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MockingQuantum posted:I also knocked out The Mist which is probably one of King's most cosmic horror-y works. It feels a little dated, and honestly I liked the ending of the movie better, but I have a soft spot for King and always find his stuff fun to read, even if the plot isn't fantastic. Any more good books/shorts like this? I like the whole idea of people stuck somewhere trying to figure out what the hell is trying to kill them. A lot of Tim Curran's stuff is like this. Dead Sea has people stuck in a pocket dimension with all kinds of things trying to kill them. Hive and Hive 2 are basically sequels to "At the Mountains of Madness" and feature folks trapped in Antarctica with Elder Things trying to kill them. One caveat, though: Curran's longer works tend to drag a bit in the middle because he has a bad tendency to keep repeating situations with minor changes.
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Feb 1, 2018 17:14
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I really enjoyed Dead Sea and the two Hive books, some of the poo poo that goes down in the Hive series especially is like wooo boy. I agree about them dragging a bit at times but they were still a lot of fun.
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Feb 1, 2018 17:25
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Brian Hodge has a new book coming out a bit later this year.quote:“You wouldn’t think events happening years apart, at points in the solar system hundreds of millions of miles distant, would have anything to do with each other.”
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Feb 2, 2018 21:16
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a full cosmic horror novel from brian hodge? i am furiously erect
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Feb 4, 2018 07:12
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North American Lake Monsters was very good and it made me sad. Additionally, The Monsters of Heaven is completely hosed.
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Feb 5, 2018 18:44
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As an FYI, that Brian Hodge book is called The Immaculate Void for those that don't want to google it. I was trying to edit in the title right after I posted it, but the forums were on fire at that time and I was too lazy to get to it until today.
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Feb 5, 2018 19:05
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Ornamented Death posted:As an FYI, that Brian Hodge book is called The Immaculate Void for those that don't want to google it. I was trying to edit in the title right after I posted it, but the forums were on fire at that time and I was too lazy to get to it until today. What do you think the chances are for a Kindle edition?
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Feb 5, 2018 19:14
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MockingQuantum posted:What do you think the chances are for a Kindle edition? Clost to 100%. It's being published by Chizine.
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Feb 5, 2018 19:46
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Really hope there's a paperback version too. As lucky as I was snatching up his works on kindle before they went kaput I'd much prefer some physical copies.
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Feb 6, 2018 09:07
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Drunken Baker posted:Really hope there's a paperback version too. As lucky as I was snatching up his works on kindle before they went kaput I'd much prefer some physical copies. You can preorder the TPB right now on Amazon.
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Feb 6, 2018 13:51
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I should probably check these things before talking haha. Cheers for the heads up!
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Feb 6, 2018 13:59
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Just finished Authority, was more really good stuff. Seems that Acceptance is a bit of a litmus test ITT, not sure for what but soon I'll know what side I'm on at least.
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Feb 6, 2018 16:22
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There are fans of both Brian Evenson and Paul Tremblay here, so I figured I'd pass this on. http://www.concordfreepress.com/another-way-to-fall/ quote:Drop into the fascinating, hallucinatory world of Another Way to Fall, the dark brainchild of Brian Evenson and Paul Tremblay. Evenson’s Baby Leg and Tremblay’s The Harlequin and the Train appeared in limited editions that are largely unavailable. Now Another Way to Fall brings these fantastic, award-winning writers together—and puts these haunting novels in the eager hands of new (and generous) readers. So the way this works is they'll send you the book for free. Once you get it, they ask that you make a donation to charity - any charity, your choice - and let them know about it.
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Feb 7, 2018 17:30
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Edit: ^^^ that's a really cool idea, jumped on it right away. I'm also way overdue to read some Evenson, only thing of his I've read was his story in Aickman's Heirs, which was arguably my favorite. So I'm still reading Wide, Carnivorous Sky and still enjoying most of it, but goddamn does it need a more aggressive edit than it got. It seems like Langan has a fear of paragraph breaks, and there's a lot of unnecessarily obtuse language and sentence structure. Not to mention some jarring typos and flat-out grammatical mistakes, but those tend to be pretty rare. He also has an odd habit, it seems, of constructing kind of a cool setting or mythos or whatever, then backing away from it to focus on something less interesting. I was excited for "The Shallows" because it had some interesting things going on, but it never did much with any of them. It honestly makes me more excited to read The Fisherman, though, since I'm really curious to see what he does with a longer work.
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Feb 7, 2018 18:24
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Is that the one where something terrible has happened to the world but the story focuses on this dude's weird tree.?
