Notable Authors: H.P. Lovecraft, Thomas Ligotti, Robert Aickman, Clive Barker, Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood, Shirley Jackson, Richard Matheson, Stephen King, William Peter Blatty, Robert Bloch, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Edogawa Rampo, Arthur Machen, Ambrose Bierce, M.R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu, Brian Evenson, William Hope Hodgson, Clark Ashton Smith, Frank Belknap Long, Ramsey Campbell, Caitlin R Kiernan, Laird Barron, Jack Ketchum, Stefan Grabinski, Peter Straub, and many many moreDiscuss your favorite horror tales in both short and long form. What have you read lately? What do you want to read? What's a work of horror fiction or an author who you want to recommend?
>>24702117I recently read Ligotti’s The Sect of the Idiot and loved it immensely. I also recommend Stephen Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians. I want to read JG Ballard’s Crash which isn’t classic horror but has the carnivalesque and grotesque elements of medieval and Gothic fiction—which horror also draws from.
>What's a work of horror fiction or an author who you want to recommend?Ramsey Campbell. He’s a great writer and talks to fans. I’m an upcoming weird fiction writer and feel grateful that Campbell talks to small fries like me.
>>24702117I thought Ligotti wrote philosophy
I read The Red Tower recently. It was aight. Really prefer the first person style of Lovecraft. I'm reading The Great God Pan right now though and it's pretty cool. I feel like it's apt to read it at this time of year when summer is fading into autumn, just shy of the Hallowe'en season.
Anyone else read Let the Right One In? I read it 15 years ago but I remember there was way more to it than either the American or Swedish film adaptations.
>>24702232That’s just his foray into non fiction to create debates and filch pseuds. He was a fiction writer first.
Booml
>>24702227What’s the best Campbell? I’ve read a few short stories and The Face That Must Die so far
>>24704077Read pic rel if you havent yet, it's works both as a retrospective and a best of collection, a perfect introduction to his works.
>>24702227what's your definition of weird fiction genre?
>>24702221>Stephen Graham JonesI haven’t read The Only Good Indians yet but it’s on my shelf. I did just finish The Buffalo Hunter Hunter though and quite enjoyed it
I kind of loved this book? Wonderful mix of horror and noir in post-WWII New York
Any fellow fans of satanic panic shtuffs?
I hate how if you want to get into horror fiction your options are basically Stephen King or short story collections, and you have to really dig to find anything worthwhile that isn't either of those. Seriously, why so many short stories?
>>24704900>Seriously, why so many short stories?"I think it’s safe to say that I will never write a novel. The reason is this: I really don’t like fiction, and novels are what fiction is all about. The only fictional works that I’ve ever admired are those which have their formal basis in essays (Borges), poetry (Bruno Schulz), monologues (Thomas Bernhard), or all three (Poe and Lovecraft). I want to hear a writer speaking, not see a movie in my mind that takes days or weeks to get through rather than 100 minutes or the time it takes to watch a multi-part mini-series. Why would anyone want to read The Silence of the Lambs when they could see the movie?" – Thomas Ligotti interviewed by Mark McLaughlin at Horror Garage "People will accept a short horror story that ends badly. They won’t accept this in a horror novel… not after they’ve read so many hundreds of pages. Horror stories in the short form are like campfire tales or urban legends that are just a way of saying “Boo.” They have nothing to do with the real world in the minds of most readers. Nevertheless, I think there’s a great potential in horror fiction that isn’t easily available to realistic fiction. This is the potential to portray our worst nightmares, both private and public, as we approach death through the decay of our bodies. And then to leave it at that — no happy endings, no apologias, no excuses, no redemption, no escape." – Thomas Ligotti interviewed by Neddal Ayad at Fantastic Metropolis
This is one of my favourites. I think the anon's analysis above^^^ is a keen observation too. It's rare to find a truly great horror novel of the slim or concise variety. Perfume however is one of those. It's really excellent.
QOTT: Have you ever read something so scary you shat yourself?
>>24704943True Detective(Rust's monologues which were plagiarized from Ligotti) genuinely gave me panic disorder which lead to a nervous breakdown. I have never been the same since.
