Literary Horror discussion

Hi, Dan.

Hi, my name's James, I'm a part-time bookseller and a lifelong resident of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and I've been reading horror/Weird Fiction on and off most of my life (my primary entry point into the genre was the Johnny Dixon books of John Bellairs). I enjoy writing in the genre myself and have had two collections published since 2012, and every now and then I'll have a story appear in an anthology (most recently in the Mark Samuels collection Marked to Die, as mentioned by Justin above).

Welcome to the group, James!

Hi, James - I have your books on my wish list. :)

Hello James

James wrote: "Hi, my name's James...my primary entry point into the genre was the Johnny Dixon books of John Bellairs)."

Hi James. I didn't read Bellairs as a kid but I have been recently, and am enjoying them.

Randolph wrote: "Welcome James! It is always pleasure to have a real author in the group; there are a few. Good luck on the writing. I have that collection so I will look your story up."

Thanks for the warm welcome!

J.S. wrote: "Hello James"

Hi!

Janie wrote: "Hi, James - I have your books on my wish list. :)"

Thanks!

Scott wrote: "Hi James. I didn't read Bellairs as a kid but I have been recently, and am ..."

I haven't read Bellairs in years but I hope to do a re-read some day, though in truth much of it remains firmly entrenched in my memory.

Canavan wrote: "Welcome to the group, James!"

Thanks!

Hello all

My name is Matthew and I'm a full-time bookseller for one of the largest independent bookstores in Canada (which is to say, a big fish in an incredibly small pond). I've always been a fan of horror, from the trashiest to the high art, and since accidentally befriending on Facebook some of the prominent writers in the field, I've been diving deep into the waters of the Weird, the Cosmic, and the Horrifying.

My academic background is more focused on science fiction: Afrofuturism and posthumanism; affect theory, necropolitics, and feminist science fiction (specifically Ann Leckie's recent trilogy). I'm unfortunately saddled with that voracious curiosity, meaning I'll never complete my to-read shelf; it looms over me, a dark malevolent but wonderfully beckoning cloud.

In terms of recent horror fiction, I finished The Warren and Sunny Moraine's absolutely stupefying Singing With All My Skin and Bone. Also, I've totally fallen in love with the work of Matthew M. Bartlett. Though I've only read one book (Gateways to Abomination) and a handful of his short stories, I feel confident crowning him the current Dread Lord of horror. Few writers have managed to successfully evoke strong feelings of dread and unease like Bartlett has so far.

I'm looking forward to engaging in discussion with like-minded folks!

Matthew

Hello, Matthew,

It sounds like there may be some interesting discussions.

Hi matthew - I also loved Gateways to Abomination and am looking forward to reading more by the author. The other two books you mentioned are high on my wish list.

Welcome, Matthew! I'm a newcomer here as well (thanks to Bill Hsu for inviting me to join a couple of months ago). This is a really great group of interesting people with real passion for and knowledge of literary horror and its counterparts.

I just checked out your blog and was very impressed. I think you'll find some like-minded readers here; I know that I've read a number of the books you mentioned and had similar reactions. I look forward to reading your thoughts on books as we go on.

I guess this is a good time to "introduce" myself (I just sort of jumped in when Bill invited me to join a while back). *waves* Hi! I'm M.T. (feel free to use the abbreviation), a long-time horror and weird fiction reader with a strong literary bent (I also have a passionate interest in Japanese literature of all kinds and find myself increasingly fascinated by Chinese literature, too).

I grew up on (Washington) Irving, Le Fanu, Maupassant, Gauthier and Poe, and moved on to Lovecraft, Akutagawa, and M.R. James in my teens. Didn't really start exploring popular horror until later and was clueless about contemporary weird fiction and such until about 20 years ago. I've tried to catch up but I suspect there are still gaps in my knowledge. I like learning new things and hearing from other perspectives.

Hello, I'm Sakura. I'm a 33 year old software developer from Germany.
I only recently found out that I actually like horror, because I always equated horror to Steven King and thrillers, which I cannot stomach. But I very much like fantastic horror as well as classic horror writers like Lovecraft, Poe and Shirley Jackson.

Sakuko wrote: "Hello, I'm Sakura. I'm a 33 year old software developer from Germany.
I only recently found out that I actually like horror, because I always equated horror to Steven King and thrillers, which I ca..."

Hello, Sakura! Lovecraft, Poe, and Jackson are all fine writers!

Hello, Sakura. Horror can take many forms.

Welcome, Sakura.

Hello everyone,

I'm Caro, and there's nothing I love more than intelligent, literary horror. I adore Shirley Jackson, Joyce Carol Oates, Adam Nevill, and have recently been reading and loving Thomas Ligotti, M.R. James, and Ramsey Campbell.

