|
Ariza posted:You know, it got stuck in my craw at some point that The Willows was going to be homework so I always skipped over it for something more enticing. Thanks for fixing that for me. It may feel a bit like homework at first, since it's something of a slow burn. The descriptions of nature in the first several paragraphs are very good for atmosphere establishment, very important for weird tales. Look at the second one: "In high flood this great acreage of sand, shingle-beds, and willow-grown islands is almost topped by the water, but in normal seasons the bushes bend and rustle in the free winds, showing their silver leaves to the sunshine in an ever-moving plain of bewildering beauty. These willows never attain to the dignity of trees; they have no rigid trunks; they remain humble bushes, with rounded tops and soft outline, swaying on slender stems that answer to the least pressure of the wind; supple as grasses, and so continually shifting that they somehow give the impression that the entire plain is moving and alive. For the wind sends waves rising and falling over the whole surface, waves of leaves instead of waves of water, green swells like the sea, too, until the branches turn and lift, and then silvery white as their underside turns to the sun." Seems unusual for a weird tale at first glance. Very nice, subtly symbolic stuff though, I think. Willows are presented as a liminal tree, with "no rigid trunks," "soft outline," sensitive, "continually shifting," in this story living on small islands "almost topped by the water" etc. For me a good measure of storytelling is when can reward both a superficial or deeper reading, and I find this one pretty satisfying in that way. Another goal I think the descriptive paragraphs help fulfill is making you feel a sincere awe for the vast, strange beauty of nature, and then very delicately, measure by measure, transmute that awe into a slow-building, in-over-our-heads dread at incomprehensible forces beyond nature as we know it. In Lovecraft's letters he admits that Blackwood's kind of hit and miss with the quality of his stories, but he can nail what the weird genre is supposed to be capable of at its best.
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2021 16:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 16, 2024 07:37 |
|
|
Ceramic Shot posted:The Willows has some of what I'd almost call foundational statements on what Weird horror is all about. It's over 100 years old, and was Lovecraft's favorite weird tale, as you're probably aware. Thanks, downloaded it from Project Gutenberg and put it in my Google Books account to read soon!
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2021 18:57
|
|
|
Ariza posted:You know, it got stuck in my craw at some point that The Willows was going to be homework so I always skipped over it for something more enticing. Thanks for fixing that for me. I stand by my hypothesis that there is some weird contrariness in the human brain that makes people hate things they feel required to read even if they’d love them otherwise. It’s not like a deep insight into the human condition or something, of course, but it certainly must make it hard to teach a literature course.
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2021 19:54
|
|
|
Xiahou Dun posted:I stand by my hypothesis that there is some weird contrariness in the human brain that makes people hate things they feel required to read even if they’d love them otherwise. It’s not like a deep insight into the human condition or something, of course, but it certainly must make it hard to teach a literature course. Teaching lit is a goal for me, so I'm glad my choice of quote seems to have worked. In actual classroom settings, I think an instructor needs to take seriously the idea of modeling enthusiasm for literature in a persuasive way that doesn't seem artificial. Like I mentioned on the previous page, I think showing people that lit can be enjoyed not just in terms of airy abstractions, but superficially too, is key. Convince students that there's a bridge from surface level engagement to deeper appreciation, and that it can be traversed in either direction without shame (so long as you keep both shores within sight), and you've done an adequate job of it, I think. You have to appeal both to workmanlike intellectual curiosity and the pleasure principle.
|
|
#
?
Nov 10, 2021 08:50
|
|
|
Recommend me some horror books for an 8-year-old. Does the Goosebumps series hold up, or is there something better in the last 20 years?
