What are you reading?

[Roman]

I finished Laird Barron's The Imago Sequence. Funnily enough when I said in my previous post he reminded me a little of a contemporary Lovecraft, I didn't yet know that it could also mean that he, too, is a one-trick pony. I enjoyed the stories for the most part, but they're all the same: same type of protagonist, same story structure, same weirdo descriptions that tend to annoy more often than not, same troubles, same cop-out endings... There are a lot of good elements in Barron's stories, but as complete stories, many of them just fall flat and end up disappointing. Still some very enjoyable stuff in there, though.

[OSJ]

Point's taken. Although, I will point out that you aren't reading Laird's stuff in order and that does tend to highlight his weaknesses. That said, for a guy who has been writing professionally about a decade, he's already done as much top-notch, original fiction as HPL did in his career. Yes, I blaspheme, but for my money, the Old Gent wrote just about a dozen kick-ass, all-time classics, another dozen pretty decent pieces and a whole lot of dreck. Laird's about 15 years younger than I am, so he's going to get even better (I started in the early 1990s, and I hope that I'm still improving). 

Now here's something that will blow your mind... Visit crashwong.net and pick a story, any story. I don't know how exactly how old Alyssa Wong is, but I'm guessing early 20s... Most amazing new talent to come along since Caitlin R. Kiernan, her high points are as good as anything I've ever written, (and I don't give that up easily). Just fucking incredible.

[Roman]

Despite what I said above, I enjoy Laird Barron a lot. He writes the kind of stories I love, but I think I just need to spread them out more. I'd enjoy them more that way, I believe. I'll certainly keep checking out his other books. Also thanks for the Alyssa Wong suggestion, OSJ. I'll look into her stuff.

I treated myself to some early Christmas presents, largely inspired by your Southern Gothic thread, by the way: I got Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock, Sineater by Elizabeth Massie, Smonk by Tom Franklin, The Unloved by John Saul, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin and a collection of short stories, Mississippi Noir, edited by Tom Franklin. I'm looking forward to all of those.

[Roman]

I'm going through Donald Ray Pollock's Knockemstiff short stories. They're very good so far. There are a lot of sentences that have a very distinct voice, for lack of a better description, and the mood in every story so far has been immersive. I need to finish the collection quickly, though, because the missus got me some Christmas presents:

-Marija Gimbutas - The Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe, 7000 - 3500 BC
-Emily Carroll - Through the Woods
-Bernard Cornwell - The Winter King
-Tom Bissell - Chasing the Sea
-Daniel Brinton - American Hero Myths (an 1882 edition!)
-Simon Sebag Montefiore - The Romanovs
-William Gay - Twilight
-Arkady Babchenko - One Soldier's War
-Ross E. Lockhart - The Children of Old Leech
 

[Roman]

I finished Donald Ray Pollock's collection of short stories Knockemstiff yesterday. Good stuff. I probably like it more than his novel The Devil All The Time, which I also liked a lot. I'm going to keep an eye on him.

The Children of Old Leech is also a collection of short stories, all written by different authors in the mythos that Laird Barron has created as a sort of tribute to him. Seventeen stories by different authors, and sixteen of them were dull at best and throw-the-book-at-the-wall bad at worst. There was one story in particular that had me almost scream out loud in sheer frustration and anger at how bad and lazy it was. One point of light was the short story 'The Old Pageant' by Richard Gavin. That was creepy and well done. I'll definitely look into more of is writing and hope it's of the same quality. The rest of the collection, though... Christ. Stay away.

[Control]

I am reading Grand Hotel Abyss: the Lives of the Frankfurt School by Stuart Jeffries, and realizing that, for all their faults, I'm completely on-board with the Frankfurt brand of Marxist criticism. Their basic thesis--that capitalism leads to fascism--seems pretty timely.

[Roman]

I read Twilight by William Gay in one go. Hell of a book. Good 'n' dark. I loved the descriptions. The story wasn't unique, but it was solid and the language was perfect. Time to get me some more William Gay material.

[OSJ]

19 hours ago, Roman said:

I read Twilight by William Gay in one go. Hell of a book. Good 'n' dark. I loved the descriptions. The story wasn't unique, but it was solid and the language was perfect. Time to get me some more William Gay material.

