Introductions

[Tim]

Damn, I meant Marie-Therese. Sorry! I really should proofread my messages, especially just after getting up in the morning (it's 6 AM here.)

[P.J.]

Hello everyone, I read and publish across genres, with literary horror being a core interest. Two books that have impressed me in recent years have been Hurley’s ‘The Loney’ and ‘Devil’s Day’. I’m just returning to reading Paraic O’Donnell’s ‘The House on Vesper Sands’ after a holiday in northern England that pulled out all the stops in terms of Gothic weather…

[P.J.]

Mimi wrote: "Hi PJ welcome to the group, it's a little quiet at the moment but a group reading coming up..."

Thanks Mimi.

[J.S.]

Hello to everyone I haven't yet said hello to. Goodreads has stopped sending me notifications, so I didn't know all this activity had been going on. Sorry.

[Becca]

Hi all ☺.
Just joined in hopes of some horror author inspiration. Loving all things Lovecraftian (any branching author recommendations welcome), Darcy Coates, Christina Henry, and Shani Struthers just to name a few.

[J.S.]

Hi Becca,

There are definitely some Lovecraft apprecianados here.

[Benjamin]

Welcome Becca. This is a pretty eclectic group. 'Literary' and 'Horror' mean a lot of different things to many people. I'm sure you will find many things of interest to you in this group.

I noticed you recently finished reading Whisperer in the Darkness. Are you familiar with the HP Lovecraft Society. They regularly produce old timey radio shows as well as a full length movie of Whisper in the Darkness. Not sure if that medium is your kind of thing.

[Becca]

Benjamin wrote: "Welcome Becca. This is a pretty eclectic group. 'Literary' and 'Horror' mean a lot of different things to many people. I'm sure you will find many things of interest to you in this group.

I notice..."

Hi Benjamin,
I haven't heard of the HP Lovevraft Society but it sounds right up my street. Where would you say would be the best place to access this? 😊

[Benjamin]

You will find everything you need here. http://www.hplhs.org/

Btw... I in no way shape or form work for or with this group. I have bought a few of their radio shows which are incredibly well done and entertaining along with their black and white movie, WitD. Have fun!

[Ronald]

Welcome to all the new members.

[Nick]

Hello, long-time horror fan here. I am a 24-year-old grad student and blogger. I love books, movies, video games, music, art, and tea.

I've been in the Literary Darkness group for a few years now, not knowing there was a Literary Horror group as well. I was really excited to discover this! Looking forward to reading with you all and finding new horror content.

[J.S.]

Hello Nicholas.

[James]

Hi everyone, I'm James and I'm from Kansas City where I live with my Brazilian wife. Here are some interesting facts about me:

- I love reading and writing existential horror and everything related
- I'm a vegetarian for religious reasons
- I speak a little Portuguese
- I don't smoke pot, but I do vape cannabis
- My wife and I were taking care of a feral cat, but she disappeared and it made it us sad. Hopefully she'll return!

I look forward to getting to know all of you and talking about books, especially horror fiction!

[J.S.]

James wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm James and I'm from Kansas City where I live with my Brazilian wife. Here are some interesting facts about me:

- I love reading and writing existential horror and everything relate..."

Hi James, lots to talk about round here.

[Marie-Therese]

Welcome, Nicholas and James! Make yourselves comfortable and chime in where and when you feel like it. I look forward to talking horror fiction with both of you.

[Darkling]

Hello i come from Spain always loved terror since i was a lil girl started with allan Poe and lovecfraft and local authors from the romantic era at 7-8 .I love so much clive barker,Stephen king,Sir Arthur Conan doyle, kipling,guy de maupassant,William blake,George orwell,Arthur machen,robert Williams chambers,ray bradbury,Ramsey Campbell i could be hours posting authors ...my library is about to explode all the house is full of bookshelves and piles of books in the most unexpected places ...cleaning here is terrible but i like to conserve my books

[James]

Darkling wrote: "Hello i come from Spain always loved terror since i was a lil girl started with allan Poe and lovecfraft and local authors from the romantic era at 7-8 .I love so much clive barker,Stephen king,Sir..."

Good to meet you, Darkling. I love Doyle and Lovecraft as well!

[Tim]

Hi y'all!

