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That Which Should Not Be
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That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley
I need more readers like Jon.
About 80% through, and loving it. An excellent follow-up to Lovecraft's work. I especially love how you expand on the mythos by including other legends and stories which were always just kind of there. As well, I've always wanted to see more stories of the Wendigo, cannibalism being one of the few things which actually makes my skin crawl. Well deserving of it's nomination for the Bram Stoker award.
Just finished! Excellent! Thanks, Brett, What a great read!Jon, is dead on with his comments and I could not agree with him more! Very insightful...as always.
Sounds good... I should read this. Don't worry, I won't take the idea, was given too many of my own. Hopefully, it will be cool.
Jon Recluse wrote: "I really liked your approach to the Christianity issue, Brett.
August Derleth tried, and failed badly with the idea, among other alterations he did to the Mythos.
There's always been that one gap ..."
This was the strongest argument in my opinion.
August Derleth tried, and failed badly with the idea, among other alterations he did to the Mythos.
There's always been that one gap ..."
This was the strongest argument in my opinion.
I wouldn't say the book did a poor job of explaining itself. By the end chapter I thought I had figured it out, the blog just confirmed it for me.
Some great stuff in here. First the Wendigo, and now Povaglia. I also wonder if the mention of the Inquisitor is an allusion to something.
Mr. Talley, just finished That Which Should Not Be and I must say that I enjoyed it. I've posted my review on Goodreads, Amazon, and my blog (which no one really reads). I may have some more questions for you after I mull it over a bit more.
Looking forward to it, Gregor.
Each of these stories within the story was excellent! The old school feel of the prose really gave the story an added element of atmosphere.
Bill wrote: "Each of these stories within the story was excellent! The old school feel of the prose really gave the story an added element of atmosphere."I'm glad you enjoyed it Bill. I really, really like the old school way of writing. If I could get away with writing like that in all my stories, I'd do it. Honestly, I tried to include some of that style in my second book,
, and some people hammered me for it. I'll keep beating my head against the wall, though. It's not that I don't enjoy modern writing, I just think it lacks some of the magic of the more romantic period.
The classical prose was my favorite part of the book. And my least were the sections that felt more modern to me. My favorite part was the section near the end with the ship and the log book. It was way too short. But the atmosphere and language was perfect. You have a talent in writing in this fashion and that's rare in a modern writer. I for one would like to see more of it not less.
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I love old school horror.
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Traci just verbalized what I was thinking: especially concerning the section with the ship and Captain's log: atmosphere and language. It's part of what really makes this book stand out above the rest. The original ideas put a new (welcome) twist on some of the lovecraftian themes, but in my book--as Jon said before--you just can't beat the old school horror!
Recently read (and reviewed) LIMBUS, INC., too. :)
Thanks guys! And thanks Kimberly for the kind words about Limbus, Inc.! As for the ship section, I loved that part as well. It is the shortest part in the book, but it sorta went as long as I thought it could. The story tells itself, if you know what I mean.
I really enjoyed the section dealing with the nuns in the Carpathian Mountains. The profane chapel gave me a serious case of the willies. What sources did you use for those legends?
Mr. Talley, the nun and nuthouse stories were my favorites. The nun story had a nice undercurrent of sexual tension running throughout. I'm curious, did you write and then cut any scenes from the nun piece that were too sexually explicit because they just didn't fit with the overall tone of the book? (This is a serious question, by the way.)
Hi Chris. There is one reference in Dracula to the Scholomance--"The Draculas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due."So my thought was what if a castle was built on top of the ancient temple of dark magic, a convent moved into the castle, and the doors to the Scholmance were breached? It sorta just rolled from there. Since I got the idea from Dracula, I decided to give the whole story that Carpathian, Dracula feel. I was hoping people would assume it was about vampires and then be surprised. Who knows if that worked. In any event, that was my favorite of the short stories contained within the book.
