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I thought I'd resurrect the thread to mention this Kickstarter project I spotted on Joe Lansdale's Facebook page, aiming to fund an unthemed horror anthology edited by Ellen Datlow. With only four days to go, it's still almost seven grand short of the $ 25,000 goal. Would be a shame for it to fail, so have a look! Aspiring writers might be interested in some of the goals that let you bypass the publisher's slush pile. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/191888411/fearful-symmetries-an-anthology-of-horror?ref=home_location Disclaimer – I have nothing to do with this project personally.
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Jan 7, 2013 15:21
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ravenkult posted:Classy. Do you want to expand on this? I had a peek at your post history and saw that you have some experience/interest in the field... Are you frowning at it as a money-grab? Don't want to derail the thread too much, just wondering.
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Jan 8, 2013 19:10
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Well, Kickstarter was built as a way to show support to projects, not as a pre-order system, although that's the way lots of people now see it. You donate because you want to see the anthology made and show some love to Ellen Datlow & the writers involved – rewards are (supposed to be) secondary. If you look at it as getting the best bang for your buck, paying 500 $ to have Laird Barron use your name in a story is a pretty poor return. Having said that, I do agree that the slush pile thing is probably going to be disappointing for many backers, but any realistic writer should know that someone reading your novel does not mean they will publish it.
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Jan 10, 2013 14:31
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Bolverkur posted:I am this close to buying the first one on my Kindle and I need a second opinion. Most of the time these "post-Lovecraft" anthologies are mediocre and trite poo poo, so I'd rather not be completely disappointed with it. I am in the mood for reading some contemporary takes on Lovecraft's mythos, just as long as they bring something new and fresh into the mix. I haven't read all of it yet but so far I haven't regretted the purchase. There's both older stuff (like T.E.D. Klein's "Black Man With a Horn") and fresh takes on the mythos (the much-praised "Shoggoths in Bloom") as well as some that aren't really Lovecraft-related at all ("The Men from Porlock" by Laird Barron). Some of the stories are mediocre but I'm yet to come across a horror anthology where I enjoyed all of it equally. You can find it for cheaper than the Amazon price as well if you Google around a bit.
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Jan 16, 2013 11:23
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Barron posted on his Facebook that the Night Shade mess (read background here) is moving forward in some way, so hopefully someone will fulfill my preorder for The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All soon.
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Jun 5, 2013 07:56
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Neurosis posted:Barron probably sucks if you like strong female or non-archetypically masculine characters. Actually he's recently introduced a new female character who is supposed to feature in several upcoming stories. You can read the first one for free here: http://laird-themanfromporlock.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/story-is-thank-you-to-fans-who-are.html
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Jun 14, 2013 19:47
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Ornamented Death posted:W.H. Pugmire is basically an institution unto himself for Lovecraft mythos stories. I know the man knows his Lovecraft, but the few stories I've read from him have been really hard going. Really dense writing style without the stories to make up for it.
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Jun 27, 2013 08:10
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Hallucigenia is without a doubt a good story. Last time I was doing a re-read of Barron stuff, Mysterium Tremendum worked really well for me.
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Aug 2, 2013 19:28
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Neurosis posted:Remind me which one Mysterium Tremendum is? Gay dudes stumble upon evil book during camping trip, with typical Barron consequences.
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Aug 3, 2013 16:48
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Neurosis posted:The one with the 3 tough as nails gay dudes who get in a fight? The Children of Old Leech one? Yeah, that's the one (although the protagonist is not keen on fighting if I remember correctly).
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Aug 3, 2013 20:17
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I read the Wide Carnivorous Sky and it was pretty good but I don't like his stuff as much as Barron's. Langan uses a lot of "experimental" narrative tricks that can be neat when they work out, but I found they sometimes diminish the impact of the story itself. I would still recommend it for a genre fan and I think I will check out his earlier collection at some point.
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Aug 16, 2013 20:42
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Re: More Dark – I haven't really looked into it myself but this review by S.T. Joshi (which Barron linked to himself) mentions some names: http://formerpeople.wordpress.com/2013/10/30/a-northwesterly-chill/ I was surprised by the sour tone, I thought More Dark was just some kind of writerly goof-off.
