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I haven't read Echo yet and figure I should get to that first, but it's definitely moved up my list
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Aug 29, 2024 21:40
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I DNF'd Oracle, but I don't remember anything from Echo coming up in the first half of it, not like the immediate callback character to Hex. Just read it.
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Sep 3, 2024 20:03
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value-brand cereal fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Mar 26, 2025 |
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Sep 4, 2024 16:13
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value-brand cereal fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Mar 26, 2025 |
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Sep 5, 2024 22:52
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value-brand cereal posted:Nicked by M. T. Anderson [white american man] I just finished this earlier this week and I did like it...up until the last fifty-forty pages or so? It felt like the author was writing for the screenplay and forgot it was a novel in the later action scenes. I really really would not count it as a horror novel. It's a historical fiction adventure with some gay stuff. The gay stuff was cute. I would be willing to read a sequel if I get more Reprobus.
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Sep 6, 2024 00:12
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Just finished The Black Farm and the sequel and generally I liked them. They were good horror books that edged on the extreme but didn’t revel in the gross violence for violence’s sake. I’d almost classify them as adventure books in a weird way? Definitely a trigger warning on sexual violence in the first half of the first book tho. I really liked the unique view of the afterlife it presented especially the capriciousness of god and the anger it generates in man. You could stop after the first book and be fine but the second book expands on the characters you had questions about in the first book a bunch. If you’re up for a bit of the extreme violence then I would recommend.
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Sep 7, 2024 15:17
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value-brand cereal fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Mar 26, 2025 |
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Sep 7, 2024 17:28
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So I got a request here. Friend's kid happens to love cosmic horror and we had a great conversation about HP Lovecraft and his problematic views. I want to recommend them some modern cosmic horror but I notice my recommendations all lean toward "straight white men" - they have a pretty good knowledge of Poe and Lovecraft which impressed me. So John Langan's Technicolor will be on the top of the list So, could someone help me compile a good list? Barron and Bartlett and Evenson and Langan and JH Jacobs are my first thoughts, but-
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Sep 8, 2024 18:05
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value-brand cereal fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Mar 26, 2025 |
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Sep 8, 2024 22:36
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For non-white male authored cosmic horror I enjoyed Sisters of the Crimson Vine by P.L McMillan and In That Endlessness, Our End by Gemma Files
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Sep 8, 2024 23:32
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Here's a seriously niche request: is there any good submarine horror? As in, actually on board a sub? I was recently pitched the idea of a horror RPG scenario set on board a nuclear sub that couldn't surface due to wartime conditions, and I was struck by how perfect an environment that is for horror.
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Sep 9, 2024 01:18
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value-brand cereal fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Mar 26, 2025 |
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Sep 9, 2024 01:39
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Kestral posted:Here's a seriously niche request: is there any good submarine horror? As in, actually on board a sub? I was recently pitched the idea of a horror RPG scenario set on board a nuclear sub that couldn't surface due to wartime conditions, and I was struck by how perfect an environment that is for horror. No idea if it’s any good, but 100 Fathoms Below by Steven L. Kent is in my TBR pile.
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Sep 9, 2024 02:26
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Starfish is on a very very deep outpost, mostly, not a sub. And off it. Wow cool underwater cyborg!! and all that. The sequels involve a lot more of the surface.
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Sep 9, 2024 08:16
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The Deep is incredibly goofy but it’s entertaining for sure
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Sep 9, 2024 22:37
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Since I liked The Black Farm, I decided to try another Elias Witherow book on my long flight, so I picked up his second most reviewed book The Third Parent. The concept was pretty unsettling and it mostly worked, but the third act was a real exposition dump to explain everything and try to reach a conclusion. The basic premise is that a man suddenly shows up at a family home and declares he's going to help raise the kids, but he's more of an approximation of a man. Unnatural almost cartoon like appearance, unnaturally strong, and clearly not mentally well. Well, it turns out that (major end of book spoilers) he's a manufactured being created by an extra-dimensional entity that saw and envied life on earth, especially love and child-rearing. It was the entity's ~6000th attempt at this and he hosed up, combining bits of all the previous attempts. But they have an alien view of humans so things like violence and misogyny are considered integral parts of the human experience. overall it was solidly fine, but I don't know that I would fully recommend.
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Sep 15, 2024 05:10
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Good Citizen posted:Just finished The Black Farm and the sequel and generally I liked them. They were good horror books that edged on the extreme but didn’t revel in the gross violence for violence’s sake. I’d almost classify them as adventure books in a weird way? Definitely a trigger warning on sexual violence in the first half of the first book tho. i will anti-recommend this one because the sexual violence was incredibly gratuitous and upsetting. i dnf it so maybe it gets better but i gave up around the forced inter-species breeding poo poo
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Sep 19, 2024 18:34
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value-brand cereal posted:The Deep by Nick Cutter and maybe technically Darcy Coates's From Below, albeit they're divers going into a shipwreck. If you're an ebook mofo like myself you can download Starfish here
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Sep 19, 2024 21:26
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Halfway through the new Nathan Ballingrud chapbook Crypt of the Moon Spider and am really enjoying it. Its vaguely steampunk (well, without the steam), gothic, scifi, and horror. Like similar to the time of the Butcher's Table, but with rockets to the moon. Which has a forest. Anyway plenty of creepy, some good body horror, so I'm looking forward to where its heading. And its the first of a planned trilogy!
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Sep 20, 2024 03:28
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Who the hell is going into a place called the crypt of the moon spider
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Sep 20, 2024 15:08
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IDK seems nice
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Sep 20, 2024 15:29
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zoux posted:Who the hell is going into a place called the crypt of the moon spider Sounds like a dungeon with some sweet loot.
