Literary Horror discussion

Hey Everyone, Looking forward to joining this group! There isn't enough literary writing in any genre, so good to see this group focus on this part of writing. Dark fantasy/horror, when they're done well, lend themselves to this.

Like many of you, I'm an author, but I'll try to check my urge to self-promote. Meantime, it will be fun to follow this groups discussions.

Hello, All! I'm Christine, a long time reader of Poe, Lovecraft, ect. My favorite authors include Thomas Ligotti, Michael Cisco, Matthew M. Bartlett, Jeffrey Thomas, Robert Aickman...

Great to find a group of like-minded readers.

Welcome Christine, Peter, Shane, Lucyfer/Lisa and Isebella! I hope you enjoy your time here as much as I do.

Thank you!

Hello I'm MV Clark, I've written one horror novel as an indie author. Looking forwards to participating in the December reading group.

Hi to anyone I haven't yet said "hi" to :-)

Hello everyone. My alter ego is H.E. Bulstrode, a writer of uncanny and occult fiction with a twist, often characterised by a pronounced vein of wry humour. My first encounter with literary horror, as for many readers, was with Poe in my teens, but I must admit to having a particular fondness for the ghost story, with M.R. James being my favourite author in this genre.

I prefer my horror to be understated, rather than dripping with gore. Other classic authors I’ve enjoyed reading in this field include Le Fanu, Conan Doyle and Wilkie Collins. I am currently reading the collected ghost stories of both E.F. Benson and Oliver Onions, and from what I’ve read so far, my preference lies with Onions. What do other members think about the relative merits of these two authors?

Randolph wrote: "I would put Benson and Onions about equal in uncanny literary merit. I rank James, Le Fanu, Blackwood, and Machen a little higher up the quality scale if forced to chose. They are as good writers b..."

Thanks for your comment Randolph. At this stage it may be possible that I'm being a little harsh on Benson, as I'm not that far into either of the anthologies. Machen and Blackwood, I am ashamed to say, I have not yet read, so it seems that I have some classic treats left in store.

I must admit that, while I love a number of authors who wrote in "Jamesian" vein, and I can often appreciate trappings of his fiction, I was never enamored with actual M.R. James stories. I think that he was often a master at making what should be scary and otherworldly feel dry, tiresome and mundane. I'd place a number of abovementioned authors above him.

Hello!

I am a horror enthusiast and lover hailing from Bavaria, Germany. I still buy all kind of horror books, not that many though as I do not have enough place to contain them all. My name is Marek.

Best Greetings!

Krystian wrote: "Hello!

I am a horror enthusiast and lover hailing from Bavaria, Germany. I still buy all kind of horror books, not that many though as I do not have enough place to contain them all. My name is Ma..."

From one of the moderators, welcome to the group!

Hi everyone, Randy from southern California here. I joined your group because I'm interested in reading more literary horror selections. I read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson a year and a half ago so I was excited to see that you were reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle as a group. I'll jump in on that read, although I won't finish the book for another few days - I don't like to rush through Jackson's books since there are always so many interesting details to savor. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and talking about books!

Randy wrote: "Hi everyone, Randy from southern California here. I joined your group because I'm interested in reading more literary horror selections. I read The Haunting of Hill House by [author:Sh..."

hello

J.S. wrote: "hello"

Hi! :-)

Randolph wrote: "Randy wrote: "J.S. wrote: "hello"

Hi! :-)"

Good to see another Randy, he, he...."

Hi Randolph

My name is Eileen Albrizio and I write literary horror. I have two books published in that genre. One is a book of poetry and short fiction called The Box Under the Bed, and the other is my debut novel called The Windsome Tree. You can read a free preview of both on Amazon.

Eileen wrote: "My name is Eileen Albrizio and I write literary horror. I have two books published in that genre. One is a book of poetry and short fiction called The Box Under the Bed, and the other is my debut n..."

