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SniperWoreConverse
Mar 20, 2010



Gun Saliva

uber_stoat posted:

you have to be in the right head space for it. like, for example, do not get really drunk and listen to The Seahorse Rears To Oblivion on a loop. it is bad for you.

God lectures them with a whip

Alright i'm getting ready i'm doing it. Managed to find a dusty as gently caress huge bottle of ommegang, so even if I have a metempsychotic event i'll still have a really good bottle to put my mead in.

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SniperWoreConverse
Mar 20, 2010



Gun Saliva
It's a half step. I like it better than the other stuff they've done, but I was hoping it would somehow be like 4 versions that were different enough that the whole album would need all four to get the whole picture.

I'll rank it under special plan because the writing is not as good, but it has the correct vibe I think so it's above the other stuff i've heard so far. If you're going to listen to it I recommend getting drunk and doing the album rip that plays it four times back to back slightly differently

PsychedelicWarlord
Sep 8, 2016


Thomas Ligotti is the master of social distancing

Muninn
Dec 29, 2008
Some of the stories in Mark Samuels' The Man Who Collected Machen gave me a strong Ligotti vibe. Namely, a sense of philosophical wrongness. "THYXXOLQU", "The Black Mould", and "Glickman the Bibliophile" were especially memorable in that regard.

escape artist
Sep 24, 2005

Slow train coming
I loved The Stay Awake Men so much that I have to now get Gateways to Abomination and Creeping Waves. How many does he have total? I'll buy his entire bibliography

remigious
May 13, 2009

Destruction comes inevitably :rip:

Hell Gem
I have the crow tie-in novel (The Lazarus Heart) and it’s incredibly bad but at the same time a fun read. Definitely a guilty pleasure.

SniperWoreConverse
Mar 20, 2010



Gun Saliva
I feel like this means something but I can't figure out what

the_enduser
May 1, 2006

They say the user lives outside the net.



Lmao

Mel Mudkiper
Jan 19, 2012

At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.
Anyone ever read Edogawa Ranpo?

He was apparently the father of Ero Guro Nansensu (Erotic Grotesque Nonsense) a short lived literary style from 1930s Japan and it sounds insanely my poo poo

sephiRoth IRA
Jun 13, 2007

"Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality."

-Carl Sagan
The father of what

Mel Mudkiper
Jan 19, 2012

At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.
Erotic Grotesque Nonsense

Incredibly violent and perverse crime stories that reached its peak following the real life story of a geisha who cut off her lover's penis and wore it as a necklace under her kimono

MockingQuantum
Jan 20, 2012



Yeah I've read at least one collection, I think it was Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination, and I loved it. If you're a fan of Junji Ito you absolutely owe it to yourself to read Ranpo, it's pretty clear he had a lot of influence either directly or indirectly on Ito. I liked Ranpo a lot because he's equally great at realistic (but horrifying) stories, and at more traditional, supernatural horror and suspense, which most authors seem to really struggle with. He's not the most literary of horror writers but I'd venture a guess you'd still like him, Mel.

Mel Mudkiper
Jan 19, 2012

At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.
I do like Junji Ito

MockingQuantum
Jan 20, 2012



Mel Mudkiper posted:

I do like Junji Ito

One of his most famous stories, "The Caterpillar," is about a veteran who is turned into a quadriplegic after getting his limbs blown off, also he can't talk due to his injuries, and honestly I can't remember where the story goes from there but it is definitely that uniquely stark sort of body horror that you just can't stop reading.

Mel Mudkiper
Jan 19, 2012

At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.
yeah, body horror is the only kind of horror that "gets" me. Like, body horror is the only horror genre that consistently actually causes me to be unnerved or horrified. Videodrome is one of my all time favorite movies.

Xiahou Dun
Jul 16, 2009

We shall dive down through black abysses... and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory forever.



Just started reading this thread cause I love me some horror fiction. Been going through from page 1 and filling my tablet with the recommendations.

I just finished Last Days which I thought was really pretty good. The over-all narrative was pretty gripping and I liked it a lot. The bit where it turned into Aliens was a little weird, and the ending was super abrupt and I felt could've used at least like another page just to smooth it out. I honestly thought I was missing a page it was so abrupt. I don't even mean the content of the ending, it just literally ended so suddenly.

Halfway through North American Lake Monsters and enjoying it a lot although I feel it's kind of horror adjacent rather than really horror-horror. Very good, don't get me wrong. But the actual horror elements are very much a back drop to larger themes of interpersonal woe. Which is cool and good and I'm liking it, but slightly different how it was advertised.

