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I'm about halfway through it, but I'm really enjoying The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch (not to be confused with The Gone-Away World, a very different book) so far. It's about investigators using quasi-real time travel in the 90's to project into possible futures where people have more information on current criminal cases (and also science), but also running into the seemingly inevitable cosmic horror end of the world in every possible future they end up in. I'll say more once I finish reading it.
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May 13, 2019 19:18
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Skyscraper posted:I'm about halfway through it, but I'm really enjoying The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch (not to be confused with The Gone-Away World, a very different book) so far. It's about investigators using quasi-real time travel in the 90's to project into possible futures where people have more information on current criminal cases (and also science), but also running into the seemingly inevitable cosmic horror end of the world in every possible future they end up in. I'll say more once I finish reading it. I'm curious to hear your thoughts, I ultimately liked the book a lot, though I wish he'd done a little more with the conceit, and the author has a couple of writing tics that really bother me. That aside, it's definitely worth a read.
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May 13, 2019 19:32
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Ooops, I didn't mean to hit post, please ignore.
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May 19, 2019 04:25
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TheNamedSavior posted:Ooops, I didn't mean to hit post, please ignore. Too late, what were you posting about gentle goon>
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May 19, 2019 06:45
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm curious to hear your thoughts, I ultimately liked the book a lot, though I wish he'd done a little more with the conceit, and the author has a couple of writing tics that really bother me. That aside, it's definitely worth a read. I don't know if it's exactly what you mean, but I felt like the horror parts of this were a little under-exploited in service of making a puzzle that may or may not have been pretty clever, but it still basically delivered. The book jacket describes it as "True Detective meets Inception" and that's not completely right, but basically close enough. Certainly the True Detective comparison is apt, a show that had strong cosmic horror themes but ultimately decided to focus on its more human elements. I liked the writing, and didn't notice any tics, which may or may not be due to the audiobook I heard it on. Judging from my reaction to Three-Body Problem, I guess that "strange and terrifying aliens are coming to do bad things to everyone on earth, here's a big clock letting you know how long you have left to live" is a plot point I'm way into.
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May 20, 2019 17:14
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That reminds me, Laird Barron was on the This Is Horror podcast a good while ago now and True Detective was brought up – apparently Nic Pizzolatto had corresponded with him quite a bit before the first season, and while he wouldn't go to details, the impression I got was that he wasn't super happy about Pizzolatto essentially ripping him off for all the "time is a flat circle" stuff. As I recall it, there was also a good bit of Ligotti and some Alan Moore in the show, but Barron was a definite influence.
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May 20, 2019 18:15
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Fire Safety Doug posted:That reminds me, Laird Barron was on the This Is Horror podcast a good while ago now and True Detective was brought up – apparently Nic Pizzolatto had corresponded with him quite a bit before the first season, and while he wouldn't go to details, the impression I got was that he wasn't super happy about Pizzolatto essentially ripping him off for all the "time is a flat circle" stuff. As I recall it, there was also a good bit of Ligotti and some Alan Moore in the show, but Barron was a definite influence. most of mcconaughey's monologues was pretty directly cribbed from Ligotti, and those were the main source of plagiarism accusations iirc.
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May 20, 2019 18:29
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Skyscraper posted:Judging from my reaction to Three-Body Problem, I guess that "strange and terrifying aliens are coming to do bad things to everyone on earth, here's a big clock letting you know how long you have left to live" is a plot point I'm way into. That entire trilogy is extremely cosmic horror and good.
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May 20, 2019 18:34
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hopterque posted:most of mcconaughey's monologues was pretty directly cribbed from Ligotti, and those were the main source of plagiarism accusations iirc. Relevant Tangent posted:That entire trilogy is extremely cosmic horror and good. It is! Though I don't think people in the genre generally regard it as such.
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May 20, 2019 18:42
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Yeah the Ligotti stuff is definitely at the forefront (which I should have made more clear), but there's certainly some Barron in there – and he never really made any direct accusations, there was just a feeling that he wasn't 100% happy about the amount of credit he got after actively corresponding with Pizzolatto as a fellow writer.
