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AARD VARKMAN posted:Can anyone recommend any books in the vein of The Clovehitch Killer and Summer of '84? Stories of kids suspecting local person/family member is a serial killer. I haven't read the ones you named, so not sure if these quite meet the request but these are all great and all have local kids who end up intertwined in stuff happening involving possible serial killings: Robert Mccammon Boy's Life Catriona Ward Looking Glass Sound Ronald Malfi December Park
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Oct 4, 2023 19:56
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Kerro posted:I haven't read the ones you named, so not sure if these quite meet the request but these are all great and all have local kids who end up intertwined in stuff happening involving possible serial killings: Just snagged this today... I loved Blue World and Swan Song. Swan Song, I feel, is what The Stand should have been. McCammon has a style that would lend itself well to being adapted to film, as its quite cinematic. Help a goon out! Lots of books - horror, nonfiction, classics and more for sale.
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Oct 4, 2023 22:59
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escape artist posted:Just snagged this today... Hopefully you'll enjoy Boy's Life too then - it's absolutely one of my favourite coming-of-age stories, and my favourite McCammon book that I've read (though I've only read Swan Song, They Thirst, The Listener, and the Matthew Corbett series). I am surprised that his work hasn't been adapted to the screen the way King's work has.
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Oct 4, 2023 23:21
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My first book of spooky season was The Ritual by Adam Nevill. It was like, a 6/10 at best for me. Fine enough to finish but I didn’t really feel like it had much to remark on and really had nothing interesting to say. The book is split in to two acts - act 1 is your bog standard friends in a haunted forest trope, complete with all sorts of strange noises, corpses strung up impossibly from trees, abandoned shacks with weird occult poo poo, the group getting picked off and left mutilated in trees, etc which was competent enough but did absolutely nothing new or gripping. Truly, I wish the book had just ended with this half having everybody dead as hell and no further answers. It’d probably be a much stronger story if it had. Instead, we get act 2, which is an equally uninspired ‘captive of the forest cult’ story. Contrary to act 1, this one definitely does some things differently in the worst way possible. Our cultists are a teenage Swedish black metal band hellbent on thinking the monster in the woods is Odin reborn who constantly drop the f-slur for no good reason and very much feel like a cardboard cutout of a 4chan poster. I kinda started skimming for the last 15% or so because I wanted to see if it was going to go anywhere interesting in the end. It didn’t. The old lady true believer who was in the house with the kids betrays them to the main character, who kills everyone and gets out alive while failing to experience any character growth. All the details about the forest monster that get infodumped by the teenagers ruins any tension it may have had. The usual song and dance. Wouldn’t recommend this one. I’m trying to get through a bunch of my backlog of ‘eh this looks decent and it’s 3 bucks on the kindle store so gently caress it’ horror books, so this isn’t really a surprise. Next on the docket I’ve got The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown and CLAW: A Canadian Thriller by Katie Berry, which I bought entirely on the specificity of it being a Canadian thriller, and by god I will DNF the gently caress out of it if there’s no haunted maple syrup and zombie moose.
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Oct 5, 2023 02:05
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Vegastar posted:My first book of spooky season was The Ritual by Adam Nevill. It was like, a 6/10 at best for me. Fine enough to finish but I didn’t really feel like it had much to remark on and really had nothing interesting to say. holy poo poo, Pragmatica or whoever made this CSS, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the spoiler tag 
OMGVBFLOL posted:if you have the money and the patience, you can Hello Kitty anything   Thank you deep dish peat moss!
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Oct 5, 2023 04:11
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Bilirubin posted:holy poo poo, Pragmatica or whoever made this CSS, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the spoiler tag thanks! i worked really hard on it. 
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Oct 5, 2023 04:41
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StrixNebulosa posted:Dreadnought by Gretchen Felker-Martin. I'll quote myself again: "What a hosed up story. It needs every content warning under the sun, it wears its influences on its sleeve ( Also Chuck Tingle's Camp Damascus owns. It's not a Tingler, and that's fine. His previous horror novella, Straight, is also good fun. Alison Rumfitt's Tell Me I'm Worthless? Also excellent. 90s Cringe Rock fucked around with this message at 06:47 on Oct 5, 2023 |
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Oct 5, 2023 06:45
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Neon Genesis Evangelion and Porpentine
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I started The Cipher after someone mentioned it in here. Owns. Owns hard. The way the narration is written reminds me of the more salient Carlton Mellick III books. What's actually written in it reminds me of being in codependent relationship with another addict. It's a very gross book.
