(Part 2) Best horror literature & fiction books according to redditors
We found 15,164 Reddit comments discussing the best horror literature & fiction books. We ranked the 3,954 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
I have to admit though one of the books from your first link "Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmosphere: Three Novels" actually sounds like it'd be a fun read.
It's a matter of the audience. Some Taliban fighters are heroes to those who support their cause. The 9/11 hijackers are heroes to AQ and Daesh types.
One man's monster is another man's glorious savior.
If you're intrigued by that concept, I'd suggest this (it's the book, not the terrible movie): I Am Legend
Bizarro Fiction is hilariously awesome. Ass Goblins was an alright story IMO. Other books in this particular genre include:
and so much more. more info
EDIT: Spacing
Desktop link
I would have to say John Dies at the End. While it's not obviously inspired by Lovecraft, after I read it the only thing I could say to describe it was 'Modern-day Lovecraftian Comedy'.
Without being spoilery, there's a mysterious place
in the pacific northwest (I believe... I could be wrong but it feels like it)inspired by St Marks Wildlife Refuge in florida called Area X that has lots of strange behaviors, and the first book is about a team of researchers sent in to investigate it.Sorry, I can't really say much without spoiling stuff. However, the first book is only 208 pages, so I highly recommend finding a copy at your local library (or it's $7.73 on amazon) and reading through it in an evening
Hello, Cracked writer here.
I understand some of the frustration you feel, but I don't fully agree with your conclusions. I have done the Cracked list and it is a great launching off point for writing.
The format may be similar, but because it is popular and smarter than Buzzfeed or the many Buzzfeed knock-offs, it opens a lot of doors. I used my Cracked resume to get into contact with Fox Studios, and as a result I have had two seasons of a college sports web series called Suit Up, the second season now airing on DirecTV's Audience Channel.
There are several writers for the site who have gone on to be published. Among them
In addition, if you go into the Lounge section of the forum you will find threads about other sites that pay and offer other types of writing. I wrote for Playboy's The Smoking Jacket for a while.
Overall Cracked has made me a much better writer and prepared me for receiving feedback, collaborating with other authors and building credentials. It's not the end all, be all of crafting great writers, but it is a rare gem that it is a site that allows anyone to sign up, contribute whatever weird or obscure knowledge and get an article before hundreds of thousands to millions of readers, all while giving far more attention to developing writing far more than other sites.
Yes it is.
Normal link
Kindle Edition
Incoming wall of text! Sorry in advance, look at the bolded words to kind of do a TLDR of my reply :P
Read "Annihilation", the first book in the Southern Reach Trilogy, by Jeff VanderMeer. It'll ruin Tanis for you, because you'll see where they got a lot of their content from (to put it nicely).
The two last books in that series are okay, but I wasn't completely on board for them. Loved the first one, though. You could also just watch the movie version that's on Netflix, but know this: while well-made in some aspects, the director chose not to re-read the book OR read its sequels, so it diverges from the original book / book series quite a lot in some unfortunate ways.
I'm currently (still) trying to get through [House of Leaves](https://www.amazon.com/House-Leaves-Mark-Z-Danielewski/dp/0375703764/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1536787331&sr=1-1&keywords=House+of+LEaves) by Mark Z. Danielewski. It's a fantastically weird story about a house...And about other things. It's probably the weirdest book I've ever read, in that it plays a lot with the format. There's at least two stories being told simultaneously most of the time, which can get kind of overwhelming. Think of it like if a regular horror movie and a found footage horror movie had a bastard child together. And that bastard child was this book.
If you're looking for weird fiction in the form of podcasts, I'd direct your attention to Archive 81. For my money, it's the absolute BEST in weird fiction podcasts. It's currently 3 seasons, and each season the podcast changes. It's still the same overarching story / world, but the settings are way different.
Other notable podcasts include King Falls AM which has sort of a goofy x-files-if-they-were-a-radio-station vibe to it, featuring both a lot of good comedy, good songs (when they happen) and the occasional gutwrenching drama. The writing is good, the performance is amazing. You could also go for Darkest Night if you're into the idea of podcasts as a horror medium. They do excellent stuff, and their new season starts this October! They feature a few cameos from Michelle Visage and RuPaul if that's your thing (and these two amazing people feature more heavily in the other podcast by this company, Deadly Manners.
Going back to books, I suggest Laird Barron to anyone who likes horror and short stories. He has mixes of gritty noir and cosmic horror, and he's an absolute blast. The Imago Sequence is my favorite collection of his, but The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All is great as well. Laird Barron has also appeared in compilations outside his own, and was part of compiling the excellent modern Cthulhu short story collection, Autumn Cthulhu. This book is great if you like the idea of cosmic H.P. Lovecraft-esque horror, but don't so much like the gross racism that HPL had (and showed in his work).
