Let’s get a horror fiction thread going. But…HARD MODEYou CANNOT talk about:>Stephen King>H.P. Lovecraft>Edgar Allan Poe>Thomas LigottiLet’s try to talk about horror authors we don’t usually talk about.
>>23622359Just browse the catalog of /b/ in 2024. That's a horror story right there.
I recently read three Ramsey Campbell novels:>Ancient ImagesReally good British folk horror novel about a lost cursed Bela Lugosi-Boris Karloff film. Surprised this was never made into a movie. Very good.>The Doll Who Ate His MotherCampbell’s first novel. Stephen King praised it in Danse Macabre. Has some decent horror sequences. But it’s a pretty clunky first novel, even Campbell admits that in the afterword for the 15th anniversary edition of the book.>The NamelessBook about a cult where you’re forced to abandon your name. This was fine. More well written then The Doll Who Ate His Mother but less good then Ancient Images. Felt like Campbell restrained himself from being too wild and horrible when I think that novel could’ve used it. One of the few of his novels made into a movie, although it’s super different from the book. So much so that you could honestly watch the movie first and not be spoiled when you read the book. Both are just okay.Any Ramsey Campbell readers want to tell me what I should read next?
>>23622366Haven’t been on /b/ in like 10 years.
I enjoyed The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix, and to a lesser extent, My Best Friend’s Exorcism. They’re not high art by any means, but if you like tropey 80’s style horror, they pay good lip service to the genre. I’ve only read Let The Right One In by Linqvist so I can’t speak to the rest of his work, but that book was really something. I still picture so much of it vividly. The atmosphere was fantastic, it felt so cold to read. Next on my list is Imajica by Barker.
>>23622393Almost forgot, I also read:>Cold PrintI got the edition that has all the stories from Ramsey Campbell’s first collection, The Inhabitant of the Lake. The first few stories are Lovecraft pastiches written when Ramsey was 18. They’re fine for Lovecraft pastiches. But once you get to his modern Lovecraftian stories like Cold Print, The Tugging, The Faces at Pine Dunes, and The Voice of the Beach, you’ll see why he’s considered one of the best horror short story writers.
>You CANNOT talk about:Fuck off.That said I think there should be a char that includes only gothic literature and excludes most "nu-horror" slop like Stephen Kang.
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>>23622431Those authors have been talked about to death on here and I wanted to talk about other authors.
>>23622359Hey, I made that chart, nice to see it being used.I'm currently reading everything on that chart, more works by the same authors to get a better view of their works, and works that might deserve a spot on a revised version of the chart (including older gothic works).Its a long process, but I've already found a number of amazing works that definitely warrant inclusion:>Karl Edward Wagner - In a Lonely Place>Roland Topor - The Tenant>Jean Ray - MalpertuisI'm currently reading Alraune by Hanns Heinz Ewers, and it's great so far.
>>23622393I think his short stories are (usually) great, and make him one of the best in the genre. The novels are hit or miss but I remember liking The Face That Must Die a lot.
>>23622465Oh cool, thanks man. We needed a new horror chart for ages!
>>23622486No problem! I'll make a revised version of that chart in about a year and a half.What are some of your favourite horror books?
I read Negative Space by B.R. Yeager a few weeks ago. It became one of my favorite books, and it is easily my favorite horror novel I have ever read. Anons if you like the classic small town mystery setting, young adult-centered books (without being written in a retarded “””YA””” way), and weird fiction horror devices (especially ****craftian) then you will have a great time with this book. The prose picks up and drops subjective elements so well, as if you are reading unreliable narrators, but this unreliability is not just some character trait of their but the nature of the opposition they face, to jump between different orders of reality: pathological, psychological, metaphorical, supernatural.
>>23622535Also it gets points from me for being “””diverse””” without having passages like “his blackity blackness blacked down the stairs.” or “ ‘Microaggression’ her teacher said as he chauvinistically strutted across the room.” Genuinely pays no mind to woke lip service, even though it is purportedly interested in exploring the slightly varying identities of the three main characters and does so decently well I’d say.
>>23622438>>23622443Thanks. The first char is just banal namedropping. The second with Lovecraft's recommendations is excellent. But is still not a complete introduction to Gothic literature. Some obvious classics are missing.
>>23622546Dropped
>>23622565Which classics would you say are missing?
