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It really was pretty bad. I love Barron and thought it was tedious as hell.
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Feb 25, 2014 15:56
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Hallucigenia is the high point of The Imago Sequence. Read at least that before rendering judgment.
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Feb 26, 2014 12:37
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Anyone have an opinion on Simon Strantzas or Scott Nicolay? Barron is recommending them on his blog but he has steered me wrong before.
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Mar 10, 2014 10:08
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Liking Strantzas. Not as overtly horror as other writers, but very solid prose and some creepy ideas. Brandon Bell wrote a reply to The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: http://lovecraftzine.com/magazine/i...brandon-h-bell/ It's fairly well written but I'll have to think before I can reply. How much I agree with Ligotti varies depending on how lovely my life is at the time and how much I'm drinking.
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Mar 17, 2014 16:22
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GrandpaPants posted:Yeah, I've said it before, but he is the only writer that leaves me in a consistent down mood after reading his works. And it's not like they're particularly drenched in human misery, but they just create this sort of oppressive atmosphere that is just absolutely heavy. Iirc he actually gets the most writing done in his manic phases.
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Mar 28, 2014 04:56
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He has a whole mess of psychiatric problems, rather than physical pain.
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Mar 28, 2014 08:41
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EdBlackadder posted:So guys where would one start with Laird Barron or Thomas Ligotti? I'd prefer a short story collection but could probably slot a novel into my reading pile at a push. The Imago Sequence is where to start for Laird Barron. It's a short story collection. It and Occultation and Other Stories are considered his two best works. He's written one novel, The Croning, which is related to a bunch of short stories in Occultation. I'd read it after reading Occulation and The Imago Sequence. The most recent collection, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits us all, is not of the same quality. He's also written a novella, The Light is the Darkness, which has received mixed reactions. I liked it, but I'd leave it until after the first two collections and The Croning.
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Apr 7, 2014 12:03
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Fire Safety Doug posted:There's plenty of people who don't care for Barron, in this very thread even. Personally I like (most of) his stuff! Agreed regarding Ligotti. Some of the concepts and ideas are interesting but it doesn't work for me as horror. I also like Barron a lot, but can see how some people wouldn't - sometimes his stories can seem to harp on familiar setpieces and protagonists too much.
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May 6, 2014 10:02
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Gooble Rampling posted:I don't remember seeing it in the thread, but even if it has already been mentioned, I recently found the Southern Reach books to be good modern weird fiction. So far only the first two in the trilogy have come out: Annihilation and Authority. There's a fun sense of mystery to the story that just kept me turning the page. I definitely recommend them. I posted about it earlier in the thread. I liked Annihilation a lot, but I did not like Authority, because I felt far too little happened and there wasn't really much substance. I could probably summarise the novel in a few hundred words and not much would be lost for someone going from Annihilation to Acceptance. Edit: Oops, I posted about it in the general sci-fi thread, not this one. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 14:02 on May 11, 2014 |
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May 11, 2014 13:52
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Laird Barron is doing an AMA on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/horrorlit/comments/26vfrs/laird_barron_ama/ I know a lot of people don't like him but I still feel at his best he is a pretty damned good writer. I'd actually like him to try a full-blown sci-fi story with cosmic horror elements and see how it goes, I feel like he's at his best when he's playing in the settings he writes extensively about, rather than being excessively cryptic (except for some outliers like Proboscis which are good regardless).
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May 30, 2014 14:55
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So apparently there will be a follow-up story and novel to The Croning with more sci-fi elements. I really enjoyed it despite it reeking of a short story writer's first longer work, and look forward to it. Oh, and the tale of humanity's end in The Croning doesn't tell the whole story of what will happen to us. I'm sure it will be depressing and probably pretty cool. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 00:35 on May 31, 2014 |
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May 31, 2014 00:33
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GENDERWEIRD GREEDO posted:I hope it doesn't feature 80-year-olds acting like people decades younger. Yeah, that was really dumb. He could've made Donald in his 50s, having a grown up son in the military and acting as spry as he did, but no, he had to be in his 80s.
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May 31, 2014 01:58
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I'm around 70% of my way through Brian Hodge's Prototype. I was attracted to read it because I really enjoyed For Whom the Gods Must Destroy. I was expecting something a little more overtly horrific or sci fi on the back of that story. Instead this so far has been a character study of a disaffected outsider damaged not just by his upbringing and society's general indifference but also by abnormal biology which results in a high level of aggression and violent tendencies. His friends are more classically disaffected individuals, who are also quite damaged. It's not bad, and I found myself identifying quite a bit with the isolation of some the characters and how they choose to define themselves in ways that separate them from society. Worth a read if you like outsider stories, anyway. There's a plot thread about the protagonist's provenance which I assume is going to dominate the remainder of the novel, although what I've seen so far on this thread hasn't been that interesting, which surprised me since it was the main hook that got me to read the book. Is there anything else by Hodge worth reading? Maybe something more patently horror?
