I read about the drama with the producer wanted to gently caress with the edit and the executive producer shutting him down in favor of retaining Garland's final cut and the overseas Netflix release and frankly... I'm not really all that worried. If he retains even an inkling of the spirit of the book(s) it will probably be "too thinky" for modern audiences. I'm totally down with that. You can see in the trailers that the marketing team is really leaning into the action-adventure elements so it appears they're doing everything they can (short of recutting it) to push it toward the audiences they think might take a chance on it. Hell, the book itself could be a bit out there for most readers. Anyone who has read them knows that the page to film transfer is going to be a difficult one but I think it's an exciting prospect nevertheless. I've got faith in Garland. Hell, I've always said that Sunshine was waayyyy ahead of it's time. I think he'll pull off something special.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2018 16:40
|
|
|
im really worried that the natalie portman movie wont capture the full cerebral depth of my book about alien space plants
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2018 17:11
|
|
|
chernobyl kinsman posted:im really worried that the natalie portman movie wont capture the full cerebral depth of my book about alien space plants ha ha yeah this genre sucks huh
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2018 17:42
|
|
|
chernobyl kinsman posted:im really worried that the natalie portman movie wont capture the full cerebral depth of my book about alien space plants Okay
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2018 21:16
|
|
|
I've started on Barron's Swift to Chase and am enjoying it so far - question for the thread here though, I just finished the 3rd story in the book, Termination Dust. It seems to be the origin story of his Jessica Mace character - the story just finished and it seemed to come to an abrupt end, I liked it although I feel like I've missed something here, or are there further stories ahead in the book which add more detail to the overall narrative? Spoilers here: So some sort of supernatural entity stalks the apartment complex during a blizzard and we see it kill several people - we learn that one of the victims, Nathan, survived the Moose Valley massacre some time before and that the killer that time was gunned down in a river and then (maybe?) drowns in the river. Nathan seems to know the attacker when he meets with him in Eagle Creek, is this entity an incarnation of the Moose valley killer?
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2018 23:59
|
|
|
General Ledger posted:I've started on Barron's Swift to Chase and am enjoying it so far - question for the thread here though, I just finished the 3rd story in the book, Termination Dust. All of the stories in StC are kind of connected to two narrative threads-- one is the Children of Old Leech, which is Barron's general mythos that shows up in a lot of his writing, the other is generally what you're talking about in the spoiler. The stories only ever explain things in a vague and oblique way, and especially your second question isn't clearly answered. There's some suggestion that the Moose Valley and Eagle Talon Ripper are indeed one and the same, or that there's some supernatural connection between them. There's also suggestions that Mace doesn't actually kill the Eagle Talon Ripper when she shoots him/it/whoever. I only read through it once, for all I know there's a lot more explicit answers in the book than I realized and you could find them if you sat down and put together a timeline. That said, there are a couple of stories that aren't directly related to any of the Moose Valley/Jessica Mace stuff so I don't know that Barron meant for everything to be answered in a tidy package anyway. In general, Barron's MO involves including the same characters, entities, and themes throughout multiple stories; sometimes it's only incidental, like one of the entomologists from "The Forest" being mentioned a few times in "The Croning" (or at least I think that's incidental, haven't finished The Croning yet). I'm not sure you can entirely piece together a clear timeline in Swift to Chase, but maybe someone's who has taken a closer look at it could say better.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 01:30
|
|
|
I just finish Authority Whoa 
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 02:26
|
|
|
Professor Shark posted:As the op of the CD thread... I would not get your hopes up. This is a bit disingenuous. The producer who said he stopped taking notes did so because he was defending Garlands Work against the producer who wanted to turn it into an action film. He has final cut as well
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 02:56
