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MockingQuantum posted:now you get to experience the true horror--finding out that there's basically nothing else quite like it out there I've not got round to reading it yet but Son Of The Morning by Mark Alder looks to have the same vibe.
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Mar 26, 2024 20:43
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Hollow by David Catling is really close too.
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Mar 26, 2024 21:02
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Trainee PornStar posted:I've not got round to reading it yet but Son Of The Morning by Mark Alder looks to have the same vibe. I've actually stopped recommending it because I didn't want to become "the Son of the Morning" guy, but while they have similar plots and framing devices, the vibes could not be more different. Alder's book is more of a class satire. Though it does have angels and demons as real entities during the 100 Years War. e: that's not to say it isn't good! But it absolutely isn't horror. zoux fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 21:45
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Opopanax posted:The General Horror Book Thread: Between Two Fires loving RULED! Hell yeah!!!! seconded, let's do it! we need subtitles on this thread to get more people in our weird fiction club edit: THANKS MODS! 
escape artist fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Mar 27, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 22:10
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Wachter posted:It reminded me of Glen Cook's trilogy that begins with The Black Company (I forget what it's called), but Fires is more polished. I found both by searching for "books that feel like Soulsbornes" and they both fit the bill of underequipped protagonists battling unimaginable evil and despair the scene where a statue rolls into the house and fucks everyone up except it looks like a cat
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Mar 26, 2024 23:11
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zoux posted:Well? Berserk for Manga and Anime, though it's nowhere near as contemplative. In that vein Claymore does a lot more with the idea of identity and the balancing monster within versus the duty at hand. It's still anime though so YMMV. The Dark/Demon Souls games, thought it's mostly vibes there, it's light on direct narrative but captures the travelogue through a nightmare land with pockets of light throughout. Fire is a major driving force and handled with a similar touch as B2F but with different themes. Another pair of games; Dragons dogma 1 and now 2. It may seem too high fantasy but nighttime is no joke and I think actually maps to B2F really well in that regard. Specifically the non marrative parts of the game capture the sense of travel and survival in a dark fantasy setting. Has significantly more magic though, it's primarily "80s DnD through the lens of Japan" inspired but has a lot of influences from a range of high and dark fantasy threaded through ta DNA. Season of the Witch is actually really similar to B2F but it's a modern Nic Cage film. It's poorly regarded, but I enjoyed the poo poo out of it. Though I knew what I was walking into to. It's Nic Cage in medieval Europe dealing with a with, believe during a plague if not the plague. As for books, I've found a few I haven't read yet that I seem promising. I know Buehlman has a few other books so I want to read those too, but I found: Howls from the Dark Ages Buehlman wrote the forward for this. The Boke of the Divill It seems like it has similar vibes. Company of Liars These has the same "innocent child surrounded by lovely people who need redemption" vibe, also during the plague. Throne of Bones It's an anthology of various types of horror. It has an afterword by ST Joshi you can not read because he never has anything of value to contribute. ]
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Mar 27, 2024 00:50
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Tiny Timbs posted:the scene where a statue rolls into the house and fucks everyone up except it looks like a cat That scene, and the one the morning after, had me all hosed up for a while. I mean, I was raised Catholic and went to a Catholic school corrupt enough that I was pulled out and have a 9 month gap in memory in my preteen years so maybe that scene just hammered the right button for me.
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Mar 27, 2024 00:53
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There's no way in hell Dragon's Dogma is "dark" fantasy. It's bright and cheesy and frequently silly. Generally, games where your character grows more powerful and not very good at evoking horror.
anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Mar 27, 2024 |
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Mar 27, 2024 02:23
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gently caress around at night. And bitter black island from the first game was not bright in any way.
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Mar 27, 2024 12:57
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Howls from the Dark Ages had maybe 2-3 stories that were really good and the rest I thought was pretty mid. There's also a cheesy Cryptkeeper-y framing narrative with a museum curator that introduces each story, which isn't to everyone's taste, but is easily skippable at least. Not saying "don't read it" as much as "temper your expectations" (mine were maybe too high going in, so I ended up a bit disappointed).
