That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley

[Kimberly]

I recommend a Buddy read of THE VOID!!

[Chris]

I second Kim's motion.

[[deleted user]]

Third. :)

This has been one of my favorite group reads so far.

[Sean]

Fourth. I haven't read TWSNB or the Void and it's been sitting on my to read list forever... so this should kick me in the ass to get going with em.

[Jon Recluse]

Pass the fifth.

[Chris]

JON!!!!

So when do we start The Void?

[Brett]

So what is a buddy read?

[Sean]

Brett wrote: "So what is a buddy read?"

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

[Brett]

Ah. Cool!

[Kimberly]

I'm ready to "click and order" whenever the rest of you want to start!!

[[deleted user]]

Kimberly wrote: "I'm ready to "click and order" whenever the rest of you want to start!!"

Ditto :)

[Sean]

Traci L. wrote: "Kimberly wrote: "I'm ready to "click and order" whenever the rest of you want to start!!"

Ditto :)"

Double Ditto.

Here's a thread:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

[Brett]

If you want to buy the book through my Amazon associate store, just click here. Extra 6% for me! :-)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008...

[Chris]

Just picked it up. Let me know when to start.

[Kimberly]

Brett wrote: "If you want to buy the book through my Amazon associate store, just click here. Extra 6% for me! :-)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008......"

Thanks Brett--I just bought it. Well, Chris and I are all set--shall we "officially" start tonight/tomorrow? Sean and Traci, what do you think?

[Kimberly]

Jon Recluse wrote: "I liked the story, too.

And I hate sci fi."
Jon, will you join in the discussions? :)

*BIG HUG*

[Sean]

Okay, I guess we'll just read and go now :) I've got the Buddy read thread setup here:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

[Jon Recluse]

Kimberly wrote: "Jon Recluse wrote: "I liked the story, too.

And I hate sci fi."
Jon, will you join in the discussions? :)

*BIG HUG*"

Checking my reading schedule....

[Kimberly]

Jon Recluse wrote: "Kimberly wrote: "Jon Recluse wrote: "I liked the story, too.

And I hate sci fi."
Jon, will you join in the discussions? :)

*BIG HUG*"

Checking my reading schedule...."

:)

[Brett]

The problem with you guys is that you read so much faster than I can write...

[Latasha]

my husband and I plan on reading this together! there is several awesome podcast that can relate here. they read sections of a story then discuss. there is the h.p literary podcast at http://hppodcraft.com/ then one for clark ashton smith, the double shadow at http://thedoubleshadow.com/ and one for M R James athttp://www.mrjamespodcast.com/ they all use the same format. if you know of any more podcast with this format plz le me know, I love them. there is also a Shakespeare one but I'll leave that one off ;)

[Ctgt]

Latasha, thanks for the heads up on the podcats.

[[deleted user]]

Brett wrote: "The problem with you guys is that you read so much faster than I can write..."

Well... obviously write faster. ;)

Thank you for doing this group read by the way. I enjoyed the book (both of them counting The Void) and the discussions.

[Brett]

Anytime Traci.

As for other books to read, you can always check out Limbus, Inc., the book I did with Jonathan Maberry, Joseph Nissise, Benjamin Kane Ethridge, and the late Anne Petty. It's a great mixture of different kinds of horror, my contribution being decidedly Lovecraftian.

My favorite horror writer these days is Ronald Malfi. His The Mourning House is the best piece of horror fiction I have read in a very long time.

[Latasha]

That sounds like a good book!

[Kimberly]

Brett wrote: "Anytime Traci.

As for other books to read, you can always check out Limbus, Inc., the book I did with Jonathan Maberry, Joseph Nissise, Benjamin Kane Ethridge, and the late Anne Petty. It's a gre..."

Limbus Inc. was great--my personal favorite (ironically) was SACRIFICE by Brett! Malfi is another personal favorite author of mine--great characterization, internal conflict, and atmosphere. I love it when they give you something to actually THINK about while you're reading!!