I'm Tim Prasil, and I've been a horror fan since I was a kid. It might have something to do with being born three days before Halloween. I just assumed all the spooky costumes and scary candy were a celebration of my brith. Well, okay. No past tense. I still go on that assumption.

I grew up to teach literature at the university level--including classes in vampire fiction, in ghost stories, and in the Frankenstein tradition.

About a year ago, though, I made the (dangerous?) decision to teach part-time so that I could focus on my indy press: Brom Bones Books. Via this imprint, I publish my Vera Van Slyke Ghostly Mysteries series. Probably more relevant to this group is my Phantom Traditions Library series, which includes Poe, Conan Doyle, Bierce, Hoffmann, Alcott, Kipling, and I hope some you've never met before. (I'll elaborate on a more fitting thread.)

I look forward to chatting with ya!

Tim

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

[Bill]

Welcome to Literary Horror, Tim. For extended information on your interesting literary projects, the Author Promotions thread is probably more appropriate. Look forward to your participation in our activities.

[J.S.]

Hello to everyone I haven't yet said hello to.

[Steven]

Hello everyone, I'm Steven and I live near Edinburgh, Scotland. I've been a group member for years but never joined in. I'm hoping to correct that in 2020, particularly as Santa was God enough to leave me a stack of Ramsey Campbell volumes that I'm dying to read.

[J.S.]

Hi Steven.

[Marie-Therese]

Steven wrote: "Hello everyone, I'm Steven and I live near Edinburgh, Scotland. I've been a group member for years but never joined in. I'm hoping to correct that in 2020..."

Welcome, Steven! I look forward to hearing more about your 2020 reading.

[J.S.]

Hello Taylor. Welcome aboard and good luck with the writing.

[Louvan]

Hi I'm Louise, from County Durham in England. Looking forward to discovering some new (to me!) authors and discussions with the group.

[J.S.]

Hi Louise, There are plentiful discussions about a wide range of authors here. Enjoy!

[Marie-Therese]

Louvan wrote: "Hi I'm Louise, from County Durham in England. Looking forward to discovering some new (to me!) authors and discussions with the group."

Welcome, Louise! Please feel free to chime in on any thread. We look forward to getting to know you and hope you discover some great reads here.

[DJ]

Hi! I’m the editor and main writer for a new website I’ve recently launched featuring original horror stories by all different writers. I was wondering whether any of you would consider collaborating with us and featuring your own short story on our website.

Lockingupweekly.wixsite.com/lockingup

[J.S.]

DJ wrote: "Hi! I’m the editor and main writer for a new website I’ve recently launched featuring original horror stories by all different writers. I was wondering whether any of you would consider collaborati..." Hi DJ. Apologies for not welcoming you sooner.

[William]

Hi, all! I just wanted to introduce myself to the group. I feel the best way to do this is with my bio:

“Avoiding horror’s traditional icons and their premeasured fright potential, Simmons crafts impression packed sketches in which characters made vulnerable by overpowering emotions find their reality giving imperceptibly-but irresistibly-away to a disturbing surreality.”- Publisher’s Weekly

Publisher’s Weekly finds William Simmons…scary.

Once you enter his world, so will you.

You see, William Simmons knows that we feed the dark. We nourish it with our fears, our desires, our tragedies. And in turn, we are fed by it. We share it with the ones we love and the ones we hate.

You do, too, gentle reader.

For to not feed the dark is to be devoured by it…and so the darkness spreads….

William Simmons tried to escape the darkness for over a decade. Now he has abandoned himself to it…embraced it…and will share it with the world.

Simmons “…evokes both Ray Bradbury and Joyce Carol Oates.” – Peter Bell, All Hallows

William Simmons is an acclaimed author, critic, anthologist, and journalist specializing in supernatural horror fiction. Eight of his stories received ‘Honorable Mentions’ in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror. His collection By Reason of Darkness received rave reviews from Cemetery Dance, All Hallows, and Publisher’s Weekly, who called him “a writer whose approach is both original and refreshingly unconventional.”

His first collection Becoming October sold out quickly upon release, and he collaborated on the Halloween collection Dark Harvest with author Paul Melznick. His stories have appeared in several venues, including Cemetery Dance, Flesh & Blood, Darkness Rising (1-9), Infinity Plus, Dark Discoveries, and many more. His poetry has appeared in Chizine, Gothic.net, Lullaby Hearse, Dead Cat Bouncing, etc.

