Horror Aficionados discussion

Brian Keene

Yes, that is his name.

I'm surprised that we didn't already have a Brian Keene thread.

Haven't read any..yet. But want to and plan to

I've been hearing about this guy all over the place.
What would be a good one to start with?

I loved Darkness on the Edge of Town, Terminal and A Gathering of Crows. Can't go wrong with any one of those, IMO, especially Terminal.

I read The Rising and found his descriptions too repetitive for my tastes. I swear the phrase "corpse's juices" was used like 12 times in that book.

Thank you Gator and Ryan.

LOL Ryan, BTW. I recently read Resurrection: Zombie epic and there were quite a few phrases that were over used in that one. I think 55 people had yellow eyes, people were coveting everything in sight (I never saw the word covet used so much!).

I added both Terminal and Darkness to my TBR.

Darkness and Crows were average, formulaic books. I gave Darkness 3 stars and Crows 2. His later books aren't as good as his early ones.

I like his books The Ghoul and Conqueror Worms. He's got oodles of books out there all the time and he's always working.

Ghoul, Conq. Worms, Dark Hollow, City of the Dead, The Rising, and Dead Sea are excellent. I didn't care for Urban Gothic or Castaways.

Unless I misread it, according to his blog he has recently had a heart attack and in order to take it easy he's planning to take the next year off.I don't know if it's off of writing altogether or just no social networking.
Like his books a lot have most of his leisure ones. Looking forward to seeing Ghoul the movie too, hope they didn't mess it up, the book was good.

I know he had one before crap i hope he didn't have another :(

this was a few months ago, in september, I believe
he's only 47 or so, he needs to start taking it easy

Bandit wrote: "this was a few months ago, in september, I believe
he's only 47 or so, he needs to start taking it easy"

Yeah he was dating Mary Sangiovanni but I think that ended. She was always telling him to slow down cause he's a workaholic.

yeah, he does seem to be working more and more...I wonder what happened with their relationship, they looked so happy together
there was engagement, no engagement, dating, no dating...very hollywood lol

I never heard of Mary Sangiovanni. Look at how calmly she's sitting next to Joe Hill. Doesn't she know who she's sitting next to? Joe Hill! Joe looks like a suburban dad with a killer buzz at a backyard BBQ.

Mary Sangiovanni is an author, leisure published two of her books. I've read , which was pretty good and also one of her short stories online, which was excellent.

Plus she and Brian are friends with a ton of horror writers like Hill and J F Gonzalez.

Which short story? I'd like to read it.

Oh, I know. She probably knows Joe Hill well enough not to get the shakes sitting so close to him.

I can't remember which short story, sorry, it was a freebie she was offering through her website a few months ago

I think I have one of Mary's books. I think.

I like Keene, but I don't LOVE him. The Conqueror Worms was fantastic, but it pretty much sums him up perfectly for me. The first third, and last third, I loved. The middle section was just OK. I thought he was at his best when he was just telling the story of a couple of buddies trying to get through a bad, bad, bad time. He created a couple of wonderful characters that the reader wanted to hang out with.

The middle section kind of turned into what I am not crazy about his stuff. It was that kind of "urban" thing, or centering on characters I don't like. I have only read a couple of his books, but this type of was present in those. I think he has a couple of different sides to his writing, and depending on which he is doing, I will either have that giddy love for him, or that "meh" feeling. One thing is for sure, though, he can write a heck of a tale.

Carl wrote: "I think I have one of Mary's books. I think.

I like Keene, but I don't LOVE him. The Conqueror Worms was fantastic, but it pretty much sums him up perfectly for me. The first thir..."

So you'd evade books like Terminal and prefer something like Ghoul which is a bit more directed and has characters with less of that urban tone? That makes sense actually.

I keep forgetting that Terminal is a Keene book. I really liked that one when I read it years ago.

Tressa wrote: "I keep forgetting that Terminal is a Keene book. I really liked that one when I read it years ago."

I did too but I know some people hate the urban lingo they use in it.

I don't remember any urban lingo. And, do I even know what urban lingo is?

Jive, like Barbara Billingsley does in AIRPLANE. :OP

Oh, I speak jive. Why didn't y'all just say that to begin with?

