/lit/ - Literature

>>19898275
Evenson's A collapse of horses. The first story 'Black bark' is very scary and weird and interesting.

>>19898275
>Is that... Is that a mannequin that dreamt it was a person?
>OH GOD I'M GOING INSANE AHHHHH EXISTENCE IS MALIGNANTLY USELESS

dracula

>>19898275
also kinda comfy

>>19898275

>>19899162
I'm there with you. Let's go fishing.

>>19898275
Have it and I feel like its hit or miss.

What are your favourites shorts anons?

>>19898275

>>19898275

>>19899097
yeah

>>19899177
>the scene where he slowly floats towards the pig creature making its way towards him whilst he can't do anything to control his own slow advance
Captured that type of nightmare perfectly

>>19899162
Everything but the last chapter of the book was superb. The ending felt like a cheap 'one last scare'.

>>19898275
Lairds Barron short stories collections are very tasty if you like Lovecraftian horror .

>>19899162
The only interesting part of this was the loggers camp story and even this felt like copy paste of Pet Sematary. Rest is just boring small town drama intertwined with dark fantasy that has some wonky imagery.

>>19898275
Wow, Eminem on the cover!

>>19898275
this sucked

>>19901513
I'm feeling the same. Feels very purple and stupidly confusing. Am I filtered?

>>19901647
>>19901513
Now i'm getting worried because I really enjoyed it. Either you guys are filtered or I'm too low iq to understand that it is I being filtered

>>19898275

Reading Dracula atm. Are there any other horror novels (apart from Frankenstein) that have gained literary esteem?

>>19901513
Ligotti is awful

>>19901676
Ligotti is great. They don't get him. His later collections are more personal and place his work better in context.

>>19901676
Ligotti is one of the best living prose stylists, don't mind the plebs. It's not purple but rusty brown, intentionally cold and droning. But I agree with >>19902074 , Teatro Grottesco is his best.

>>19901892
hell yeah. This book was great

say what you will about King, but this was a genuinely good and literary work

>>19901676
If you don't like Ligotti, you're just filtered.

>>19899122
what about it?

>>19900240
is this horror? I thought it was crime/procedural

>>19901892
Fuck you and your pseudo intellectual garbage

>>19902329
genuinely what about it was pseudo intellectual? The vividness of the descriptions, the chractarizations, and the mystery of the horror were well written imo

>>19902268
Weird to me that King himself doesn't like this one
He says it reads much more nihilistic than he actually intends, but I'd put this on a short list with Misery as the only King books I've read that don't manage to drop the ball in the final acts

>>19902074
>>19902099
>>19902269
Lol

>>19902537
At least attempt to provide some criticism of Ligotti's work. Being confused by his philosophical subtext or intricate vocabulary isn't enough.

>>19901676
While I would say his style is complex, I don't think its more so than is necessary for the effect it acheives.
He does a really excellent job of insinuating a lot that isn't explicitly discussed, it gives his stories the quality of a bad dream. Where things don't quite make direct sense, but you get a terrible sense that it all is connecting behind the scenes.
He explains fairly directly what he's going for in his notes on Gothic Horror, and he's largely successful IMO.

>>19902548
His philosophical subtext is only cheap nihilism that you're supposed to leave behind before you turn 18. His vocabulary isn't intricate either, he just engages in the same resources again and again to give some kind of complex and confusing atmosphere but it feels bland and reiterative.

>>19901513
>>19901647
Teatro Grottesco, a later work of his, is much better. Reading OP's text was a big dissapointment

>>19898275

>>19902012
I was trying to think of someone, but I guess this anon gave me the answer.
I think Bierce achieved some literary esteem a few years after death.
Not sure about Blackwood, but his writing style seems close enough to 'literary' to me.

>>19898275
This is a very good horror novel, if you dont mind the Hollowcost and da good Mossad bits. The concept of monsters, pacing and characters are great.

>>19903354

Is it long winded? Can you give me some choice scenes to make me interested because the concept is always lost on me when i read descriptions. Ive been flirting with reading this book for 10 years now.

>>19903545
It has a neat spooky portrayal of mind control with plot points and secret culture revolving around it. If you do not find this concept somewhat inspiring, you probably won't be able to endure the book when it dives into outdated cliches dialed to 11. The choice scenes would be an ancient nazi officer using his willpower to play chess using jewish prisoners as pieces and a paranoid hag with similar powers gradually subjugating a bad negro neighborhood. Frankly I'd only recommend it if you are looking for a text to read for language practice. The cringe gets overwhelming at times
t. not the same anon

>>19901892
This book was great but god damn how miserable.

