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I'm reading the first Charlie Parker book right now so I feel like I should say it's... pretty variable, with the caveat that I haven't read any other Connolly so for all I know it's just how he is. It has some good moments, some very memorable, and there's some decent character writing going on, but there are also sections that feel like nothing more than bland padding or opportunities to show off research, which tbf isn't unique to Connolly in the genre. He also likes to throw a lot of characters at you, some of whom will have very little context or bearing on the book as a whole, which personally I found pretty hard to follow, because I was frequently confusing one character with another. It also has a lot of "first in a series" problems, like imo Parker's characterization kind of ambles around randomly at times, or his voice just kind of becomes squishy and generic and indistinct, in a way that feels like Connolly hadn't really figured out what he wanted this guy to be until later on in the book. I'm pretty close to the end, and I find I'm in a weird spot where I don't think I can honestly say I like Every Dead Thing as a book, or Charlie Parker as a character... but there are enough little glimmers of something interesting and different to probably make me at least give the second book a chance.
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Aug 25, 2022 20:08
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm reading the first Charlie Parker book right now so I feel like I should say it's... pretty variable, with the caveat that I haven't read any other Connolly so for all I know it's just how he is. It has some good moments, some very memorable, and there's some decent character writing going on, but there are also sections that feel like nothing more than bland padding or opportunities to show off research, which tbf isn't unique to Connolly in the genre. He also likes to throw a lot of characters at you, some of whom will have very little context or bearing on the book as a whole, which personally I found pretty hard to follow, because I was frequently confusing one character with another. It also has a lot of "first in a series" problems, like imo Parker's characterization kind of ambles around randomly at times, or his voice just kind of becomes squishy and generic and indistinct, in a way that feels like Connolly hadn't really figured out what he wanted this guy to be until later on in the book. As someone who does really like the series, I agree with all of this. I think the first book is pretty weak. And it really reads like a ‘first in series’ book where the author really didn’t know where he wanted things to go, or even know what the world he’s writing about would be like in terms of the supernatural. I didn’t have much of a problem with the characters, but I do think the characters get better and become memorable, although Charlie does stay a bit of a cipher, which is apparently a choice by the writer. I think by the third book, I was completely hooked. Connolly doesn’t really stop his ‘research info dumps’. I kind of like them, though. He also does that King thing where he introduces everyone in town and their entire sordid history to establish a new setting.
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Aug 25, 2022 20:27
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newts posted:As someone who does really like the series, I agree with all of this. Would you recommend just starting with the second?
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Aug 26, 2022 02:02
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Yarrington posted:Would you recommend just starting with the second? I mean, you could? Important stuff happens in the first book and a lot of characters are introduced. But it’s a pretty quick read. I’d probably just get it from the library. I don’t remember much from the 1st book, except that it feels a little disconnected from the rest of the series. I think the 5th book, The Black Angel, is my favorite of the whole series. Which is to say, I think the series gets a lot better and finds its feet after a couple of books.
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Aug 26, 2022 02:17
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Went ahead and picked up the first Charlie Parker. I'm really easy on first books in a series so I figured why not give the first few a shot. Thanks again for the rec newts!
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Aug 27, 2022 02:25
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The Charlie Parker books did get stronger as they went along. I enjoyed the series very much overall with more than an occasional horrified shudder. There are some very unpleasant denizens afoot.
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Aug 28, 2022 00:44
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Just re-read Andy Kaufman Creeping Through the Trees and I wish someone would adapt a film version already, it’s so good.