>>23622570You can probably skip 4 or 5 lines of description in the entire book and read it with any person pictured in your head.
>>23622578I'm a vampire autist so an obvious one is Dracula. Not surprised that Lovecraft didn't include it because he rambled against late Stoker's work. Anything by Le Fanu, and the gothic tales written by Doyle.
>>23622514I need to read more, but what I've liked so far is Ligotti, Lovecraft, Ramsey Campbell, and Brian Evenson.
>>23622615Dracula is present in the gothic chart, or are you only talking about the Lovecraft chart? Because the latter isn't really meant to be a guide for gothic literature, just his 'biggest and most detailed' mentions in his "Supernatural Horror in Literature".Sidenote: pretty insane that Lovecraft shat so immensely on The Castle of Otranto, and then proceeds to praise Vathek into the heavens. I personally thought Otranto, while being a bit uneven and silly at times, was way better than the completely unfocused mess that is Vathek.(He also doesn't even mention The Phantom of the Opera at all, what the hell dude)
>>23622628Which works by Evenson have you read? I myself have read A Collapse of Horses, Song for the Unraveling of the World, and Last Days, but I didn't find him to be that good, and his short story collections feel pretty uneven, with some great short stories inbetween a lot of mediocre ones. (Not trying to shit on your tastes, but maybe you've read different works or just have different tastes.)A work I can definitely recommend is North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud. Amazing psychological horror stories that have supernatural elements, but those are not as important as the people that have been impacted by the horrible events, and the way they are trying to deal with it.
Don't think I've ever seen /lit/ talk about it, but I highly recommend Peter Straub's Blue Rose trilogy. It's not entirely horror, but it's incredibly entertaining and well-written. Straub is a more literary Stephen King (Who he collaborated with on The Talisman and Black House). Straub is probably best known for his book Ghost Story (made into a movie in 1981), but I think the Blue Rose trilogy is his best work.>Koko (1988)A horror-thriller book about a group of Vietnam veterans who seek out another person from their unit who they believe has become a serial killer. It takes place throughout multiple places in the world.>Mystery (1990)This is more of a mystery novel, to be precise it's like a grown up version of a boys detective novel you would read in like middle school. It follows a 17 year old boy as he gets deep into a murder that happened on the Caribbean island he lives on. The island is populated by rich American and German expats, with the main character's grandfather being one of the most powerful people on the island. As he digs deeper into the murder, the main character discovers secrets about the corrupt politics and history of the island. >The Throat (1993)Has one of the main characters from Koko return to his old home city of Millhaven (A city based on Straub's real life hometown of Milwaukee). The main character returns to the city to find out an old friend of his wife has been murdered, and it seems that the city's old Blue Rose murders are back. This book nicely ties in the events of Koko and Mystery together to conclude the trilogy.It's a very good trilogy, it's very meta-fictional.
>>23622667I've read Last Days and Altmann's Tongue. Guess I just like how fucked up and Old Testament they are. Last Days I also enjoyed for being a fucked-up hardboiled novel.
>>23622680(Note: The Throat is a horror-thriller-mystery novel)The Blue Rose trilogy didn't technically end there.There was a few short stories. I HIGHLY recommend you don't read them until after you finished the Blue Rose trilogy. >Blue Rose (Found is Straub's collections Houses Without Doors and Interior Darkness)This is a tragic story from the childhood of one of the main characters from Koko>The Juniper Tree (Found in Houses Without Doors and Interior Darkness)A very sad childhood story about a boy being taken advantage of by an adult. Straub reveled in an interview this was inspired by real events in his own life.>The Ghost Village (Found in Straub's collection Magic Terror)An excerpt from The Throat, a story from the group of soldiers from Koko about how they discovered a mysterious and haunting village in the jungles of Vietnam.>Bunny Is Good Bread (Found in Magic Terror)This is about the horrific childhood of the antagonist in The Throat. Don't want to say more because of spoilers for The Throat.There was also two novels that Straub that features the main character from The Throat again and similar settings, but isn't technically a part of the Blue Rose trilogy.>Lost Boy, Lost Girl (2003)The main character of Koko and The Throat returns to his hometown of Millhaven after his sister-in-law commits suicide and his nephew disappears a few days after. This is more of a emotional ghost/haunted house story. It's shorter then anything in the Blue Rose trilogy but it's a very emotional book about loss with some horror elements.>In the Night Room (2004)Again, the main character from Lost Boy, Lost Girl returns. This time he is receiving strange emails. Meanwhile, a woman YA author is still recovering from the brutal murder of her husband and daughter. She has become convinced that her daughter is still alive and is being held captive in a warehouse. The two characters eventually meet... (Honestly haven't read this one yet but I plan on soon).There was also a graphic novel novel that Straub co-wrote.>The Green Woman (2010)Honestly, this wasn't very good. Art was bad. It was about the antagonist of The Throat. Don't read until after you read the trilogy. But honestly, it doesn't contribute much to the rest of the it.