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Nov 17, 2013 10:50
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There's plenty of people who don't care for Barron, in this very thread even. Personally I like (most of) his stuff! I have to admit that based on Teatro Grottesco, Thomas Ligotti doesn't really do it for me. Maybe I should have calibrated my expectations differently but I found most of it hard going. These days I do most of my reading in bed before going to sleep, and while some books keep me up, TR was perhaps the most effective literary sleeping pill I've had since Gravity's Rainbow.
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May 6, 2014 08:56
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I like Barron a lot, I didn't like Ligotti very much even though I can see why some might do. The nameless protagonist overcome with nameless dread in a nameless place thing just doesn't really do it for me. I think horror as a genre lends itself better to fairly straightforward writing, which is not to say that you can't write well, but that the emotional punch required is harder to achieve through layers of literary gimmickry.
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Nov 1, 2014 10:54
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God Of Paradise posted:Name one Ligotti story where the protagonist overcomes anything. I've read everything the man's ever written fairly recently after rediscovering Teatro Grottesco and Conspiracy Against The Human Race on my shelves. I must admit, I picked the books up again while watching True Detective, just because Rustin Cole kept directly quoting them. I can only name two stories where anyone over comes anything. English is not my first language, but I was using "overcome" in the sense of "overwhelmed by", not in the sense of conquering something.
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Nov 26, 2014 22:10
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Xotl posted:I'd also note that Weird Tales, the magazine, is currently available, being published quarterly. Is it just me or is that site terribly designed? I clicked around opening new tabs and trying to scroll through static cover images for a minute or two before giving up.
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Apr 21, 2015 09:03
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I'm guessing "aspie" is the part that he's taking issue to but honestly "snark" was the operative word in echopraxia's post.
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Jun 8, 2015 18:03
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End Of Worlds posted:Has anyone read Strantzas' Burnt Black Suns? Is it any good? I found it a bit hit and miss - some pretty good stories, others were a slog to read and had little payoff.
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Jun 14, 2015 21:58
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Hedrigall posted:China Miéville's upcoming collection Three Moments of an Explosion has a handful of great weird/horror stories. That sounds like my kinda thing, thanks for the heads up!
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Jul 21, 2015 23:14
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The Terror has its moments but I felt Simmons didn't have to include every tidbit he came across in his research. Also, this may affect your reading enjoyment but try keeping an eye on how often people say something "softly" in that book. Urgh.
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Sep 17, 2015 22:54
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"On Ice" by Simon Strantzas from the Burnt Black Suns collection should fit the bill too.
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Feb 9, 2016 09:48
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coyo7e posted:So I read The Light Is the Darkness and frankly, it was okay except that I really hate being dropped in media res for no particular reason, and then never really giving a poo poo or caring what happens to the characters because I'm just assumed to be into them for being boring caricatures. Are any of his other novels less - like that one? So it was okay except that you hated the style, the plot, the characters, the author's name, face and... eyepatch? I mean, it's OK to not like a writer but calm down, dude. I generally like Barron but didn't like The Light Is The Darkness very much. He's just more at home writing short stories, which are a better place to start – but perhaps you should just find someone whose photo doesn't send you into a frothing rage.
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Feb 11, 2016 08:43
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coyo7e posted:You seem to be projecting a hell of a lot there, man. If anybody is raging I'm thinking it's you, because I made fun of an author you really love. Plenty of people in this thread don't care for his stuff, but what kind of constructive criticism is "Laird Barron has the worst name and the worst bio-pics on his books that I've seen since early-90s-era R.A. Salvatore"? It's his real name as far as I know, and I think the eyepatch and dogs aren't just props either. Hell, I fully agree admit some of his bios etc. come across as a bit pretentious and I think his longform stuff is weaker than the short stories. It's the strangely personal attacks that I think are weird.
