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Just reiterating the Thomas Ligotti recommendation. Finding his material in print can be frustrating; it's rather expensive. Thankfully, his stuff is slowly getting rolled out in the Kindle format.
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Aug 18, 2012 20:35
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Ornamented Death posted:Now I need to get all of you reading Caitlin Kiernan... This seems like very high praise indeed: quote:In his review of her novel (2009 The Red Tree), H. P. Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi writes: "Kiernan already ranks with the most distinctive stylists in our field – Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Dunsany, Thomas Ligotti. With Ligotti's regrettable retreat into fictional silence, hers is now the voice of weird fiction."
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Jun 17, 2013 22:50
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The reason I really enjoy Ligotti more than most other writers of this genre's ilk is because instead of evoking the idea of "cosmic" intelligences beyond our comprehension, his take on it is a lot more personal & close. It's as if the idea that our worst horrors happened upon Earth casually while exploring & consuming other parts of the universe isn't the actual origin; rather, it's been here since before mankind and almost needs humanity in order to thrive.
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Feb 4, 2014 09:47
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Neurosis posted:Re: Ligotti... The above posters are right in that Barron makes his cosmic horrors much more malevolent and overtly evil than is traditional in cosmic horror, while Ligotti's universe seems more passive and indifferent. Nonetheless something about the entities Barron writes of feel more comparable to the Outer Gods and Great Old Ones that were in Lovecraft's bestiary. The grounding in the real world also resonates more. Some of Lovecraft's protagonists did try to fight back, as well, some with success, although none were the cigarette smoking whisky drinking alpha males seen in Barron's works. For whatever reason, the oppressive and bizarre worlds Ligotti writes of I enjoy a lot as interesting ideas, but it's Barron's work that has made my skin crawl. See, I'm the exact opposite: with the more traditional Lovecraftian horror, I'm still somewhat excited as a reader because the "unknown" of those stories are still monsters after a fashion; hell, I've always had a crush on Nyarlathotep because even though the mythos that exists is great, deep, and quite haunting, it's still something that I can picture within the framework of the horror genre itself. The idea(!) of the Old Ones et. al. and their interaction with humans is truly terrifying, yet the physical depictions still allow me to think of them in a more conventional light. With Ligotti, the physical description of the horrors (if there's even any in whatever particular story you're reading) is afforded much less importance or description versus the inevitable outcome of brushing up against these "things". I dunno', I guess I'd describe Barron and other writers of his ilk as people who present horror on a grandiose scale. Ligotti, on the other hand, feels very close, very uncomfortable, and very unnerving. Funny thing is that some of Clive Barker's earlier works actually hit this same note for me also.
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Feb 5, 2014 09:09
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ElectricWizard posted:I've only watched the very promising first episode, but apparently True Detective is full of references to Robert Chamber's The King In Yellow. I've been watching it since it came on; the writer also has an interview (posted elsewhere in this thread) where he talks about Ligotti influences. If any of y'all want a great, creepy noir-type story, you owe it to yourselves to catch up on this show.
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Feb 18, 2014 03:34
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GrandpaPants posted:So it The King in Yellow actually worth reading? Reading through Amazon reviews, it seems like some of the stories therein are crap, but the Dover Mystery version seems like it cuts out all the lovely stories and adds some other ones from elsewhere in his career. I just DL'd it yesterday for my Kindle (it was/is? free on Amazon) and plan on reading it in the next few days.
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Feb 18, 2014 03:41
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Neurosis posted:Liking Strantzas. Not as overtly horror as other writers, but very solid prose and some creepy ideas. Yeah, I don't even see the worth in responding to TCATHR; Ligotti has publicized his personal demons over the years and even though TCATHR is non-fiction, I think it's best enjoyed as a companion piece to his fiction. A "how-to-Ligotti" manual, if you will.
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Mar 18, 2014 09:31
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NickRoweFillea posted:God drat Thomas Ligotti is depressing Indeed he can be, along with a gently caress-ton of other adjectives. For me, he's up there with a list of writers I find truly effective in that they don't allow the reader to choose their emotion about the material; they (the authors) are consistent in making the reader feel a certain way as they probably felt while writing the words. Call it hyperbole, but I find Ligotti as talented as McCarthy, Helprin, Faulkner, et. al.
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Mar 28, 2014 04:02
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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. For Ligotti, Teatro Grottesco is perfect for someone whose never read his stuff before.
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Apr 7, 2014 00:30
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Helical Nightmares posted:
I thoroughly enjoyed My Work Is Not Yet Done.
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Nov 1, 2014 13:15
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Catfishenfuego posted:Brian Evenson's Wind Eye and Fugue State are some of the best weird fiction I've read. I blazed through them whereas I'm struggling to wade through Ligotti's purple prose. I've read nearly every bit of Ligotti that I can afford; I'm having trouble agreeing with your sentiment about his writing.
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Apr 18, 2015 16:08
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fez_machine posted:Sunk cost fallacy is a bitch. Brian Evenson is a much clearer writer. I've never found Ligotti to be vague or overly-wordy. In fact, I think his writing is rather on-the-nose. * - for the genre, at least.
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Apr 18, 2015 22:46
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General Battuta posted:I just came poking around looking for a thread talking about Ligotti. I've just read My Work Is Not Yet Done and Teatro Grottesco. I was a bit startled by his style: I guess I expected something more impenetrable or wailingly nihilistic. Instead he's plain and rigorously unadorned. He has a way of repeating details over and over like he wants to be sure you've noticed them, which I ended up liking quite a bit. He goes back to the same well over and over but it's a pretty good well! This. He's got his own style, it isn't difficult to wrap your head around his prose, and he's loving awesome.
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May 7, 2015 03:43
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Anyone read Limbus, Inc.? Recommended by a friend; only read the first story, but I liked it.
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Feb 21, 2016 10:36
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Seen it mentioned a billion times here, so I bought the first book of the Southern Reach trilogy. About 1/3 of the way thru & it's pretty good so far.
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May 23, 2016 21:44
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Just finished Worlds of Hurt over the past couple of nights. Supremely my poo poo!!! What a wonderful little mythos wrapped up in great writing. I could read about the Misbegotten for years. Are Hodge's other works recommended as well?
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Jun 28, 2017 09:40
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chernobyl kinsman posted:the fact that the practice of creating castratos existed irl does not change the fact that lascivious depictions of kids' balls getting off and fed to dogs is garbage writing for morons 🤔 The dumbest of takes.
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Jun 30, 2017 05:58
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I'll say this: the trailer for the movie at least looks suitably weird.
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Oct 6, 2017 04:59
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The Great & Secret Show is a pro-read, especially as Barker's first full-length foray into "not quite horror".
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Dec 19, 2017 16:16
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If you're interested in what Clive Barker is up to, Nerdist has a few podcasts with him
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Jan 1, 2018 17:38
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Skyscraper posted:ha ha yeah millenials suck Given the conversations I overhear at my bar, it's at least 50/50. But then again I'm a scumbag Gen-X'er
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Jan 2, 2018 18:53
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Just finished the first story in North American Lake Monsters. Yep, this is gonna be an interesting ride.
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Jan 23, 2018 14:44
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Ornamented Death posted:Jack Ketchum died this morning. He's more of a "humans are terrible, look at these terrible things they do" kind of horror writer, but he was still a giant of the genre. Yeah, Ketchum had a pretty unique voice when it came to writing. The Girl Next Door is one I'll likely never forget.
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Jan 25, 2018 06:15
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About to finish North American Lake Monsters. Is it safe to continue reading more from Ballingrud?
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Jan 31, 2018 22:48
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