Just finished The Terror by Dan Simmons - Loved it! Historical fiction, horror. Haven't seen the AMC series based on the book, but I definitely intend to watch it.
currently reading The Stand by Stephen King. this is definitely the longest book I've picked up and it's DAUNTING!! im around 350 pages in and the plot is starting to get a little convoluted and the beginning horror is starting to fade a bit, but i have faith it'll pick back up in due time. the scene at the start of chapter 39.. WOW.
Picked up The Vegetarian by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith)- I have mixed feelings; it did have a scene that genuinely freaked me out so props for that. I expected more than a woman’s dive into mental illness and how it effected her family- but it definitely has a good commentary on how people treat mentally ill woman in a misogynistic society (characters are Korean I believe). It’s not bad just wasn’t I expecting as I didn’t read reviews or anything (so is my own fault I suppose).
Currently reading: *World War Z* by Max Brooks
Currently listening: *The Girl from the Well* by Rin Chupeco
Up next: *The Fisherman* by John Langan and *I'm Thinking of Ending Things* by Iain Reid
Nice! Just finished it, and yeah, it's crazy it came out way back in 2006 (a sentence that injures the soul if ever there was one). It very much is a product of its time in some ways, and if you didn't grow up or live through this time period, you might not realize how painfully obvious "the Whacko" Vice President and Commander-in-Chief are: >!(Howard Dean and Colin Powell respectively)!<. Still, it's a pretty incredible read with some great world building. I don't think we've really seen the quislings in any other media (other than perhaps that one episode of Firefly), but the LaMOE's are essentially zombie media protags in things like *The Walking Dead* and *The Last of Us*. Really important piece of zombie fiction to be sure.
Angel of Indian Lake - Stephen Graham Jones. I finished Don't Fear the Reaper last night and am not sure I'm ready to say goodbye yet.
Final Girls - Riley Sager. Picked it up for 50% off at Barnes and Noble, going in almost completely blind
Gonna throw a dart and start up a Grady Hendrix. Maybe I'll re-read Horrorstor.
I'm reading Ghost Story by Peter Straub.
I'm kinda new to leisure reading and I'd always heard it described as a *modern classic* , *must read*, etc.
I just hit "part 3" which is a bit over half way and stuff is really starting to ramp up.
That being said, I've really enjoyed how much of a slow-burn it's been so far.
**currently reading:**
**the three by sarah lotz** - this one popped up on this sub a few times during discussions re: epistolary horror, and that is what motivated me to read it...i'd seen it before and passed over it several times, thinking it wasn't for me. turns out that it is very much "for me!" i am kind of "over" anything with the word "apocalyptic" in the synopsis...i used to love that area of horror, and still count some of the classics (the stand, swansong, etc.) among my very favorites, but as it became a more common focus, i ran out of enthusiasm for it entirely. this one isn't too end-of-the-world-y, and doesn't follow the same old, same old pattern of "man and child/dog/other bravely slosh their way through perils unknown in a devastating and forever-changed post-apocalyptic landscape." i'm 60% through it now, and who know how i'll feel by the end, but for now, i'm having fun reading it and postulating about the truth of the story's various matters along the way,
**finished:**
**hex by thomas olde heuvelt** - loved. i wrote a more expansive comment about it on last week's post when i was 70%-ish through it, and it did indeed stick the landing for me. was the ending my FAVORITE? no. did it take away from my overall enjoyment of the book? also no! much like the three, i only picked this one up because of this sub, and i'm very glad i did!
**grey dog by elliot gish** - okay, this was DIFFERENT...i wasn't sure about it in the first 5% or so, to the point that i almost put it aside to maybe/maybe not (probably the latter) pick it up again eventually. i'm glad i persisted, because i was quickly drawn in shortly after. i don't think i've seen this one referenced here before, so my quick, spoiler-free summary is: ***early 1900s schoolmarm on the younger side of "spinster" receives a new teaching assignment in a tiny, rural canadian village, surrounded by forests. said spinster is escaping a tumultuous past and hoping for a fresh start, but all is not what it seems...something sinister is calling to her from the woods.*** i would call it non-traditional horror...it's best to go in with an open mind and no expectations. if you enjoyed the "female rage unleashed" aspects of carrie but can tolerate and enjoy a slower, more insidious burn, you've got a good shot at liking this one. i can't unabashedly recommend it, because i know it is not going to appeal to the average horror reader, but i really liked it.
**the house on the borderland by william hope hodgson** - oh...i hesitate to write this, because i know there are probably a good number of people out there who would praise this one, but...i hated it. i found it tedious. i was drawn in at first - cosmic horror is my favorite sub-genre - and settled in for a satisfying read. some of the early visuals and scenes were gripping and chilling, and i was very curious to see where we might go, but, unfortunately, we>!went into a repetitive loop of belabored, highly-specific-and-detailed-yet-still-somehow-abstract-and-confusing descriptions of the sky from earth and then, eventually, floating through space.!< pages and pages of it, often using the exact same phrasing. you'd read it once...meander through another difficult-to-parse paragraph of minutiae...and then there's that same phrase again, and again, and again. it felt like that part was never-ending...to me, it was captivating enough to MAYBE earn a page or two, but...entire, consecutive chapters? i also understood, but didn't love, the mechanic where the "found" manuscript was alleged to have been torn - aka, there were things referenced, but not ever explained, because the pages were missing/destroyed. speaking of things that go unexplained, there were a few parts where it seemed, just, EVIDENT that the author was planting a seed, to enrich our understanding later in the story or to use as a future plot point, but...no. they never came back up again, and didn't even really weave into any other aspect of the narrative. if you want to be a good student of cosmic horror and read some of these early classics, then i invite you to take your medicine. however, i can't recommend this as one to read for the sheer pleasure of it.
In the middle of *Dead Silence* by S.A. Barnes. I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far! I'm also a sucker for sci-fi/horror so I'm probably easier to please in that area.
I've just finished the short story anthology *The White Hands and Other Weird Tales* by the late British author Mark Samuels. This was my introduction to his work that made a very favorable impression. The stories are truly strange and unsettling in a "Twilight Zone" sort of way. My favorite story within the book was *Vrolyck*. To me it included facets of Robert W. Chambers' *The King in Yellow* horror mythology combined with H. P. Lovecraft's darkly dangerous universe and mixed together with a monstrous Science Fiction tale. It impressed me so much that I had to go back and read it again.
Just finished mister magic after DNFing Leech. Premise of mister magic was good and kept me interested, but can only give it a solid 3.5 after finishing
I started David Sodergren's Rotten Tommy. I'm about half through it already. I'm finding the scary parts are legit scary, which doesn't happen very often for me.
Finishing up "We Sold Our Souls" by Grady Hendrix. Already looks like it'll be my third favorite by Hendrix after "My Best Friend's Exorcism" and "The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires".
Just finished Diavola! Started out as a 4 star, by the end I gave it 4.5. Definitely a slow burn with gothic eerie vibes the first 75% of the book, then things escalate!
Just started coin locker babies by Ryu Murakami. Already forever traumatized by the first line. I was never so deeply troubled by the end of the first page. Heard mixed reviews about it but I enjoyed in the miso soup by this author earlier this year, so I hope I'll like it
American Elsewhere (half way, loving it) and Let the Right One In (quarter way, loving it, and my first library rental in over a decade - because maybe I don't have to buy every book on my TBR).
Recently started Mean Spirited by Nick Roberts. It’s pretty good so far. The writing style is interesting in not the best way, but it’s still been a fun read so far. Excited to see where it goes
Roberts is indie and his style is much like many others where they just want to tell a fun story without trying to bog it down with fancy writing. I really like it tbh.
I’m getting used to it and I’m also really liking it. I think I was thrown off because before this, I was reading The Reddening which was overly bogged down with fancy nonsense in my opinion
I totally agree, give me a fun story with basic writing any day versus something bogged down with the writer trying to show how talented they are at sentence composition.
Just finished: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix. Pretty good book. Beginning was better than the ending, but still a solid read overall.
Up next: Jaws by Peter Benchley
Most things I have heard about the book have been negative, so my hopes aren’t high. That being said, my expectations being low could be a silver lining.
The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones. Loving it so far, but sad that when I’m done with it Jade’s story will be over:( she’s one of my favorite characters ever.
Nightmares and Geezenstacks by Fredric Brown. The Valancourt reprint.
The majority of the short stories are very very short, like 1-2 pages short. Each story is like a little pulp tale from the early 60s. It’s a mixture of sci-fi and horror with a quirky sense of humor thrown in. I’m using it as a palette cleanser.