If you like Slenderman and have time to burn, I'd suggest looking at Marble Hornets on YouTube. It has 87 "main" entries of varying (but mostly short) length, with a bunch of cryptic in-between shorts. It's one of the first Slenderman pieces of media, though they don't call him that. In Marble Hornets, he's called "The Operator". TBH it's sort of varying in quality (especially in the beginning), as I'm fairly sure the people who made it were film students at the time. As they go along, they have some amazing moments where they show off some really, really great editing skills. Of course, you could also buy the whole series on BluRay if that's your thing, but it's available for free on their YouTube channel.
Let’s say you have an ax. Just a cheap one, from Home Depot. On one bitter winter day, you use said ax to behead a man. Don’t worry, the man was already dead. Or maybe you should worry, because you’re the one who shot him.
He had been a big, twitchy guy with veiny skin stretched over swollen biceps, a tattoo of a swastika on his tongue. Teeth filed into razor-sharp fangs, you know the type. And you’re chopping off his head because, even with eight bullet holes in him, you’re pretty sure he’s about to spring back to his feet and eat the look of terror right off your face.
On the follow-through of the last swing, though, the handle of the ax snaps in a spray of splinters. You now have a broken ax. So, after a long night of looking for a place to dump the man and his head, you take a trip into town with your ax. You go to the hardware store, explaining away the dark reddish stains on the broken handle as barbecue sauce. You walk out with a brand new handle for your ax.
The repaired ax sits undisturbed in your garage until the next spring when, on one rainy morning, you find in your kitchen a creature that appears to be a foot-long slug with a bulging egg sac on its tail. Its jaws bite one of your forks in half with what seems like very little effort. You grab your trusty ax and chop the thing into several pieces. On the last blow, however, the ax strikes a metal leg of the overturned kitchen table and chips out a notch right in the middle of the blade.
Of course, a chipped head means yet another trip to the hardware store. They sell you a brand new head for your ax. As soon as you get home with your newly-headed ax, though, you meet the reanimated body of the guy you beheaded last year. He’s also got a new head, stitched on with what looks like plastic weed trimmer line, and it’s wearing that unique expression of “you’re the man who killed me last winter” resentment that one so rarely encounters in everyday life.
You brandish your ax. The guy takes a long look at the weapon with his squishy, rotting eyes and in a gargly voice he screams, “That’s the same ax that slayed me!”
Is he right?
Here's an Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Annihilation-Novel-Southern-Reach-Trilogy/dp/0374104093
Jeff VanderMeer is the author name.
Ellen Datlow is phenomenal and has edited a ton of really great work. Another standout I think would be Jeff and Ann VanderMeer who edited the outstanding collection The Weird among other things. One of my personal favorites is Thomas F. Monteleone for editing the Borderlands series (I had the White Wolf editions), which contains so many masterfully bizarre and memorable stories and is probably my top collection/series of all time.
>How do video games help you? They improve your hand-eye coordination. They improve your reflexes. You can learn new vocabulary in video games too through the story. If you're playing multiplayer, it can be an opportunity to meet new people and socialize.
True.
>How does reading help you? Well, it can increase your vocabulary. That's a small improvement, but it's an improvement.
That's a gross oversimplification. Books at their finest give us insights into the human condition. They can tell us more about the world around us, and other people's perspective on things, or they can challenge our most firmly held convictions. That's not just nonfiction books either, even a simple vampire story can shock you with a new perspective on things.
Video games typically just aren't this mature. Few games have meaningful content beyond just being "fun." Partially because it's a newer medium, and partially because of the industry's fixation on selling games to teenage boys.
>So obviously, video games are better for you than reading.
Not obvious to me.
> And when the people that were around when video games were invented die out, video games won't be seen as "taboo" anymore. They won't be something that a parent needs to limit a child's time on.
You haven't made that argument. Children should be able to play games for 20 hours straight at the expense of other things in their life... why? Because it might improve their hand-eye coordination? Depending on the type of game even that's arguable. After 200 hours of grinding in a JRPG you stop getting anything really useful out of the experience. What about Farmville or any of those crappy iOS games that are explicitly designed to be time sucks with IAP's? It's like eating 50 cans of Pringles. You might want to, and it might taste good, but there's better things you could be doing.
I can concede to your overall point though, depending on what you're playing and what you're reading. Are you playing "Papers, Please", and reading Twilight? Yeah, the video game is a meaningful experience and the book is trash.
It's almost as good as Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmosphere
but not as good as the Ass Goblins of Auschwitz.
Anyone that likes Welcome to Night Vale NEEDS to read John Dies at the End. Seriously.
http://www.amazon.com/John-Dies-End-David-Wong-ebook/dp/B002Q7H7JC/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1
Do yourself a favor.
...know what it takes to go through the design process of creating your own 'professional' looking book covers.
Speaking as a cover designer, here's a number of elements where I see a lot of amateurs messing up:
Failing to research their genre niche to see what the covers of the top-selling books look like. Book buyers use the covers to guess at what the book will contain, to narrow down their choices. There are far too many books available to expect that readers will read the description of every single result of their search on whatever platform they're searching on, so you need to signal genre, sub-genre, and mood loudly enough that it jumps out as someone's eye is scanning over a batch of 1.5" tall covers that are all competing for attention.