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2021 18:23
|
|
|
PRADA SLUT posted:Recommend me some horror books for an 8-year-old. Does the Goosebumps series hold up, or is there something better in the last 20 years? I have a tonne of Goosebumps for my kid, they still rule. Plus good old Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2021 19:31
|
|
|
Retro Futurist posted:I have a tonne of Goosebumps for my kid, they still rule. Plus good old Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark If you want to traumatize your child just remember to get the version of scary stories to tell in the dark with the original artwork. The art refresh was trash
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2021 19:40
|
|
|
Good Citizen posted:If you want to traumatize your child just remember to get the version of scary stories to tell in the dark with the original artwork. The art refresh was trash Oh yes this is a must. I found an omnibus with all three volumes and the original artwork.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2021 19:44
|
|
|
PRADA SLUT posted:Recommend me some horror books for an 8-year-old. Does the Goosebumps series hold up, or is there something better in the last 20 years? I'd say Robert Westall is the guy who wrote the best horror stories for kids but would probably be more appropriate for a slightly older age group. His stuff for children is legitimately suspenseful and well written as evidenced by Valancourt putting out his work straight as for adults.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2021 22:46
|
|
|
PRADA SLUT posted:Recommend me some horror books for an 8-year-old. Does the Goosebumps series hold up, or is there something better in the last 20 years? Something Wicked This Way Comes seems like an obvious recommendation. I read A Night In Lonesome October by Zelazny recently, and while it has murder in it, I feel like that one's okay for kids? Not really scary, but I thought Gaiman's The Graveyard Book had a lot of cool spooky stuff in it. Coraline is also good, and very short. The Thief of Always by Clive Barker is a great kids book, too.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2021 01:17
|
|
|
If anyone is looking for something a bit different, I'm just finishing up Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories and would definitely recommend it. It's got all Inuk writers telling stories, but they're not just the usual retelling of Legends or anything like that, it's all pretty modern with a unique bit of cultural perspective added in.
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2021 06:28
|
|
|
That looks very good. Thanks for the rec.
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2021 07:53
|
|
|
I'm about halfway through The Troop by Nick Cutter, and it's EXCELLENT but... (big spoiler question here) this is basically just The Thing with boyscouts, right?
|
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2021 21:21
|
|
|
No. 1 Juicy Boi posted:I'm about halfway through The Troop by Nick Cutter, and it's EXCELLENT but... (big spoiler question here) Nope. There are similarities, for sure, but The Troop is pretty specific about what it is. And while it's not exactly an original idea, I have nothing to really compare it to, besides stuff like "a non-sexual Shivers" and The Bay Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Nov 16, 2021 |
|
#
?
Nov 16, 2021 21:29
|
|
|
Oxxidation posted:the immeasurable corpse of nature by Chris Slatsky I've said that North American Lake Monsters was people losing their minds when having a brush with the supernatural. Well, this is people living with the manifestations of their own guilt, grief, trauma, and despair. Excellent stuff, you go read now!
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2021 15:45
|
|
|
I read Clive Barker's The Hellbound Heart last week. Turns out one of the most effective horror films comes from an equally effective short novel. Even though it covers all of the same plot elements, I was still cringing at some of the ideas and descriptors. Body horror translates incredibly well in prose. It's probably the format it's most effective for me. Reading about skinlessness is pretty gnarly. There's a brief paragraph that describes Frank's pain receptors growing back before he gets skin, and he immediately burns all over from cold pain. Gross. Good stuff. Might be my favorite thing I've read by Barker. I started listening to the audiobook of FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven. So far it's okay, but the idea of someone building a theme park in Daytona, Florida is laughable. There's no room for someone to build a theme park in Daytona, let alone one that could compete in size and ambition with Disney or Universal Studios.
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2021 16:10
|
|
|
I recently finished Quiet Houses (very good), and I'm about done with the Elementals. I'm in the mood for more good ghost stories, haunted house or otherwise. I've read the Haunting of Hill House, Hell House, Amityville Horror, Summer of Night, Ghost Story and a few others but largely you can assume I ain't read poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 18:33
|
|
|
Shaman Tank Spec posted:I recently finished Quiet Houses (very good), and I'm about done with the Elementals. I'm in the mood for more good ghost stories, haunted house or otherwise. I've read the Haunting of Hill House, Hell House, Amityville Horror, Summer of Night, Ghost Story and a few others but largely you can assume I ain't read poo poo. Grab the Valancourt Robert Westall collections
