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Does anyone have links/articles/discussions of Matthew Bartlett's Creeping Waves/Gateway to Abomination anywhere? I had drifted off from the whole northeastern cult/lovecraftian genre a long time ago since it had basically become kitsch but I picked up Gateways on a whim and it was like getting slapped in the face. Really exciting stuff, I can't believe he managed to make that milieu scary and also pack in some surprisingly funny dark jokes. Creeping Waves wasn't quite as stunning, the longer stories and greater coherence were a bit of a double edged sword, but still very good. Can't believe I hadn't read more about it, it just felt very fresh.
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Nov 4, 2020 20:50
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| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 10:01 |
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Conrad_Birdie posted:Started Blackwater today! More of that McDowell Southern Gothic goodness. He really makes writing great characters look easy. I love Blackwater. I did the ~30 hour audiobook and it really helped with the feeling of time passing. It’s a tricky one just because the scope keeps expanding. I don’t know that the plot, such that there is hangs together that well but the characters are indelible
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Mar 1, 2021 15:01
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I'm loving the Blackwater discussion! Its interesting because while there's definite sadness and nostalgia with the passing of time and losing characters it felt more like a more sweet than bitter 'the cycle of life goes on' to me. And yeah, there are only a few actual 'horror' scenes but they spare nothing, which feels very unique. I've read genre mashups before but they almost always sand down the horror to keep a more even tone. One thing I really respect is that despite the massive page count and multiple references he never gets too much into Eleanor's family, which I definitely expected, particularly in the last part when they boat into the swamp. I was expecting a big exposition dump that thankfully never arrived. He wisely left it at 'they're river catfish monsters' and you don't have like, a huge Little Mermaid style confrontation with Eleanors parents. Admittedly I was listening on audiobook and there were definitely references I wanted to jump back to that I was unable to so I likely missed some nice details. I'll need to give it a real read when I can slam a huge tome down again. I'll give a plug for the Elementals as well, which is very similar in some ways but inverts the family drama/horror percentages. A good snack compared to the banquet that is Blackwater
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Mar 26, 2021 17:43
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Paddyo posted:Wow, thanks for the recommendation! About halfway through Dark Matter and it's great. Super atmospheric with a sense of creeping dread that I'm really enjoying. And yeah, the narrator for the audiobook is top notch. I really liked that one so I picked up a couple of her other books and Thin Air is also good but it’s basically the same book. Giving it a break before trying Wakenhurst, that one looks a little different at least.
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Sep 4, 2021 22:27
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Paddyo posted:Someone earlier said Thin Air is basically Dark Matter in the mountains, which tbh sounds pretty cool. It was me and yeah it’s very good just give it some space between the two since they’re really really similar. I have wakenhurst but haven’t gotten around to it yet Those Across the River is… weird. I didn’t really enjoy reading it much but I’ve thought about the big horror scene maybe once a year so it definitely left an impression.
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Sep 27, 2021 00:00
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value-brand cereal posted:
I just read this and it starts strong and while has some creepy, propulsive charm, none of the adult characters behavior really made any sense at all and the late attempt to explain it by introducing an unchangeable prophecy element was very dumb! Also if you're going to have every single adult in the town be in on it, you can make a pretty effective scene out of that. What you can't do is go one by one and have each chapter end with a twist of 'this person was in on it!' over and over again. I was straight up laughing at it by the fourth or fifth time. Has anyone read the sequel? I'm mixed on continuing because I found the ending unsatisfying and if the second ends with another pseudo cliffhanger I'll just pass.
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Jul 11, 2022 20:15
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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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It's good, and while not horror, it's not NOT horror either. The mix of very authentic and emotional characters with the pastiche of 'wild west but on mars' sometimes clashed tonally for me though. It's hard to go from a very real feeling sense of a child's disillusionment with authority to 'jefferson davis' space program' in like two sentences.
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Apr 7, 2023 19:32
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Finished The Spite House on thread recommendation, enjoyed it quite a bit, and it’s definitely one of the better endings to a haunted house story I’ve read. I’ll have to check out some of his other work
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May 2, 2023 00:13
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I've pasted so many recommendations from this thread into my to read notes that I'm starting to have a hard time finding things. After reading and enjoying Night Film, I'm in the mood for more film horror in that vein but digging through my notes I'm not seeing a huge standout. Burn the Negative looks a little campy, Dead Eleven I'm not 100% sure why I had filed in that pile. Thinking the Devil's Playground? EDIT: Oh or Experimental Film which seems like the most direct analogue maybe. Yarrington fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Feb 22, 2024 |
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Feb 22, 2024 17:45
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| # ¿ Apr 20, 2024 10:01 |
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R.L. Stine posted:drat this destroyed me. Is their other work this good too? I remember really liking His Face All Red when it was making the internet rounds. For that matter, are there any graphic novels or comic omnibuses that might scratch a horror itch? I just finished Harrow County, it was pretty great, but grounded spooky hauntings and a generally heavy atmosphere are my poo poo. Maybe an obvious one but Alan Moore's "Providence". EDIT: Just realized I walked into the 'little context or description provided". It's superficially his take on Lovecraft, and most of the issues riff on a specific story but in the context of a frame story that's pure Alan Moore. A wealth of historical detail, and parts really emphasize the horror of things that have become fairly rote/tropes by now (the mind/body swap issue really got under my skin). Benefits from either a reference or an encyclopedic knowledge of the extended canon, but doesn't require it. It has a lot on its mind. Yarrington fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Apr 18, 2024 |
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Apr 18, 2024 19:06
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