>>24704943Yes Pet Sematary by Stephen King made me shit my pants.
im finishing off a collection each of mark valentine, mark samuels, reggie oliver this month
The Bricks That Ate
>>24702227>Ramsey Campbellbuy an ad. he is amateur and shit. faggot
>>24702117Recently finished The Golem by Gustav Meyrink, currently reading The Atlas of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud. I have the two longest stories still to go, but so far North American Lake Monsters feels way better.After this, I'm going to read The Best Tales of Hoffmann. (And I'm planning on reading The Devil's Elixirs as well at some point this year.)As for recommendations, Stefan Grabinski's The Dark Domain, and Jean Ray's Malpertuis are both criminally underrated. Hanns Heinz Ewers' Alraune is also a great read that is almost completely unknown.>>24702236I read Let the Right One In, and I think it's pretty good. Easy to read, pretty fucking bleak at times, and there is way more in the book than in the Swedish film adaptation (haven't seen the American one). Hakan is absolutely terrifying in the novel.>>24704940Perfume is also one of my favourites, absolutely fantastic read.>>24704964Which ones, and what did you think of them?
>>24704927>People will accept a short story that ends badly. they won't accept this in a horror novel.Bullshit, people still read King slop, despite the fact that the nigga can't write a good ending to save his life.
Just finished The Great God Pan. Bit of a confusing tale, that. What other stories in this collection are good?>>24705104Hakan literally turns into a deathless kind of vampire-zombie and gets beaten to a pulp by one of the teenagers that were just hanging around on the fringes of the novel till the end.
>>24705177The White People (seen as his best and I tend to agree), The Lost Club, The Shining Pyramid, The Three Impostors (especially the substories The Novel of the White Powder and The Novel of the Black Seal), The Monstrance (a personal favourite of mine).And yeah, they cut a lot of insane Hakan shit from the film adaptation for obvious reasons.
>>24705170Ligotti is talking about real horror not horrorslop based on societal and political issues.
Been on a vampire kick lately since I read both Carmilla and The Vampyre, and wanted to get into the essence of what makes Vampires so scary. Enjoyed Carmilla, The Vampyre not so much. Picked up "Interview With The Vampire" by Anne Rice because I heard she's the go-to modern-day gothic horror writer to read, and I gotta say... I was not really impressed.
I ordered a few Lovecraftian-tier collections. The top one has really rave reviews on Amazon and contains one of Ligotti's most famous stories (The Last Feast of Harlequin – I've only read The Red Tower and that's it bt.w). Both volumes have a leetle bit of Lovecraft himself mixed in w/ Ligotti, Ramsey, Del Toro, King and others. By the way, I read one Ramsey Campbell story about 6 months ago on the suggestion of someone here but I can't remember its name. It was about a pedestrian tunnel in suburban England that was haunted by an Aztec god and raped one of the schoolgirls at the end. I was intrigued by that story so I hope the Campbell stories in these two collections are good.
>>24702227Ice cream nigga on the right
I recently reread Macbeth. It has a good horror atmosphere going for it in parts. What are some more of the same but with the horror being more of the main focus?Also stuff with Hecate. Hecate is one of those entities that always gets me with scary scenes.
I liked Fear by L Ron Hubbard so much I’m a little worried this is how you become a Scientologist
>>24705195> horrorslop based on societal and political issuesWhat does that have to do with Stephen King and his shit endings?
For me, it's/an/ horror.
>>24706189My rule of thumb for being scared of animals is "If I can solve the problem by accidentally falling on the animal" then it's not scary.I could accidentally fall on a cat and it'd die. Cats aren't scary.I could accidentally fall on a bear and it'd be fine. Bears are scary.I could accidentally fall on a wasp nest and a lot of the wasps would die, but some or most would still be alive. Wasps are scary.
>>24705310I know it's a big leap between Shakespeare and Mary Shelley, but maybe Frankenstein is what you're looking for.
>>24705310Perhaps Vathek by William Beckford
>>24705104It looks like Alarune is the second in a trilogy? Is it a direct sequel or can it be read as a stand alone?
So, horror really is done best in the short story format, right?
