Good Minds Suggest—Christopher Golden's Favorite Stormy Books
January, 2014
Storm's a-coming! Be it hurricane, tornado, or nor'easter, literature loves a dramatic bit of weather. In Christopher Golden's new supernatural thriller, Snowblind,
a blizzard is brewing in small-town New England. It's been 12 years
since an eerily powerful storm wreaked havoc on the town of Coventry,
taking many lives. Golden's cast of characters, including a thief, a cop, and a grieving brother, remember the dead as they brace for another whiteout. The prodigious horror and fantasy
author has written more than 70 novels and comics for adults and teens,
including Of Saints and Shadows, many Buffyverse books coauthored with Nancy Holder, and also out this month, Cemetery Girl, a graphic novel coauthored with Charlaine Harris. The Massachusetts native shares his favorite tempestuous books, so grab some hot chocolate and a warm blanket, and nestle in!
White by Tim Lebbon (Goodreads Author)
"This postapocalyptic novella is not only one of Lebbon's finest
works, it's one of the finest and most horrific postapocalyptic stories
ever written. The claustrophobic intimacy of the story reminds me of
the best elements of John W. Campbell's Who Goes There? and the character dynamics of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. You shouldn't need any more encouragement than that to track it down, but I'll add that it's certainly an influence on Snowblind.
In Lebbon's masterwork there are 'things' out there in the storm, but
the story is not about fear as much as the impact of fear."
"This postapocalyptic novella is not only one of Lebbon's finest
works, it's one of the finest and most horrific postapocalyptic stories
ever written. The claustrophobic intimacy of the story reminds me of
the best elements of John W. Campbell's Who Goes There? and the character dynamics of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. You shouldn't need any more encouragement than that to track it down, but I'll add that it's certainly an influence on Snowblind.
In Lebbon's masterwork there are 'things' out there in the storm, but
the story is not about fear as much as the impact of fear."
The Shining by Stephen King (Goodreads Author)
"All right, this is cheating a bit. There is no single storm that
one could say this novel is 'about,' but with the Torrance family
willingly allowing themselves to be trapped for the off-season in the
Overlook Hotel, the entire winter is one ominous blizzard. The snowfall
seems to conspire with the evil inside the hotel to keep the family
isolated and vulnerable, helping to weave the dread into every page."
"All right, this is cheating a bit. There is no single storm that
one could say this novel is 'about,' but with the Torrance family
willingly allowing themselves to be trapped for the off-season in the
Overlook Hotel, the entire winter is one ominous blizzard. The snowfall
seems to conspire with the evil inside the hotel to keep the family
isolated and vulnerable, helping to weave the dread into every page."
Dead White by Alan Ryan
"I hadn't ever spent a lot of time thinking about it until I sat down to write this list, but it turns out that Dead White
has been a huge influence on my career as a writer. Elegant, quiet, and
chilling as hell, it represents some of the finest of what the '80s
horror boom had to offer. In Ryan's tale a blizzard completely shuts
down a small New England town, and then in the midst of the storm a
ghost train pulls into town...full of ghostly, evil clowns. Yes, clowns.
This novel—which I haven't read in nearly 30 years—influenced not only Snowblind, but my short stories "All Aboard" and "Put on a Happy Face" (both of which are included in my collection Tell My Sorrows to the Stones)."
"I hadn't ever spent a lot of time thinking about it until I sat down to write this list, but it turns out that Dead White
has been a huge influence on my career as a writer. Elegant, quiet, and
chilling as hell, it represents some of the finest of what the '80s
horror boom had to offer. In Ryan's tale a blizzard completely shuts
down a small New England town, and then in the midst of the storm a
ghost train pulls into town...full of ghostly, evil clowns. Yes, clowns.
This novel—which I haven't read in nearly 30 years—influenced not only Snowblind, but my short stories "All Aboard" and "Put on a Happy Face" (both of which are included in my collection Tell My Sorrows to the Stones)."
The Big Blow by Joe R. Lansdale
"Joe R. Lansdale is one of the finest American novelists working
today, with a knack for human texture and killer dialogue that is only
matched by his arch sense of humor. He has generously spread himself
across a variety of genres, but it's when he steps back in time for
gritty historical drama that he shines the brightest. Sometimes those
are small-town Texas stories, but in The Big Blow
Lansdale weaves the tale of a black boxer, fighting long odds and racial
hatred, into the story of devastation caused by the deadliest hurricane
in U.S. history—in Galveston, Texas, in the year 1900."
"Joe R. Lansdale is one of the finest American novelists working
today, with a knack for human texture and killer dialogue that is only
matched by his arch sense of humor. He has generously spread himself
across a variety of genres, but it's when he steps back in time for
gritty historical drama that he shines the brightest. Sometimes those
are small-town Texas stories, but in The Big Blow
Lansdale weaves the tale of a black boxer, fighting long odds and racial
hatred, into the story of devastation caused by the deadliest hurricane
in U.S. history—in Galveston, Texas, in the year 1900."
The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley
"Brinkley is one of our greatest historians, but this nonfiction
book of much more recent history may be his most affecting work. When Tim Lebbon and I were doing research for our post-Katrina New Orleans dark fantasy novel, The Map of Moments, we turned to Brinkley's book and Chris Rose's 1 Dead in Attic
for primary research materials, and each is heartbreaking in its own
way. Brinkley's book is an in-depth examination not only of the storm
itself and the calamity surrounding it, but also the ways in which the
negligence of local, state, and federal authorities—both before and
after the storm—cost people their lives, homes, and livelihoods.
Unfortunately, it's doubtful that the right people have learned the
lessons Brinkley provides."
"Brinkley is one of our greatest historians, but this nonfiction
book of much more recent history may be his most affecting work. When Tim Lebbon and I were doing research for our post-Katrina New Orleans dark fantasy novel, The Map of Moments, we turned to Brinkley's book and Chris Rose's 1 Dead in Attic
for primary research materials, and each is heartbreaking in its own
way. Brinkley's book is an in-depth examination not only of the storm
itself and the calamity surrounding it, but also the ways in which the
negligence of local, state, and federal authorities—both before and
after the storm—cost people their lives, homes, and livelihoods.
Unfortunately, it's doubtful that the right people have learned the
lessons Brinkley provides."
Vote for your own favorites on Listopia: Storms, Tempests, Gales, Hurricanes, Twisters
Mr Golden is a very funny guy especially when trading comments with Joe R. Lansdale.