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Feb 7, 2018 18:31
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Ornamented Death posted:Is that the one where something terrible has happened to the world but the story focuses on this dude's weird tree.? Sort of. Something terrible has happened to the world but the guy spends all his time puttering around his weird garden and talking about his abusive father-in-law and a stray dog. I have to give it to Langan, he tries some interesting story structures and narrative devices (I actually enjoyed the zombie apocalypse one more than I expected because of the weird play-script style of it), but sometimes he seems to use them in place of actually telling an interesting story. Also he is maybe the worst writer I've read in recent memory when it comes to totally unnatural dialog. Lots of characters either speaking in a way that doesn't make sense for them, or having a very natural voice then laying down a "You see, it was natural I should have a gun on me because..." kind of line. Or whopping monologues that could be a quarter as long as they are and still do their job. To be fair, like the twisty-turny sentence construction, it's not frequent, just noticeable when it happens. And he's by no means the only horror/weird fiction writer who has those issues.
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Feb 7, 2018 18:44
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Ornamented Death posted:There are fans of both Brian Evenson and Paul Tremblay here, so I figured I'd pass this on. drat, only ships to the US 
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Feb 7, 2018 21:49
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MockingQuantum posted:
This is pretty much everywhere in The Fisherman. I'm almost done with it, and while I like it a lot, I'm not sure why people call it "literary," except if that's the kind way of putting what you've described.
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Feb 8, 2018 00:43
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Lil Mama Im Sorry posted:This is pretty much everywhere in The Fisherman. I'm almost done with it, and while I like it a lot, I'm not sure why people call it "literary," except if that's the kind way of putting what you've described. I've actually just been discussing with a friend the whole idea of "literary" as a descriptor for a genre... I get how certain books are considered "literary sci-fi" or "literary fantasy" in the sense that they maybe care a little more about language and a little less about worldbuilding infodumps than a lot of their respective genres, but in that light, I'm not sure what you'd call "literary horror" really. I'm genuinely curious what would be considered literary horror, besides The Fisherman, which seems a little contentious. I've also heard Universal Harvester called literary horror, and while I'm only about 80 pages in, I can kind of see what they mean (though I've also heard some say it's not quite fair to call it a horror novel, not sure why yet).
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Feb 8, 2018 02:21
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Shirley Jackson, obviously. Peter Straub should probably be considered literary horror. The same for some of Ramsey Campbell's work. I think Brian Hodge is capable of writing literary horror, but I also think he purposely hews to some genre tropes that keep him somewhat grounded. He certainly toes the line, if nothing else. There are a number of writers that I think are, in general, a cut above their peers, but not what I would consider literary for a number of reasons. Thomas Ligotti is the one cited most often. An excellent writer, yes, but his work is too tied up with his own issues to really rise to that level. Langan is another, as are folks like Nathan Ballingrud, Daniel Mills, Mark Samuels, and Norman Partridge. There's also a subgenre usually referred to as quiet horror that sometimes gets confused with more literary work. A lot of Canadian authors would fall under this to one extent or another: Simon Strantzas, Richard Gavin, Michael Kelly. Ultimately, though, I suspect "literary" is rather useless as an identifier in anything except online slapfights. Genre fiction is typically viewed as the ghetto of fiction, with the horror genre itself being the worst of the worst in that context, and some folks simply can't stand to have something they love dismissed like that. I find such dismissals irritating, but at the end of the day I'd rather spend my time reading things I enjoy than arguing with people over whether Ghost Story or We Have Always Lived in the Castle have any literary merit.
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Feb 8, 2018 02:46
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Ornamented Death posted:Shirley Jackson, obviously. Peter Straub should probably be considered literary horror. The same for some of Ramsey Campbell's work. Oh duh didn't think about Jackson or Straub (it's weird, he's clearly a prolific and talented author, but I never see Straub talked about online). Also I've never heard the term "quiet horror" before but it does seem like the perfect descriptor for a lot of the Strantzas I've read. And yeah, the whole idea of "literary" has kind of rung false to me in most discussions, it always feels like someone is self-conscious about their book with magical dragons and wants everyone to agree that it's really capital-L Literature we're talking about here. I get it though. Sometimes I tell people I love horror novels and they're like, "oh yeah Dean Koontz is great" and I'm all like "Bitch have you even heard of A Head Full of Ghosts?" I swear that's not a conversation I've ever actually had
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Feb 8, 2018 03:01
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MockingQuantum posted:I've actually just been discussing with a friend the whole idea of "literary" as a descriptor for a genre... I get how certain books are considered "literary sci-fi" or "literary fantasy" in the sense that they maybe care a little more about language and a little less about worldbuilding infodumps than a lot of their respective genres, but in that light, I'm not sure what you'd call "literary horror" really. I'm genuinely curious what would be considered literary horror, besides The Fisherman, which seems a little contentious. I've also heard Universal Harvester called literary horror, and while I'm only about 80 pages in, I can kind of see what they mean (though I've also heard some say it's not quite fair to call it a horror novel, not sure why yet). Brian Evenson is definitely one. Michael Cisco has literary chops, I think Animal Money is his most literary. Maybe Avram Davidson when he was writing in his horror mode, The Boss in The Wall in particular. There's Henry and M. R. James. Robert Aickman is well respected.
