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Best cosmic horror books/movies
- Thread starter Megalosaro
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Megalosaro
Banned
Great movie
I'm literally speechless.
Le_Samourai
Banned
Lovecraft.
bengraven
Member
It was one of the few stories I've read where I'm literally in suspense whether they are going to make it out or not and dreading every thing that changes around them.
Yep. I don't think it really qualifies as spoilers to say this but http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-106 should be considered required reading for context before doing 2718.
How much of Lovecraft have you read? He is not the most welcome writer and I get people not really liking his prose, but his influence is huge, even the works you cited in the OP have lovecraftian elements.
I actually read the whole body of work, and while I agree some of his tales are kind of a drag others are amazing. I would say you should try Dagon or the Dunwich Horror, they are small enough to begin.
fredrancour
Member
I especially like 2718 because
it convincingly describes a potential cognitohazard in a way beyond "Magic word/image will make you die or go mad." It manages to depict a potentially toxic and crippling idea. Then of course there is the possibility that the potential horror described is factual and not hallucinatory or a manipulative fiction.
The thing is... this story is very cosmic, but it has like zero horror in it, I couldn't stand it to be honest.
At the Mountains of Madness or The Shadow over Innsmouth actually fill you with dread.
I quite like Lovecraft but is his prose and literary technique actually highly regarded? I've always had the impression (possibly wrong) that he was considered more of a pulp author technically.
While his approach works and the mythos has become iconic from a purely technical perspective I've never really got the impression he was lauded as such.
Not at all. He generally hated the pulps that published his work, and cared little for most pulp authors; with a few notable exceptions.
People who dislike his writing roll their eyes at the purple prose. People who enjoy it are frustrated that few, if any, write the same kind of fiction in a comparable style.
My point was though how is his technique critically judged vs other authors who are seen as having exemplary technique and ability? For example say an author like J.G Ballard.
I quite like the cumulative effect of his prose style but it overall his prose does feel limited to me versus many other authors who are lauded for their literary technique.
Host Samurai
Member
Gantz....kinda
nailbombxx
Member
I do think Lovecraft was a bit of a flawed writer, he is definitely not the best there is in an objective sense. However, there is no denying that his ideas and concepts were so unique and revolutionary in the worlds of either science fiction, fantasy or horror, and that's what you really read his work for.
EDIT:
EDIT:
IMO the parts where he describes all of the different planets and their histories is a bit laborious to read past their initial novelty (well, he is describing events that span millions and millions of years). What all that culminates into is a fantastic pay-off though.
Oh wow, I've never read 2718 before. I was reading it on my break at work, and when I reached the "point of no return"
GOLD ENEMY + ANEURYSM
Already a fantastic entry, but... that really sold it.
He has a decent degree of respect amongst academics - his work has been published by the Library of America - but you're right that the opinions of scholars are much more divided with regard to his technique than many others whose work is deemed classic American literature.
I would guess his writing technique is valued much more highly amongst literary scholars than you might have imagined, but it certainly has plenty of detractors too.
Megalosaro
Banned
I agree. He had amazing ideas. And occasionally he'd write a passages that are fantastic. But most of the time his stories would leave me feeling unsatisfied.
Just starting the first Southern Reach book right now hope y'all didn't mislead me.
I peeped my bookshelf earlier and remembered a Bradbury collection called The October Country. Most of the short stories aren't cosmic so much as regular horror but it's v good in terms of inspiring dread.
I peeped my bookshelf earlier and remembered a Bradbury collection called The October Country. Most of the short stories aren't cosmic so much as regular horror but it's v good in terms of inspiring dread.
Sweet, let us know what you thought afterwards!
Chuckie
Member
I read through Uzumaki recently and was quite impressed. The gist of it is a seaside town is 'cursed' by spirals and everything goes ... places. Very cruel, very creative, very bizarre body-horror stories that come together in the final act for a trippy ending.
It is not for the squeamish, just to throw that out there.
Oh God no....the spirals ;___:
I mean I like him I was just originally responding to someone who seemed amazed that a reader might find his technique a little wanting... it's not that unlikely.
Myself I think he was a solid if not great writer but the tone he aimed for, the approach he took and the cumulative effect he could attain in terms of giving a real sense of creeping, alien horror was fairly unique. I see his influence and legacy more on the totality of his work and it's holistic impact than the actual critical detail of the individual words and sentences that make up his work (which is where he's not a truly great writer as say J.G. Ballard to stick to my previous example).
