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MockingQuantum posted:Can anybody recommend some weird fiction or horror with a heavy American West feeling to it? Not necessarily like golden-age western, just something inspired or influenced by them. Doesn't need to be set in the 1800s either. I get the sense that Brian Evenson has at least a good handful of stories that have some western elements but I haven't read much of his, so if he's a good fit I'd definitely take a recommendation on where to start. There was a short horror story I read awhile back that was probably recommended in this very thread, about a guy in Alaska who was being pursued by a demonic huntsman type guy, so he goes on the run with his dog. I wish I could remember what it was called but I'm sure someone in this thread would recognize it. Anyway, I think you'd dig it.
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Mar 9, 2018 03:28
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Rough Lobster posted:There was a short horror story I read awhile back that was probably recommended in this very thread, about a guy in Alaska who was being pursued by a demonic huntsman type guy, so he goes on the run with his dog. I wish I could remember what it was called but I'm sure someone in this thread would recognize it. Anyway, I think you'd dig it. Frontier Death Song by Laird Barron. The link also contains an audiobook version. http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/frontier-death-song/
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Mar 9, 2018 03:39
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MockingQuantum posted:Can anybody recommend some weird fiction or horror with a heavy American West feeling to it? Not necessarily like golden-age western, just something inspired or influenced by them. Doesn't need to be set in the 1800s either. I get the sense that Brian Evenson has at least a good handful of stories that have some western elements but I haven't read much of his, so if he's a good fit I'd definitely take a recommendation on where to start. Silver on the Road (the Devil’s West) by Laura Anne Gilman
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Mar 9, 2018 03:39
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Thanks for the recommendations also! I was about due for a Blood Meridian re-read as well.
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Mar 9, 2018 09:14
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Helical Nightmares posted:Frontier Death Song by Laird Barron. The link also contains an audiobook version. Bulldozer by Barron is pretty decent for Western horror. It’s about a Pinkerton chasing around a cultist. I just read it in that Lovecraft’s Monsters collection. The rest of the stories are a mix of good to okayish to bad.
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Mar 9, 2018 16:03
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Helical Nightmares posted:Frontier Death Song by Laird Barron. The link also contains an audiobook version. They have a lot of audiobooks on there. Any other recommendations?
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Mar 9, 2018 16:51
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Secret Machine posted:Bulldozer by Barron is pretty decent for Western horror. It’s about a Pinkerton chasing around a cultist. I just read it in that Lovecraft’s Monsters collection. The rest of the stories are a mix of good to okayish to bad. Yeah both that and Frontier Death Song are good. In general Barron scratches the "not-quite-western-horror" itch for me but I'm a little over-Barroned right now.
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Mar 9, 2018 17:30
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Whoops double post. So I'm reading John Dies at the End and it's fine and all, but it feels oddly... slow and kind of unengaging? Maybe it's just a taste thing, maybe I kind of missed the boat on what made it really popular, I'm not sure. But it feels a bit like the book is taking forever to get to any real story, and would be more content to just show you how weird it can be for a while. I get that's part of the appeal, and the weirdness is indeed pretty fun, but I feel like at this point, all I know is that there's a bad dude and it has something to do with the Soy Sauce, and I'm over a third of the way through the book. I heard that the book was originally published in segments on Cracked, so maybe that's what's making it feel a little ponderous?
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Mar 9, 2018 18:24
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MockingQuantum posted:Whoops double post. It was originally serialized on a website, so the lack of focus can really jump out at you. The last time I read it, I do recall thinking how much the first half dragged along, but things pick up pretty well in the second half. The other two books in the series are much more focused, though no less weird.
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Mar 9, 2018 19:00
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This Book is Full of Spiders is actually my favorite in the series. I think it's got some real heart to it that makes it stand up much better on rereads.
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Mar 11, 2018 19:55
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What the Hell Did I Just Read? has grown on me because I think the central conceit is very cleverly handled.
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Mar 12, 2018 00:05
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Finally got to see Annihilation. Great stuff and the soundtrack was fantastic too. Was I seeing things or did all the fungus growing on the walls vaguely resemble a map of the Earth? Pretty sure the closer they get to the lighthouse the closer it gets to resembling the actual continents too. IF that was the intent then it's a pretty neat alternative to the wall writings... or I was just reading too much into things and seeing patterns.