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Mar 27, 2024 13:07
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I actually DNFed the audio version because the cryptkeeper wraparound segment was too goofy. Definitely temper your expectations. It is not the brilliant genre work that Between Two Fires is.
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Mar 27, 2024 17:30
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DurianGray posted:Howls from the Dark Ages had maybe 2-3 stories that were really good and the rest I thought was pretty mid. There's also a cheesy Cryptkeeper-y framing narrative with a museum curator that introduces each story, which isn't to everyone's taste, but is easily skippable at least. Not saying "don't read it" as much as "temper your expectations" (mine were maybe too high going in, so I ended up a bit disappointed). Good to know. escape artist posted:I actually DNFed the audio version because the cryptkeeper wraparound segment was too goofy. Definitely temper your expectations. It is not the brilliant genre work that Between Two Fires is. I mean, what is? B2F is like heroin. Never gonna capture that first high ever again. Just chase the dragon.
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Mar 27, 2024 18:00
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Howls is competent but not outstanding. As mentioned the crypt keeper wrap around is easy to skip and you miss out on nothing doing so. I could see the issue with an audiobook though. I enjoyed it well enough but if you go in hoping for b2f you’re gonna leave disappointed obviously
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Mar 27, 2024 18:08
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I don't see why Buehlman can't just write between 3 fires
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Mar 27, 2024 18:20
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zoux posted:I don't see why Buehlman can't just write between 3 fires B3tween Fires
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Mar 27, 2024 18:44
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Between Two Fires is one of the best books I've read but also Christopher Buehlman in his "Christophe the Insultor" persona once called me a masturbating gorilla in front of my friends and family so I'm afraid I'm honor-bound to rate it a 1 star on Goodreads.
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Mar 27, 2024 18:55
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I read books. kinda. Imo making my worthless gay phone read to me via tts counts. Anyways here's the ones I actually finished because my terrible ADHD brain won't let me parse paragraphs. Also sorry if the formatting is bonked, I'm phone posting  The Fealty of Monsters Volume 1 [book one of a series] by Jo Ladz [polish-american person. Agender I guess? Idk they aren't explicit and it's not my loving business.] quote:Winter 1917. After years on the run from a dangerous cult, twenty-three-year-old Sasza and his father have established themselves among the Odonic Empire’s ruling class. But there’s a problem: Sasza is a vampire, and vampires aren’t supposed to get involved in human governance. What the aristocracy doesn’t know, after all, cannot hurt them. An honorary entry in the Euro Dystopia bookshelf as it's not quite as bleak as other entries in the bookshelf. It's definitely a dystopia, a empire on the brink of collapse and I'm sure it will fall further into decay as the series progresses. Hopefully there will be genocide and upper class massacres?? Fingers crossed! Also there's gay men loving and lesbian loving. Specifically, a amab gay person and a gay man and two cis lesbians. So yeah it gets many points for that. There is no stupid 'will they won't they', hands brushing together being the most lgbt action, ambiguous token gay side character poo poo. Oh and a recurring character is fat and it's not really remarked upon? Will wonders ever cease? A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock [white british man] quote:*Mexican Gothic meets The Lie Tree by way of Oscar Wilde and Mary Shelley in this delightfully witty horror debut. A captivating tale of two Victorian gentlemen hiding their relationship away in a botanical garden who embark on a Frankenstein-style experiment with unexpected consequences. * Whoever wrote this summary is not helping this book at all. Frankly all these other books were far more interesting than this one. It's.... lacking something. Perhaps the prose is less thrilling than the subject matter wants it to be. The description is mediocre. I hate Gothic lit but perhaps an attempt that such genre prose could have saved this book. I don't think it had much tension. What bothers me is that the tone isn't really historical. It feels rather modern. Its the way they speak and interact with the world. In addition to the settings. The Winter Garden by Alexandra Bell did the historical flavor better despite being blatantly fantastical world setting. But this book has explicit lesbian monster loving so it's far better. Though that was just one scene. Idk I just didn't like it. But if you like Alternate Universe Frankenstein that's one step up from fanfics I guess you might like this??? Dont read it for the romance though, that was so underwhelming. Fervor by Toby Lloyd [white jewish man] quote:A chilling and unforgettable story of a close-knit Jewish family in London pushed to the brink when they suspect their daughter is a witch. Ok now THIS is some high concept literary horror, thanks. Honestly I need to