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Skyscraper posted:Oh, no doubt, I could see he was doing some stuff, but the whole thing came off as an unskippable cutscene, or like when you're playing DnD and the DM talks for like an hour and moves your characters around while bad stuff happens. The main character does nothing other than float in space and watch. You're sitting in the Cosmic Horror thread complaining about the cosmic horror. Just saying.
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Feb 8, 2017 17:25
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Jedit posted:You're sitting in the Cosmic Horror thread complaining about the cosmic horror. Just saying.
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Feb 8, 2017 17:35
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Skyscraper posted:I know it'll be a pain to read The Night Land, and I only ended up reading House on the Borderland because it was in convenient audiobook edition thanks to librivox. The Night Land is too, but someone recommended The Night Land, A Story Retold instead of the original, which is not on audiobook because it's from this century. The plot summary I've heard sounds awesome, but I know there's an awful lot there. I would think it's be a lot easier to listen to someone read The Night Land to you than it is to actually read The Night Land, so you should be ok.
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Feb 10, 2017 02:49
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I adore the House on the Borderland and especially like the cosmic voyage passages. But I also like smoking salvia divinorum and having the same horrifying experience of infinite abysses of time
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Feb 10, 2017 12:31
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Dr. Video Games 0081 posted:I adore the House on the Borderland and especially like the cosmic voyage passages. But I also like smoking salvia divinorum and having the same horrifying experience of infinite abysses of time I like the idea that House on the Borderland is a study guide for salvia.
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Feb 10, 2017 17:02
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Ornamented Death posted:I would think it's be a lot easier to listen to someone read The Night Land to you than it is to actually read The Night Land, so you should be ok. Someone did a re-written version that cleans up the faux 17th century writing that I'd recommend.
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Feb 10, 2017 18:51
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The Vosgian Beast posted:Someone did a re-written version that cleans up the faux 17th century writing that I'd recommend. Yeah, that was covered. Skyscraper was discussing audio books, though.
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Feb 10, 2017 19:06
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Skyscraper posted:I like the idea that House on the Borderland is a study guide for salvia. Best book I ever read about a gladiatorial fight between a pig and a house.
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Feb 11, 2017 08:52
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Skyscraper posted:The Night Land is too, but someone recommended The Night Land, A Story Retold instead of the original, which is not on audiobook because it's from this century. The plot summary I've heard sounds awesome, but I know there's an awful lot there. A book with a cover like this must surely be a masterpiece: 
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Feb 11, 2017 09:18
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Pistol_Pete posted:A book with a cover like this must surely be a masterpiece: Ornamented Death posted:Well I mean it is basically a love story set in a weird, hosed up future. That cover is awful, yes, but it's not totally out of place. Alternatively, "Self-published book has terrible cover, news at 11."
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Feb 11, 2017 15:54
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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'
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Feb 11, 2017 18:59
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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' okay
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Feb 11, 2017 23:13
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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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Neurosis posted: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. Pistol_Pete posted:A book with a cover like this must surely be a masterpiece: Sibling of TB posted:Best book I ever read about a gladiatorial fight between a pig and a house. 
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Feb 13, 2017 17:58
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Recently finished Under a Watchful Eye, the latest novel by Adam Nevill, whom this thread turned me onto a while ago when people were talking about House of Small Shadows. It really reminded me of that book, as well as Last Days, in that the book revolves around an expansive and horrific (and pretty original) mythology that the reader only gets an incomplete picture of. In this case, it involves an astral projection cult, and the terrible, hidden reality that they can manipulate. (It also has a couple references to his other books) I really enjoyed it, because I'm a sucker for things like astral projection cults in my cosmic horror, but it also had some pretty serious missteps, which I feel are pretty common for Nevill. If anyone has read it, there's a major plot point that I didn't understand: The whole attraction of astral projection is that it lets one enter some beautiful other-world contiguous with our own, where one is released from the physical and can enjoy perfect clarity. But, during the novel, pretty much everyone is winds up wandering a nasty, bleak limbo. Is this due to Hazard's influence? Aside from being a self-aggrandizing weirdo cult leader, even after death, does Hazard have an endgame anyway?