Welcome the the group. :)

Hello all! I've been a member for a short while, but I hope now to take part in some of the monthly reads so thought an introduction would be polite. I've only been really into horror literature for maybe a couple of years now. Like many, I suppose, Lovecraft and his influence on popular culture was my real gateway. Consequently, it tends to be the weirder stuff that really grabs me!

Tom wrote: "Hello all! I've been a member for a short while, but I hope now to take part in some of the monthly reads so thought an introduction would be polite. I've only been really into horror literature fo..."

Hello :)

Welcome to the group, Tom! I look forward to reading with you.

Do we really have exactly 666 members right now? Whoa.

Heh. I was going to mention that.
By the way, I recently have problems on my lap top computer and have been operating from my smart phone and Internet cafes.
I intend to put up the August group read poll in a few hours.
Anyone know how I can put Furnance on the group's home page?

Hello everyone, my name is Timothy and i am a 24 year old Sailor for the United States Navy. This is the first group that; i joined because anything horror like excites me. However, I hope you guys can recommend me good horror books to read!

Hi, if Randolph is a stealth moderator, I'm an even stealthier member.

Hi my name is Eric and I am a huge lover of Horror and dark Fantasy some of my favorite sub genres of horror are Southern Gothic and southern horror (sometimes called backwoods horror) Weird Westerns and any thing to do with creepy carnivals, circus and amusement parks as well as some really good British horror. Some of my favorite authors are Joe R Lansdale, Stephen King, Richard Matheson, Robert Laymon, Joe Hill. I look forward to chatting with you all.

Eric wrote: "Hi my name is Eric and I am a huge lover of Horror and dark Fantasy some of my favorite sub genres of horror are Southern Gothic and southern horror (sometimes called backwoods horror) Weird Wester..."

Welcome to the group.

Hi Eric!

Randolph wrote: "J.S. wrote: "Hi, if Randolph is a stealth moderator, I'm an even stealthier member."

I think I saw you on the telly or wireless or am I hallucinating? Talking about your writing... I do have visio..."

I've been on radio talking about my writing, many times, and there are videos of me reading and performing, but I've never knowingly been on telly, especially not in the States. So I'm thinking that you heard me on the wireless. If you saw me on it, it was probably a bad vision.

Hi I'm Conor! I'm looking forward to reading and discussing the Monthly Reads with this group. I plan to start with The Haunting of Hill House next month. I am looking over the old monthly reads and wondering if there's a central list of past Monthly Reads available? If not, I'd be happy to make one, since I'm making a to-read list for myself based on those titles anyway.

A few of my favorite authors who incorporate elements of horror are Lucius Shepard, Michael Cisco, Peter Straub, Brian Evenson and Octave Mirbeau.

Conor wrote: "Hi I'm Conor! I'm looking forward to reading and discussing the Monthly Reads with this group. I plan to start with The Haunting of Hill House next month. I am looking over the old monthly reads an..."

Hello Conor, welcome to the group.

This group's bookshelf has books that were monthly group reads, but also books that were not.

Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for.

Welcome, Conor! I'm a big Lucius Shepard fan and also greatly admire Brian Evenson. I'm sure you'll find many kindred spirits here.

Hi I'm Ben, and while I don't tread in the literary side of our beloved genre fiction too often, I do enjoy some of the classic authors, along with newer strange/new weird writers.
And boy howdy do I have opinions on what issues get raised with the term 'literary'.

BenW wrote: "Hi I'm Ben, and while I don't tread in the literary side of our beloved genre fiction too often, I do enjoy some of the classic authors, along with newer strange/new weird writers.
And boy howdy d..."
Hi Ben!

Welcome to the group Ben.

Welcome to Literary Horror, Mimi!

The group has quite a range of tastes. For example, here's our 2018 favorites thread:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Hi Mimi,

You mentioned Alan Garner, so yay!

Mimi wrote: "How do the buddy and group reads work btw? Do you all pledge to finish by a certain date? And is there an upcoming title for March buddy/group read?"

