Rate my reading material so far this year (MPA)
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Poast new message in this thread
Date: March 4th, 2023 8:23 PM Author: Bistre macaca senate
-Midnight Graffiti: Early 90s splatter punk/“new horror” anthology culled from the titular magazine
-Borderlands 2-5: Thomas Monteleone’s 90s anthology series of cutting edge horror/“dark fiction”
-Demon Copperhead: Barbara Kingsolver’s retelling of David Copperfield in modern Appalachia. Started off great but gets way too shitlib
-The Essential Ellison: 1200 page behemoth of Harlan Ellison at his best and worst; dipping in and out of it
-The Orchard: Charles L Grant “quiet horror” novel of four loosely linked novellas
-The Brains of Rats: Michael Blumlein collection of sf/fantasy/horror with a medical and Ballardian bent
-They Thirst: 180 Robert R McCammon vampire epic about bloodsuckers taking over LA
-4 or 5 different volumes in the 1990s erotic horror series “Hot Blood”
Currently reading the Ellison, a trashy little known horror novel from 1993 about killer kids on Halloween night called Pranks, and some of the stuff in the Complete Short Stories of JG Ballard. Have a horror obscurity en route from eBay about a disease that makes all the women try to kill the men (like Ladies’ Night by Ketchum but, I’m sure, not as good)
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5300917&forum_id=2#46011073) |
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Date: March 5th, 2023 7:04 AM Author: Bistre macaca senate
I’m often in moods for different things
Last night I was in the mood for pure pulp but sometimes I’m in the mood for something more intellectual
And the Ellison and Ballard collections are each 1200 pages; I’m not gonna read that in one sitting
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5300917&forum_id=2#46012184) |
Date: May 12th, 2023 6:27 PM Author: Bistre macaca senate
Update:
Since this was last poasted, I've read to completion:
-Off Season by Jack Ketchum (unexpurgated version): Lives up to the hype as one of the most authentically visceral and extreme horror novels ever. A tour de force of cannibalism.
-Splatterpunks II: Just got this in today and read most of it. Pretty much the last gasp of the 'splatterpunk' movement as such, and a good demarcation point (1994) for my tastes in 'new horror'. Better collection than the first one.
-The Orchard by Charles L. Grant: Loosely connected 'novel' of several linked horror novellas; Grant has style and class to burn but he rarely sticks the landing.
-Pranks by Dennis J. Higman: Should have been a sleazy killer kids classic, but it's just a very predictable Law & Order or Criminal Minds episode, albeit with a lot of sick shit.
-Blood Fever by Shelley Hyde (pseud. of Kit Reed): Very disappointing 'women go crazy and kill men' potboiler that has a strong opening but doesn't deliver on the exploitation. Isn't sure whether it's pro or anti-feminist and gets muddled as a result.
-The Nursery by William Johnstone: Insane, depraved right-wing reactionary Satanic panic novel with huge amounts of gore, rape, and bad dialogue.
And have read some of:
-The Earth Strikes Back by Richard Chizmar (ed): An eco-horror anthology published by White Wolf (the Vampire: The Masquerade guys)--that's as 90s 'new horror' as it gets. Unfortunately most of the stories so far aren't all that good.
-Strange Wine by Harlan Ellison: I picked this one up since it had the least overlap in stories with The Essential Ellison, and because Stephen King speaks of it so highly in Danse Macabre. But it's just not that great; a lot of these stories are basically just Twilight Zone style fantastic morality plays, but with HE's 'attitude' layered on.
Non-Genre:
Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens: Wanted to read some Dickens but don't have the time to read a whole doorstopper by him so this sampler platter of his early sketches and vignettes does the trick.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5300917&forum_id=2#46305185) |
Date: May 31st, 2023 6:32 PM Author: Bistre macaca senate
Got a Kindle for my birthday w/ 3 month Kindle Unlimited trial--sooooo cr.
