Horror/weird thread

[Anonymous No.23749352]

Fall is here so let's get a spooky thread going. What are you reading? Recommend some books/short stories that you've liked.

I'm currently reading a short story collection by Robert Aickman. It's alright don't know how i feel about it yet. "The same dog" was the best one so far.

[Anonymous No.23749848]

>>23749352
I was about to post about how it's not fall yet, but then I looked out the window and saw the leaves already half red. Time really flies.
I'll probably try and pick up a Flannery O'Connor collection, I've heard her stuff is pretty spooky/weird. Wish there was more good New England horror

[Anonymous No.23750184]

Can someone recommend me good horror short stories that I can find online please?

[Anonymous No.23750220]

>>23749352
nigga its august

[Anonymous No.23750963]

Any recommendations for Japanese horror novels or short story collections to read? I was considering reading The ring

[Anonymous No.23750966]

>>23750220
Late August, faggot. Spirit store are opening left and right.

[Anonymous No.23750972]

>>23749352
posting ITT to remind myself to post an ebook dump tomorrow (assuming I don't cop a siteban before then ;3)

[Anonymous No.23750975]

>>23750184
have an entire horror/scifi book
https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

[Anonymous No.23751242]

Negative Space - B.R. Yeager

A town with an abnormal teen suicide rate slowly succumbs to a miasma which might be ecological, psychological, purely metaphorical, or metaphysical in nature. The residents cope by abusing a hallucinogen called WHORL.

[Anonymous No.23751268]

>>23749352
this collection is goated. really can't go wrong. just look at the cover

[Anonymous No.23751314]

I really liked "The willows" by Blackwood, is natural descriptions were beautiful. how isolating it feels, has he written anything else of note? haven't read anything else by him

[Anonymous No.23751827]

>>23749352
I'm currently reading Melmoth the Wanderer. It's good, but way too long. After this I'm going to read The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, by Mariana Enriquez.
From what I've read this year, I can highly recommend:
>Nathan Ballingrud - North American Lake Monsters
>Stefan Grabinski - The Dark Domain
>Jean Ray - Malpertuis
>Karl Edward Wagner - In a Lonely Place
>Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber

>>23750184
All of Lovecraft's work is freely available online: https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/

>>23750963
Ring is pretty good. If you want a literal Japanese Edgar Allan Poe, check out Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edogawa Ranpo. If you want traditional ghost stories, Japanese Ghost Stories by Lafcadio Hearn. If you want something a bit more transgressive than horror, I can recommend In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami.

>>23751242
What did you think of Negative Space?

>>23751314
Definitely also check out "The Wendigo". He has a lot of great stories and his prose is indeed incredible; for collections, I'd say go for Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood, or The Wendigo and Other Stories if you're interested in reading more.

[Anonymous No.23751926]

>>23749352
Fall does not start until the 21st of September.

[Anonymous No.23751930]

>>23751314
The Wendigo.

[Anonymous No.23752129]

I'm getting ready to read Frankenstein as part of my dive into the horror genre. I've read others, but to be honest, I'm not the most literate person. I want to be able to pick up on the literary techniques, and appreciate stuff on a deeper level. Would you recommend reading up on some kind of analysis beforehand, do it chapter by chapter, or read the book in its entirety to then read an analysis afterwards? I'm trying to get the most out of it.

[Anonymous No.23752216]

>>23752129
I think it'd be good to be familiar with the gothic genre before reading Frankenstein; that way you'll understand the basic themes and writing styles. It's also good to be at least familiar with the story of Prometheus. You could choose to read an annotated Frankenstein, or at least something like a Penguin one with decent notes. Quick tip: in most books, the foreword might spoil parts of the plot; I myself always read those as an afterword.

[Anonymous No.23752231]

Are William Hope Hodges books Night Land and House on the Borderland solidly horror or are they more something else than scary horror?