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Mar 13, 2018 10:45
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Hate Fibration posted:This Book is Full of Spiders is actually my favorite in the series. I think it's got some real heart to it that makes it stand up much better on rereads. Ornamented Death posted:What the Hell Did I Just Read? has grown on me because I think the central conceit is very cleverly handled. The only one of the series I loved straight away was JDATE, but yeah the others are very strong when reread.
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Mar 20, 2018 10:07
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I loved JDATE on both first read (which was at breakneck pace and finished in about 3 days) and a reread, but I read Spiders last month and while it was well-written and fun, I felt it fell short of the first novel but I've been having trouble articulating why I felt that way.
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Mar 25, 2018 17:56
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Caitlin R Kiernan has a cosmic horror with espionage plot elements thing coming out in May, Black Helicopters. I don't rate her stuff as highly as I've seen others do, but I haven't seen anything from her that isn't solid and the spy poo poo goes hand in hand with cosmic horror, as charles stross observes, so I'm optimistic. it's an expanded version of something she's previously done, which i haven't read.
Neurosis fucked around with this message at 10:06 on Mar 26, 2018 |
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Mar 26, 2018 10:03
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Neurosis posted:Caitlin R Kiernan has a cosmic horror with espionage plot elements thing coming out in May, Black Helicopters. I don't rate her stuff as highly as I've seen others do, but I haven't seen anything from her that isn't solid and the spy poo poo goes hand in hand with cosmic horror, as charles stross observes, so I'm optimistic. it's an expanded version of something she's previously done, which i haven't read. Sounds cool, and yeah the secret government agencies + cosmic horror poo poo is one of my favorite combinations
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Mar 26, 2018 12:07
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Neurosis posted:Caitlin R Kiernan has a cosmic horror with espionage plot elements thing coming out in May, Black Helicopters. I don't rate her stuff as highly as I've seen others do, but I haven't seen anything from her that isn't solid and the spy poo poo goes hand in hand with cosmic horror, as charles stross observes, so I'm optimistic. it's an expanded version of something she's previously done, which i haven't read. It looks like it's connected to, but not necessarily a sequel to her last novella Agents of Dreamland. At least I assume so, since the main character from Dreamland is the first character mentioned in the Amazon blurb. Dreamland was quick and good and managed to do the whole secret-spy-organization-connected-to-cosmic-horrors thing without it feeling overly cheesy, which is sometimes the case. No idea how it compares to Laundry Files stuff though, as I've never read any of that. Also if you want an interesting pulp detective take on lovecraft, check out Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw. I read it right before Dreamland and they kind of fit well together.
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Mar 26, 2018 16:51
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MockingQuantum posted:It looks like it's connected to, but not necessarily a sequel to her last novella Agents of Dreamland. At least I assume so, since the main character from Dreamland is the first character mentioned in the Amazon blurb. Dreamland was quick and good and managed to do the whole secret-spy-organization-connected-to-cosmic-horrors thing without it feeling overly cheesy, which is sometimes the case. No idea how it compares to Laundry Files stuff though, as I've never read any of that. If you drew a line from the Laundry Files to Laird Barron's Old Virginia, Agents of Dreamland would be about 3/4 of the way along it. It's got a lot less of the humor that the Laundry Files books have, while not stumbling completely into Barron-style grim masculine noir-inspired cosmic horror.
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Mar 26, 2018 16:59
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Looks like the AMC miniseries based on The Terror has started, wonder if that's gonna be as dry and boring as the book was.
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Mar 26, 2018 17:40
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hopterque posted:Looks like the AMC miniseries based on The Terror has started, wonder if that's gonna be as dry and boring as the book was. I haven't read the book, but that first episode of the show was pretty good. And it is fun to have Caesar and Brutus reunited.
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Mar 26, 2018 20:09
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I really liked the book, at least up until the end - it had a nice slow burn and build to it. I think it would have been better if it hadn't been supernatural horror, though.
