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Thanks for the update. Looking forward to that.
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Jan 21, 2017 03:39
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MockingQuantum posted:Everybody whispers all the time in the Arctic, apparently. something about the great god pan made me want to bleach my brain. it felt that creepy and ominous. I've seen Machen described as a bad technical writer, much like Lovecraft often is; I'm coming to think more and more it might be a bit unfair, and that there are different technical writing rules applying for horror, following from the very different kind of aesthetic experience horror aims for than any other type of writing. I haven't made a study of writing technique (other than legal writing, anyway), though, so I don't have the tools to frame any kind of structured argument, it's just a feeling. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 11:21 on Feb 4, 2017 |
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Feb 4, 2017 11:18
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I can't disagree with that appraisal of House on the Borderland; I found it pretty tedious while reading but appreciate the really weird interpretation of the nature of the universe in hindsight. If you like The Night Land I'd recommend reading John C Wright's Awake in the Night Land; the last story in that brings together House and The Night Land, and the collection's generally pretty good (oddly, the most nihilistic stories Wright wrote after becoming a crazy Christian and the most religious while he was an atheist crazy libertarian).
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Feb 8, 2017 10:42
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chernobyl kinsman posted:the night land isn't even that good but i'd still rather shoot myself in the head and live than read a self-published 'rewrite' the rewrite is pretty decent and i'd recommend it over the original if anyone is going to read just one, unless the person i'm speaking to has a passion for stilted prose and no dialogue.
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Feb 12, 2017 02:54
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I agree though there are exceptions. The Manager is grade A material and My Work is Not Yet Done was fun.
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Mar 5, 2017 02:52
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Ornamented Death posted:Radiant Dawn and Ravenous Dusk are a lot of fun in a more old-school, pulpy kind of way. I didn't get why the Lovecraft mythos had to be used for this. It seemed by and large totally removed from it, until one point in book 3, and then really it was just a Lovecraftian name tacked on. Still enjoyed them.
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Mar 9, 2017 13:36
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it is extremely good and everyone with a passing interest in horror should buy it.
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Jun 24, 2017 07:46
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i see nick cutter has a new book out - 'little heaven'. though somewhat variable in quality, i haven't read a bad book by him yet. any impressions?C2C - 2.0 posted:Just finished Worlds of Hurt over the past couple of nights. his short stories and novellae, emphatically yes - 'for whom the gods would destroy' and 'without pity, without purpose' are good places to start. he's really, really good at Lovecraftian horror, and everything he's written in that vein has knocked my socks off. his novels are good, too, but they vary a lot in subject matter and style, and the quality is more variegated. 'prototype', for example, takes a vaguely horror/sci-fi idea (basically, what if that myth that having xyy made you an aggressive murderer was real), but doesn't tell a story in those genres, and is really about the grinding abject misery of intractable mental problems.
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Jun 29, 2017 08:53
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Even if there's nothing in particular planned for him being dead in this cosmos leads to hell, so it's surprising he could be happy Also the first story has the most graphic sensational stuff. It's there in the others but it's not quite as in focus.
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Jun 30, 2017 02:53
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i liked the ritual. i agree about the shift throwing things off a lot, but overall it didn't significantly interfere with my enjoyment. i thought he wrote luke dealing with anger particularly well - the building irrational combativeness and the brief high from the adrenaline quickly giving way to the sick feeling over something horrible done in the moment (though not the kind of emotional rush i've had since my early 20s - and no i've never seriously hurt anyone physically or anything like that). also the loving physical abuse that man took. he has a strong animating will to live, if nothing else.
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Aug 12, 2017 06:04
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Skyscraper posted:Already did! I liked World of Hurt specifically and not his other books in the series. It's the cosmic horror that works so well. without pity, without purpose is a good novella in a similar vein. he ranges all over the horror spectrum. at its lowest key is prototype, which is about a guy who has a weird genetic condition which amps up his levels of aggression to insane levels, but is otherwise a reasonable person. not at all about anything supernatural, just the pain of being cursed with this incredibly antisocial quirk by the roll of the dice. he's also written a bit of dark fantasy horror in the tales of the lost citadel anthology (and there was some talk of him writing a book in that setting) - i still want to get my hands on that book, i think fantasy horror is sadly underdone! and the standard 'friends on a trip encounter something evil' like in oasis. all of his stuff is pretty solid, but it's the cosmic horror where he absolutely destroys. there's another short story about cosmic poo poo being baked into readings from space which, when turned into an audio score by a musician and audio engineer, makes people go loving nuts (and he has some interesting ancestry, too), which was pretty good, but i can't remember the name. i think the best bet is to get an anthology of his stuff and work through it, i can't remember reading anything he's read that is straight up bad, and you'll get variety and a sense of his different styles and which appeal to you.