[Brett]

And just wanted to reiterate again that I hope you will all leave reviews on Amazon. I'm at 88 now, and I really want to get to 100... So leave two if you can. :-)

[Kimberly]

Nice review, Chris! I up-voted it, unless I'm your follower.....

Brett, I will post reviews on Amazon/Goodreads/Shelfari for the VOID when I've finished. :)

[Chris]

Thanks, Kim! Glad you liked it.

[Brett]

And a big thanks for your review from me too, Chris. :-)

[Chris]

You are welcome! I really enjoyed it and The Void is seriously creeping me out too.

[Kimberly]

Chris wrote: "You are welcome! I really enjoyed it and The Void is seriously creeping me out too."

I agree!!! (view spoiler)[ The "subliminal" nature of the shadows is working on me, even during my waking moments! LOL! (hide spoiler)]

[Mike]

I just finished my signed, personalized copy (thanks again to Brett for signing it, and to Jason for holding the contest in the first place) of That Which Should Not Be last night, and aside from some minor quibbles (which are probably better suited for a review, since I don't want you to feel like you have to defend anything here, Brett), I really enjoyed it.

I was afraid that I might not finish it before the group discussion ended (I've stayed out of this thread until today because I hate spoilers and could only assume that this thread would contain some), since I made the mistake of choosing to read The Catcher in the Rye in mid-June -- a dreadful experience that slowed my reading to a halt for weeks because it was such a chore to get through (so, while they're completely different stories, feel free to let the fact that I liked your novel more than the so-called "classic" The Catcher in the Rye, which I gave zero stars to [and even that felt generous], boost your ego) -- but luckily that turned out to be an unnecessary concern.

I definitely enjoyed the asylum story more than the others. Overall, I can't say that I thought That Which Should Not Be was "scary", per se -- and that's really not meant to be an insult, because despite the fact that I'm a fan of the horror genre, I really don't find anything that involves "monsters" (of any sort) to be scary (and that includes Lovecraft's own stories, despite the fact that I do rank him as one of my favorite authors); I'm just too rational-minded to let such things scare me because I don't believe that otherworldly beings like monsters and gods exist. The asylum story was the one that was most grounded in reality (until the end, anyway), so I was able to take it more seriously than the rest. But again, please don't take that as an insult. There isn't much that scares me.

I'll write a proper review in the near future.

[[deleted user]]

I used to think I was the only person on earth who hated Catcher in the Rye. Read it years ago. But hated it.

:)

[Bill]

Hi, Brett, I read your website blog on TWSNB and I know that some Lovecraftian snobs were offended by your use of Christian themes in your novel. Was that a concern of yours as you were sending it off to publishers or did it occur to you that it may be controversial to certain readers? It surprised me how rigid some “traditionalists” can be regarding the mythos. I think the whole idea of the mythos is for other authors to enlarge and expand while utilizing the base concepts, at least, in my opinion.

[Kimberly]

Bill wrote: "Hi, Brett, I read your website blog on TWSNB and I know that some Lovecraftian snobs were offended by your use of Christian themes in your novel. Was that a concern of yours as you were sending it ..."

You've got to be kidding, Bill! Isn't that the point of fiction--to expand upon the genre--or in this case, mythos?

[Bill]

You would think so, yes. It appears that there are some hard core Lovecraftian fans out there that seem to disagree and can't handle any Christian theme or symbolism in the Mythos. Evidently they feel it is not true to H. P.s original stories.

[Jon Recluse]

That is true, but it's mostly against the changes made by August Derleth, who really tried to alter the Mythos.

Brett simply filled in a gap in the Mythos.

[Bill]

I liked how Brett expanded the Mythos. It makes sense to me. Ultimate evil is boring to me without some kind of force (religious or not) to combat it. Otherwise, here come the Old Ones, you look at them and go mad, we're all dead....makes a kind of a short story :)

[William]

Is there a single good Lovecraftian novelist out there who didn't expand the schema? I just don't know how one man can sit the table set by another and not bring his own offerings. Bravo to Brett for recognizing this, or even better, never considering the "rules" of the naysayers.

[Bill]

Indeed.