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Feb 14, 2017 04:38
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julietthecat posted:Recently finished Under a Watchful Eye, the latest novel by Adam Nevill, whom this thread turned me onto a while ago when people were talking about House of Small Shadows. It really reminded me of that book, as well as Last Days, in that the book revolves around an expansive and horrific (and pretty original) mythology that the reader only gets an incomplete picture of. In this case, it involves an astral projection cult, and the terrible, hidden reality that they can manipulate. (It also has a couple references to his other books) Ooh, new Adam Neville? Buying that right now!
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Feb 14, 2017 06:31
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I didn't think House of Small Shadows completely made sense either but it was still great so I'm definitely getting this, thanks for the head's-up!
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Feb 14, 2017 17:34
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Clipperton posted:I didn't think House of Small Shadows completely made sense either but it was still great so I'm definitely getting this, thanks for the head's-up! Yeah, I would say that none of his books are as tightly done as The Ritual, although that novel is also the least imaginative. Has anyone checked out his short story collection, Some Will Not Sleep? I think there's a story in there that's inspired or is somehow connected to this new novel. Also if I could ask for recommendations: I'm really digging novels about creepy and forboding cults and the supernatural right now--I've done the Lovecraft stuff, Last Days and this new book by Nevill, and Last Days by Brian Evenson (I like Evenson a lot but I have to admit that I bought that one by accident). I've as well read the Drowning Girl, where (I think?) there's some kind of cult. I've also perennially dug novels about weird or haunted movies. I've read Flicker by Roszack, Experimental Film by Gemma Files, Grin in the Dark by Campbell, and Zeroville. Any direction would be very much appreciated!
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Feb 15, 2017 01:23
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julietthecat posted:Also if I could ask for recommendations: Chills by Mary Sangiovanni is a good short novel about a cult doing some Lovecraftian stuff. She's also big on the shared world stuff with all of her work, so if you like her, pretty much all of her novels and a lot of her short stories and novellas are set in the same world. Shackled by Ray Garton is a mostly-realistic story about Satanists in the mid 90s. It's good, but pretty loving brutal. Pretty much any of Brian Keene's horror has cultists at least in the background, if not front and center. The Ceremonies by T.E.D. Klein features a cult (or cult-like group, anyhow). I don't think this is available as an ebook, so you'll have to get a 99c paperback copy. For books about cursed movies, I recommend Angel of the Abyss by Ed Kurtz. It's not really a horror novel - more of a thriller, really - but it's quite good. Tribesmen by Adam Cesare is also good; it's about making a cursed movie.
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Feb 15, 2017 02:42
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Ornamented Death posted:Chills by Mary Sangiovanni is a good short novel about a cult doing some Lovecraftian stuff. She's also big on the shared world stuff with all of her work, so if you like her, pretty much all of her novels and a lot of her short stories and novellas are set in the same world. Thanks! I just bought Angel of the Abyss and Shackled. I'm sad that generally, so far as I can tell, virtually none of Klein's work is available in an electronic format for some reason...
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Feb 15, 2017 02:50
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julietthecat posted:I'm really digging novels about creepy and forboding cults and the supernatural right now--I've done the Lovecraft stuff, Last Days and this new book by Nevill, and Last Days by Brian Evenson (I like Evenson a lot but I have to admit that I bought that one by accident). I've as well read the Drowning Girl, where (I think?) there's some kind of cult. It's not quite cosmic horror, but possibly Club Dumas would suit.
