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

[D_Davis]

What if there were an auction for the greatest collection of esoteric and occult literature ever compiled by human hands? What if this collection was curated by a secret cult? What if you were to stumble upon the catalog for such an auction, a detailed list of all the manuscripts, with essays written about each, detailing the craftsmanship, condition, and contents of each volume?

Wonder no more.





The book contains essays and details for an auction that includes tomes like The Necronomicon, The King in Yellow, John Dee's The Book of Thoth, The Book of Azathoth, and a host of other illicit, strange, and dark ancient texts, examining and adding to the mythology of each of these fictional works of esoterica. Each of the essays is written by a different author, including Joseph Pulver, Ramsey Campbell, who adopt fictional titles of prestige such as “Prof.” Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. Poetry Chair, English Department, Miskatonic University.

It's an amazing book, beautifully put together with dozens of footnotes, illustrations, and detailed information about each volume including its publication history, number of pages, condition, and comments on the rarity and authenticity of each.

[D_Davis]

New Michael Cisco book - Animal Money. His biggest, and supposedly most complex work to date. Can Cisco maintain his creative drive for nearly 800 pages? We'll see. It also has an amazing and highly erotic cover. Reminds me of Bloodborne's Nightmare Frontier.

A living form of money results in the unraveling of the world.

“The bank is there to save and lend.”
“Workers work and customers spend.”

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[megladon8]

I see nothing sexual there.

[D_Davis]

Animal Money seems to be an economic fantasy. Ciscos last book explored game theory, and this is exploring economic theory.

[D_Davis]

So I guess Jeff VanderMeer kind of likes Animal Money:

I don't know how Cisco is doing this, but so far it's an accomplishment that has me thinking Bolano's 2666 and Pynchon's V and Gravity's Rainbow.

I'm more and more convinced that Michael Cisco's Animal Money might be the uncanny Infinite Jest, and the greatest weird novel of the modern era.

[D_Davis]

Animal Money is something else. Rogue economists, all suffering from head injuries, developing a new kind of money, money that is a verb, not a noun, an economy more akin to the exchanging of ideas and words, getting possessed by the spirit of communist aliens, speaking in economic tongues, weird dream logic, farcical car trips, a secret zoo-within-a-zoo in which animals take turns raping their handlers in exchange for bits of plastic, lions selling trade secrets for lion money....and all in the first 90 pages.

It is by far Cisco's most straight forward narrative - there are no gimmicks, no puzzles, no purposeful obfuscation.

It's wild, and I'm loving it.

[megladon8]

I love that with Cisco, the first paragraph you wrote can be followed by "it's by far his most straight forward narrative."

[D_Davis]

I love that with Cisco, the first paragraph you wrote can be followed by "it's by far his most straight forward narrative."

I was hoping you'd get that joke.

[megladon8]

I honestly didn't think it was a joke. With Cisco, a description like that could very well be a more straightforward work by him!

[D_Davis]

I didn't mean joke as in "haha, not true!" but as in it being funny that I could type what I did, and then say what I did about it.

[D_Davis]

There's a part in Animal Money in which two economists with opposing policies have a duel to see who's policy will be implemented. The duel is a jumping contest, to see which economist can jump the highest over the longest period of time.

This is pretty much exactly how I view the political and economic worlds IRL.

Absolute absurdity satirized with absolute absurdity.

I never imagined that Cisco would get political, but I'm glad he has. This is the only book of his that feels of the time - it's a very NOW book. All of his other work seems to exist outside of space and time. But Animal Money does not.

[D_Davis]

My Lansdale shelf is almost full.

[kuehnepips]

I need D_D here.

[D_Davis]

Wow. This thread is dead.

[D_Davis]

Anyone read anything from Nick Cutter? The Troop? The Deep?

[D_Davis]

So I started reading Nick Cutter's The Troop last night. Pretty good so far. It's about a Boy Scout troop out on a weekend adventure on a small island off the coast of Canada. On the island they come across a super skinny man with some weird disease that causes him to eat and eat, and eat, and eat. There's also something crawling around under his skin.

I'm a super picky eater, and food stuff makes me gag easy. This thing is right up my alley for a good scare.

[D_Davis]

Really looking forward to Grady Henrix' Paperbacks from Hell.

https://www.amazon.com/Paperbacks-He...=grady+hendrix

[megladon8]

I have not read any Cutter but have been very interested in both The Troop and The Deep. Moreso the latter.

[D_Davis]

The Troop is great, so far. Really digging it. It totally does feel like a throwback, but without being just a pastiche. Kind of like The Ruins, but better, of course.

[D_Davis]

The Troop was pretty good. Perfect airport / super market book. Total throwback to the 80s and 90s, mass market genre offering. I saw the physical book at the book store this weekend, and was really disappointed to find that a) it was a trade size, and b) it has a more artsy cover than it deserves. A book like this should embrace is genre-ghetto, rather than try to big itself up by pretending to be more literary horror.

[megladon8]

Wrote down a few titles I want to check out when I was at the book store yesterday:

A Shadow on the Wall by Jonathan Aycliffe

The Truants by Lee Markham

Lovecraft Squad: All Hallows' Horror by John Llewelyn Probert

And I'm still dying to check out The Fisherman by John Langan.

[D_Davis]

I got The Fisherman last year. Haven't read it yet.

[D_Davis]

How did this book escape my childhood?



An animal fable combining Christian allegory with an epic fantasy. Part Watership Down, part Animal Farm, part Narnia, and part Lord of the Rings. All things that I love.

And yet it was only a few months ago that I actually discovered it. And, it might actually be better written than all of those aforementioned titles.

Also, the dog's name in the novel is Mundo Cani Dog. That's the best character name I've ever heard.

[D_Davis]

Just got my copy of Paperbacks from Hell. It is incredible. Large format, trade paperback absolutely overflowing with amazing cover art from all those glorious trashy horror novels from the 80s and 70s, along with info on the artists, the plots, and the authors.

This book absolutely must belong in every horror lover's library.

[D_Davis]

Walter Wangerin Jr.'s The Book of the Dun Cow is extraordinary. It is now my favorite beast epic / animal fable. I like it more than Animal Farm, Watership Down, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and Charlotte's Web. As far as Christian themed literature goes, it is also extraordinary. More nuanced than the Narnia books and Pilgrim's Progress, and not just a simple allegory. It's not really an allegory at all, but instead the book assumes that the Christian God is the god of the Animals upon the Earth, and the animals know this. But in this book, God turns his back on the animals, and leaves their fate up to them. God is NOT in control here, and this very much reflects my own view of the divine and our roles on Earth. It is one of the most subversive and harsh YA novels I've ever read. I can't imagine something like this being written for this audience today. Very real, very harsh, and very meaningful adult ideas, relationships, and desires are addressed in a bold and unflinching manner. The personification of evil, named Cockatrice, rapes every hen in his kingdom to produce an army of basilisks to send to war. It is dark, and bleak, full of sadness and sorrow, tragedy and hardship. But it is also brimming with humor and triumph. The animals - especially the ants - can be downright hilarious, and Wangerin breathes life into each of the species giving them natural mannerisms that enhance their biological differences. This is highly recommended. One of the very best fantasies I've read in years. Right up there with Lord Dunsany and George MacDonald.