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Aug 31, 2017 01:19
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looks like hodge will be writing a novel in the lost citadel setting. good.
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Aug 31, 2017 01:38
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Skyscraper posted:I thought it was solid but not great, but The Deep is my favorite Nick Cutter, so YMMV. I liked The Acolyte more. I read the Deep when I was depressed and hoo boy... I like cosmic horror when I'm feeling lovely, properly done the gothic feel makes my problems feel small and insignificant. The Deep never left the personal level, though, despite having major cosmic elements. So it did not work for the escapism. I though it was pretty good though. Same with The Troop and The Acolyte, with the last probably being my favourite.
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Sep 27, 2017 00:06
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ravenkult posted:Seconded. He's a really good writer. Please, yes
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Oct 10, 2017 02:42
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Waroduce posted:what is the novel that best represents his work It doesn't best represent his work but while we're on Ligotti I thought I'd plug My Work is Not Yet Done. It's a horror flavoured satire of corporate life and is entertaining and funny. Come to think of it I like Ligotti's work in this vein more than his pure horror; The Town Manager is loving fantastic too (satire about government).
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Oct 18, 2017 01:27
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a foolish pianist posted:The Croning, which follows up on The Men from Porlock, is pretty great as well, so long as you pretend the protagonist is about 20 years younger than Barron tells you he is. there are at least two other stories tying in to the children of old leech, although they lack the familial connection between the croning and porlock. one is... i think it's delirium tremens or something like it. that one is really, really good - i'd say better than porlock. the other is the broadsword, which is also pretty solid, though not quite on the same level. there are probably others with less clear connections - maybe the weird old money family from the croning appears in another story but it isn't about old leech? probably less obvious connections i've forgotten. a sequel to Carter and Lovecraft is out. i didn't realise this was going to be a series. i'm about 80% through. it's decent. more of the same as the first in how it relates to cosmic horror, for the most part - while drawing on lovecraft and being associated with horror it's not particularly horrific and reads more like a decent thriller with lovecraft stuff in there. i probably like it more than the first since you don't have that bit where the protagonists have to be convinced there's weird poo poo afoot in the world. if you liked the first you'll probably like this.
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Nov 21, 2017 12:26
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Zartosht posted:I'm pretty sure all the stories in Occultation are part of the Old Leech mythos. I wouldn't have thought there'd be any necessary connection. Anthologies are often just grab bags collecting what authors did between certain dates. And in a lot of stories there's absolutely nothing to suggest linkages. You may know something I don't. I would actually appreciate knowing if they are part of the same world since I find putting together horror mythoi as I read connected stories to be enjoyable. Reminds me I need to go back and finish off Swift to Chase, once I'm done with a Lovecraft reread prompted by reading the new Carter and Lovecraft. Just finished with The Colour Out of Space. Love that story, and think it might be Lovecraft's best - the premise is extremely simple but he manages to make the whole thing so unsettling. Which suggests there's more to Lovecraft than his ideas and his writing is effective, even if it's not conventionally 'good' writing.
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Nov 22, 2017 08:39
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well, everyone might not be entirely hosed. the villains did refer to being crippled and stuck due to some higher force that found them to be twisted horrible creatures. i actually liked the tumble down that rabbit-hole. usually some parts of what happens in these kinds of stories are dreams or hallucinations or whatever... in this everything horrible has been happening, everything ugly has been plotted out since the beginning of this character's life, it's all just a macabre game for the most malevolent and petty of cosmic entities.