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Feb 15, 2017 18:32
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julietthecat posted:I've also perennially dug novels about weird or haunted movies. I've read Flicker by Roszack, Experimental Film by Gemma Files, Grin in the Dark by Campbell, and Zeroville. Campbell has another one, Ancient Images, that has a suppressed spooky movie as a major plot point, so if you liked Grin in the Dark it might be worth a read. e: And John Darnielle's latest, Universal Harvester, "tells the story of a video store clerk, who finds strange and disturbing clips recorded over the store's VHS tapes" according to Wikipedia. Clipperton fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Feb 15, 2017 |
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Feb 15, 2017 19:35
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julietthecat posted:I've also perennially dug novels about weird or haunted movies. I've read Flicker by Roszack, Experimental Film by Gemma Files, Grin in the Dark by Campbell, and Zeroville. Not in the cosmic or any other horror vein really but Pattern Recognition by Gibson is a must for weird movie books.
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Feb 15, 2017 19:38
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julietthecat posted:Recently finished Under a Watchful Eye, the latest novel by Adam Nevill, whom this thread turned me onto a while ago when people were talking about House of Small Shadows. It really reminded me of that book, as well as Last Days, in that the book revolves around an expansive and horrific (and pretty original) mythology that the reader only gets an incomplete picture of. In this case, it involves an astral projection cult, and the terrible, hidden reality that they can manipulate. (It also has a couple references to his other books) Have you read Felix Gilman's Revolutions? It's not really horror, but there's astral projection cults. Forgall fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Feb 15, 2017 |
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Feb 15, 2017 21:42
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universal harvester is not a horror novel and if you go in expecting it to be you will be disappointed. it is, however, an excellent treatment of loss and melancholy and, most of all, small town life but it's not a horror novel
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Feb 15, 2017 23:35
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chernobyl kinsman posted:universal harvester is not a horror novel and if you go in expecting it to be you will be disappointed. it is, however, an excellent treatment of loss and melancholy and, most of all, small town life booooo at least tell me wolf in white van is about a pedo serial killer
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Feb 15, 2017 23:56
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julietthecat posted:I've also perennially dug novels about weird or haunted movies. I've read Flicker by Roszack, Experimental Film by Gemma Files, Grin in the Dark by Campbell, and Zeroville. It's not about a haunted movie, but The Cipher very prominently features some freaky poo poo on VHS as a major plot point.
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Feb 16, 2017 18:03
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Clipperton posted:booooo It's not, but it's also really good.
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Feb 16, 2017 18:32
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Skyscraper posted:It's not about a haunted movie, but The Cipher very prominently features some freaky poo poo on VHS as a major plot point. The Cipher also loving owns so you should read it no matter what.
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Feb 16, 2017 18:50
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General Battuta posted:The Cipher also loving owns so you should read it no matter what. you absolutely should read it.
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Feb 16, 2017 19:18
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General Battuta posted:The Cipher also loving owns so you should read it no matter what. Gonna go ahead and third this.
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Feb 16, 2017 19:23
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I'm just about to start The Cipher so this is all very validating, thanks internet! Also my local library apparently knows me really well, because they keep buying horror books I recommend and reserving them for me. Just got a notification they have a copy of Swift to Chase waiting for me.
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Feb 16, 2017 21:04
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Ornamented Death posted:Gonna go ahead and third this. I have read The Cipher, and man did it have a grimy 80s vibe unlike anything...As well as one of the most dislikeable characters I've seen in fiction to boot. Anyone read The Visible Filth, the novella by Nathan Ballingrud (author of the fabulous collection North American Lake Monsters)? That also has some spooky videos, and reminded me a little bit of The Cipher.
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Feb 17, 2017 04:20
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julietthecat posted:Anyone read The Visible Filth, the novella by Nathan Ballingrud (author of the fabulous collection North American Lake Monsters)? That also has some spooky videos, and reminded me a little bit of The Cipher. I have, and your'e right, there are some similarities there.
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Feb 17, 2017 04:27
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julietthecat posted:As well as one of the most dislikeable characters I've seen in fiction to boot. Nakota, or the main character?