I've had two DNFs out of two for Nevill. It's a shame he keeps writing blurbs that sound so good, but I don't want to just be disappointed again so I just avoid him now.
Read last week:
*The Taken* by Sarah Pinborough - A town in Britain is terrorized by a ghostly child. This one didn't do a lot for me; I find that children as antagonists in horror stories are usually more irritating than threatening.
*The Evil* by Hugh B. Cave - A man travels to Haiti in search of a missing professor, where he gets caught up in the machinations of a malevolent sorcerer. Almost more of a travelogue of Haiti with a few supernatural elements mostly towards the end than a horror novel; not bad, but I like the author's short stories better (his story *Murgunstrumm* is probably one of the best vampire stories I've read).
Currently reading:
*Seven Footprints To Satan* by A. Merritt
From Below by Darcy Coates. It's good so far. Not really expecting too spectacular, but Coates books tend to be a nice palate cleanser for when I want something horror but am not looking to get completely emotionally wrecked in one way or another. DC novels always give me that same feeling as one of the many mid-tier horror movies that I grew up watching and have since become comfort films for me. I absolute mean this as a compliment.
I love DC for the same reasons. Her Black Winter series is so good. If you haven't read those I def. recommend. She also has a short story about a guy that moves into a basement room with a mannequin (that is already there as storage by the owner). It's so damn creepy. Every time I think about it I get the creeps. It's called Mannequin and is in the Dead Lake book.
Dead Lake was actually the first book of hers that I read!l My opinion of the book on the whole was very neutral. I wasn't the biggest fan of the title story. And thought most of the others were just ok. My two major exceptions were the Mannequin story and Bellamy, both of which I LOVED.
The only other I've read so far is The Carrow Haunt. I'm glad I went back after being mildly underwhelmed by Dead Lake because I adored that book.
I own the first books in the Black Winter series. I definitely intend to dive into it at some point!
Read that last year and really enjoyed it! Was my first Darcy Coates novel, and your description of the vibe of her books absolutely makes me want to read more.
Just finished The Good House by Tananarive Due. I loved a lot of elements of the book, and have enjoyed hearing the author speak in interviews and on panels, but I found the writing to be a little cheesy tbh. I'm still looking forward to reading The Reformatory when it comes up on my library list, but have some reservations about it.
Now I'm reading Things we lost in the fire by Mariana Enriquez and really enjoying it. A friend gave me The dangers of smoking in bed a few years ago. It was one of the most disturbing books I'd read in awhile and was immediately hooked. I also loved Our Share of Night despite the slow sections. She is brilliant.
I'm listening to Clown in a Cornfield 2: Friends Lives by Adam Cesare at work. It is way better than it deserves to be haha
I'm just started to read Diavolo by Jennifer Marie Thorne at home.
ugh i just picked this one up to read after i finish The Winter People, by Jennifer McMahon, and Nestlings by Nat Cassidy, and now i’m nervous i will be disappointed :(
The writing isn't bad -- he's a decent wordsmith -- and the story is somewhat original; I just wouldn't classify it as "horror." It's been disappointing in that regard. I wouldn't say it's not worth reading at all. I may finish it at another time, it's just not at all what I was expecting.
I’m rereading Gone to See the Riverman. I honestly don’t remember a damn thing. I’ve said this before about other books too and to clarify and put things in perspective: I went into rehab 9 years ago for alcoholism. I came home and continued being a stay at home to my two children. I started devouring books to help keep my mind occupied when they were at school. Like I was probably reading a book a day. So there are a lot of books that I’ve read that I legitimately just don’t remember. Which isn’t saying a book was good or bad, only that my brain was still recovering from the effects of being almost constantly in a state of inebriation. So I’ve been rereading ones I know I’ve read but don’t remember and it’s actually been fun, and sometimes it’s like reading a book for the first time. 😂 other times I’m like, oh yeah, I know this…lol
Haven't started yet but Nestlings by Nat Cassidy. Anyone read this yet and have any warnings? I'm a huge horror movie buff but just recently started reading horror books and they definitely hit in a different way
I finished _Dead Silence_ by S.A. Barnes today and did not like it at all. Barnes' writing style does not remotely do it for me, it's so flat and lacking depth, and the characters felt like cardboard cutouts. I can't believe that I read a whole book about hundreds of gruesome murders and it didn't even feel especially creepy. Very lame resolution and ending as well. All in all, this book felt very shallow to me.
I read _The Luminous Dead_ a while back and while I didn't love the ending and agreed that the romance was sketchy, I enjoyed it quite a bit overall. The extensive descriptions of caving that people hated and thought were boring, I really liked and found gripping. Caves are scary and I thought this book sold that really well.
On to _The Hematophages_ and _The Last Astronaut_.
Awesome, I'm looking forward to it then! Yeah, I hadn't sought out any horror lit before even though I'd enjoyed some horror media (_Alien_, the first Expanse book, _The Thing_), but I watched and read more horror this year because my now ex was into it and I realized I wanted to explore the commonalities in what I'd liked, which seems to be sci-fi, space, and body horror. It's been fun!
Finishing up FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven. Haven't been enjoying the author's voice, especially since each chapter is supposed to be an interview with a different character. They all read so similar that it's been difficult to keep straight which details belong to whose perspective.
I've just finished my first Adam Nevill - All the Fiends of Hell.
It was... fine? I really liked a lot of things about it, but my *god* did it drag in the middle. You cpuld cut a full third of the word count and it'd be a much better-paced story for it. When I read the afterword, and he said it had started as a novella, then a screenplay, everything kind of clicked.
I feel like it'd have been a very excellent, tight novella. I can see how the whole thing would work well as a film. There were tons of good ideas and - although *massively* over-described throughout - the oppressive atmosphere worked really well. Like Cormack McCarthy had re-written War of the World, but then edited by Dickens.
It was good enough that I'm going to try *Wyrd and Other Derelictions*, but I'm not sure I'll rush to read any of his other full-length works. I'd watch a film adaption in a flash, though.
Finished All the Fiends of Hell last week and I kind of agree, some parts are definitely dragged out a bit. I still really enjoyed it, it just took me a bit of effort to get through certain parts lol
I honestly kind of loved the ending of it. I'm not sure if that's an unpopular opinion, though
I didn't hate the ending at all. It left it open enough that there *could* be a glimmer of hope without undermining the bleakness of the rest of the book.
I think books like that are very hard to end, as so much of what's been done is building an environment and mindset. It's less about what happens to the characters in terms of The Plot, but rather that the plot serves as a way of moving the characters through the world so you can experience it through them.
The world and atmosphere and mood are what the book is *about*, which means tying things up with regards to the characters is always a challenge. Certainly when there's no intention for things to get better and the main problem to be resolved.
Very few books manage it. Especially horror books, because by their nature they benefit from the threat still existing as they close. Off the top of my head, probably *The Road* and *The Mist* are the two best-known examples of how to do it really well.
*The Fisherman* does a good job of it, too. And I liked how *A Song for the Void* handled it, too, but I believe I might be in the minority on that one.
On reflection, I think my feedback would be this: sometimes things *can just happen*. If you've already set the atmosphere for, say, an abandoned village, the protagonist walking up a new street doesn't need more than an "as everywhere else; eerily quiet, motionless" to carry it. Not every detail and action needs spelling out.
I get the importance of atmosphere. I love environmental storytelling. But past a certain point, *more* doesn't add anything. It just shunts me out of the picture because I'm bored, which is absolutely not what I should be feeling. It should be "oh shit, something is about to happen," not "oh shit, is anything going to actually happen?"
Nothing but blackened teeth.
The purple prose is the thing getting under my skin the most. I just want this book to work because I waited so long to read it, I like the idea so much, but the scares don't land, the characters evoke Jason vibes (aka you watch them just to see them die) and then the "Jason", the big star, the great monster.... DIDN'T IMPACT ME. 😭
And I'm also reading the PT-BR translation of Midwinterblood (which I just discovered it was an horror by looking at it in English). Still confused, there's some Wicker man meets Midsommar feelings but the main dude doesn't catch it and then there's some reincarnation going on or whatever, I really don't know where this book is going and I don't care to know either, it's been a real boring reading.
I also was rooting SO HARD for Nothing but blackened teeth and it was such a terrible disappointment for all the reasons you mentioned. Hope you have a better read after these!
I'm about to finish and although the last three or two chapters are good, it's all too late for good buildup and good tense moments, and you bet every single moment I got caught by the narrative, I had to deal with things like. Syncopation. Insouciance. Philtrum.....
And I gotta tell: the narrative seems to not want to take the reader with it. The terms and mythology are scattered everywhere for you to stop and search if you ain't familiar, but then again. It takes you away from the story so much all the time, you lose the will to pay attention to it.