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 21:19
|
|
|
Famethrowa posted:Picked up Negative Space by B.R Yaeger and it's hitting a button I've never had hit in a occult horror. I've never seen the surburban opoid and self harm crisis that happened in the 2000s reflected back. It's... really hard to read but incredible horror. this was a good one. really evoked the numbing horror of watching people you care about disintegrate in a lovely small town, but with enough hope to keep you reading
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 04:28
|
|
|
Just got around to reading A Head Full of Ghosts and ended up binging through it faster than any book in recent memory. Real gut-punch of an ending, too. I went in thinking it would be one of those ambiguous is-it-supernatural-or-psychological stories, and was pleasantly surprised that the real horrors turned out to be exploitative reality television and the unreliability of memory. The novel also worked well as a sort of anti-mystery story, where you're left at the end with haunting, unanswerable questions rather than concrete answers. I kind of want to read more stories in that sub-genre now.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2021 07:56
|
|
|
I just finished The Final Girl Support Group which was super fun and good. I know that the characters are supposed to be based on popular slasher final girls, but who was Chrissy supposed to be? they mention the movie Gnomecoming and also something about a prom night and I'm stumped.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2021 08:55
|
|
|
Blastedhellscape posted:I kind of want to read more stories in that sub-genre now. Stick with Tremblay, that's basically his entire schtick. It's also what ultimately soured me on his novels.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2021 09:36
|
|
|
No. 1 Juicy Boi posted:I just finished The Final Girl Support Group which was super fun and good. I know that the characters are supposed to be based on popular slasher final girls, but who was Chrissy supposed to be? they mention the movie Gnomecoming and also something about a prom night and I'm stumped. I haven’t read it, but just based on Gnomecoming, I’m guessing Leprechaun.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2021 22:13
|
|
|
No. 1 Juicy Boi posted:I just finished The Final Girl Support Group which was super fun and good. I know that the characters are supposed to be based on popular slasher final girls, but who was Chrissy supposed to be? they mention the movie Gnomecoming and also something about a prom night and I'm stumped. I think Chrissy just didn't have an analogue. She was generic, I guess.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2021 23:34
|
|
|
Darko posted:I think Chrissy just didn't have an analogue. She was generic, I guess. That's kinda what I figured
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2021 23:44
|
|
|
Yeah when I was reading it I assumed that was supposed to be a sort of catch-all nod to a bunch of other horror franchises, not one specific final girl.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2021 03:40
|
|
|
Because I make good decisions with my life, I'm going to read all the Chaosium Cthulhu fiction anthologies and collections. I probably won't read them back to back as that seems like a great way to burn out quickly - I hope to have it done by the end of 2022. There are 45 of them by my count, plus at least a couple of anthologies published by Hippocampus Press that fit thematically that I may throw in, so it'll take a while. Any interest in me posting brief reviews as I finish them? I am fully expecting most of these books to be mediocre at best, especially the anthologies; the single author collections may be decent, though. In addition, right here at the outset I want to stress that I cannot recommend anyone purchase new or digital copies of these books (where such exist and/or are available) because the editor for pretty much all of them is Robert M. Price and he has decided to emulate his idol by being a terrible racist. I'm getting all of my copies second-hand.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2021 04:47
|
|
|
Ornamented Death posted:Because I make good decisions with my life, I'm going to read all the Chaosium Cthulhu fiction anthologies and collections. I probably won't read them back to back as that seems like a great way to burn out quickly - I hope to have it done by the end of 2022. There are 45 of them by my count, plus at least a couple of anthologies published by Hippocampus Press that fit thematically that I may throw in, so it'll take a while. gently caress yes I want that. Until you got to the last paragraph I was gonna offer to read some along with you. And I still might if I can get access to them while guaranteeing that a racist shithead doesn’t get a dime. There was some online repository of (some?) of them I found like 10 years ago and marathoned through while drinking copiously. They’re absolute garbage but they go down smooth with a bourbon chaser and you can get a good laugh. (loving anything with the T’cho T’cho or however that awful slur of group is spelled, god drat lol). Although there was one Delta Green one that was actually pretty okay. Solid airport fiction, but I thought it had some stuff that with heavy rewrites could turn into something good. No idea what it was called though. Would you be making a new thread or?
