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/lit/ - Literature

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2301755 No.2301755 [Reply] [Original]

I fell in love with Lovecraft's vague style of portraying the horrors in his stories, which left nearly all of the imagery up one's imagination. Years ago, I recived a suggestion to read "Thomas Ligotti" due to his style's similarities between Lovecrafts. Long story short his collection of short stories "Teatro Grottesco" has since remained my favorite book to have ever possessed. Unfortunately it's falling apart due to its frequent use.

So I've created this thread for three purposes:

1.) Firstly, to expose /lit/ to a horror writer worth reading.

2.) To inquire if anyone knows of any files including his works that I could put on my kindle. (Since my poor book is falling apart)

3.) To create a thread in which we can suggest books that could appropriately be described as "horrific, surreal, eerie, atmospheric, unsettling, disturbing, etc."

>> No.2301758

Have you read the 120 Days of Sodom?

>> No.2301768

Ligotti is so meh. I guess if you enjoy Lovecraft you'll like him a lot too, but personally Ligotti is too verbose.

There really aren't many decent authors of horror; it's probably the hardest genre to write. Of the ones I've read I like Aickman the best though. Some of his stories were quite unsettling.

>> No.2301771

>>2301758
No, I have not. I figure you suggest a book about rape because it falls under the category of "disturbing". Fair enough. I just wish there was more material like Ligotti's. Each of his stories reads like a dream. The characters in each of his stories (if any such people even make an appearance) all have intentions and pasts that remain largely foreign to the reader. Also, by each story's end there is no conclusive solution or answer to any sort of mystery that has formed.

Ligoitti himself is a firm Nihilist and his bleak beliefs are evident in the way he structures his stories and the few dreary conversations that may take place within them. I know it seems as though I'm sucking Ligotti's cock, (and that may be) but it's really difficult to convey just how influential his writing is on your mind. Wherever I decide to read Ligotti, I always feel detached afterwards, largely unwilling to facilitate conversation. He's good /lit/!

http://www.amazon.com/Teatro-Grottesco-Thomas-Ligotti/dp/0753513749

>> No.2301774
File: 11 KB, 228x221, horrorland.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2301774

ohhh, very nice thread OP. Have you checked out his Subterranean Press stuff? They are releasing all his old collections in hardback. His first collection of stories, "Songs of a Dead Dreamer" is simply amazing. Like so good, a few stories bring tears to my eyes.

As an avid horror reader, I must inform you Ligotti is a pretty singular writer. But I just received a Caitlín R. Kiernan collection, and she seems to come from the same camp of lush prose horror writers.

Ligotti is a favorite of mine. He is everything I love about Lovecraft and horror, except about a million times better prose.

>> No.2301780

OP, I have never read any horror. Could you direct me to one of Ligotti's better stories online please?

>> No.2301791

Also, if you guys are looking for some great horror writers:

Joe Hill---his short story collection is amazing. Not a fan of the novels. Literary horror at its best.

Clive Barker: out of control imagination that often gets lost in the spilling of blood. But his first collection (Books of Blood Volume I-III), there are some truly great stories.

Shirley Jackson: Short story collection or novels; I love everything about her writing, and characters. It's like what happens when a nervous soccer mom writes horror.

So much more. The trick with finding good horror is tracking down the style you love most. Right now, horror is WAY on the back burner of publishing, but it'll come back soon enough. Then it will be easier to get acess to good writers.

>> No.2301797

>>2301780

http://weirdfictionreview.com/2011/12/the-red-tower-by-thomas-ligotti/

>> No.2301799

Just go to FilesTube OP and search for Teatro Grottesco and you'll find an HTML file (just don't ask me how you get that working on your Kindle).

>> No.2301818

>>2301797
>>2301797
"The Red Tower" is very atmospheric, but in comparison to some other stories in "Teatro Grottesco" it lacks the same levels of mystery that lead to a feeling of suspense.

>> No.2302028

>>2301755
Bump for books that are "horrific, surreal, eerie, atmospheric, unsettling, disturbing, etc."