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Feb 17, 2017 16:42
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Everything in The Cipher is grimy, miserable, horrible, hung-over, plastic, greasy, disingenuous and bad. Except the funhole. The funhole's real as gently caress. That's why it's so magnetic to the characters, and why it illuminates the central conflict of the subtext: is it better to live a miserably ordinary but sustainable life, or to utterly destroy yourself in pursuit of genuine truth? (Some of the characters also use 'the pursuit of genuine truth' as a means to gain status in the disingenuous and miserable ordinary, an act which the novel's ethos finds especially repulsive.)
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Feb 17, 2017 17:00
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Forgall posted:Seems kind of like drugs, at first you get a high, and then things go severely downhill. Overall I'm just a little disappointed, I was hoping astral world would be more weird and alien. I found Under a Watchful Eye pretty disappointing myself which is a shame, because I'm a big fan of Nevill's stuff. The book has all the elements to make up a great horror novel but somehow none of it quite hangs together and it never engages you like his previous novels could. He's also arguably written this book already: Last Days, except rather than have a film-maker who becomes inadvertently drawn into investigating a sinister but defunct cult that turns out to be not so defunct after all... he has a writer who becomes inadvertently drawn into investigating a sinister but defunct cult that turns out to be not so defunct after all! Nevill sums up the book's deficiencies himself pretty well. Early on in the novel, the protagonist, Seb, a writer who's finally achieved a measure of success and security after many years of poverty and struggle, contemplates the state of his latest novel: quote:Seb had set out his laptop, coffee and water in preparation for the morning's work on the book that he was struggling to believe in, let alone write. The work in progress barely resembled his previous novels, never rose beyond an imitation of effect and a perfunctory progression of plot, peopled by undefined characters that were mere wraiths of what had been intended. It had taken him six months to acknowledge that his imagination was failing. The energy at his core was mostly spent, or had leaked away during the writing of his previous novel, a book written with the needle of his inner reader's compass spinning wildly, in a blizzard of doubt and vain hope, without settling upon any specific direction regarding the book's quality... Now, Nevill is an intelligent writer who's not above playing literary games with his readers and I've little doubt he deliberately intended the meaning of this passage to be ambiguous. If you've read the book, you'll see it foreshadowing future plot developments but it also sounds a little too much like the reader is being addressed by Nevill directly here and I can't help but agree with the verdict. And it's a pity, because I feel there were potentially much more interesting things that he could have done with the material rather than end up revisiting past themes again. The novel begins with Seb's hard-won comfortable lifestyle being invaded by an extremely unwelcome figure from his grotty past existence. The supernatural element of the novel is introduced at the same time and these two themes persist together throughout: Seb's fear of losing the secure life that he's built for himself and being drawn back into the disordered and unhappy existence that he thought he'd escaped for good and the sort of creepy, haunting entities scuttling around in the darkness that Nevill loves to populate his books with. What makes me feel that Nevill perhaps missed an opportunity here is that he writes about Seb's fear of chaos and poverty with what seems like more genuine feeling than when Seb's getting chased around by spooky emaciated ghosts. Take this passage, where Seb is investigating the mobile phone of his uninvited guest: quote:The first three numbers he's called - 'J', 'Dizzy', 'Ace' - were disconnected. The fourth number for a 'Baz' rang out twice before the call was answered. A rough male voice exploded in Seb's ear the moment the call was accepted, the words frantic and near-breathless with anger. "Ewan! That you? Ewan, you oval office! I'll fuckin' do you! Where are-" Anyway, it struck me that it could have been really interesting if Nevill had dropped the supernatural elements of this novel altogether and concentrated on the realism. If you've read No-one Gets Out Alive, you'll know that Nevill can brilliantly depict gruesome criminal low-lives and I think he could have made this a really effective book about a secure but increasingly jaded and directionless author who finds himself gradually pulled back into an existence that he thought he'd escaped forever. Perhaps Seb feels he can generate a book from this situation; perhaps he's not entirely conscious of his own deeper motivations? Obviously, he'd have to get drawn in deeper than he ever intended and everything would ultimately go horribly and bloodily wrong... drat, I've been mainly thinking this out as I was typing and now I really want to read a gritty crime thriller by Adam Nevill. Perhaps I'll email him and suggest it 
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Feb 20, 2017 19:23
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General Battuta posted:Everything in The Cipher is grimy, miserable, horrible, hung-over, plastic, greasy, disingenuous and bad. Except the funhole. The funhole's real as gently caress. That's why it's so magnetic to the characters, and why it illuminates the central conflict of the subtext: is it better to live a miserably ordinary but sustainable life, or to utterly destroy yourself in pursuit of genuine truth? (Some of the characters also use 'the pursuit of genuine truth' as a means to gain status in the disingenuous and miserable ordinary, an act which the novel's ethos finds especially repulsive.) The Cipher is one of those books that I loved despite wanting to murder absolutely everyone in it.