On a side note they've recently found the ship. There's some good video of the dive.

>>19899162
I'm glad more people have read this. I loved it.

Are there any horror stories about the ocean? I guess Moby Dick might be an example.

>>19903354
The nuclear silo scene alone was great

thanks for the suggestions cuties

>>19902012
>>19903354

Le Fanu's Carmilla is kino, haven't read much else of his though,

>>19900161
The Frolic is good IMO


>>19901156
been wanting a peek at this

has anyone read Between Two Fires?

>>19898938
Why would you post that instead of the kino it was an homage to and is now ripping off?

>>19900161
Alice's Last Adventure was my favorite
Shadow at the Bottom of the World I thought was stylistically cool
I liked most of them, except the few I really didn't

Whats the worst horror book you have read?

I read the first Strain book and it was basically an extended screenplay.

Why is Ramsey Campbell considered a good writer when all his books are silly supermarket bullshit like this?

>>19904276
I don't get it either I've tried and falls flat fairly often. The Hungry Moon was alright

>>19904276
Could be because he was one of the first? Is he not?

>>19904136
I only started listening to the audiobook (I know, I know) so far its OK. Hope it will match The Lesser Dead when it comes to the quality of the storytelling, but we will see.

>>19898275
This one is very a good vampire novel or rather collections of novellas telling the story of the same protagonist from different points of view.

>>19898275
And a classic, a comfy yet spooky novel by Peter Straub.

>>19903690
The hag character, Melanie is exceptionally well written villain - a cunning. chillingly cruel
and batshit insane prim old lady. Comfort is worth reading for her storyline alone, even if some other bits are a little formulaic.

>>19898275
Another good vamp novel.

>>19898275

>>19898275
Good old cheesy cannibal Murder&Raep kino.

>>19898275
This was quick and fun read - a serial killer, two horny shotas and strong womeme bumping on each other because someone forgot to bring rubbers on a date. Possibly the happiest ending ever written, kek.

>>19899162
>>19898996
I get the uneasy feels but...
Collapse of horses ==> I got more a sense of dread than horror.
Fisherman ==> my mum said it seemed a good story but protracted.
I've also seen Starve Acre on these threads which started promising but I lost interest. Just my taste tho.

Humans keep replicating while they still alive and pile up all over the world

Invisible paranormal beings use humans as playthings like just pick them up and fling them around

>>19905485
More vampire excellence

>>19899162
Like a diluted Stephen King. Did not like this one at all.

>>19900240
got epub/mobi of this?

>>19903745
Aickman is a hit or miss, but he makes some really nice hits.

>>19906894
>diluted Stephen King

Completely different from King. If it was a King book, it would be full of outdated references and repeated characters.

>>19901892
The first half is genuinely scary, the second is more about the shit the sailors have to go through, the monster becomes a secondary threat.

Any good werewolf books bros

>>19906932
Yes, but you will never read it.
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/28/1001309335/a-young-john-steinbecks-unpublished-werewolf-novel-isnt-going-to-print

>>19906932

Wolfs Hour
Howling
The Wolfen

>>19906954
Why would you do this to me

>>19906932
This one was fun, but I read it when I was 19 or something.

>>19907010
>>19907103
Thanks bros

>>19907355

Theres a short story by robert e howard for a quick read.

https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601801h.html

>>19899501
Shit, almost dismissed this one as a meme. Added to reading list, thanks

>>19904136
Between Two Fires is scary occasionally near the beginning, but imo loses it near the end of the book unless you buy into the hell meme not sure if it's the author's first book but felt like it

>>19901892
>ywn breed a magic nubile Eskimo woman after you've completely given up hope

>>19898275
why do Horror books and Sci-Fi genre fiction books have such absolutely shit covers.
Even Penguin couldn't salvage this shit.
Maybe it's because genre fiction is marketed towards its audience,
teeny boppers

There's a part in Blackwood's the Wendigo, where the old indian man gets up from bed while everyone else is sleeping, catches the horrific smell in the air, walks a bit further from the camp and takes a whiff.
The writing in that scene made the hair on my neck rise. I don't read a lot of horror but I've been trying to find a horro story that capture that kind of atmosphere and creepiness.
Blackwood's other stories range from 'alright' to 'great', but nothing ever came close to the Wendigo in my opinion, not even the Willows.
Anyone have any recs based on this post?

