Horror, Fantasy, and other non-sci-fi genres...

[Dead & Messed Up]

Episode 9 of the Merkabah Rider saga, "The Long Sabbath," raises the bar of gruesome action to a level I've never encountered before. We're talking lawnmower scene from Dead Alive levels of gore, multiplied. The building tension and the evolving, epic nature of the main set piece is absolutely jow dropping. It also includes the nastiest stampede I've ever witnessed. Just brutal. And all so, so, SO good.

Stop. Making me want to read your books.

Dammit, I still haven't gotten to The Stars My Destination or John Dies At the End yet.

[D_Davis]

Dude - you will LOVE the Merkabah Rider series. Seriously. It is so bad ass. A horror western mixed with the Lovecraftian mythos and Jewish folklore - what's not to love?

[megladon8]

The horror western mixed with Lovecraft is certainly appealing, but I have no feelings for or against the Jewish folklore part.

Mainly because I wouldn't know Jewish folklore if it bit me on the ass.

[Dead & Messed Up]

The horror western mixed with Lovecraft is certainly appealing, but I have no feelings for or against the Jewish folklore part.

Mainly because I wouldn't know Jewish folklore if it bit me on the ass.

Yeah, I know of the golem and dybbuk, and that's it.

[D_Davis]

but I have no feelings for or against the Jewish folklore part.


Maybe you can learn about some and then develop an appreciation.

Here is a cool article about Erdelac's approach to mixing the elements of Lovcraft and Jewish folklore/religion. (http://tmarquitz.com/blog/?p=635)



But what is Merkabah Rider about? Mostly it’s about demonpunching and gunslinging monsters. Mostly. It’s a weird western yes, it’s a pulp horror adventure story in the mode of a Jewish Solomon Kane by way of the Wild West, yes, but at it’s heart, what is it?


Centrally, the overall plot is about the Outer Gods or The Great Old Ones of the Lovecraftian Mythos breaking into our reality, the Judeo-Christian/Abrahamic, Buddhist/Taoist/Shinto, Zorastrian, Pagan Whatever-Your-Pleasure universe we all know and presumably love because if you’re reading this you’re still in it. It’s about the crisis of faith the Rider experiences when the universe turns out to be much more than he learned in yeshiva.


Most Mythos writers either conveniently omit God and the saints and angels and demons entirely, or discount them as lesser beings, but in Merkabah Rider, the two pantheons are cosmic superpowers that exist side by opposing side. How is this possible? How can the existence of the two be reconciled?


Surprisingly easy it turns out, if you delve into the more archaic Judaic lore.
Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis, whose Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism is a major inspiration and resource behind my series of books, defines the Olam ha Tohu as:


“The World of Chaos.” A term that appears frequently in Chasidic thought, but in such different contexts, it is difficult to fix its precise meaning. In some places, it seems to be a temporal dimension, the universe prior to the creation of the primordial vessels of light.

Elsewhere, Dennis defines Chaos itself as:
‘The primordial state of existence before the creation of the cosmos….a constant threat, a power that lurks at the periphery of the cosmos….there is a danger that it can be unleashed again.’


Folklore and mythology is awesome. I've got a bunch of great books about Chinese and Japanese mythology and folklore, and I've gotten a lot out of them by recognizing bits and pieces used in other mediums like anime and video games. Just leaning a little bit about yokai greatly enhanced enjoyment of a lot of things.

[D_Davis]

So I'm actually having a really hard time enjoying this newest Merkabah Rider book, and not because of the fiction. The stories are still very cool and interesting.

It's because of all the typos and terrible formatting. I'm wondering if the book was even edited?

Misspelled words abound, missing punctuation marks are far too frequent, and after the first episode in the book there are no longer paragraph breaks signifying time and scene changes.

I'm not sure where to place the blame, but I'm really disappointed by it all.

[D_Davis]

Death Mask and Eulogy, by J.M. McDermott

So this was my first Kindle experience, and I loved it: both the book and reading it on the Kindle. I think I will soon find myself completely addicted to buying short little literary singles from authors, especially if authors like McDermott continue to support the format and release high quality works of fiction at affordable prices.

The best compliment I can give to Death Mask and Eulogy is that I wish it were longer, and I almost never say that about a book. DMaE is a novelette, just a tad longer than a short story, and it tells a story dealing with death, focusing on the reverence, fear, and absurdities surrounding the rituals the living perform for the dead.

McDermott's style here is more simple and threadbare than it is in Last Dragon and Never Knew Another, and it works perfectly to convey the story's world and characters. It is an interesting choice seeing as how many of the characters are artists to the extreme, but rather than drown the reader in purple prose with ornate, flowery description, McDermott chooses a minimalistic style.

I hope that McDermott is successful with these short releases, because I definitely want to read more from him.

[D_Davis]

25% into Imajica, and it is wonderful. Cannot wait to see where it all goes.

[D_Davis]

Imajica continues to be something truly special. Such a wondrous, evocative, and unique fantasy creation. It is utterly epic, and yet still intensely intimate. The love between Gentle and Pie 'oh' Pah is quite touching.

[D_Davis]

Each layer that is peeled away reveals more and more mystery. Barker's Imajica is some kind of masterpiece. So many wonderful characters, creatures, and locales; and the bizarre, fantastic narrative couched in themes dealing with religion, sex, desire, and passion makes the entire thing impossible for me not to love.

[D_Davis]

Imajica, by Clive Barker

Imajica is one heck of a book. It is an epic and sprawling tale of fantasy, religion, sexual desire, and obsession.

Desire and obsession - these are the two driving forces behind the narrative, the catalysts which spur the characters onto their accomplishments and failures, victories and defeats, and, ultimately, their lives and deaths.

It is, however, a tad too long. Even though it remains consistently engaging, I did have trouble staying focused for the entire month it took me to read. I kept thinking about all the other books I could be reading. And this is mostly just the nature of the kind of reader I am.

Ultimately, though, Imajica is incredible satisfying.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Currently working through The Double Shadow, a collection of Clark Ashton Smith. After The Maker of Gargoyles, I needed moar, and short stories like "The Double Shadow," "The Maze of the Enchanter," and "The Devotee of Evil" are satiating my desire.

Very intrigued by the Imajica love, D. I've always had trouble enjoying long-form Barker. I've read The Damnation Game, The Thief of Always, and Abarat, and none of them compelled me on a character level. He's always felt more conceptually talented to me, and more excited about delivering his "fantastique" visions, than he has been about crafting interesting characters, and I feel like I would need that to get me through a book of Imajica's length.

I adore the Books of Blood, but they're usually just long enough to present and explain the macabre visions.

[Winston*]

Reading Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone. On page 18 his love interest Cymoril is described as having fair hair, but then 14 pages later it is described as "jet-black". C'mon editors.

[D_Davis]

Very intrigued by the Imajica love, D. I've always had trouble enjoying long-form Barker. I've read The Damnation Game, The Thief of Always, and Abarat, and none of them compelled me on a character level. He's always felt more conceptually talented to me, and more excited about delivering his "fantastique" visions, than he has been about crafting interesting characters, and I feel like I would need that to get me through a book of Imajica's length.

I adore the Books of Blood, but they're usually just long enough to present and explain the macabre visions.

I really liked the characters in Imajica. All three of the main protagonists - Gentle, Pie 'oh' Pah, and Judith - are well realized.

I do agree with you for the most part, although it doesn't bother me because I never turn to Barker for character. I turn to Barker to be wowed by his insane visions. I haven' read a lot of his long-form stuff, but I loved Weaveworld, I like The Thief of Always, and I remember liking The Great and Secret Show a lot. I'm going to read the later again this year, along with Everville.

[D_Davis]

For those of you on Goodreads, my friend Alex and I started a reading group focusing on pre-Tolkien fantasy. There are a bunch of great folks in the group, so join up if that sounds interesting to you.

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/62441.Pre_Tolkien_Fantasy

In March we'll be reading The Worm Ouroboros, and today I'm starting Fifty-One Tales, by Lord Dunsany.

We'll also be reading A Journey to the West sometime this year.

[D_Davis]

The more I read from Lord Dunsany, the more it becomes apparent that the magical realists - Gabriel GarcÃ*a Márquez, Italo Calvino, et al. - must have worshiped at his throne. And yet he is shoved off into the ghettos of genre, while Marquez and Calvino are celebrated for their literary status. It's a disgrace.

[D_Davis]

Fifty-One Tales, by Lord Dunsany

Fifty-One Tales is a collection of vignettes, of brief little stories often folk-like in nature, containing few, if any, named characters; instead we catch glimpses of entities like Time and Nature, Fate and Fame, the architect, the poet, the artist, the hen, and the hair and the tortoise. While some are better than others, the entire collection is simply delightful.

From the very first tale, "The Assignation," Dunsany reveals his game - these stories feature a set-up, the delivery, and then a punchline. There is a formula at work here, as if Dunsany was limiting himself to a certain rigid structure, and then seeing what he could do within that framework. What he does is simple and elegant; he works magic.

Some of these tales made me laugh, others made me sad, and still others left me feeling thoughtful. "The Guest" is a morose little tale about suicide; "The Worm and the Angel" speaks of a brief conversation between the two; "The Reward" is a startling little tale of heaven and hell; and my favorite of the bunch, "The True History of the Hare and the Tortoise," is, without doubt, one of the best things I've ever read.

The more I read Dunsany, the more it becomes clear to me that the magical realists - authors like Gabriel GarcÃ*a Márquez and Pablo Neruda, along with Italo Calvino - must have worshiped at the throne of his mastery. Lord Dunsany is an author with a stunning command of the English language; he is a poet and an artist, a truly creative force.

[D_Davis]

Started the second part of J.M. McDermott's Dogsland Trilogy today, When We Were Executioners. It's going to be good to get lost in this world again.

[D_Davis]

I'm about half way through When We Were Executioners, the second installment of J.M. McDermott's Dogsland trilogy. As per usual with McDermott, it is incredible. This guy can do no wrong. This is the third thing I've read from him in as many months (the other two being short stories - Death Mask and Eulogy, and King Basilisk's Palace) and each piece has been stunning.

When We Were Executioners is not an easy read. It is reminding me a lot of a fantasy version of The Wire. It's story that is intensely focused on its characters, almost to a pointillism extreme, and the way they live their lives in a fictional city as seedy and dangerous as The Wire's depiction of Baltimore. There are cops, robbers, whores, drug runners, kingpins, soldiers, corruption, death, debauchery and disease around every corner.

Why McDermott isn't among the most popular fantasists writing today will forever be a mystery to me.

[D_Davis]

When We Were Executioners, by J.M. McDermott

Sometimes there aren't reasons for things; sometimes things just are. This is true for the characters and story depicted in J.M. McDermott's book, When We Were Executioners, and true for the book itself.

Thus far, The Dogsland Trilogy is the polar opposite of high, epic fantasy. I'm not quite sure what the opposite of epic is, but in this case the narrative is super small and extremely personal, almost to the point of it being a work of pointillism.

The Dogsland Trilogy is low fantasy, very low, and also very urban. I'm not talking about urban in the sense of a Neil Gaiman or Clive Barker urban fantasy. This isn't cute-goth, or weird alt-London, or steampunk. It's urban in the sense of it taking place in the inner-city; it's urban in the same way that The Wire is urban. It's about the lives of a few people trying to get by, it's about whores and drug dealers, cops and criminals, addicts and politicians, all trying to live their lives with the cards they were dealt, while all around them the city, their very environment, chews them up and spits them out.

And the chewing gets nasty. McDermott punctuates this book with a few scenes of extreme, grotesque violence, violence that has a point, and violence that hits hard. It is graphic and hard to read, but never gratuitous. This is not violence in the context of action, or titillation, or excitement. These depictions of violence serve to illustrate the consequences of living in a city like Dogsland.

When you get right down to it, there isn't a lot going on plot-wise. It's basically a direct continuation of the first book, Never Knew Another, almost to the point of it being the same book. Things happen, but there isn't a grand, sweeping narrative with an exciting dramatic drive keeping the pages turning. It is, rather, a very small story about people, their lives, their love, and their survival.

And so what's the point of the book? What's the point of it being a trilogy? I'm sure if you simply examined the plot of the entire thing, you could easily tell the story in a single volume, perhaps in the length of a novella; the plot is not complex, at all. But some things don't need points, or reasons. Some things just are. This book exists simply to read about and spend time with a few fictional characters, not completely unlike people you might know, save for some of them being shape-shifters and of-demons. It exists to be read, and isn't this the ultimate purpose of all fiction?

[D_Davis]

The Turtle Boy, by Kealan Patrick Burke

"I'm feeding the turtles."

A simple line of dialog, and yet one that will haunt me for ages to come. The meaning behind the line, the character uttering it, and the implications of what is in store for Timmy Quinn, the story's hero, are all wonderfully examined and illustrated in this short novella.

I've said it before, but it's worth saying again: Kealan Patrick Burke is (or should be) the next Stephen King. He's got that same simple, yet highly effective voice, and, like King, Burke knows how to turn a phrase for optimum horror effect. Burke doesn't write in the same niche voice as a Ligotti or a Cisco; he's not "underground" or "experimental," although he is still unfairly not a huge seller. I rarely hear people talking about him, and that has to change. Burke posses a unique trait - he's got a strong voice, a ton of talent, and he has his pulse on things I think the mass market would gravitate towards.

This is the second book I've read from Kealan Patrick Burke, and one thing is abundantly clear - I need to read more. And now, thanks to the Kindle and e-books, this simple task is doable. When I first discovered Burke, a few years ago, most of his fiction was completely OOP, and very expensive. "The Turtle Boy" was selling on the second-hand market for over $150, as were most of his other books. Now most of them are completely affordable and readily available.

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the Timmy Quinn stories, including the full-length finally coming out some time this year.

[D_Davis]

Started Wildest Dreams, by Norman Partridge (Dark Harvest) last night, and it is awesome. It's a wickedly cool little hardboiled story about a hitman who can also see spirits, and yes he's often haunted by the people he's hired to kill. Really freaking good, and a lot of fun.

[D_Davis]

For this month's pre-Tolkien fantasy reading (just barely pre-LOTR), I'm reading Manly Wade Wellman's classic caveman series, Hok the Mighty.