So now I'll ask a question--did people have a favorite story, and what was it?
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Gregor wrote: "Mr. Talley, the nun and nuthouse stories were my favorites. The nun story had a nice undercurrent of sexual tension running throughout. I'm curious, did you write and then cut any scenes from the n..."I did not, but I am glad you put your finger on that. I didn't have to cut anything, but I tried very hard to keep it an undercurrent that never quite comes to the surface. I loved how it clashed with the notion of these nuns in a convent. The closest I came to crossing the line was at the very end of the story when they are deep within the mountain and all nude. I considered adding some more overtly sexual imagery there, but I decided that, as you say, it just wouldn't fit with the rest of the book. It also would have undermined my attempt to keep the book within what you might have actually seen in a turn of the century horror novel.
Asylum. Definitely. I loved the last part too. I liked the convent story too. It reminded me of an old Hammer movie actually. Very fun. And I really liked how (view spoiler) But my favorite part of Lovecraft's mythos has always been the idea that there's another world that we cannot see all around us and I thought the asylum section played with this idea the most.
The convent story followed by the Wendigo.
Yes, I did think that the nun story was going to turn out to be a vampire story and I was pleased to see that it did not. The last scene in that story, with the naked nuns around the pit, would have certainly been the scene depicted on the cover of the pulp reprint edition from the 1960s (had this truly been a novel released originally at the turn of the century). And I would certainly have that trashy book cover as my desktop wallpaper today!
I think I have one like that actually... the women are wearing robes though... almost. Lol.
I love those old cheesy pulp covers.
I love those old cheesy pulp covers.
I really enjoyed the asylum story line with Robert. While I really thought his character was interesting, I was super glad that the time spent with Robert was short and to the point. I think it would have been way too easy (as a literary cop-out)to drag that story line out with multiple therapy sessions with him. It was perfect the way it was.
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I concur with my esteemed colleague.
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Traci L. wrote: "I think I have one like that actually... the women are wearing robes though... almost. Lol.I love those old cheesy pulp covers."
Man, I do, too. I've got a ton of them that I rotate through as my desktop wallpaper.
Just finished and really enjoyed it. Thanks for joining in Brett. Loved your little nods to HPL and CAS. I agree with earlier posts, I thought your execution of tone and style of prose was spot on. This is definitely in my wheelhouse for horror. I much prefer the mystery of things unknown, catching something out of the corner of your eye, a fleeting glimpse of something that just can't be real.
The Wendigo story was my least favorite of the stories(although I still enjoyed it), the asylum story was my favorite.
Still working on my review, hopefully finish over the weekend.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it Ctgt! I think the Wendigo story is the one that the most people tell me is their favorite, so I am always sorta glad when people don't like it. :-)
Good cause, I didn't like it, Brett. OK, that was a lie. I loved all the stories!
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For me the Wendigo story seemed like the least one that belonged in the mythos. The story was fun. But I do wonder if I would have liked it more if I had more knowledge of the Wendigo legend. Which I don't.
Jon Recluse wrote: "I even liked the copyright page!"Like I said, I need more readers like Jon.
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Why am I not surprised here? LOL!
I know that this is technically off topic, but I usually don't follow rules anyway.... What is The Void all about and what was your inspiration for that one.
The Void is more of a psychological thriller. I wanted to do something pretty much completely different from TWSNB. I had written this short story that people loved and so I decided to take that kernel of an idea and build on it. The link to the story is at the bottom of this post.The basic idea behind The Void is that in the future, interstellar warp is possible, but people have to be asleep if they are going to undergo it. And when they sleep, they have these incredibly vivid dreams. Each person has their own dream; every one is different. Some are frightening, some are surreal, all are made up of their own experiences. And some people go mad when they have them. The story follows a group of people who are on a routine mission to deep space. They all have their own secrets, and when they find another ship that disappeared ten years before, crazy stuff happens. The story plays with notions of madness, memory, the truth behind dark matter and dark energy, and the mysteries of space. If I had to point to similar books/movies, I'd say Event Horizon, Pandorum, and apparently Solaris, though I have never read it or seen the movie.