What signals those things, and what things readers are looking for, changes subtly over time, so you need to keep an eye out. I designed the house look for the Zoe Chant shifter romance books (I don't do all the covers; many of the authors do their own) and while we've kept the same overall look, when Zoe Chant first published the idea was to play up the cozy qualities in the books. As action romance has gotten more popular in the past few years, the challenge now is to play up the dramatic tension without signalling "alphahole" because the Zoe Chant niche is focused on ultimately kind heroes. This mostly involves a lot of dramatic lighting, and in recent months a lot more glowy elements to pull focus. The books are the same sort that have been published all along, we're just focusing on different aspects now.
Yes, there are always books that break the mold of current design and sell a ton, and thus set new fashions that everyone else chases. Your book will not be the one that does that.
Leaving large flat areas of color in the design. This also fits in with researching covers in your niche: large flat areas of color are common in non-fiction, but not so much in fiction. At the very least, fill in that empty blackness with a texture or with words. If you have a background in graphic design and understand how to use negative space properly, go for it, but if you don't, then I wouldn't attempt it.
Failing to give the focal point of the design a 'pop'. 'Pop' means to stand out. You can do this with color, composition, negative space, light glows, etc., and you should use more than one thing. It should be immediately apparent what the focal point is, because you have less than one second to grab the reader's eye and make them interested. The more experienced you are, the more subtle you can go--I love the cover for Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House, where the broken-up letterforms cause you to look twice and realize it's a snake doing that.
Failing to take lighting on the stock photos into account. If you grab two stock photos and montage them into a picture, they need to have complementary lighting. You can't have one high-key (bright, few shadows) and one low-key (dark, dramatic), and if you have the lighting in each photo coming from a different direction, you need to account for it in the rest of the picture because the two pictures will never blend properly if you don't. Yup, even in photomontages that aren't supposed to look like one photo: we are used to consistent lighting schemes in real life, and inconsistency draws the attention in a bad way because the brain goes "Something is wrong here."
Slapping the text on as an afterthought. The best cover designs involve the text from the very beginning, and make sure the composition includes the text. Ninth House above is a very obvious (and also very trendy right now) example.
(Also note that while Ninth House technically has large flat areas of black in the artwork, the title covers it up.)
Being afraid to put text on top of the artwork. Too many amateurs either make or buy a nice picture, and then go "I can't hide this picture!" and scrunch the title waaaaay down at the bottom and put their name waaaay up at the top. Ideally, you should have researched what your genre's conventions are--note that most trad publishers often put the text smack on top of the artwork, even interacting with it--and worked with the artist to develop a composition that takes the text into account. Barring that, put the full artwork on your website where your fans can see it (and maybe buy prints from your artist, or you if you licensed the copyright), and just slap that title on top.
Joe Abercrombie can get away with breaking this rule because he's Joe Abercrombie (and because the positive shape of the helmet POINTS AT THE TITLE, and because his name is BRIGHT RED and focus-pulling, and because the lighting on the helment is dark at the bottom and light at the top--three things that drive the eye to Abercrombie's name, which is the focal point).
Using default Photoshop text effects. Do not use anything more than a subtle drop shadow if you're new to this. Most text effects just look muddy at Amazon search results size, and are terrible anyway. If you find yourself looking at your title on the cover in a flat color and thinking, "This looks boring. I should jazz it up," then it means you are using the wrong font. It's still going to look wrong once you put a pillow emboss and outer glow on it. Go look at creativemarket.com, filter by price range, and invest in a (READABLE) font that is more interesting than Arial or Times New Roman or whatever you were using that came default with your computer.
Not making their author name big enough. You shouldn't go as big as Robert Jordan's name if you're not as big as Robert Jordan, but when your name is tiny, it looks like you're apologizing for having dared write the book.
Speaking of Jordan, I love these current covers. This is what you do if you can't bear to cover the artwork: you frame it, and you pull colors for the frame and the text from the artwork, and you incorporate interesting shapes into the frame. As a not-well-known author, you'd put the title into text the size of Jordan's name and put your name into the smaller text, and in the case of these covers, the frame would draw attention to your name, so the text could be smaller. (Although for an unknown author who wanted a similar cover, I'd put the series name into the frame, make the title large, and put the author name across the top.)
I'll read damn near anything I can get my hands on, but I prefer fiction.
Some non-fiction books that I'm currently enjoying though are Godel, Escher, Bach and A Short History of Nearly Everything
On the fiction list right now are Foucault's Pendulum and The Broom of the System.
You're thinking of A Slow Regard of Silent Things, which is just a short(er?) story. I finished the second book last night and was frantically trying to find out if the 3rd was available for preorder anywhere...
If you're a fan of when CK2 bleeds a bit into the fantasy/supernatural world, I can heartily recommend The Black Company by Glen Cook. Follows a mercenary company in dark fantasy world, and is a damn good read.
And then if that takes you, then maybe give Battle Brothers a try. You run a mercenary band in dark fantasy world. It's sort of like Mount and Blade mixed with XCom, in a good way. Best of all, it's just about to leave Early Access, so no waiting 3 years for it to be complete!
