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Huge fan of Laird Barron. He's said that there are links to his Old Leech mythology in The Light Is The Darkness (which I loved, btw), although it's hard to extract a coherent mythology from his work. I think that lack of clarity actually works wonders for his stories; it feels as though you are truly only seeing a fragment of a horrific whole. I've had his new anthology on preorder from Amazon forever; I hope it actually comes out sometime soon. Also, check out the new collection by John Langan called The Wide Carnivorous Sky. He's good friends with Barron and there's even a story in the collection starring Barron as the main character. Barron returns the favor by writing an endnote story for the collection with Langan as the main character. It's really fun to see horror authors writing their horror author friends into stories.
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Jun 16, 2013 22:22
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 09:56 |
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Ornamented Death posted:The Night Shade deal has been settled so we should be getting an update sometime soon. Cool -- I'm really looking forward to it. Also, I don't know if this has been mentioned in this forum yet: there's a new Ligotti-themed anthology called The Grimscribe's Puppets being released this month. The stories are all original to the anthology and there are some pretty fantastic authors lined up.
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Jun 16, 2013 23:59
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Neurosis posted:I'm reading some of Ligotti's short stories. This encouraged me to look up an interview with him. What a mistake that was. He seems insufferable and smugly superior. Sorry your life sucks so much, Thomas, but I like mine. I'll still keep reading the fiction, though. I haven't seen anything really Lovecraftian so far but the stories are good. Huh, interesting. I'll admit up front that Ligotti is my favorite author so I'm hardly unbiased here, but I've never read an interview with Ligotti in which he comes off as smug or condescending. He has a particular sardonic tone that might read in that way, but it's useful to keep in mind that he's a hermetic, strange but exceptionally intelligent dude who suffers from acute panic anxiety disorder as well as other semi-disabling ailments and as a result expresses himself in a sarcastic, self-effacing way. I love my life too and philosophically am pretty much the total opposite of an antinatalist but I still love his stories and really like reading his interviews. Dude is exceptionally articulate about the history and ethos of weird fiction in his interviews (eg, check out this interview for some really good insights into the nature of weird fiction). And his introductory essay in The Nightmare Factory is my favorite essay ever on horror. It's absolutely beautiful and nails the purpose of weird horror: quote:This, then, is the ultimate, that is only, consolation: simply that someone shares some of your own feelings and has made of these a work of art which you have the insight, sensitivity, and - like it or not - peculiar set of experiences to appreciate. Amazing thing to say, the consolation of horror in art is that it actually intensifies our panic, loudens it on the sounding-board of our horror-hollowed hearts, turns terror up full blast, all the while reaching for that perfect and deafening amplitude at which we may dance to the bizarre music of our own misery.
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Jun 22, 2013 17:23
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Sharkie posted:I'm actually pretty sympathetic to some of the ideas in Conspiracy, and while I did like it, at a certain point I started thinking "So what? Everything sucks and is pointless, ok. So what am I going to do with that?" I guess it's because I have issues with depression, and I just had to stop and say "This isn't good for me" and put it down. I mean, I like it, but I'll just stick to his fiction from now on. Oddly, I found Conspiracy Against the Human Race to be life-affirming; I completely disagree with his ideas on the morality of living but he articulates them well, and in reading the book (although I admit I didn't get through it -- it is incredibly dense reading) I was forced to consider exactly why I think life is worth living. That is, if you believe as I do that life is worthwhile, then these are issues that are worth grappling with. That's one of the things that makes Ligotti such a brilliant writer: he really believes in the grim philosophy behind his stories, which gives them a moral weight that most authors don't have. Sharkie posted:Also I'd give anything for a filmed interview with Ligotti, where it turns out he's a pudgy older guy with a big red face who wears Hawaiian shirts, denim shorts, and sandals. And he loves Jimmy Buffet, tooling around in his convertible, and cigars. Ha, yeah . . . he actually does have a stated preference for instrumental rock (not sure which kind) and played guitar for a while, and he currently lives in Florida; so this is eerily plausible. Frankly, the idea of Ligotti in a Tommy Bahama shirt listening to Jimmy Buffett is an eldrich horror much worse than anything he's ever written in his stories.
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Jun 23, 2013 18:17
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Ornamented Death posted:Dark Regions Press is having a 50% off sale on all in-stock titles. There are a number of titles that would probably be of interest to the folks in this thread. Neat! Are there any that you'd recommend in particular? I'm not familiar with their catalog apart from Simon Strantzas and Richard Gavin. Also, in further Ligotti news, Bad Moon's reprint of Ligotti's Death Poems is now available for preorder. There'll also be an ebook.
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Jun 26, 2013 16:34
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Neurosis posted:I'd managed to track down most of the stories and only had a couple to read. The Ligotti tribute owned. Oh my god yes, I agree. I enjoyed the way he (facetiously, I assume) attacks lots of other weird fiction authors in that story; poor Mark Samuels and Reggie Oliver get mocked pretty heavily along with Ligotti. There are also multiple stories in the book with credible female protagonists, a pleasant surprise given how overwhelmingly masculine his stories usually are. Also, apparently S. T. Joshi has a blog. It's suitably fractious in his inimitable style; he spends most of the newest entry on grammatical nitpicking, for example.
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Jul 26, 2013 23:38
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 09:56 |
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Interesting - I just started Southern Gods this week as well. Weird fiction confluence! So far I'm liking it - it's definitely a unique take on the Mythos and a nifty idea for a setting: Arkansas in the 50s, set in the world of small-town radio stations. I've also been reading M. R. James for the first time - his stories own. Ghost Stories of an Antiquary is filled with great creepy poo poo.
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Aug 3, 2013 11:08
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