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May 20, 2019 18:47
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TD season 3 is basically season 1 minus the cosmic dread, in spite of a fakeout in that direction. It’s almost sentimental by the end (hell, strike the almost). It’s all right, but to no one’s surprise the best parts are the occasional hallucinations, holes, and jumps that strike poor Mahershala Ali. The series badly underuses his Vietnam background; it would’ve been amazing to get a full story thread from the war, and to see it gradually melt into his other memories. It’s sort of interesting to see Pizzolato do a metatextual “you thought I wanted to do more cosmic horror, but really I wanted to do old guys having feelings.” But it’s not as interesting as the cosmic horror!
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May 20, 2019 18:49
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General Battuta posted:TD season 3 is basically season 1 minus the cosmic dread, in spite of a fakeout in that direction. It’s almost sentimental by the end (hell, strike the almost). It’s all right, but to no one’s surprise the best parts are the occasional hallucinations, holes, and jumps that strike poor Mahershala Ali. The series badly underuses his Vietnam background; it would’ve been amazing to get a full story thread from the war, and to see it gradually melt into his other memories. If they understand that people want the Thomas Ligotti Power Hour, why do they not deliver it? I at first thought it was accidental, but now it sounds like they know and just don't want to give people what they liked in the first season.
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May 20, 2019 19:03
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Skyscraper posted:If they understand that people want the Thomas Ligotti Power Hour, why do they not deliver it? I at first thought it was accidental, but now it sounds like they know and just don't want to give people what they liked in the first season. Because then Pizzolatto would have to admit that the stuff people actually liked about his show were the bits he just outright stole from other creatives and had little to do with his own contributions.
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May 20, 2019 19:17
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Skyscraper posted:If they understand that people want the Thomas Ligotti Power Hour, why do they not deliver it? I at first thought it was accidental, but now it sounds like they know and just don't want to give people what they liked in the first season. Because they'd have to admit they were just translating someone else's vision. Nobody liked TD season two because it was entirely their vision and it sucked. I still recommend season one to people though.
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May 20, 2019 19:40
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Skyscraper posted:If they understand that people want the Thomas Ligotti Power Hour, why do they not deliver it? I at first thought it was accidental, but now it sounds like they know and just don't want to give people what they liked in the first season. I don’t know. Season 3 isn’t bad. It would probably be at least a cult hit if nobody had Season 1 to compare it to. I think Pizzolatto sees going back to the cosmic horror as retreading ground. He never wanted to lean into the mythos; his interest was mostly in the characters, and it probably annoyed him that people cared more about the King in Yellow than his very broad themes of good, evil, and redemption. Season 2 DID have implicitly supernatural and weird stuff, but it didn’t work because it was all a mess. Season 3 has no weird at all, aside from dementia.
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May 20, 2019 19:47
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season two sounded cool back when it was supposed to be about "the secret occult history of the united states' mass transit system" or whatever but then the showrunners scrapped that idea
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May 20, 2019 19:48
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General Battuta posted:I don’t know. Season 3 isn’t bad. It would probably be at least a cult hit if nobody had Season 1 to compare it to. I'd believe that he'd be annoyed about that being the focus... but I feel like that just speaks to a creative short-sightedness about what actually made the show appealing. Season 1 did that cosmic horror teasing better than just about anything else, but yeah, his themes of good and evil were so broad as to be kind of tepid and meaningless, and while I loved the season, the things I liked best were the little sprinklings of supernatural we got. The characters were very well done too, imo, but it's hard to say how much of that is Pizzolatto and how much is McConaughey and Harrelson. Basically I'm saying, he should retread that ground because it was so good, and the directions he went instead are... bad? I know it's a matter of taste, but I feel like he didn't get what made the show good. Though I imagine everyone liking the aspects that you stole or stumbled on or didn't want as the focus has to be that much more distasteful of a style to return to. edit: I guess it's worth saying, who know how much of that choice is Pizzolatto vs HBO vs showrunners or whatever, but at least the couple of interviews I've read with Pizzolatto make it seem like he does kind of resent that people fixated on the supernatural elements of the show, in a way that came across a little more personal than I expected MockingQuantum fucked around with this message at 19:56 on May 20, 2019 |
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May 20, 2019 19:54
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He should pair lots of terse old man dialogue with a new genre of horror and a new auteur director (to drive off halfway through) every season. Do slashers next. Do pulp detective Freddy vs. Jason. Then do Saw. Then do aliens and make it like that one scene from Fire In the Sky but with no cuts. God imagine how much he could write the hell out of the hypno-regression scenes. E: then remake season 1, but it’s in Mad Max and they wear bondage gear
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May 20, 2019 20:07
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General Battuta posted:He should pair lots of terse old man dialogue with a new genre of horror and a new auteur director (to drive off halfway through) every season. Do slashers next. Do pulp detective Freddy vs. Jason. Then do Saw. Then do aliens and make it like that one scene from Fire In the Sky but with no cuts. God imagine how much he could write the hell out of the hypno-regression scenes. Okay at first I hated the idea but by the end of the post you won me over, make it so, Pizzolatto
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May 20, 2019 20:18
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In the wasteland, where there is no life, nothing can die. So death invented guzzoline to drive the cars that it would crash.
