Rob's comments
(member since Apr 10, 2009)
Rob's comments from the Literary Horror group.
(showing 1-20 of 26)
Eli Roth's faux trailer for "Thanksgiving" is a favorite.
Robert:Oh..come on. PM me the ones you have a problem with. I'm curious now. I won't tell a soul. Pinky promise.
"I have a hard time with three of the books on your list for that very reason."Which ones?
I was wondering how good "The Gates" is. I'm a fan of Connolly, but when his new book came out, I was a tad worried he was jumping on the YA bandwagon. Heaven forbid. Is it similar to Book of Lost Things at all? Does The Gates still have enough of a dark edge to satisfy this horror buff?
Garrett wrote: "Barker has become too whimsical for his own good, as of late, kind of a pale imitation of Neil Gaiman who became too whimsical for his own good a few years ago."FINALLY someone who dares criticize Neil Gaiman! He's always been too whimsical for me....
Rue Morgue and Fangoria don't really dedicate a whole lot of space to literary criticism. I'm not surprised at no inroads being made there.
Horrorworld is a good site.
Is it to the point yet where internet critics are being given as much or more weight than traditonally published critics? I guess I still think of magazines and newspapers when I think of lit critics.
Just out of curiosity....who are the "go to" critics for horror lit? Cemetery Dance is the only mag I've seen with serious, thoughtful, and insightful criticism on the subject. Who are the critics that authors pay attention to..and where do they publish?
Ancient Images is the only Campbell book I've liked. A lot of that probably has to do with the classic horror refrences though. I enjoy his short stories a lot more.
I just finished Filth by Irvine Welsh. Wonderfully dark....beautifully bleak!
"getting in the way of...telling a good story is worse."That's what it's pretty much all about isn't it?
Cronenberg rules. Sorry. Just had to slip that in.
I've never read any Bizarro fiction, but I've seen quite a few Goodreads authors who specialize in it. I'll have to check it out sometime and see what all the fuss is about.
Those are three of my favorite movies as well! I also really liked book The Time Traveler's Wife (no tomato-throwing please!). I think the non-linear narration played a major role in making these films/books unique. I fear there's always going to be those who think this style is simply "gimmicky", but if done well...it can make for a great story and add much to the suspense factor.I'm not a writer either. I wondered how welcome my input would be at first, but then I figured a voice from the flip side of the coin might also be helpful.
Back on topic:I think, if done well, non-linear narration can make a story very interesting. I imagine it would be rather difficult to pull off well, though. The only book I can think of off the top of my head like that is The Time Traveler's Wife. The time travel sub-genre almost demands non-linear narration.
Pulp Fiction, Memento, and Reservoir Dogs are movies where it worked well, but maybe it's easier to visualize this type of thing.
I looked around a little and came up with this:http://www.subterraneanpress.com/Merchan...
OOP already. Dammit. Oh well...maybe I'll break out The Ceremonies or Dark Gods again.
I love T.E.D. Klein (did he die or something?), but I'd say, if anything, his stories were kind of retro in the way they were written. 'Petey' reminds me of an old Twilight Zone story...which might actually be appropriate considering he edited the mag. 'Black Man with a Horn' reminded me somewhat of Lovecraft.A couple of writers I thought of from the 70's that might fit this description are Ramsey Campbell and Dennis Etchison. Their stories often left a lot for interpretation and were pretty ambiguous. That's a kind of complexity, I guess. No?
"Maybe it's just me, but it seems like prior to the 90s (and even in the early 90s) horror tales were more complex. Take Clive Barker for example. Imho, Mr. B. Gone is one of his most simplistic tales, but go back to Weaveworld, Great & Secret Show, or Imagica. Complex, imagery rich worlds with stunning narratives, imho."I'm not sure I agree with that. Barker was kind of an aberration at the time. And the more complex his stories got, the less horror-like they became. In my opinion at least. Weaveworld and beyond seemed more like fantasy with some dark elements to me.
Just going back as far as the 70's, the popular horror tales off the top of my head like The Manitou, The Sentinel, The Omen, The Hunger, etc. weren't too complex. That's not to say they were all bad....just not very complex.
Well...popularity and 'Target popularity' are two different things. Target stocks mostly summer chick-lit type stuff..which is why I was surprised to see that book there.
I was pretty surprised to see The Lovers being sold at Target. It seems to be a major release. I wonder if it's on the bestseller list? Does that mean the general public has finally caught on to him or has he changed his writing style to suit the masses a little more? He's always been published by a major company (forget which one), but he's never been a household name...like Michael Connonlly.
Robert wrote: "Any John Connolly fans amongst us?"I, sir, am a John Connolly fan. I've read The Book of Lost Things, Nocturnes, and the first two Charlie Parker books. Loved them all. I've heard good things about his new book The Lovers, but I'm a stickler for reading series books in chronological order, so it may be a few years before I get to it.
"my shit rocks."Haha. That's the best self-promotion I've ever read.
I'll second The Terror. Great book.I'm in the middle of George RR Martin's 'Fevre Dream', which is also great in my opinion. Not your standard vampire novel by a long shot....