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Sep 20, 2024 15:38
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zoux posted:Who the hell is going into a place called the crypt of the moon spider Most people I know
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Sep 20, 2024 17:09
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zoux posted:Who the hell is going into a place called the crypt of the moon spider heard it has a bunch of incredible gems and the spider's dead anyway, totally worth it
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Sep 20, 2024 17:45
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The Cave of Getting Your Guts Sucked Out Through Your Butthole
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Sep 20, 2024 18:26
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Preparing my horror-heavy October reading queue, and I discovered a book I’d put on my horror to-read list years ago and apparently forgot about: Phantoms by Dean Koontz. This is surprising to me, since I’ve never read anything by Koontz and my vague impression of him is that he writes airport-tier stuff, so I’m not sure how it ended up on the list. Does the thread have any opinions on Phantoms? Worth a read?
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Sep 20, 2024 20:45
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I mean he absolutely writes airport tier stuff, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Phantoms is one of his better ones, too
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Sep 20, 2024 22:15
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Opopanax posted:I mean he absolutely writes airport tier stuff, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Phantoms is one of his better ones, too once you dive head first into kindle unlimited tier then airport tier aint so bad
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Sep 20, 2024 22:25
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Koontz wrote some decent stuff in the late 80s/early 90s. I always thought of him as Stephen King lite. 'Airport tier' is probably fair. In the mid 90s he became a conservative christian and went downhill fast.
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Sep 20, 2024 22:27
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Yeah, IIRC Phantoms is early Koontz and thus probably enjoyable trash. His later stuff is extremely tedious
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Sep 20, 2024 23:20
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Hmm, think I'm going to have to pass on Phantoms then. I'm coming off of a bunch of books with beautiful prose (Terra Ignota) and I don't think I could give "enjoyable trash" a fair shake right now. How is Sarah Pinsker's earlier stuff? I only discovered her recently and loved Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather, but it's the only thing of hers I've read. Also, Ramsey Campbell: acknowledged master, haven't read a single thing of his, maybe it's time to change that. Are there any real standouts in his bibliography, either novels or short story collections?
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Sep 21, 2024 02:20
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SniperWoreConverse posted:heard it has a bunch of incredible gems and the spider's dead anyway, totally worth it You might think so, Anyway fun enough pulpy romp
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Sep 21, 2024 02:33
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value-brand cereal fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Mar 26, 2025 |
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Sep 21, 2024 03:02
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Wounds (specifically The Butcher's Table) was incredible. I've been looking for genuinely scary horror fiction for years, and I think I just need to accept that the written format just doesn't scare me (unlike horror films, which scare me far too easily) and seek out this pulpier, more adventure-oriented style. Pirates human trafficking the souls of the damned? Angels possessing giant squids? Hell yeah!!!
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Sep 21, 2024 17:45
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zoux posted:The Cave of Getting Your Guts Sucked Out Through Your Butthole Something something rear end eating millennials
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Sep 21, 2024 17:59
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Kestral posted:Hmm, think I'm going to have to pass on Phantoms then. I'm coming off of a bunch of books with beautiful prose (Terra Ignota) and I don't think I could give "enjoyable trash" a fair shake right now. Phantoms is fine, go for it! Re: Ramsey Campbell, his short stories tend to be better than his novels imo. If you want: lonely dude living in a run down area of post-industrial England investigates weird noises coming from an abandoned house and discovers horrors beyond his wildest imaginings, then Campbell's your guy! Alone with the Horrors is a good compilation of his short stories.
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Sep 21, 2024 18:33
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Kestral posted:Also, Ramsey Campbell: acknowledged master, haven't read a single thing of his, maybe it's time to change that. Are there any real standouts in his bibliography, either novels or short story collections? The Doll Who Ate His Mother is one of the best debut novels ever. For short stories, I'd recommend Cold Print.
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Sep 21, 2024 21:27
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Jedit posted:The Doll Who Ate His Mother is one of the best debut novels ever. It's a great period piece, beautifully evocative of England in the 1970's. It's also a love letter to Campbell's home city of Liverpool - it's so specifically set that you can still follow various scenes on Google Street View today.
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Sep 21, 2024 21:31
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Kestral posted:Also, Ramsey Campbell: acknowledged master, haven't read a single thing of his, maybe it's time to change that. Are there any real standouts in his bibliography, either novels or short story collections? i'm a pretty big fan of Campbell. great winter reading. Ancient Images and Midnight Sun are probably his most critically appreciated. they're both good! Ancient Images particularly i can't believe hasn't been adapted for the screen yet. MS is more evocative weird fiction than straight horror, although horror things happen. it is a bit more rapturous than terrifying. his pulpier stuff is a lot of fun, and brief enough that you're able to bash them out in a few sittings. The Nameless is great, a horrible little occult thriller in dreary England. The Influence, which he wrote immediately before Ancient Images, is a fun possession tale. there's a good collection of his lovecraft mythos contributions too, 'The Inhabitants of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants'. and as always the link to mr campbell's collected boyhood illustrations: https://jkpotter.com/the-art-of-ramsey-campbell/
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Sep 22, 2024 11:49
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Kestral posted:Also, Ramsey Campbell: acknowledged master, haven't read a single thing of his, maybe it's time to change that. Are there any real standouts in his bibliography, either novels or short story collections? I think his introduction to The Face That Must Die, "At the Back of My Mind: A Guided Tour" is one of the best pieces of autobiographical horror that exists. I found the full effect of The Grin of The Dark's play with language really impactful but you've got to immerse yourself in a lot inconsequential stuff to get there.
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Sep 22, 2024 12:38
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