Horror Aficionados discussion

We will be starting tomorrow. I hope that's good with you Terry. If anyone has this and wants to join feel free. We will be reading one story a day. Use spoilers when appropriate.

Have you read anything of Ramsey's? I've read Night of the claw, which was awesome and then Ancient Images which was ok. I've got a lot of his books and he seems to be promising.

Tomorrow works just fine for me. I've not read anything else by Campbell yet, other than his short story in The Book of the Dead, which I remember as being ok. If we like this one, I'll look for some of his others, too.

Sounds great!

I went ahead and read the introduction. Seems like these stories were from his early days of writing. Should be interesting.

I've got my coffee and I'm ready to read...lol. Really been looking forward to this book!

I've read the introduction and started into the first story now. I think the cover of this book makes me believe it will be good!

Is Campbell's writing in his "latter writing period, up to the present") considered better, more accessible ? His "Inhabitant of The Lake" was a tough one for me, as well as "Demons By Daylight".

I'm beginning to think I just don't have the patience for Mr. Campbell's style of writing.
I'm still searching for that one novel or short story collection that will finally permit me to say, "So this is what Mr. Campbell's fans are raving about."

I've actually read this one before, prob from an anthology book or something. I didn't mind reading it again as I remembered it was kinda weird. I'll get ur thoughts on it first.

My answer to you, Bob, is that his writing can be tough to get through and sometimes it can be slow going, but in the end there is enough of the supernatural to get me through....some really genuine creepiness and the subject matter can be intriguing if you're into African tribe/ rituals as I came across in Night of the Claw. It might be more of an acquired taste that, for me, I'm willing to get used to.

Addy wrote: "I've actually read this one before, prob from an anthology book or something. I didn't mind reading it again as I remembered it was kinda weird. I'll get ur thoughts on it first."

It wasn't bad, kinda simple I guess. (view spoiler)[ leaves you guessing quite a bit since you never find out what was wrong with the guy, or what Mark would have done to him. (hide spoiler)]

Yes, my guess (view spoiler)[is that mark did something, maybe even killed the guy and then his spirit got revenge and drowned Mark. That's all I could come up with. Not that great. Hopefully some better ones to come. (hide spoiler)]

That certainly fits as well as anything.

I've finished the second story, and liked it better than the first. So far, the first two stories are more subtle, or I guess, subdued than I was expecting. (view spoiler)[ I wasn't quite getting what was happening until the very last paragraph. I guess that the house had become possessed by the ghost of the previous owner after his suicide, and that at the end, the ghost switched places leaving her in the house and taking her body? Did you see it that way? It was pretty subtle I thought, but I liked that twist. (hide spoiler)]

I haven't read it yet. Kids are gone a few days, so enjoying a bit of freedom. But, yes he is more of the subtle type of horror. Don't expect any gore but more of the creepy feel when you read. At least that has been my experience:)

Hey, enjoy the freedom when you can get it! Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with some subtlety sometimes! Better sometimes, even.

I completely agree with you. A little strange and hard to follow, though I don't understand what the title means, if it adds anything to the story at all. Very subtle indeed. I really do hope these stories get better. I'm so sorry if u feel these aren't up to par. I'm feeling that way myself.

I guess the title was just the name of the house? You're right, that doesn't seem to mean anything to the story. I'm not minding the book at all. I like a change of pace sometimes, and this seems to fit that - although I wouldn't be upset if they got better, too! Don't worry about me if at any time you want to stop any of the reads we're doing - won't hurt my feelings in the least. I'll let you know as well if I feel that way. BTW, the new profile pic is great!

Thank you:) I'm totally fine with continuing. I was just hoping you weren't disappointed.

Have u read the Justin Cronin trilogy yet? I've read the first one and it was pretty awesome.

I've read both of the first two, and really liked both. I'm excited that the third just came out this week.

I know, right!? I need to put it higher on my tbr list.

You should! Of course, that is one I want for the bookshelf, but don't want to fork out for the hardback, so I'll still be waiting for the paperback release, which isn't until October.

Bummer. I'm not one for hard backs. I just feel like they're too clunky and take up more room. I do haven some though cause that's all I could find. Well, I guess that gives me some time to read the other one.

Me too. My problem is I usually lose patience and end up buying it anyway. I have several series on my shelf with the last one or two as hardback. I've thought of taking those and trading them for the paperback just to save room.

Finished the next story. (view spoiler)[ My only question is what those creatures were supposed to be? Definately a creepy idea being stuck in an old building like that at night in a storm. (hide spoiler)]

That's sounds like a good idea. I've actually purchased the paperback and then returned the hardback book for credit. I'm gonna go to a book place later and see what I can find. Wish me luck. It's always something I get excited about...lol.