It looks like the city on this book cover: http://www.amazon.com/Rampaging-Fuckers-Everything-Shitting-Atmosphere/dp/1933929782
I'll go you one better on the crazy title scale
Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmosphere
The Black Company- the heroes are basically the heroes just by virtue of not quite being as bad as the really bad guys- they're basically Fantasy Blackwater.
This is from the article where the quote is from (can't say it better):
>"But I'm not good at anything!" Well, I have good news -- throw enough hours of repetition at it and you can get sort of good at anything. I was the world's shittiest writer when I was an infant. I was only slightly better at 25. But while I was failing miserably at my career, I wrote in my spare time for eight straight years, an article a week, before I ever made real money off it. It took 13 years for me to get good enough to make the New York Times best-seller list. It took me probably 20,000 hours of practice to sand the edges off my sucking.
>
>Don't like the prospect of pouring all of that time into a skill? Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the sheer act of practicing will help you come out of your shell -- I got through years of tedious office work because I knew that I was learning a unique skill on the side. People quit because it takes too long to see results, because they can't figure out that the process is the result.
>
>The bad news is that you have no other choice.
No /s when I say good luck
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BIK73QA/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_rqAEDb8EZ7Q9V
This book is a great collection. Just read the whole thing. The "Call of Cthulu" is in there of course, but related Cthulu mythology is peppered liberally though-out so much of his work that you'd miss out on all kinds of fun referenes to it to just read the "This is clearly about Cthulu" stories. All his stuff is great to read anyways, really fun and exciting. You also would be sore to miss other Lovecraftian stuff that has influenced pop-culture but you maybe just don't know it yet.
PS
I see this particular collection in used (as well as new of course) book store all of the time. It's easy to find, is usually cheap and seems pretty thorough. But really, any decent sized collection of this stories is going to work just fine.
If you really want to delve deeper into this genre, I recommend getting your hands on Jeff and Ann Vandermeer's anthology The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories. In my opinion there is no other single anthology that covers so much ground of this particular thread of speculative fiction while being up to date with current developments. It is the veritable weird fiction bible, within it you will find selected stories from all the essential writers as well as many more obscure ones. You couldn't find a better place to start if you wanted to see what is out there. I won't repeat any of the suggestions made here, but stories by most of the authors you see in this thread will be in this anthology.
The first Bakemonogatari LN.
Here's the amazon link for Bake part 1 if you want it.
Better yet, read the book. The movie was quite disappointing in comparison.
I read Murakami's Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman and reread A Catcher in the Rye. I understood ACitR much better this time through and appreciated the style.
I began reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest but couldn't get into it; I subsequently tried The Man in the High Castle and felt the same way. It's a good thing I'm approaching my goal because I've seemed to have tired of reading. I'm going to try rereading Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind in anticipation for the late October release of The Silent Regard of Slow Things.
Ann and Jeff VanderMeer did a pair of anthologies, The New Weird and The Weird that are a good place, I think, to start.
There’s this
I'm not a huge Pratchett fan, but his collaboration with Neil Gaiman is still one of my favorite books.
Good Omens, wonderful book.
Good Omens, about an angel and demon trying to avert the apocalypse when the Antichrist is accidentally raised as a perfectly normal 10-year old would fit.
If you don't mind children's fantasy, A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears is hilarious.
Would also second Douglas Adams.
There's still time to emotionally scar a loved one. Run to the book store, drive there at excessive speed, teleport if you can.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052RERW8/ref=rdr_ext_sb_ti_hist_1
or for more laughs and marginally fewer decapitations:
http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Fools-Red-Queens-Book-ebook/dp/B00G3L1338/ref=asap_B004HNAQOQ?ie=UTF8
Happy holidays!
I started a giant reading project because I couldn't figure out if my WIP would be classified as YA or adult fantasy (was already pretty certain it wouldn't be NA because right now NA seems to be more "this side of erotica" than "this side of college"). Anyways, 123 books into the top /r/fantasy titles and Big Names of YA (focusing on SFF), and I've been keeping track. Classifications still come down to gut feeling overall, but there are some trends, most of which /u/bethrevis already mentioned.
YA Trends:
Adult Trends:
Adult Books that Appeal to Teenagers Trends:
A couple books that go against the trends I found would be Two Boys Kissing and Prince of Thorns.
Two Boys Kissing is marketed as YA and largely features teenage characters, but it's a chorus narration, jumps around between multiple POVs, and has a rather depressing tone. It's well-written to the point of belonging in the Literature with a Capital L section. I think most people looking to pick up a YA book for a quick, easy read are going to find it boring. BUT, with the current market, it should probably stay on the YA shelves because that's the group most likely to be looking for books about teenagers having teenage lives in high school.
Prince of Thorns has the 14-year old character in a leadership position battling authority and is in first person with a breakneck pace... But because the MC is so brutal and there's so much death without reflection, it gets called adult and I agree with that.