What would be the book equivalent of Dead Alive/Braindead?
>>24705310The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole was the first gothic novel, and took a lot of inspiration from Shakespeare.>>24707377While they are a trilogy, all three books can be read individually. They are basically three different stories involving the same main character, and Alraune is seen as the best of the three.
>>24705184>The White People Got it.
>>24704093This was fucking shit. It started as literal Lovecraft rip offs then was just poorly written schoolchildren focused slop. Fuck you.
>>24708070Nta, but I still want to read Alone With the Horrors. What are some of your horror favourites?
Is it /lit/?
>>24708496It's terribly written extreme horror where the author just wants to be as extreme/gross as possible just for the sake of shock value. I'd skip this one.
>>24708512I have yet to read some modern literature which surpasses Maldoror in terms of being transgressive and extreme/gross and also have high grip over the craft as well.
>>24708595Maldoror is a very unique book, but have you read The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum? Very well written, pretty extreme, very dark. For something slightly less bleak and brutal but still extreme, Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite is also great.
>>24708606No, I haven't. Thanks for recs.
Not a big horrorfag but I read a collection of Machen stories last year. He's great, feels like a middle ground between Lovecraft and Charles Williams despite preceding both. The twist in The Terror reminded me of the ending of That Hideous Strength; both deal with animals rebelling against a decadent humanity
>>24708657Yeah, Machen is fantastic. Any stories that were your favourites?
>>24709148The White People maintained an incredible otherworldly atmosphere throughout, as did The Novel of the Black Seal. The Inmost Light was probably the "scariest," although late 1800s British people investigating horrific supernatural occurrences is pretty comfy for me.
>>24708496I've never read a splatterpunk that was legitimately scary, or even interesting. It's just being as gross and over the top as possible and fans of the genre brag about how desensitized they are.
>>24709334I did enjoy Joe R Lansdale’s “Night They Missed the Horror Show”
>>24709258"The White People" is my favourite short horror story in general. Other ones from Machen I love are "The Novel of the White Powder", "The Lost Club", and "The Monstrance".
Any good horror books with awesome twists at the end that recontextualize the whole story?
>>24708606Poppy Z. Brite is a tranny.
>>24709400So?
>>24709402Just saying. Transmogrifying yourself from one sex to the other thru forced medical intervention and drastic plastic surgery is pretty horrific if you ask me.
>>24709406Oh boo hoo. Just read the novel or don't.
>>24709406It's cool if you ask me.
>>24709409What is it even about. She features in a Lovecraftian short story collection I bought so I'm planning on reading that but the fact she's a tranny (ftm) is pretty fuckin gross.>>24709417It's gross. In my opinion trannies should be shunned like the Lovecraftian horrors they are.
>>24709429Then don't read it, you whiny loser.
>>24709429Nah.
>>24709439>>24709450>t.
>>24709473why are you this upset
>>24709400Then she has experience with real life horror.
>>24709486I'm not upset :^)>>24709494So true :^)
Anyone read Clark Ashton Smith’s “Vaults of Yoh Vombis”? Any chance the creators of Alien read it?
>>24709505Alien definitely feels like a combination of Yoh Vombis and Discord in Scarlet by A. E. Van Vogt, the latter which feels more sci-fi than horror though.
Does Koontz have any books with an interesting theme? Every blurb for his books is super vague. "From the moment of his birth, Jim Normalman was just a normal man. But then the evil came."The only book of his I read was Phantoms and that's pretty much exactly what it was about, there was nothing more to it than that.
>>24710245The Taking is pretty good. Surreal, almost King's The Mist a bit.
Reading The Haunter of the Dark right now.
>>24710245Odd Thomas is a fun book, haven’t read the sequels
>What's a work of horror fiction or an author who you want to recommend?Nathan Drake
>>24710855Which Nathan Drake, and which works?
What are some good short story compilations that are rarely mentioned?
>>24702117At the „mountains of madness" is good, but i think that "In the search of Kaddath" is much better. Both are long.
>>24710881Anon, your ESL is showing...vgh...being brown is so terrifying...