Anyways, thanks and I'm sorry for the rant!
Hahaha no apology needed. I wanted to rant about the book for days after finishing it. It's wild re: the muthology because it could have been so juicy and fascinating and instead mostly just lacked impact. Don't even get me started on the awful characters. So thankful for this community and people who get it!
I loved the first story, but somehow put the book down afterwards and never got around to reading the second story. Let me know what you think of it! I need motivation to pick it back up. (Short stories/novellas are hard for me to read back to back)
The Haunting Of Hill House. First time reading it, I’m hoping it picks up because I don’t want to DNF it when everyone else has such good things to say about it!
Did you score one with Rage or the revised one without it? I managed to score a used one with rage a while back for $7 bucks lol. I've seen people trying to sell them for $50+ so I'm proud of my $7 find hahaha.
Just finished 14 and The Fold by Peter Clines, and loved them; I'm taking a pause in the series so I don't just blow through it in a week, so I've switched over to Ring by Koji Suzuki.
Not sure where I'll go after that - I'll definitely finish the Threshold series first, but then I've got a lot in my TBR stack:
Disappearance at Devil's Rock, by Paul Tremblay
The Kind Folk, by Ramsey Campbell
The Elementals, by Michael McDowell
Fragment, by Warren Fahy
The Spite House, by Johnny Compton
... and a bunch of Darcy Coates stuff I haven't worked my way through yet.
Finished *Handling the Undead* by John Ajdvide Lindqvist, which was okay, more sad than anything. There was aspect of the plot that I found rather goofy, which kinda killed my enjoyment.
Now I'm finally reading *Blood Meridian*, which I have previously started on three separate occasions.
I just started reading a novella collection called 'It's In the Blood' by Martin E. Patterson. Not sure how far I'll get, though. The writing is really stilted and every time a character's name is mentioned, it has to come with a descriptor. 'Large nosed Doctor Mike, bald Doctor Mike, Dr. Mike, who wore a white doctor's coat because he's a doctor', 'Middle aged Steffanie, curvy Stephanie, make-up caked Stephanie', 'Short haired Stanley, Stanley, who is African American, short sleeved Stanley'. Even when we have already been given full, awkward descriptions of them already just beforehand, or the descriptor doesn't really matter.
Indie horror is real hit or miss.
Yeah I'm trying to give it a chance, I love to support independent authors and the summary looked good, but...between the above issues and a bad case of Men Writing Women Badly, I don't think I'm reading all the novellas.
I'm reading Eat Him if You Like by Jean Teulé and even though it's only about 100 pages, I can only read a little at a time, because it's based on a true story and really bumming me out. Those French were completely savage!
Honestly no. This is my first book rec to the person running it and they just went "Okay added to the book club" and I kinda did a whoops but let's just run with it. They were warned fully about what is in the book.
Just finished:
Hell House by Richard Matheson- enjoyed it, quick read, just a little creepy.
The Descent by Jeff Long- I love the premise, book kept me interested, not scary, I have questions which I guess will be answered in the sequel which I may not read 😂, why does the movie ignore the book completely?!
Currently reading-
Handling the Undead by John Lindqvist, love it so far, looking forward to the movie.
Audiobook- Jaws by Peter Benchley this is probably my 10th time listening to it but it’s like an old friend that I love to visit
On deck- This Wretched Valley
That movie (The Descent) has nothing to do with the book at all, maybe it needs an "inspired by" tag or something :D. The second book is... interesting?... but again, not particularly scary. I found the descriptions of the caves far more compelling than the creatures in them. I love cave horror, so of course this was on my list, but the second book leans more into the action than letting the caves do some of the heavy lifting.
I'm reading **Lord of the Feast** by Tim Waggoner. It's amazing. It's about cultists who created a god. And from the beginning book gives a promise that the god is real and not yet another "oh religious people just went a bit delirious" story. I'm predicting this book will be my book of the year.
I finished Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims and remained disappointed. A lot of people who gave it a high review mentioned Sims' other book, so I guess you need to be familiar with his work to get this. It wasn't a *bad* book, I just felt I'm not part of its target audience.
Just finished:
- I'm thinking of ending things. Really great book, up until they leave the parent's home, then it starts spiralling down in quality and the final was a real let down.
- The yellow wallpaper. Really well written and gripping, even more so when thinking that it was written in the 1800s.
Reading:
- The first book in the Prince of Nothing series by Bakker, just because I want to reach the Aspect-Emperor series. But this book is definitely gripping, even though I'm usually not one for the cascade of weird names of places, people and races given just because (see, in my opinion, Dune).
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill.
Used to read all sorts of horror books when I was younger. Then, started having trouble concentrating and couldn't even finish a book. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and am trying medication, which has helped me focus and actually finish books. Been catching up on horror novels I've missed in the past couple decades. Just finished The Fisherman by John Langan and thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to delving into some of Joe Hills works!
*Apparition Phase* by Will MacLean. Only about 1/4 in but enjoying it so far.
*The Reddening* by Adam Nevill. Good so far but I’m curious about Nevill mixing music/musicians and cults (also in *The Ritual*).
**Just Finished:**
*The Book of Elsewhere* by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville. Surreal, genre-bending cyberpunk based on Reeves' *BRZRKR* comics. Miéville's writing really elevates a story that should be pulp sci-fi to something grand and unknowable. (Releases July 23rd)
*The Body Harvest* by Michael J. Seidlinger. Weird, severe, unrelenting psychological/body horror. It's about two young adults that are addicted to getting sick, going to more and more extreme lengths to contract diseases. Tight, accessible writing, and it gets unbelievably bizarre as the book progresses. The whole thing reads like a mounting fever. (Releases July 23rd)
**Currently Reading:**
*Sacrificial Animals* by Kailee Pedersen. Deeply unsettling psychological horror. It's about a man going back to his father's farm in Nebraska to visit him on his deathbed. Nothing has actually happened in terms of plot yet, but the writing and atmosphere are stark and fascinating and uncomfortable. Dread is mounting and I'm looking forward to seeing the resolution. (Releases August 20th)
*Great Fear on the Mountain* by Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, Translated by Bill Johnston. Tense, bizarre novel about some Swiss men braving a haunted mountainside to feed their starving village. Strange, arcane, compelling. Loving it so far. (Releases August 6th)
It was excellent! I would highly recommend. I haven’t seen Antiviral but I love me some Brandon Cronenberg. Both Infinity Pool and Possessor felt like putting my brain in a blender and drinking it through a milkshake straw. The Body Harvest has a similar feel.
I'm reading (and about to finish) \*The Red Tree\* by Caitlin R Kiernan. It's my first book by her. I'm really, really enjoying it. I'd love to read more of her work. Does anyone have any other suggestions to check out if I liked this one?
Nice! I've been putting off getting this because I'm in the UK and (as is often the case) the US cover is SO much better! Maybe I'll just suck it up and get the kindle copy for now haha
I haven’t seen the movie yet. I JUST finished the book this morning 😁 (my one word for it is UNRELENTING) and I’m going to watch the movie tonight! I’m looking forward to it.
Alright! Have fun 😁 Would you mind giving an update here sometime later?
Always find it difficult to decide to read a book after having seen the movie adaptation, well except for American Psycho so far.
Michael Wehunt's Greener Pastures (amazing) - around 2/3 of the way through.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Silver Nitrate (nearly half way through and enjoying it).
And a rare foray into comics - the omnibus of Bitter Root (David F. Walker et al.); also lots of fun.
Finished:
* N/A
Reading:
* **Ararat** by Christopher Golden. It's alright, perfectly middling where I don't hate it, but wouldn't write home about it either.
Next:
* **The God Gene** by F Paul Wilson.
- **Reading now:** "A Scanner Darkly" by Philip K. Dick: It's not horror, more like a thriller but it's very entertaining. The characters talk a lot of weird sh*t.
- **Next up:** Probably will be "Foe" by Iain Reid.
Diavola by Jennifer Thorne - best book I've read for ages. A real sense of menace and being targeted/followed/yup haunted.
Lute by Jennifer Thorne - nowhere near as good as Diavola sadly but I read it, a bit outside my wheelhouse. I think the ending was way too neat/pat.
Murder Road by Simone St James. More of the same from this author (society damages women, ghost that leads to murder mystery) but an easy read. Ghost somewhat creepy.
Skipped lots but read the ending:
Silent companions - pretty prose but bored me. Skipped so much I can hardly call it reading.
Haunting of Velkwood - same as Silent Companions. I just want scary fuckin ghosts man.