>>23622646Lovecraft could be very silly with his own tastes or criticism. But that's why I find sympathetic about him. I dislike people who only have "the right" opinion all the fucking time. I have the feeling he often avoided mention of gothic books with a romantic element. >ChartThe first chart is a joke. Random Wikipedia namedropping.
>>23622733Yeah, I remember the person who made it even saying that it's a poorly made chart, he just put it together in a hurry, and that he didn't add Le Fanu just because he doesn't like him.It's a shame, because there's no other good gothic chart.
>>23622680Yeah I remember reading The Throat. I remember it having a bunch of insane twists. Peter Straub is a pretty decent writer.
>>23622749If nobody else does we could make one. It could take a time though.
>>23623223I assume you know more about gothic literature than I do, but I've made two charts before and can definitely help you with it.
>>23623223Do you already have a basic list/outline for which books definitely go on the chart? I could also make one, but I assume you have a more clear idea of it.
Laird Barron's short stories are good, but don't read his detective novels.
>>23623874Forgot Pic
>>23623249>>23623694We could make a chart divided into different periods of Gothic literature.Early Gothic (Castle of Otranto)Victorian Gothic (Frankenstein)Modern (Lovecraft)Contemporary (Anne Rice)But the reason it could take time is that it would need various anons to give recommendations for all eras and fill the gaps. I doubt any of us could fill the whole chart alone.
>>23623925Ah, I thought you'd only focus on the early and Victorian eras, like the shitty chart did. Modern and contemporary are indeed a lot more difficult to have a good and compete selection for.(also I'm off to bed and will check back in tomorrow)
>>23623956good night anon
>>23622359are there any good horror novels which contain the feeling of that even by reading the book you are involving yourself or changing the actions or otherwise are a party in the horror?think of Kubrick's The Shining adaptation or of Kitty Horrorshow's videogame Anatomy where the consumer of the media is implied to be a part of the story.
>>23624070Mister B. Gone by Clive BarkerMaybe House of Leaves?
I enjoyed this Same guy who wrote Between Two Fires
I've got a copy of No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Neville sitting beside me and I'm struggling to work up the nerve to read it since it's over 600 pages long.
>>23624261This one is really good. Like if Salinger wrote a vampire novel, at least in the narrators Holden-esque voice
>>23624354Also here's stuff I enjoyed recently:I was a Teenage Slasher The Devil in SilverCome CloserThe Paperbacks from Hell reprints, just read Progeny of the Adder and the AuctioneerAnd Fever House by Keith Rosson
>>23623925It's a big period that went on for a long time and has a lot of works that are, if not great, of interest to people who like the gothic. Octave Mirbeau's Torture Garden, Charles Brockden Brown with Wieland and the other one I haven't read, some other weird early shit that's extremely corny but atmospheric.
>>23624417This was expanded into the novel The Ceremonies by the same author.
>>23622359I recently finished picrel. Was better than I thought it was going to be.
>>23622680Thank you for the recommendation. These look like true hidden gems. I especially like historical fiction infused with horror.
>>23622359What does horror writing do that films and video games can't do better? Do you just like it because you prefer reading to kino/vidya? Lovecraft is the only one who I've read that did something beyond those two mediums.
>>23624906It’s not really historical fiction per say. Koko is set in the early 80’s (It literally opens with the dedication of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C.). Mystery is set in the early 1960’s. And The Throat is set in the same year as it came out (early 90’s). Both lost boy, lost girl and In the Night Room are set in the early 2000’s (Again, same years as they came out).
>>23624906What are your favourite historical horror novels?If you're looking for recs, check out Perfume by Patrick Süskind, and The Terror by Dan Simmons.