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Jun 15, 2014 17:23
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Ornamented Death posted:His collections are damned good and mostly horror. You may also want to check out Worlds of Hurt - I haven't read it yet, but the blurb sounds pretty interesting. This is pretty good. I'm 70-something percent through it now, maybe halfway through the title story. Its premise is pretty much pursuing the notion of a jealous arsehole God who enjoys feeding on our negative emotions as much as it does our adulation. The other major element is immortals afflicted with certain hungers which keep them youthful (semen, flesh, eyes, blood, etc.) There are 4 stories dealing with this setting based around this. The major story deals with a guy who has had a near-death experience where he was 'dead' for 38 minutes. 6 years later he had a complete breakdown, recalling what happened to him while he was dead and the horrible things awaiting us all. It's very pessimistic and creates not just an indifferent world as with cosmic horror, but one where the big players have an extremely malignant attitude towards humanity. My only criticism is that the protagonists of the first 3 stories are rather unlikable.
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Jun 18, 2014 04:09
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Ornamented Death posted:You'll probably be interested to know he plans to write another story in that setting later this year. No word yet on length, though. Awesome! Wow, the ending to World of Hurt was a downer. Not terribly surprising, I suppose, but part of the twist at the end made me want to throw my Kindle across the room in a fit of pique. Reading Crescent by Phil Rossi right now. Prose hasn't impressed me at all so far, but I need to scratch the cosmic horror itch.
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Jun 19, 2014 06:21
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Ornamented Death posted:The Kindle versions of Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Grimscribe, and Noctuary are on sale for $2.99 through the 7th. The only Ligotti things I can get on Kindle are still Teatro Grottesco and The Conspiracy against the Human Race. Goddamnit.
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Jul 4, 2014 05:12
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JerryLee posted:Appropriately for the conversation, Stross should definitely be up there, even if weird fiction in the cosmic horror sense is only one part of his oeuvre. His Laundry shorts and Colder War are available online to boot, though I don't know if I'd recommend people read the Laundry shorts before at least The Atrocity Archives--Colder War ought to be enough to tell someone if they'd enjoy Stross's brand of Lovecraftian thriller, though. I loved Colder War but disliked the Laundry series, at least based on the first book. I found the nerd humour extremely obnoxious and unfunny.
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Jul 10, 2014 15:32
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I didn't think the variance was that huge. The first half is definitely superior but I thought the second was tolerable.
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Jul 29, 2014 04:58
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phenom64 posted:Hey, so I finally got and read The Croning by Laird Barron. I enjoyed it and I have to admit that the ending put me in an existential funk for the rest of the day. His mother.
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Aug 14, 2014 05:50
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Hodge said he plans to write more stories in the same setting this year. That makes me happy. I liked all the stories in Worlds of Hurt, although I thought the first one and the title story were the strongest. This has reminded me I need to check out Without Purpose, Without Pity by Hodge. I really like his prose. His other short stories are good, too, although I feel he's at his strongest when he's mythos-building rather than writing pure idea pieces. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 11:49 on Aug 21, 2014 |
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Aug 21, 2014 11:46
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andelazo posted:Colour Out Of Space is easily the best of HPL's stories, as far as I'm concerned anyway. I struggle with most of his other work, even the 'hits', but Colour Out Of Space was just an absolute pleasure to read. I find in the main it suffers from little of the purple prose that a lot of his other work contains, while still maintaining the idea of an unknowable, alien entity that he was famous for. Pickman's Model is good too though, as well as Herbert West, and the Picture In The House is pretty decent as well. Yeah, if I'm going to recommend a story to someone trying to get into Lovecraft I will recommend The Colour of Space. It's really creepy while being entirely separable from his broader mythos.
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Aug 24, 2014 16:56
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Venusian Weasel posted:I think my recommendation for a Lovecraft sampler would be Yeah, I pretty much agree with this list except for maybe Pickman's Model.
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Aug 24, 2014 18:15
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The Rat posted:The Whisperer in Darkness was my favorite of Lovecraft's. The one part that genuinely creeped me out was when the old man was talking, and he says we where he should have said they when talking about the race from Yuggoth. I love that story because there are so many aspects building the suspense that have become hackneyed from overuse in the modern day but they still work.
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Aug 25, 2014 05:47
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Amazon keeps telling me I should read Richard Gavin. How good are his short stories?
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Aug 27, 2014 12:08
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Ornamented Death posted:Very. Sold.
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Aug 27, 2014 16:26
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NickRoweFillea posted:What Laird Barron collection would you guys recommend The consensus appears to be (and I agree with it) that the short story collections are in declining quality. So just begin with The Imago Sequence and go onwards.
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Sep 28, 2014 10:10
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The Great God Pan is not well written but it's actually fairly creepy and worth reading, that having been said.
