I had nightmares last night because of "Penpal".
Can't remember the last time a book did that to me.
I had nightmares last night because of "Penpal".
Can't remember the last time a book did that to me.
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.
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.
Stephen King has two books coming out this year and they both sound fantastic.
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.
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.
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.
Quoting megladon8 (view post)
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.
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.
Such a great novel. Perfect form and function.
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
"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.
"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.
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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