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Feb 26, 2017 06:12
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Re: Under a Watchful Eye, I agree that its mythos was a lot less weird than it could have been, and, again, the book had some of Nevill's usual misteps. Nonetheless, I think it also had some seriously creepy moments, and I'm still really enamored with astral projection cult horror. Nonetheless, I also agree that the best written and most evocative parts had nothing to do with supernatural horror. Above all, the narrator's relationship with his overbearing, deadbeat friend who periodically forces himself into his life and derides his successes while at once claiming credit for them. I found that relationship seriously discomfiting, and as much as I hate to say it maybe Nevill would do well to take a stab at another genre. (Although personally I do still really enjoy reading his deeply flawed horror fiction) Some trip reports from the last couple weeks: Jon Padgett's collection The Secret of Ventriloquism. It's predictably derivative of Ligotti (Padgett runs Thomas Ligotti Online), and the last story, "Escape to Thin Mountain" is obviously a reference to Ligotti's "Ten Steps to Thin Mountain." But I thought it was really excellent. This is heresy, but I've always preferred Ligotti's philosophy and universe to the experience of reading the stories themselves, and they've sometimes felt like a slog to get through. Padgett operates in the same universe, and fleshes out the same ideas without adding anything really original, but I found his stories more enjoyable. Padgett is a former ventriloquist himself, incidentally, and the stories are loosely connected. Standouts: "Murmurs of a Voice Foreknown" and "20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism." Angel of the Abyss, recommended above for having a creepy film as a major plot point: This is pulp, not horror. A film restoration expert and his friend in 2013 try to discover the secret behind an infamous silent film, The Angel of the Abyss, that went missing along with its star shortly after its premier in the late '20s; anyone who has come into contact with the film since then has wound up dead. The central mystery becomes kind of dopey, but this is still a pretty all right read--chiefly because of the relationship between the two protagonists. I'd only really suggest checking this out if you have Kindle Unlimited. Universal Harvester, which again came among the books with creepy films recommendations: The book's premise sets it up to be horror or at least thriller. Someone in a small town in Nevada has been editing creepy clips into tapes from the local video store. But as elaborated above, it is indeed really a meditation on how loss transforms us and leaves gaping cavities in our lives, ones we can never fully grasp, and certainly never fully recover from. It's beautifully written (the author is the singer/song writer of the Mountain Goats I guess?), and I loved reading it, but it is absolutely a strange and deliberately unsatisfying book, and it won't appeal to everybody.
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Mar 4, 2017 18:46
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julietthecat posted:This is heresy, but I've always preferred Ligotti's philosophy and universe to the experience of reading the stories themselves, and they've sometimes felt like a slog to get through. I'm in this camp as well so I'll give Padgett a shot, thanks!
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Mar 4, 2017 21:39
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