>>19908181

The only story that sent shivers down my spine was The Statement of Randolph Carter. Something about it caught me offguard and i was genuinely spooked.

>>19905443
Started it but didn't like it for the first hundred pages

>>19898275
I heard this was good, plus part 2

>>19905491
Never read it but tempted. Any opinions?

>>19906926
I really like that aspect of the book, where the monster is just another thing the men have to survive

cisoids btfod by horror novel of the decade

>>19910245
Explain

>>19906932
Wagner the Werewolf
The Werewolf Of Ponkert
Cycle of the Werewolf

>>19908775
It is good, great ending

>>19911087
Thanks anon, good endings in horror are what I read for, stuff like the Imago Sequence.

>>19900190
Favourite story? Mine's got to be Martin's Close. Also have a soft spot for Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance for being a 1913 creepypasta

Anything by Michael Shea. Highly underrated. Try Fat Face or The Autopsy. The Nifft (Fantasy) stuff is great too.

>>19911740
Man I read it almost a decade ago, don't remember much of the titles anymore. I especially liked the one where MC descended into that crypt-cum-well and 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'.

>>19898275
This and the short story it's based on are pretty good.

>>19908181
When the guy is literally sobbing in the tent, Jesus fuck.

>>19898275
I bought it a few days ago, I read that it is very obscure, even in Italy.

>>19911961
I've heard nothing but good things about "Dark Gods" but its impossible to find

>>19911995
How is it?

>>19912678
Pretty good, solid stories. I can clearly see the influence of Poe and Hoffmann, the stories are always oscillating between the fantastical and the eeriness of gothic fiction.

>>19900176
Sold as Lovecraftian horror
in reality a monarchist revolution fantasy,

>>19906080
While this is not my favorite of Shipley why isn't this guy talked more about here ? I guess he's too high IQ for the normie midwits here.

>>19912623
I wound up buying a bunch of horror anthologies that had the four individual stories in it.
Cheaper than buying a copy of Dark Gods and the anthologies usually had a bunch of other horror novellas in them.

>>19898275
thought this was absolute shit even as an antinatalis sympathist. only stories that left any impression at all were the first with the psycho who steals their kid and the ending one with the clown ritual town shit.
most of the stories were the worst example of purple prose apropos of nothing

>>19906932

>>19908181
bump for interest

>>19912856
This was so good, but I couldn’t get into his other books. Between Two Fires was boring and Suicide Motor Club felt like a generic B movie.

>>19905443
I like Straub a lot. The Blue Rose books (Koko, Mystery, The Throat) are great. They're more thrillers than horror, though.

Also, Floating Dragon and Shadowland.

>>19912623
I bought a copy off abe books a few years ago. It's definitely on the overrated side. I like The Ceremonies a lot for reference. Two out of the four stories in Dark Gods are pretty bad/cringe. Other two are very good. It's not a huge loss to not get your hands on it.

>>19898275
Call of the Crocodile

>>19916083
/thread

>>19912765
Any recs?

>>19916831
This text got me into Shipley
https://brightlightsfilm.com/monster-end-pessimisms-locked-rooms-impossible-crimes-true-detective/
Well worth reading even if you never watched True Detective.
I think I prefer his philosophical texts rather than his fiction or poems.
His latest is :On the Verge of Nothing: Pessimism’s Impossible Beyond

>>19911740
Mine has to be A Warning to the Curious. In many ways it strips away all the comfiness that is characteristic of a lot of James' earlier stories. Just an incredibly bleak and well constructed ghost story.

>>19903745
The Same Dog from this collection is one of my favourite Aickman stories. It's the perfect marriage of the uncanny with Aickman's trademark psychological and supernatural uncertainty.

>>19908181
I also rate The Wendigo higher than The Willows. I can't think of many stories by any author that manage to express the terror of the characters in such a visceral way. It's been a while since I read it, but for some reason I think The Room in the Tower by EF Benson managed something similar for me.

>>19912623
I loved The Events at Poroth Farm so I tracked down a paperback copy of Dark Gods a few years ago but, like another anon, I thought it was overrated. The four stories are interesting and well written, but not as spectacular as I had been led to expect by Poroth Farm and the collection's reputation. Still haven't read The Ceremonies but I'll get to it at some point (not had much success with full horror novels in the past).

>>19910245
>Cisoids
Normal, anon. The word you're looking for is normal