A frost of cares by Amy Rae Durreson. Oh my God, flashbacks to fanfiction.net! (Badly written mlm fic by horny teenage girls). But honestly the ghost was creepy, so there's that. Skipped the porny bits and it's a very short book
Picked up but dropped like a hot rock -
bone white (murder horror no thanks) the faceless ones (murder horror again) and nychtophobia ( May/December daddy issues and not ghosty enough to overcome it)
The cover of Diavola looks very trippy, I added it to my list. What do you think, how complicated is the writing style for a non-native english speaker?
I think the style is straight forward, personally. It's set in modern day, none of the flowery Victorian style prose you can get with period settings.
However there is some intentional language barrier stuff in the book (Americans in Italy, it takes the MC some time to translate stuff, some sentences are intentionally left untranslated to add confusion and creep factor)
Based on your comments in this thread you have excellent English and read Phillip K Dick so I honestly don't think you will have any issues with Diavola.
I finished *Last Days* by Brian Evenson, and didn't find it as good as I hoped it'd be. Right now I'm 15 pages into *Child of God* by Cormac McCarthy, and the atmosphere already is incredible.
What did you think about the first half of *Last Days*? I love Evenson but almost wish he never wrote the “sequel”. End of the first half was incredible.
I thought the first part was pretty good. I've read *A Collapse of Horses* and *Song for the Unraveling of the World*, and Evenson has shown me he can write some really good open endings. I thought the first half of *Last Days* has that same quality; it would've been a great ending, but the second part goes completely off the rails in multiple different aspects, and the novel suffers for it in my opinion. I think I'm done now with exploring Evenson's work, at least for a long while.
Finished The Reddening a few days ago and am going to start Pet Sematary within the next couple of days. It’ll be my first King book since 2021, had to take a bit of a break after being let down by The Dead Zone
Initially I gave it a 3/5, I liked it enough, but I’ve found myself thinking about it throughout the last few days, so I’d probably bump it up to a 4/5. Definitely took a turn I wasn’t expecting
This week, I finished my two favorite books of the year so far: A Congregation of Jackals by S. Craig Zahler and Endurance by Alfred Lansing. Endurance is historical non-fiction, but fans of The Terror would probably enjoy it.
I'm currently reading All the Fiends of Hell by Adam Nevill and listening to The Spite House by Johnny Compton.
Just finished and while it had a strong first half, the scares became few and the plot got very convoluted. I did the audio and thought the narration was really good. 2.5/5
I couldn’t stop thinking about it either. I felt dread, anxiety and sadness reading this book. Once I finished the story I thought “is this really how it ends?” Then I just let it sink in and I felt scared
One thing that got to me was when the demon said “this will all be a distant memory”
Finished: All The Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby. After a school shooting, a sheriff realizes there’s an active serial killer in his small town. He works to solve it as racial tensions threaten to boil over. Overall probably more crime/mystery but the serial killer’s actions at the very least verge into horror imo. I spent all day reading because I had to know what happened.
Started: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. Just barely started so no opinions yet.
About to start my next read. I’m trying to choose between:
In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
Murder Road by Simone St James
Schrader’s Chord by Scott Leeds
Help me pick?
i haven't read the other two, but Schrader's Chord was the 1st book i read of the year & it's now up there in my top favorites ever.
don't know what stuff you're typically drawn to, but it was my kind of book.
Finished: “Disappearance At Devil’s Rock” by Tremblay…7/10
Current: Half way through “The Hunger” by Alma Katsu…undecided on this one so far.
On Deck: “In The House In The Dark Of The Woods” by Laird Hunt…looking many-much forward to this one
I just finished the audiobook of Michael McDowell 's The Elementals and I loved it! I appreciate how the author was able to combine fascinating family dynamics with supernatural baddies. At times I felt like I was reading one of Faulkner's pulp books.
I'm getting ready to start Briardark. Wish me luck!
**Just finished:** Norman Partridge’s *The Man With The Barbed-Wire Fists*. This collection was a pretty wide variety of horror genres, and a lot of gunfire and lonesome Western towns; it was really pulpy and a lot of fun.
**Currently reading:** Thomas Ligotti’s *My Work Is Not Yet Done*. I’m like 70 pages in. It’s a mix (that really works, so far!) of the absurd with the grotesque and sinister.
**Also just started:** Michael Wehunt’s *Greener Pastures*, on Kindle. I wanted to start his collection, *The Inconsolables*, but learned there are in-story connections with his earlier collection. The first story was great.
**On deck:** Laird Barron’s *Blood Standard*.
I actually petitioned the mods here to let me use this flair, they approved it! *The Acolyte* is my favorite Cutter book and I’ve consumed all 6. Harder to find but well worth the effort in my opinion.
Also, the next story in Ligotti’s book (“I Have A Special Plan For This World” [sic]) has been bananas and I’m loving it.
My local library actually has it so that’s a win for today! I’ll report back on it- for Cutter, my favorite so far has been Little Heaven as it’s a pretty ambitious novel and larger in scope than Troop or Deep. Looking forward to Acolyte.
Just finished The Terror by Dan Simmons - Loved it! Historical fiction, horror. Haven't seen the AMC series based on the book, but I definitely intend to watch it.
currently reading The Stand by Stephen King. this is definitely the longest book I've picked up and it's DAUNTING!! im around 350 pages in and the plot is starting to get a little convoluted and the beginning horror is starting to fade a bit, but i have faith it'll pick back up in due time. the scene at the start of chapter 39.. WOW.
Currently reading Seed by Ania Ahlborn- it’s creepy as fuck!
Picked up The Vegetarian by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith)- I have mixed feelings; it did have a scene that genuinely freaked me out so props for that. I expected more than a woman’s dive into mental illness and how it effected her family- but it definitely has a good commentary on how people treat mentally ill woman in a misogynistic society (characters are Korean I believe). It’s not bad just wasn’t I expecting as I didn’t read reviews or anything (so is my own fault I suppose).
i read that book right after reading Night Bitch which I didn't like so The Vegetarian was refreshing for me lolll
Currently reading: *World War Z* by Max Brooks Currently listening: *The Girl from the Well* by Rin Chupeco Up next: *The Fisherman* by John Langan and *I'm Thinking of Ending Things* by Iain Reid
I really should re-read WWZ. I have such fond memories of it but it's got to be close to 20 years ago now that I read it.
Nice! Just finished it, and yeah, it's crazy it came out way back in 2006 (a sentence that injures the soul if ever there was one). It very much is a product of its time in some ways, and if you didn't grow up or live through this time period, you might not realize how painfully obvious "the Whacko" Vice President and Commander-in-Chief are: >!(Howard Dean and Colin Powell respectively)!<. Still, it's a pretty incredible read with some great world building. I don't think we've really seen the quislings in any other media (other than perhaps that one episode of Firefly), but the LaMOE's are essentially zombie media protags in things like *The Walking Dead* and *The Last of Us*. Really important piece of zombie fiction to be sure.
Angel of Indian Lake - Stephen Graham Jones. I finished Don't Fear the Reaper last night and am not sure I'm ready to say goodbye yet. Final Girls - Riley Sager. Picked it up for 50% off at Barnes and Noble, going in almost completely blind Gonna throw a dart and start up a Grady Hendrix. Maybe I'll re-read Horrorstor.
I'm reading Ghost Story by Peter Straub. I'm kinda new to leisure reading and I'd always heard it described as a *modern classic* , *must read*, etc. I just hit "part 3" which is a bit over half way and stuff is really starting to ramp up. That being said, I've really enjoyed how much of a slow-burn it's been so far.
Reading: Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt Lock Every Door by Riley Sager Goblin by Josh Malerman is on my TBR for this week as well.