Went on a bit of a spree while traveling this weekend:
Jack Ketchum--Peaceable Kingdom: One of my many horror hot takes is that Ketchum was the most truly MORAL horror author of the late 80s/early 00s period, and the short stories in this collection bear it out. Total masterpiece city.
Mort Castle--New Moon on the Water: Really good horror collection; sometimes a little too meta but Castle is like a nicer, less acerbic Harlan Ellison (and even more Jewish)
Jack Ketchum--The Lost: Reading it now--very gnarly, like Ketchum writing Laymon's The Lake.
The Best of Cemetery Dance Volume II: Just arrived yesterday--remaindered copy from Kansas City library system, otherwise no way I would drop high secondary market prices on it. So far it's a pretty strong horror collection
Have also been reading around various issues of horror magazines from the late 80s/early 90s publishing boom--Twilight Zone Magazine, Iniqiuities, Night Cry, Midnight Graffiti.
Started to read, but quickly abandoned:
Bryan Smith--Dead End House. Modern day fake splatterpunk that wishes it could be Richard Laymon but it just isn't
Edward Lee--Going Monstering: One of Lee's more notorious books--I went thru a big Lee phase after I graduated college, and he has a gleeful zest to his hardcore horror that most don't--but after reading the other stuff I was I didn't want to bother with glib splat
Sunny Pines--Glen Kirsh (sic?) et al: One of those Cemetery Dance round robin chapbooks--but didn't do jack for me
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5300917&forum_id=2#46376558)
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Date: May 31st, 2023 6:39 PM Author: Bistre macaca senate
CR
He does that a lot and it's a lot of fun
Any non-genre fiction recs for me? I need to diversify beyond horror 24/7
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5300917&forum_id=2#46376596) |
Date: June 7th, 2023 5:24 PM Author: Bistre macaca senate
Finished reading Ramsey Campbell's Demons by Daylight this afternoon. Strong collection of his early short stories after he started pivoting from Lovecraft pastiche to a nightmarish blend of psychological and supernatural horror. I go on a Campbell bender about every 6 months or so; just ordered another one of his collections to add to my extensive Campbell library.
While I wait for that to arrive I'm reading The Parasite by Campbell, which I've been curious about ever since I learned about Campbell in Danse Macabre 20 years ago.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5300917&forum_id=2#46400558) |
Date: July 7th, 2023 4:29 PM Author: Bistre macaca senate
A lot of my reading has been dribs and drabs of some of the horror collections I have--The Dark Descent, Charles Grant's pretty solid A Glow of Candles, etc. And I've also been reading some new material when I go out looking for macabre morsels for the Gallery of Horrors.
Right now am reading Jack Ketchum's The Lost, which is very much a Boner Police biography (charismatic adolescent New England sociopath who murders a couple of lesbians and gets away with it)
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5300917&forum_id=2#46521681) |
Date: July 19th, 2023 8:54 AM Author: Bistre macaca senate
Finished The Lost; like all of Ketchum's work I'd recommend it.
Yesterday I started Into the Fire by Richard Laymon; no real clue what to expect but it's suitably depraved so far.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5300917&forum_id=2#46564747) |
Date: September 30th, 2023 8:12 AM Author: Bistre macaca senate
Read a ton of crappy horror between then and now but ever since my marriage has started collapsing I’m on a big Harlan Ellison kick:
-The Essential Ellison
-Harlan Ellison’s Watching
-Strange Wine
-Over the Edge
-Paingod and Other Delusions
-Stalking the Nightmare
-From the Land of Fear
-Dangerous Visions
Also reading Gormenghast trilogy; on the second novel but going slow
Also read Outsiders: 22 stories from the edge, which is a somewhat dated horror anthology from 2005
Currently reading the first volume of John Burke-edited midcentury horror anthologies, Tales of Unease, which is excellent
And also just poaching short stories here and there from various collections I have lying around or from online
Also read two books on adult ADHD in the relationship context lol
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5300917&forum_id=2#46863136) |
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