Oh, and the whole "diversity as a marketing point" thing? I ran stats on the books in my list. There are obvious problems with self-selection here, but still:
Main Character Traits in YA vs Adult Books
So YA isn't necessarily more diverse... It could just be calling itself that.
...I am now tempted to run numbers on POV in adult vs YA fiction.
(Calling my book adult fantasy, by the way.)
Sounds like you're thinking of "Notebook Found in a Deserted House" by Robert Bloch (Weird Tales, May 1951). A very creepy and atmospheric story, it helped to popularize the modern Shub-Niggurath, especially since Chaosium cribbed from it to create their "dark young" CoC creatures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notebook_Found_in_a_Deserted_House
I first read "Notebook" in the Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos collection from Del Rey, available here:
www.amazon.com/Tales-Cthulhu-Mythos-H-Lovecraft/dp/034542204X/
Sort of off the top of my head:
Not Supernatural:
Supernatural:
Often times books about survival don't need to be fiction to be amazingly interesting, so I'll add these:
This is tough, because everyone's definition of horror is different. But in terms of feeling like the narrator is also suffering along with you, here are a few I can think of where the worst monsters are human...
COWS by Matthew Stokoe. I had nightmares. I keep thinking about maybe rereading it and then I chicken out.
HAUNTED by Chuck Palahniuk, which has the added benefit of providing multiple writers/narrators who are all completely messed up!
THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Jack Ketchum, or really almost anything by him, but this one is based on a true story and is told from the perspective of a young man/boy who is profoundly uncomfortable with what he's witnessing.
THE PAINTED BIRD is an incredibly messed up but now debunked "true" wartime story by Jerzy Kosinski.
JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN by Dalton Trumbo is a very tough, claustrophobic, powerless experience.
The Library of America one is a nice hardcover with a great collection and some decent contextual biographical information. They do good work, and it gives Lovecraft legitimacy that they did an edition for him.
http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-Library-America/dp/1931082723
I also HIGHLY recommend audio versions. Talented reader + Lovecraft = amazing.
There was an ebook on Google Play, but I can't see it anymore (might be because of my location).
You can buy the paperbacks over Amazon, so far we have Kizu and Bake 1 (out of 3) with an option for Audible or through Audibooks.com. If Amazon doesn't ship to you, BookDepository probably will. The translation was done by Vertical Inc., if you want further links.
For all the other places, check the answers to basically the same question posted 4 hours ago.
Have you checked out Mark Lawrence? I'm not really a fan of Grimdark fantasy but his books are amazing.
https://www.amazon.com/Prince-Thorns-Broken-Empire-Book-ebook/dp/B0052RERW8/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
> I used to intern at a place that got tons of crazy mail, and you'd get these long winded, eloquent, yet delousinal ranting letters. It was amazing, it created in me some weird love of well written paranoid bunk, or well written literature based off of conspiracy ideas.
Then I'm guessing you're one of the characters in this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Foucaults-Pendulum-Umberto-Eco/dp/015603297X/
(absolutely worth a read BTW, especially in your case)
I found the aliens in Octavia Butlers Xenogenisis/Lilith's Brood trilogy (link to book 1) to be extremely interesting and different, but not so far off difference as to be confusing. VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy (book 1) had some pretty far out aliens that definitely fit that bill, though, but is only tangentially military.
edit: just saw I am not the only one to mention Lilith's Brood; props to u/emopest for getting to it first. Leaving the comment because it is just that good!
Here's a few recent books, all good or very good:
Last Plane to Heaven, Jay Lake (short story collection)
The Adjacent
, Chris Priest
On the Steel Breeze, Alistair Reynolds (Book2 in series)
The Causal Angel, Hannu Rajaniemi (Book3 in series)
Strange Bodies, Marcel Theroux
The Martian, Andy Weir (recommended!)
ShipStar, Benford-Niven (Book2 in series)
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
A Darkling Sea, James Cambias
The Disestablishment of Paradise, by Phillip Mann {I've just started this one, so can't say yet if good or great or crappy, but it's started off very good).
...And if you have not yet discovered The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanDerMeer, you should probably check it out.
I have thought about doing the same thing. I started thinking about this after I read the first three books in the "Black Company" series by Glen Cook. I would suggest checking it out. Very good read. Might give you a lot of ideas.
In thinking about the campaign that I wanted to make, I also thought about using the tales of the yawning portal book. This would give me something to use as a kind of filler. Just kind of re-flavor some of the mobs/bosses/feel of the dungeon to fit my needs.
I was also thinking of having my players be the "special ops" component of the military. This would give an easy explanation to why they always needed to sneak off or why they have such better toys than the rest.
In case you are interested. Here is a link for the first three books. https://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Black-Company-Glen-Cook/dp/0765319233/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1497121270&sr=8-3&keywords=the+black+company.
I would say the three you listed are definitely canonical, with Mieville and Vandermeer being considered part of the "New Weird" revival. I think really Jeff and Anne VanderMeer's anthology has most of what would be canonical, along with some more obscure stuff that is important but not widely known.