Both of those books, while great, have some truly awful copy-editing. It's a very minor thing and hardly a problem, but come on guys. Lake Monsters has some pretty bad typographic errors (mostly things like agreement attraction which are normal, but, you know, published book), and Last Days had American characters very, very obviously written by a British person, egregiously so. So not the authors' fault but it's one of those things that makes me sad about genre fiction that these books don't get the editorial scrutiny they deserve to really shine. I'm really enjoying my cool story about weird demon ghost bird things in the desert, don't take me out of it when the American calls a flashlight a torch. You're just being sloppy.

I'm still catching up on the last 20 pages of the thread in another tab and going through what sounds good, but I'm open to other recommendations cause, you know, plague, so I have some time to read. I like weird fiction and explorations of the supernatural most of all, but I also am down with anything besides like just crass descriptions of violence*. I know the thread had (has?) mixed opinions about Langan but I love that dude's writing and it just hits me perfectly for many reasons. He was basically made to delight me.


*I'm fine with violence and body horror and stuff, I love some visceral squirming, but a little goes a long way and if it's over done it just turns into reading productivity reports at a slaughterhouse and the horror melts away.

the_enduser
May 1, 2006

They say the user lives outside the net.



^^^
Wounds by Ballingrud is better than Lake Monsters personally, might be worth checking out. To me it just has better settings and content.

Skyscraper
Oct 1, 2004

Hurry Up, We're Dreaming



Thanks to whoever recommended Skidding Into Oblivion, it was really good.

Can anyone recommend anything about Ligotti's ideal person? Like, a person without consciousness, but in the modern age, in society? I know Blindsight kind of covered this but if there are other takes about it other than "feral person I found chained up" I'd be interested to see them.

N-N-N-NINE BREAKER
Jul 12, 2014

Xiahou Dun posted:

I just finished Last Days which I thought was really pretty good. The over-all narrative was pretty gripping and I liked it a lot. The bit where it turned into Aliens was a little weird, and the ending was super abrupt and I felt could've used at least like another page just to smooth it out. I honestly thought I was missing a page it was so abrupt. I don't even mean the content of the ending, it just literally ended so suddenly.
Lmao I thought this was evenson's last days and got really confused. Haven't read this other one, but I liked evenson's although it literally has slaughterhouse reports so I dunno if you'd like it.

Jedit
Dec 10, 2011

Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

MockingQuantum posted:

One of his most famous stories, "The Caterpillar," is about a veteran who is turned into a quadriplegic after getting his limbs blown off, also he can't talk due to his injuries, and honestly I can't remember where the story goes from there

Onto Metallica's fourth album?

sephiRoth IRA
Jun 13, 2007

"Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality."

-Carl Sagan

Jedit posted:

Onto Metallica's fourth album?

On to a book by Dalton Trumbo?

Conrad_Birdie
Jul 10, 2009
I actually read the short story Evenson’s Last Days is expanded from - “The Brotherhood of Mutilation” - just last night, what perfect timing. I loving loved it. I’m actually really into Evenson right now, I read “Father of Lies” today which is him blatantly dealing with his issues with Mormonism after leaving the religion. Extremely heavy poo poo. I immediately bought “Songs for an Unraveling World” and can’t wait to dig into that. The past few nights my quarantine reading has been stories from that gigantic “The Weird” anthology that the VanderMeers edited. Some extremely harrowing stuff in there. I love the way weird fiction makes me feel.

Xiahou Dun
Jul 16, 2009

We shall dive down through black abysses... and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory forever.



Just finished North American Lake Monsters.

Woof. Some of those stories hit you like a brick. I didn't love all of them (Waystation was really flat for me for some reason), but most of them were really good. S.S., Sunbleached and The Good Husband are gonna stick in my head for a while, I think. After I read those I literally immediately wanted to talk to my mom and tell her I love her.

Conrad_Birdie
Jul 10, 2009

Xiahou Dun posted:

Just finished North American Lake Monsters.

Woof. Some of those stories hit you like a brick. I didn't love all of them (Waystation was really flat for me for some reason), but most of them were really good. S.S., Sunbleached and The Good Husband are gonna stick in my head for a while, I think. After I read those I literally immediately wanted to talk to my mom and tell her I love her.

READ WOUNDS READ WOUNDS

Count Thrashula
Jun 1, 2003

Peak Performance.

Buglord
The Good Husband and The Monsters of Heaven or whatever it's called are two of my favorite stories of all time now and I can't wait to see how they translate to the screen

remigious
May 13, 2009

Destruction comes inevitably :rip:

Hell Gem

Conrad_Birdie posted:

READ WOUNDS READ WOUNDS

Wounds is so loving good! I’m a huge sucker for hell-related stories.