Several bestselling authors have given him their unholy blessing, including the legendary late Hugh B. Cave and Tim Piccarilli. Graham Masterton, author of The Minatou, said Simmons “has the gift of making an ordinary day seem scary.” Nancy Kilpatrick, author of The Goth Bible, said “Simmons has a knack for constructing dark, creepy, introverted tales, full of obscure terrors that reflect nearly mythical realms.” And T.M. Wright, author of Strange Seed, compared Simmons’ horror fiction to “like being taken back forty years and discovering Poe for the first time, and M.R. James, and Shirley Jackson.”

An authority on supernatural and weird fiction, film, and folklore, Simmons has contributed reviews, essays, and scholarship to Rue Morgue, Publisher’s Weekly, Wormwood, Hellnotes, Gauntlet, Cemetery Dance, and others. His review columns include “Dark Devotions”, “Literary Lesions”, and “Folk Fears”. He contributed an introduction to Falling into Heaven, by Maynard & Sims, and his reviews have been blurbed for several books.

As a journalist, he created Our Ladies of Darkness, one of the earlier interview columns devoted to female genre authors, and Beyond the Fifth Dimension: The Twilight Zone Interviews, which spoke with surviving scribes of the influential television series. He also conducted two special chapbook length interviews with Richard Matheson and F. Paul Wilson, both for Gauntlet Press.
His reviews have been used as blurbs by Tartan Asian Extreme and he has contributed Liner Notes to DVD releases.

“His anthologies are carefully crafted, the stories bleeding into each other with seamless precision.” – Maynard & Sims, Demon Eyes.

As an editor, he has worked freelance for The Earwig Flesh Factory, Underworlds, and Dark Discoveries. He has several anthologies and single author collections in development for Shadow House Publishing, including the PENNY DREAD!FULS series, the SHILLING SHOCK!ERS series, and THE HORROR HALL OF FAME NOVELLAS series, which features THE TERROR & THE COMING OF THE TERROR by ARTHUR MACHEN, THE THING IN THE WOODS by HARPER WILLIAMS, THE BECKONING FAIR ONE by OLIVER ONIONS, A PHANTOM LOVER by VERNON LEE, and THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD by H.P. LOVECRAFT.

William has lived around the Catskill region of New York State for most of his life. He has worked as a paralegal, chef, teacher, housecleaner, bookseller, and a traumatic brain injury case manager. He is married with a daughter. He suffers from depression, anxiety, heart disease, and diabetes. He disappeared from the publishing world 13 years ago due to severe illness, personal tragedy, and inexplicable events that convinced him to stop writing horror fiction. Over a decade later, similar occurrences have prompted him to return.

While he won’t speak about that time in his life, he offers a warning: there may be little difference between real life and fiction. We exist to feed the dark and in turn are fed by it….

William loves to speak horror with fans and readers, and is available for podcast appearances and interviews. Contact him at Facebook (@WilliamsSimmonsAuthor), Twitter (@SimmonsofNight), Goodreads, and Amazon Author Central

[Marie-Therese]

William wrote: "Hi, all! I just wanted to introduce myself to the group. I feel the best way to do this is with my bio:."

Welcome, William! That is one remarkably impressive bio/CV. I hope to get to know you better here at Literary Horror. Feel free to jump in anywhere at any time-we're very casual regarding the age of threads and always welcome new input.

[Catherine]

Hi, everyone. I'm a new member so just dropping a line of introduction. I'm a U.K. reader and writer of dark fiction who prefers her horror gothic and literary rather than full of gore.

[Marie-Therese]

Catherine wrote: "Hi, everyone. I'm a new member so just dropping a line of introduction. I'm a U.K. reader and writer of dark fiction who prefers her horror gothic and literary rather than full of gore."

Welcome, Catherine! Feel free to nominate books you'd like to read in our monthly read polls or propose a buddy read. A number of us share your preferences and would likely be glad to read along.

[Alan]

Hi everyone my name is Alan, and I am a huge horror fan, so much so I’ve just started to publish my own stories. My biggest inspiration is James Herbert. To this day I think his book The Ghosts of Sleath, is the best ghost story ever written. I am also a fan of classic ghost stories, such as those written by M R James.

[J.S.]

Hi Alan - hope you enjoy the posts in this group.

[Alan]

thank you J.S, its nice to meet you, and I look forward to chatting to all of you.