You can view the authors in that anthology here at this Amazon preview and it's well worth having on your book shelf.
There are certainly important writers who were omitted either by necessity or for other reasons, but it's a great starting point for such a discussion. I for one was surprised William Hope Hodgson, Ambrose Bierce, and Walter De La Mare were not included amongst the older authors in that anthology, and I was a little surprised also that it did not go a little further back, historically, with something like a Poe short story or an excerpt from Melmoth the Wanderer. I would think of Hodgson, Bierce, and de la Mare as canonical, but they were omitted. Oh well, it's impossible to do something like that perfectly.
For what it's worth, my favorite, and in my opinion, those that should be considered modern canon, of the newer weird authors are: K.J. Bishop, Kelly Link, M. John Harrison, and Michael Cisco, in addition to Mieville and Vandermeer. My favorite older ones are De La Mare, Franz Kafka (my favorite author of all time right here), and Jean Ray. I think Kelly Link probably has the most staying power of the more recent authors, while Bishop and Cisco are less recognizable even if they are important. I'd also throw in Ligotti as important to the field, though that's more based on impression and word of mouth than direct experience as I've only read one of his stories. People seem to love that elusive fellow.
Some authors from the middling period (I'd estimate 1940s-1970s) that I would say are most canonical are Daphne du Maurier, Charles Beaumont (wrote for Twilight Zone), Richard Matheson, Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury. I was also surprised that Matheson was not included in that anthology. I think that in a lot of cases, stories by those authors are well-known and have become important cultural markers, even if the author's names are sometimes forgotten. Almost everybody is familiar with Jackson's "The Lottery," even if they don't read weird lit. Almost everybody is familiar with one of du Maurier's stories, even if they don't know it (The Birds, Don't Look Now). I think that's an important marker of considering if something is important to a genre because it acts in a kind of ambassadorial fashion. Likewise with someone like Kafka: he wrote very weird stories, and he was so talented at it that a new word was coined to describe something with that particular weird quality that his stories had.
Most of the authors that Centipede Press chooses for its fancy editions should probably also be considered part of the canon, though they do also put out hard-boiled crime fiction and straight-up horror sometimes. S.T. Joshi, who is an important editor in the field, puts out his Library of Weird Fiction series through Centipede, so you can look through those authors as important staples which are in some cases not included in the anthology I linked above.
EDIT - Expanded a bit
The VanderMeer's book The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories is a great place to start.
If you're looking for something really dark I'd suggest Harry Connolly's Twenty Palaces series. The first one is Child of Fire. I really enjoyed it and Jim Butcher has also recommend it. Keep in mind there are only 3 books and 1 prequel that Harry self published due to his publisher dropping him.
If you're looking for something stupid and funny I recommend John Dies at the End and it's sequel This Books is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It. I have to admit I'm a bit biased on those though, I won a free signed copy of TBiFoS by participating in an alternate reality game around the time of its release.
I would suggest The Music of Erich Zann. (you might guess that's one of my faves.)
Also: Beyond the Wall of Sleep is a good one that I don't see mentioned enough.
There are a bunch of his works here. Read at your leisure.
Here are some print collections of his work that you might like if you prefer reading paper instead of a screen.
(and as you noted, the ones in the sidebar are indeed a perfect place to start, they are some of the best.)
Penpal - Dathan Auerbach
http://www.amazon.com/Penpal-ebook/dp/B008WVVKCQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374130614&sr=8-1&keywords=penpal+dathan+auerbach
Prince of Thorns, the first book in the Broken Empire trilogy (Mark Lawrence) is only $1.99 on Amazon right now..
Infected by Scott Sigler is scary, but not because of the subject matter. No, the scary part is the build up to one particular scene. It's the first book in a long time that made me not want to read more because I knew what was coming, but it was good enough to read it anyway. Now I can't look in my cutlery drawer with out cringing a little.
Sci Fi, ok cool. Here are a few very entertaining Sci-Fi audiobooks (you can actually find some of these free).
Infected by Scott Sigler, with a sequel titled 'Contagious'. If you search for Scott Sigler online, you will be directed to his website, and can go through itunes to get the free podiocast.
http://www.amazon.com/Infected-Novel-Scott-Sigler/dp/030740630X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1311807514&sr=8-3
Robopocalypse
http://www.amazon.com/Robopocalypse-Novel-Daniel-H-Wilson/dp/0385533853/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311807626&sr=1-1
For fantasy, I highly recommend 'The Name of the Wind' by patrick Rothfuss
http://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicles-Day/dp/0756405890/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311807743&sr=1-1
The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
http://www.amazon.com/Warded-Man-Peter-V-Brett/dp/0345518705/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311807801&sr=1-1
For Horror I recommend
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
http://www.amazon.com/Darkly-Dreaming-Dexter-Vintage-Lizard/dp/0307473708/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311807869&sr=1-1
Serial Uncut
http://www.amazon.com/Serial-Uncut-J-Konrath/dp/1456401580/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311808020&sr=1-1
For the taste of apocalyptic greatness I recommend
World War Z
http://www.amazon.com/World-War-Oral-History-Zombie/dp/0307346617/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311808107&sr=1-1
One Second After
http://www.amazon.com/One-Second-After-William-Forstchen/dp/0765356864/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311808128&sr=1-1
I have other audiobooks that touches multiple categories. For a nice series, there are two I really love. The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King, and The Dresden Files series.