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Nov 28, 2017 02:11
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Ornamented Death posted:Brian Hodge is always worth reading. agreed. some of his earlier stuff is not quite as gripping, but even the worst of his i've read has been worthwhwhile, and his more recent stuff is consistently great. interested that he will be publishing a dark fantasy horror book in that new rpg setting, the lost citadel. sure, it's licensed fiction, but licensed fiction by good authors is still by a good author, and i think dark fantasy horror is underdone. edit: oh, great, the guy behind this setting has been accused of sexual harassment and the publisher is cutting ties with him. who knows where that leaves the book. TOOT BOOT posted:I guess my main problem with Worlds Of Hurt is that the whole thing turns on the biblical god being evil, but the thing is, the heaven they describe isn't all that scary to me. Very crappy? Yes. Scary, no. Kinda ruins the effect overall. while the book appears to indicate a biblical god, it's not really explicitly that that is what's up. i didn't think we saw enough of the other side to form an opinion on how scary it was. but the way having been to that side affects those who have been temporarily dead i found plenty unsettling. MockingQuantum posted:I think that must be true of most of Cutter's stuff. I usually read during my lunch break and that is not an advisable time to crack open The Deep either. the acolyte manages to feel somehow unclean even though it is far lighter on gore than the deep or the troop. pretty quick and enjoyable. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Dec 2, 2017 |
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Dec 2, 2017 07:01
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Bilirubin posted:The Barron story Proboscis was a weird little one that a couple of days later has me dreaming of various insect-like humans living among us. Yeah I really liked that one. It's very different in tone to his other works. a little incoherent and not in his normal dream-state way, since it's not entirely clear what triggers the protagonist's paranoia so hard. While it's not as abstract as the drug trip scenes he's fond of there's enough there that does seem definitely off that it's unsettling. The protagonist is also just a normal guy rather than the macho tough men he prefers (I don't mind them either) Neurosis fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Dec 6, 2017 |
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Dec 5, 2017 22:13
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General Battuta posted:A character gets graphically raped and tortured while being quizzed on biology for about half the book, then she's abandoned to die by her friends who forgot about her. It's pretty rough. I don't remember it being that graphic, or at least not that extensive if it was graphic, at all. Like a few paragraphs then maybe some references here and there. It spends a lot more time on the roots of the torturer's sadism and I have to wonder if that hasn't coloured people's memories such that they recall more explicit depictions of pain infliction for sexual gratification than there were. My memory could just be faulty of course. at any rate, it didn't put me off the book that much because at no point did i feel like watts was getting off on what he was writing, and it was meant to be awful. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Dec 12, 2017 |
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Dec 12, 2017 08:39
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HIJK posted:I suppose it makes sense that people are bickering over whether a torture rape scene was all that traumatic in the cosmic horror thread. there is a huge degree of difference between chapters of torture porn where the author is clearly getting off on it, at one end of the spectrum, and a single line reference to something like that happening, at the other. the difference being as to what can be in a book without it becoming unreadable. no one's disputing that rape of any kind is a bad phenomenon, which seems to be what your post is getting at.
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Dec 18, 2017 07:36
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i would have thought it self evident there is a difference between a sadist wank fantasy and a brief scene that is highly unpleasant but not gratuitous and is effective in servicing themes, character development or narrative. no one was arguing that rape scenes are passe or nice things to read about. i don't find your interjection very comprehensible.
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Dec 18, 2017 16:17
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Bilirubin posted:The Imago Sequence was really great, loved it pretty much from beginning to end. Stories in particular I liked were Proboscis, The Imago Sequence, Hallucigenia, and Procession of the Black Sloth. Good stuff! occultation and other stories is fairly equal in quality (maybe a bit lower but not much between them). beautiful thing that awaits us all is a step down but still has a couple of good ones. swift to chase i'm still only 20% through. it seems so far like it might hit on some of the other genre elements that we've seen a bit of in earlier stories but hadn't been in the forefront - fantasy and sci-fi. the croning is compulsory reading if you enjoyed any of the Children of Old Leech stories. his novellae Xs for Eyes and The Light is the Darkness have had poor reception. I enjoyed them. Xs for Eyes melds Barron's horror with '30s pulp and it's kind of interesting style wise. The Light is another one of Barron's ultra-tough manly characters confronting cosmic forces.
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Dec 24, 2017 02:20
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MockingQuantum posted:All of the stories in StC are kind of connected to two narrative threads-- one is the Children of Old Leech, which is Barron's general mythos that shows up in a lot of his writing, the other is generally what you're talking about in the spoiler. The stories only ever explain things in a vague and oblique way, and especially your second question isn't clearly answered. There's some suggestion that the Moose Valley and Eagle Talon Ripper are indeed one and the same, or that there's some supernatural connection between them. There's also suggestions that Mace doesn't actually kill the Eagle Talon Ripper when she shoots him/it/whoever. I only read through it once, for all I know there's a lot more explicit answers in the book than I realized and you could find them if you sat down and put together a timeline. That said, there are a couple of stories that aren't directly related to any of the Moose Valley/Jessica Mace stuff so I don't know that Barron meant for everything to be answered in a tidy package anyway. barron said in an ama on reddit he's going to write another book which is kind of a sequel to the croning and might be bigger scale and more sci-fi. i liked the croning even if it did read like a short story writer's first novel, and the Children of Old Leech are probably Barron's creepiest creation. so i look forward to it, even though he always has a ton of projects on and i imagine it's 'one of a dozen things i'm kinda doing some desultory work on and might come out at some point in the next 20 years'.