First, welcome, Mimi! It is so good to see you here. I know you'll be a great addition to the group. Thanks, too, to Bill for inviting you. He has the best friends ;-)

As far as the group and buddy reads go, my feeling is that they are always open and anyone is welcome to post to the thread at any time. We do try to scare up some interest in the month itself and it's great to have participation when other people are reading simultaneously, but there's no hard and fast rule as to end date.

I think Ronald has a group read planned for us in March and Bill and I have just selected a buddy read (Brian Evenson's Last Days) and I'll be posting the thread tomorrow or Saturday (we usually try to schedule buddy reads for mid-month to give some space and time to the group reads that start at the beginning). Bill and I are totally up for suggestions as to future buddy reads so if you have any books you think might not have enough popular pull to merit group read status but would tickle the fancies of some of us, please speak up. Right now, we're mulling over Tentacle and Mouthful of Birds for future buddy reads.

I echo what Marie-Therese wrote about the buddy reads. The Monthly Reads are managed a bit more formally; Ronald has been putting the poll together and posting the thread. For March:

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

Looks like the Auctioneer is in the lead. Looks interesting; I'm planning to participate if it wins.

The February group read is Theodore Sturgeon's Some of Your Blood. I do plan to participate once my copy arrives in the mail.

I’ve read and enjoyed the auctioneer. It has this insidious way of causing intense disquiet... like a little splinter that you just can’t get at... I would re-read it...

Benjamin wrote: "It has this insidious way of causing intense disquiet... like a little splinter that you just can’t get at... I would re-read it..."
That sounds awesome!

Mimi wrote: "Thanks some groups have a list of rules about group reads and I couldn't see the ones for this groups - got told off about spoilers elsewhere so want to avoid that happening again."

We're a very relaxed and friendly group here, Mimi. I can't recall anyone ever getting on another member's case about anything except for one brief incident where we were infiltrated by some weird random fascist troll who was eventually banned because he had nothing to contribute beyond hate. I think the only rules we have here are be kind, participate when you can, and have fun sharing your passion for good books.

Benjamin wrote: "I’ve read and enjoyed the auctioneer. It has this insidious way of causing intense disquiet... like a little splinter that you just can’t get at... I would re-read it..."

This sounds good! I've picked it up and am looking forward to reading it next month.

Marie-Therese and I will begin our February buddy read of Brian Evenson's Last Days. Please join us:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Mimi wrote: "Thanks Bill they don't have this one in at the library, so not likely to get hold of it in time."
In case you don't mind ebooks, the Last Days ebook is quite reasonable at $2.

Mimi wrote: "Thanks Bill not showing up in e-book format in the UK so far."
Interesting... I didn't realize there were significant differences in ebook availability. Here's the link for the US ebook, in case it helps:
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Days-Bria...

Hmm, that's pretty annoying. I found this, in case anyone is interested:
https://www.howtogeek.com/328197/how-...

I haven't tried it, so I can't guarantee it won't cause other problems!

International digital rights are truly a pain. Sorry to hear that you may not be able to find our latest buddy read in an affordable or readily available format, Mimi. :-(

If you still want to dip your toe into Evenson and explore the novella he later expanded, I'd recommend searching out Ann and Jeff VanderMeer's remarkable volume of weird fiction The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories. It's a wonderful book, packed with fantastic stories and fascinating authors. And I believe it's been published in the UK and throughout Europe and may be available at libraries and second hand.

Jay wrote: "Hello everyone, I joined up a while ago but forgot to introduce myself and have been neglecting goodreads in general although I hope to change that and be more engaged.
I'm Jay, twenty three and li..."

Hello Jay, welcome to the group.

Jay wrote: "Hello everyone, I joined up a while ago but forgot to introduce myself and have been neglecting goodreads in general although I hope to change that and be more engaged.
I'm Jay, twenty three and li..."

And hello from me.