*nods approvingly* Yeah, Twilight is the book that No Country for Old Men wanted to be but couldn't get out of its own way.

Damn shame that Gay got started writing so late in life, I'm not 100% on this, but pretty sure that he was already past fifty when he got started...

[J.H.]

Secret Santa got me "Destiny Texas" by Brett Cogburn. I was suspicious whne the cover of the book claims that author is the "Great Grandson of Rooster Cogburn". Its pretty predictable and harmless enough though it lacks a truly disposable American Western fiction smuttiness of say, the Longarm series. I'vre read rose but I know I've read better. 

James

[Roman]

3 hours ago, OSJ said:

*nods approvingly* Yeah, Twilight is the book that No Country for Old Men wanted to be but couldn't get out of its own way.

Damn shame that Gay got started writing so late in life, I'm not 100% on this, but pretty sure that he was already past fifty when he got started...

No Country for Old Men was in my mind the entire time too, although I prefer Gay's writing. It's so evocative and raw. The ending felt a little flat compared to the rest of the story, but then again I can't really say what I would have prefered. Fantastic read either way.

[Roman]

So George R.R. Martin's Fevre Dream is pretty much Interview with a Vampire on steamboats. Needless to say I enjoyed the steamboat details immensely, but the actual vampires and the main story were dull as dishwater.

[OSJ]

3 hours ago, Roman said:

So George R.R. Martin's Fevre Dream is pretty much Interview with a Vampire on steamboats. Needless to say I enjoyed the steamboat details immensely, but the actual vampires and the main story were dull as dishwater.

One of many magnificent failures in GRRM's career.  The Armageddon Rag just about did his career in (though it was a terrific book, it was marketed horribly). Ol' George has a knack for landing on his feet that my cats would envy.

[Roman]

On 27-12-2016 at 8:33 PM, Roman said:

I finished Donald Ray Pollock's collection of short stories Knockemstiff yesterday. Good stuff. I probably like it more than his novel The Devil All The Time, which I also liked a lot. I'm going to keep an eye on him.

The Children of Old Leech is also a collection of short stories, all written by different authors in the mythos that Laird Barron has created as a sort of tribute to him. Seventeen stories by different authors, and sixteen of them were dull at best and throw-the-book-at-the-wall bad at worst. There was one story in particular that had me almost scream out loud in sheer frustration and anger at how bad and lazy it was. One point of light was the short story 'The Old Pageant' by Richard Gavin. That was creepy and well done. I'll definitely look into more of is writing and hope it's of the same quality. The rest of the collection, though... Christ. Stay away.

After reading The Children of Old Leech with its many failures and one bright spark by the name of Richard Gavin, I bought one of his books: Sylvan Dread (choosing it solely because I enjoyed the title). It's a collection of short stories and so far I've only read five of them, but I enjoyed them all. It's the same atmosphere as the story in The Children of Old Leech, which is not exactly horror, but sinister, tense and creepy. As you might glean from the book's title (and subtitle Tales of Pastoral Darkness), it focuses on the powers of Nature, sinister mainly because humans don't fully understand them (or can only attempt to do so through what we'd call witchcraft)... although there are some actually malignant forces too. So far I'm very pleased with my discovery and I hope that the rest of the stories are as good. I'll definitely be checking out more of his books too.

[Roman]

Yeah, Sylvan Dread by Richard Gavin is definitely a recommended read. He's not a typical horror writer, but focuses a lot on nature and sinister moods. If I were to compare him to anyone, it'd probably be Arthur Machen, although some of Gavin's stories are closer to 'actual' horror too, which makes for a nice break from his other stories. Time to buy all his other collections.

[AxB]

Just started re-reading American Tabloid by James Ellroy, because I got Blood's a Rover for Chrimbo and it was so long since I read the first two parts of the Underworld USA trilogy, I thought I'd better do all three.

Before that, I read Low Midnight by Carrie Vaughn, which is part of the Kitty Norville series, about a Werewolf with a radio show. It's a bit... you know when someone starts a series of books and it's a personal story of a regular person with a regular life, but they keep coming back to it and showing more of the world, and more perspectives on things, but it somehow ends up being an "Only we can save the world" deal? The series has kind of done that. It used to be a personal story and now it's a modern crusade against an ancient evil. This one was a change of pace because it made a secondary character the lead and had the usual lead as a more peripheral figure. But it was still building to the big apocalypse level event that it didn't need to be building to.