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Aug 29, 2022 16:15
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Has anyone read The Boatman's Daughter? On sale today but the reviews are pretty middling
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Aug 31, 2022 13:55
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Did Shitstorm Trooper write this article? TALES FROM THE BACKLIST: NECROSCOPE’S FOCUS ON CONSENT RECONTEXTUALIZES 80S HORROR
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Aug 31, 2022 16:50
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Opopanax posted:Has anyone read The Boatman's Daughter? On sale today but the reviews are pretty middling It's great, and I am actually selling a physical copy of it. "Ample bloodshed is offset by beautiful prose . . . A stunning supernatural Southern Gothic." ―Kirkus (starred) I really love the swamp noir feel of it. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Sep 1, 2022 00:07
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Opopanax posted:Has anyone read The Boatman's Daughter? On sale today but the reviews are pretty middling
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Sep 1, 2022 01:13
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Yeah I had a really hard time getting into it because none of the characters grabbed me and I ended up returning it to the library before I got very far with it.
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Sep 1, 2022 01:38
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Erectopus posted:I thought it was ok. The setting is pretty neat, southern gothic swamp with some Slavic folklore elements, but I thought the characters were fairly flat, so I found myself not really caring about what happened toward the end. I really liked the bad guy, who for some reason conjured up Orson Welles in Touch of Evil and John Huston of Chinatown, so that helped a lot. The setting is amazing. The villains were generally more interesting in this, I will admit. The preacher gave me True Detective vibes. escape artist fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Sep 1, 2022 |
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Sep 1, 2022 04:51
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Opopanax posted:Has anyone read The Boatman's Daughter? On sale today but the reviews are pretty middling I did not care for it, I think the setting just wasn’t doing anything for me.
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Sep 1, 2022 20:32
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Horror thread, I have a weirdly specific request: first-person epistolary horror with a reading level that isn't impenetrable for an inexperienced reader. One of the teens I work with recently discovered Doki Doki Literature Club, and was telling me about how much they liked the short story hidden in that game, which is essentially the first-person confession letter of young sociopath describing the circumstances of her first murder. Since I'm always eager to get these kids to read, and they said they'd be interested in checking out other things that strike a similar chord, I'm looking for something that might work for them. The first-person epistolary format is the secret sauce here, and I also don't want to scare them off with prose that's going to make them run to the dictionary every paragraph. Honestly, even good creepypasta might fit the bill, and act as a gateway drug to more serious horror lit. Any suggestions?
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Sep 5, 2022 08:51
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Maybe John Dies at the End? Edit: not sure if this counts as epistolary but you might also try Rant but Palahniuk. It reads mostly like a chat, if I remember correctly. Whale Vomit fucked around with this message at 10:55 on Sep 5, 2022 |
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Sep 5, 2022 10:46
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Kestral posted:Horror thread, I have a weirdly specific request: first-person epistolary horror with a reading level that isn't impenetrable for an inexperienced reader. What age are these kids because lmao JDatE is not very kid appropriate
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Sep 5, 2022 16:32
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SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:What age are these kids because lmao JDatE is not very kid appropriate If the kid can handle Doki Doki Literature Club, they can probably handle John Dies at the End. Like it had one of the more unsettling depictions of self harm and suicide that I've come across, probably mostly because the ~kawaii anime~ aesthetics sort of throw you off expecting it. IDK, I also started reading Stephen King when I was 12, so I might have a bad sense of what bothers most kids or not. For a suggestion, I haven't read it in a long time but I know I liked World War Z when I was a teen and found the oral history format really cool.
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Sep 5, 2022 16:45
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DurianGray posted:For a suggestion, I haven't read it in a long time but I know I liked World War Z when I was a teen and found the oral history format really cool. Seconding this, it still holds up scarily well. It's the most "human" of any zombie thing I've ever seen and it's just really really good. The person being interviewed in one chapter talks about the last few people sending out and recieving radio broadcasts during the war and just thinking about it gives me chills.