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Mar 26, 2018 21:38
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a foolish pianist posted:I really liked the book, at least up until the end - it had a nice slow burn and build to it. I think it would have been better if it hadn't been supernatural horror, though. Yeah, I love books that do supernatural horror and force-of-nature monsters well... and that does not describe The Terror. I actually would have liked it without the magic polar bear monster thing. And if it didn't have quite so batshit weird of an ending I'm finally getting around to reading Pet Sematary, since it's one of those books that's always quoted as being King's best. I totally recognize that King has his problems and shortcomings as a writer (he definitely returns to the same well, or at least same three or four wells, for most of his books), but he's really comfort food to me at this point. I kind of already know most of the big things that happen in the book, but I'm enjoying the experience of actually reading the book, which isn't always the case with horror novels, I find. Some horror novels seem to have great/terrifying ideas, but are kind of a pain in the rear end to actually get through, and King is kind of the opposite for me. Fake edit: I guess it would be good to spoiler tag even little things in The Terror since someone literally just said the TV show started, whoops
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Mar 27, 2018 05:11
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It's weird in a way that people think Pet Sematary is peak King, because he hates it and didn't even want to publish it. The only reason it ever came out is because he was contractually obliged to provide a book to NEL and he hadn't finished It in time.
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Mar 27, 2018 12:08
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Jedit posted:It's weird in a way that people think Pet Sematary is peak King, because he hates it and didn't even want to publish it. The only reason it ever came out is because he was contractually obliged to provide a book to NEL and he hadn't finished It in time. Wasn't it too raw and unpleasant for him?
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Mar 27, 2018 13:28
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The Vosgian Beast posted:Wasn't it too raw and unpleasant for him? Too nihilistic, particularly in its depiction of child death. I believe King has also said the end of Cujo would be different if he was writing it later in his career. I suspect that It was a reaction to those two books and what he didn't like about them - kids are being killed, still, but they have agency to defend themselves and fight back and unlike in the other books the evil is ultimately defeated.
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Mar 27, 2018 13:36
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a foolish pianist posted:If you drew a line from the Laundry Files to Laird Barron's Old Virginia, Agents of Dreamland would be about 3/4 of the way along it. It's got a lot less of the humor that the Laundry Files books have, while not stumbling completely into Barron-style grim masculine noir-inspired cosmic horror. Sounds perfect.
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Mar 27, 2018 15:40
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Jedit posted:It's weird in a way that people think Pet Sematary is peak King, because he hates it and didn't even want to publish it. The only reason it ever came out is because he was contractually obliged to provide a book to NEL and he hadn't finished It in time. Yeah, I had heard this before I started the book, and the Foreword in the printing I have is decidedly lukewarm. He specifically says he's stunned when people say its their favorite/his scariest book, he kind of softly suggests that he thinks another book should hold that title, though I can't remember which (probably Shining). Just goes to show that what an author and a reader think of a book will rarely align. I will say among my friends that are big King fans, it's extremely divisive. Usually the other sort of horror they enjoy will tell you flat-out whether they like Sematary or not. I suspect I'll end up being a little on the "not" side, since I do like King's more fantastical stories (and I'm a sucker for Kids Beat Up Scary Thing storylines sometimes). Plus I think there are a lot of horror writers who do very raw, very nihilistic horror much better than King can, it's not really something he excels at.
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Mar 27, 2018 15:46
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Pet Sematary was what turned my mom off of King. I was a toddler when it came out and that made the whole "child death" plot line way too real for her. She was never a big supernatural horror person to begin with, though. Also the little kid's performance in the film adaptation is hilarious
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Mar 27, 2018 16:17
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Pththya-lyi posted:Pet Sematary was what turned my mom off of King. I was a toddler when it came out and that made the whole "child death" plot line way too real for her. She was never a big supernatural horror person to begin with, though. I remember my mom saying she would never read Pet Sematary again for the same reason. It took until Bag of Bones or around there for her to decide that King's new stuff was too weird or dark or whatever for her. Never read Bag of Bones so I'm not sure what in particular turned her off. Maybe it was just changing tastes, though, since she loved his early stuff. On a related note (sort of), I'm always amazed how little Peter Straub gets discussed online compared to King, given that he's been around and writing for just about as long and has literally written books with King. Is it just a generational thing? It looks like he's kind of slowed down since the mid-90s, so I could see him not being at the forefront of reviewers' minds when they're putting together "best horror" lists. The only book of his that seems to show up on those lists (and the only one I've ever read) is Ghost Story, what else should I definitely check out? I started reading The Talisman once upon a time and liked it, but got sidetracked for some reason. It did seem to suffer a little bit from their writing styles being pretty different, but it wasn't bad.