Before that, I read The Girl with all the Gifts by M R Carey, which is the book that's the same as The Last of Us, but different. They're both post-apocalyptic stories of a world where the Cordyceps fungus has mutated to affect humans and that destroyed society 20 years before, and they're both about a young girl who is infected but somehow not a raging zombie monster, who is forced to go on a road trip with a reluctant parent figure. But other than that, they're completely different. Except 

Spoiler

They both end with a main character choosing to damn the rest of humanity to destruction as a way of preserving one single human life.

It was made into a movie recently. They race-swapped three of the five main characters, turning a black woman in her 40s to a white woman in her 20s, a white ten year old girl into a mixed race teenage girl, and a ginger haired 21 year old into a black 21 year old. Because if you're going to annoy the sort of people who are annoyed by this sort of thing, you should really go for it.

[Roman]

I read Smonk by Tom Franklin. The most apt description I can come up with is 'fucked up'. Smonk is one fucked-up novel. Sometimes raw and brutal, sometimes surreal, sometimes silly, sometimes hilarious... But, on the whole, it's fucked up. I don't mean that in a derogatory manner, nor do I mean that in the sense of 'this was sickening and vile and cheap and the author should be ashamed of himself!' at all, mind you. I loved this novel. Good, good stuff. I was disappointed in Tom Franklin's collection of short stories, Poachers, although I did enjoy the titular story, but Smonk... So good.

[OSJ]

Fucked up pretty well covers it... What a great book...

[SirSmUgly]

I'm trying to get into Five Came Back by Mark Harris, but it's a slow-going opening chapter.

So while I'm trying to get into it, I'm re-reading all my Tintin comics, of which I am definitely sure that King Ottokar's Sceptre is my favorite. Not the best one, but my favorite one. 

[Pete]

In light of Der Trumpenfuhrer's latest machinations, I'm re-reading Robert McCammon's Swan Song.

*twitch*

[Roman]

Speaking of Robert McCammon: I just finished Gone South. Not as good as I'd hoped it would be, but it was decent enough. I still need to read Swan Song, but A Boy's Life was pretty fantastic (except for the tepid final part).

[BurningBeard]

On 1/13/2017 at 2:52 AM, AxB said:

Just started re-reading American Tabloid by James Ellroy, because I got Blood's a Rover for Chrimbo and it was so long since I read the first two parts of the Underworld USA trilogy, I thought I'd better do all three.

My man! I'm working my way through the Underworld USA trilogy too.

I read American Tabloid in 2007, loved it, but didn't have any inkling it would be a trilogy and pretty much forgot about Ellis (had only read LA Confidential prior to it).

Anyway, been working my way through all his novels over the past year or so (fave book - Big Nowhere, fave character - David Klein or Pete Bondurant) and got around to rereading Tabloid over Christmas. I'm just about finished with The Cold Six Thousand (which has been a bit of a slog and reads like nothing but an outline in parts) and am looking forward to the final installment. Probably gonna wait Perfidia out until the whole saga is complete before I dip in again

[odessasteps]

Just started physicist/BBC presenter Helen Czerski's book Storm in a Teacup since im seeing her speak at the Smithsonian. 

[cwoy2j]

On 1/30/2017 at 4:20 PM, Roman said:

Speaking of Robert McCammon: I just finished Gone South. Not as good as I'd hoped it would be, but it was decent enough. I still need to read Swan Song, but A Boy's Life was pretty fantastic (except for the tepid final part).

I thought Swan Song was good but sort of fell apart at the end.

[cwoy2j]

Been plowing through Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series. First book is by far the best. The others are ok but the first is awesome.

[OSJ]

51 minutes ago, cwoy2j said:

Been plowing through Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series. First book is by far the best. The others are ok but the first is awesome.

I would concur. Kim sets up a great world but then sort of loses steam (no pun intended) as he goes along. If his plotting and pacing in the later books were equal to his world building in Anno Dracula you would really have something cool.