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Sep 5, 2022 18:37
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Kestral posted:Horror thread, I have a weirdly specific request: first-person epistolary horror with a reading level that isn't impenetrable for an inexperienced reader. Yeah, Max Brooks might be a good call as people said. Either World War Z or Devolution, depending on if they like zombies or weird squatch-monsters better. John Dies at the End isn't a particularly high reading level in terms of language, but it's got more than a whiff of 2000's internet on it so it might be more "adult" than you're looking for. Also not epistolary at all so I don't know why it's being thrown out. Carrie and Jerusalem's Lot (prequel to Salem's Lot) by King are both epistolary and King has many strengths as a writer, but he's not exactly intimidating and erudite in terms of prose. He is, after all, the master of mass market horror so he can't be too dense. Night Film is weakly epistolary, it has epistolary elements, but it's not really there. It's also a pretty gripping little thriller with some moderate to heavy horror elements that might work. I swear to god everything of Laird Barron's I've ever read is epistolary, or at least weakly trying to ape being a diary. Tendency to follow the trend of "world-weary dude discovers unspeakable horrors, tries to shoot them with gun", but pretty decent and has the benefit where you can kind of just grab whatever of his is there and go with it. And I wouldn't discount kids' reading levels. When I was a tween I'd long since polished off most of the classic canon and was reading Lovecraft. Encountering new words and phrases is a good challenge and teaches you how to handle that later in life : it's exactly how your reading level improves and it's gotta be easier now when the kids are gonna have phones to google "cyclopean" on instead of like having to keep a pen as a bookmark to remember to look things up later. Just start with like Dracula or something instead of throwing them straight into This Fishman Is An Allegory For The Polish.
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Sep 5, 2022 19:02
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Franchescanado posted:Did Shitstorm Trooper write this article? Nah I did enjoy it though. Thanks!
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Sep 5, 2022 19:07
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Xiahou Dun posted:
I love his short stories but goddammit that is so accurate 
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Sep 6, 2022 04:48
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escape artist posted:I love his short stories but goddammit that is so accurate I didn't say it was a problem, I like his stuff too, but it's deffo his version of how all of King's protagonists are horror authors with substance abuse problems (who got hit by a van - recent addition).
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Sep 6, 2022 04:53
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Peter Straub has passed away 
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Sep 6, 2022 20:54
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Finished Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke as it finally hit Kindle. Gonna take a while to digest but it was very gripping, and managed to be intense via a chatlog which I would not have guessed possible. There were two other stories in the collection I got, but neither of them felt as immediate (for lack of a better word) as the first.
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Sep 7, 2022 05:03
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Kestral posted:One of the teens I work with recently discovered Doki Doki Literature Club, and was telling me about how much they liked the short story hidden in that game, which is essentially the first-person confession letter of young sociopath describing the circumstances of her first murder. Since I'm always eager to get these kids to read, and they said they'd be interested in checking out other things that strike a similar chord, I'm looking for something that might work for them. The first-person epistolary format is the secret sauce here, and I also don't want to scare them off with prose that's going to make them run to the dictionary every paragraph. Honestly, even good creepypasta might fit the bill, and act as a gateway drug to more serious horror lit. Any suggestions? The answer you’re looking for: day-gas posted:Finished Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke as it finally hit Kindle. Gonna take a while to digest but it was very gripping, and managed to be intense via a chatlog which I would not have guessed possible.
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Sep 7, 2022 05:25
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Peter Straub is really good if really boomer in places.
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Sep 7, 2022 12:24
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Kestral posted:Horror thread, I have a weirdly specific request: first-person epistolary horror with a reading level that isn't impenetrable for an inexperienced reader. Try We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.
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Sep 7, 2022 20:05
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Listening to the Wine-Dark Sea by Robert Aickman. Just finished the titular story. Great narrator.
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Sep 8, 2022 00:53
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What's a good place to start with Straub? I know he did that thing with King.
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Sep 8, 2022 08:57
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Whale Vomit posted:What's a good place to start with Straub? I know he did that thing with King. Ghost Story, Koko or Julia, in that order. Koko isn't strictly horror, but if The Silence of the Lambs can get called horror then Koko can too.
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Sep 8, 2022 09:46
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As a teenager I remember enjoying The Floating Dragon, but that was like 30 years ago.
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Sep 8, 2022 12:51
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Would Penpal by Dathan Auerbach be a good read for the Halloween season?