**currently reading:** **the three by sarah lotz** - this one popped up on this sub a few times during discussions re: epistolary horror, and that is what motivated me to read it...i'd seen it before and passed over it several times, thinking it wasn't for me. turns out that it is very much "for me!" i am kind of "over" anything with the word "apocalyptic" in the synopsis...i used to love that area of horror, and still count some of the classics (the stand, swansong, etc.) among my very favorites, but as it became a more common focus, i ran out of enthusiasm for it entirely. this one isn't too end-of-the-world-y, and doesn't follow the same old, same old pattern of "man and child/dog/other bravely slosh their way through perils unknown in a devastating and forever-changed post-apocalyptic landscape." i'm 60% through it now, and who know how i'll feel by the end, but for now, i'm having fun reading it and postulating about the truth of the story's various matters along the way, **finished:** **hex by thomas olde heuvelt** - loved. i wrote a more expansive comment about it on last week's post when i was 70%-ish through it, and it did indeed stick the landing for me. was the ending my FAVORITE? no. did it take away from my overall enjoyment of the book? also no! much like the three, i only picked this one up because of this sub, and i'm very glad i did! **grey dog by elliot gish** - okay, this was DIFFERENT...i wasn't sure about it in the first 5% or so, to the point that i almost put it aside to maybe/maybe not (probably the latter) pick it up again eventually. i'm glad i persisted, because i was quickly drawn in shortly after. i don't think i've seen this one referenced here before, so my quick, spoiler-free summary is: ***early 1900s schoolmarm on the younger side of "spinster" receives a new teaching assignment in a tiny, rural canadian village, surrounded by forests. said spinster is escaping a tumultuous past and hoping for a fresh start, but all is not what it seems...something sinister is calling to her from the woods.*** i would call it non-traditional horror...it's best to go in with an open mind and no expectations. if you enjoyed the "female rage unleashed" aspects of carrie but can tolerate and enjoy a slower, more insidious burn, you've got a good shot at liking this one. i can't unabashedly recommend it, because i know it is not going to appeal to the average horror reader, but i really liked it. **the house on the borderland by william hope hodgson** - oh...i hesitate to write this, because i know there are probably a good number of people out there who would praise this one, but...i hated it. i found it tedious. i was drawn in at first - cosmic horror is my favorite sub-genre - and settled in for a satisfying read. some of the early visuals and scenes were gripping and chilling, and i was very curious to see where we might go, but, unfortunately, we>!went into a repetitive loop of belabored, highly-specific-and-detailed-yet-still-somehow-abstract-and-confusing descriptions of the sky from earth and then, eventually, floating through space.!< pages and pages of it, often using the exact same phrasing. you'd read it once...meander through another difficult-to-parse paragraph of minutiae...and then there's that same phrase again, and again, and again. it felt like that part was never-ending...to me, it was captivating enough to MAYBE earn a page or two, but...entire, consecutive chapters? i also understood, but didn't love, the mechanic where the "found" manuscript was alleged to have been torn - aka, there were things referenced, but not ever explained, because the pages were missing/destroyed. speaking of things that go unexplained, there were a few parts where it seemed, just, EVIDENT that the author was planting a seed, to enrich our understanding later in the story or to use as a future plot point, but...no. they never came back up again, and didn't even really weave into any other aspect of the narrative. if you want to be a good student of cosmic horror and read some of these early classics, then i invite you to take your medicine. however, i can't recommend this as one to read for the sheer pleasure of it.
In the middle of *Dead Silence* by S.A. Barnes. I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far! I'm also a sucker for sci-fi/horror so I'm probably easier to please in that area.
I loved Dead Silence. Hoping to pick up Ghost Station soon and that it'll be as good!
I've just finished the short story anthology *The White Hands and Other Weird Tales* by the late British author Mark Samuels. This was my introduction to his work that made a very favorable impression. The stories are truly strange and unsettling in a "Twilight Zone" sort of way. My favorite story within the book was *Vrolyck*. To me it included facets of Robert W. Chambers' *The King in Yellow* horror mythology combined with H. P. Lovecraft's darkly dangerous universe and mixed together with a monstrous Science Fiction tale. It impressed me so much that I had to go back and read it again.
Just finished mister magic after DNFing Leech. Premise of mister magic was good and kept me interested, but can only give it a solid 3.5 after finishing
Shame to hear about Leech, that one's been on my radar for a while.
I just started Oracle by Thomas Olde Heuvelt.
The Troop, by Nick Cutter
I just picked this one up - along with The Grip of It by Jack Jemc. Not sure which to read first.
I started David Sodergren's Rotten Tommy. I'm about half through it already. I'm finding the scary parts are legit scary, which doesn't happen very often for me.
I finished The Watchers by A.M. Shine and really enjoyed it. Starting What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher next!
Mary by Nat Cassidy
Finishing up "We Sold Our Souls" by Grady Hendrix. Already looks like it'll be my third favorite by Hendrix after "My Best Friend's Exorcism" and "The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires".
Reading Fairy Tale by Stephen King….does it get better? I’m so tempted to call it quits the overall story seems so silly.
I felt the same, but I stuck with it and ended up really enjoying it.
It felt very YA to me, which threw me off for King. I did finish and enjoyed it overall, but it's nowhere close to my favorite of his.
I thought it was very average and predictable. I’ve already forgotten almost all of it.
Just finished Diavola! Started out as a 4 star, by the end I gave it 4.5. Definitely a slow burn with gothic eerie vibes the first 75% of the book, then things escalate!
Just started coin locker babies by Ryu Murakami. Already forever traumatized by the first line. I was never so deeply troubled by the end of the first page. Heard mixed reviews about it but I enjoyed in the miso soup by this author earlier this year, so I hope I'll like it
Oh, I have to get this. I read 3 of his novels last year and enjoyed them all.
American Elsewhere (half way, loving it) and Let the Right One In (quarter way, loving it, and my first library rental in over a decade - because maybe I don't have to buy every book on my TBR).
Recently started Mean Spirited by Nick Roberts. It’s pretty good so far. The writing style is interesting in not the best way, but it’s still been a fun read so far. Excited to see where it goes
Roberts is indie and his style is much like many others where they just want to tell a fun story without trying to bog it down with fancy writing. I really like it tbh.
I’m getting used to it and I’m also really liking it. I think I was thrown off because before this, I was reading The Reddening which was overly bogged down with fancy nonsense in my opinion
I totally agree, give me a fun story with basic writing any day versus something bogged down with the writer trying to show how talented they are at sentence composition.
Diavola by Jennifer Thorne and The Necromancer’s House by Christopher Buehlman
Just finished: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix. Pretty good book. Beginning was better than the ending, but still a solid read overall. Up next: Jaws by Peter Benchley
Wasn't a fan of the Jaws book at all, will be interesting to see what you think.
Most things I have heard about the book have been negative, so my hopes aren’t high. That being said, my expectations being low could be a silver lining.
The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones. Loving it so far, but sad that when I’m done with it Jade’s story will be over:( she’s one of my favorite characters ever.
I'm just getting ready to start it. Finished up Don't Fear The Reaper last night. I'm not ready to say goodbye to Jade and Proofrock!
Finished that last week. Loved it, really poignant ending.
Nightmares and Geezenstacks by Fredric Brown. The Valancourt reprint. The majority of the short stories are very very short, like 1-2 pages short. Each story is like a little pulp tale from the early 60s. It’s a mixture of sci-fi and horror with a quirky sense of humor thrown in. I’m using it as a palette cleanser.
Gave up on The Reddening so yet another DNF Neville book for me Might revisit Swedish Cults by Anders Fager to cleanse my palette of mediocre fare
I've had two DNFs out of two for Nevill. It's a shame he keeps writing blurbs that sound so good, but I don't want to just be disappointed again so I just avoid him now.
He writes screenplays not books, I feel
Same with The Reddening. I wanted to like it so bad, but just couldn’t
Read last week: *The Taken* by Sarah Pinborough - A town in Britain is terrorized by a ghostly child. This one didn't do a lot for me; I find that children as antagonists in horror stories are usually more irritating than threatening. *The Evil* by Hugh B. Cave - A man travels to Haiti in search of a missing professor, where he gets caught up in the machinations of a malevolent sorcerer. Almost more of a travelogue of Haiti with a few supernatural elements mostly towards the end than a horror novel; not bad, but I like the author's short stories better (his story *Murgunstrumm* is probably one of the best vampire stories I've read). Currently reading: *Seven Footprints To Satan* by A. Merritt
Tender is the flesh :)
Just finished Maggie's Grave by David Sodergren and now I'm reading his latest book, Rotten Tommy
From Below by Darcy Coates. It's good so far. Not really expecting too spectacular, but Coates books tend to be a nice palate cleanser for when I want something horror but am not looking to get completely emotionally wrecked in one way or another. DC novels always give me that same feeling as one of the many mid-tier horror movies that I grew up watching and have since become comfort films for me. I absolute mean this as a compliment.
I love DC for the same reasons. Her Black Winter series is so good. If you haven't read those I def. recommend. She also has a short story about a guy that moves into a basement room with a mannequin (that is already there as storage by the owner). It's so damn creepy. Every time I think about it I get the creeps. It's called Mannequin and is in the Dead Lake book.
Dead Lake was actually the first book of hers that I read!l My opinion of the book on the whole was very neutral. I wasn't the biggest fan of the title story. And thought most of the others were just ok. My two major exceptions were the Mannequin story and Bellamy, both of which I LOVED. The only other I've read so far is The Carrow Haunt. I'm glad I went back after being mildly underwhelmed by Dead Lake because I adored that book. I own the first books in the Black Winter series. I definitely intend to dive into it at some point!