And it is AWESOME. Brutal caveman action coupled with Wellman's eye for human drama.

[D_Davis]

Here is a thing of great beauty

http://www.haffnerpress.com/hp/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/newthun-300x463.jpg

[D_Davis]

Hok the Mighty is AWESOME. I love Wellman's style. While he was not an academic, he was a great regional historian, and has an eye for incredible detail. The world of Hok, while fantastic, benefits from Wellman's historical eye, and it is very well researched and presented. I especially love how Wellman is retconning popular myths and legends.

[D_Davis]

Out of all the pulp authors I've read, Wellman is far and away my favorite. I think his voice is simply the most concise and concrete. This short paragraph perfectly illustrates his mastery of the language:

"Hok had thought only of getting away. The soldiers of Tlanis had thought only of returning to their city under the barrier. This difference of desire resulted in his escape and their destruction."

That is just an awesome paragraph.

[D_Davis]

Hok the Mighty, by Manly Wade Wellman

Hok the Mighty rules. That is a fact. He is the greatest guy to have ever existed. He was the first man to ever kiss a woman; he invented the bow; he invented the sword; he discovered Atlantis; and it is his exploits that became the basis for Hercules. No one that ever lived or ever will live will be half the man that Hok the Mighty is. If you took He-Man, Conan, Mr. T, Andre the Giant, Jesus, Rambo and Rocky, and mixed them together, the resulting mega-man would still be a frightened little school boy when compared to Hok the Mighty.

And it makes sense. I mean, just look at the name of the dude who created him: Manly Wade Wellman. The dude's name has MAN in it...TWICE. He's easily two times manlier than any other dude that doesn't have the word MAN in his name, not counting the name Manfred, because that name is never manly. As a matter of fact, if Hok the Mighty and Manly Wade Wellman were to ever meet IRL, the resulting magnitude of man-power would most likely create a vortex of testosterone that would suck every last ounce of estrogen out of every other living thing in the universe thus completely destroying all traces of feminine culture, thus rendering the universe the ultimate Man Cave in which dudes would just hang out, hunt, play video games, drink beer, and bonk things on the head.

[D_Davis]

The Wizards and the Warriors, by Hugh Cook

Started this last night, and I'm loving it. This is how you kick off an epic fantasy. It begins in the middle of the quest, after things are already interesting. Wow! What a novel idea. The writing is superb, the sense of humor is biting, and the genre send-ups are masterfully arranged.

And again I have to ask: why are most of his books OOP, and why aren't more people talking about him now? Fantasy is pretty big right now, and someone needs to be bigging-up Hugh Cook. Can't wait to read more.

[D_Davis]

About 1/2 way through Hugh Cook's The Wizards and the Warriors, and it continues to be incredibly awesome. I think I finally found my epic fantasy series. It contains some of the most amazing passages I've ever read in the genre. One passage in particular, describing a knight's ascent up a cliff to kill a dragon, is superb. Cook is a master of taking cliche and stereotypes and subverting them just enough to make them interesting without throwing away the power found in the archetypes and conventions. It appears that he has actually figured out a way to have his cake and eat it, too.

As the quest progresses, the questing heroes slowly and secretly reveal their own personal desires, and it is becoming clear that there isn't a good man in the bunch. As a matter of fact, some of them are more evil than the so-called villain.

The book is violent and angry, sad and melancholy, and exciting and funny. I'm so glad I discovered this.

[D_Davis]

The Wizards and the Warlords, by Hugh Cook

I had an absolute blast reading through this. It's been a very long time since I've been able to get into this kind of fantasy, and it feels really good to have found a book like this that I enjoy.

Cook's world and characters are fascinating. He sets up a fairly stereotypical setting, and populates it with your standard archetypes, and then, bit by bit, and layer by layer, he peels and chips away at things until he reveals characters, situations, motivations, and scenarios that play out unlike anything I've read before.

I also admired Cook's ability to juggle a dozen or so characters without relying on any predetermined villains or heroes. Each character possesses qualities of hero and villain. They are not driven by a desire to do good or to do bad, they are simply motivated by things that are important to them as people and their relationships with each other.

The plot does stall a bit towards the end, and I feel as though one entire portion of the book could have been left out entirely. However, the vast majority of everything Cook presents is so good and so much fun that it hardly even matters.

[D_Davis]

It finally arrived...

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/424281_331741950209789_1000012 19601760_972788_1929880060_n.j pg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/431455_331742100209774_1000012 19601760_972789_2145153454_n.j pg

[D_Davis]

And now onto this month's pre-Tolkien fantasy read:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RsCCizsWvNw/TTnE5rCZLhI/AAAAAAAAL-A/T4bitMAFVF8/s1600/worm+ooro.jpg

Pretty much the most definitive of the pre-Tolkien fantasy classics.

[D_Davis]

The Worm Ouroboros is interesting so far. I like parts of, and I don't like parts of it. However, I'm sticking with it because I've never really read anything quite like it. I guess you could say I'm sticking with it out of respect for how damn influential it has been, and continues to be. I can tell that it was a huge inspiration to Tolkien, Vance, and Gygax, the three pillars of what we today consider fantastic fiction. The Worm Ouroboros is the bedrock of the genre, and should probably be seen as the point at which things transitioned from myth and fairy-tales into a genre that more resembles fantasy as we think of it today. It's even quite different than Lord Dunsany's work, although I do prefer Dunsany's prose.

[D_Davis]

I'm giving up on The Worm Ouroboros. With each passing page I am finding fewer and fewer things to like about it. I'm just not a fan of the Jacobean style. I don't like super-long passages of dialog in which the characters tell the audience about everything, and, frankly, I was just finding myself bored. It's challenging in the way that Shakespeare is challenging - not in theme or plotting, but in simply having to decipher what the characters are saying, but then once you do you realize that they're not really saying or doing anything that great.

The greatness and complexity is found in the language and style that Eddison employs. If you like language for the sake of language, you'll probably love this book. I'm not that in love with language. I needed something more in terms of theme and plotting.

When I heard that the book was very difficult, I imagined it difficult in the same ways that Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition, or Michael Cisco's The Great Lover are difficult; these books are like puzzles, and the authors employ a cryptic style that adds to the theme and makes the puzzle interesting to figure out. The Worm Ouroboros isn't difficult like this, rather the difficulty is found in the dense, lyrical, and flowery language, and understanding the archaic words used like 'anon' and 'murther' and so on.

So The Worm Ouroboros is not for me.

[D_Davis]

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1322421772l/3284060.jpg

[D_Davis]

I am devouring The Magician out of Manchuria, and it is absolutely delightful, weird, brazen, bizarre and hilarious. The Magician is a one-of-a-kind character: a fat, bloated, self-serving trickster who may or may not be a genius or a fool; and he's the protagonist of the story. While I can't say that it is as good as The Circus of Dr. Lao (but then again, what is?), it's almost on par with that masterpiece of the fantastic.

[D_Davis]

Only 21 more days until A Wind Through the Keyhole...I can't wait.

[D_Davis]

This morning I started reading The Orphan Palace, by Joe Pulver.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51g8TmO6IDL._SS500_.jpg
It's a work of weird fiction, and is experimental in style. It's written in a kind of half prose, half verse style, and it is a very dark story about a disturbed killer who may or may not be living out a story from the pages of a hardboiled pulp thriller. I picked it up because one of my favorite authors of experimental weird fiction, Michael Cisco, wrote the introduction, and Thomas Ligotti thinks Pulver is incredible. I consider that to be all the recommendation I need, and if anyone here reads Cisco or Ligotti I'm sure you'll know what I mean.

Anyhow, I'm really digging it so far. One problem I often have with this kind of fiction is that these stories are rarely from the POV of the most interesting character: the killer. The killer is almost always far more interesting than the detective/investigator, but too many authors are too scared to put themselves and their readers into the head of the bad guy, even though it would almost always make for a far more interesting story, both in terms of characterization and plot.

Pulver's stream of conscious style works perfectly for this road-trip-into-hell narrative, and the terse, threadbare style works wonders in conveying a sense of urgency and intimacy. I'm definitely going to be checking out more from Pulver in the future.

And speaking of Michael Cisco, he has a new book coming out soon:

http://chomupress.com/our-books/celebrant/


http://chomupress.com/wp-content/uploads/Celebrant-front-cover-197x300.jpg

[D_Davis]

The Orphan Palace is really something special. There are so many amazing passages, and damn is it ever dark. I've commented before about how when I read Michael Cisco, I hear this very distinct voice in my head, somewhat similar to the brain in the box in the film City of Lost Children. I'm hearing that voice with Pulver's novel; it's a voice that speaks on a very primal level, one that taps into the very nerve system of myth and fiction.

[D_Davis]

The Orphan Palace continues to alternate between so far gone it's nigh incomprehensible, to so utterly cool it hurts my brain. And through it all it continues to be one of the most relentlessly unique and creative works of experimental fiction I've ever read. The combined use of prose and verse, and what each represents within the narrative, is masterful; it's a case of form and function working in perfect tandem.

It is also insanely weird and bizarre. There is this strange narrative current involving a series of hardboiled thrillers published by The Shadow Brothers that is slowly making it's way towards the surface of comprehension. The books are written by a number of different authors, and each has a different title, but all of the covers are the same and the stories are all almost identical. The main character - Cardigan, a serial killer on a rampage from the west coast to the east coast, trying to get back to the orphanage where he grew up so he can destroy it - always stays at a certain hotel chain, and rather than a Bible, the rooms are stocked with these crime novels.

It's also cool that Pulver mentions the Hounds of Tindalos and the black stars, but the novel is definitely not a work of mythos fiction.

So yeah - highly recommended.

[D_Davis]

The Orphan Palace is brilliant. One of the better written novels I've read, with a ton of experimentation and strange things going on. The half verse, half prose style works wonders in conveying the POV characters pathos, and his tale is one of extremes.

If you're into extreme fiction, experimental fiction, hardboiled thrillers, uber-dark weird fiction, serial killer stuff, or just the joys of the written language, I highly, highly recommend checking out Pulver's novel.

[D_Davis]

Going to be a great evening.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/535081_363246690392648_1000012 19601760_1063034_1581581371_n. jpg

I actually got the chills walking up to the register with this.

[D_Davis]

The Wind Through the Keyhole, by Stephen King

3.5 Stars

My second least favorite of the DT books, coming right after Wizard and Glass, which makes a lot of sense.

Basically, The Wind Through the Keyhole is two novellas framed by a short story set between WaG and Calla. I would have preferred if this book was simply a collection of Dark Tower short stories/novellas, without the framing device.

King has created a lot of myth in and around this world, and it could make for a very interesting series of anthologies, maybe even including stories written by other authors.

The two main stories in the book are pretty good, but not great. The story about young Roland is good, and sheds a little light on his eventual-relationship with Jake. The main part, the title story, is a basic fairy tale with some very cool parts, but it takes way too long to get good. It's all built on known tropes and conventions - as are all fairy tales - so there really isn't a reason to set this kind of stuff up in one written today. We - the readers - know all this stuff already, so get to the good parts faster.

Anyhow, it was nice visiting my old friends again. BTW, I think the DT-related short story in Everything's Eventual is better than this book, and that would have been a cool addition to a DT-themed short story collection.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Anyhow, it was nice visiting my old friends again. BTW, I think the DT-related short story in Everything's Eventual is better than this book, and that would have been a cool addition to a DT-themed short story collection.

"The Little Sisters of Eluria." Yeah, that was good stuff.

I was tempted to buy this yesterday, but I also just kinda want to leave Roland and his friends to their series proper.

[D_Davis]

This cannot come soon enough!

http://www.haffnerpress.com/hp/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Thunstone_Thorne_Progress01.jp g

[D_Davis]

The Neverending Story (the first half), by Micheal Ende

I recently re-read the first half of Micheal Ende's The Neverending Story; this is the half that the first movie is based on, and it is remarkably better than the second half. It has been many, many years since I first read it, and I was curious as to how it would hold up, perhaps even a little nervous that it would be better left as a distant memory.

My fears were unfounded, and I might have liked it even more now. It is simply a wonderful fantasy tale full of adventure, metaphysical pondering, imagination, and overflowing with a love for adventure, belief, and creativity. It does an amazing job at showing how important it is for human beings to believe in things outside of our own limited reality; there is far more to the world than we can ever know, see, or hear, and through the power of belief, imagination, creativity, and mythology we can enter into special magical places.

My favorite part of the story is in the Spook City, when Atreyu comes face-to-face with the Gmork, the werewolf. Their verbal confrontation is masterfully portrayed, and I love the metatextual, metaphysical things revealed in their conversations. It's very much akin to Stephen King's The Dark Tower, or Michael Cisco's The Divinity Student in this arena. And my love for all three makes sense. I love stories about stories, and I love stories about the power of fiction and the relationship between the artist, the art, and the audience.

I am very glad that I returned to this narrative. It's just a great story. I only wish that the second half was as good. Maybe I would like it more, now, but somehow I doubt it, and, truth be told, I'd rather not chance it. As it stands, the first half of The Neverending Story is a timeless classic, a fantasy as strong as any I've ever read.

[Kurosawa Fan]

TOTALLY agree about the first half being much stronger than the second half. That was my major complaint after reading it a while back. The second half is so rambling and seemingly lacking focus that I struggled to maintain interest.

[D_Davis]

Man - no one's reading any genre fiction around here. This thread has turned into the D_Davis blog. :(

[D_Davis]

TOTALLY agree about the first half being much stronger than the second half. That was my major complaint after reading it a while back. The second half is so rambling and seemingly lacking focus that I struggled to maintain interest.

You read this more recently, too, right?

I remember really, really disliking the second half. It's like once the movie-part ended, it went down hill really fast.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Man - no one's reading any genre fiction around here. This thread has turned into the D_Davis blog. :(

I read genre fiction, but only a handful per year. I'm not nearly as devoted to it as you. I tend to read your posts in these threads, and copy down the books that sound interesting to me, but I love a wide variety of styles and genres, so it'll take me decades to get to some of your recommendations.

[Kurosawa Fan]

You read this more recently, too, right?

I remember really, really disliking the second half. It's like once the movie-part ended, it went down hill really fast.