>>24710877>Stefan Grabinski - The Dark Domain>Ray Russell - Haunted Castles>Karl Edward Wagner - In a Lonely Place>Nathan Ballingrud - North American Lake Monsters
>>24710885What is esl
>>24710888You are ESL :^)
>>24702117When read the Three impostors by Machen I skipped the prologue out of lazyness. Then read after finishing it and it's great.I really like the collection. Including the framing device.I really liked the subtext that the impostors were attempting to slightly push the two 'protagonists' into their secret society, or at least that's what I thought was happening, maybe I imagined it.Is M. R. James any good?
>>24710891Foreskin
>>24710895M.R. James is fantastic. His Collected Ghost Stories are practically all bangers, and it's a blast to read.
>>24710875The 18th/19th century authorTry his tales "Henry Fitzowen" and "Montmorency a fragment" if you like gothic stories
His horror stories are genuinely good
>>24710915I still need to read his horror stories, which ones are your favourites?
>>24710921The Black StoneThe Horror from the MoundPigeons from HellThe Noseless HorrorBlack CanaanPeople of the DarkThe Dwellers Under the TombTry the Del Ray horror stories of robert e howard for a great collection.There's something "comfy"(I know it's kind of a meme buzzword) about Howard's stories that other authors of the time lack.They obviously don't measure up to lovecraft's works but they're pretty good to read every now and then.
Reading thru this collection tonight, and upon reading his stories The Return of the Sorcerer; and Ubbo-Sathla I can say Clark Ashton Smith is pretty good. Never read anything by him before but he was pretty attuned to the Lovecraft shtick even before Lovecraft died. And he seems to have taken inspiration from Robert E Howard as well. The Ramsey Campbell story was also decent but I'm kind of cool on him, no pun intended. There's a Howard story in here too, The Black Stone which the anon^^^ mentioned up above. Think I'll read that one next. It's 4am by the way.
There's just something about New England that screams, "Halloween."
>>24710887Good recs>>24710877I read pic related a few months back and really liked it. I'd also highly recommend anything by Brian Evenson and A Natural History of Hell by Jeffrey Ford. I am currently reading Not A Speck of Light by Laird Barron which is good so far.
>>24704096Not him but to me it's literary horror, nowadays at least. As well as a way to pull in older respected authors that weren't confined into the genre ghetto (Kafka, Borges, Calvino come to mind)
>>24711362Thanks! Have you read any of the collections I recommended?Also, nice rec on your part! I've never heard of David Surface before, and I'll definitely look more into his works.From Evenson, I've read Last Days (which was okay, the second half was so much weaker than the first half), A Collapse of Horses and Song for the Unraveling of the World, both of which were pretty good. Are there any other works of his that you'd recommend or think are better than these?Have you read other works by Barron? How does Not a Speck of Light compare to his other works if you have? I've read The Imago Sequence (which was fine, three stories were great and the rest not so much) and Occultation (which was pretty good, more varied and the overall quality was higher imo).
>>24709334I like Richard Laymon, but then again I was surprised to find out people considered him splatterpunk at all. Having to ccasionally describe monster dicks doesn't seem like it ought to slot you into the same worthless wasteland as all the retards that actually wear that badge. He takes his stories more seriously and the violence doesn't feel pornographic, even when it's a lot.
Where do you read new short horror stories? I read Three Lobed Burning Eye and Cosmic Horror Monthly
If you liked the Stand and want something a little more breakneck, I cannot recommend Fever House and its sequel enough.
I read Nod by Adrian Barnes recently. I thought the premise was a lot more interesting than the execution, the plot felt like something I would've come up with in middle school. I also thought the Awakened went insane way too quickly.
>>24712009i will not be seen in public with that book cover
>>24712107>thats a strange looking book>yes its a horrorthats the end of it
>>24712107that is an incredibly benign book cover for a horror novel.