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Oct 5, 2023 08:04
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Vegastar posted:My first book of spooky season was The Ritual by Adam Nevill. It was like, a 6/10 at best for me. Fine enough to finish but I didn’t really feel like it had much to remark on and really had nothing interesting to say. Ive only seen the film adaptation, but enjoyed it a lot. it sounds like it ignores the horrible edgeord elements of the second half in favour of mystery and a rad as hell monster design.
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Oct 5, 2023 08:47
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alf_pogs posted:Ive only seen the film adaptation, but enjoyed it a lot. it sounds like it ignores the horrible edgeord elements of the second half in favour of mystery and a rad as hell monster design. I’ll have to check that out then, sounds like it wisely focused on the stronger elements of the book and cut out a bunch of the chaff.
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Oct 5, 2023 08:53
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Pragmatica posted:thanks! i worked really hard on it. I hope there will be a way to use it even after this subforum disappears. Help a goon out! Lots of books - horror, nonfiction, classics and more for sale.
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Oct 5, 2023 09:08
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I didn't notice it at first because I was on mobile, but now - oh my god I love this subforum so much.Kerro posted:Hopefully you'll enjoy Boy's Life too then - it's absolutely one of my favourite coming-of-age stories, and my favourite McCammon book that I've read (though I've only read Swan Song, They Thirst, The Listener, and the Matthew Corbett series). I am surprised that his work hasn't been adapted to the screen the way King's work has. I've had this one on my list for a while now, but I'd appreciate a spoiler before I commit to it: is what's happening actually supernatural? Not a fan of horror that stories that eventually go, "But no, it was actually some perfectly mundane kind of horror after all!" Gimme the impossible kind of horrors, please.
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Oct 5, 2023 09:19
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Vegastar posted:I’ll have to check that out then, sounds like it wisely focused on the stronger elements of the book and cut out a bunch of the chaff. Yup, book is split into two parts with the second part being far weaker. Movie just does the first part and does it very well. I read it after seeing the movie and it didn't add anything, but I did rewatch the movie because it is drat good. Movie was also added to the SA Horror thread top picks. https://letterboxd.com/goatgonzo/list/i-have-to-return-some-videotapes-sa-horror/
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Oct 5, 2023 09:37
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Kestral posted:I didn't notice it at first because I was on mobile, but now - oh my god I love this subforum so much. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Boy's Life is not really horror at all, it's very much more a coming of age story with a mystery/thriller in the background. To answer your question specifically though, no there's nothing really supernatural going on here.
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Oct 5, 2023 19:05
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I am reading Whitley Streiber's The Wolfen and it is pretty terrible in a very fun way. Also rereading Nightmares & Dreamscapes.
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Oct 5, 2023 20:13
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szary posted:Bay's End by Edward Lorn i'm 1/4 through this and it kinda reads like a goosebumps book but with dialogue cornier in ways i thought not possible, awkward swears, and uncomfortable writing about horny children. anyway i'm also reading Reza Negarestani's Cyclonopedia and i think it's giving me schizophrenia
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Oct 6, 2023 20:33
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R.L. Stine posted:i'm 1/4 through this and it kinda reads like a goosebumps book but with dialogue cornier in ways i thought not possible, awkward swears, and uncomfortable writing about horny children. Guy who wrote goosebumps: I’m getting goosebumps vibes from this
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Oct 6, 2023 20:42
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I know it's probably cliche, and I've definitely made this promise before, but this time, for sure, 100% I'm gonna finish House of Leaves.
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Oct 6, 2023 23:56
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Or will the house finish you!!
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Oct 7, 2023 00:07
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Bilirubin posted:holy poo poo, Pragmatica or whoever made this CSS, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the spoiler tag supernaturally powerful.
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Oct 7, 2023 02:02
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R.L. Stine posted:i'm 1/4 through this and it kinda reads like a goosebumps book but with dialogue cornier in ways i thought not possible, awkward swears, and uncomfortable writing about horny children. That's all mostly intentional, E had very specific goals for all the books in that series. War...