I suspect I'm not as well read as many others here- I feel there's big gaps in my reading, authors I'm unfamiliar with, that sort of thing. So I'm especially looking forward to recommendations and learning about books and writers that are "new to me".

Hope everyone is well and enjoying their weekend, and I look forward to getting to know you all.

Welcome, Caro!

Thank you, Canavan, great to be here!

Randolph, would a short story collection be okay for the monthly read, or does the group prefer novels? Here's some suggestions I'll toss into the ring-

Joyce Carol Oates- The Accursed, or Zombie. Or, if short fiction collections are okay, The Museum of Dr. Moses, or Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque.

Cormac McCarthy- Blood Meridian, or Child of God.

btw, I've got a 2nd hand copy of Harvest Home coming in the mail, I'm hoping it arrives soon so I can catch up with the April reading!

There is no more literary classical a horror novel than Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. Have we done that one as a group?

Welcome, Caro! I suspect you are surely as well read as most of us in some area as we are a very eclectic group with folks who like a bit of this and a smidgen of that and are always learning from each other.

James is always a welcome author for me (I am a big fan and count 'The Golden Bowl' among my top ten novels) but I am open to suggestions. I'm reading 'Harvest Home' right now and find it pretty entertaining. Having recently read (and loved!) Richard Lortz's Lovers Living, Lovers Dead, I don't really find it "over the top". Nothing else quite compares ;-)

It's been ages since I've read The Turn of the Screw, so I'd certainly welcome an excuse to revisit it again.

Marie-Therese, I just took a little look-see over at Lovers Living, Lovers Dead (what a great title!), and next thing I know I've gone and ordered a copy from amazon! Thanks for that :)

Dan wrote:

There is no more literary classical a horror novel than Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. Have we done that one as a group?

I’m not saying it’s necessarily a bad choice, but my suspicion is that the vast majority in the group have already read it and have hestaited to push for it for that reason.

Here is a bad book cover for The Turn of the Screw:

https://bizarrevictoria.files.wordpre...

I have read Turn of the Screw too. Maybe twice. The reason I mentioned it is because it is a classic; some (me) would even say the classic for our genre--literary horror. One of the definitions of a classic is that it bears rereading. That's because every time a true classic is reread, one gets something new out of the experience.

The second reason is because since we've never read it as a group, we have no folder and topic for this work. Discussions never die. Someone joining our group next year who just read the novel in their high school junior English class and wants to add something, or someone who just defended their dissertation on some aspect of the novel can chime in on the always open discussion topic. However, we have to read the novel together and get a discussion going first in order to make that possible.

Randolph wrote:

I'm looking at this edition for May: Ghost Stories. All the contents are public domain so you should not have to buy the book if you have an ereader and it should be available in libraries. I'll put the toc up when I post it to the upcoming reads. Good suggestion.

Glanced quickly at Amazon; the electronic version doesn’t appear to be too pricey. It looks as though I’ve only read about half of the stories. I thought the proportion would be a bit higher, but I guess I haven’t read as much James as I had thought. I might skip re-reading Turn of the Screw. I’ve read this one at least 4 or 5 times for various reasons, most recently about 5 years ago.

Ronald wrote (in part):

Here is a bad book cover for The Turn of the Screw:

My initial thought was that this couldn’t have been an actual book cover but was rather some bad Photoshop joke, but nope. There was it seems an entire series of these books put out by a now-defunct publisher (Tutis), the majority with bizarrely inappropriate cover art.

My favored edition is The Turn of the Screw for its authoritativeness.

Welcome, Juniper! I read a lot of science fiction and speculative fiction, too, so it will be nice to have another reader with a similar background here. I hope you enjoy yourself and find lots of intriguing new reads.

Hi everyone!
I'm Melanie from England.
I have loved horror for years but stuck mainly with films, mostly because I find than scarier (or I have not yet read the right book!) I now want to explore literary horror and so any recommendations of genuinely scary books, will be gratefully received!

Hi Melanie. Do you like werewolves? I'm currently reading a werewolf book no one else here at Goodreads has read that was first published 97 years ago. I just created the entry for the book in the Goodreads database today using my recently acquired copy as the basis for the entry. It is Wolf Man, The by Alfred Machard

Alfred Machard is best known for being the author of a werewolf novel that two early films were based on: 1) Le Loup Garou (1923), a French silent film, and 2) Haunted People (1932) from German director Friedrich Feher (titled in German "Der Schwarze Mann"), the first talkie werewolf film. The German film featured a generic bogeyman rather than a werewolf. These early films, the third and fifth werewolf films ever made, are sadly considered lost today, maybe because both countries were battlegrounds for two world wars around then.

Machard's book, The Wolf Man (The Were-wolf), is not lost. It's just really obscure and out of print. Apparently, two different publishers brough out a translation of Machard's 1920 Le loup-garou in English in 1925. It's not at all hard to find a used copy for a low price at bookfinder.com.