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Sep 29, 2014 19:18
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Roark posted:(although, weirdly, the Machen collection doesn't have "The Great God Pan"). loving what
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Oct 19, 2014 14:52
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On a whim I picked up My Work is Not Yet Done today. I've always been a bit lukewarm on Ligotti. His best stories - such as The Manager - I really, really liked. The rest... I could understand what he was going for, and appreciate it on one level, but it didn't really grab me. This book is totally different. It has the same Ligotti style and themes, but for whatever reason I find it infinitely more absorbing. It might be that coupled with the anti-natalist view of the world there's a current of dry humour, which isn't as prominent in his other stuff. Really good, at any rate, even if it doesn't fit neatly into this thread. It might be something I can sell to my non-horror reading friends who labour with me in the white collar world.
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Nov 2, 2014 20:22
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If you read The Night Land, I recommend the rewrite by James Stoddard rather than the original. I've now read both and much prefer Stoddard's. It is much less stilted. After reading both The Night Land and House on the Borderlands I recommend Awake in the Night Land by John C Wright, 4 novellas also set in the Night Land and which give a conclusion to the setting, which also ties in with House on the Borderlands. Wright's fantasy as opposed to his harder sci-fi, at least in the longer form, has been pretty lacklustre, but this book is flat out amazing. Strangely, despite Hope Hodgson being quite purple at times, Wright's language is actually less baroque than in his wont in these stories which pay homage to Hodgson. They each explore a different conception of love, as the original Night Land dealt with romantic love, against the rather dismal and fatalistic Night Land setting. Don't be fooled into thinking that makes them, or the original for that matter, in any way upbeat or unsuitable for this thread. The setting is so downright bleak it gives any optimism gleaned from human affection a doomed and bittersweet feeling.
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Nov 19, 2014 14:13
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Rough Lobster posted:Thanks for the responses, I'm on a shoestring budget over here. I actually was in the process of reading the Night Lands rewrite a while back but I think it wasn't finished yet or something. The short stories I mentioned are available for free here http://www.thenightland.co.uk/nightfic.html#content There's a whole bunch of fiction here set in the Night Land, actually, but the four stories I was referring to are: http://www.thenightland.co.uk/nightawake.html http://www.thenightland.co.uk/nightcry.html http://www.thenightland.co.uk/nightsilenceofthenight.html http://www.thenightland.co.uk/nightlastofallsuns.html
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Nov 20, 2014 04:43
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Ornamented Death posted:Tim Waggoner's The Last Mile is a fun Cthulhu-esque story. I hope Waggoner decides to flesh out the setting some more. Seconded. Worth reading.
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Dec 30, 2014 21:10
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I liked Mirror of the Nameless, on to Blackout.
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Jan 24, 2015 21:36
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Mirror is much more imaginative and engaging than Blackout, imo. Neither are top tier cosmic novelle (c.f. Brian Hodge's Whom the Gods Would Destroy, for example) but of recent stories recommended I would go The Last Mile > Mirror of the Nameless > Blackout. All are worth reading, and they're all cheap and quick, but if you have to miss any due to lack of interest...
Neurosis fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Jan 29, 2015 |
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Jan 28, 2015 18:57
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Ornamented Death posted:Hey, Neurosis, check out Brian Hodge's Without Purpose, Without Pity. It's not really cosmic horror, but it is loving incredible. Yeah I've read it. Pretty good and it feels with the ending there'll be more in the same setting. I was also pleased he knew a little about fighting. I cringe when I read most authors describing unarmed combat.
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Jan 31, 2015 11:43
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anilEhilated posted:If you want Twin Peaks: the game, go for Deadly Premonition. It's kinda better to watch it somewhere though, since the game is pretty bad. The atmosphere and presentation of the story are fantastic, however. Deadly Premonition's story and atmosphere are spectacular and in some ways creepier than and superior to Twin Peaks. The actual GAMEPLAY, on the other hand...
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Feb 21, 2015 09:33
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End Of Worlds posted:I've tried really hard to like Bairron but the weird Hemingway-esque hypermasculinity is just totally a insurmountable obstacle for me The Croning's protagonist wasn't as far along the hypermasculinity spectrum as a lot of Barron's other protagonists, although I actually like the hypermasculinity so I might have blinders on.
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Mar 21, 2015 08:56
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Finally managed to get my hands on TED Klein's Dark Gods. I may have to look into buying The Ceremonies from overseas...
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Apr 5, 2015 10:57
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This guy has really good prose.
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Apr 6, 2015 13:44
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Talmonis posted:Is this the thread for general horror discussion, or should I make a thread for it? People tend to discuss normal horror in this thread as well. A title change to encompass other horror would be ideal, but whatever. I'm 60% through Nick Cutter's The Deep. It's pretty good. Cutter manages to tap into the senseless fears experienced as a child really well. It's also extremely bleak. As in, the first 30% was totally frontloaded with horrifying stuff the protagonist had experienced without even getting into anything unusual.
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May 8, 2015 08:13
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