Yes, either last year or the year prior, I can't remember which. And I'm not sure I disliked it as much as you did, but there was definitely a large drop in quality. I know when I posted my feelings on it, at least one person said they preferred the second half. I'm sure a quick search would bring up our conversation. I'll check for it.

[D_Davis]

I read genre fiction, but only a handful per year. I'm not nearly as devoted to it as you. I tend to read your posts in these threads, and copy down the books that sound interesting to me, but I love a wide variety of styles and genres, so it'll take me decades to get to some of your recommendations.

I totally understand. I was just surprised as I scrolled up the page to find that I'm the only one who has posted about reading anything in this thread for a long time! :)

And hey, I just saw that you read a Martin book, but you talk about it in the regular lit section! Travesty! That's fantasy, man! :)

[Kurosawa Fan]

Here's the link:

http://www.match-cut.org/showthread.php?p=157247&highlight=neverending#post1572 47

Monolith responds a few posts down, saying he found the second half superior.

As for my Martin post, I know you don't care for him, or at least never read the series, so I posted it in the main thread so that more users would see it. Guess that proves your theory that this really is a Davis thread. :P

[D_Davis]

Here's the link:

http://www.match-cut.org/showthread.php?p=157247&highlight=neverending#post1572 47

Monolith responds a few posts down, saying he found the second half superior.

As for my Martin post, I know you don't care for him, or at least never read the series, so I posted it in the main thread so that more users would see it. Guess that proves your theory that this really is a Davis thread. :P

;)

Huh...interesting. The lion in the desert was awesome. Maybe I'll read the second half again later this year. But for now, I feel like I want to read something different - some Dame Muriel Spark.

[D_Davis]

Anyone looking to get into weird fiction, the most mega ultimate anthology of all time is out now. Covers everything from MR James to Kafka, from King to Merritt, from Lovecraft to Cisco, for Bierce to Barker, and on and on, from 1908 through the present, with over 1,000 pages and 140 stories. (http://www.amazon.com/The-Weird-Compendium-Strange-Stories/dp/0765333600/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336753820&sr=1-1)

Table of Contents
Story order is chronological except for a couple of exceptions transposed for thematic reasons. Stories translated into English are largely positioned by date of first publication in their original language. Authors are North American or from the United Kingdom unless otherwise indicated.



Alfred Kubin, “The Other Side� (excerpt), 1908 (translation, Austria)
F. Marion Crawford, “The Screaming Skull,� 1908
Algernon Blackwood, “The Willows,� 1907
Saki, “Sredni Vashtar,� 1910
M.R. James, “Casting the Runes,� 1911
Lord Dunsany, “How Nuth Would Have Practiced his Art,� 1912
Gustav Meyrink, “The Man in the Bottle,� 1912 (translation, Austria)
Georg Heym, “The Dissection,� 1913 (new translation by Gio Clairval, Germany)
Hanns Heinz Ewers, “The Spider,� 1915 (translation, Germany)
Rabindranath Tagore, “The Hungry Stones,� 1916 (India)
Luigi Ugolini, “The Vegetable Man,� 1917 (new translation by Anna and Brendan Connell, Italy; first-ever translation into English)
A. Merritt, “The People of the Pit,� 1918
Ryunosuke Akutagawa, “The Hell Screen,� 1918 (new translation, Japan)
Francis Stevens (Gertrude Barrows Bennett), “Unseen—Unfeared,� 1919
Franz Kafka, “In the Penal Colony,� 1919 (translation, German/Czech)
Stefan Grabinski, “The White Weyrak,� 1921 (translation, Poland)
H.F. Arnold, “The Night Wire,� 1926
H.P. Lovecraft, “The Dunwich Horror,� 1929
Margaret Irwin, “The Book,� 1930
Jean Ray, “The Mainz Psalter,� 1930 (translation, Belgium)
Jean Ray, “The Shadowy Street,� 1931 (translation, Belgium)
Clark Ashton Smith, “Genius Loci,� 1933
Hagiwara Sakutoro, “The Town of Cats,� 1935 (translation, Japan)
Hugh Walpole, “The Tarn,� 1936
Bruno Schulz, “Sanatorium at the Sign of the Hourglass,� 1937 (translation, Poland)
Robert Barbour Johnson, “Far Below,� 1939
Fritz Leiber, “Smoke Ghost,� 1941
Leonora Carrington, “White Rabbits,� 1941
Donald Wollheim, “Mimic,� 1942
Ray Bradbury, “The Crowd,� 1943
William Sansom, “The Long Sheet,� 1944
Jorge Luis Borges, “The Aleph,� 1945 (translation, Argentina)
Olympe Bhely-Quenum, “A Child in the Bush of Ghosts,� 1949 (Benin)
Shirley Jackson, “The Summer People,� 1950
Margaret St. Clair, “The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles,� 1951
Robert Bloch, “The Hungry House,� 1951
Augusto Monterroso, “Mister Taylor,� 1952 (new translation by Larry Nolen, Guatemala)
Amos Tutuola, “The Complete Gentleman,� 1952 (Nigeria)
Jerome Bixby, “It’s a Good Life,� 1953
Julio Cortazar, “Axolotl,� 1956 (new translation by Gio Clairval, Argentina)
William Sansom, “A Woman Seldom Found,� 1956
Charles Beaumont, “The Howling Man,� 1959
Mervyn Peake, “Same Time, Same Place,� 1963
Dino Buzzati, “The Colomber,� 1966 (new translation by Gio Clairval, Italy)
Michel Bernanos, “The Other Side of the Mountain,� 1967 (new translation by Gio Clairval, France)
Merce Rodoreda, “The Salamander,� 1967 (translation, Catalan)
Claude Seignolle, “The Ghoulbird,� 1967 (new translation by Gio Clairval, France)
Gahan Wilson, “The Sea Was Wet As Wet Could Be,� 1967
Daphne Du Maurier, “Don’t Look Now,� 1971
Robert Aickman, “The Hospice,� 1975
Dennis Etchison, “It Only Comes Out at Night,� 1976
James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Sheldon), “The Psychologist Who Wouldn’t Do Terrible Things to Rats,� 1976
Eric Basso, “The Beak Doctor,� 1977
Jamaica Kincaid, “Mother,� 1978 (Antigua and Barbuda/US)
George R.R. Martin, “Sandkings,� 1979
Bob Leman, “Window,� 1980
Ramsey Campbell, “The Brood,� 1980
Michael Shea, “The Autopsy,� 1980
William Gibson/John Shirley, “The Belonging Kind,� 1981
M. John Harrison, “Egnaro,� 1981
Joanna Russ, “The Little Dirty Girl,� 1982
M. John Harrison, “The New Rays,� 1982
Premendra Mitra, “The Discovery of Telenapota,� 1984 (translation, India)
F. Paul Wilson, “Soft,� 1984
Octavia Butler, “Bloodchild,� 1984
Clive Barker, “In the Hills, the Cities,� 1984
Leena Krohn, “Tainaron,� 1985 (translation, Finland)
Garry Kilworth, “Hogfoot Right and Bird-hands,� 1987
Lucius Shepard, “Shades,� 1987
Harlan Ellison, “The Function of Dream Sleep,� 1988
Ben Okri, “Worlds That Flourish,� 1988 (Nigeria)
Elizabeth Hand, “The Boy in the Tree,� 1989
Joyce Carol Oates, “Family,� 1989
Poppy Z Brite, “His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood,� 1990
Michal Ajvaz, “The End of the Garden,� 1991 (translation, Czech)
Karen Joy Fowler, “The Dark,� 1991
Kathe Koja, “Angels in Love,� 1991
Haruki Murakami, “The Ice Man,� 1991 (translation, Japan)
Lisa Tuttle, “Replacements,� 1992
Marc Laidlaw, “The Diane Arbus Suicide Portfolio,� 1993
Steven Utley, “The Country Doctor,� 1993
William Browning Spenser, “The Ocean and All Its Devices,� 1994
Jeffrey Ford, “The Delicate,� 1994
Martin Simpson, “Last Rites and Resurrections,� 1994
Stephen King, “The Man in the Black Suit,� 1994
Angela Carter, “The Snow Pavilion,� 1995
Craig Padawer, “The Meat Garden,� 1996
Stepan Chapman, “The Stiff and the Stile,� 1997
Tanith Lee, “Yellow and Red,� 1998
Kelly Link, “The Specialist’s Hat,� 1998
Caitlin R. Kiernan, “A Redress for Andromeda,� 2000
Michael Chabon, “The God of Dark Laughter,� 2001
China Mieville, “Details,� 2002
Michael Cisco, “The Genius of Assassins,� 2002
Neil Gaiman, “Feeders and Eaters,� 2002
Jeff VanderMeer, “The Cage,� 2002
Jeffrey Ford, “The Beautiful Gelreesh,� 2003
Thomas Ligotti, “The Town Manager,� 2003
Brian Evenson, “The Brotherhood of Mutilation,� 2003
Mark Samuels, “The White Hands,� 2003
Daniel Abraham, “Flat Diana,� 2004
Margo Lanagan, “Singing My Sister Down,� 2005 (Australia)
T.M. Wright, “The People on the Island,� 2005
Laird Barron, “The Forest,� 2007
Liz Williams, “The Hide,� 2007
Reza Negarestani, “The Dust Enforcer,� 2008 (Iran)
Micaela Morrissette, “The Familiars,� 2009
Steve Duffy, “In the Lion’s Den,� 2009
Stephen Graham Jones, “Little Lambs,� 2009
K.J. Bishop, “Saving the Gleeful Horse,� 2010 (Australia)

[kuehnepips]

Let's visit Davis' thread again ... :lol:

amazon kept recommending The Lies of Locke Lamora (Lynch) to me so I finally gave in and: I was entertained!

I'll read the next books in the series.

[D_Davis]

Let's visit Davis' thread again ... :lol:

amazon kept recommending The Lies of Locke Lamora (Lynch) to me so I finally gave in and: I was entertained!

I'll read the next books in the series.

;)

I hear that's a lot of fun. I keep meaning to check it out. I get a kind of fantasy-themed Stainless Steel Rat vibe from what I've heard.

[D_Davis]

What a tome.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/166756_379709548746362_1000012 19601760_1106676_2101869126_n. jpg

[Dead & Messed Up]

Finished John Dies at the End. Very fun. I was surprised by how well "David Wong" fused Lovecraftian horror and scatological humour, something I would never have expected. Delightful. The revelation of what Korrok really is? Smart. The twist at the end? Smarter. There were times when the constant monster invention grew a little wearying instead of impressive (slow down and tell the damn story, the reader whined), but in retrospect, I'd rather have too much of a good thing than not enough.

Seriously, Korrok was an awesome reveal.

Now, onto Dunsany's The Gods of Pegana.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Davis, give me a list of ten books between Cisco, Lansdale, and Ligotti that you think are the best. No need to distribute them evenly, just your ten favorite books from these three authors (these are your three favorite "horror" novelists outside of King, correct?).

[Kurosawa Fan]

I should have added a "please" or an "if you find time" to that post. I could probably search back through this thread, but I'm just hoping you can post 10 of your favorite horror novels from those authors. They are guys I've wanted to read for awhile, and I want to start with what you consider their best work.

[Kurosawa Fan]

What a tome.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/166756_379709548746362_1000012 19601760_1106676_2101869126_n. jpg

Also, my wife is ordering this for me from my kids for Father's Day.

[D_Davis]

Also, my wife is ordering this for me from my kids for Father's Day.

Nice! It's a huge book. I think it's going to live on my desk and/or coffee table for some time, as I read my way through it.

Can't wait to read the new Cisco tale.

[D_Davis]

Davis, give me a list of ten books between Cisco, Lansdale, and Ligotti that you think are the best. No need to distribute them evenly, just your ten favorite books from these three authors (these are your three favorite "horror" novelists outside of King, correct?).

Cisco has only written a handful of books (including his newest, Celebrant, which came out this week), and I think they are all worth reading, and there are only a few Ligotti books currently in print. As far as Lansdale goes, very few of his novels are actually horror, most are crime/thriller. Many of his short stories are horror, though.


1. The Great Lover - Cisco (although I wouldn't read it without having first read The Divinity Student, The Narrator, and The Tyrant)
2. The Divinity Student - Cisco
3. The Narrator - Cisco
4. My Work is Not Yet Done - Ligotti
5. Teatro Grotesco - Ligotti (short stories)
6. Songs of a Dead Dreamer - Ligotti (short stories)
7. Bumper Crop - Lansdale (short stories)
8. High Cotton - Lansdale (short stories)
9. The Bottoms - Lansdale
10. A Fine Dark Line - Lansdale

[Kurosawa Fan]

Nice. Thank you very much. Any other strictly horror novels or writers you would suggest? I want something that will give me nightmares. Horror is a genre I tend to neglect despite the fact that I get immense satisfaction while reading it.

[D_Davis]

I should clarify that Cisco isn't strictly "horror." He is more weird. He's the modern Kafka, but with more fantasy; so if you are expecting to be scared, you might be disappointed with Cisco, as he tends to be more surreal, unsettling, and bizarre. I tend to gravitate more towards the weird side of horror. Ligotti can be straight up terrifying. Probably the only author to ever give me nightmares.

Novels/novellas/short story collections:

Dark Gods, by T.E.D. Klein (probably the best Lovecraft pastiche ever written)
Dark Harvest, by Norman Partridge (more B-movie pulp, but just amazing)
October Country, by Ray Bradbury
The Exorcist/Legion, by William Peter Blatty

A couple of other anthologies to get:

To Sleep Perchance to Dream...Nightmare
Prime Evil
Dark Descent

Other authors I love (all of which are in The Weird):

Algernon Blackwood
MR James
Lord Dunsany
A. Merritt ("The People of the Pit," in The Weird. I think this is one of the finest weird tales ever)
Clark Ashton Smith
Clive Barker (although i don't know if you'd dig Barker)

And still more authors:

Arthur Machen ("The Great God Pan")
Sheridan Le Fanu ("The Drunkard's Dream")
Robert W. Chambers (The King in Yellow)

[D_Davis]

I'm about 1/2 through J.M. McDermott's Disintegration Visions, his first short story collection. With each passing page I read from McDermott, it becomes more and more clear that he is, in fact, my favorite living author. And as much as I love his novels - mainly The Last Dragon, my single favorite fantasy novel - it is in the short form that he truly excels. The stories in this collection range from urban fantasy to horror, and from science fiction to modern fable, and McDermott handles each with the skill of a seasoned master. His voice is confident and bold, his prose is exquisite, and his stories are moving in all of the right ways.