[Mike]

Brett, this is kind of a dangerous question, since you might have written (or at least approved) this yourself, and even if you didn't, you might be understandably reluctant to talk about your publisher's choices in a potentially critical way, so you can feel free to plead the Fifth on this if you want to. That said...how do you feel about the fact that the back cover blurb for That Which Should Not Be basically gives away the first two hundred pages or so of the book in a few sentences?

I stopped reading blurbs years ago because I like to know as little as I possibly can about a book before starting it (as I said before, I hate spoilers -- I'm one of those people who also tries to avoid movie trailers, and I don't even read book reviews before purchasing a novel -- I just base my decisions on things like gut instinct and recommendations from trusted sources), so when I read the blurb for That Which Should Not Be after finishing the novel, I was shocked, to put it mildly, when I saw just how much it gave away.

[[deleted user]]

I hate spoiler-y blurbs. I didn't read anything for this book. But I wish publishers would stop this practice.

[[deleted user]]

Regarding Christianity and Lovecraft... is it only Lovecraft fans who had a problem? I know you mentioned atheists somewhere. But what of Christian readers? Do any have a problem?

I do not consider myself a religious person. But I don't consider myself an atheist either. I guess agnostic? Though, I do have some guilt over reading books that may be considered blasphemy. (Blame my mom on this.) And I did have to wrap my mind around the (view spoiler)[ devil being Cthulhu thing. (hide spoiler)] Although, that was also one of my favorite parts.

So, have you run into anyone who called this book blasphemy the other way? Let me be clear, I am not! I do not think it is blasphemy. Either way. And even if I did (which I do not) I believe every author has the right to write what he or she wants.

[Kimberly]

Bill wrote: "I liked how Brett expanded the Mythos. It makes sense to me. Ultimate evil is boring to me without some kind of force (religious or not) to combat it. Otherwise, here come the Old Ones, you look at..."

Well said, Bill. That is an argument that is hard to contest.

[Kimberly]

Traci L. wrote: "Regarding Christianity and Lovecraft... is it only Lovecraft fans who had a problem? I know you mentioned atheists somewhere. But what of Christian readers? Do any have a problem?

I do not conside..."

I guess I still have roots based in Christianity (although Catholic School drives a lot of that out of you!) LOL! Personally, I have no problem with changes like that. When reading/writing fiction, you need to have an open mind and open yourself up to all kinds of experiences. The point is not whether or not you "agree" with the author's view (which may not even be THEIR PERSONAL view to begin with), but the overall journey and ultimate execution of the story.

[[deleted user]]

That's how I try to take things too. This sort of got brought up in the Summer I Died buddy read. My thought is when you read a book about ghosts, you don't need to believe in ghosts for the ghosts to be 'real' while your reading the book. You know?

[Brett]

Ack! I just realized there are a whole bunch of new posts! I'll get to replying to them now.

[Brett]

Mikebfd wrote: "I just finished my signed, personalized copy (thanks again to Brett for signing it, and to Jason for holding the contest in the first place) of That Which Should Not Be last night, and aside from s..."

Thanks so much Mike. And I'd love to hear what you didn't like. Not so much to defend myself, but just to add to the discussion. As for whether the book is scary--I tell people all the time I don't think it is that scary. But I have a lot of folks who disagree with me, and since I do love scaring people, I take that as a compliment. And I am glad that you enjoyed the book so much as well, even if it didn't keep you up at night. ;-)

[Brett]

Bill wrote: "Hi, Brett, I read your website blog on TWSNB and I know that some Lovecraftian snobs were offended by your use of Christian themes in your novel. Was that a concern of yours as you were sending it ..."

Honestly Bill, I truly believe that if you write something and it doesn't piss some people off, then you did something wrong. I would hate for anyone to think that I am mocking Lovecraft with my writing. I love the man's work, and I hope that my book encourages people to check his out. I don't think Lovecraft gets anywhere near the respect he deserves, and it saddens me how many people have never heard of him. But was I worried about irritating some of his fans? Not at all. I don't consider this book a pastiche or fan-fiction. It's my book that pays loving homage to some of the great works of Gothic dark fiction, most notably and most prominently Lovecraft.