read more Jew Horror. Horror by Jews? Whatever the sub genre is called, it needs to get popularized. Or somebody give me some recs, please. Also yes the author is a Jewish man, please don't think it's not-Jewish people capitalizing on traumaporn of the antisemitism flavor. Anyways. I love it. Slamming this into my top ten of 2024. Fair Warning there is some zionism present which includes the present day protests against the Palestinian genocide, and a recurrent side character that is/was a member of the idf who gets some screen time. The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste quote:From Bram Stoker Award–winning author Gwendolyn Kiste comes a chilling novel about three childhood friends who miraculously survive the night everyone in their suburban neighborhood turned into ghosts. First of all, LESBIANS. Second of all, love that it features mainly a cast of women. I thought it was a pretty decent paranormal story centering on a group of young women and the loving horrors of growing up as girls in a tiny town. Don't hate me for this but think Carrie by Stephen King except by a woman author and Carrie has friends and also comparisons to completely different unrelated novels is dumb. It's just the vibes, as kids these days say, of the book. Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk [argentinian woman] quote:Across two different time periods, two women confront fear, loneliness, mortality, and a haunting yearning that will not let them rest. A breakout, genre-blurring novel from one of the most exciting new voices of Latin America’s feminist Gothic. Ok I haven't read this yet but VAMPIRES. And maybe lesbians??? It sounds very interesting. What Grows in the Dark by Jaq Evans quote:In this chilling contemporary horror novel, a phony spiritualist returns to her hometown to assist in an investigation that eerily mirrors her sister’s death, forcing her to confront the secrets she’s been running from. I've only read enough of this to warn for major CSA / purity culture [not the stupid fandom tumblr definition, the real one]. This is some very interesting cave horror / forest horror(?) . Contemporary, literary?, kind of a slow burn so far. Ok imagine the kids from King's 'IT' except it's with a cave and a occult(?) cult disguised as a christian mega church. I love-hate the part where [csa cw] the teen girl experienced medical sexual abuse and immediately went about 'losing' her virginity. YES baby you are in a horror movie, sorry you had to do it but it will make you survive the bad kind of horror [evil cults] as oppose the regular horrors [being a teen girl in a small town] Among the Living by Tim Lebbon [white british man] quote:From the New York Times bestseller and author of Netflix’s The Silence comes a terrifying horror novel set in a melting Arctic landscape. Something deadly has lain dormant for thousands of years, but now the permafrost is giving up its secrets… I read Lebbon's The Silence and found it ok. This was fairly better, imo, but nothing to write home to. Still a decent thriller with supernatural / fungi / disease horror] elements to it. Definitely more action horror. On a Clear Day, You Can See Block Island by Gage Greenwood [white british man] quote:They left the island, but the island never left them. I think I like the concept more than the execution. Ok so you see a hosed up monster and it kills your family member. What then? How do you deal with that? Not a terrible book, but maybe I just didn't click with it. It kind of reminds me of resident evil monsters on an island, except there's no Chris Redfield. There's just a bunch of kids and a alcoholic dad with some cops trying to survive. Not a bad thing but maybe I just wasn't in the mood. I did like the explaination of we trapped these monsters here on a isolated island and basically feed them some of our kids. Yeah that sure is a metaphor for generational trauma, I guess. Zest la vie. The Hole in the Hallway by R S Merritt [white american man] quote:Based in part on true events. I think I mentioned this before ITT, but I finallu read it. I did enjoy it for the most part, defintely kept me on my toes about who was dying or dead. Except for the ending where the catholic church has / had a super elite squad of demon fighters and the boy child wants to join them because gently caress it, my family is dead because of the demons and y'all are aging out due to budget cuts and lack of Official Church interest in continuing the demon fighting. That was a little... goofy. Ok chris redfield junior, go get em. Anyways, decent demon catholicism horror. Honorary mentions [because the're not strictly horror] The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed [canadian hindu woman] quote:A world-weary woman races against the clock to survive a deadly forest in this dark, otherworldly fairytale from Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning author Premee Mohamed. Mabe more fantasy than horror, but if you want some forest horror with folk horror flavor, this is it. A novella, so it's a decent 1 hour read or so. Meet Me at the Surface by Jodie Matthews quote:Everything that comes from the ground has to go back down… eventually Yes it's fantasy but call it small town horror / folk horror. I thought the folk lore was pretty original, and kept it vague enough to maintain my interest. It reminded me of Where I End by Sophie White, but less bleak. I'm not sure if I mentioned the above story ITT but here. It is a horror but man, it's a little miserable. Where I End by Sophie White [white irish woman] quote:My mother.