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May 20, 2019 20:20
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MockingQuantum posted:I'd believe that he'd be annoyed about that being the focus... but I feel like that just speaks to a creative short-sightedness about what actually made the show appealing. Relevant Tangent posted:Because they'd have to admit they were just translating someone else's vision. Nobody liked TD season two because it was entirely their vision and it sucked. I still recommend season one to people though. I don't know if Season 3 was a hit but I really can't see how "we know what you want but it annoys us that you want it" is a model to run a show off of. chernobyl kinsman posted:season two sounded cool back when it was supposed to be about "the secret occult history of the united states' mass transit system" or whatever but then the showrunners scrapped that idea Is that real? I'd watch that.
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May 21, 2019 15:40
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Skyscraper posted:Is that real? I'd watch that. it was what pizzolatto originally said the season was going to be about. it changed radically in development tho and the actual season had no occult elements
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May 21, 2019 20:59
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chernobyl kinsman posted:it was what pizzolatto originally said the season was going to be about. it changed radically in development tho and the actual season had no occult elements well this sucks
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May 21, 2019 22:03
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Back in the season 1 True Detective thread there was much speculation that Cary Fukunaga had a much bigger influence on including the cool supernatural stuff and that seemed to be supported since those elements disappeared once he left.
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May 22, 2019 00:10
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Can anyone recommend anything reading/movie wise that follows that premise? I had a book when I was young called “Railway Ghosts and Highway Horrors” that made me fear driving late at night on backroads by myself. I thought Brotherhood of the Wheel would be like that but after the first chapter it just turned out to be... bad.
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May 22, 2019 01:18
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HIJK posted:Back in the season 1 True Detective thread there was much speculation that Cary Fukunaga had a much bigger influence on including the cool supernatural stuff and that seemed to be supported since those elements disappeared once he left. That makes sense, also it sucks. Secret Machine posted:Can anyone recommend anything reading/movie wise that follows that premise? Good question! You'd figure that this premise would've been done before, way better.
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May 22, 2019 16:42
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Secret Machine posted:Can anyone recommend anything reading/movie wise that follows that premise? This is among the plot points in the Illuminatus! Trilogy, but I'm not sure that's a recommendation I'd make there.
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May 22, 2019 17:33
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Can anyone recommend any weird/cosmic horror podcasts? I don't mind if it's a discussion style podcast or something more in the vein of a radio play or audio book approach. I've listened to Night Vale and the various other podcasts from the same makers, curious to see what else is out there that's actually worth checking out though.
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May 26, 2019 11:55
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Owlkill posted:Can anyone recommend any weird/cosmic horror podcasts? I don't mind if it's a discussion style podcast or something more in the vein of a radio play or audio book approach. I've listened to Night Vale and the various other podcasts from the same makers, curious to see what else is out there that's actually worth checking out though. Mary SanGiovanni does Cosmic Shenanigans, a podcast where she discussed cosmic horror in entertainment. It's pretty good, she tends to do her homework.