I'd suggest starting here. From there I'd read the rest of the Cthulhu mythos and then dive into the Dream Cycle. As for people like him, he had a lot of friends who wrote stories in his worlds and their own weird tales like Clark Ashton Smith or Robert Bloch.
Avoid the August Derleth stuff. He tries to change the mythos into something else. Also if anyone tries to give you a Brian Lumley book telling you it's Lovecraftian, punch them and then hurl the book as far away from you as possible.
Haven't checked in here in a while! Got back from Europe with the fiance a month ago, Ireland and Stockholm were amazing. Totally fell in love with both of them. Currently looking for a new job, have an interview with a company in the Sears Tower this coming Monday. Today, I'm hanging at the hospital working remotely with my dad while my mom has a double heart valve transplant.
Other than that, been reading a lot of Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos story compilation books. Currently reading this one and loving it, also have a copy of 'New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird' to read featuring the story 'A Colder War.' Can anyone recommend more books like those?
Hope you all are well! Other than that, my band Plague of Carcosa is opening for Feral Light in January in Chicago. Anyone planning on being there?
Solar Express
The Southern Reach Trilogy This one is controversial on this sub and perhaps not strictly sci fi, but it sure is mysterious.
Try Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. It's not scary, but it's pretty creepy.
Have you looked at the Amazon reviews? About half of reviewers were soemwhere between disappointed and very pissed off. Some apparently because when they pre-ordered it, there was no description and they thought it was book 3, but more who felt ripped off by an overpriced short story in which nothing of any interest happens. I haven't read it myself so I can't comment yet.
you should check out the Chronicles of the Black Company
John Dies at the End by David Wong is a very funny, light-hearted book. Might be right down your alley. If you end up liking it, there's also a sequel titled This Book is Full of Spiders, which carries the same tone and writing style.
Yes, the author has a well defined eccentric style loaded which can at times be hard to translate, but both the quality of writing and translation is excellent.
Vertical is releasing the volumes in English. They are paperbacks with original artwork on the cover and VOFAN's cover is on the page after the cover on a coated page with higher GSM/thickness.
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence.
This would be my gift one choice. I love all things Kindgom Hearts, and I still have the first game, but my PS2 was lost when my house burned down so I have no way to play it anymore. I almost peed myself when I found out this game was coming out.
For the second gift, C'mon...gimme. This books sounds so interesting!!
And extremely carnivorous, with an entire culture spanning thousands of miles and centuries upon centuries...
Has anyone read The Slow Regard of Silent Things ? Is it worth reading ? I've read the Kingkiller Chronicles, but this is just a story about Auri, right?
It's already out!
Here is a mash of books off the top of my head.
If you like short stories, I'd recommend Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. It's quite twisted, and not for the faint-of-heart, or churny-of-stomach. It's loosely based off of the structure of the Canterbury Tales, which is interesting, ,but the characters and the stories they tell while trapped together are all very Palahniuk-style gritty and dark.
If you like graphic novels and the more fantastic, I would recommend The Darkness series - it is about a young man who inherits the power of darkness and demons. He is a fantastic anti-hero who wants to be self-serving, but finds himself battling the forces of actual evil. FABULOUS art, and great stories.
I would suggest buying H.P. Lovecraft: Tales and just starting from the first story. It begins with "The Statement of Randolph Carter" which is a quick and interesting read. Some of the earlier ones are "The Outsider" and "The Music of Erich Zann" (which used to be my personal favorite) and they are a good introduction to his style. Then you'll be ready for things like "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," "The Shadow Out of Time," and then "At the Mountains of Madness." I would not suggest reading The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. It's his only full-length novel and it's just...not his best, at all.
Favorite books include the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. No one turns classic fantasy tropes on their ear and makes me consistently laugh out loud like he does. Particular highlights of that series include any books featuring Death and his granddaughter Susan, and the men of Ankh-Morpork's City Watch. I use the term "men" loosely. Good Omens, the book he co-authored with Neil Gaiman, is one of my all-time favorites. As far as other fantasy goes, I'm a big fan of Michael Moorcock's work, in particular the Elric series and the Books of Corum. Stephen Lawhead's Song of Albion trilogy is a favorite as well. It's about two Oxford students who discover a magic portal to an ancient version of the British Isles. Focuses on Celtic mythology a great deal. Very different from your typical Tolkien-inspired contemporary fantasy. Though yes... of course, I'm also a fan of George R.R. Martin. It's almost a chore to mention these days that I love his Song of Ice & Fire, because basically everybody does. Guess there's a reason for that though.
