Traveller’s Comments (group member since Jan 14, 2015)

Traveller’s comments from the On Paths Unknown group.

Hmm, okay, I'm seeing a poll or 2 looming on the horizon if we don't get some more suggestions in the next day or two, because I don't have a strong agenda in any specific direction here.

MRJ sounds good - been wanting to do him for a long time now, but I've now also become curious about Edith Wharton's stories...

Aw, sorry to hear that you have to come to such an arrangement - I hope it works out well, Derek.

Yeah, I hope it's a positive move for you, Derek. I assume so. :) And I imagine congratulations are in order.
I hope you'll still have time for GR and reading? ...Although I assume things will be rather busy for you now until you get settled on the other side.

Yolande wrote: "At any rate, now I definitely want to read Turning of the Screw."

As you've seen, I can spout off about it at length, and I also don't mind making a thread for it. How urgent is your Turn of the Screw urge? :P

Hmm. It's not spooky though, as in WHOOOO spooky. It's.... disturbing as in hair is raising at the back of my neck disturbing. Agreed though, that it would be interesting to see how other members interpret the story...

Yolande wrote: "The Turn of the Screw sounds like a very interesting book, but it also sounds very scary which is why I was afraid to mention it. I won't really know until I read it though. But I've heard the writing is excellent :)..."

Nope, it's not scary. It's ambiguous. He kind of writes on at least 2 levels. You can see it as a straight ghost story or a Freudian parallel. Actually, it would probably make for even better discussion fodder than Carmilla...

Ruth wrote: "
I should read Frankenstein but I don't really want to..."

LOL! I understand exactly how you feel on that.... XD.
Re Dracula: I loved the style of Dracula, but not all contemporary people like that refined Victorian style.

I'm starting to think I should try and push Carmilla in as a discussion. It's not too short and it's not too long, and it breaches a few interesting issues. Not sure what I should say about it to peak interest. It has lesbian undertones, which was a bit risque at the time of writing.

On the other hand, I am equally open to spending my time on stuff I have not read yet.

Jonfaith wrote: "Sounds great: I'm game for anything creepy. I just read the Walpole. I have some big-ass collections of Poe and Lovecraft here presently but would read anything."

Well, you can vote for something here, or we can see what a poll nets us? What do you people want to do?

Oh! And I wrote a huge-ass review for The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, but it pains me how many people trash it for being boring. :(:(:(. I obviously loved it, but....

Can't remember if I ever read The Mysteries of Udolpho, but yeah, it's a prominent one as well.

Yolande wrote: "Yes, hate it :p

Dracula is also one of my favourites.

Books like Vathek and Zofloya are ones I came across through mention of the various Gothic novels of the time period in critical books about ..."

Hmm, I have one or two as well. I wrote a silly review a few years back where I mention them. They're The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction and Gothic (actually: Gothic : The New Critical Idiom).
I'd forgotten about that and Poppy Z. Brite. We can add her to the mix, I suppose.

I love Dracula. I've read most of it, but I too, managed to get hold of a critical edition, so I wouldn't mind redoing it.

Personally, I found Frankenstein a bit boring so I never finished it, but I've seen from reviews that I should perhaps have read more critical material dealing with it. As you might have seen from other threads, a few other members also mentioned they want to do The Moonstone, and I do too.

I was not aware of Vathek or Zofloya, and of course, Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu is a classic (which I have not read myself :P )

I suppose we could put all of these on a poll and see which draw the most interest. If not a lot of people are interested, we can maybe do "buddy reads".

PS. Don't you just hate autocorrect?

Yolande wrote: "^Whoo, those are some excellent suggestions!

I'll just add some of the ones I've dug up in my collection that I am still trying to get to:

John Polidori - The Vampyre
(according to my old vampir..."

Ah, yes The Vampyre: A Tale by John William Polidori is one of the very first vampire stories and precedes Bram Stoker's Dracula, IIRC. Didn't know about Varney.