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Mar 27, 2018 17:36
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straub is truly, truly awful
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Mar 27, 2018 18:11
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chernobyl kinsman posted:straub is truly, truly awful I thought Ghost Story was fine, not earth-shakingly, genre-definingly good, but if he actually sucks that badly it would certainly go a length to explain why nobody talks about him. On the other hand, horror fiction threads can't stfu about Barker and I was pretty unimpressed with his writing, so who knows what to believe.
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Mar 27, 2018 18:24
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he's like barker in that he includes a lot of sexual stuff which could charitably be described as "deranged", and not in a fun way
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Mar 27, 2018 18:28
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chernobyl kinsman posted:he's like barker in that he includes a lot of sexual stuff which could charitably be described as "deranged", and not in a fun way It says something about the genre that weird sexual stuff that isn't totally essential to the plot no longer even makes me bat an eye. Not to say I enjoy it, but it's like the horror equivalent of badly written fight scenes in fantasy novels for me at this point, I just kind of glaze over it. It's not enough to turn me away from a book entirely, but it doesn't help. (also thanks for the explanation, it's always disappointing in this thread when people ask whether a book/author is good and just get a variation on "no" as a response without any elaboration on why)
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Mar 27, 2018 18:36
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chernobyl kinsman posted:he's like barker in that he includes a lot of sexual stuff which could charitably be described as "deranged", and not in a fun way The sexual elements are absolutely necessary for Barker - they're frequently the point of his works, especially with stuff like Hellraiser/The Hellbound Heart and Rawhead Rex.
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Mar 27, 2018 18:44
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a foolish pianist posted:The sexual elements are absolutely necessary for Barker - they're frequently the point of his works, especially with stuff like Hellraiser/The Hellbound Heart and Rawhead Rex. i didn't say they weren't necessary i said they were deranged. they're not good
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Mar 27, 2018 19:23
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MockingQuantum posted:(also thanks for the explanation, it's always disappointing in this thread when people ask whether a book/author is good and just get a variation on "no" as a response without any elaboration on why) as an example, floating dragon ends with a guy fighting the sentient nerve gas cloud (which is also an immortal evil) with a big glowing penis sword i'm not spoilering that
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Mar 27, 2018 19:24
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chernobyl kinsman posted:as an example, floating dragon ends with a guy fighting the sentient nerve gas cloud (which is also an immortal evil) with a big glowing penis sword That sounds awesome. I tried reading Straub's "A Dark Matter" and I liked it at first, but I think either Straub or I lost the plot halfway through. At some point I couldn't understand what was going on anymore and I had to stop because it was just gibberish. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?
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Mar 27, 2018 19:36
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Skyscraper posted:That sounds awesome. I had that feeling in Ghost Story, but there it felt at least kind of intentional, like the supernatural whatever behind everything that was happening kind of defied explanation. I remember stopping and thinking about it, and making the conscious decision that it wasn't so annoying or confusing that I wanted to stop reading. Well if Straub really does stink, I need a suggestion for what to read next horror-wise. Is there anything out there that's kind of like The Cipher? Everything about that book was gripping to me. Story, characters, style, prose, tone, it all hit the right notes.
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Mar 27, 2018 19:58
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MockingQuantum posted:I had that feeling in Ghost Story, but there it felt at least kind of intentional, like the supernatural whatever behind everything that was happening kind of defied explanation. I remember stopping and thinking about it, and making the conscious decision that it wasn't so annoying or confusing that I wanted to stop reading. OK, I'll check it out, maybe it'll work better there.
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Mar 27, 2018 20:19
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Skyscraper posted:OK, I'll check it out, maybe it'll work better there. I mean, I wouldn't rush out to read it if you've got a big TBR pile. It's not bad, and shows up on a lot of 30/50/100 best horror novel lists, but it feels very much like a product of its time. If you dig early 80's American horror and all of the oddities/shortcomings it entails, then you'll probably like it. The title is apt though, at its heart it's a ghost story, and also has all the weird inconsistencies and ambiguities that oral ghost stories accrue over time. Like I said, I think that's intentional, but it could just as likely be subpar plotting on Straub's part.
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Mar 27, 2018 20:23
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