[Anonymous No.23752275]

>>23752231
I've only read The House on the Borderland, but it is solid pre-Lovecraft cosmic horror. I can also recommend a short story of his, "The Voice in the Night".

[Anonymous No.23752322]

>>23752216
I'd say I'm lightly familiar with the genre. I've read Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the Castle of Otranto. I will definitely take a look into Prometheus and get familiar with it before diving into Frankenstein

[Anonymous No.23752467]

>>23751926
Fall starts when you can feel it in your spine, it has nothing to do with any calendar dates

[Anonymous No.23752502]

>>23749352
Probably gonna read Clive Barkers first two Books Of Blood series plus picrel

[Anonymous No.23752553]

>>23752502
Books of Blood are fantastic, and I've recently read Alraune by Ewers which is also very good.

[Anonymous No.23752608]

Time for Crab

[Anonymous No.23753146]

Pumpkin

[Anonymous No.23753539]

Where'd you recommend u start with Clark ashton smith, is he worth reading?

[Anonymous No.23753550]

>>23750963
Read Strangers by Yamada because of the movie, liked it more than the movie

[Anonymous No.23753573]

>>23753539
The Penguin collection, The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies, is a good place to start, and gives a good overview of his work.

[Anonymous No.23753821]

>>23749352
Sometimes i think I'd pretty good at spooky type writing, since an inordinate proportion of my dreams take place in settings that are pretty strange, eerie, outrageous. The last one I remember took place in an almost vacant square mile parking lot at night adjacent to a massive store. Some favorites take place in immense hotels, government and industrial complexes One takes place in a mountainous hotel building above a network of luxury trains, and has a spookily labyrinthine assortment of heavily curtained and faraway rooms amid its elevatored corridors. Wouldn't mind visiting there for a month or two, but would find it horrifying to live there.

[Anonymous No.23753867]

>>23753821
I return to the same town in my dreams night after night. Sometimes early in its history, sometimes well into its post-industrial decline. I could map it; I have in the past. Even if I manage to lucid dream I can never find my way out of it. It fucks with me in my waking hours. Sometimes it feels more real than my day-to-day life.
Always, always, always in the dreams there is something dark lurking at the edges. Not pursuing me. Simply observing and perhaps waiting for me to make a mistake.

[Anonymous No.23754730]

>>23750184
"the boats of glen carrig" "the voice in the night" "a tropical horror" by William Hope Hodgson
"City of the singing flame" "the nameless offspring"
"the white people" "novel of the black seal" "the great god pan" Arthur Machen
"The wendigo" "the Willows" Algernon Blackwood
"the damned thing" Ambrose Beirce

[Anonymous No.23754731]

>>23754730
"City of the singing flame" "the nameless offspring" By Clark Ashton Smith
i forgot his name in the first post

[Anonymous No.23755486]

>>23754730
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" is a whole novel, my guy

[Anonymous No.23755494]

I want to read some creepy/weird Ray Bradbury short stories this autum, which is the better collection, October Country or Illustrated Man?

[Anonymous No.23756318]

>>23755494
Bump because I'd also like to know.

[Anonymous No.23756498]

>>23755494
October Country

[Anonymous No.23756816]

>>23755494
You read both and his novel something wicked this way comes.

[Anonymous No.23756829]

>>23754730
Thank you

[Anonymous No.23757130]

Nobody mentioned my personal goat Mariana Enriquez, beautiful horror short stories.

[Anonymous No.23757198]

>>23757130
I'm >>23751827 about to read her for the first time tomorrow!

[Anonymous No.23757234]

>>23757198
I'm so sorry It's late here I didn't catch it. I'll be sure to check your other reccomendations

[Anonymous No.23757263]

>>23757234
No problem man, I hope you find something you like!

[Anonymous No.23757281]

>>23749352
Reading Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi. It's about a remote Catholic orphanage in the early 1900s that gets demonic possession. Very creepy and good.

[Anonymous No.23757607]

I'm sick of nu-Lovecraftian / cosmic horror trend that fails to die. Or Ligotti imitators, whatever. Or various Langans.