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Mar 27, 2024 20:19
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SkeletonHero posted:Between Two Fires is one of the best books I've read but also Christopher Buehlman in his "Christophe the Insultor" persona once called me a masturbating gorilla in front of my friends and family so I'm afraid I'm honor-bound to rate it a 1 star on Goodreads. That sounds like a reason to give it five stars and hand out copies to all your friends and family.
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Mar 27, 2024 20:42
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fez_machine posted:Have you checked out what Valancourt Press is publishing? This link has introduced me to John Blackburn, who I'd literally never heard of, but who was a brilliant horror writer from the late 1950's through to the early 1970's who has since been inexplicably forgotten. I've just read Bury him darkly and For fear of little men, both of which start off as interesting horror thrillers and then veer off into completely unexpected directions. They're great period pieces (think Sean Connery era James Bond films) and surprisingly well written too, although the social attitudes are very much of their period ("But he'd only had 3 large gins, then 3 lunchtime pints at the Rose and Leek! Nobody could believe that would be enough alcohol to send an experienced mountaineer stumbling over a cliff!"). Check his books out, they're great!
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Mar 28, 2024 22:32
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Has anybody read Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian?
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Mar 29, 2024 07:26
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E-P posted:Has anybody read Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian? yeah, earlier this month. i liked it so much i went looking for a physical copy to keep around today. definitely in my top five reads.
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Mar 29, 2024 08:05
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E-P posted:Has anybody read Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian?
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Mar 29, 2024 10:19
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I thought it sucked and wanted to DNF it and after finishing it, wish I would have DNFed it. Truly, I was not a fan.
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Mar 29, 2024 18:10
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Hmm replies have run full gamut. Might give it a miss for now then.
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Mar 31, 2024 20:09
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Just finished The Reddening by Adam Nevill. Felt like it was approximately 200 pages too long and while it's not the worst the way he writes women is just... Not it. I really enjoyed the scenery and his nature descriptions though. Might give some of his other books a go just for that. Put Between Two Fires on my want to read list, gonna get some sci-fi in first though.
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Mar 31, 2024 23:47
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monochromagic posted:Just finished The Reddening by Adam Nevill. Felt like it was approximately 200 pages too long and while it's not the worst the way he writes women is just... Not it. I really enjoyed the scenery and his nature descriptions though. Might give some of his other books a go just for that. It’s not a good book
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Apr 1, 2024 00:03
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I think I made it about fifty pages into The Reddening and I was excited about it.
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Apr 1, 2024 00:11
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It starts strong but turns into a really stupid mash-up of concepts like the author was fishing for something interesting to write about
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Apr 1, 2024 00:51
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monochromagic posted:Just finished The Reddening by Adam Nevill. Felt like it was approximately 200 pages too long and while it's not the worst the way he writes women is just... Not it. I really enjoyed the scenery and his nature descriptions though. Might give some of his other books a go just for that. Put Between Two Fires on my want to read list, gonna get some sci-fi in first though. try No One Gets Out Alive (god he can't write a title huh)
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Apr 1, 2024 04:48
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Tiny Timbs posted:It starts strong but turns into a really stupid mash-up of concepts like the author was fishing for something interesting to write about It also becomes super predictable? Of course the weird folk music guy is involved, of course Kat ends up being consumed by the red and magically pregnant. It's just not very surprising and it goes on for SO LONG.