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2021 05:30
|
|
|
So I do a lot of travelling for my new job and I have been using audio books and was curious what are some great narrated horror books.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2021 09:58
|
|
|
Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:So I do a lot of travelling for my new job and I have been using audio books and was curious what are some great narrated horror books. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill is maybe not the best book ever, but Kate Mulgrew delivers maybe the best voice acting performance I've heard in an audiobook. Looking For Jake by China Mieville is very good. The Cipher has an audiobook, but I haven't listened to it yet. Other horror audio I enjoyed (with the caveat that I only very rarely actively dislike a book because of a bad voice acting performance): Blindsight by Peter Watts The Gone World by Thomas Sweterlitsch 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill Thomas Ligotti's short story, Gas Station Carnivals John Dies at the End by David Wong Skidding Into Oblivion by Brian Hodge Growing Things and Other Stories by Paul Tremblay Wounds by Nathan Ballingrud The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies by John Langan It may be a stretch but I consider the first book of The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu to be scifi horror, and I think the slow parts go down easy on audiobook.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2021 22:29
|
|
|
Shaman Tank Spec posted:I recently finished Quiet Houses (very good), and I'm about done with the Elementals. I'm in the mood for more good ghost stories, haunted house or otherwise. I've read the Haunting of Hill House, Hell House, Amityville Horror, Summer of Night, Ghost Story and a few others but largely you can assume I ain't read poo poo. Late to this but if you like "classic" ghost stories Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories has a good array of them. He didn't actually write any, it's a collection of the best 14 he found while browsing hundreds to use in a (never filmed) TV show.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2021 23:47
|
|
|
Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:So I do a lot of travelling for my new job and I have been using audio books and was curious what are some great narrated horror books. Dark Matter by Michelle Paver North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud (Anthology) We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2021 00:06
|
|
|
Xiahou Dun posted:gently caress yes I want that. Until you got to the last paragraph I was gonna offer to read some along with you. And I still might if I can get access to them while guaranteeing that a racist shithead doesn’t get a dime. Nah, I'll just do it here; I doubt there will be enough interest to warrant its own thread. The only Delta Green Book I've read was Denied to the Enemy and I recall it being pretty good, but it's been so long that I can't remember a thing about it. Maybe after my Chaosium field trip ends, I'll do something similar for Delta Green. Anyhow, on with the show... The Hastur Cycle Do you want to read a good anthology based on Robert Chambers' Hastur/the King in Yellow? Then go buy A Season in Carcosa edited by Joe Pulver. That's not to say this anthology is particularly bad so much as I feel it was just a victim of what was available when it was put together. As a result, it barely rises to the level of mediocre. Here are some thoughts of the included stories: "Haiti the Shepherd" and "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" by Ambrose Bierce - I understand Price's explanation for including these two stories (Chambers took some names from each), I just don't really agree with it. They are, not surprisingly, great stories, but have basically nothing to do with the King in Yellow. "The Repairer of Reputations" and "The Yellow Sign" by Robert W. Chambers - These are good stories, is fairly pedestrian by modern standards. They establish most of the baseline for what will define the King in Yellow mythos, such as it is, and introduce the common themes such as the city of Carcosa, the Lake of Hali, Camilla and Cassilda, and so on. Chances are good that if you're a fan of cosmic horror, you've read these two. "The River of Night's Dreaming" by Karl Edward Wagner - Tied for the best story in this anthology as far as I'm concerned, though to be fair I'm a huge fan of KEW. It's certainly the most modern tale of the lot, both in setting and sensibilities. "More Light" by James Blish - Hey have you ever wished someone would actually write out "The King in Yellow"? As in, the actual play itself? Good news! James Blish has done it! And it's...kind of lame, honestly. What's weird is that the story itself spends some time talking about how the results of an author writing one of their fictional "forbidden texts" are almost always lackluster. This story also does something I personally find annoying - having the authors (in this case, Lovecraft and Chambers) exist within the world of the story. "The Novel of the Black Seal" by Arthur Machen - Tied with the KEW story for best in the collection, which shouldn't be surprising as Machen is a master. That said...this has nothing to do with the Hastur or the King in Yellow, so I'm not sure why it was included. In fact, at this point in the anthology, Price seems to lose track of the theme he himself set and starts including stories that have nothing at all to do with Hastur. "The Whisperer in the Darkness" by H.P. Lovecraft - See what I mean? This story has nothing to do with Hastur, it's about the Mi-Go. It's also not one of Lovecraft's better stories (assuming, for the sake of argument, that Lovecraft wrote any good stories). It's essentially a rehash of the Machen story, but with ~*~spooky brain jars~*~ and crab aliens. "Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley" by Richard A. Lupoff - Ah yes, just what we needed: a direct sequel to "The Whisperer in the Darkness." This story is dumb as hell. What if Henry Akeley was actually a willing participant in the Mi-Go's antics? What if he fell in love with some alien lady brain while gallivanting around the universe? What if he needed his great-granddaughter's body, as well as that of her suitor, for he and his alien lady to shove their brains in so they could get it on? THESE ARE ALL THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THIS STORY. "The Mine on Yuggoth" by Ramsey Campbell - An early mythos stories by Campbell. It's a pretty good story. A bit simplistic, but it does cover some