It's a shame that his books don't sell well, but I guess it makes sense. He's far out of step with modern trends, not concerned with geek-cred, and his style is, perhaps, a bit more literary than some are used to. I think that given time fans of Gene Wolfe will come around to and discover McDermott (I know the few I've introduced to him have). If you're looking for something new, mature, bold and interesting in the realms of fantasy and genre fiction, check out J.M. McDermott.

[D_Davis]

KF, another Lansdale you might want to check out is The Complete Drive-In. It's probably the closest thing to a straight up horror novel that he's written. It's very B-movie in style, and incredible twisted and violent - almost splatter-punk.

The first few paragraphs of part 2 contain some of the best writing I've ever read in a genre novel. Lansdale can turn a phrase like no one's business.

[Kurosawa Fan]

KF, another Lansdale you might want to check out is The Complete Drive-In. It's probably the closest thing to a straight up horror novel that he's written. It's very B-movie in style, and incredible twisted and violent - almost splatter-punk.

The first few paragraphs of part 2 contain some of the best writing I've ever read in a genre novel. Lansdale can turn a phrase like no one's business.

Cool, I'll add it to the list. I've just started scratching the surface of The Weird. Read Bradbury's "The Crowd," which was pretty great. Have you read anything worth recommending?

[D_Davis]

Have you read anything worth recommending?

In that collection? Haven't even started it yet. :)

New Michael Cisco book arrives today, so that should keep me occupied for awhile. I don't think it's going to be an easy read, and it is his longest work yet.

[D_Davis]

It is in hand.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/246510_399073216809995_1318082 327_n.jpg

[D_Davis]

The Celebrant sounds awesome.



Phantasmagorist Cisco (The Tyrant) explores the concept of reincarnation in a chimerical story about a homeless man named deKlend—who may actually be institutionalized in a sanitarium—and his attempt to make a pilgrimage to the imaginary country of Votu, a fantastical realm where time runs backward, the inhabitants worship five “natural� robots that formed spontaneously, and gangs of theriomorphic waifs (rabbit girls and pigeon girls) struggle to survive as urban scavengers. As deKlend’s quest progresses, he meets Phryne, a lead addict who self-medicates her lead poisoning by absorbing the energies from other people’s incestuous encounters, and Goose Goes Back, a soul inhabiting a bizarre fusion of machine and cadaver until it can be reincarnated. An extensive expansion of topics only touched upon in “The Thing in the Jar,� Cisco’s contribution to The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, this fusion of surrealist travelogue and journey of self-discovery is an impressive work of weird fiction, and its images and ideas will resonate with readers long after the novel ends.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-907681-15-8

[D_Davis]

Disintegration Visions, by J.M. McDermott

J.M. McDermott's first collection of short fiction is a bona fide masterpiece. These stories examine some of the important life experiences of the various characters, and how they react to situations dealing with life and death, God and aliens, the magical and the mundane. I really got the sense that these characters live outside the confines of the book's pages, and McDermott has, rather (deceptively) simply and brilliantly, opened up a window for his readers to peer through, and it is our privileged to share in the experiences of these characters.

The two standout stories are "The Lovesong of Jack McNally," and "Man in the Mountain." I don't think that the two stories could be any more different, but even though they are back-to-back in the collection the change in tone and theme is not jarring. Instead it points to the simple fact that McDermott's voice and style is bold and confident enough to tackle anything he throws it at. Whether he is being perverse and whimsical, deep and melancholy, serious and dramatic, or weird and haunting, McDermott's voice never falters, and never skips a beat.

In some ways, I get the sense that I know McDermott a little better now after having read these stories. They feel more personal and heart felt than his novels and novellas do. One thing I new before reading this collection is that McDermott is a thoughtful dude, and Disintegration Visions only serves to further bolster this feeling. It is a collection that will command your attention, deserves your respect, and needs to be more widely read.

[D_Davis]

32 pages into Celebrant, and I have no idea what's going on. One part, on page 9, reads:


...sick clammy white page which one who's reading me gleatinous sickly cold black ink - the lon gragged sniff like tearing paper, the waiter looking odwn at him - flares like gutters like a canalde then flares up again gutters flares guuterres flares sof ic andtyjt ek ci tn the darkjnd disgusting sight of the food half smeared in the palte I mean the clioth the water in the glass vile water...

The main character, deKlend, is an insane homeless man who discovers a book in which people have written about a fantastic city called Votu. The passage above is, I think, describing a mental episode of deKlend before he, somehow, finds himself in Votu - or at least he thinks he's in Votu, he might just be an asylum.

But whatever or where ever he is, I know that Cisco will keep my confused, guessing, and wondering. That's the thing about later-period Cisco: every single page of his later books are like puzzles. Simply trying to figure out what he is describing is what I love most about his writing.

[D_Davis]

Celebrant is the most dense and confounding book I've ever read.

[D_Davis]

At two separate points I was ready to give up on Michael Cisco's Celebrant. And boy howdy I'm glad I didn't. I still don't know what it's about, but at least now I know it's about something. I am beginning to think that it might be best to start the book at the end and read it backwards, chapter by chapter.

Something clicked about 1/2 through, and I am now loving at a book that, up until that point, I was merely interested in.

Cisco continues to be the most challenging author I've ever read. Each book gets progressively more challenging. He began with The Divinity Student, a simple and yet incredibly elegant and creative, plot-based story; and he has arrived where he is now, creating these elaborate puzzle-books overflowing with the most lush and beautiful prose I've ever read, with each page being a well of secrets that must be studied, parsed, and broken down.

For instance, all throughout Celebrant the dialog is written like this:

I'm going over here (he says).
OK, I will meet you there (she says).

However, for two pages in the middle, the main character meets a woman, and all of her dialog is written with traditional "" marks and structure. Although the responses from the main character are still noted as above.

That means something to the story. I know from the timeline at the beginning of the book that the woman in question is actually a person that the main character is going to be reincarnated as in the future (or the past, because time runs backwards in this book), but why does Cisco employ this affected style choice?

And book is full of these kinds of things. Almost every chapter contains something like this. Sometimes I'll spend ~5 minutes reading and re-reading the same page.

[D_Davis]

I'm almost done with Michael Cisco's Celebrant, and I think it is pretty safe to say that all of weird-fiction should have to change its name. Because next to this, all of weird-fiction is mundane and completely normal.

[D_Davis]

Celebrant, by Michael Cisco

I cannot claim to understand everything that this dense, cryptic, and powerfully written novel contains. Not even close. My level of understanding probably hovers around 40%. This is the most difficult book I've ever read. There were multiple times that I almost gave up, and I was tempted to skim whole chapters. But I never did. I persevered and worked my way through it, slowly, word by word, in a manner similar, I'm sure, to the process by which Michael Cisco wrote it.

For those of you who might read it, it is important to remember one thing: there is a world within the world of the novel in which time runs backwards. And I don't mean it in some simple Benjamin Button convention. It's not that people are born old and die young. The very fabric of time and space, and cause and effect is fundamentally turned on its head. Literary devices such as flashbacks, foreshadowing, and projections from a/n omnipotent POV character(s) all work differently in this novel. Cisco effectively creates a new kind of storytelling in which his readers discover the things that happened before we discover why and how they happened. It's hard to explain.

Yes, it is purposeful obfuscation. However, it is done for an important reason. As far as I can tell, the book is about reincarnation, death, and the afterlife. Things that are or can be incredibly confusing to a person experiencing them (and given the premise, we have to assume that these things do in fact exist in the book's world.). Cisco uses a confusing convention to demonstrate the confusion the characters are experiencing, and in turn he puts his readers in a similar state.

Additionally, the book itself is somewhat odd. The very first page past the cover contains a series of anagrams for the book's title, each crossed out, with only the final solution, 'Nacre Belt' left unmolested, but followed by a '?'. And then the next page begins with a narrator proclaiming that he is not ready yet, who then goes into a explanation of certain things for a few pages. This is all before we get to the traditional title page and bibliographic information. We are then presented with a timeline of the book, something that is simultaneously confusing and illuminating.

Scattered throughout the rest of the book are additional little puzzles and clues (such as the use of quotation marks surrounding only certain lines of dialog). I'm sure there is something on almost every page to solve, that, once done, will reveal another layer of understanding. However, I was unable to do so frequently enough for my own peace of mind. At times the book felt like work, and I can't say that I enjoyed a lot of it in a more traditional manner. There were entire POV characters that completely baffled me, and entire chapters that left me scratching my head.

As with The Great Lover, Celebrant will be a book I will return to in the future. I truly believe that there is a lot to gleam from its pages. I know that Cisco is a writer who carefully chooses every word he uses - there is no compromise, he does not settle for something that simply gets the job done. I wish I understood more, and I am greatly looking forward to reading the comments from other people who have read this book. Celebrant is a book to be read and studied, and I'm sure that one day I will treasure it more.

[D_Davis]

Next up, some magical realism:

The Complete Butcher's Tales, by Rikki Ducornet

170 pages, over 60 short tales.

[D_Davis]

So far, The Complete Butcher's Tales has been unsettling to the max; it is full of dark and twisted little tales with sinister humor, and ghastly imagery. The stories are also written with a master's eye for detail and word selection. Highly recommended.

Here is an entire story:


"Thrift"

The chosen infants are taken from their mothers after the sixth week. They are placed in specialized hospitals and tortured. Other than that they are treated like other children; washed, hushed, scolded, and kissed.

They are tortured every day at varying intervals for their entire lives. Within a few years they are all fancifully deformed. None live long, the oldest die broken and senile and sixteen.

They never reach puberty or grow taller than four feet. However, individual members (hands, fingers, tongues, feet, ans ears) develop and grow to miraculous lengths.

When these children die they are fed to the police dogs.

Nothing on the planet is ever waster.

[D_Davis]

The Complete Butcher's Tales, by Rikki Ducornet's

Rikki Ducornet's The Complete Butcher's Tales could have also easily been called Unsettling Tales, or 60 Unnerving Tales of Unsettling Occurrences, had it been marketed as a collection of weird/pulp stories rather than a collection of magical realism or whatever it is.

In general, I liked most of these little tales. Even while reading in broad daylight, more than a few unsettled me, and read in the morning more than a few cast the remaining hours of the day in a strange and haunting light.

However, by the end of the book I was ready for it to be over. Like Thomas Ligotti, I get the sense that Ducrounet doesn't think to highly of humanity. She's probably not quite as misanthropic as old Tom, that is I don't get the sense that she thinks humanity is nothing but the worst punchline to the most terrible joke ever told, but I don't think she sees much good in us; or, at the very least, she's chosen to focus on the ill-mannered, the abused, and the downtrodden.

And yes, this is often the point of horror, but this particular brand of the genre exhausts my psyche much quicker than a work of pop-horror does. And that is probably a testament to Ducornet's skill and talent. These stories are incredibly well written. I'd probably group her with Ligotti and Cisco in her literary style.

So yes, The Complete Butcher's tales comes highly recommended. Just be prepared for the overly-somber and unsettling nature of the stories. Perhaps it would be best to split the book into two readings, with something like a Stainless Steel Rat novel thrown in for some light-hearted balance.

[D_Davis]

Next up is a heroic fantasy anthology called, Swords Against Darkness v1, including novellas and novelettes from Howard, Wellman, Poul, and others.

[Irish]

Davis, can you recommend something in the "low fantasy" line?

Primarily interested in quality prose and a good story. Don't mind pulp too much, but looking to avoid the awkwardness of something like the Fu Manchu books, if that makes any sense.

[D_Davis]

McDermott's new trilogy, The Dogsland Trilogy, is amazing low fantasy. I compare it favorably to The Wire in the way that it is actually urban; it's not urban-fantasy in the way that Neil Gaiman, or the Dresden Files is. That is, it is not Hot Topic gothic, or steampunk. The first two books are out. They are short and sweet. He's one of the best writers writing today, in any genre or not-genre. His book Last Dragon is the single best work of fantasy I've ever read.

The Dogsland Books:

Never Knew Another
When We Were Executioners

Also, Manly Wade Wellman's Hok the Mighty is awesome - caveman fantasy, very low.

[Irish]

Ha! Those sound perfect -- thanks!

[D_Davis]

You might also want to look into Wellman's Silver John stories - Redneck/Americana horror/fantasy. I'd recommend almost anything from Wellman.

Or Charles G. Finney's The Circus of Dr. Lao - while not exactly "fantasy," it is fantastical, bizarre, and incredibly influential.

[D_Davis]

Here's my review for the latest Dogsland book:



When We Were Executioners, by J.M. McDermott

Sometimes there aren't reasons for things; sometimes things just are. This is true for the characters and story depicted in J.M. McDermott's book, When We Were Executioners, and true for the book itself.

Thus far, The Dogsland Trilogy is the polar opposite of high, epic fantasy. I'm not quite sure what the opposite of epic is, but in this case the narrative is super small and extremely personal, almost to the point of it being a work of pointillism.

The Dogsland Trilogy is low fantasy, very low, and also very urban. I'm not talking about urban in the sense of a Neil Gaiman or Clive Barker urban fantasy. This isn't cute-goth, or weird alt-London, or steampunk. It's urban in the sense of it taking place in the inner-city; it's urban in the same way that The Wire is urban. It's about the lives of a few people trying to get by, it's about whores and drug dealers, cops and criminals, addicts and politicians, all trying to live their lives with the cards they were dealt, while all around them the city, their very environment, chews them up and spits them out.

And the chewing gets nasty. McDermott punctuates this book with a few scenes of extreme, grotesque violence, violence that has a point, and violence that hits hard. It is graphic and hard to read, but never gratuitous. This is not violence in the context of action, or titillation, or excitement. These depictions of violence serve to illustrate the consequences of living in a city like Dogsland.

