The General Horror Book Thread: Between Two Fires fucking RULED! Hell yeah!!!!

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The General Horror Book Thread: Between Two Fires fucking RULED! Hell yeah!!!!

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

I�m reading Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe and I�m about 150 pages in and Ligotti really kind of has a thing about sex workers in a lot of these stories, eh?

I don�t know if they�re just a sympathetic and easily victimized class of people or if it�s something else but it�s definitely there.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2024 22:03

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# ¿ May 8, 2024 10:04

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

TUS posted:

I made it a New Years goal to read a bunch more then I have previously and I am sticking to it a lot more than I thought I would. And it's mostly been Horror stuff-

Nos4a2 by Joe Hill - Like Father, like Son... Hill does have some semblance of his dad's mind, but he wasn't fully there with this one. Even then, the underlying premise gives me chills still and an enjoyable read despite it's length.

Brother by Ania Ahlborn - This was one I was researching strongly before I made the New Years goal and it lived up to the seemingly high expectation. Reb is such a hatable character and it was done with such ease. Roller Coaster of emotions with a brutal (sad) ending

The Bird Eater by Ania Ahlborn - I read this one before Brother and Im glad... Ahlborn still had kinks to work out. Still enjoyable, but not on the level of Brother

The Troop by Nick Cutter - I finished this one pretty quick. Isolation and body horror is a pretty solid combination

Dracula by Bram Stoker - Felt like I had to read this out of obligation. I'm glad I read it, but wasn't a big fan of the style until the last quarter or so [spoiler]Once they go on the actual quest to hunt Dracula after the coffin was shipped back to Transylvania[spoiler]

The Ruins by Scott Smith - Not sure how everyone else felt about the movie but I thought it was alright... but the book is much, much better.

Penpal - by Dathan Auerbach - I think this got a lot of hype and it was pretty well deserved. The feeling of the walls crumbling down on the narrator during the last chapter still gets to me.

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie - While skimming some of the pages of this thread, there were questions about whats a good "found footage" esque book... this would get my vote.

Come with Me by Ronald Malfi - Just finished this one and out of the books Ive read so far, this was my favorite. Such a great, tense story with a wonderful build along the way.

I have Intercepts next to go and have a couple more books on hold at the library (libraries are great)

This is a good list. I realized in like December that while I love horror movies, I haven�t read very many horror books! Like one or two a year, if that. Do people share short fiction here too?

# ¿ Mar 10, 2024 23:57

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

This story, Meat by Evelyna Ekoko-Kay in Trad magazine really spoke to me. It�s about a plague that turns people into a sort of vampire.

I don�t know how to content warning (or if it�s necessary) but I�ll try. CW: pets there is animal suffering and death, violence the vampires are violent, there is blood and gore, food meat, raw meat, and eating meat is described graphically, disease covid-19 is mentioned in this story and public health and pandemic mitigation measures feature heavily in relation to the vampire plague.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2024 03:56

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Wachter posted:

Just finished North American Lake Monsters and I'm struck by in how every single story the real monster or ghost is male failure, inadequacy, and neglect:

- The absence of the waitress's abusive husband is filled by Alex, a sort of parasite who exists by co-opting the identities of other men. He didn't make the skins he wears, he just chanced upon them.

- The construction worker is haunted by his failure to defend his colleagues from the werewolves, and, later, to avenge them.

- The doctor's hesitance and sentiment towards the dog, contrasted with the gruff pragmatism of his colleagues, nearly wipes the whole expedition, and is karmically punished by a shoggoth infecting his charge.

- The aspirant neo-Nazi is groomed into nearly committing a hate crime by bigger Nazis with bigger dicks.

- The father in the angel story is haunted by his own negligence, becomes impotent, and is cuckolded by a guy who beats the poo poo out of him.

- The absence of the kid's abusive father is filled by the vampire.

- The abusive ex-con infected by the lake monster is cuckolded, and haunted by his disconnection with his daughter.

- The homeless father is literally haunted by his disconnection from his daughter.

- The Good Husband fails to react to save his wife, fails to accept her zombification, fails to protect his daughter from it all.

They're all good stories but taken one after another they really did feel like the author working through some poo poo.

I agree with this analysis for the most part.

I think The Way Station is the best of the lot but I read it as the man is haunted by the city itself. kind of a horrific "you can never go home" story. But toxic masculinity is the subject of the book.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2024 19:25

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

value-brand cereal posted:

That bit irritated me so much that I used calibre to edit that out of the epub. It is thematic to the plot in the end, but man. To put that below this quote in the same epigraph?

�When I am asked how many demons there are, I answer with the words that the demon himself spoke through a demonic:

�We are so many that, if we were visible, we would darken the sun.��
�FATHER GABRIELE AMORTH, CHIEF EXORCIST OF THE VATICAN"

Oof.

Arithmophobia: An Anthology of Mathematical Horror by Robert Lewis

Someone who is not in a reading slump [not me] please read this and report back. Math horror? Ain't that just regular math? HEYOO wakka wakkka!!

Interesting, love some cosmic horror based on weird numbers!

# ¿ Mar 20, 2024 00:10

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

escape artist posted:

Jorge Luis Borges does the best mathematical stories and I couldn't imagine anyone else doing anything remotely as interesting.

I like Greg Egan for fiction about weird math I can�t understand

# ¿ Mar 20, 2024 15:22

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# ¿ May 8, 2024 10:04

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

escape artist posted:

What's a good starting place? Never heard of this fellow but skimming his Wiki has me intrigued.

Diaspora is my favorite. It�s about sentient digital beings and really digs into questions about time and consciousness and identity. The main character is like, a mathematician and that frames the whole story.

I also really loved Quarantine. It has elements of existential and body horror throughout. It�s kind of a detective noir in a near future world where the solar system has been surrounded by a force field. The main character is investigating a disappearance and the case takes lots of wild turns. Big themes of consciousness and free will due to the protagonist�s various neural implants and stuff. the Copenhagen interpretation plays a big role.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2024 02:29

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The General Horror Book Thread: Between Two Fires fucking RULED! Hell yeah!!!!