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May 26, 2019 15:40
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I read the back half of this thread but like someone else am looking for more audiobook cosmic horror stuff, but it seems a lot of this contemporary work isn’t recorded unfortunately. I’ll prob pick up The Deep, Night Land Retold, and uh, The Gone World in audiobook and The Weird on kindle. Night land concept sounds really neat and kind of reminds me of Solaris in terms of alien kind of world stuff, so I guess that’s what i’m most interested in is somewhat inscrutable alien stuff, even if it gets kind of drone-y or long winded. At least until I get more of a grasp on my taste which I hope The Weird helps focus down. that podcast sounds really good too.
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May 28, 2019 02:19
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Magnus Archives can be kinda hit or miss imo, but when it hits it’s fantastic weird poo poo.
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May 28, 2019 02:30
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So all of Lovecraft's stories are available on Audible in three separate collections. I've been meaning to buy one for awhile now but got distracted and forgot. Should I start with the 'Prime Years?" and read his early stuff or ghostwritings and collaborations later?
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May 30, 2019 23:55
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Absolutely, his ghost writing ranges from surprisingly good to absolute schlock and a lot of his earlier work is very hit or miss
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May 31, 2019 00:31
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Darth Walrus posted:Try Ship of Fools/Unto Leviathan (different regional titles for the same book) for a bit more of your spooky space exploration needs. This book illustrates well the point that the monster you can't see is always scarier than the one you can. My only complaint (more severe spoiler): The ending fell flat, for me. The way things escalated towards the end was brilliant, but the climax just wasn't there. The story wasn't even properly resolved. What happened to the Argonos and the alien ship? Did the aliens follow the survivors or not? What were those weapons the aliens fired at the escaping shuttles that connected, but didn't seem to do anything? If the idea was to create uncertainty about the survivors' ultimate fate, the narrator's upbeat, optimistic tone worked against this. Such a waste!
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Oct 10, 2019 14:30
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immolationsex posted:Thanks for this, just finished the book. Russo is no Gene Wolfe, but his prose gets the job done without getting in the way of the story, which is something one sees regrettably often in genre fiction. In this particular niche of science fiction, the most important thing (to me) is to convincingly convey the idea of the truly alien – agencies not human, not even remotely understandable in terms of how humans perceive the world. Russo manages to thread the needle of creating a mysterious entity that is frightening to humans, not necessarily because of any malevolence but the understanding that this entity is completely removed from and indifferent to us – but without veering into melodrama. Mildly spoilery: I especially liked how almost casually Russo describes some of the exploration party members losing their minds. It's a topic rich in clichés he could have trotted out (padded rooms, straitjackets, cryptic warnings howled by doomed madmen, blah blah), but instead, the reader is left with the impression that the various mental disturbances are just something that happens as an incidental side effect of coming into contact with forces beyond our comprehension. I am 100% with you on the second spoiler. It kind of ruined the book for me. I'd love to see a similar story done without what felt like a weird need to take a right turn, tonally, at the end.
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Oct 10, 2019 16:42
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So I ended up not getting the Lovecraft collection I was looking at because the narrator sucked. Would you all recommend this one? It says it contains all of his "definitive" works. https://www.audible.com/pd/HorrorBa...c3_lProduct_1_8
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Oct 28, 2019 20:54
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I'd recommend Wayne June the voice of Darkest Dungeon who has the perfect timber for Lovecraftian stuff. https://www.audible.com/search?searchNarrator=June+Wayne Also, the HP Podcraft has 11 free narrations of Lovecrafts work here: https://hppodcraft.com/full-story-readings/
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Oct 28, 2019 21:13
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Helical Nightmares posted:I'd recommend Wayne June the voice of Darkest Dungeon who has the perfect timber for Lovecraftian stuff.
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Oct 29, 2019 21:25
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James Lovegrove wrote a three books "alternate history" in which Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson encountered the Cthulhu Mythos, starting with The Shadwell Shadows. I thought he did a pretty good job of bringing those not entirely dissimilar worlds together.
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Oct 30, 2019 16:51
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That may be, but it's not horror. They're bog-standard adventure romps with props borrowed from Lovecraft. The premise of the Holmes stories being sanitized versions of what really happened is cool but the books never capitalize on it.
anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Oct 30, 2019 |
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Oct 30, 2019 20:39
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