>>24712107you're acting as if this is the book you're talking about
>>24711487I've read and enjoyed the Ballingrud, Wagner and Russell but still have to get around to Grabinski. Of Evenson's stuff, I personally liked Collapse of Horses and Songs for the Unraveling, so your mileage may vary, but I also like his earlier collection The Wavering Knife and his most recent one Good Night, Sleep Tight. (His novel The Open Curtain is also interesting for its engagement with Mormonism, which Evenson left. I've yet to read Immobility but its on my shelf).I can't speak to Barron beyond Not a Speak of Light as this is my first exposure, but I've been meaning to pick up both Occultation and Imago Sequence. I'm also amused by the thought his upstate New York crime novels but haven't read them.Hope you enjoy Surface!
Any House of Leaves fans here?
>>24712326What? People don't read books here
>>24712448Correct. Only short stories are acceptable in /hfg/! What was the last horror short story you read anon?
>>24705310Lilith by George Sterling
Does Black Metal and Thomas Ligotti share similarities?Which music genres would be equivalent to horror fiction or weird fiction?
>>24712326sucked dick imo
>>24712912It's YA what do you expect mate?
Oh baby.
Just finished Howard's The Black Stone. 7/10 great atmosphere great writing but did not scare or mindfucj me. Now onto Harlequin by Ligotti.
>>24713017>Now onto Harlequin by Ligotti.Will be waiting for the review bruh
>>24713020Almost done I think. Kinda underwhelming honestly. Hope the reason for the festival is actually revealed and isn't just "oh my science it's indescribable terrors beyond comprehension."
>>24713202It was a Lovecraft tribute I think
>>24704096I’m the guy you replied to.Weird fiction is any speculative fiction story that reuses tropes for a new purpose. It’s at the crossroads of traditional literature, oral tradition, mythology, and genre fiction.
>>24713228>reuses tropesSuch as?Where I can read on this genre?
>>24713227Don't really seem like it. I know I know it's supposed to be an homage to The Festival (which I felt was prematurely truncated) but it just lacks the same vibe. We'll see where it goes tho.
Okay. I liked the twist with the degenerated race of clown-people turning into giant, cannabilistic worms. But the last couple paragraphs confused me. Did the protagonist kill himself, or...? Anyways I'd give it a 6.5/10.
>>24702117is this the soi general?
>>24713328Yea.
Vgh...Cthulhu Mythos shit is fucking awesome.>“Iä! FThAGN!Iä!CTHulHu!”
>>24713233I suggest reading encyclopedia entries like these, or to read monographs on the topic like ST Joshi’s Unutterable Horror: A History of Supernatural Fiction. They reuse tropes by rethinking them and repurposing them, e.g. Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror reuses the trope of an immaculate conception in a cosmic horror context, similar to how Arthur Machen reused it in a horror context in The Great God Pan. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_fictionhttps://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/new_weird
Any good horror books about getting lost in the woods behind your house and meeting pagan gods and stuff like that? Just something that makes me feel like there is still some magic or mystery left in the boring world.
>>24714066White People by Machen
>>24714066You could try Manly Wade Wellman. The Old Gods Waken fits the bill for reenchanting Appalachia
>>24714066The Events at Poroth Farm by T.E.D Klein.
>>24714181>>24714154>>24714126Thanks, I’ll check those out.I remember once I read a multi-post greentext on /x/ about some guy who believed he had stone sprites living on his wooded property. Small standing stones in the yard that would rearrange themselves every night and sometimes cause mischief. He started leaving them offerings and they left him alone. Then one day the police showed up at his door because the body of a belligerent homeless man was found stuffed into a tree on his property. Apparently the rocks became guardians of this anon’s woods, and took matters into their own hands when this interloper strayed into them. I know it was just fiction, but for me that greentext was just the right mix of whimsy and foreboding that I’m looking for. Like Pan’s Labyrinth, if you’ve seen that movie. TLDR looking for creepy fairy tales.
>>24714181>The Events at Poroth Farm by T.E.D Klein.Overrated, "Meta" self referential Horror, which is probably why it gets so much praise by horror critics
>>24714378What horror would you recommend? (in general)
>>24714523The usual stuffLovecraft, machen, poe, smith, blackwood, etcKlein is a good writer (see his story children of the kingdom) but events at poroth farm is only praised so highly because it's meta self referntial stuff that critics love instead of a really great story. it's not like how lovecraft will offhanedly refer to a horror entity or work that somebody else invented, it's meta shit written for fanboys and critics and not discerning readers.