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Jan 18, 2018 03:14
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MockingQuantum posted:I haven't finished it, but I can totally understand where you're coming from. Your last point about it having an "uncomfortable air" is actually pretty standard in Barron's stuff so it's probably okay that you are kind of turned off. His characters are always exceptionally weird or hold really extreme beliefs, he dives into sexuality with the intent of pushing you a little farther than is totally comfortable, he uses body horror in a way that's not just intended to gross you out but make you genuinely unsettled. It's not always successful, but I feel like The Croning has more moments where it kind of takes me out of the story entirely. I still really enjoy it, but I think I have a high tolerance for Barron. Re the last point, this can get really irritating with apparent dream or hallucinations sequences - or real sequences which seem like hallucinations because there's no apparent logic. The minimal explanation thing did work pretty well in Proboscis, though. Also I liked the one time the weird malevolent dreams were actually explains as the Children of Old Leech loving with the protagonist with their super tech. Perhaps that sounds lame but the Children are so consistently and effectively shown as ultra sadists that it worked Edit to the post above, if you're talking about the Yakuza stories they are definitely horror
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Jan 19, 2018 02:38
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a full cosmic horror novel from brian hodge? i am furiously erect
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Feb 4, 2018 07:12
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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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Ornamented Death posted:I'll toss out a recommendation for Matthew M. Bartlett. His Leeds, MA, stories are all very weird in interesting ways. Gateways to Abomination is great.
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Mar 28, 2018 23:49
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yeah. it's good. strongly recommend john c wright's Awake in the Nightland, which has four novellae in the Night Land universe, if you like the rewrite. last story has a theme that might cause some eye-rolling that being divine love, which is ironic because wright wrote it while he was an atheist given his known political predilections but the first three are really good and ape the feel of the original very well.
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Apr 3, 2018 09:45
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Relevant Tangent posted:S P O I L E R S F O R A N O L D A S S B O O K i was prompted to read jdate by this conversation cropping up, having seen (and liked) the film. SPOILERS FOR A TEN YEAR OLD BOOK i dunno if i'd call dave sociopathic or whatever as i have seen him called prior to his replacement. prior to him being replaced he still told john to let the thing that had possessed dan wexler possess dave and then for john to blow his brains out. and while he talked about getting a thrill out of imminent violence earlier on, he also empathises with other people (i think his weird lack of ill-feeling for blowing possessed frank chu into smithereens is the only questionable part). maybe not quite as obviously heroic as afterwards but he was by and large not an awful guy. his treatment of john after vegas is probably the only thing that made me think 'rear end in a top hat' and he got past that pretty fast. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 05:20 on Apr 22, 2018 |
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Apr 22, 2018 04:48
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you guys are doing an excellent job of convincing me to not spoiler anything in the future
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Apr 24, 2018 14:29
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brian hodge's immaculate void is out. i would be immediately reading it if i weren't locked into my triennial retread of gene wolfe's solar cycle.
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Apr 26, 2018 13:53
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the final part only makes sense if you've read house on the borderland, i think. the storyline takes a lot from that. so does the tone with the weirder cosmic parts. still probably my least favourite of the four stories.
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Apr 28, 2018 02:09
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Hungry posted:When taken as a whole it certainly is the weakest of the four, but I can't help but love everything up to the point everyone else vanishes because they're all aspects of the main character. The tone and atmosphere of the opening parts hit me like a train when I was a teenage reader, and somehow haven't lost any of their power on a reread. politically and personally yeah he ranges from eccentric to distasteful, but his sci fi books are worth reading - the golden age is fantastic and count to a trillion is very good. actually i'd say the golden age is the rare bit of utopian fiction (libertarian in this case) that gives a fair accounting of the arguments against the vision presented, even if it clearly comes down on one side.
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Apr 29, 2018 04:12
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Hate Fibration posted:I swear, every time I give Thomas Ligotti another chance I end up disappointed. I feel like he's a potentially brilliant writer whose work is completely marred by his utterly loathsome personal philosophy. I always come away feeling like I should find where the man lives and give him a swirly and a few rounds of ECT. There are some stories which stand apart somewhat. The novella at the beginning of My Work Is Not Yet Done and The Manager are much more sardonic than most of his stories and are more enjoyable for it.
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Dec 27, 2018 12:52
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Bilirubin posted:Reading this right now. Its really good. The way the radio works through the series of stories is particularly effective. Seconded. Gateways to Abomination had this strange style with connected segments ranging between those which were fairly complete horror stories and tiny mood fiblets of a couple of pages in length and which were not connected in a linear and direct fashion with the rest of the book but which couldn't stand on their own; together, the different parts created a pleasantly discordant mood. It also had this bit in the first story which made me laugh: quote:When I was a boy in Leeds, I had a friend named Christopher Dempsey who lived out on Cemetery Hollow Road. He had a younger brother named Alex and a backyard that emptied out into an expanse of woods that hid most of our boyhood exploits, which for a time were no less innocent than catching and eating frogs.
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Feb 18, 2019 09:04
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