When you get right down to it, there isn't a lot going on plot-wise. It's basically a direct continuation of the first book, Never Knew Another, almost to the point of it being the same book. Things happen, but there isn't a grand, sweeping narrative with an exciting dramatic drive keeping the pages turning. It is, rather, a very small story about people, their lives, their love, and their survival.

And so what's the point of the book? What's the point of it being a trilogy? I'm sure if you simply examined the plot of the entire thing, you could easily tell the story in a single volume, perhaps in the length of a novella; the plot is not complex, at all. But some things don't need points, or reasons. Some things just are. This book exists simply to read about and spend time with a few fictional characters, not completely unlike people you might know, save for some of them being shape-shifters and of-demons. It exists to be read, and isn't this the ultimate purpose of all fiction?

[D_Davis]

For a good, short example of McDermott, you can check out his excellent short story/novella, Death Mask & Eulogy (http://www.amazon.com/Death-Mask-and-Eulogy-ebook/dp/B007PVY2B0/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1342247331&sr=1-6&keywords=j.m.+mcdermott) for only $1.99 (e-book). It gives a good taste of what he is about as an author. I don't think it's the best thing he's done, but if you like it you will surely like his other longer works.

[Irish]

I also ordered The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, a collection of Howard's original stories.

Not exactly "low" but I've never read them.

[Irish]

For a good, short example of McDermott, you can check out his excellent short story/novella, Death Mask & Eulogy (http://www.amazon.com/Death-Mask-and-Eulogy-ebook/dp/B007PVY2B0/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1342247331&sr=1-6&keywords=j.m.+mcdermott) for only $1.99 (e-book). It gives a good taste of what he is about as an author. I don't think it's the best thing he's done, but if you like it you will surely like his other longer works.

Very cool, thanks! Based on your review, this stuff looks like exactly what I was looking for.

[D_Davis]

I'd say that Conan classifies as low fantasy, at least some of it. Just depends on where you want to draw the lines. A lot of the Heroic/S&S stuff is low. The worlds aren't necessary normal by our standards, but we're not talking high, epic stuff with elves and dwarves - and it's not Vancian at all.

Ever read any A. Merritt (The Moon Pool)? H. Haggard Rider (SHE, King Solomon's Mines)?

I just got a collection of S&S stuff by Philip Jose Farmer in which he combined the worlds of Tarzan and Rider's African stuff. It's called The Gods of Opar

[D_Davis]

I haven't read nearly as much Conan as I should have by now. I haven't read nearly enough Howard as I should have. I need to remedy that soon, because he was often a damn good writer.

[Irish]

I'd say that Conan classifies as low fantasy, at least some of it. Just depends on where you want to draw the lines. A lot of the Heroic/S&S stuff is low. The worlds aren't necessary normal by our standards, but we're not talking high, epic stuff with elves and dwarves - and it's not Vancian at all.

Ever read any A. Merritt (The Moon Pool)? H. Haggard Rider (SHE, King Solomon's Mines)?

I just got a collection of S&S stuff by Philip Jose Farmer in which he combined the worlds of Tarzan and Rider's African stuff. It's called The Gods of Opar

:eek: Kinda surprised you haven't read more Howard. Figured that's right up your alley.

That collection I ordered is 8 or so of the original stories, printed in the order he wrote them. Seemed like a good bet.

Haven't read Merritt or Rider. Very little Farmer. He seems like a guy I should have read more of. (I swear I have a copy of To Your Scattered Bodies Go around here somewhere, but I can't find the damned thing now.)

[Irish]

Re: low vs high -- I actually looked this up in Wikipedia the other night, trying to understand exactly what the distinction was. Sorta helpful, sorta not, because apparently the big line in the sand is whether the world of the story exists on a "primary world" (like Earth) or a "secondary world" (like Narnia).

I don't care so much about that, but I'm really digging around for stuff that's not always about lords and ladies and BIG EVIL and the fate of the world. And preferably worlds that don't have big, nonsense magical systems or anyone who resembles Gandalf.

[D_Davis]

I don't care so much about that, but I'm really digging around for stuff that's not always about lords and ladies and BIG EVIL and the fate of the world. And preferably worlds that don't have big, nonsense magical systems or anyone who resembles Gandalf.

Me, too.

Merritt and Rider will also be exactly what you are looking for. Lost Continent kind of stuff.

The only reason why I haven't read more Howard is simple a matter of too little time and too many authors.

[Irish]

Me, too.

Merritt and Rider will also be exactly what you are looking for. Lost Continent kind of stuff.

The only reason why I haven't read more Howard is simple a matter of too little time and too many authors.

Very cool! Stayed up too late last night reading first about Howard's life (suicide at 30?! FFS!) and then about HP Lovecraft. (Funny you mentioned SHE, btw, as that seemed be an influence on both of them). I will check out Merritt and Rider as soon as I work my way through this other stuff.

Btw, came across a good fantasy journal too -- have you seen Beneath Ceaseless Skies (http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/issues/)? They offer two long form stories per issue, for free, under various formats so you can read on the web, or a Kindle or an iPad. Looks great so far.

[MadMan]

Over the past month or so I've purchased the following Stephen King books:

*Night Shift
*Christine
*It

I started reading Night Shift today. The first short story, which is a prequel of sorts to his classic 'Salem's Lot, is a really creepy and well told tale, and a good start to that anthology. Its going to be my first King anthology, and I hear that he has penned some awesome ones over the years.

[D_Davis]

While I love many of King's novels, it is in the short story that he excels as a writer. Some of his short stories are among the best I've ever read; this is where King is his most literary and thought provoking.

[D_Davis]

Next up, The Croning, by Laird Barron. His first novel, my first Barron.

[D_Davis]

I started reading Rasputin's Bastards, by David Nickle this weekend. About 85 pages in, and it is wonderful. It's a huge, sprawling, post-Cold War epic (set in the 1990s) about a network of psychic KRB agents and spies scattered around the globe; most have been programmed to remember nothing of their pasts, and one-by-one they are waking up to discover that something new and sinister is afoot. There are dozens of characters, the espionage is thick and confounding, and the plot boils along barely taking a moment to clue the reader in - it's a book that demands attention.

Even though I have all of Nickle's previous fiction, this is the first I've read. He is slated to become one of the next big things in American horror/genre fiction; if this novel is any indication, I'd say he's fitting in nicely with someone like Neal Stephenson and Dan Simmons.

[D_Davis]

I feel like I've had some bad luck with books this year - lot's of false starts. I had to give up on Rasputin's Bastards; while I was enjoying the plot, at about 200 pages in I realized that I didn't care at all about a single one of the characters, I simply couldn't care at all about what happened to them. Each time I put the book down, I found it harder to pick up again.

Conversely, I started Stephen King's Pet Semetary this morning, and I'm already in love with Jud, and Louise is also a great character. This is probably what I love most about King - his handling of character. It's not particularly nuanced, but he knows how to create likable, but often flawed, heroes, he knows how to show friendship, and he knows how illustrate characteristics through small details and actions. I read PS many, many years ago (over 20), and it's great to read it again.

[D_Davis]

Pet Sematary, by Stephen King

As part of my goal to re-read the King books I read when I was a kid as an adult, I re-read Pet Sematary recently.

As a youngster, all I cared about was the gross and scary stuff, and Pet Sematary has some good scares and some great gore (I've never forgotten the guy who gets his head crushed in at the beginning).

But what this novel contains even more of is a serious examination of death, grieving, and the lengths people will go to remember and forget. Jud is one of Stephen King's most memorable and well-written characters, and I immensely enjoyed reading his conversations with Louis. King is a great writer of male relationships, and I think this is one of his best examples.

The novel does fail to be one of King's GREAT NOVELS though, and mainly because it is a tad long for the plot, and, what's worse, it feels long.

But once again I've found that I've enjoyed a King read far more as an adult because I am able to get more out if it.

[MadMan]

Upon re-examination I find that novel to be merely pretty good, or almost great.


But what this novel contains even more of is a serious examination of death, grieving, and the lengths people will go to remember and forget. Jud is one of Stephen King's most memorable and well-written characters, and I immensely enjoyed reading his conversations with Louis. King is a great writer of male relationships, and I think this is one of his best examples.Oh absolutely. What I also liked is how the novel is really creepy in a matter of fact way, as if King is just simply laying out how everything gets out of control midway through the novel. Jud and Louis' journey at night to the pet sementary is still one of the most eerie and creepiest things I've ever read. And that ending...man what a complete knockout.

[Winston*]

Re-reading Mervyn Peake's Titus Alone. A completely flawed work but a fascinating departure from Titus Groan and Gormenghast. Dickensian Gothic fantasy morphs into Lewis Carroll meets Kafka dystopian sci-fi. A shame we'll never see where else Peake intended to take this series.

[D_Davis]

Started Carrion Comfort yesterday. So far so good. This is an epic, so we'll see if it can maintain the momentum.

[D_Davis]

Yuk. At about 120 pages in, there hasn't been a single character I can root for, or even remotely like. Also, there have been two brutal rapes - I think Simmons has some issues.

Lame-o.

[D_Davis]

It's time.

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320565091l/9850090.jpg

[D_Davis]

I have to put Gormenghast on the back burner. I forgot I have to travel this week, and the book is way too freaking big to lug around.

So I've dusted off the Kindle, and instead fired up Barker's The Great and Secret Show. I read this almost 20 years ago, and it's great to be reading it again. One of my favorite Barker books, and I love stories about secret societies and ancient rituals.

[Dead & Messed Up]

King's The Wind Through the Keyhole wasn't amazing, but it was solid fantasy stuff, light and simple and vivid. It reminded me of his work on The Eyes of the Dragon, which had a similar elemental, Campbellian vibe to it. The Tim Stoutheart story was more engaging than the wraparound skin-man story. I kept waiting for a fun twist in the latter, but no, the skin-man is

just some guy.

I don't know if it was really worth the trouble to nest the two stories in an official Dark Tower book. They might've been more fun to discover in one of his story collections.

[D_Davis]

I agree. I think it would have been better as a first volume of a collection of Dark Tower related short stories, like a Tales of the Dark Tower or something. This way, King could continue to write little fairy tales and myths, and even have other authors contribute to the mythos.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I agree. I think it would have been better as a first volume of a collection of Dark Tower related short stories, like a Tales of the Dark Tower or something. This way, King could continue to write little fairy tales and myths, and even have other authors contribute to the mythos.

I could kinda see this, but I haven't been too thrilled with the DT comics, which already do this to a degree. They look pretty, but their stories (and end-book myth-building) feels workmanlike.

[D_Davis]

Devil Red, by Joe R. Lansdale

Although I've been disappointed with Lansdale's more mainstream books for the last few years, his Hap and Leonard series continues to be awesome. Vanilla Ride is probably the best in the series, and the direct and most recent follow-up, Devil Red, is absolutely amazing. This pair works together to craft a rip-roaring mystery thriller, while also giving the main cast of characters a lot of room to grow and change.

Throughout the series, Leonard Pine has always been the more colorful and interesting character. He's the loose canon, while Hap Collins is the straight man. However, in Devil Red, Hap takes center stage and he completely owns the novel. The dramatic drive is completely in the hands of Hap, and Lansdale paves a road through hell and back.

The most interesting thing about Lansdale's fiction is how powerful his characters are. Things don't happen to his characters; his characters don't let the plot unravel around them. Lansdale's fictitious creations take the story by the horns and wheel, or whatever other cheap cliche you want to use, and drive/control the story like the powerful forces of nature they are. And nowhere is this more evident than in Devil Red.

I cannot express how much I love the friendship between Hap and Leonard enough. Devil Red actually made me choke up a few times. Their relationship is pretty much the most perfect of its kind in any medium, and in any genre. I still, for the life of me, cannot fathom why no one has made movies of these books yet. Hollywood, wake up! Your next cash cow is right here.

[D_Davis]

Re-reading Four Past Midnight, by Stephen King.

Part 4 of Chapter 3 of The Langoliers is one of the best things Stephen King has ever written. It is a perfect literary example of exposition given through character development; we first learn of the langoliers, we become sympathetic towards a character we hated, and we are introduced to the main villain and dramatic tension. If all authors were so talented, we would have many more great books to read.

[D_Davis]

New Hard Case Crime from Stephen King coming next year!

Also, new Hap and Leonard in 2013.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-2xvUSxyL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

[Kurosawa Fan]

The Colorado Kid was one of the worst books I've ever read. Can't say I'm looking forward to more of the same from King.

[D_Davis]

The Colorado Kid was one of the worst books I've ever read. Can't say I'm looking forward to more of the same from King.

It does seem to be a divisive one. I like it quite a bit. Mid-tier King for me.

[D_Davis]

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townne ws.com/rapidcityjournal.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/e2/0e25db76-ff6b-562f-bbad-5e679175de53/506cad2e3bd5f.preview-620.jpg

[Winston*]

I read John Dies at the End the other week. Really enjoyed it for about half its length, but then ended up being kind of indifferent to it by the end.

Reading The City and the City atm. This is excellent.

[D_Davis]

I read John Dies at the End the other week. Really enjoyed it for about half its length, but then ended up being kind of indifferent to it by the end.


It is a bit too long, but I really enjoyed it's somewhat schizophrenic mood/tone - kept me on my toes; Wong juggles juvenile humor and genuine horror with great skill, and does each with equal skill.

[D_Davis]

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/75254_463727430344573_13201451 55_n.jpg

[D_Davis]

I'll be closing out this year with a re-read of Michael Cisco's Celebrant. Here is Cisco reading the first part of the first chapter. Good lord this man can write.

LCGtJYZ-R1k

[D_Davis]

Celebrant, by Michael Cisco

After a re-read of the prologue, I've already discovered a clue and more meaning than during my first read. The clue has to do with the dialog - Cisco clearly states that there will be no "natural dialog" in the book, and to "let every word be announced as though a child were were reciting it laboriously from a book."

When I first read this, I thought the prologue (it's not really a prologue, but that's what I'm calling it) was either from the main character's POV or the narrator's POV, but I don't think it is. I think it's from Cisco's POV, and in it he is setting the book's foundation, letting his readers know the rules.