Did anything good come out in this decade? Not trying to be facetious. Thrillers are also fine.

>>23749848
Flannery is great.

>>23750975
Watts is not scary at all but worth reading for worldbuilding alone. Doesn't really belong in this thread.

>>23752502
>>23752553
I adore BoB, how is this Ewers guy?

[Anonymous No.23757825]

>>23751926
leaves were falling the last couple of days for me

[Anonymous No.23758786]

>>23757607
I've heard that Alraune is his best work. It's the only thing of his that I've read, but it's very solid.

[Anonymous No.23758807]

I read The Halloween Tree a few years ago. It was like reading a campfire story. You can knock the whole book out in an hour.
>>23757281
Sounds good.

[Anonymous No.23758854]

>>23751827
>What did you think of Negative Space?
NTA but It was pretty good. It reads like a fever dream and leaves you contemplating what happened after you're done, could be interpreted many ways.
It's more depressing and bleak than scary, though. And I think I would have loved it more when I was a teen. The characters are self harming edge lords but I had to sympathize with them because of how much shit they suffered through.
If you like occult stuff and theories of alternate dimensions then I can rec

[Anonymous No.23759022]

>>23751827
I started reading Bellingrud, seems like a World of Darkness inclined writer in that he weirds up the world. What's Grabinski like?

[Anonymous No.23759057]

>>23758854
Sounds pretty good! Reminds me of The Cipher, by Kathe Koja. Check that one out if you're interested.

>>23759022
Grabinski wrote short stories around 1910-1920, and although he's sometimes called 'the Polish Poe' it's not a fitting title because his stories have a pretty unique aspect to them. He often uses themes like technology (mostly revolving around trains), sexuality, and psychology in his stories, and in my opinion he implements them very well. The Dark Domain is, again in my opinion, a very consistent collection, with only one story which didn't really do it for me ("Saturnin Sektor"). Absolute standouts are "The Area" and "The Glance", the latter of which I highly recommend if you want to get a feel for his works.

[Anonymous No.23759069]

>>23759057
>mostly revolving around trains

sold

If you by any chance missed Aickman so far, he would be right up your alley.

[Anonymous No.23759103]

>>23759069
If you want to only focus on his train stories, go for The Motion Demon instead of The Dark Domain. I haven't read it myself, but it's bound to be good.
And yeah, I still need to read Aickman. Cold Hand in Mine is the one I'm planning on starting with (most people say that's his best one); have you read any of his other collections? I wonder how they compare to Cold Hand in Mine.

[Anonymous No.23759136]

>>23759103
They're all good. You can start with Cold Hand in Mine than pick any at random, like Wine Dark Sea.

[Anonymous No.23759238]

>>23759136
Nice, thanks!

[Anonymous No.23759273]

>>23749352
I read Aickman's Dark Entries thanks to one of these threads and I really liked it, although the tales get weaker after the first three. Good read anyway

[Anonymous No.23759488]

>>23757607
I haven’t read Ewers yet but I’ll tell you when I’m done

[Anonymous No.23760000]

any stories set in the desert/arabia? i only know the nameless city

[Anonymous No.23760052]

>>23760000
It's probably not what you're looking for, but Vathek is an older gothic work set between Samarra, Iraq, and Persepolis, Iran.

[Anonymous No.23760140]

>>23753539
I second this >>23753573
Then just pour over everything he's made, because it is all just gold.

[Anonymous No.23760142]

>>23756816
this.

[Anonymous No.23760771]

Bump

[Anonymous No.23761761]

>>23760142
Is The Illustrated Man horror?

[Anonymous No.23761801]

>>23757607
ewers is good. reminds me of Oscar Wilde but more militant and delves more on the weird. his short stories can be horror but focus more on the strange and can be one note. one was literally about a guy that memorized the entire bible and that's it. I've tried reading Alrarune but it got waterlogged and bug guts in its pages. so after that I just lost interest

[Anonymous No.23762152]

>>23761761
A lot of the stories are more akin to black mirror or twilight zone stuff. Weird and creepy but not necessarily horror.