Funnily enough I'm re-reading some of his work now just to revisit that vibe. Currently working my way through At The Mountains of Madness.
If OP said he didn't enjoy Lovecraft, then he's certainly not going to enjoy The King in Yellow since it served as Lovecraft's main inspiration, both in themes and writing style (at least, for the first few stories).
True. My copy of the book contains an introduction by H.P. Lovecraft where he says that it's regretful that Chambers chose to focus on romance since the first four or five stories in the book are unlike anything he had ever seen.
Dot Matrix
Member
BPRD, Plague of Frogs and Hell on Earth.
Anton Sugar
Member
Yup. Even knowing beforehand the setup of "two men experience an otherworldly presence" didn't ruin or spoil any of it for me. You can easily see how the writing and structure influence Lovecraft.
Those parts were the ones I was looking forward to the most, but they do get tedious. Looking forward to the end!
Is "Last and First Men" similarly paced?
nice - let me know what you think
Absolutely, Hyperion really came to mind when I read the title, definitely has those beats. Also loved Junji Ito's HellStar Remina.
glaringradio
Member
For someone named Hipster Cthulhu, this is an extremely apt combination of posting without reading the OP.
L.B. Jeffries
Member
Stapledon was a pacifist, a socialist, and an ambulance driver in World War I. The first 120 pages of the book are him launching into his prediction of how the species homo sapien eventually blows itself up with atomic weapons. It's interesting in the sense that he explains his theory of how capitalism is going to get us all killed. Obviously he wasn't psychic but IT IS interesting reading in the modern context. It's just also representative of his political views and I've heard of people getting annoyed with it.
After we nuke ourselves into oblivion, the apes take over for a brief spurt before a second species of man evolves and then the book really gets going.
Yooo I stayed up late reading the first two chapters (Kindle says I'm 44% done lol). The premise is like, definitely a bit asinine. "Area X" is a dumb name, I have no clue where it exists in space or how regular-ass people think about it, and why anyone would go on an expedition is poorly-motivated. It feels a little amateurish, too: there's that whole thing around is the structure a "tower" or a "tunnel", and dude can't not point it out every single time someone changes their reference. You only need to point it out maybe twice and then I'm going to be looking for it, buddy.
But! Suppress a couple eye rolls and it's great! Couldn't put it down. The tower is imaginative and cool, the group dynamic is interesting, and I like the POV narrator -- he does a really great job of making the "is the narrator reliable" question immediately and completely complicated. Is she crazy? Is she the only sane one??
This is one where even though I don't know anything about the series I'm sort of unhappy to know there *is* a series. I hope the subsequent books are different characters. Not going to check until I finish this though. Solid recommendation.
I'm not sure if it's actually 'cosmic horror' but I think it fits with some of the other books that have been mentioned: The House on the Borderland.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
EDIT: accidentally spoilered a bit. Carry on.
Actually the Hannibal show has glimpses of cosmic horror sometimes. Things like this tableau and the episodes around it get into some existential dread. It's like one step less explicit than True Detective though, very much on the periphery. I was just thinking about it because:
I don't know what you had here before editing. I don't particularly care about spoilers re whether a character dies / goes mad / becomes an eldritch abomination / whatever. This book clearly exists in the journey. The one thing that's whack about Hannibal is it's kind of gone on too long. Any one of the arcs that happen to Will should traumatize him into catatonia. I'll allow a couple but at a certain point we're straining credulity: how could that dude still be shocked by anything? He should be totally numb.
I worry a bit about this Annihilation book having a trilogy. Even half-way through it's already piled on Severe Emotional Strain. I hope the main character makes an exit by the end of this book I don't think I have it in me to witness one person go through three books worth of psychic trauma.
I don't know what you had here before editing. I don't particularly care about spoilers re whether a character dies / goes mad / becomes an eldritch abomination / whatever. This book clearly exists in the journey. The one thing that's whack about Hannibal is it's kind of gone on too long. Any one of the arcs that happen to Will should traumatize him into catatonia. I'll allow a couple but at a certain point we're straining credulity: how could that dude still be shocked by anything? He should be totally numb.