During the story, there are no quotes around any of the dialog, except for two or three lines spoken by one character. So yes, there is no "natural dialog;" but I'm not sure what this means. Also, Cisco clearly states that we are to read the book slowly, pouring over each and every word like a child struggling to read a book for the first time. And so with that I am going to take my time, reading each word, maybe softly aloud to myself.

[D_Davis]

Celebrant is completely kicking my ass this time. I think I'll have a good grasp of its plot, themes and characters in only another 10 or so reads. :)

[Mr. Pink]

A friend of mine let me borrow a book called Tribesmen that sounded pretty cool. It's about a film crew with an Italian director (set in the 80's) that go off to a remote island to churn out a cannibal movie to make a quick profit, but things quickly go wrong. The island is cursed and ghosts are there and it's a shitty book.

[D_Davis]

http://www.nightfallbooks.com/books/StrangeEons.jpg

What if HP Lovecraft's mythos wasn't fiction? What if old Howard was actually warning humanity about an impending doom? Robert Bloch looks to answer these questions in this mythos-inspired novel about a couple of guys who, upon discovering the painting from Pickman's Model, also discover a whole lot more.

[D_Davis]

Stange Eons is a total riot, a hoot you might say. Bloch is having a ton of fun with the material. Just finished the first part, of three, and it's simply good old fashioned pulpy fun. Highly recommend to fans of the HPL circle, but if you aren't familiar with the stories and authors, you'll get nothing out of it.

[D_Davis]

Strange Eons, Robert Bloch's cheesy love letter to the Lovecraftian mythos, is barely a step or two above fan fiction, but I'd be lying to say that I didn't love it. It's fast moving and entertaining, and as one of the last surviving members of the original Lovecraft circle, Bloch frequently name drops other authors and mythos lore like Skrillex drops wobble bass. It reads more like a book that should be included with Fantasy Flight's Arkham Horror board game than it does anything else, and if you already love the Cthulhu gang, I'm sure you'll love this. If you don't love those ancient elder ones, or none of this short review makes a lick of sense to you, stay away...stay far away...because you won't get a single thing out of it.

[D_Davis]

This morning I started this...

http://www.haffnerpress.com/hp/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/newthun.jpg

The book with the greatest cover of all time.

[megladon8]

Have begun reading "The San Veneficio Canon".

Just read the first chapter of "The Divinity Student" (titled "The Cloud") and, well, already I'm kind of "wow'd".

Cisco's prose are some of the most incredible I've read since Thomas Ligotti, but perhaps even more transcendent. It's like every single word is deliberated over, chosen to perfectly evoke mood, time, place and character.

A lot of weird fiction is, quite often, very poorly or blandly written. Particularly this new generation of "bizarro fiction" with writers like Carlton Mellick III and Bradley Sands, the writing is just god-awful, with this self-published "DIY weird fiction" attitude being more important than the actual quality of the writing.

I'm glad to see that Cisco is the exact opposite.

I'm hoping the books continues to be as exciting and stunningly written.

[D_Davis]

Cisco's prose are some of the most incredible I've read since Thomas Ligotti, but perhaps even more transcendent. It's like every single word is deliberated over, chosen to perfectly evoke mood, time, place and character.



Yep. And just think - The Divinity Student was his first novel. He hit the lit game with the skill of a seasoned master. As many of his contemporaries say, there just isn't even a way anyone else can compare. He started at a level where many authors end - where he ends, he will (and I think he already has with Celebrant and The Great Lover) take literature into a whole new realm.

[megladon8]

Did you feel that "The Great Lover" and "Celebrant" were better than his previous works?

I thought I remembered you being a bit indecisive with "Celebrant" - thinking it was almost too experimental and impenetrable.

What would you say was your favorite of his work?

[D_Davis]

I re-read Celebrant and loved it. I still don't understand what it all means, but it is amazing. It is definitely on an entirely different level.

The Great Lover is my favorite of his, with The Divinity Student being next. But it's best to read The Divinity Student, The Narrator, and The Tyrant before The Great Lover.

1. The Great Lover
2. The Divinity Student
3. Celebrant (although this could be number 1)
4. The Tyrant
5. The Narrator
6. The Traitor
7. The Golem

[megladon8]

Still adoring "The Divinity Student".

A couple favorite moments so far:

The Divinity Student receiving the clue to the word whose definition can only be described with a story.

The Divinity Student learning how to play the Oro in the tavern, and the description of the inside of the tavern as being "like an aquarium in an unlit room".

[D_Davis]

What's so remarkable is how Cisco describes the otherworldly, weird, and surreal setting and characters using such concrete language, without the things loosing their sense of mystery and wonder; with words, he causes the reader's imagination to conjure images that are simultaneously real and un-real, almost as if he is putting the reader in a hypnotic state, which is exactly how I felt while reading it. I don't really feel like I read Cisco - I experience his work with my entire body. No other author I've ever read makes me feel this way. It really is a testament to his mastery of language. It's just too bad that he's so unread. But hey, welcome to the club! We don't have many members.

[megladon8]

D have you read Ligotti's "non fiction" work "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race"?

Sounds fascinating.

[D_Davis]

D have you read Ligotti's "non fiction" work "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race"?

Sounds fascinating.

Some of it. A little too bleak for me. I don't get on with Ligotti's world view at all. He's a hopeless nihilist who believes that absolutely nothing matters. To read a whole manifesto of that sort is tiresome. To him, the universe is a complete joke, and humanity is the punchline.

[megladon8]

Some of it. A little too bleak for me. I don't get on with Ligotti's world view at all. He's a hopeless nihilist who believes that absolutely nothing matters. To read a whole manifesto of that sort is tiresome. To him, the universe is a complete joke, and humanity is the punchline.


Eh...I can appreciate something even if I don't agree with it.

Thought I honestly can't say I disagree with him (in your summary, at least).

[D_Davis]

I can too, but if I'm not about to spend time reading something that I'm not enjoying. There are too many other things out there to read.

[megladon8]

I can too, but if I'm not about to spend time reading something that I'm not enjoying. There are too many other things out there to read.


Totally agree! If it's not enjoyable, just let it go.

[megladon8]

Just made an order for some weird fiction:

"The Great Lover" and "Celebrant" by Michael Cisco
"The Croning" and "The Light is the Darkness" by Laird Barron
"The Orphan Palace" by Sr. Joseph S. Pulver

[megladon8]

At a loss for words after finishing "The Divinity Student". An incredible work about the power of words and language, told in an intense, surreal setting where nightmares and dreams live together, indistinguishable.

One of the most affecting things I've read in some, time, if not ever.

[D_Davis]

At a loss for words after finishing "The Divinity Student". An incredible work about the power of words and language, told in an intense, surreal setting where nightmares and dreams live together, indistinguishable.

One of the most affecting things I've read in some, time, if not ever.

Your first experience with Cisco mirrors my own.

Welcome to the club! ;)

[Sven]

Perdido Street Station is insane and quite brilliant, frustrating only slightly in the last 200 pages. The way it weaves themes of liminality and crisis throughout is inspired. The climax is weak (though the conclusion left me reeling in a good way), and for all the love he clearly has for urban environment as its own character, Mieville's ability to demarcate and differentiate geographies, even with the city map at the beginning, is surprisingly limp. Still, any book this unpredictable and inventive gets high marks in my book. I'm already well on my way into The Scar.

[megladon8]

Woo-hoo! I love Mieville.

Read "Kraken" ASAP. "The City and the City" was also brilliant stuff.

[megladon8]

D - have you read any of Lansdale's "Drive-In" books?

[D_Davis]

D - have you read any of Lansdale's "Drive-In" books?

Yes. They are dark, gross, and mean-spirited, but also strangely enjoyable in their complete disgust of humanity and depravity. Also, some of Lansdale's best writing. The opening page of the second part contains some of the best writing I've ever read; it's mean, spiteful, full of anger and energy, and could only come from Lansdale.

[megladon8]

Yes. They are dark, gross, and mean-spirited, but also strangely enjoyable in their complete disgust of humanity and depravity. Also, some of Lansdale's best writing. The opening page of the second part contains some of the best writing I've ever read; it's mean, spiteful, full of anger and energy, and could only come from Lansdale.

Neat. I'll pick them up in my next Amazon binge (all three are collected in one volume for $15).

I've picked up some really neat horrors lately. I may read this one, "Come Closer" by Sara Gran, next.

[megladon8]

I decided to check out this book "Penpal" by Dathan Auerbach for my next read.

I read the prologue and chapter 1 and it's already quite eerie.

The synopsis:

In Penpal, a man investigates the seemingly unrelated bizarre, tragic, and horrific occurrences of his childhood in an attempt to finally understand them. Beginning with only fragments of his earliest years, you'll follow the narrator as he discovers that these strange and horrible events are actually part of a single terrifying story that has shaped the entirety of his life and the lives of those around him. If you've ever stayed in the woods just a little too long after dark, if you've ever had the feeling that someone or something was trying to hurt you, if you remember the first friend you ever made and how strong that bond was, then Penpal is a story that you won't soon forget, despite how you might try.

[megladon8]

The writing is totally vanilla, but Jesus this book is unnerving.

[megladon8]

I read "Penpal" from cover to cover in one day.

Wow. Devastating. Haunting, and frightening.

The images it leaves you with are just...stuff of nightmares.

Highly recommended if you're looking for a frightening read. I can't think of a better word to describe it than "haunting".

[megladon8]

I had nightmares last night because of "Penpal".

Can't remember the last time a book did that to me.

[D_Davis]

Sounds cool. Another positive review to add to the mix. I've heard everything from great to poor, and that it's a good story, but very poorly written.

[megladon8]

I don't know that I would say the writing is all-out poor, just very vanilla, functional, unassuming.

There's no flare or style at all. It tells the story and that's that.

[megladon8]

Oh and I started reading Joe Hill's "Horns" today. Read part 1 (up to page 60).

It's pretty neat so far. Great premise.

He seems to have inherited his father's great story-telling ability. I hope it holds up all the way through.

[D_Davis]

Cool - I'll add Penpal to my Kindle.

Also, I've never read Hill, but I want to. Horns sounds great.

[megladon8]

Stephen King has two books coming out this year and they both sound fantastic.

[D_Davis]

The plot synopsis for Doctor Sleep sounds amazing, and totally gonzo. So excited.

[megladon8]

The plot synopsis for Joe Hill's new novel, "N0S4A2", sounds amazing and gonzo as well. I pre-ordered it.

Victoria McQueen has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. On her Raleigh Tuff Burner bike, she makes her way to a rickety covered bridge that, within moments, takes her wherever she needs to go, whether it’s across Massachusetts or across the country.

Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland.”

Then, one day, Vic goes looking for trouble—and finds Manx. That was a lifetime ago. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx never stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son.

[D_Davis]

Nice. I like the hidden highways concept. Something that King is using in Doctor Sleep, and a thing he used in the Dark Tower. I think it'd be cool if the father and son team joined their two worlds in some way.

[megladon8]

I wonder how much of Hill's voice and love of reading and writing stems from his father. He has a voice of his own with regards to prose, but his stories are structured very similar to how his father writes.

I would hate to see his career fizzle out and be cast aside as a poor imitation of his father.

Have you read any of his "Locke & Key" comic books? They're bloody great stuff.

[Sven]

The Scar is so far about twice as good as Perdido Street Station. Hurrying to finish it so I can start on The Iron Council, which I eagerly anticipate.

[D_Davis]

I would hate to see his career fizzle out and be cast aside as a poor imitation of his father.

Have you read any of his "Locke & Key" comic books? They're bloody great stuff.


I doubt that's gonna happen. He made his name with his first collection, based on Joe Hill. From everything I've read, he is well established, with his own unique voice, and would have been published regardless of who his father is.

With that said, I haven't read a thing by him, but I do own three of his books. I want to read Horns this year.

[Winston*]

Hurrying to finish it so I can start on The Iron Council, which I eagerly anticipate.

My least favourite of the three. Still good though.

Read Thomas Ligotti's My Work is Not Yet Done. Good stuff. Creepy. Bleak. I liked how the changes the protagonist goes through allows the novel to change its mode of narration.

[D_Davis]

Read Thomas Ligotti's My Work is Not Yet Done. Good stuff. Creepy. Bleak. I liked how the changes the protagonist goes through allows the novel to change its mode of narration.

Such a great novel. Perfect form and function.

[megladon8]

Found a great horror literature group on GoodReads called "Literary Darkness" and they have some awesome lists of books to check out. I pretty much just copy-pasted them all into my Amazon Wish List :cool:

[megladon8]

"Horns" continues to be great stuff. Just finished reading through part 3, where a lot on insight is given into both the hero and the villain.

Very good read. Hill has a strong voice.

[megladon8]

"Horns" was really great stuff. Love Hill's voice - I want to say that he has inherited his father's storytelling ability, but I feel that would unintentionally say that he sounds like his father. Which is not true. He has is own, unique voice and way of telling a story, and it's great.

Great concept and even better execution, with clever dialogue and great pacing.

I can't wait to check out "NOS4A2" in April.

[megladon8]

Read Sara Gran's "Come Closer" last night.

I'd read that this book was utterly terrifying, and I was a bit disappointed in this regard. Unsettling at times, for sure, but I really wasn't frightened by it.

However, it is a fantastic read, and Gran writes with incredible clarity.

[megladon8]

"The Cannibal Within" by Mark Mirabello was absolute rubbish.

Apparently Mirabello is a professor of European History, and I think he should stick to that subject matter.

The story details a history professor (!) encountering a strange, deformed woman who educates him on the "master species" which lives in cavernous cities below ground. Superior to us in every way, they feast on living flesh to evolve and their lives constitute a never-ending cannibalistic orgy.

It has all the subtlety of a sledge-hammer to the face, as Mirabello details disgusting rituals and unending rape scenes before making some hilariously simplistic philosophical remark at the end. "These creatures eat living brains, and after all, we are what we eat." Whoooaaa dude, slow down! You're blowin' my mind!

All remotely interesting themes are simply skimmed over - sex as domination, the constant presence of psycho-sexual symbolism in daily life, or the reversal of sexual roles.

Many have found this book terrifying. I found it laughably bad.

I've read enough penis-biting scenes for a good long while.