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Oct 7, 2023 03:35
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Neito posted:I know it's probably cliche, and I've definitely made this promise before, but this time, for sure, 100% I'm gonna finish House of Leaves. Anybody looking to get a nice copy, The Remastered Full Color edition of HoL is $13 on Amazon this week. I think I am going to snag a few to re-sell, or maybe give as gifts doubling as daunting homework assignments. Help a goon out! Lots of books - horror, nonfiction, classics and more for sale.
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Oct 7, 2023 04:33
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The Only Good Indians by Stephan Graham Jones. First act of the book was spooky enough I stopped reading at night because I was "hearing" things across the house. The rest of the book I finished the next night and it falls apart very quickly. After finishing this I'd suggest reading the first act and ending it when act 1 ends and changes perspective. Also, the writing about basketball feels like someone who has never touched a ball in their life but really wanted it to be a part of the book. Picked up Horrorstor & Luminous Dead. Hoping to find a couple of really good horror books before the month ends as I've started out with two stinkers.
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Oct 8, 2023 00:21
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SGJ ftw, honestly. I loved TOGI but it didn’t push my buttons the same way the Indian Lake books have so far (that’s My Heart is a Chainsaw and its sequel). really looking forward to the third one in March
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Oct 8, 2023 01:32
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faantastic posted:Picked up Horrorstor & Luminous Dead. Hoping to find a couple of really good horror books before the month ends as I've started out with two stinkers. I really enjoyed The Luminous Dead. Probably the best caving horror I've read, aside from maybe The White Road which is 50/50 caving/mountain climbing horror.
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Oct 8, 2023 01:38
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Are any of Ellen Datlow's horror collections particular standouts? I know they're reliably pretty good, but was there a particular year where Best Horror of the Year was completely full of bangers, or other non-annual collections that were especially strong?
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Oct 8, 2023 02:35
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Traxis posted:I really enjoyed The Luminous Dead. Probably the best caving horror I've read, aside from maybe The White Road which is 50/50 caving/mountain climbing horror. I just looked and The White Road is two bucks on the kindle store, so that’s going on the spooktober list. Thanks for that. At least I’m assuming this was it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01LL8BQXY was the one that fit the bill.
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Oct 8, 2023 03:21
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Kestral posted:Are any of Ellen Datlow's horror collections particular standouts? I know they're reliably pretty good, but was there a particular year where Best Horror of the Year was completely full of bangers, or other non-annual collections that were especially strong? I'm on the last story of vol 1 and so far it's been a good 8/10
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Oct 8, 2023 03:33
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Reading John Dies At The End this October because I used to read it every October in high school. It's honestly better than I remember.
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Oct 8, 2023 03:37
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Segue posted:I just finished My Heart is a Chainsaw and all I can say is what the fuuuuuuuuuck. Picture me crashing into this thread because I've just finished this book and am having the same sentiments. WOW. Yeah, I loved it despite the slow middle. Am about to start the sequel. Also, I am loving the praise, as I catch up on the thread, for the Gone World. That book hosed me up for ages, and I keep recommending it to friends who subsequently refuse to read it. -_- I got shoved off of horror books, after a lifetime of reading King, McCammon, etc after reading something by an author I can't remember. I deleted the book after reading it. Something about a night where the sky went dark, and sticky tendrils descended from above and snagged any who touched it. Until there was no one left save the protagonist, who grabbed a tendril in crazed defiance. I forget the rest, probably for the best.
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Oct 8, 2023 04:46
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escape artist posted:Anybody looking to get a nice copy, The Remastered Full Color edition of HoL is $13 on Amazon this week. I think I am going to snag a few to re-sell, or maybe give as gifts doubling as daunting homework assignments. My puppy snagged the highlighted and bookmarked copy of HoL and destroyed it. Just bought a new one.