I worry a bit about this Annihilation book having a trilogy. Even half-way through it's already piled on Severe Emotional Strain. I hope the main character makes an exit by the end of this book I don't think I have it in me to witness one person go through three books worth of psychic trauma.
Eternal Gamer
Member
I love this story and the theory the protagonist does about ghosts and monsters, so much that I think it could be a good explanation to them. The amazing part to me is reading this in a book from a century ago.
Uzumaki is great, I think the middle chapters in the story are just filler, but the beginning and the ending are very good.
L.B. Jeffries
Member
Oh this thread just reminded me, there is an outstanding short story on Clarkesworld written about The Thing. It's the movie's events but told from the perspective of the monster itself. Also has a great audio version on the link.
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/
I'm tempted to go into the story, but I hate to ruin the horror and dread of it. The story is about the existential crisis of a hivemind trying to assimilate alien beings who operate as individuals, but the basic theme is that the human minds seriously mess with the alien's consciousness and sense of the universe.
I am being Blair. I escape out the back as the world comes in through the front.
I am being Copper. I am rising from the dead.
I am being Childs. I am guarding the main entrance.
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/
I'm tempted to go into the story, but I hate to ruin the horror and dread of it. The story is about the existential crisis of a hivemind trying to assimilate alien beings who operate as individuals, but the basic theme is that the human minds seriously mess with the alien's consciousness and sense of the universe.
I am being Blair. I escape out the back as the world comes in through the front.
I am being Copper. I am rising from the dead.
I am being Childs. I am guarding the main entrance.
L.B. Jeffries
Member
How so?
He's clearly infected at the end of the movie.
Edit: I remember now this is actually a point of debate for fans, this Youtuber made a 2 part video series explaining the fate of Childs that converted me to the infected theory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SppG-I_Dhxw
Imagine Lovecraft was a better writer and what do you get?
Laird Barron.
Lovecraft writes of scholarly types that faint at the sight of cosmic horrors. Barron writes of tough guys that butt heads with the horrors and end up getting devoured anyway.
He was already mentioned earlier, but here are some handy links. And his latest collection is only $1.99 on sale right now:
His other collections:
Laird Barron.
Lovecraft writes of scholarly types that faint at the sight of cosmic horrors. Barron writes of tough guys that butt heads with the horrors and end up getting devoured anyway.
He was already mentioned earlier, but here are some handy links. And his latest collection is only $1.99 on sale right now:
His other collections:
Anton Sugar
Member
Maybe I need to reread it, but I found "The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All" to be pretty poorly written. Felt like a poor man's Lovecraft, and it didn't help that most of the protagonists were cliched tough guys. It's an interesting approach but almost none of the stories worked for me. I can't find a list of all the stories, but I enjoyed the one that culminated in the party at the estate.
Plus, the introduction (written by a fan of Barron's) was godawful embarrassing. I'm sure some dude drooling over Laird's claymore and saying his writing would make Lovecraft pee his pants didn't help.
Plus, the introduction (written by a fan of Barron's) was godawful embarrassing. I'm sure some dude drooling over Laird's claymore and saying his writing would make Lovecraft pee his pants didn't help.
I just today linked this same source in a thread I made earlier. Small world!
I have always been #teamambiguousending. The one question that always strikes me at the end is when MacReady hands Childs the whiskey, it's entirely possible there's gasoline in there, that MacReady is testing Childs. But I never thought it was clear that's what happened. Definitely going to watch this.
You're nuts! As empirical proof, I will point to the Shirley Jackson awards, Bram Stoker awards, numerous "best of" anthologies edited by celebrated editors, which all agree that he's a great writer. I find his characters to have an authenticity that most other writers lack.
I don't recall the forward, but I know it was by Norman Partridge who is a successful writer in his own right. You should check him out too. The genre writing gig can be insular at times, so maybe that came across and rubbed you the wrong way.
Collections are always a mixed bag, but all of Barron's are worth a read. The Imago Sequence is my favorite, though. Maybe because I read it first.
All that said, there's no accounting for taste (yours or mine)!
Just finished it! Enjoyed the hell out of it all told. Ending was kind of weak tho. Doesn't really commit to pessimism or optimism just sort of ends. Kind of drops the momentum it'd built up. Totally worth reading.
Now trying to decide if I care about the trilogy or to move on to something else.
Through the first section of the second book and it ain't spooky in the least. Bummer.
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