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Feb 23, 2016 20:58
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I thought X's For Eyes had some cool bits, but having never read those boys' adventure books it apparently is a pastiche of, a lot of it fell kinda flat. From the short stories, Mysterium Tremendum is one of my favorites that hasn't been mentioned yet.
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Feb 25, 2016 09:20
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Ornamented Death posted:I'm pretty sure you're talking about John Gwynne. The only picture with a dog that Laird Barron has used as an author photo just shows him kneeling down in front of a fence with his pitbull. Oh myyy. 
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Mar 6, 2016 20:29
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Hughlander posted:I feel I asked this before. I had a recommendation for a weird tale. Radio telescope finds souls traveling after death to another planet where they are trapped in aliens bodies that drive them crazy due to their sense of id. Really want to reread it. It's not this one, is it? http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/167/the-planet-of-the-dead
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Mar 9, 2016 22:48
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I'm reading Langan's The Fisherman at the moment, about halfway through and it's been good but not great so far. There's a really long flashback / backstory bit, but because the book is in first person, the protagonist ostensibly hears it from another character. However, it's just way too detailed to ring true as a story told after the fact. Langan sort of acknowledges this with a "there were surprising details he couldn't have known" caveat suggesting supernatural elements, but I still find it a bit grating.
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Jul 31, 2016 19:46
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MockingQuantum posted:Speaking of Langan, anybody read The Fisherman yet? I finished it a few days ago, there were times when it dragged a bit (see also my earlier post on the subject) but in the end I liked it. There's some pretty cool mythology and powerful scenes. In the afterword Langan says he originally began the project ages ago, which maybe shows through at times, but I'd say it's worth a read nonetheless.
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Aug 11, 2016 18:58
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Just try not to count how often characters say something "softly". Seldom has a book so badly needed an editor.
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Aug 26, 2016 03:54
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Salem's Lot is the first book I thought of when it comes to good horror novels. For a King book, it's quite compact as well!
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Aug 27, 2016 05:00
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Joe Hill's short story collections are pretty good.
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Sep 28, 2016 16:23
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Ornamented Death posted:20th Century Ghosts is a great collection, but much like later King collections, the actual horror short stories are few and far between. For example, probably the most popular story from the collection, "Pop Art," is absolutely not a horror story. I'll admit it's been a few years since I read them. But they should work for anyone who likes Papa King as well.
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Oct 1, 2016 11:19
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Also, what's everyone's take on Matthew Bartlett? I've tried getting into his stuff but I just find the writing style off-putting.
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Oct 1, 2016 11:21
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Rough Lobster posted:I liked his short story collection Gateways to Abomination. It's also pretty short, so if you don't like the guys writing that might be a bonus? That's the one I've been reading. Some nice visions but I just find it's a chore to read.
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Oct 1, 2016 12:14
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chernobyl kinsman posted:I actually think it's fairly clear that there was never anything supernatural going on, and the book is largely an indictment of the reader for expecting that. This line pretty firmly solidifies that for me: Don't really agree – the tension of "is this supernatural or not" is a major element of the book, and at the end, just when you think that it's just an everyday horror story masquerading as the supernatural, a mysterious chill (mentioned earlier as a sign of possession) runs through the café. It leaves you guessing, which I think is better than just making it either/or.
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Oct 19, 2016 08:32
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Everytime The Terror comes up I just think of all the times people say something "softly" in that darn book.
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Feb 3, 2017 13:33
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Buca di Bepis posted:Remember when every goon was into that "splatterpunk" poo poo lol I suppose I might have just missed this phase but splatterpunk hasn't really been a thing since the early 90s, so did that really happen?
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Jun 30, 2017 21:54
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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.
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Jan 8, 2018 23:38
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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.
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Jan 15, 2018 21:16
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My biggest gripe with The Fisherman was the ”story being told in a bar” thing. It’s really hard to suspend disbelief at the idea of one guy going on for what must have been nearly a workday, dropping in florid language and details that could not possibly have been known by anyone alive to tell the story. There was an attempt to provide some explanation, as I recall, but I wish Langan had just come up with a less contrived narrative device.
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Jan 23, 2018 11:51
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