Donna, from what I hear The Rising is amazing. You should maybe give it a shot in print form, if you ever have time. I have it sitting on my shelf, still awaiting a read.

I've recently reread The Rising and liked it somewhat less the second time around. It's still a good book, especially if you like your zombies smart and fast and chatty. And it pretty much jumpstarted zombie literary genre into the ubiquitous phenomenon it is today.

Anyone read Dead Sea? Thoughts? I'm thinking of picking it up.

Oh, I got excited thinking you meant this Dead Sea: . But one's also good.

Just about done with Castaways not as bad as I was thinking it'd be by Tressa's review. I do agree its not his best though.

Just finished , ok, but not great. Kinda silly, actually, and a lot like Dead Sea.

Amanda wrote: "Just about done with Castaways not as bad as I was thinking it'd be by Tressa's review. I do agree its not his best though."

Oops. Sorry! I thought it was by-the-book horror and very mediocre.

Bandit wrote: "Just finished , ok, but not great. Kinda silly, actually, and a lot like Dead Sea."

I don't remember CW being silly. Maybe I wasn't fully matured when I read it.

lol
I don't know if silly is the right word per se, but having just read an amazing post apocalyptic book , this one was just like a b movie next to a great movie sort of thing if that makes sense
I mean have you ever watched Tremors? it's just like that

Funny, I feel the same way, but with the books switched. CW was a fabulous story that had me on the edge of my seat, Sparrow Rock was an OK post- apocalyptic book with characters I didn't care about.

I have only read Castaways and Urban Gothic. Enjoyed both.

Tressa wrote: "Funny, I feel the same way, but with the books switched. CW was a fabulous story that had me on the edge of my seat, Sparrow Rock was an OK post- apocalyptic book with characters I didn't care about."

that is positively antipodean of you :)

I'm afraid to ask, but what's antipodean?

don't be afraid to ask, I'd never call you something rude or mean :)
antipodean is like the opposite
here's a proper definition from free dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/anti...

Ah, learned a new word. Thanks.

anytime :)

Tressa wrote: "Amanda wrote: "Just about done with Castaways not as bad as I was thinking it'd be by Tressa's review. I do agree its not his best though."

Oops. Sorry! I thought it was by-the-book horror and ver..."

Don't worry about it! I know we're all different. I read it as a fun way to kill off reality tv people and I think it allowed me to relax on judgement a bit. It has a bit more in common with Scream Queenwhich is along similar lines only with a haunted house. It probably also helped make it less of a Keene book that he was writing with Laymon's beasts in mind. He said something about being based on the vague origin Laymon gave the creatures fro mBeast House which Keene then modified to make the book version (it was a short story for In Laymon's Terms)more his own.

I will say that I found it hard to imagine the beasties especially with that oversize lower jaw!

Bandit I really loved Conqueror Worms sorry it didn't work for you. Anybody know when the sequel, Deluge comes out in print form? I lost track of where I was in his blog posts of it.

oh no, I still thought it was a good book. I've never read a bad book by Keene. It just wasn't great IMO, that's all. I'm still very interested to read Deluge if I ever find it.

I think Deluge is supposed to come out very late this year or early 2013, so we have a bit. I read it and loved it though. It could be pasted onto The Conqueror Worms and make a perfect five-star novel I think.

I've only read Urban Gothic from this author, and I thought it was great fun. It doesn't take itself too seriously but still creates real suspense.

It also felt light to read and I found myself finishing it in a very short time. I'm all for thick and moody horror novels, but I also enjoy reading some that are just plain fun, and I believe the author did a good job of that with this book.

For me, The Conqueror Worms was excellent! The idea was so original in an age where repitition is the standard. Additionally, there was a lot of mystery to it. You didn't know what would come out of that water. Definitely one of my favorite books.

I read The Rising, and although it was okay, I found the zombie dialogue very silly and childish. They could have said better things than just cussing out the protagonists all the time.

I agree with you about CW, Troy. I remember it as a very tense but enjoyable read. I loved The Rising, too. I don't remember silly zombie dialogue, but it's been a long time since I read it.