I really like the book, though I'd call it divisive. People seem like they either love it or really hate it (particularly people who are into hard science fiction, which it definitely is not).
Here's the short story. The thing I always thought was funny about this story is that I did something kind of unconventional with its structure that I thought some people would hate, but no one has ever mentioned it... So you can see if you can figure out what that is.
http://brettjtalley.com/short-stories...
P.S. One interesting thing about that book is the struggle I went through with my editor. They were terrible. They routinely added grammatical errors and made horrendous stylistic changes. I did my best to fix them all, but I was in a pretty much all consuming job at the time and I am sure some got through.
Sound interesting. And I was going to say sounds a bit like Solaris, I have read the book but haven't seen the movie. I bet you hate when readers say that... ;)
Read the short story and I liked it. Had a creepy Twilight Zone - like vibe to it. I love science fiction but I am not a fan of the hard stuff. I'm more into the pulp and golden age eras.
My guess for the structure is - (view spoiler)
Not sure I would have noticed anything without the warning though.
My guess for the structure is - (view spoiler)
Not sure I would have noticed anything without the warning though.
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And I hate sci fi.
I love scifi, including "hard" scifi and I loved the Void.
Traci L. wrote: "For me the Wendigo story seemed like the least one that belonged in the mythos. The story was fun. But I do wonder if I would have liked it more if I had more knowledge of the Wendigo legend. Which..."I agree.
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And I hate sci fi."
Not a huge sci fi fan, but if Jon gives his endorsement, it's definitely on my "want to read list". :)
(And of course, I have a bit of confidence in Brett's writing style...;) )
Traci L. wrote: "Read the short story and I liked it. Had a creepy Twilight Zone - like vibe to it. I love science fiction but I am not a fan of the hard stuff. I'm more into the pulp and golden age eras.My guess..."
Yep. Nailed it.
Thanks, Brett. I have been curious about this one for a while and now I definitely want to pick it up.I do like horror mixed with Sci-fi and if anyone hasn't seen Event Horizon, I can attest that it was horrifying. Really creeped me out. The idea of finding a derelict ship (either in space or on the seas) where something bad happened is really scary to me. I will have to pick this one up.
The fact that it isn't hard Sci-fi is definitely good for me. I was an English Major before Law School, and always avoided Math and Science courses like the plague, so anything really hard science would just go over my head.
I enjoy Sci-fi when it explores human nature and sociology, large concepts like God vs Man, or technology striping us of our humanity. Some of my all time favorite books are The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Time Machine, and Frankenstein.
Me too. Techno punk seems to be my least favorite kind of science fiction. I like space exploration. Star Trek. I like fantasy based science fiction. Star Wars. I love horror science fiction. Alien. I read Asimov and Clarke. But when the story is driven by the science alone it looses me.
As far as The Void goes, I plan on chatting on this thread as long as people want to talk to me, so if anybody wants to talk about The Void, I am more than happy to do that. Hell, you guys can buy Limbus, Inc., Haunted Tuscaloosa, and Haunted Alabama Black Belt as well if you want!
Chris, you'd probably like The Void. Most people who don't like it either were expecting something more like TWSNB or got upset at how I described warp drives and black holes.
Horror Aficionados
Books mentioned in this topic
The Catcher in the Rye (other topics)Limbus, Inc. (other topics)
The Mourning House (other topics)
The Void (other topics)
You Shall Never Know Security (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Aaron J. French (other topics)Laird Barron (other topics)
August Derleth tried, and failed badly with the idea, among other alterations he did to the Mythos.
There's always been that one gap in the Mythos: who or what banished the Old Ones? Power like that, if not divine, would have had the world on it's knees.
All I can say is....well done, sir!