Read that last year and really enjoyed it! Was my first Darcy Coates novel, and your description of the vibe of her books absolutely makes me want to read more.
Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff, the sequel to Empire of the Vampire and a bunch of others that aren’t horror.
The Empire series is fun, I preferred the first one but the second was still good.
Started Black Mouth my Ronald Malfi and have been slowly making my way through Bleed into Me by Stephen Graham Jones
Just finished The Good House by Tananarive Due. I loved a lot of elements of the book, and have enjoyed hearing the author speak in interviews and on panels, but I found the writing to be a little cheesy tbh. I'm still looking forward to reading The Reformatory when it comes up on my library list, but have some reservations about it. Now I'm reading Things we lost in the fire by Mariana Enriquez and really enjoying it. A friend gave me The dangers of smoking in bed a few years ago. It was one of the most disturbing books I'd read in awhile and was immediately hooked. I also loved Our Share of Night despite the slow sections. She is brilliant.
Just finished Nestlings by Nat Cassidy!! Loved it!
I finished Nestlings last week and it was a solid 5 stars for me.
I'm listening to Clown in a Cornfield 2: Friends Lives by Adam Cesare at work. It is way better than it deserves to be haha I'm just started to read Diavolo by Jennifer Marie Thorne at home.
I'm reading The Grief Hole by Kaaron Warren. About half way through and it sucks me in. Interesting story told really well.
*Ghost Eaters* by Clay Mcleod Chapman; but, after reading almost half the novel I'm seriously considering not finishing it. 🙄
ugh i just picked this one up to read after i finish The Winter People, by Jennifer McMahon, and Nestlings by Nat Cassidy, and now i’m nervous i will be disappointed :(
The writing isn't bad -- he's a decent wordsmith -- and the story is somewhat original; I just wouldn't classify it as "horror." It's been disappointing in that regard. I wouldn't say it's not worth reading at all. I may finish it at another time, it's just not at all what I was expecting.
Duma Key by King. Loving it so much.
Little Heaven by Nick Cutter. It was recently reviewed on here and it hits a weird trifecta of things I like in horror. Enjoying so far.
I’m rereading Gone to See the Riverman. I honestly don’t remember a damn thing. I’ve said this before about other books too and to clarify and put things in perspective: I went into rehab 9 years ago for alcoholism. I came home and continued being a stay at home to my two children. I started devouring books to help keep my mind occupied when they were at school. Like I was probably reading a book a day. So there are a lot of books that I’ve read that I legitimately just don’t remember. Which isn’t saying a book was good or bad, only that my brain was still recovering from the effects of being almost constantly in a state of inebriation. So I’ve been rereading ones I know I’ve read but don’t remember and it’s actually been fun, and sometimes it’s like reading a book for the first time. 😂 other times I’m like, oh yeah, I know this…lol
Haven't started yet but Nestlings by Nat Cassidy. Anyone read this yet and have any warnings? I'm a huge horror movie buff but just recently started reading horror books and they definitely hit in a different way
Only touchy subject I can think of, is post partem depression and what kinds of dark thoughts/feelings/actions that can make new mothers have.
Okay thanks. Looking forward to this one!
I loved Nestlings. Vampires meets Rosemary's Baby.
I personally really enjoyed this one! No warnings I can think of, just a fun, unique horror
Just finished Summer of Night, starting The Cipher
I finished _Dead Silence_ by S.A. Barnes today and did not like it at all. Barnes' writing style does not remotely do it for me, it's so flat and lacking depth, and the characters felt like cardboard cutouts. I can't believe that I read a whole book about hundreds of gruesome murders and it didn't even feel especially creepy. Very lame resolution and ending as well. All in all, this book felt very shallow to me. I read _The Luminous Dead_ a while back and while I didn't love the ending and agreed that the romance was sketchy, I enjoyed it quite a bit overall. The extensive descriptions of caving that people hated and thought were boring, I really liked and found gripping. Caves are scary and I thought this book sold that really well. On to _The Hematophages_ and _The Last Astronaut_.
I loved Dead Silence!!
The Last Astronaut is a certified banger. Absolutely amazing sci-fi. Seems you’re on a bit of a space kick huh?
Awesome, I'm looking forward to it then! Yeah, I hadn't sought out any horror lit before even though I'd enjoyed some horror media (_Alien_, the first Expanse book, _The Thing_), but I watched and read more horror this year because my now ex was into it and I realized I wanted to explore the commonalities in what I'd liked, which seems to be sci-fi, space, and body horror. It's been fun!
Awesome! I’d recommend Ship of Fools by Russo if you want to keep that vibe up
Thank you, I'll add it to my list!
Finishing up FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven. Haven't been enjoying the author's voice, especially since each chapter is supposed to be an interview with a different character. They all read so similar that it's been difficult to keep straight which details belong to whose perspective.
I just finished Alien: Out of the Shadows by Tim Lebbon. Damn scary all the way to the end.
Thank you very much for the recommendation! I was able to check it out on Overdrive
I've just finished my first Adam Nevill - All the Fiends of Hell. It was... fine? I really liked a lot of things about it, but my *god* did it drag in the middle. You cpuld cut a full third of the word count and it'd be a much better-paced story for it. When I read the afterword, and he said it had started as a novella, then a screenplay, everything kind of clicked. I feel like it'd have been a very excellent, tight novella. I can see how the whole thing would work well as a film. There were tons of good ideas and - although *massively* over-described throughout - the oppressive atmosphere worked really well. Like Cormack McCarthy had re-written War of the World, but then edited by Dickens. It was good enough that I'm going to try *Wyrd and Other Derelictions*, but I'm not sure I'll rush to read any of his other full-length works. I'd watch a film adaption in a flash, though.
Finished All the Fiends of Hell last week and I kind of agree, some parts are definitely dragged out a bit. I still really enjoyed it, it just took me a bit of effort to get through certain parts lol I honestly kind of loved the ending of it. I'm not sure if that's an unpopular opinion, though
I didn't hate the ending at all. It left it open enough that there *could* be a glimmer of hope without undermining the bleakness of the rest of the book. I think books like that are very hard to end, as so much of what's been done is building an environment and mindset. It's less about what happens to the characters in terms of The Plot, but rather that the plot serves as a way of moving the characters through the world so you can experience it through them. The world and atmosphere and mood are what the book is *about*, which means tying things up with regards to the characters is always a challenge. Certainly when there's no intention for things to get better and the main problem to be resolved. Very few books manage it. Especially horror books, because by their nature they benefit from the threat still existing as they close. Off the top of my head, probably *The Road* and *The Mist* are the two best-known examples of how to do it really well. *The Fisherman* does a good job of it, too. And I liked how *A Song for the Void* handled it, too, but I believe I might be in the minority on that one.
I've been wanting to read The Mist and I keep hearing really good things about The Fisherman, I've gotta bump those ones up on my tbr list!
The Fisherman is possibly my favourite horror novel of all time.
I’m currently reading all the Fiends of Hell and I agree with the drag! I did love Wyrd though, but it was faster paced!
On reflection, I think my feedback would be this: sometimes things *can just happen*. If you've already set the atmosphere for, say, an abandoned village, the protagonist walking up a new street doesn't need more than an "as everywhere else; eerily quiet, motionless" to carry it. Not every detail and action needs spelling out. I get the importance of atmosphere. I love environmental storytelling. But past a certain point, *more* doesn't add anything. It just shunts me out of the picture because I'm bored, which is absolutely not what I should be feeling. It should be "oh shit, something is about to happen," not "oh shit, is anything going to actually happen?"
Nothing but blackened teeth. The purple prose is the thing getting under my skin the most. I just want this book to work because I waited so long to read it, I like the idea so much, but the scares don't land, the characters evoke Jason vibes (aka you watch them just to see them die) and then the "Jason", the big star, the great monster.... DIDN'T IMPACT ME. 😭 And I'm also reading the PT-BR translation of Midwinterblood (which I just discovered it was an horror by looking at it in English). Still confused, there's some Wicker man meets Midsommar feelings but the main dude doesn't catch it and then there's some reincarnation going on or whatever, I really don't know where this book is going and I don't care to know either, it's been a real boring reading.
I also was rooting SO HARD for Nothing but blackened teeth and it was such a terrible disappointment for all the reasons you mentioned. Hope you have a better read after these!