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:All of the stories in StC are kind of connected to two narrative threads-- one is the Children of Old Leech, which is Barron's general mythos that shows up in a lot of his writing, the other is generally what you're talking about in the spoiler. The stories only ever explain things in a vague and oblique way, and especially your second question isn't clearly answered. There's some suggestion that the Moose Valley and Eagle Talon Ripper are indeed one and the same, or that there's some supernatural connection between them. There's also suggestions that Mace doesn't actually kill the Eagle Talon Ripper when she shoots him/it/whoever. I only read through it once, for all I know there's a lot more explicit answers in the book than I realized and you could find them if you sat down and put together a timeline. That said, there are a couple of stories that aren't directly related to any of the Moose Valley/Jessica Mace stuff so I don't know that Barron meant for everything to be answered in a tidy package anyway. barron said in an ama on reddit he's going to write another book which is kind of a sequel to the croning and might be bigger scale and more sci-fi. i liked the croning even if it did read like a short story writer's first novel, and the Children of Old Leech are probably Barron's creepiest creation. so i look forward to it, even though he always has a ton of projects on and i imagine it's 'one of a dozen things i'm kinda doing some desultory work on and might come out at some point in the next 20 years'.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 03:14
|
|
|
Professor Shark posted:I just finish Authority Authority was awesome. The whole trilogy is great and if you like the 2nd I think you'll like the 3rd. It has one of the best parts in it in the whole trilogy imo.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 06:08
|
|
|
Danger posted:This is a bit disingenuous. The producer who said he stopped taking notes did so because he was defending Garlands Work against the producer who wanted to turn it into an action film. He has final cut as well Maybe, I read it at least a month ago. johnsonrod posted:Authority was awesome. The whole trilogy is great and if you like the 2nd I think you'll like the 3rd. It has one of the best parts in it in the whole trilogy imo. Awesome, I'm picking it up today from the library, as well as "The Collapsed Empire". I like to get an extra book when trying out new sci fi authors, in case it doesn't work out.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 10:12
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:All of the stories in StC are kind of connected to two narrative threads-- one is the Children of Old Leech, which is Barron's general mythos that shows up in a lot of his writing, the other is generally what you're talking about in the spoiler. The stories only ever explain things in a vague and oblique way, and especially your second question isn't clearly answered. There's some suggestion that the Moose Valley and Eagle Talon Ripper are indeed one and the same, or that there's some supernatural connection between them. There's also suggestions that Mace doesn't actually kill the Eagle Talon Ripper when she shoots him/it/whoever. I only read through it once, for all I know there's a lot more explicit answers in the book than I realized and you could find them if you sat down and put together a timeline. That said, there are a couple of stories that aren't directly related to any of the Moose Valley/Jessica Mace stuff so I don't know that Barron meant for everything to be answered in a tidy package anyway. Ah ok, thanks for that - i'll steam through the rest of StC to see what other clues reveal themselves. Neurosis posted:barron said in an ama on reddit he's going to write another book which is kind of a sequel to the croning and might be bigger scale and more sci-fi. i liked the croning even if it did read like a short story writer's first novel, and the Children of Old Leech are probably Barron's creepiest creation. so i look forward to it, even though he always has a ton of projects on and i imagine it's 'one of a dozen things i'm kinda doing some desultory work on and might come out at some point in the next 20 years'. That sounds good - I've read The Croning and The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All, I liked how many of the stories, places and characters connected together.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 12:37
|
|
|
General Ledger posted:Ah ok, thanks for that - i'll steam through the rest of StC to see what other clues reveal themselves. If you haven't, you should definitely read Imago Sequence and Occultation. Beautiful Thing and Swift to Chase have a few really good stories each, but overall are pretty weak collections in comparison, so if you can get through them without complaint you'll likely enjoy his first two. The Light and the Darkness can and should be skipped. It's not great.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 17:36
|
|
|
I'll have to try and get back into Barron. I don't know if I was just having an off-week or something, but Occulation really didn't click for me. Maybe I should read Swift to Chase first? edit: I'll have to re-read Greener Pastures too.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 18:12
|
|
|
Drunken Baker posted:I'll have to try and get back into Barron. I don't know if I was just having an off-week or something, but Occulation really didn't click for me. Maybe I should read Swift to Chase first? Swift to Chase is very different from his first two collections, so it would be a good one to try. Personally I liked Imago Sequence much more than Occultation, I feel like the latter had some great stories but it was way more inconsistent. I keep forgetting I have Greener Pastures in my Kindle library... I just take forever to get through short story anthologies for some reason, so I've got a backlog of them sitting in there. Maybe I should read Headcase first though, eh? 