I'm reading it now myself. The title sounds promising.

Good luck with the bookstore. My youngest son and I planned to hit two here this weekend ourselves some time - looking forward to it the same,

Yes, I'll let u know if I find anything good. Hopefully, you fair as well;) Finished the story. Wow. This was way better. I couldn't stop reading til I finished. The suspense was very real. I could almost visualize myself being there and being creeped out. The doughy monsters were interesting...maybe they are the food itself. Not sure but great story. I'll quote a sentence I thought was pretty cool. I find that Campbell is very good with dread and not giving much away as the cause of it.

I found 10 great old school horror and some Tim Lebbon. My husbands gonna kill me! I already had him buy me another book shelf. I was so scared to go to this book place because it's going downtown and I do not do well driving to to places I'm not familiar with. But soo worth it! The things I do for books!

Wow, that's awesome! Definately worth the trip it sounds. I'm happy if I find 1 or 2 after visiting two stores.

"She was brandishing her tiny flame as though it might defend her." For me, I could just picture this, you know, someone being so afraid you hold up your only device like it's your savior. You see this a lot in horror movies. There is something about holding a weapon that makes you feel you have a chance. Anyway, just my thoughts;)

That's great. Again, I would say that is a subtle kind of imagery we don't always get in a lot of the horror books we read. Sometimes, I think I'm trying to get through a book too quick and miss catching details like that.

The next is a short one and another where I didn't catch on until the very end though. (view spoiler)[ Wow sewing himself back together to get revenge. Hard to picture just his head being able to get up the steps like that. (hide spoiler)]

Yes. I read it last nite since I didn't think I'd have time to tomorrow. It's was pretty short and I liked the title "Heading Home" no pun intended...lol. I was a little confused as well, not knowing what exactly was climbing up the stairs. Pretty cool ending, though a little far fetched.

I'm so exhausted I don't think I'll read today. I'll read 2 stories tomorrow and post. Hope u had a great holiday weekend:)

No problem, and thanks, it has been a good weekend. Hope yours has been fun, too!

It's been great! Now I'm waiting for my kiddos to come home...lol. Freedom's over:(....ok, I'm being melodramatic. Anyway, I was thinking that I do a lot better with reading a certain amount of pages rather than chapters. Recently, I've been doing 50 pages a day and it works. What's ur take on this. Chapters or pages?

I definitely get it. You know, I'm good with chapters or pages. If it helps you, we can up it to pages (30-50 seems to work best for me when I'm reading multiple books). These are pretty short by themselves.

Ok. 30 pages works for me.

I read The Proxy this morning. I liked it a little bit more than the others so far. (view spoiler)[ I think its because what I took from the story was that Elaine was seeing the ghost house maybe as a precognition of what was to come, even though she may not have known it? I'm not certain that was what Campbell was going for, but its what came to my mind. I've always thought the idea of precognition is a fascinating one. (hide spoiler)] I was going to read The Depths also today.

I didn't get it. I loved the tension, but I didn't understand why she saw Paul in the other house? It makes sense that it was a precognition. So was she seeing that Paul would die in an accident? Maybe u can explain it better.

That is what I was guessing, although to see him in the house afterwards almost makes me wonder that whatever was in the house was out to get him - although it didn't necessarily feel that way? I was thinking that she started to see the (dead) house more often and more clearly as death was getting closer, and that it was foretelling that someone close was going to die (although she never caught that).

Hmm. Yes, I see what u mean. This story seemed awful vague though I still enjoyed it, it's like a "make up your own ending." I especially liked when she wondered if she could go in the house too. Do u think if what happened had anything to do with Paul's job? Defense of Ministry?

Good question. Not sure what he was trying to do with the secret job or if it was supposed to be related. It seems like that should have been important, but I'll be darned if I can see how that connects. You're right that most of these stories leave a lot for us readers to fill in.

I did finish the Depths today, too. I really didn't follow what that one was supposed to mean.

Just finished. The only thing I could come up with is that he got something from being in that house and the only way to expunge it, was to be killed by it himself. Does that make sense? I haven't had my coffee yet...lol.

Coffee or not, that does make some sense. I was thrown off a little bit at the end where he mentioned something about there needing to be a scapegoat that is sacrificed for the good of all? I wondered if that meant that he was being the scapegoat and all of the evil thoughts were being fed into him from society so that he could be sacrificed instead? Felt like a stretch though...

I did read Out of Copyright this morning, and I liked it the best so far. Its a theme that makes sense for us I believe...

Yes, the book collector. It was pretty good. I liked how there was a hidden message in the writing. I heard laymon did something like that in one of his books. I always wonder what my children will do with my books other than think I was crazy for having a mostly horror collection. I know they won't be worth much. Ah well. It's still a fun hobby!