>> No.2302795

>>2302028
I wish Ligotti's works were more accessible online. He's such a magnificent horror writer. All I could find on filestube was the html for "Teatro Grottesco" which can easily be made Kindle compatible through usage of Calibre. I just wish his books "My Work Is Not Yet Done" and "Conspiracy Against The Human Race" were available.

>that feel when reading Ligotti..

>> No.2303231
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2303231

OP here with an unsettling book. I'm just trying to get the ball rolling on this thread /lit/. I guess people don't like the topic much.

>> No.2303265

>>2303231
It's an interesting topic, but no one has anything to say.

>> No.2303367

>>2303265
Ahem...

A.M. Holmes is a boss.

>> No.2303383

T. E. D. Klein is a great Lovecraft-like author.

>> No.2303389
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2303389

>> No.2303405

for anyone who hasn't read much horror, and doesn't know where to start, I think Edgar Allan Poe is the best place to start. I probably don't even need to post this, because I'm sure everyone here has read at least one of his short stories or poems, but if you haven't, then I guarantee an excellent read.

and since we're on the topic of good taste (which is a common theme in this board) i just want to say that you guys are awesome and are by far the classiest board on 4chan, despite what /fa/ thinks.

>> No.2303504
File: 35 KB, 321x500, exquisite corpse..jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2303504

>>2303405
OP here. Thanks man! On other boards I feel as though other's are hostile towards me, and it sucks. But on this board, I feel better. There's the occasional pretentious prick, but the way I see it, if it weren't for pretentious pricks, regular people would not seem as nice. So I'm thankful for them since they provide contrast.

Now I'm going to bed but I'll wake up in 6 hours. Before I go to bed I'll recommend one more book that falls into the "disturbing" category.

>> No.2303544

>>2303504
fuck you fagg
go sodomize yourself with a lizard and write an horror novel about it

>> No.2304215
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2304215

Read this for a Horror Literature class back in school. Very different than the Lovecraft stuff and Poe stuff that seem to comprise the two main camps of the genre. Absolutely amazing, though.

>> No.2304224

>horrific, surreal, eerie, atmospheric, unsettling, disturbing, etc."

terry goodkind's sword of truth series fits the bill perfectly

what a crock of shit

>> No.2304279
File: 285 KB, 2113x2850, house of leaves.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2304279

OP here. I realize /lit/ may hate me for this, but I feel like this is related by some stretch of the imagination. It's at least "unsettling".

>> No.2304988

>>2301774

I remember that game, it always crashed on me though

>> No.2305002
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2305002

Woah, nice thread. Bump!

>> No.2305007
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2305007

I'd recommend Kafka. Although most of his stuff isn't horrific or terrifying as such, it is dreamlike and eerie, and always leaves you unsettled. And he's a great writer to boot!

>> No.2305015

"The House Next Door," by Anne Rivers Siddons

"Something Wicked This Way Comes," by Ray Bradbury

a lot of Harlan Ellison's short stories probably qualify, for example, "The Deathbird" and "Adrift off the Islets of Langerhans."

also, seconding the guy who suggested Joe Hill. His stories are definitely more surreal than his father's, although not as many can probably be called "horror." Best of Hill: "Pop Art," "Dead-Wood," "Voluntary Committal," heck, just read all of his collection "20th Century Ghosts." There's not a bad story in there.

Also, Richard Matheson, and his son, Richard Christian Matheson (best of young Matheson is the collection "Scars").

>>2304279
also, I couldn't finish House of Leaves. I got to about page 200 and then I realized that I didn't care about any of the characters enough to struggle through Danielewski's bullshit Pynchon-wanna-be oh-look-at-me-I'm-so-fuckin-clever text formatting gimmicks. I took it out back and had a bonfire.

It was unsettling, though, I will give you that. The concept was good, the execution was terrible.

>> No.2305022

>>2305007
>it is dreamlike and eerie, and always leaves you unsettled.

OP here. That's EXACTLY the feeling I desire. Thank you so much!

Ligotti puts the strangest imagery into my head. I think I'll read him as well as Aickman while I eat shrooms at some point this upcoming summer.