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Sep 9, 2022 00:10
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Franchescanado posted:Would Penpal by Dathan Auerbach be a good read for the Halloween season? Yes. I just finished it, it's a good read for any season. .
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Sep 9, 2022 02:56
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That’s a good one for the Curious Gamer Teen too since it’s originally a nosleep and not very literary (not talking poo poo, not everything has to be literary)
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Sep 9, 2022 03:11
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So I was gonna make a big thing now that I've finished IT and let it marinate for a couple weeks, but really I think it comes down to a couple of things : 1) This book needed an editor who could stand up to King. This kind of dovetails into the next point, but seriously, this book does not need to be this long. The problem isn't that literally that there's too many pages : who gives a poo poo, Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell is my favorite book and I carry that son of a bitch on the train for my yearly re-read. The problem is it's just a mess. Which, I get that it's supposed to be to some extent. I really liked the interludes and the asides and cute little bits, especially anything that went into the history of Derry. But a lot of it could be cut or tightened or combined or something, anything besides just rambling on. Or go the other way and turn it into something like an anthology or the equivalent of comic-book trades so that you're somehow segmenting this to at least prove that you know it's not just a pile of stuff. As is I was already getting to a section and thinking, "O, well I guess this is an Eddie chapter now" except I was actually 2 layers deep in someone else's framing chapter. 2) loving YIKES. Yeah, people weren't kidding around about this book. It is in fact like you gave a dude with minimal filter a poo poo ton of cocaine in the 80's and told him to write something edgy in the 50's. Most of it I can kind of skate over and I'll just make fun of it forever, it didn't really bother me (most likely cause I'm a straight white dude), except for loving Richie's... """pikininy voice""" where he does a straight up loving minstrel show at intervals. It's somehow even worse than what he did with Susannah in The Dark Tower while also happening constantly even in dramatic scenes. It was outright unbearable and I couldn't even skip it because it contained plot-relevant material. Beep beep, motherfucker. 3) Is this a new ending? Like one they added later? Because this was an actual good ending. By, nominally, Stephen King. I thought this was a really good way to wrap up the story and it worked really well? King is famously terrible at endings, why did no one tell me if one of this most famous books has him knocking it out of the park at the bottom of the 9th? Overall, I sadly must admit that I mostly (mostly, not all) enjoyed it. A lot of it was really good and I very well might recommend it to a friend so long as they have a high tolerance for some bullshit and a strong back/they read in the same spot. Now I gotta go reread The Dark Tower cause I'm pretty sure I answered some question I had about that cosmology and Dandelo.
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Sep 9, 2022 04:52
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I don't know if I ever agreed with the general consensus of ''King can't do endings," they weren't really all that bad for me, considering some of the weird plots his novel have. Other writers can get away with different kind of endings but when your plot is "trucks have a mind of their own and are trying to kill humanity" I don't know what possible ending one could expect that would blow you away.
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Sep 9, 2022 14:46
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king had an absolute deathgrip on that stupid jive voice, I think he’s only let it go in the last decade
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Sep 9, 2022 15:05
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ravenkult posted:I don't know if I ever agreed with the general consensus of ''King can't do endings," they weren't really all that bad for me, considering some of the weird plots his novel have. Other writers can get away with different kind of endings but when your plot is "trucks have a mind of their own and are trying to kill humanity" I don't know what possible ending one could expect that would blow you away. I haven’t read enough King to personally go to bat for the reputation or its causes, I’m 100% going on that being just reported. In terms of his novels I’ve finished maybe a half a dozen or so out of like 70 or whatever insane number he has. But IT has a legit thematically appropriate, bittersweet ending that ties things together an appropriate amount.
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Sep 9, 2022 18:34
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Oxxidation posted:king had an absolute deathgrip on that stupid jive voice, I think he’s only let it go in the last decade The way King writes Black people is so insanely bad. I haven't read much of his recent work so can't tell if it's improved lately.
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Sep 9, 2022 22:45
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