ground Lovecraft avoided. That said, it is a story rooted in Lovecraft's mythos, not Chambers and the Hastur/King in Yellow mythos. Why is it in this anthology? "Planetfall on Yuggoth" by James Wade - I thought this was a very cool little story, helped a lot by being VERY short. What happens when humans mount a manned mission to Pluto (Yuggoth)? A cool idea...that isn't related to Hastur. "The Return of Hastur" by August Derleth - Here we go, the first of what will be many Derleth stories. I respect Derleth for starting Arkham House and working so hard to keep Lovecraft in print. That said, his understanding of Lovecraft's work is sorely lacking. This story is a great example - it's where he first lays out his good versus evil thing between the Elder Gods (good guys!) and the Great Old Ones (bad guys!), as well as his stupid elemental affinity bullshit. Chtulhu is water-based! He's super-effective against Cthugha (fire-based)! Also all these supernatural beings are related! Hastur and Cthulhu are brothers!! At least this story is tangentially about Hastur, I guess... "Tatters of the King" by Lin Carter - This is actually a collection of some fragmentary work by Carter. First are four stanzas of poetry; they're all right I guess? Then is a piece of fiction that tries to tie in Bierce's stories from the beginning of the anthology to the actual Hastur stuff. Finally... Hey have you ever wished someone would actually write out "The King in Yellow"? As in, the actual play itself? And wrote it in rhyming meter? Good news! Price also took the liberty to add a bunch to this, including stuff from Blish's attempt. I'm still not a fan of this sort of thing. This series of books is not off to a great start. For gently caress's sake, Price forgot his own theme halfway through! What have I signed myself up for?? Next will be Mysteries of the Worm, a single author collection of Robert Bloch's mythos stories. I've read a number of these stories in other anthologies and don't recall having any particular issues with him, so hopefully this collection will be better. I'll probably go ahead and dive right in to this one.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2021 00:28
|
|
|
Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:So I do a lot of travelling for my new job and I have been using audio books and was curious what are some great narrated horror books. Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (narrated by David Warner) Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (narrated by Joy Osmanski) Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce (narrated by Anthony Heald) The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (narrated by Emma Thompson)
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2021 01:53
|
|
|
Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:So I do a lot of travelling for my new job and I have been using audio books and was curious what are some great narrated horror books. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (narrated by Paul Ansdell) is the ideal of the classic nineteenth century ghost yarn (I know the book is pastiche) told by the fireside.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2021 07:05
|
|
|
BBC has done a reading of Hodgson's The House on the Borderlands: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/b00b9b0b
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2021 07:45
|
|
|
Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:So I do a lot of travelling for my new job and I have been using audio books and was curious what are some great narrated horror books. One summer a few years back I had a lot of fun binging through the audiobooks of Stephen King's short story collections. Fun stuff to listen to when you're working on tedious jobs at a farm like weeding or harvesting okra. Stephen King being who he is the anthologies drew a lot of interesting and top-tier narrators, and if you don't like one narrator the next one might impress you a lot. Kathy Bates' narration of the story Chattering Teeth is one I'll always remember. Of course, Stephen King being Stephen King, the quality of the short stories vary wildly, and diminish a lot with his later work. Personally I think you can't go wrong with Night Shift and Skeleton Crew, but it's mostly downhill from there (with a few gems, like 'N', and the one story that's more literary fiction than horror about a suicidal traveling salesman who has a notebook full of graffiti that he's collected from bathroom walls that he's constantly studying and trying to find meaning through. Forget the name of that story but it's really good and I loved the audio version). Also King related: I loved the audio book of The Shining and was really impressed by the job Cambell Scott did.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2021 05:22
|
|
|
Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:So I do a lot of travelling for my new job and I have been using audio books and was curious what are some great narrated horror books. FantasticLand is free on Audible Plus and has been pretty good. Does the multiple narrators format like World War Z. If you like Dracula or have never read it, Audible Plus also has an unabridged cast recording with Tim Curry as Van Helsing, as well as Simon Vance, Alan Cumming, and other good narrators. It's an interesting way to experience the story. I haven't heard Michael C. Hall read Pet Sematary, but I have heard him narrate other audiobooks and he did great. MeatwadIsGod posted:Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (narrated by Joy Osmanski) Personally I had to bail on this one because I can't stand how she did voices for the male characters. It sounded like Lauren Lapkus doing Big Sue.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2021 14:32
|
|
|
Blastedhellscape posted:the one story that's more literary fiction than horror about a suicidal traveling salesman who has a notebook full of graffiti that he's collected from bathroom walls that he's constantly studying and trying to find meaning through. Forget the name of that story but it's really good and I loved the audio version). All That You Love Will Be Carried Away, iirc good title, though imo outstripped by Jeremy Robert Johnson’s “Everything You Hope For Will Be Utterly Destroyed”
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2021 15:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 16, 2024 07:37 |
|
|
Oxxidation posted:All That You Love Will Be Carried Away, iirc That's a good one, one of my personal favorite titles is "Without Purpose, Without Pity"
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2021 21:55
|
|