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Apr 1, 2024 09:08
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Diavola by Jennifer Thorne [white british woman]quote:Anna has only two rules for the annual Pace family destination vacations: Tread lightly, and survive. It isn't easy, when she's the only one in the family who doesn't quite seem to fit. Her twin brother Benny goes with the flow so much he's practically dissolved, and her older sister Nicole is so used to everyone—including her blandly docile husband and two kids—falling in line that Anna often ends up in trouble for simply asking a question. Mom seizes every opportunity to question her life choices, and Dad, when not reminding everyone who has paid for this vacation, just wants some peace and quiet. The gorgeous, remote villa in tiny Monteperso seems like a perfect place to endure so much family togetherness–including Benny's demanding new boyfriend (it’s Christopher, not Chris). That is, until things start going off the rails–the strange noises at night, the unsettling warnings from the local villagers, and, oh, the dark, violent past of the villa itself. Jennifer Thorne skewers all-too-familiar family dynamics in this sly, wickedly funny vacation-Gothic. Beautifully unhinged and deeply satisfying, Diavola is a sharp twist on the classic haunted house story, exploring loneliness, belonging, and the seemingly inescapable bonds of family mythology. This was a good book. Go read it. Pretty cool haunting, paranormal, creepy type poo poo.
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Apr 1, 2024 17:10
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Opopanax posted:B3tween Fires Needs punched up a lil still B3tweeen Fir3s & the camera closes into the e which contains the said third fire -- that's right, it was the midnight society all along
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Apr 2, 2024 03:42
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Can anyone point me at good work on the structural elements of the haunted house story, preferably stuff that's freely published online or readily available as an ebook? I'm working on some horror RPG stuff that gets a bit metafictional, and I'm looking for more scholarly / critical resources to supplement my reading.
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Apr 2, 2024 04:48
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Read The Ancient by Muriel Gray over the long weekend. Nothing too remarkable, just a solid page turner about a monster on a bulk carrier. She only ever wrote three books and this was her last. I picked up her first, The Trickster, which had some award buzz in the British critics circle in 1996. It heavily features freight trains. Her third book involves a long-haul semi driver. I think this lady just likes cargo transport!
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Apr 2, 2024 16:34
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zoux posted:Read The Ancient by Muriel Gray over the long weekend. Nothing too remarkable, just a solid page turner about a monster on a bulk carrier. She only ever wrote three books and this was her last. I picked up her first, The Trickster, which had some award buzz in the British critics circle in 1996. It heavily features freight trains. Her third book involves a long-haul semi driver. I think this lady just likes cargo transport!
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Apr 2, 2024 18:12
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Kestral posted:Can anyone point me at good work on the structural elements of the haunted house story, preferably stuff that's freely published online or readily available as an ebook? I'm working on some horror RPG stuff that gets a bit metafictional, and I'm looking for more scholarly / critical resources to supplement my reading. Horror In Architecture by Joshua Comaroff & Ong Ker-Shing quote:This book looks at the idea of horror and its analogues in architecture. In these, normal compositions become strange: extra limbs appear, holes open where they should not, individual objects are doubled or split or perversely occupied. I have found an epub copy, but theres also a pdf floating around if you prefer that format. Also, you know, you promise to buy it later, delete when finished with, etc. I thought it was pretty interesting read. I appreciated the included photographs as some things cannot be described. whoo cthulu and all that.
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Apr 2, 2024 19:08
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The structural elements of a haunted house are 4 walls and a ghost.
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Apr 2, 2024 19:16
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you could probably find a decent number of haunted house stories where the ghost is load-bearing, too
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Apr 2, 2024 19:48
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Technically a house only needs a door, if the door is a roof and the house is a hole in the earth. Alternately the door is a door, the house a cavern
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Apr 2, 2024 21:47
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If you are the ghost all the world is your haunted house
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Apr 2, 2024 21:49
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