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Cosmic horror, and the fear of the unknown

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_h8bit

Banned
Just finished The Fisherman and checked to see if GAF had any talk going on about it. Looks like this thread just started me down a new rabbit hole.

I really enjoyed The Fisherman. I wish there was a bit more meat on either side of the "other" story in there, but it was a great book. It really does a great job slowly building up and layering in the horror.

I read this coming off of the Troop and I prefer The Fisherman quite a bit in regards to the horror stuff, though I've heard The Deep is more of a genre match. I'll have to look into it.

Just finished The Deep after coming here in a much similar fashion haha. Definitely check it out, it's fantastic.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
China Mieville is an excellent writer in general and calls his writings weird fiction in the vein of Lovecraft. Though unlike him he is incredibly forward thinking and open with his views and more than a bit of a socialist. That said he's got some incredible short story collections and some that are great examples of Cosmic Horror. One of his short stories is called Devil in the Details and its a really clever take on being totally and blissfully unaware of the horrors that are around you all the time and you just don't notice them. I don't want to give away too much about the story as its not a long read but a really good good one.
 
I strongly, strongly recommend the work of Thomas Ligotti.

A note on Thomas Ligotti. He is compared to Lovecraft all of the time (not without reason, his idea of horror is very informed by Lovecraft). But fair warning: most of his stuff is going to read like a huge jump away from any Lovecraft tale people have read.

Bottom line: don't expect "more Lovecraft". Ligotti's horror stories may as well be their own genre. Like Lovecraft, he has his own distinct, prose, and tropes that are prevalent in almost all of his stories. Desolate towns, creepy puppets, metaphysical weirdness, surrealism and a soul-crushingly nihilistic philosophy that the author genuinely believes in. Honestly, I would say that somehow Ligotti's viewpoint of existence is even darker than Lovecraft's.

EDIT:

One of my most favorite Ligotti stories is available to read for free here:

Thomas Ligotti - The Red Tower
 

Aske

Member
China Mieville is an excellent writer in general and calls his writings weird fiction in the vein of Lovecraft. Though unlike him he is incredibly forward thinking and open with his views and more than a bit of a socialist. That said he's got some incredible short story collections and some that are great examples of Cosmic Horror. One of his short stories is called Devil in the Details and its a really clever take on being totally and blissfully unaware of the horrors that are around you all the time and you just don't notice them. I don't want to give away too much about the story as its not a long read but a really good good one.

Ironically, Lovecraft identified as a socialist in his final years. He rejected republicanism and embraced FDR's New Deal, and went to great pains to try to educate his more right wing friends of the wisdom of the left in his correspondence with them.

While his political position all but completely reversed, I don't think he ever recanted his racism in the same way - correct me if I'm wrong. It diminished profoundly, but going from a 10 to a 3 on the racist scale still denotes an unacceptable worldview. In the last year of his life, however, he wrote this in a letter to a fan, regarding his old stances on politics and culture:

"...what a complacent, self-assured, egocentric jackass I was in those days! ... I can the better understand the inert blindness and defiant ignorance of the reactionaries from having been one of them. I know how smugly ignorant I was."
 

GhaleonEB

Member
I finished The Fisherman, despite my rant earlier about it. I'd set it aside and read the rest last week while my wife and kids were on vacation.

I liked most of the story it told, but really disliked how it was told. The author's heart seems to be with the story that is relayed second hand, as it consumes 2/3 of the length. The wrap around story is not given enough breathing room and so the ending section goes by comically fast.
They head to the creek right after hearing this giant tale, and in <20 pages our progag is fucking a fish that he's projected his wife's image onto. Alrighty.

Neat premise and some good world building in the central story, but everything around it was robbed of any build up, suspense, or horror. Still, I'm definitely down for more (hopefully better) examples of this genre and will check out a few more of the recommendations.
 
I finished The Fisherman, despite my rant earlier about it. I'd set it aside and read the rest last week while my wife and kids were on vacation.

I liked most of the story it told, but really disliked how it was told. The author's heart seems to be with the story that is relayed second hand, as it consumes 2/3 of the length. The wrap around story is not given enough breathing room and so the ending section goes by comically fast.
They head to the creek right after hearing this giant tale, and in <20 pages our progag is fucking a fish that he's projected his wife's image onto. Alrighty.

Neat premise and some good world building in the central story, but everything around it was robbed of any build up, suspense, or horror. Still, I'm definitely down for more (hopefully better) examples of this genre and will check out a few more of the recommendations.

This is real similar to how I felt about it.

I also don't think the scene at the ending after they had been to the beach was necessary to the story being told.

I liked the heart of it and thought the prose was really good. It's stuck with me after the fact (I finished in it October and it's July now and I'm still chewing on it in the back of my head) so I think it's definitely worth a read.

I just started The Deep. I'm only a little bit in but I'm digging the story so far. Prose is nice enough, and there are some strong images but overall it's pretty middling. Liking it a lot though.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Finally getting around to reading some of the stories posted in here. Fuck e-books are more expensive than their physical counter parts is the first thing I noticed. Started with Sour Candy since it was free and a novella. Pretty good stuff though I have to admit the main character gets used to the situation he's thrust into far too easily and figures things out way too quickly. Even more so the ending felt a little too spelled out and simplistic but otherwise, not a bad read.
 

Inkwell

Banned
Just thought I would mention that the Kindle version of Dead Sea is on sale for $0.99. I haven't read it yet (or anything written by the author) so I can't vouch for the quality of the book. I just wanted to let everyone know since it was mentioned in the thread.
 

Hilbert

Deep into his 30th decade
Just thought I would mention that the Kindle version of Dead Sea is on sale for $0.99. I haven't read it yet (or anything written by the author) so I can't vouch for the quality of the book. I just wanted to let everyone know since it was mentioned in the thread.

I really like that book, and I think Tim Curran's Lovecraft novels(of which this is not one) are excellent.

Basically, read more Tim Curran.
 
For anyone looking to dip their toes into cosmic horror, Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows" is an excellent starting point. A personal fav of HP Lovecraft.

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There are places you can read it online, too. It's more a novella/short story, so it's a pretty quick read, too.

I re-read it during a trip to Vienna last year mainly sitting on the banks of the Danube. I absolutely love this story. And of course Lovecraft brought me to Mr. Blackwood's writing.
 

DireStr8s

Member
Picked up Shadows of Carcosa tonight.

"Tales of cosmic horror by Lovecraft, Chambers, Machen, Poe and other masters of the Weird"

Published by the always reliable NYRB.

Opens with a completely delirious tale by Poe.
 

HotHamBoy

Member
Hey, cross-posting this to relevant threads.

I just discovered this guy Edward French on youtube. Incredible reading voice, very professional and evocative. He has just under 1,000 subs, I have no idea why he has so few because this guy is legit. Like, Wayne June quality (although June's voice is singular)

Lots of classic horror and sci fi stories!

https://www.youtube.com/user/FrenchEdward06

This one is really good:

The Thing In The Cellar by David H. Keller
 
Hey, cross-posting this to relevant threads.

I just discovered this guy Edward French on youtube. Incredible reading voice, very professional and evocative. He has just under 1,000 subs, I have no idea why he has so few because this guy is legit. Like, Wayne June quality (although June's voice is singular)

Lots of classic horror and sci fi stories!

https://www.youtube.com/user/FrenchEdward06

This one is really good:

The Thing In The Cellar by David H. Keller
Ooh, nice. Dude needs playlists bad, though, come on.

Will check him out. Thanks!
 
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