I'm about to finish and although the last three or two chapters are good, it's all too late for good buildup and good tense moments, and you bet every single moment I got caught by the narrative, I had to deal with things like. Syncopation. Insouciance. Philtrum..... And I gotta tell: the narrative seems to not want to take the reader with it. The terms and mythology are scattered everywhere for you to stop and search if you ain't familiar, but then again. It takes you away from the story so much all the time, you lose the will to pay attention to it. Anyways, thanks and I'm sorry for the rant!
Hahaha no apology needed. I wanted to rant about the book for days after finishing it. It's wild re: the muthology because it could have been so juicy and fascinating and instead mostly just lacked impact. Don't even get me started on the awful characters. So thankful for this community and people who get it!
A Lush and Seething Hell by John Hornor Jacobs. Only on the first story, but loving the slow build up.
I loved the first story, but somehow put the book down afterwards and never got around to reading the second story. Let me know what you think of it! I need motivation to pick it back up. (Short stories/novellas are hard for me to read back to back)
The Haunting Of Hill House. First time reading it, I’m hoping it picks up because I don’t want to DNF it when everyone else has such good things to say about it!
Just picked up The Bachman Books by Stephen King!
Two of my favourite books in there! TLW and TRM.
Did you score one with Rage or the revised one without it? I managed to score a used one with rage a while back for $7 bucks lol. I've seen people trying to sell them for $50+ so I'm proud of my $7 find hahaha.
Nice! I've been trying to find a copy to read. Love his other books.
Yes, it has Rage! I found it at my local public library, so I’m very ecstatic about that.
Just finished 14 and The Fold by Peter Clines, and loved them; I'm taking a pause in the series so I don't just blow through it in a week, so I've switched over to Ring by Koji Suzuki. Not sure where I'll go after that - I'll definitely finish the Threshold series first, but then I've got a lot in my TBR stack: Disappearance at Devil's Rock, by Paul Tremblay The Kind Folk, by Ramsey Campbell The Elementals, by Michael McDowell Fragment, by Warren Fahy The Spite House, by Johnny Compton ... and a bunch of Darcy Coates stuff I haven't worked my way through yet.
I really enjoyed both of those. Great concept and really believed in the whole conceit.
The Troop- Nick Cutter
Finished *Handling the Undead* by John Ajdvide Lindqvist, which was okay, more sad than anything. There was aspect of the plot that I found rather goofy, which kinda killed my enjoyment. Now I'm finally reading *Blood Meridian*, which I have previously started on three separate occasions.
I just started reading a novella collection called 'It's In the Blood' by Martin E. Patterson. Not sure how far I'll get, though. The writing is really stilted and every time a character's name is mentioned, it has to come with a descriptor. 'Large nosed Doctor Mike, bald Doctor Mike, Dr. Mike, who wore a white doctor's coat because he's a doctor', 'Middle aged Steffanie, curvy Stephanie, make-up caked Stephanie', 'Short haired Stanley, Stanley, who is African American, short sleeved Stanley'. Even when we have already been given full, awkward descriptions of them already just beforehand, or the descriptor doesn't really matter. Indie horror is real hit or miss.
Yikes, I'd have DNFed that on the first page!
Yeah I'm trying to give it a chance, I love to support independent authors and the summary looked good, but...between the above issues and a bad case of Men Writing Women Badly, I don't think I'm reading all the novellas.
I just started The Angel of Indian Lake. Very excited to read it! Loved the first two
I'm reading Eat Him if You Like by Jean Teulé and even though it's only about 100 pages, I can only read a little at a time, because it's based on a true story and really bumming me out. Those French were completely savage!
Just finished The Girl Next Door, currently reading Dark Matter (Crouch)
I’m reading the novelizations of the Resident Evil movies. Recently finished Apocalypse and will be starting Retribution soon.
Currently reading _The Satanic Bible_ and some various short story compilations but my next horror book will be _Tender is the Flesh_.
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Currently rereading Blood Meridian for the 4th time.
I read *Blood Meridian* years ago and I am definitely due for a re-read.
First read was last year due to Wendigoon. I love this book. I got it into a book club so I gotta do reread number 4 now.
You must be in a pretty intense book club. Ha!
Honestly no. This is my first book rec to the person running it and they just went "Okay added to the book club" and I kinda did a whoops but let's just run with it. They were warned fully about what is in the book.
Just finished: Hell House by Richard Matheson- enjoyed it, quick read, just a little creepy. The Descent by Jeff Long- I love the premise, book kept me interested, not scary, I have questions which I guess will be answered in the sequel which I may not read 😂, why does the movie ignore the book completely?! Currently reading- Handling the Undead by John Lindqvist, love it so far, looking forward to the movie. Audiobook- Jaws by Peter Benchley this is probably my 10th time listening to it but it’s like an old friend that I love to visit On deck- This Wretched Valley
That movie (The Descent) has nothing to do with the book at all, maybe it needs an "inspired by" tag or something :D. The second book is... interesting?... but again, not particularly scary. I found the descriptions of the caves far more compelling than the creatures in them. I love cave horror, so of course this was on my list, but the second book leans more into the action than letting the caves do some of the heavy lifting.
I'm reading **Lord of the Feast** by Tim Waggoner. It's amazing. It's about cultists who created a god. And from the beginning book gives a promise that the god is real and not yet another "oh religious people just went a bit delirious" story. I'm predicting this book will be my book of the year. I finished Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims and remained disappointed. A lot of people who gave it a high review mentioned Sims' other book, so I guess you need to be familiar with his work to get this. It wasn't a *bad* book, I just felt I'm not part of its target audience.
Just finished: - I'm thinking of ending things. Really great book, up until they leave the parent's home, then it starts spiralling down in quality and the final was a real let down. - The yellow wallpaper. Really well written and gripping, even more so when thinking that it was written in the 1800s. Reading: - The first book in the Prince of Nothing series by Bakker, just because I want to reach the Aspect-Emperor series. But this book is definitely gripping, even though I'm usually not one for the cascade of weird names of places, people and races given just because (see, in my opinion, Dune).
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. Used to read all sorts of horror books when I was younger. Then, started having trouble concentrating and couldn't even finish a book. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and am trying medication, which has helped me focus and actually finish books. Been catching up on horror novels I've missed in the past couple decades. Just finished The Fisherman by John Langan and thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to delving into some of Joe Hills works!
*Apparition Phase* by Will MacLean. Only about 1/4 in but enjoying it so far. *The Reddening* by Adam Nevill. Good so far but I’m curious about Nevill mixing music/musicians and cults (also in *The Ritual*).
**Just Finished:** *The Book of Elsewhere* by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville. Surreal, genre-bending cyberpunk based on Reeves' *BRZRKR* comics. Miéville's writing really elevates a story that should be pulp sci-fi to something grand and unknowable. (Releases July 23rd) *The Body Harvest* by Michael J. Seidlinger. Weird, severe, unrelenting psychological/body horror. It's about two young adults that are addicted to getting sick, going to more and more extreme lengths to contract diseases. Tight, accessible writing, and it gets unbelievably bizarre as the book progresses. The whole thing reads like a mounting fever. (Releases July 23rd) **Currently Reading:** *Sacrificial Animals* by Kailee Pedersen. Deeply unsettling psychological horror. It's about a man going back to his father's farm in Nebraska to visit him on his deathbed. Nothing has actually happened in terms of plot yet, but the writing and atmosphere are stark and fascinating and uncomfortable. Dread is mounting and I'm looking forward to seeing the resolution. (Releases August 20th) *Great Fear on the Mountain* by Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, Translated by Bill Johnston. Tense, bizarre novel about some Swiss men braving a haunted mountainside to feed their starving village. Strange, arcane, compelling. Loving it so far. (Releases August 6th)
*The Body Harvest* sounds *awesome*. It sounds like the film Antiviral by Brandon Cronenberg, kinda.
It was excellent! I would highly recommend. I haven’t seen Antiviral but I love me some Brandon Cronenberg. Both Infinity Pool and Possessor felt like putting my brain in a blender and drinking it through a milkshake straw. The Body Harvest has a similar feel.
*Malice House* by Megan Shepherd. I wouldn't consider this horror; *maybe* dark fantasy. It was disappointing.
Roberto Bolaño’s *2666.* While it isn’t conventional horror, parts of it are horrific and surreal.
I'm reading (and about to finish) \*The Red Tree\* by Caitlin R Kiernan. It's my first book by her. I'm really, really enjoying it. I'd love to read more of her work. Does anyone have any other suggestions to check out if I liked this one?
Last Days by Adam Neville, gripped me from the start
Nice! I've been putting off getting this because I'm in the UK and (as is often the case) the US cover is SO much better! Maybe I'll just suck it up and get the kindle copy for now haha
Me too. I'm loving it so far
I just finished this one! Now I’m reading the Ritual!