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Oct 9, 2023 21:22
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Picked up Datlow's Best Horror of the Year Vol. 1, which covers 2008ish, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it begins with a 40ish page overview of the horror genre from the previous year by a person who seems to read (maybe literally?) every horror novel and short story on the market. I wasn't keeping track of horror for several years on either side of 2008, so there was a lot there for me to add to my terrifyingly deep backlog. Looking forward to getting into the actual stories, but this was a good start. But since I also needed an audiobook for after I finish my daily allotment of A Night in the Lonesome October, I started on The Complete Ghost Stories of M.R. James, read by David Collings. Jesus. I'd never read a James story, and now I wish I'd gotten to him a decade or two earlier. It spooked me badly with the sun pouring in through an open window while shaving, so I'm pretty sure I've just ruled it out as something to listen to at night while jogging on empty streets. I wish more people were writing in this vein now. I'm increasingly weary of allegory and thinly-veiled metaphor, I don't want the ghost to actually be how hosed up your relationship with your mom was. Give me more stories about people's encounters with inexplicable wrongness beneath the skin of the world, with no more point to them than to make your skin crawl and give you a powerful urge to avoid looking in a darkened mirror at night. HouseOfLeaves99 posted:My puppy snagged the highlighted and bookmarked copy of HoL and destroyed it. Just bought a new one. Incredible username-regdate-post combo, I am genuinely in awe.
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Oct 9, 2023 22:25
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CaptainCrunch posted:Picture me crashing into this thread because I've just finished this book and am having the same sentiments. I wasn't a huge fan of the sequel but hopefully you like it more! SGJ is an undeniable talent though and I'll probably pick him up in a bit again. Will try Gone World though! Need some spooky reads this season.
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Oct 9, 2023 23:36
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Kestral posted:
Ok thanks for validating that I'm not alone in this. I read North American Lake Monsters and got very tired how everything was a metaphor for the true horror that is man's inhumanity to man. drat man, why can't the spooky thing in the lake just be tje cast of failed experiment of an occultist who got ate by his own hell demon and now is hangs out in a lake eating horny teens? Or just spooky poo poo that's spooky because it DOESN'T conform to human pathos. Imma add that to the list and bump off some other stuff that seems like it's metaphorical.
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Oct 10, 2023 00:38
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Ravus Ursus posted:drat man, why can't the spooky thing in the lake just be tje cast of failed experiment of an occultist who got ate by his own hell demon and now is hangs out in a lake eating horny teens? This is Wounds, by the same author
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Oct 10, 2023 00:42
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I was about to start that but was on the fence as I expected more metaphor. I will give it a shot since the prosecutor is good. Thanks. As per usual, too much books
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Oct 10, 2023 00:53
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Yeah it’s way less nuanced and way more Clive Barker in comparison. I enjoyed it a lot more because I felt like a dummy coming away confused by half the stories in NALM.
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Oct 10, 2023 01:02
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I don't know that you need to feel dumb. Some of the metaphors are so on the nose that I felt like I just be missing something because it was too obvious. Like the zombie one and guilty. Some of the others were so weird that I was just not interested in dissecting it. Like the angel one. And some were just... I dunno they seemed like they were meant to be part of something bigger. The werewolf one I felt could have done more though it was a great look at what PTSD can do to someone. It was mixed bag. I cracked Wounds and I'm digging the first two stories so far. This is more what I was looking for, just sharp little stories that offer just enough to beg questions but not heavy handed existential questions on regret. The lake story is very much a great set up to a bigger story but it stands on its own wel.
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Oct 10, 2023 02:27
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Ravus Ursus posted:I don't know that you need to feel dumb. Some of the metaphors are so on the nose that I felt like I just be missing something because it was too obvious. Like the zombie one and guilty. Ohhhhhh I'm so jealous you get to read The Butcher's Table for the first time... the audio version is well-acted... I would bet money the story gets adapted at some point. Help a goon out! Lots of books - horror, nonfiction, classics and more for sale.
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Oct 10, 2023 02:33
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Ravus Ursus posted:I don't know that you need to feel dumb. Some of the metaphors are so on the nose that I felt like I just be missing something because it was too obvious. Like the zombie one and guilty. The werewolf one was by far my favorite. That was a really strong story in a lot of ways. The titular story lost me so hard. I kept thinking stuff like “uh is the monster supposed to represent… familial bonds???” or some poo poo and then I’d fall asleep. The Good Husband is a really tough story if you’ve been there with a partner
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Oct 10, 2023 02:53
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