Or I could download an audio book for Lovecraft so I can close my eyes and let my imagination run free.

>> No.2305031

>>2305015
Thank you for lengthy input anon. And I respect your opinion on HoL. Some may say it was "A book which was never meant to be read, about a house which was never meant to be lived in."

>> No.2305041

>>2305015
If they rereleased House of Leaves without Johnny Truant's horseshit (and USED STANDARD FUCKING FORMAT) it'd be one of the best horror books of all time.

Also, for anyone that hasn't seen it, here's an interview where Ligotti talks specifically about "weird fiction": http://weirdfictionreview.com/2011/11/exclusive-interview-thomas-ligotti-on-weird-fiction/

>> No.2305110

>>2305041
I'm one of the few who actually enjoyed Johnny's descent into what seemed to a nice case of paranoid schizophrenia.

It was pretty intense when he started to sell his blood, after his electricity had been shut off.

Taken from the text. pg. 379
> As it stands, I've dropped eighteen pounds. A couple of eviction notices lie near my door. I feel like I haven't slept in months. My neighbors are scared of me. Whenever I pass them in that dim-brown walled hall, which happens rarely, only when I have to go out for more tuna, books from the library or to sell blood to buy candles, ....

>> No.2305133

>>2304279
I think I may be one of the only few who enjoy this book..
I think I just have an obsession for typography.
It's always made reading more interesting for me when I have to actually think rather than scan..
-shrug-

>> No.2305176

There was this book I read when I was about 13. It was about This kid or these kids who find some spot or clearing in the woods where something awful happened during the time of the plague. As the story progresses this area seems to be gaining more and more power over the protagonist(s), influencing their dreams and stuff, and eventually some...thing comes out of it.

It was the most bricks I've ever shat reaeding a book, ever. It was really well done for a kids book, more of a slow, creeping dread that made the payoff 10x scarier than it should have been. If anyone can think of the name of this book I'd be very grateful.

>> No.2305196

>>2305015

Me again.

"N." by Stephen King - it's his attempt at writing a Lovecraft bit, and it made me shit bricks, so I guess it was pretty good.

"The Man Who Walked Home" by James Tiptree Jr. More sci-fi than horror but it's very surreal and worth a read. I know it's online somewhere, if I find a link while this thread is still alive I'll post it.

>> No.2305236

>>2305176
I think it also used the song

"Ring a ring a roses
Pocket full of posies
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!
We all fall down"

to unsettling effect.

>> No.2305247

>>2305176
>>2305176

Someone needs to find this right now.
I want to read it so bad.

>> No.2305273
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2305273

>>2305247
I've no idea how it would hold up as an adult, but as an 11-12 year old it was deeply, deeply unsettling. I think it was actually meant for slightly older readers.

Though it might have been called Relic or The Ritual or something but the only books amazon's turned up haven't been it. The cover is similar though in that it has a forest and a green tint. I'm sure I've heard people mentioning it on /lit/ before but I never thought to make a note.

>> No.2305317

>>2305273
Guess we should start searching more. :3

>> No.2305370

>>2305273
>>2305273
I think this is the one..

n The Ritual, four old university friends set out into the Scandinavian wilderness, to escape the problems of their lives and reconnect. But as is so often the case, the common ground has simply been lost, and so tensions begin to rise. When an ill-judged shortcut leaves them lost, hungry and surrounded by forest untouched for millenia, they discover that their nightmare has only just begun...

>> No.2305388

>>2305370
Well it was published in 2011 so it can't be that, I'm talking more like 1999-2000. Also it was set in rural England. Appreciate the help though :)

I'm going to sleep on it, will bump in the morning if it comes to me.

>> No.2305402

>>2305388
fiddle sticks. I got excited for nothing.

>> No.2305404

I used to read a lot of horror as a teen. Here are some I'd recommend:

Jack Ketchum: I've read a lot of ultra violent splatterpunk, and I think Ketchum does it best. Most writers in the genre have pretty homogenized prose typical of the worst genre fiction, but there's something special about his writing which keeps things interesting. There's nothing supernatural or Lovecraftian about his horror, but it sure is disturbing as fuck.