I'd forgotten about Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu...and actually that is one that I would LOVE to discuss! I've read it before, but I don't mind reading it again.

Since that is a novella, how about we choose one short story, one novella, and, if members want to, you people can also choose a novel. We can decide here in the thread, and/or I can also add a poll or 2 if you like.

I suppose The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole is worth at least a mention as being supposed to be one of, or THE very first Gothic horror story.

Yolande wrote: "Traveller wrote: "Oh gosh, time flies - it'll be halloween in less than a month... we should have done a spooky book for halloween . Let's put up a poll for a short story/novella at least!"

Will t..."

Here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Hi guys, time to start thinking about what you'd be reading to get into the mood for Hallow e'en!

Since I don't have a lot of spare time this October, I've been thinking of going for a short story, something preferably Gothic, something Edgar Allan Poe-ish.

I found a bunch of stories online:

The Pit and the Pendulum
by Edgar Allan Poe: https://americanliterature.com/author...

The Black Cat
by Edgar Allan Poe
https://americanliterature.com/author...

The Call of Cthulhu
by H. P. Lovecraft
https://americanliterature.com/author...

The Hanging Stranger
by Philip K. Dick
https://americanliterature.com/author...

The Moonlit Road
by Ambrose Bierce
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-sto...



Then, I have also thought that I should investigate Collected Ghost Stories of M.R. James.

I've also found out that Edith Wharton wrote some ghost stories, The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton which I thought might be worth a bash.

I'm sure I've left out a lot of possibilities - please add more to our list!

If you've read any of the stories mentioned above, please give feedback on them?

Happy pre-Halloween!

Oh gosh, time flies - it'll be halloween in less than a month... we should have done a spooky book for halloween . Let's put up a poll or thread for a short story(stories)/novella at least!

Oh gosh, time flies - it'll be halloween in less than a month... we should have done a spooky book for halloween . Let's put up a poll for a short story/novella at least!

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Traveller wrote: "(Reading 10 books at once again.)"

I hear you. I always have at least two going, but this past couple of weeks I keep flipping channels and I can't settle down. (I'm driving me ..."

You've never had an urge to try out Borges?

I see you're reading quite a few ghost stories. Getting ready for Halloween well in advance? ;)

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I really have to be a good girl and go tend to real life now, but I can't help posting this from NASA; the ion engine is mentioned.

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/nine-real......"

That's very interesting, thank you, Amy, and there you have it from the horse's mouth...will check those out as I read - not there yet. (Reading 10 books at once again.) :P

@Puddin - nah, I've never found Matt hot, though a good actor, of course.

Oh, we can all be windbags together, then. :)

Ted wrote: "[spoilers removed]"

But, Ted, have you not been curious to see for yourself now that everybody is raving about it so? I'm curious now as to the article, but you've obviously forgotten where it is. I must admit that I didn't even have this book on my radar at all, and that the ONLY reason I am reading it is:

1) Everyone is raving about it
2) I saw the trailer of the film and it looked... interesting. :P

On another issue, Mark said:

"There's just one thing on the science I am struggling with: In chapter one, a massive dust storm is threatening to topple the landing craft, and hurls some metal object into Watley's side, causing him to lose consciousness.

That, I do not think, could happen on Mars. Mars' atmosphere is 100 times thinner than Earth's, so to get to hurricane-force storms (~75mph for the weakest hurricane), you'd need a Martian wind moving at 7500 mph. That just does not exist on Mars.

But of course, I could just file that away under "artistic licence" - no biggie. The problem I am having is that towards the end of the book, the thinness of the atmosphere plays an explicit, and crucial, role in allowing Mark to get off the planet.

So basically, the plot is inconsistent in the way it makes use of scientific facts. Well, at least in that instance. The rest seems to work fine (not that I am in any way able to judge any of it, of course). Just to be clear - this is a minor niggle for me, but has been bothering me a bit ever since I read it. "