[D_Davis]

Looks like you're reading some interesting things this year, Meg. Lot's of stuff I've never heard of.

[megladon8]

Looks like you're reading some interesting things this year, Meg. Lot's of stuff I've never heard of.

I just received a package from Amazon with 4 more horrors in it:

"Seed" by Ania Ahlborn
"Kin" by Kealan Patrick Burke
"The Hoard" by Alan Ryker
"Burden Kansas" by Alan Ryker


An author you should check out, D - Stephen Graham Jones.

[D_Davis]

I like Burke, a lot. He's got that effortless style similar to King.

I haven't read Kin, but it's on my Kindle.

[megladon8]

I like Burke, a lot. He's got that effortless style similar to King.

I haven't read Kin, but it's on my Kindle.


It'll be the first I read by him. One of the groups I'm part of on GoodReads listed it as one of the great horrors of the last year or two.


The reason I recommended Stephen Graham Jones to you is because his experimental style and gonzo concepts feel like something you'd really dig.

He wrote a book last year called "The Last Final Girl" about a high school prom populated by "Final Girls" - girls who were the last survivor of slasher attacks. The prom is attacked by a killer wearing a Michael Jackson mask (he calls himself Billie Jean) and they fight to see who will be the last final girl. The style is really interesting, almost invoking a film script style in his descriptions of locales and characters.

Another book he wrote, "It Came From Del Rio", is about a man who dies then wakes up, and when he looks at his shadow it has bunny ears.

[megladon8]

Reading and LOVING Alan Ryker's "The Hoard".

His writing is fantastic. Quite a creepy tale of hoarding gone wrong, with a backdrop of blood-borne pathogens.

[D_Davis]

You should totally get a Kindle; a lot of this small press horror stuff is super cheap.

[megladon8]

Really enjoyed "The Hoard" by Alan Ryker, and I will definitely be seeking out more of his stuff. He has a great voice and seems to be a natural storyteller.

Very creepy. Will certainly scare you away from hoarding.

I just wish that this edition had been proofread better. Some painfully bad typos, the worst one of which actually gets a character's name wrong (a prominent character is named Rebecca, and at one point in the middle of a tense scene she is called Rachel).

I suppose it's the bane of the low-budget indie press, but still, it was a bit bothersome.

I'm very seriously considering reading "House of Leaves" next. It's been eyeing me on my shelf for weeks.

[D_Davis]

I'm very seriously considering reading "House of Leaves" next. It's been eyeing me on my shelf for weeks.

I'll be reading that this year as part of my Long and Hard series.

[megladon8]

I'll be reading that this year as part of my Long and Hard series.


Are you going to make a thread about it and try to come up with another clever use of "Long and Hard" for every post?

[D_Davis]

Nope. That will be the only time I mention something being Long and Hard.

[megladon8]

Started reading Ligotti's "My Work is Not Yet Done" today.

[Sven]

Neglected to update: The Scar is one of the best adventure books I've ever read. It's practically perfect, and Mieville's knack for spinning mini-stories and ideas through a grand tapestry of conceptual bizarreness is unparalleled. Well into Iron Council and it is definitely paler by comparison, but it's the easiest to consume, which I'm doing ravenously.

[megladon8]

Loving "My Work is Not Yet Done". On page 107 (of 192). May finish it tonight.

[megladon8]

I really enjoyed the main story of "My Work is Not Yet Done", but didn't get anything out of the final two shorts.

Still, though, that main tale was wonderfully written. And while the "twist" was something I predicted from the get-go, Ligotti's prose imbued it with power and dread all the same.

He's a magnificent writer.

[D_Davis]

Edward Erdelac sent me this.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/155794_532982023419113_1283228 956_n.jpg

A novel this time. Looking forward to the conclusion.

[D_Davis]

I really enjoyed the main story of "My Work is Not Yet Done", but didn't get anything out of the final two shorts.

Still, though, that main tale was wonderfully written. And while the "twist" was something I predicted from the get-go, Ligotti's prose imbued it with power and dread all the same.

He's a magnificent writer.

It's so light and breezy compared to his other stuff - almost a dark comedy.

[megladon8]

Read Rio Youers' novella "Mama Fish" today. A neat premise and very well suited to the novella format. He feels like a writer still developing his craft, occasionally relying on cliché similes and metaphors. But he tells the story well, and the dramatic pacing is great.

I enjoyed it, and I would recommend it for a good 60-80 minute read.

[megladon8]

There are few things more frustrating to me as a reader than a book filed with great ideas crumbling under the weight of the author's poor voice.

I'm about 40 pages or so into "Dead Sea" by Tim Curran and am in love with the subject matter and setting, but I am finding his writing to be mediocre at best.

The story is about a ship of workmen on its way to Guiana, when it is suddenly enveloped by an eerie, fowl smelling fog which may house some sort of creature.

But it's filled with moments in which Curran seems unable to allow the reader to take in any of his descriptions without spelling everything out for them.

The best example (which is indicative of many descriptions in the book) involves Curran describing the unsettling calm that sets over the boat before the rolls in. He spends a few sentences describing how even the sounds of the ship seem to fall silent, and the water calms itself to the point where the boat looks to be floating on a mirror.

Then he has a character's inner monologue say "My god...it's like the calm before the storm!"

Well thank you for spelling that out for me, I wouldn't have gotten the effect of the scene without that.

[D_Davis]

Then he has a character's inner monologue say "My god...it's like the calm before the storm!"

Well thank you for spelling that out for me, I wouldn't have gotten the effect of the scene without that.


LOL! Amateur hour.

There is nothing in fiction that I dislike more than on-the-nose dialog like that. Yuk!

Totally reminds me of that Del Toro book, The Strain. Oh man...that thing was full of crap like that.

[megladon8]

LOL! Amateur hour.

There is nothing in fiction that I dislike more than on-the-nose dialog like that. Yuk!

Totally reminds me of that Del Toro book, The Strain. Oh man...that thing was full of crap like that.


What makes it all the more frustrating is how much I like the ideas behind the shoddy writing :frustrated:

[megladon8]

D we should team to write the most cliche ridden novel of all time.

Opening sentence:

"Daniel Davis was dressed to the nines and out for a night on the town when something in the air chilled him to the bone."

[D_Davis]

And then Daniel said, "It sure is weird to feel this chilly air in the summer; it must be a premonition of something bad about to happen."

Then suddenly, Daniel died! The cops found his body, frozen solid, like a cold frozen popsicle.

The End

[megladon8]

You should've put in a "calm before the storm" line somewhere.

[megladon8]

I'm giving up on "Dead Sea". The writing is just awful, and making it a completely unenjoyable experience.

[Dead & Messed Up]

"Horns" was really great stuff. Love Hill's voice - I want to say that he has inherited his father's storytelling ability, but I feel that would unintentionally say that he sounds like his father. Which is not true. He has is own, unique voice and way of telling a story, and it's great.

Great concept and even better execution, with clever dialogue and great pacing.

I can't wait to check out "NOS4A2" in April.

I just read this one and quite liked it. I don't think Ig Parrish is as convincingly and compellingly portrayed as the sociopathic Lee Tourneau, but Hill really manages to build the story around those two personalities and snap the story with the climax. I don't think it's a great book, but it's a pretty damn good one. One that Hill can be proud of. The implication at the end, that

Ig has pulled Merrin into Hell with him as a Persephone to his Hades

was impressive in how successfully it saddened and unnerved me.

This comment really has more to do with me than Hill's goals with the book, but I was a little worn out by the end, so continually is sin exposed and revealed. It's all yin and no yang (excluding Merrin's somewhat shallow characterization as a glowing woman without stain that both "heroes" revere), and I wish there was some sense of genuinely good people that exist in the book's world. Instead, it seems like everyone is terrible.

I will say this: I love that this is being made into a film by Alexandre Aja, starring Danny Radcliffe and Max Minghella (and Juno Temple and Joe Anderson, who was so needlessly good in The Crazies). This story, with those people involved, has me very, very intrigued.

[megladon8]

Glad you enjoyed it too, DaMU. Can't say the film version interests me too much, though. I have yet to see a decent film from Aja, and Radcliffe is a really odd choice for Imp (IMO).


After giving up on "Dead Sea" it took me a bit to decide what to read next, but I started Michael Cisco's "The Tyrant" and am already completely transfixed.

This guy is just...something else. I can't decide what is more impressive - his imagination, or his incredible skill as a wordsmith.

[D_Davis]

After giving up on "Dead Sea" it took me a bit to decide what to read next, but I started Michael Cisco's "The Tyrant" and am already completely transfixed.

This guy is just...something else. I can't decide what is more impressive - his imagination, or his incredible skill as a wordsmith.

This is probably his most straightforward and action-packed novel. Quite different from everything else. Even with action, something I rarely enjoy in books, Cisco is a master; he is the most vivid writer I know of.

[megladon8]

The running-on-rooftops scene in "The Divinity Student" was some amazingly well written action.

[D_Davis]

The running-on-rooftops scene in "The Divinity Student" was some amazingly well written action.

Yeah, totally; one of the most memorable things for me in all of fiction. I like that kind of action, what I meant in my earlier statement is action as in conflict - fighting, war, that kind of thing. There is a long battle sequence in The Tyrant that is awesome, and usually I can't stand that kind of action in books.

[D_Davis]

One of my favorite passages from Celebrant, read by Cisco.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oLl10ed5Gc

[megladon8]

I dunno...his prose are impressive and all, but they don't quite compare to "Dead Sea".

A character is described as "a tough looking mother with a ZZ Top beard and a 'don't fuck with me' attitude".

And when an explosion occurs, a character says it "lit up like the fourth of July and sent a chill down my spine."

Now that is the type of no-nonsense writing I want to read.

[D_Davis]

I dunno...his prose are impressive and all, but they don't quite compare to "Dead Sea".

A character is described as "a tough looking mother with a ZZ Top beard and a 'don't fuck with me' attitude".

And when an explosion occurs, a character says it "lit up like the fourth of July and sent a chill down my spine."

Now that is the type of no-nonsense writing I want to read.

You're totally right.

"Sent a chill down my spine." WOW! That's so vivid! And I totally identify with that turn of phrase, because I, too, often get chills that run down my spine! That author really gets me.

[megladon8]

You're totally right.

"Sent a chill down my spine." WOW! That's so vivid! And I totally identify with that turn of phrase, because I, too, often get chills that run down my spine! That author really gets me.


And "lit up like the fourth of July" is a phrase I have never once read or heard before in reference to bright lights. I can't think of any other description that could possibly do that scene justice.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I've been lightly reading some Robert E. Howard. Two short stories so far. "People of the Dark" and "The Valley of the Worm." Both are stories about men in the present who flash back to previous lives when they were jacked, fearless ass-kickers who travel to the darkest recesses of the natural world and battle unholy beasts. It's all very slight, but the stories are overstuffed with forward momentum, greased with the blood of men and monsters in constant battle, and it's hard to not smile and go along with the "noble savage" silliness. The sincerity is naive, sure, but it's so genuine.

[D_Davis]

I've been lightly reading some Robert E. Howard. Two short stories so far. "People of the Dark" and "The Valley of the Worm." Both are stories about men in the present who flash back to previous lives when they were jacked, fearless ass-kickers who travel to the darkest recesses of the natural world and battle unholy beasts. It's all very slight, but the stories are overstuffed with forward momentum, greased with the blood of men and monsters in constant battle, and it's hard to not smile and go along with the "noble savage" silliness. The sincerity is naive, sure, but it's so genuine.

I need to read more Howard.

[D_Davis]

About to start N0S4A2.

[Dead & Messed Up]

About to start N0S4A2.

I'm embarrassed by how long it's taken me to understand the title gag.

Nos-four-a-tu. Derp.

[D_Davis]

"Yeah hi, I'm looking for the new Joe Hill Book, In-Zero-Es-Four-Ay-Two."

[megladon8]

It may be "slighter" than "The Divinity Student", but I am still finding "The Tyrant" astounding.

This idea of a man who is more alive than most, so is able to actually die "more" than the rest of us, is really cool.

[Dead & Messed Up]

"Yeah hi, I'm looking for the new Joe Hill Book, In-Zero-Es-Four-Ay-Two."

My line was going to be, "I'm looking for that book about the evil license plate."

[D_Davis]

Hill's book continues to be good. It's a super light, breezy read; the pages practically read themselves. Lot's of cool things, although it gets just a little too close to Neil Gaiman territory, but that could simply be because of the protagonist. I'm liking it a lot, but I want it to go deeper, and I hope it does.

[megladon8]

I find Hill to be much like his father in how smooth and easily read his prose are.

And I mean that as a huge compliment towards them. They have some incredibly complex ideas and images that they communicate effortlessly. That's great skill.

[megladon8]

I absolutely love the turn "The Tyrant" has taken, becoming a love story.

[D_Davis]

I doubt I'm going to finish the Hill book - Meg, it's yours if you want it. I owe you something for Hitman.

There simply isn't enough there to warrant the length, and it completely looses steam by mid-point. The characters are paper thin, relying on tired cliche, and there is also a problem with the way Hill describes a character's emotional state when compared to how the character acts. At certain points I've had to go back and re-read sections to see if I was reading stuff in the wrong tone, but I wasn't.

There are moments in which I know I'm supposed to be scared, or say "WOW! That's so cool!" but Hill has trouble with the set-up; he knows how to knock 'em down, but the set-up is weak and there is no dramatic pay off because I'm not invested at all. Not to compare him to his father, but King gets the set-up part better than just about any other author I know of, and so when stuff happens it carries a lot of weight.

There are far too many coincidences without any set-up, and too many times when it feels like something happens just because it would be neat, rather than elevating the story or the characters.

So yeah....there's that.

[megladon8]

Already own it, but thanks!

Sorry it was disappointing.

[D_Davis]

My first Jack Buchanan!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HpA05BsmvJM/TpW7tJhv1TI/AAAAAAAAAgY/2gdrr7yI_6E/s1600/hanoi.jpg


(For this book, and two others in the series, Jack Buchanan is Joe R. Lansdale)

[D_Davis]

RIP Jack Vance.

