Started Stanley C. Sargent's Ancient Exhumations. Pretty good so far. The first story, "The Rattle of Her Smile," is in the Lovecraft-pastiche camp, but Sargent adds enough of his own voice to elevate it slightly above being a mere copy. In this story Sargent weaves in the legend of Yig, the snake-god, the Great Old One, and tells the story of a sculptor who, through the use of the Necronimicon, stumbles upon a horrible discovery, thus, of course, driving him mad.
reading her collection of short stories, i realize what an oddly anachronistic writer du maurier is. the birds, in its heavy use of symbolism and metaphores, is more funny than anything else. (it reminds me of simon pegg's the proletariats.) her characters have this annoying habbit to think every supernatural event is a conspiracy theory. this is grating for some of her longer work in which we, readers, realize what's going on way ahead of the character. also her insistence on using a bimbo-type girl as a protagonist irrates me. at this point, i'm not sure if i want to read rebecca. seem like it has a potential to go really wrong.
"Over analysis is like the oil of the Match-Cut machine." KK2.0
About 130 pages left in "Needful Things".
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
The second story, "Dark Demonize," in Sargent's book is quite good. It reminded me a lot of the recent film Drag Me To Hell, only it's a much better story that explores its themes in a far less cynical manner. It's also typed loosely to the mythos canon, and thus mentions a "steward of Nyarlathotep, the Black Faceless One, the Avatar of Chaos." I'm sorry, but if I were to summon a demon, I think I'd pick one with a more pleasant title.
More from Sargent's book...
So while I am enjoying this book on one level, on another level I'm wondering if my time reading could be better spent on something else. It does feel as though with each story I'm simply moving from one pastiche to another, and while that's not really bad - weird fiction is a genre teeming with pastiche - I can't help but feel that I'd rather read an author with a more authentic and unique voice.
***
The third story - Mr. Sargent, leave the southern, rural horror to Lansdale.
D, i'm now 40 pages into The House on the Borderland. is it getting significantly better? it's kinda fun, but i'm troubled by the narrator's lack of any character and the way hodgson rushes things through. also aside from the wonderful first chapter, his prose is anything but atmospheric.
"Over analysis is like the oil of the Match-Cut machine." KK2.0
If you don't like it by now, I'd say to give it up.Quoting lovejuice (view post)
While I enjoyed it more than you seem to be, it wasn't great, and it is especially mediocre when compared to Hodgeson's brilliant short stories.
I think it has a great first half, but the second half doesn't do anything to elevate the tension.
Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things is so overabundant with its stories that, even when certain tales prove a little too half-baked or ephemeral, there's always a new one just around the corner that might tap into the imagination. So, while some of them read as sketches that would be better if more fully drawn ("Fairy Reel," "Bitter Grounds"), and others don't amount to much more than cute ("In the End"), a few of the stories vibrate with genuine energy and emotion. The collection's feature story is probably the clever Sherlock Holmes / Cthulhu Mythos fusion "A Study in Emerald," although readers unfamiliar with either subject will probably feel a little lost - I know I did. Other notable stories include "Sunbird," a tale about a club that delights in eating endangered (or purportedly extinct) animals, and "Goliath," an affecting tale set nominally in the Matrix universe. As someone new to his writing, I found this batch of stories diverting, if never masterful, but I suspect Gaiman acolytes will find plenty of rewards inside this bountiful collection.
B
What, is there a cult or something?
Are you joking?
He gives the Cult of Whedon and the Cult of Campbell a run for their money.
I'm seriously not familiar with Gaiman, apart from Beowulf and Coraline. I know he's been a success in a few different fields with his comics and books and what-have-you, but I didn't know there was a Gaiman cult.Are you joking?
He gives the Cult of Whedon and the Cult of Campbell a run for their money.
Good for him, I guess. Always nice to have a nonjudgmental group of people willing to buy everything you do.
He's insanely popular with the geek-culture. I don't really dislike him. I do get a little tired of seeing his name everywhere. It seemed like for awhile every book I picked up had an introduction or quote by him. I like many of his comic books, but I don't care for his novels too much. However, he also appears to be a very nice dude, and so I can understand why he is so popular.
I listened to his collection on audio CD, and he was a solid narrator. He knew when to speak softly and when to get theatrical.
When do you think you'll resume The Book of the New Sun, D?
"Modern weapons can defend freedom, civilization, and life only by annihilating them. Security in military language means the ability to do away with the Earth."
-Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
After another Sturgeon book, most likely.
can't agree with you more. i have to give up anansi boys halfway through. the book sure is imaginative and full of energy, but gaiman writes like he's not too comfortable with the material. his prose lacks elegance. it's packed with a lot of images and ideas, but gaiman seems too lazy to spend enough time crafting the text to convey those. his novel reads like he's badly in need of an accompanying artist.
"Over analysis is like the oil of the Match-Cut machine." KK2.0
Heh, I've said the exact same thing before.
Which is why he works well in film. I loved Coraline - truly a remarkable movie - and I also really enjoyed Mirrormask. Beowulf, not so much.
I was thinking about my favorite horror short stories this week, and so I made a quick blog post with five of them, with more to come hopefully. An excerpt:
Awesomeness: my parents got me Under the Dome for my birthday.
This thing looks like a fricking brick.
I can't wait to start.
Nice. Hope you like it.Awesomeness: my parents got me Under the Dome for my birthday.
This thing looks like a fricking brick.
I can't wait to start.
Almost got eighty pages in this morning. I was devouring it. Classic King character-building, but there were a bunch of little nods that made me smile. The ominous cawing of a crow (The Stand), someone "lighting out for the territories" (The Talisman), repeated references to Castle Rock and Tarker's Mills.
Well, I bought Joe Abercrombries' Best Served Cold for my birthday, because I loved the three books before.
So far a book to make love to.
Okay, to bloody fuck. Bloody. To death.
The first 250 pages, or so, are probably the best 250 pages King has ever written.
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