[Anonymous No.23763162]

>>23752608
Are there any actual good cheesy pulp horror novels like this? I'd love to read some weird trash

[Anonymous No.23763565]

>>23763162
Read the works of:
Shaun Hutson
James Herbert
Guy N. Smith
Harry Adam Knight
Richard Laymon
Graham Masterton
David J. Schow

[Anonymous No.23763713]

The popularity of Conan has unfortunately eclipsed that of Howard's horror work which really is good
>Well that the Turks swept that foul valley with torch and cleanly steel! Such sights as those brooding mountains have looked on belong to the darkness and abysses of lost eons. No—it is not fear of the toad-thing that makes me shudder in the night. He is made fast in Hell with his nauseous horde, freed only for an hour on the most weird night of the year, as I have seen. And of his worshippers, none remains.
>But it is the realization that such things once crouched beast-like above the souls of men which brings cold sweat to my brow; and I fear to peer again into the leaves of Von Junzt’s abomination. For now I understand his repeated phrase of keys!—aye! Keys to Outer Doors—links with an abhorrent past and—who knows?—of abhorrence spheres of the present. And I understand why the cliffs look like battlements in the moonlight and why the tavern-keeper’s nightmare-haunted nephew saw in his dream, the Black Stone like a spire on a cyclopean black castle. If men ever excavate among those mountains they may find incredible things below those masking slopes. For the cave wherein the Turks trapped the—thing—was not truly a cavern, and I shudder to contemplate the gigantic gulf of eons which must stretch between this age and the time when the earth shook herself and reared up, like a wave, those blue mountains that, rising, enveloped unthinkable things. May no man ever seek to uproot that ghastly spire men call the Black Stone!

[Anonymous No.23763948]

>>23763713
That's a great story (The Black Stone). I read it in a collection called Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos which has lots of good stories like Sticks by Karl Edward Wagner and Notebook Found in a Deserted House by Robert Bloch.

[Anonymous No.23763964]

>>23751827
>What did you think of Negative Space?
I’m TA, but the other anon put it pretty well. It generally takes up a style of horror that is more ambiguous as to the nature of what is happening, what order of reality the oppositional forces are, and it definitely gets a little repetitive. I found that its bleakness is its best quality and something I’ve found hardly replicated. I also think it’s narrative style which is split between three characters with ~1 page long sections of description keep it very fast-paced and erratic. The final 50 pages are also satisfyingly terrible while still leaving many many questions unanswered.

[Anonymous No.23764734]

>>23749352

[Anonymous No.23765561]

Does anyone remember this one creepypasta/nosleep story about how every year a person is chosen to be erased so every other human in the world suddenly knows where they are and rush there to kill and devour them, but the person also gained the memory of every other person that suffered this same fate and it went even as far as the stone age, does anyone remember this one?
After the person was killed everyone else would forget them as if the day and the person never existed.

[Anonymous No.23766942]

Bump

[Anonymous No.23768379]

>>23750963
Literally just finished Japanese Ghost Stories by Lafcadio Hearn

Pretty much what you want

[Anonymous No.23768409]

>>23752129
I read it in high school and really enjoyed it, I don’t remember it being particularly difficult beyond the usual looking up of old Victorian terms. There’s some philosophizing in it but Shelley presents it in monologues, it’s mostly all right there up front for you to see. If you’re the type who loves using secondary stuff I guess you could go for it but there’s no real reason I can think of that you can’t just dive right in.

[Anonymous No.23768422]

>>23754730
The White People was awesome, gonna check out more Machen

[Anonymous No.23768941]

>>23768379
What did you think of it?

>>23768422
The Oxford World's Classics edition called The Great God Pan and Other Horror Stories is somethong I highly recommend for Machen