Thanks for inspiring so many stories and games.

http://www.locusmag.com/News/2013/05/jack-vance-1916-2013/

[Irish]

What!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[megladon8]

I have nearly finished Laird Barron's "The Light is the Darkness" (having started it yesterday afternoon), and I am completely taken with it.

A beautifully written noir tale of cosmic horror.

Davis, you should really check this one out.

[D_Davis]

I have nearly finished Laird Barron's "The Light is the Darkness" (having started it yesterday afternoon), and I am completely taken with it.

A beautifully written noir tale of cosmic horror.

Davis, you should really check this one out.

Been on my shelf for about a year. :)

[megladon8]

Finished it. That was great. Goes totally bonkers at the end and has an awesome little mind bend.

Rich characters and story that felt ripped from the pages of Hammett or Chandler, if Hammett or Chandler had been smoking opium with H.P. Lovecraft.

Very strongly recommended, and requires no knowledge of Lovecraft mythos (for those of you who may be looking for a piece of cosmic horror that doesn't require a breadth of knowledge on the subjects).

[megladon8]

Next book I'm tackling is "The Pilo Family Circus".

The author is a diagnosed schizophrenic, and wrote the book while abstaining from his medication and during periods where he would go more than 48 hours without sleeping.

[megladon8]

"The Pilo Family Circus" is, so far, a fiendish nightmare. Not outright horrifying, but unsettling enough in its blend of terror and black comedy to leave an impression.

Elliott writes with clarity and precision. Subtle in the style department, but communicates his idea clearly and concisely.

I imagine this would be outright terrifying to people with a fear of clowns.

[megladon8]

Flying through this book. Page 191 of 300. Hope to finish it tomorrow.

It's really more of a dark fantasy than a horror. Like a darker, edgier Neil Gaiman.

[megladon8]

That was very good. Again, much more dark fantasy than outright horror. Reminds me of much of the dark-fantasy-edging-on-horror of the mid-to-late 80s, by authors like Gaiman and Barker.

Elliott has a clean, crisp voice with which he is able to communicate his ideas very clearly. Perhaps a touch low on style, but concision more than makes up for that.

The parallels to drug addiction and mental disorders are pretty on-the-nose, but it serves the story well as it all feels very much like an elongated fable. Characters' morals and intentions are worn on their sleeves (unless deemed necessary by plot convenience) and any blurring of right and wrong is nullified by the idea that someone can legitimately be two different people.

One moment in the book that totally lost me, though, was an attempt to explain away the Holocaust as some supernaturally fueled accident. It didn't sit right, and felt cheap. The mere mention seemed pulled out of thin air, and I wish the book had kept itself contained to the events within its own timeline. Hinting at a larger conspiracy was fine and dandy, but outright saying "the Holocaust isn't what you thought it was!" was silly.

Overall, though, I liked it a lot. A tad simplistic (but again, this worked for the fable/fairy tale feel of the story), and Elliott certainly has a striking imagination.

[megladon8]

If "Mandibles" continues as strong as it has begun, I think I may have found a new favorite author in Jeff Strand.

Some of the funniest stuff I've read in a long time.

[megladon8]

"Mandibles" was incredible fun. Hilarious, action packed, just a fantastic read for a Saturday afternoon.

Strand may not be a master wordsmith, but he can certainly entertain.

[megladon8]

Have begun reading King's "It".

Totally hooked already. Read 100 pages this afternoon without removing my eyes from the page.

King is a master storyteller. His ensemble casts, character-based storytelling and wicked imagination are all second-to-none.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Stop now!!! When it ends, you'll hate yourself for having wasted so much time on it!

[D_Davis]

Have begun reading King's "It".

Totally hooked already. Read 100 pages this afternoon without removing my eyes from the page.

King is a master storyteller. His ensemble casts, character-based storytelling and wicked imagination are all second-to-none.

One of my favorites.

[megladon8]

Stop now!!! When it ends, you'll hate yourself for having wasted so much time on it!


Haven't you disliked most everything you've read by King, though?

[Kurosawa Fan]

Haven't you disliked most everything you've read by King, though?

Not even close. Liked most of what I've read, loved a few. Hated It. Absolutely preposterous, asinine last 200 or so pages. Had its moments, which is why I stuck with it to the end, but that ending is just unforgivable.

[megladon8]

Not even close. Liked most of what I've read, loved a few. Hated It. Absolutely preposterous, asinine last 200 or so pages. Had its moments, which is why I stuck with it to the end, but that ending is just unforgivable.


Was it...

...the giant spider?

[Kurosawa Fan]

Was it...

...the giant spider?

Nope. Not even close. I mean, that played into it a bit, but I have no problem with that as the manifestation of the evil in their town. It was the way they went about confronting it and ultimately defeating it that brought about my loathing of the novel.

[megladon8]

Nope. Not even close. I mean, that played into it a bit, but I have no problem with that as the manifestation of the evil in their town. It was the way they went about confronting it and ultimately defeating it that brought about my loathing of the novel.


Hmmm...you're making me even more anxious to read so we can at least talk about it a bit.

And colour me shocked on your opinion on King. I could have sworn I remembered you saying he was, more or less, a hack. I guess it was either someone else, or was in one of the many dreams I've had that involved you in some way.

[Sven]

It does get a bit conceptual at the end. Like the climax of Ang Lee's Hulk film where you're like "Huh?" but at the same time riveted because wtf am I experiencing?

I've been meaning to do a reread of Regulators/Desperation. Perhaps soon.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Hmmm...you're making me even more anxious to read so we can at least talk about it a bit.

And colour me shocked on your opinion on King. I could have sworn I remembered you saying he was, more or less, a hack. I guess it was either someone else, or was in one of the many dreams I've had that involved you in some way.

Nope. Love 'Salem's Lot, Rage, The Long Walk, Desperation, The Gunslinger, and The Shining. Liked Gerald's Game, Misery, and The Green Mile. Hated It and The Colorado Kid.


It does get a bit conceptual at the end. Like the climax of Ang Lee's Hulk film where you're like "Huh?" but at the same time riveted because wtf are you experiencing?

I've been meaning to do a reread of Regulators/Desperation. Perhaps soon.

Yeah, that was mine, aside from the riveted part. My memory is fuzzy, so having a conversation would be difficult, but one detail in particular stands out in which I felt like throwing the book at the wall.

Really dig Desperation, though. Never got around to Regulators. I should amend that some day.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I thought the ending to It was pretty upsetting in terms of

Bev saying, "Hey, you guys should all bang me. That'll help."

I get the point of it, but it's never sat well with me.

Regarding KF's point about the Ritual of Chud,

Yeah, it's goofball and bizarre and really different to the rest of the novel, with Bill and Richie psychically hooking It's tongue...or whatever it was. It was just too much new information/new concepts, too quickly. That bit didn't really work, although I kinda liked meeting the Turtle that threw up the Universe in a bad fit of indigestion, because what is that about?

Anyway, I think the book is decent, but the first half is kinda brilliant, and the back half deflates as it goes.

Also, the Ritual of Chüd is most likely based on the Buddhist practice called Chöd, whereby practitioners go into an extreme form of meditation in which their own turbulent emotions (including the notion of self) appear in the form of demons and try to hinder their enlightenment (similar to the way Buddhist "hells," while vividly described and imagined, are just metaphors for spiritual self-flagellation).

So you can say you learned something today.

[D_Davis]

I love the last section of It. The way its structured makes for such an exciting climax; I love the cutting between past and present, and how the two times link together. The part with Bev is a little weird, and I'm not sure exactly what King was getting at, but I wasn't about to let that little moment ruin the other 900 amazing pages.

I re-read Desperation a couple of years ago - fantastic.

I'm going to re-read The Shining soon, in preparation for Dr. Sleep in September.

[D_Davis]

I'm reading Mistborn, by Brian Sanderson, right now. It's entertaining enough, but totally meh in just about every regard. It reminds of a show that might have been on the CW or UPN. The dialog consists of nothing but exposition and the characters are tissue-paper thin. It is, however, entertaining me right now, and that's something I'm looking for in fiction at the moment, even if I am rolling my eyes at just about every single page.

However, what I am finding remarkable is that this is often a series that current readers of modern fantasy will suggest to friends and family, a series that is somewhat highly regarded and coveted. I've often thought that readers of fantasy are just about the least discerning of all readers, and this only strengthens that opinion. That Mistborn is so highly lauded and that it sells well, while genuinely remarkable, new, exciting, and challenging fantasy like Never Knew Another and Last Dragon, both from J.M. McDermott, go largely unnoticed absolutely blows my mind. McDermott can barely sell enough copies of his books to get the publishers to let him finish his small trilogy, while Sanderson just launched a planned 10 volume series, with each book over 1,000 pages.

Fuck that.

Fantasy readers need to demand more, expect more, and be more discerning.

[megladon8]

You care way too much about what other people enjoy reading.

[D_Davis]

You care way too much about what other people enjoy reading.

False. I care about people reading the best stuff so that the best stuff sells well and so that publishers will publish more better stuff, so that I have more better things to read.

It's called being a champion of good things. I would hope that everyone who loves good things would feel the same.

[megladon8]

False. I care about people reading the best stuff so that the best stuff sells well and so that publishers will publish more better stuff, so that I have more better things to read.

It's called being a champion of good things. I would hope that everyone who loves good things would feel the same.

That thought process makes the assumption that everything you like is "the good stuff".

I read "Last Dragon" and got nothing out of it - I found it quite a bore. But you seem to think it is objectively better than, say, "Mistborn". Which it is not. If a person enjoys the latter more, then they will support that one with their money, and are not wrong in doing so.

Lest we forget, one of your favorite writers - King - is considered by many a literary mind to be no nore than a dimestore shock horror writer with no literary value at all.

I really don't want to get into this yet again because it's a discussion you and I have had a few times in the past.

I just find it a bit bothersome how eager you are to poo-poo what other readers like when it doesn't fall within your realm of quality, worthwhile reading.

[Irish]

I'm reading Mistborn, by Brian Sanderson, right now. It's entertaining enough, but totally meh in just about every regard. It reminds of a show that might have been on the CW or UPN. The dialog consists of nothing but exposition and the characters are tissue-paper thin. It is, however, entertaining me right now, and that's something I'm looking for in fiction at the moment, even if I am rolling my eyes at just about every single page.

However, what I am finding remarkable is that this is often a series that current readers of modern fantasy will suggest to friends and family, a series that is somewhat highly regarded and coveted. I've often thought that readers of fantasy are just about the least discerning of all readers, and this only strengthens that opinion.

Heh! Agreed all around. Fantasy fans are forced to have low standards because the genre is so narrow and thin.

Sanderson is an odd bird. He's gotta be the luckiest mid-lister to ever live, and all because Robert Jordan died. He does a weekly podcast with a bunch of other authors called "Writing Excuses" that's very good; it's fifteen minutes of rapid advice and business talk. I saw a bootleg video series of a class he taught at a local college (in Utah? Arizona?) which was also good. He's very knowledgable about publishing and a certain kind of writing.

But his focus is entirely genre writing, and mid-lister genre writing at that. I think of guys like Sanderson as "turnover" authors, because they've got to turn over so much prose in an incredibly short amount of time in order to have any chance at making a living. Their money comes from volume, not quality. In having twenty novels in print and on the market at the same time.

So they are forced to pump out 90,0000 word drafts every three months, which is why everything they do has that "SyFy" stink about it.

[D_Davis]

I read "Last Dragon" and got nothing out of it - I found it quite a bore. But you seem to think it is objectively better than, say, "Mistborn". Which it is not.

It is. Some things are simply better than others. Every single person I've suggested Last Dragon to has said it is one of, if not the best, fantasy they've read, except for you. That's cool. Three of the seven people I've gotten to read it have gone on to read and buy everything McDermott has done, and those three people happen to be three of the most discerning constant readers I've ever met.

It is a simple fact that some things are better than others; not all opinions are equal, or valid, but everyone can have one. McDermott is the better writer; his characters have more nuance, he uses far more challenging sentence structure, better metaphors, more concrete language, with more complex themes and better prose.

I want more better things that I love.

There are too many mediocre things in genre literature, simply because most genre fans have terrible taste and they aren't very discerning.

When it comes to genre fiction, I have no problem proclaiming myself an arbiter of good taste - I've read a ton of it, I am very discerning with my fiction, can defend what I like with more than "It was fun!" and love to champion the things that I think are worthy of anyone's time and money. A genre book recommendation from me is a very honorable stamp of approval.

[Winston*]

Some genre fans are so undiscerning that they would read other fantasy books instead of Mervyn Peake. :)

[D_Davis]

Meg - three books in your top 10 of 2013 were recommended by me.

I give great recs. :) I try to be thoughtful with the person, too.

You just didn't like LD - but I think you weren't in the mood for something like that when you read it, because it is very much in the same ballpark as something like The Divinity Student (McDermott and Cisco both admire each other a great deal). Maybe try reading it again.

There have been many books that I've had to return to in order to really like.

[Irish]

Lest we forget, one of your favorite writers - King - is considered by many a literary mind to be no nore than a dimestore shock horror writer with no literary value at all.

Off-topic, but every time King goes off on this I just roll my eyes. He does get grief from the literary fiction set, but a lot less than he complains about.

The thing that kills me is that he's too sort sighted to see his own value. Raymond Chandler, James M Cain, and Jim Thompson were all considered dime store hacks in their lifetimes, and they are all great writers and considered such now.

Also, Davis, every time you mention "The Last Dragon," I think of this guy (https://www.google.com/search?q=sho'nuff&client=safari&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=IprcUa2UNMiIiAKC6YHQAw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAA&biw=1024&bih=672).

[D_Davis]

Some genre fans are so undiscerning that they would read other fantasy books instead of Mervyn Peake. :)

Hey, I've tried twice, and will try again! The last time was simply because the book was too large to take with me. I'm going to get an e-version and read it this year.

Like I said, it just hasn't spoken to me....yet! :)

[D_Davis]

In time, King will be considered a great man of letters. Of this, I have no doubt. His short stories will be recognized as the powerhouses that are, and a few of his epics will be mentioned along side any that have ever been written. Time will be very kind to Mr. King.

[Winston*]

I have The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon in my bag atm to start reading today. My 3rd King book (+ the short story 'The Jaunt'). Bought it for 10 cents.