>>23624898That’s the one that’s based off Dahmer, right?Been reading to some of her short story collections that are horror themed.
what i've read of ligotti so far is the most predicabtle snooze shit ever, I'm sorry for everybody who fell for the meme.>our kid is definitely safe in her bed upstairs>btw darling let me tell you all about how i work in a psych ward with the literal joker>i talk to him all day, btw outsmarts everybody he talks to and likes to kidnap kids>did you leave the door open? is that a draft? haha surely not>OH SURPRISE HONEY, LE JOKER HAS STOLEN THE KIDfucking kill me senpai, i couldve written this shit when i was 14pic related, live footage of somebody who attempted to read ligotti crap before bed
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>>23625659Imagine reading the very first story of Songs of a Dead Dreamer and immediately going here to complain about it
>>23625659Dude, read the rest of the collection before posting this
>>23625618How are her short story collections? I haven't read any of them yet. Any good one to start with?
>>23624924Atmosphere, description, and being more intimate with a characters thoughts, which would naturally include their feelings of terror and dread and psychological breakdowns.
>>23625687Sorry, meant that I’ve been needing to read her horror collections. I haven’t yet. My local library has a copy of The Doll Master and Other Stories, so I’ll probably start with that one first.
>>23625699Nice! I've heard that Haunted is really good, but it's difficult to find and pretty expensive.
>>23625712Yeah, I’d recommend checking your local library, and if they don’t have it, using interlibrary loan.
Does anybody know of one that's as long and well written as Melmoth? I have searched for older gothic horror as long as even 500 pages but it seems that Maturin's work is the only one.
>>23626705I haven't read it myself yet, but Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho is pretty long: the Penguin Classics version is 654 pages.
>>23626705His albigenses is around the same length as melmoth and from what little i've read of it is pretty good
>>23622413Linqvist's "Let Old Dreams Die" collection is great, especially if you liked "Let the..." has a wonderful epilogue of sorts for it
Aickman would object if called a horror writer and argue that he wrote ‘strange stories’.But he’s dead. So fuck him.Not like he can do anything about it now.Or can he?
>>23627472God those covers look good.I haven't read anything by Aickman yet, but am planning to read Cold Hand in Mine at some point soon. What's people's opinions on the other three collections?
Are there any actually decent novels out there that evoke the feeling and themes of the early Resident Evil games?
>>23627585NTA but Dark Entries and Cold Hand in Mine were both good. I haven’t read the other two collections thoughbeit
>>23627785Not sure. Have you ever tried reading World War Z?
>>23625659>what i've read of ligottijust say the frolic. funny you chose the one author that has no other stories like the one story you read to try to dunk on. which is too bad because i like the frolic and would have read more in that style. but it is simply not true that ligotti writes any of his other works in that same vein (sadly, for me), i don't even put ligotti in my top 15 horror writers and still find you embarrassing. and so you have been totally, exposed. good luck in your future endeavors.
>>23628629It must be bait, I swear I’ve seen his exact criticism in another thread a month or two ago in which he was called out on it in a similar fashion. Alternatively, there may be a Malignantly Useless syndicate out there hard at work judging books merely by their covers, give or take.
Clive Barker - Damnation Game - C+-Great and Secret Show (couldn't finish, C-)-Mister B. Gone (C, couldn't finish)Wha'ts the deal? His short stories were great, but his novels all feel bloated and like they'd be better as short stories.
>>23628605Yeah, loved it
Anyone read any Adam Nevill?
>>23627472He's one of my absolute favorites, and kinda unclassifiable. He's roughly the British equivalent to Shirley Jackson if that makes sense
>>23629310I bought The Reddening because the cover was cool. Have no idea if it’s good or not, but the back cover has me intrigued.
>>23629426Its pretty good, though the title is just dumb as hell. Last Days is supposed to be really good
Bump
>>23626705manuscript found In saragossa is around 600 pages long. not totally gothic as it extends to the picaresque and other genres that was popular at the time; but it's mainly spooky with it's talks of demons and animated skeletonsthere's also The Monks of Monk Hall which stops at around 576 pages. haven't read it but looks to be about conspiracies in Jacksonian Philadelphia.
Ronald Malfi
>>23631207Where do I start with him?
>>23631450Black Mouth
I found this surprisingly terrifying
What’s the best horror book about Satanism?