Never read a single Poe story in my life. Where should I start? I'm thinking of the Narrative of Arthur Pym cause apparently it heavily influenced Lovecraft.
>>24714572I've read his collection Dark Gods, and thought it was okay ("Black Man with a Horn" was by far the best story in there). What's your opinion on The Ceremonies?>>24714590You can start with some of his all timers: "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Masque of the Red Death" you know the ones. All excellent stories.
Ligotti is kinda mid.
Surprised no one has mentioned Robert Aickman besides OP, he's the GOAT.
>>24714607>What's your opinion on The Ceremonies?never read it and seeing the fact that it's 500 pages that really isn't getting me any more excited to read it
>>24710887>>24712239>WagnerHis kane stories are his greatest works. Peak dark fantasy/fantasy horror
Read The Fisherman by John Langan recently and thought it was good, but not great. Any recommendations for something with a similar rural/forest setting? Bonus points if it doesn't have the parallel horror/personal drama plots. I like my horror to just be scary stuff and not a metaphor for the protagonists' issues.
I read a hentai doujin once where the premise was that the protagonist volunteers for a sexual experiment where he's locked in a room and a woman who is everything he desires sexually makes him orgasm; the next day, she makes him orgasm twice, then the day after that, she makes him orgasm four times. The experiment was meant to last a month, it skips ahead from day 7 to day 30 and there was blood all over the room when the door unlocked for him. I thought it was one of the scariest concepts I've ever seen
More weird west
>>24711623Which books by Laymon do you like?
>>24714676Its hard to find his books in my country. Even the library have them
>>24715178*doesnt have them
>>24715171Not him but The Cellar was readable trash, Island unreadable trash, haven't bothered with any others. Dude is a total hack
I went to half priced books for the first time today, they had a surprisingly large horror section. I think I'm going to ignore my usual behavior of looking for titles/authors I've heard about before and next time I go just browse covers/back cover descriptions and try to find a hidden gem
Smith > Howard > Lovecraft
Reading The White People right now. I'm loving the second part of the novelette.
>>24715316Let us know what you find!>>24715660The White People is my favourite short horror story. It's super atmospheric, I'm glad you're enjoying it as well!
Reminder that, for every Stephen King book, someone already wrote a better version of It, see:>Burnt Offerings > The Shining>Swan's Song > The Stand>Floating Dragon > It>Jerusalem Man series > Dark Tower series
>>24714676He's my favorite too, but too literary to be considered outright horror for most people (Shirley Jackson is the closest equivalent to him imo). He's actually good at characterization and inner psychology too, compared to most of the big names.
Please recommend pastoral, woody and rural horror. I don't want gothic with human relations and crap like. Pure weird fiction or horror fiction set in rural with beautiful ethereal aesthetics which are not gore and have mysterious pagan aura like you felt when you woke up in the middle of night as a kid while sleeping outdoors. I am not even sure if I want horror, just dark undertones and something mysterious and kino.
>>24716321Some of the foundational horror/weird fiction stories are basically this>The Willows by Blackwood>The White People by Machen>The Man Who Went Too Far by E.F. BensonBlackwood and Machen in general wrote pagan folk horror
>>24716321The white people by machen as has been mentioned in this thread already
>>24716321This should be what you're looking for.
>>24716328>>24716330>>24716332Thanks anons Just a mental masturbation question: what is that "thing" you feel when you stand in moonlight and look at your own shadow and the silence around you and in the tree and on the canal? What is the name of this emotion? What do you make of it?
>>24716332>folk horrormemeshit buzzword
>>24716283Cool story, now do the other 50+ novels.
>>24716343folk horror is a subgenre of cosmic horror
>>24716917How?
>>24716945
>>24716283Haven't read the book but I saw the movie of Burnt Offerings and it was fucking crapMcCammon is bad so how good could Swan's Song be? Also Swan's Song came after The StandStraub is boring as watching paint dry so how good could Floating Dragon be?Jerusalem Who
>>24717243>Haven't read the book but I saw the movie of Burnt Offerings and it was fucking crapThe movie was shit, the book is much better.