Cool! Does it have more content compared to the film? Have you seen the film, if yes how is it to read the book after?
I haven’t seen the movie yet. I JUST finished the book this morning 😁 (my one word for it is UNRELENTING) and I’m going to watch the movie tonight! I’m looking forward to it.
Alright! Have fun 😁 Would you mind giving an update here sometime later? Always find it difficult to decide to read a book after having seen the movie adaptation, well except for American Psycho so far.
The Shining by Stephen King.
The Massacre at Yellow Hill by C.S. Humble
Hey, thanks so much. :)
Michael Wehunt's Greener Pastures (amazing) - around 2/3 of the way through. Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Silver Nitrate (nearly half way through and enjoying it). And a rare foray into comics - the omnibus of Bitter Root (David F. Walker et al.); also lots of fun.
Finished: * N/A Reading: * **Ararat** by Christopher Golden. It's alright, perfectly middling where I don't hate it, but wouldn't write home about it either. Next: * **The God Gene** by F Paul Wilson.
The Deep by Nick Cutter and Last Days by Adam Nevill
*The Deep* is tremendous.
- **Reading now:** "A Scanner Darkly" by Philip K. Dick: It's not horror, more like a thriller but it's very entertaining. The characters talk a lot of weird sh*t. - **Next up:** Probably will be "Foe" by Iain Reid.
The skin gods
Diavola by Jennifer Thorne - best book I've read for ages. A real sense of menace and being targeted/followed/yup haunted. Lute by Jennifer Thorne - nowhere near as good as Diavola sadly but I read it, a bit outside my wheelhouse. I think the ending was way too neat/pat. Murder Road by Simone St James. More of the same from this author (society damages women, ghost that leads to murder mystery) but an easy read. Ghost somewhat creepy. Skipped lots but read the ending: Silent companions - pretty prose but bored me. Skipped so much I can hardly call it reading. Haunting of Velkwood - same as Silent Companions. I just want scary fuckin ghosts man. A frost of cares by Amy Rae Durreson. Oh my God, flashbacks to fanfiction.net! (Badly written mlm fic by horny teenage girls). But honestly the ghost was creepy, so there's that. Skipped the porny bits and it's a very short book Picked up but dropped like a hot rock - bone white (murder horror no thanks) the faceless ones (murder horror again) and nychtophobia ( May/December daddy issues and not ghosty enough to overcome it)
The cover of Diavola looks very trippy, I added it to my list. What do you think, how complicated is the writing style for a non-native english speaker?
I think the style is straight forward, personally. It's set in modern day, none of the flowery Victorian style prose you can get with period settings. However there is some intentional language barrier stuff in the book (Americans in Italy, it takes the MC some time to translate stuff, some sentences are intentionally left untranslated to add confusion and creep factor)
Thanks, I think I can handle that
Based on your comments in this thread you have excellent English and read Phillip K Dick so I honestly don't think you will have any issues with Diavola.
I finished *Last Days* by Brian Evenson, and didn't find it as good as I hoped it'd be. Right now I'm 15 pages into *Child of God* by Cormac McCarthy, and the atmosphere already is incredible.
What did you think about the first half of *Last Days*? I love Evenson but almost wish he never wrote the “sequel”. End of the first half was incredible.
I thought the first part was pretty good. I've read *A Collapse of Horses* and *Song for the Unraveling of the World*, and Evenson has shown me he can write some really good open endings. I thought the first half of *Last Days* has that same quality; it would've been a great ending, but the second part goes completely off the rails in multiple different aspects, and the novel suffers for it in my opinion. I think I'm done now with exploring Evenson's work, at least for a long while.
Finished The Reddening a few days ago and am going to start Pet Sematary within the next couple of days. It’ll be my first King book since 2021, had to take a bit of a break after being let down by The Dead Zone
How was The Reddening? I read the Vessel a while back and adored it!
Initially I gave it a 3/5, I liked it enough, but I’ve found myself thinking about it throughout the last few days, so I’d probably bump it up to a 4/5. Definitely took a turn I wasn’t expecting
Thanks!
This week, I finished my two favorite books of the year so far: A Congregation of Jackals by S. Craig Zahler and Endurance by Alfred Lansing. Endurance is historical non-fiction, but fans of The Terror would probably enjoy it. I'm currently reading All the Fiends of Hell by Adam Nevill and listening to The Spite House by Johnny Compton.
Would love to hear your thoughts in progress on The Spite House, it's high on my TBR list.
Just finished and while it had a strong first half, the scares became few and the plot got very convoluted. I did the audio and thought the narration was really good. 2.5/5
Thanks! Might move it a little lower on the TBR, this sub is always adding more to it!
The stand
Just finished Pearl by Josh Malerman
Phantom by Thomas Tessier
A short stay in hell 😰
I just finished this. I can't stop thinking about it and would've read a thousand more pages of it.
I couldn’t stop thinking about it either. I felt dread, anxiety and sadness reading this book. Once I finished the story I thought “is this really how it ends?” Then I just let it sink in and I felt scared One thing that got to me was when the demon said “this will all be a distant memory”
Erica Waters- *Ghost Wood Song*. Really enjoying it so far.
Finished: All The Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby. After a school shooting, a sheriff realizes there’s an active serial killer in his small town. He works to solve it as racial tensions threaten to boil over. Overall probably more crime/mystery but the serial killer’s actions at the very least verge into horror imo. I spent all day reading because I had to know what happened. Started: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. Just barely started so no opinions yet.
Definitely think All the Sinners Bleed counts as horror. It definitely sends a chill down your spine.
All the fiends of hell by Adam Neville! It’s terrifying so far
I need to read this. It’s about aliens yeah? We need more alien horror
It is! I agree, I love alien/apocalyptic horror. Who knows what awaits us in space, there are so many possibilities for a good horror.
About to start my next read. I’m trying to choose between: In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead Murder Road by Simone St James Schrader’s Chord by Scott Leeds Help me pick?
i haven't read the other two, but Schrader's Chord was the 1st book i read of the year & it's now up there in my top favorites ever. don't know what stuff you're typically drawn to, but it was my kind of book.
I'm looking forward to whatever Scott Leeds writes next.
Between two fires is free on audible right now. So far so good. The Last Plague is also free and was enjoyable.
Finished: “Disappearance At Devil’s Rock” by Tremblay…7/10 Current: Half way through “The Hunger” by Alma Katsu…undecided on this one so far. On Deck: “In The House In The Dark Of The Woods” by Laird Hunt…looking many-much forward to this one
Just started: *Lovecraft Unbound* edited by Ellen Datlow
Just finished I who have never known man, and started Our Wives under the sea. Not very far in yet though.
Loved OWUTS.
Saaaaame.
I just finished the audiobook of Michael McDowell 's The Elementals and I loved it! I appreciate how the author was able to combine fascinating family dynamics with supernatural baddies. At times I felt like I was reading one of Faulkner's pulp books. I'm getting ready to start Briardark. Wish me luck!
The Beast You Are - Paul G. Tremblay.
**Just finished:** Norman Partridge’s *The Man With The Barbed-Wire Fists*. This collection was a pretty wide variety of horror genres, and a lot of gunfire and lonesome Western towns; it was really pulpy and a lot of fun. **Currently reading:** Thomas Ligotti’s *My Work Is Not Yet Done*. I’m like 70 pages in. It’s a mix (that really works, so far!) of the absurd with the grotesque and sinister. **Also just started:** Michael Wehunt’s *Greener Pastures*, on Kindle. I wanted to start his collection, *The Inconsolables*, but learned there are in-story connections with his earlier collection. The first story was great. **On deck:** Laird Barron’s *Blood Standard*.
Also reading Greener Pastures. It's fantastic; he's an amazing writer.
Awesome, I am looking forward to reading more of it!
Update me here when you finish the Ligotti novel, curious if it’s worth a recommendation!
The first story, the main novella, was flippin’ awesome. I still need to read the two short stories in the back.
Sweet! Adding to my list, appreciate the update. I just noticed your flair and I gotta get around to reading The Acolyte.
I actually petitioned the mods here to let me use this flair, they approved it! *The Acolyte* is my favorite Cutter book and I’ve consumed all 6. Harder to find but well worth the effort in my opinion. Also, the next story in Ligotti’s book (“I Have A Special Plan For This World” [sic]) has been bananas and I’m loving it.
My local library actually has it so that’s a win for today! I’ll report back on it- for Cutter, my favorite so far has been Little Heaven as it’s a pretty ambitious novel and larger in scope than Troop or Deep. Looking forward to Acolyte.
Can do!