Peter Straub: certainly has his literary pretensions, and most of the time he pulls it off. What I've read has been slow and surreal and atmospheric and weird.

Joe Hill: I really enjoyed his one short story collection. Have yet to read any novels. Pretty straight forward horror, sometimes literary.

If you're really interested in horror, I'd check out the yearly anthologies "Best New Horror" (or something like that) and see what you personally enjoy.

>> No.2305414

>>2303389
>>2303383


THIS TIMES A THOUSAND

Everybody should read this book. It's fucking amazing and clever and scary and intelligent and well-written. I have his novel on my to-read list.

>> No.2305452

>>2301755
Heard Ligotti's poem "I Have a Special Plan For This World"? I liked it a lot, as well as the version recorded by Current 93 (which is how I first encountered Ligotti). I was also planning to read "My Work is Not Yet Finished" or something like that, also by him.

>> No.2305611

>>2305404
Peter Straub sounds interesting. Anything by him you'd recommend?

>> No.2305735

>>2305611
Ghost Story. That is all.

>> No.2305808

>>2305015
>"The House Next Door," by Anne Rivers Siddons

I read this and thought it was a laughable. It's basically the kind of horror that only a southern, upper-middle class housewife would find scary: i.e. a haunted house that causes your son not to get into college and your husband to turn gay. Srsly.

>> No.2305825

I feel I should mention House on the Borderland

>> No.2306203

>>2305735
Fantastic book.

> DAT SLEEP PARALYSIS SCENE

>> No.2306733

Hey OP. I can't really recommend any novels that haven't been said already but I recently read a short story by Algernon Blackwood called The Willows. I would totally recommend reading it online. You might be able to find a collection of Blackwoods work but I haven't read any of his other stories so I don't know if they are as good.

>> No.2306979

>>2306733
OP here. Yeah thank you, I had bookmarked this last night:
http://algernonblackwood.org/Z-files/Willows.pdf

Here's "A Cool Hand In Mine" by Robert Aickman. It contains other short "strange stories" as he calls them.

http://www.filestube.com/65S20zgA3ukOK3SdXNloXI/Cold-hand-in-mine-strange-stories-Robert-Aickman.htm
l

http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Hand-Mine-Robert-Aickman/dp/0899684165

After searching filestube, mediafire, and demonoid, and thepiratebay this is all the material that has surfaced for Aickman and Blackwood.

>> No.2307878
File: 342 KB, 1378x1438, horror.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2307878

OP here. Dumping what /lit/ has deemed "essential" horror. Just to help out those in need.

>Weird
H.P.Lovecraft - At the mountains of madness
William Hope Hodgson - The house in the borderland
Clark Ashton Smith - The emperor of dreams
Jeff Vandermeer - City of saints and madmen
China Miéville - Perdido street station

>Classic Horror
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
Bram Stoker - Dracula
Henry James - The Turn of the Screw
Robert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Washington Irving - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Edgar Allen Poe - The Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Robert W. Chambers - The King in Yellow
Matthew Lewis - The Monk
Charles Maturin - Melmoth the Wanderer
Ambrose Bierce - Ghost, and Other Stories
>20th Century Horror
Shirley Jackson - The Haunting of Hill House
Richard Matheson - I Am Legend
Clive Barker - Books of Blood
Ray Bradbury - Something Wicked This Way Comes
Stephen King - It, Pet Sematary
Thomas Harris - The Silence of the Lambs
Dan Simmons - Song of Kali
Algernon Blackwood - Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood
M.R. James - Casting the Runes, and Other Ghost Stories
Mervyn Peake - Boy in Darkness
William Hodgson - The House on the Borderland
H. P. Lovecraft - The Dunwich Horror

>> No.2307948

>>2307878
In that picture they mention Edward Lee. Many say he's the kind of sick erotic horror. That being said its definitely not as atmospheric as anything like Lovecraft or Ligotti; and I'd be willing to say that he relies upon shock.

>> No.2309379

bump

>> No.2309448

My Father's Mask by Joe Hill. Such a treat.