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Feb 8, 2018 06:26
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henry james is not a genre writer lol
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Feb 8, 2018 07:23
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chernobyl kinsman posted:henry james is not a genre writer lol Neither is Joyce Carol Oates, the question was, "Where can I find literary horror"? There are two types of answers, literary authors slumming it and good to great genre authors. Turn of The Screw is a classic ghost story and a piece of literature, fight me.
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Feb 8, 2018 14:34
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So news leaked yesterday that Nathan Ballingrud's "The Visible Filth" is being made into a movie by Annapurna Pictures.
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Feb 8, 2018 20:14
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fez_machine posted:Neither is Joyce Carol Oates, the question was, "Where can I find literary horror"? bringing James into it kind of broadens the term to the point of uselessness, though, no? at that point you're invoking the entire ~2 century period of Gothic lit and subordinating to the concept of the 'horror genre'. also, if someone's asking what counts as 'literary horror', i assume they're looking for stuff that isn't already firmly canonized, because if you're counting James then you also have to count Poe, Charlotte Bronte, Mary Shelley, Walpole, Radcliffe, Stoker, and so on chernobyl kinsman fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Feb 8, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 20:33
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chernobyl kinsman posted:bringing James into it kind of broadens the term to the point of uselessness, though, no? at that point you're invoking the entire ~2 century period of Gothic lit and subordinating to the concept of the 'horror genre'. also, if someone's asking what counts as 'literary horror', i assume they're looking for stuff that isn't already firmly canonized, because if you're counting James then you also have to count Poe, Charlotte Bronte, Mary Shelley, Walpole, Radcliffe, Stoker, and so on Yeah you have a point, I was specifically thinking of modern (i.e. WWII-today) horror writers that would be considered "literary horror" I mean, this is also just making it clear how confusing and unproductive conversations centering around genre can be, too In other news, what should I read next, John Dies @ the End or The Grip of It? I think I know what I'd be getting from the former, I know very little about the latter besides it showing up on a lot of "best horror of 2017" lists. Then again, to link it back into the discussion of horror as a genre, so did Universal Harvester, and so far that book is not what I'd generally have considered horror, though I have a long way to go before the end of the book. I will say it's a consistently unsettling book in a way I can't put my finger on, and there was one moment early that creeped me out more than just about anything I've ever read, possibly due to me just being really dumb or unobservant. I will say a lot of the "horror" sense I do get from the book is how familiar it feels. I didn't grow up in Iowa, but I did grow up in a nearly identical area in another midwestern state, and it really captures that life accurately, along with some of the stranger behaviors of isolated prairiefolk.
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Feb 8, 2018 20:51
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fez_machine posted:Maybe Avram Davidson when he was writing in his horror mode, The Boss in The Wall in particular. Anyhow, I'm currently reading through John Dies At The End and it's extremely entertaining, what's the thread stance on the other two books (are they connected to it)?
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Feb 8, 2018 21:21
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anilEhilated posted:So is there any more of Davidson writing in "horror mode"? I love his fantasy stuff and The Boss in the Wall is wonderfully creepy, but the only other even vaguely horror-ish thing of his I can think of was Manatee Gal Ain't You Coming Out Tonight which ends up being just a tad too absurd. I'd love to see some more, though. Most of the Limekiller stories are horror tinged, but anything Davidson writes is going to be absurd or goofy in some way.
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Feb 8, 2018 21:40
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anilEhilated posted:The Boss in the Wall quote:Anyhow, I'm currently reading through John Dies At The End and it's extremely entertaining, what's the thread stance on the other two books (are they connected to it)? The books are connected, and I like the others. They feel a bit more orderly than JDATE (which acronym I love and find hilarious) because they weren't originally internet serials.