Mel Mudkiper
Jan 19, 2012

At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.
Some of the Edogawa Ranpo I ordered arrived today and the first story was about a man who turned himself into a chair so he could be sat on by women and hell yeah this is gonna own

Conrad_Birdie
Jul 10, 2009

remigious posted:

Wounds is so loving good! I’m a huge sucker for hell-related stories.

I don’t know if I’ve ever enjoyed reading something as much as I was enjoying reading “The Butcher’s Table.” Every sentence, every turn of the page was a goddam delight.

Count Thrashula
Jun 1, 2003

Peak Performance.

Buglord

Conrad_Birdie posted:

I don’t know if I’ve ever enjoyed reading something as much as I was enjoying reading “The Butcher’s Table.” Every sentence, every turn of the page was a goddam delight.

Literally what I was about to post. Nathan just posted on Twitter that it got included in Best Horror of the Year vol. 12 (ed. Ellen Datlow) :3:

but i would go so far as to say it's one of the best horror stories ever written

Xiahou Dun
Jul 16, 2009

We shall dive down through black abysses... and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory forever.



I'm taking a break and reading The Hunger while listening to the soundtrack from Ravenous.

That just seemed like two great tastes that go great together.

escape artist
Sep 24, 2005

Slow train coming
how do I get the Ligotti tag?

I have been enjoying the poo poo out of his short stories on Youtube. He's got like 39 short stories in audiobook form on Youtube.

the_enduser
May 1, 2006

They say the user lives outside the net.



How much do you hate existing???

N-N-N-NINE BREAKER
Jul 12, 2014

escape artist posted:

how do I get the Ligotti tag?

I have been enjoying the poo poo out of his short stories on Youtube. He's got like 39 short stories in audiobook form on Youtube.

Like, official ones? I can only find fan readings

Conrad_Birdie
Jul 10, 2009
Anyone have any opinions on Caitlin Kiernan? Enjoyed their short story featured in the “The Weird” anthology, but it was quite short. Very Elder Gods-y, though.

GladRagKraken
Mar 27, 2010

Conrad_Birdie posted:

Anyone have any opinions on Caitlin Kiernan? Enjoyed their short story featured in the “The Weird” anthology, but it was quite short. Very Elder Gods-y, though.

I think she's extremely hit or miss. She's got work like The Red Tree or The Drowning Girl which are amazing, but she's also got some Lovecraft themed shlock like Agents of Dreamland which I found unreadable.

l33tfuzzbox
Apr 3, 2009
I finally have read my first ligotti, teatro grottesco,and really dug it. Thanks to this thread ive found a lot of new stuff. Sank my teeth deep into Barron, realized i wasn't the only fan of jeremy robert johnson (we live inside you is a masterpiece), and picked up a ton of stuff i may not have tried otherwise. So just want to say my thanks, and i hope to not just solely lurk from now. Shelter in place ia going to help kill my backlog. Just finished the cipher, and up next, raw shark texts. Not sure how i feel on cipher yet, may require a reread.


Would also love to get in on the gang tag if its not too late!

Ornamented Death
Jan 25, 2006

Pew pew!

Speaking of Barron, I scored an ARC of his upcoming Worse Angels and finished it up last night. Very solid entry in the Coleridge series, and Barron continues to bend that series into his larger mythos. If you like Blood Standard[b] and [b]Black Mountain, you'll like this one.

Xiahou Dun
Jul 16, 2009

We shall dive down through black abysses... and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory forever.



I keep bouncing off of Ligotti and I don't know why. I can abstractly enjoy his writing style, and, trust me, I get the angst, I'm Catholic. But I'm not actually grabbed by it. What am I missing. I know he's a favorite.

Also I'm like halfway through The Deep by Nick Cutter and it's profoundly enh? I got it cause it was at the library and The Troop was on reserve. The ideas are pretty okay, but a lot of the writing is out-right amateur hour stuff. Does he get better?

SniperWoreConverse
Mar 20, 2010



Gun Saliva

escape artist posted:

how do I get the Ligotti tag?

I have been enjoying the poo poo out of his short stories on Youtube. He's got like 39 short stories in audiobook form on Youtube.

post a couple good ones and then ask mods nicely for the tag and perhaps you'll get it, although there is no such thing as mods, nothing of the sort. Just infinite empty blackness.

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alf_pogs
Feb 15, 2012


Xiahou Dun posted:


Also I'm like halfway through The Deep by Nick Cutter and it's profoundly enh? I got it cause it was at the library and The Troop was on reserve. The ideas are pretty okay, but a lot of the writing is out-right amateur hour stuff. Does he get better?

I ended up liking The Deep more than The Troop for how loving weird it gets and how sort of bombastic the ending is, but it might not be for everyone. The Troop is probably the better, leaner book though

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