In my 1925 translation edition the translator is not named. I suspect that may be because he was not a very adept translator. For example, the first sentence reads, "The workshop, cleared of its contents and litter and of a few big bits of work in hand, had been transformed into a dancing and dining saloon." Any translator would write something like "underway projects" rather than the awkward "big bits of work in hand." Reading further, I find all the phrasing is as awkward. Who uses the word "joinery" to talk about a wedding, for example? I am getting the gist easily enough though, and the plot is actually clever and very involved, not at all what I was expecting. It's worth putting up with the translation since I can't really read French.

I am excited about rediscovering this early book and think reading it will be quite a treat. We also have books of the month we collectively read. Again, welcome!

Hi my name is Barb but everyone calls me mama, I have a short story here, sorry a romance, Hard Hearted Hannah, I also Vlog on youtube, just started tho Trollbridgeblogger, Have POETS CORNER by mama7dukes, on facebook also Trollbridge Blogger there, anyone wishing to be friends send me a request. I need more friends that enjoy a good scare

Randolph that is fine, but I have 8 kids and played mama to the whole neighborhood, I live in a very poor area, and kids get neglected, so I do what I can, but I have many sites I wrote on using mama7dukes, rewind.mama, mamawrotethis, mamas.stories etc, and bloodyfist.native , so call me whatever you feel comfortable with

Yes I have taken children to the doctor, and I gave these kids some donuts from our church , my kids were like mom they act like they've never had a donut before. Sad but some parents are too high or too drunk to care, Cannot help them all, but I have bought a lot of pampers and milk for other people's babies. Yes she need to drive the hell away.

Hello I'm Rory and I'm an avid reader of horror, mystery, science fiction and suspense. Classic or otherwise.

I'm also a huge fan of particular sub-genres including Gothic Horror (especially Southern Gothic), Weird Fiction (especially Cosmic Horror) Speculative Fiction. There's more but that's about it really.

I hope you enjoy having me here.

Rory, have you read NOS4R2 yet it's my favorite book this year

Barbara wrote: "Rory, have you read NOS4R2 yet it's my favorite book this year"

No, I haven't, but I've got many more books on the list. I promised myself I would read more of Clive Barker's early stuff.

He's a good choice but if you read NOS4A2 you ill not be disappointed, or you could loo into some 99 cent ebooks, anyway you asked for suggestions, another book I read recently was Blind Date , good story , suspense thriller but I got to say I figured who the killer was early, maybe middle of the book

Hello! I was looking through goodreads groups and this one jumped out at me! (gave me a scare). I enjoy literary fiction, and haven't found the best horror out there. I'm hoping this group rectifies both those problems. Looking forward to reading and discussing with you guys!

Randolph wrote: "Kable wrote: "Hello! I was looking through goodreads groups and this one jumped out at me! (gave me a scare). I enjoy literary fiction, and haven't found the best horror out there. I'm hoping this ..."

I've actually already ordered Greener Pastures and White Hands! But I promise to check it out.

Hello. Thomas Ligotti books are expensive. I saw the picture of his panel on this page and felt the need to get that off my chest lol. Anyway, I think this group will be great. I loved The Imago Sequence, has anyone here read that?

Kat wrote: "Hello. Thomas Ligotti books are expensive. I saw the picture of his panel on this page and felt the need to get that off my chest lol. Anyway, I think this group will be great. I loved The Imago Se..."

Penguin Random House published Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe:

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/boo...

Ligotti co-wrote an un-produced script for the TV show The X Files:

http://img.pathfinder.gr/clubs/files/...

Oh neat, I did not know he wrote a script for that. I wonder why it was unproduced.

What a great name you have Mr. Randolph Carter!

Welcome Kat and Kable! Hope you enjoy this group as much as I do! (it's my favourite here on Good Reads).

Marie-Therese wrote: "Welcome Kat and Kable! Hope you enjoy this group as much as I do! (it's my favourite here on Good Reads)."

Thanks! I just started reading the Langan collection, and completed the first story

Hello everyone. I'm Isebella and I've been on GR for almost a month now. I have an obsession with the horror genre from books, films, and collecting creepy oddities for my room.

You sound awesome Isabella! :)

Hi, I'm Lisa (Lucyfer's my web-pseudonym, you can call me whatever), I actually only just signed up on the site, so pretty much as new as can be.
I'm 23, a former wannabe-metal-goth and I'm really into all kinds of creepy stuff. Also I'm from germany, so sorry if my english isn't that good, but I'm sure we'll understand each other~

Hello all, Shane here from New England . Lets see love to read Horror/Thriller books… Love to Travel Love photography, sports, the good outdoors above all else reading…. look forward to getting Ideas on new things to read to scare the hell out of me…….