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Feb 8, 2018 21:40
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a foolish pianist posted:I just looked, and used copies of this book go for ~100 dollars. I guess I'm not going to get to read it. fez_machine posted:Most of the Limekiller stories are horror tinged, but anything Davidson writes is going to be absurd or goofy in some way. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 22:38 on Feb 8, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 22:34
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Just finished Wide, Carnivorous Sky. Overall it was... just fine? Not really amazing, though it had a couple of pretty solid stories. My gripes about it earlier in the thread were pretty consistent throughout. Reading the story notes at the end did kind of explain some of the issues, though: a lot of them were early stories Langan wrote, for themed anthologies, and he seems to heavily overplan his stories. None of those are terrible in their own right, but I think the combination resulted in a lot of stories that were just a little too ponderous and a little too contrived to really stand out. I'm still interested enough in some of his ideas to read The Fisherman but it's definitely one I'll be getting from the library rather than buying in case I get a third of the way in and start slowly pulling out chunks of my own hair.
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Feb 9, 2018 00:06
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a foolish pianist posted:I just looked, and used copies of this book go for ~100 dollars. I guess I'm not going to get to read it. I mean you can buy it in paperback new from the publisher for 12 dollars and free shipping in the United States: https://tachyonpublications.com/product/the-boss-in-the-wall/
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Feb 10, 2018 00:14
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MockingQuantum posted:Just finished Wide, Carnivorous Sky. Overall it was... just fine? Not really amazing, though it had a couple of pretty solid stories. My gripes about it earlier in the thread were pretty consistent throughout. Reading the story notes at the end did kind of explain some of the issues, though: a lot of them were early stories Langan wrote, for themed anthologies, and he seems to heavily overplan his stories. None of those are terrible in their own right, but I think the combination resulted in a lot of stories that were just a little too ponderous and a little too contrived to really stand out. I'm still interested enough in some of his ideas to read The Fisherman but it's definitely one I'll be getting from the library rather than buying in case I get a third of the way in and start slowly pulling out chunks of my own hair. I enjoyed The Fisherman a lot more than I enjoyed Wide, Carnivorous Sky or the other Langan collection, Mr Gaunt, so I'd certainly recommend going ahead. I think his style just works better for long form fiction than short stories.
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Feb 10, 2018 09:50
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Just finished The Ritual movie and thought it was great. I've been put off the book because I hear it drags a little, but I heard a weird loving spoiler about the book... now, I've been ill and feverish the last few days so maybe I imagined this, but someone said the book ends with a black metal band coming out of nowhere. Is that right or did I just read two threads on my facebook feed back to back in the grips of flu and made something up?
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Feb 10, 2018 19:55
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Yeah, kind of. It's not the end, it's the entire 2nd half of the book.
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Feb 10, 2018 19:57
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Hahahah. Well that's just shot right up in my "to read" list then. 
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Feb 10, 2018 20:19
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The book is not that great. The pacing and tension are both totally shattered by the weird shift midway through, the monster isn't as scary or interesting (it's Lovecraft's Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of 1000 Young, which also has the effect of making the Scandinavian setting totally arbitrary), the black metal cultists are really boring and not nearly as fleshed out as the movie's forest pagans, and the four dude characters aren't as well-written as they are in the movie (the murder that opens the film and which gives movie-Luke much of his character arc is absent from the book). Also there aren't any of those crazy mummies in the attic. The movie is significantly better, is what I'm saying
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Feb 10, 2018 20:44
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anilEhilated posted:
All three are connected. The second one in my opinion is a lot grimmer and more hosed up. There's are still a lot of dick jokes but this book in particular just seems to be the darkest one. Also a recurring plot framing device involving countdowns adds a sense of anxiety throughout. I didn't really like it when it came out but I've since reread it and really come around on it. There's also some good philosophical passages and stuff. The third is much more in the vein of the first although in a focused story. There's some things I don't love about it but overall it's good.
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Feb 10, 2018 20:52
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Lasher posted:Hahahah. Well that's just shot right up in my "to read" list then. chernobyl kinsman hit a lot of the book's issues on the head, but just to reiterate: the black metal cultists is generally agreed to be the point where the book gets worse. It's a half-baked idea that isn't fleshed out well at all. and makes the book way longer than it needs to be. Seriously, The Ritual isn't absolutely awful, but if you really want to read Nevill, go with House of Small Shadows. It's still kind of got a half-baked protagonist, but the rest of the book is much better.
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Feb 10, 2018 20:57
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