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 18:24
|
|
|
I can't remember if I've mentioned this here before, but am I the only person who absolutely couldn't stand Barron's The Croning? I feel like I got suckered in by an amazing opening chapter and then just dunked on with disconnected and poorly explained 'spooky' events. I understand on an intellectual level what he was trying to do, but the whole thing fell flat for me, especially how the protagonist's wife was supposed to be the center of all the weird stuff going on in his life but she had almost no characterization. Apart from that specific point the novel just had this uncomfortable air to it that I could never quite put my finger on. It really turned me off trying any of his other work.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 18:29
|
|
|
Hungry posted:I can't remember if I've mentioned this here before, but am I the only person who absolutely couldn't stand Barron's The Croning? I feel like I got suckered in by an amazing opening chapter and then just dunked on with disconnected and poorly explained 'spooky' events. I understand on an intellectual level what he was trying to do, but the whole thing fell flat for me, especially how the protagonist's wife was supposed to be the center of all the weird stuff going on in his life but she had almost no characterization. Apart from that specific point the novel just had this uncomfortable air to it that I could never quite put my finger on. It really turned me off trying any of his other work. I haven't finished it, but I can totally understand where you're coming from. Your last point about it having an "uncomfortable air" is actually pretty standard in Barron's stuff so it's probably okay that you are kind of turned off. His characters are always exceptionally weird or hold really extreme beliefs, he dives into sexuality with the intent of pushing you a little farther than is totally comfortable, he uses body horror in a way that's not just intended to gross you out but make you genuinely unsettled. It's not always successful, but I feel like The Croning has more moments where it kind of takes me out of the story entirely. I still really enjoy it, but I think I have a high tolerance for Barron. There are some really good Barron stories that don't lean so heavily into the above, but I can never remember titles off the top of my head. Fake edit: as for your complaint about disconnected and poorly explained 'spooky' events, that's unfortunately also one of Barron's biggest shortcomings as a writer. He sometimes underexplains things and relies on ambiguity to make something impactful. It's usually what's at fault with the stories I like least. Sometimes he really does manage to make something really ambiguous and terrifying as a result, and when he does it's pretty great.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 18:38
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:Maybe I should read Headcase first though, eh? Oh god. That's going to be a jarring shift in quality, but I hope you get something out of it. Hahah. I'll snap up those other Barron books next payday and give it another stab.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 19:11
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:I haven't finished it, but I can totally understand where you're coming from. Your last point about it having an "uncomfortable air" is actually pretty standard in Barron's stuff so it's probably okay that you are kind of turned off. His characters are always exceptionally weird or hold really extreme beliefs, he dives into sexuality with the intent of pushing you a little farther than is totally comfortable, he uses body horror in a way that's not just intended to gross you out but make you genuinely unsettled. It's not always successful, but I feel like The Croning has more moments where it kind of takes me out of the story entirely. I still really enjoy it, but I think I have a high tolerance for Barron. I hear what you're saying - there was the part in The Croning where the son recounts a spooky episode he had while working at I think a department store? Where the stock room is haunted by a witch or something like that. I remember thinking this a really unsettling little side story, but it didn't really add to the plot as such Still liked the book a lot though - although as many have mentioned the main character is way too old to be running around in the woods!
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 20:09
|
|
|
General Ledger posted:I hear what you're saying - there was the part in The Croning where the son recounts a spooky episode he had while working at I think a department store? Where the stock room is haunted by a witch or something like that. I remember thinking this a really unsettling little side story, but it didn't really add to the plot as such I just read that part the other day, and honestly my reaction was, "Oh that was cool, I wonder what percentage of it matters to the book as a whole". You could chalk that up to it being Barron's first novel attempt, and so he stuck stuff in at weird points or weird ways and just hoped it would gel thematically, but honestly he sticks weird, mostly irrelevant poo poo in a lot of stories, it's just that in short stories it's proportionally much less of the story as a whole. All these posts make me sound like I hate his writing, but I honestly really enjoy most of what he releases. That said, I just looked him up on amazon because I couldn't remember the name of X's for Eyes, and what the crap are all these novellas and stuff that I've never heard of before?! There's a novel that looks like it's intended to be a part of an ongoing series, and a novella that also looks like it's supposed to be part of a different, maybe unrelated ongoing series. Could these possibly be good? Edit: well if I'd taken 5 minutes more to look at them, I would have realized the reason I haven't heard of either is that neither is strictly-speaking horror. Looks like they're both crime/mystery. MockingQuantum fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Jan 18, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2018 20:46
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 03:52 |
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:I haven't finished it, but I can totally understand where you're coming from. Your last point about it having an "uncomfortable air" is actually pretty standard in Barron's stuff so it's probably okay that you are kind of turned off. His characters are always exceptionally weird or hold really extreme beliefs, he dives into sexuality with the intent of pushing you a little farther than is totally comfortable, he uses body horror in a way that's not just intended to gross you out but make you genuinely unsettled. It's not always successful, but I feel like The Croning has more moments where it kind of takes me out of the story entirely. I still really enjoy it, but I think I have a high tolerance for Barron. Re the last point, this can get really irritating with apparent dream or hallucinations sequences - or real sequences which seem like hallucinations because there's no apparent logic. The minimal explanation thing did work pretty well in Proboscis, though. Also I liked the one time the weird malevolent dreams were actually explains as the Children of Old Leech loving with the protagonist with their super tech. Perhaps that sounds lame but the Children are so consistently and effectively shown as ultra sadists that it worked Edit to the post above, if you're talking about the Yakuza stories they are definitely horror
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2018 02:38
|
|