[S.B.]

Hi, I'm Steve or S. B. I'm a published author, write what I'd love to read: thrillers, horror, senior romance. Indie author, screwed by independent publishers; that's a horror story! The Demon Hunters: Succubus Resurrection This latest novel is a horror story. I like stories with high emotions and dynamic characters, as human nature was my area of expertise as a school psychologist and Clinical Social Worker. I don't like mindless horror, or graphic horror, violence without a unique plot. I grew up watching the black and white 1940s and 50s classic movies Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein with implied violence. Serial killers now bore me. creativity catches my interest. Any help I can be to fellow writers, glad to assist. www.redstoneauthor.com


The Demon Hunters: Succubus Resurrection

[J.S.]

S.B. wrote: "Hi, I'm Steve or S. B. I'm a published author, write what I'd love to read: thrillers, horror, senior romance. Indie author, screwed by independent publishers; that's a horror story! The Demon Hunt..."

Hi SB, welcome aboard. There are quite a few published writers in this group and we are always happy to welcome some more. Mostly we are all about reading and discussing horror and dark fiction and we have sufficiently wide tastes that your love of the 40s and 50s classics should find a home here. Hope you enjoy your time here.

[Alan]

thank you J S Watts, nice to meet you

[Louise]

Hi there,


I'm not new to Goodreads or writing, but Rosie Shadow is my first horror.
Any tips on where to promote it to potentially interested readers would be terrific. It is a horror with supernatural elements.

Louise
https://louiseworthington.co.uk/  

[Vider]

Hello!
My name is Vider Leprav and I write dark fiction/ horror short stories. My tastes in books lean toward the more disturbing, strange and/or twisted kinds.

[J.S.]

Hello Vider, there are many writers and readers of horror in this group and many different tastes for the type of dark fiction we read and write. Welcome.

[Jay]

Hey everyone, I'm really glad to be here! I adore horror, both in writing and gaming. I suppose I just like it as a genre in general, haha. There's nothing quite like being scared.

I'm always on the search for good new horror novels (and short stories), so I'm happy I found this group. I'm also a fan of thrillers and sci-fi. Sci-fi horror is almost always a win for me! I can't wait to go through some of the posts here and find new books to read.

Happy to meet you all!:)

[Joshua]

I’m Granville Nash. My heart swells somewhere between fantasy, horror, and science fiction. The novel I’m writing contains all three of these elements. I’m intrigued by the weird, the numinous, literary, heroic, mystical, and ghastly. Currently chewing my way through the VanderMeers’ anthology of The Weird, I hope to find friends here who can share my love for literary works that suggest horizons beyond the ones we believe we understand.

[Ronald]

Welcome to the group to those who recently joined.

[Erik]

Salutation, all!
I’m Erik, son of a librarian and typesetter, by profession a historian and bookseller, by penchant a reader and writer.

I read in divers genres and modes, including everything that might be encompassed by Literary Horror. Pleased to have stumbled across this group, and I look forward to exchanging thoughts and discoveries with all of you.

[Bill]

Welcome to the group, Erik.

We're organizing our August monthly read. Any nominations?

[J.S.]

A belated hi to everyone who has joined recently.

[Bill]

August poll is up:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Reminder: if you vote for a book and it wins, you are committing to participate in the discussion.

[Wodwo]

Hi, everyone! I'm Guillaume (but for some reason, I never use my real name when creating profiles, though I easily divulge it). I'm French, so my messages will probably contain various gallicisms, lapsi, malapropisms and so on. Sorry about that - if something makes no sense, just choose the most charitable interpretation! Oh, and I'm new to Goodreads (I don't spend that much time online, actually).

I've loved horror for a long time now, beginning with King and Lovecraft way back when, then gradually discovering the canon. Favorite authors : MR James, Arthur Machen (I saw The Hill of Dreams wasn't much of a success here - pity; I think it is a great -- though admittedly flawed - book), Robert Aickman, Ramsey Campbell, Tom Ligotti, Adam Nevill, Mark Samuels...

I think I'll have a go with Maggie Siebert's Bonding. I'm not that keen on body horror, generally, and that may be a bit Dennis Cooper-ish for my taste (I've never read DC, actually - I'm afraid to), but it seems to have a surreal side I could enjoy. I read Pit Stop online and rather liked it, so I'm confident.