Outside of fantasy, I like a few sci-fi authors, but not too many. I enjoy storytelling that focuses on character far more than it does on technology, so hard sci-fi isn't really my thing. Though I fucking love cyberpunk. Gibson and Stephenson especially. The purists would say Stephenson is post-cyberpunk, but seriously, fuck purists. IMO, Snow Crash is the pinnacle of the genre, and one of the very best books I've ever read. It's got a main character named Hiro Protagonist (really) who's a genius hacker and programmer/swordsman, who delivers pizza for the mafia. He's one of the architects of the Metaverse, basically the Matrix before the Matrix. There's also a big huge Aluet dude who uses glass knives that can cut through anything. And he's got a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorcycle that will go off if he's ever killed. There's just so much crazy shit in that book, like rocket-powered cyberdogs and a massive floating shantytown hitched to a derelict aircraft carrier, and so much more I really don't have time to get into. But it's completely awesome from beginning to end. Currently reading The Diamond Age by Stephenson, which could be considered a follow-up to Snow Crash set in that world's future. Not a sequel though.
Another of my favorite books is World War Z. Even if you're not the horror aficionado I am, or you're sick of zombies, this book is kind of amazing. It discusses the effects of a zombie apocalypse in so many ways most people would never think of. It's easy to see why it was so hard to adapt into a movie. They basically didn't even bother adapting it. The movie is an entirely different animal, so even if you've seen it, you're spoiling nothing of the book.
And I can't mention horror without bringing up H.P. Lovecraft, one of my all-time favorite authors. He invented cosmic horror, and you can see his influence in so many other works out there today. Get yourself a collection of his stuff and just enjoy the trip. Also, House of Leaves is a pretty fantastic horror novel that I finally just got around to finishing recently.
John Dies at the End
I read it awhile back but can't remember how it ends, and I want to read the second and third book, so might as well start again!
John Dies at the End
The movie was ok, but had about 5% of the actual book's content.
Edit: To entice you, my favorite line on the first page:
"Let's say you have an ax. Just a cheap one, from Home Depot. On one bitter winter day, you use the ax to behead a man. Don't worry, the man was already dead. Or maybe you should worry, because you're the one who shot him."
Jorg, Moon, and Harry would probably be my favorites from this list, though the others are quite good too.
Jorg Ancrath--Broken Empire Trilogy: It's hard to beat Jorg when it comes to interesting main characters. He's such an absolute bastard that it makes you want to keep reading just to see what he'll do next.
Harry Dresden--Dresden Files: Chicago's own wizard for hire, it's fun to see what sort of situation he'll find himself in next. He likest to crack jokes and fight above his weight class. Get's his ass handed to him a lot.
Moon--Books of the Raksura: Moon's always been an outcast, chased from town to town. Which makes sense, considering he sometimes looks like a monster. The loneliness has changed him, and he tends not to speak his thoughts aloud.
James Stark--Sandman Slim: After spending 11 years in hell, James Stark is back for revenge. He knows the people who sent him there, and he won't rest until they're dead.
The Demon--Demon of Cliffside: The Demon doesn't actually have a name and she's been in Cliffside since before there was a city. She's ambivalent towards the people of the city, but in the past she inspired bloody legends. A very alien point of view.
Drothe--Tales of the Kin: Ever hear the phrase "jack of all trades, master of none?" That would be Drothe. It was such a refreshing change of pace to see that in a main character.
Here's one.
Here's another.
Here's one of my favorites.
This one is pretty freaking sweet.
I'm pretty sure this one qualifies...
Don't read this one before bed.
Here's an interesting read.
This one is a compilation of several of the above.
Its available on Amazon, Paperback and ebook
I'm not sure if you can get the 'newest' version. But you can certainly get the 'unabridged' version. the newest version of the audiobook is not unabridged. Its 95% of the book.
There is a 100% unabridged version available in Australia - and not available in the USA.
Audible.com sells the unabridged version to aussies, but I'm not sure if anyone else does.
The unabridged version on amazon
VS
The newest version on amazon
He put out an e-book collecting and expanding on the individual stories, I recommend giving it a look:
http://www.amazon.com/Penpal-Dathan-Auerbach-ebook/dp/B008WVVKCQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406256030&sr=8-1&keywords=penpal
You know they fixed that when the movie came out.
http://www.amazon.com/World-War-Complete-Edition-Tie/dp/B00BIK73QA
I thought they completed the entire thing with the complete edition that came out at the same time as the movie?
https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Complete-Tie-History/dp/B00BIK73QA
Yeah, it's a full cast. Some audiobooks (not many) do that, but as it's written in interview format, it just works. It actually feels like a radio interview of people that were there.
Especially with Mark Hamill and Allan Alda.
World War Z: The Complete Edition (Movie Tie-in Edition): An Oral History of the Zombie War [Abridged] [Audible Audio Edition] is the horrible name for the longer edition. 12 hours of content. Don't be fooled by the name, it's got nothing to do with the movie. I'll generally listen to it every month or two. Well worth the money.
If you visit Scotland, try Black and Blue or maybe The Loch.
Whereabouts in Europe?
You must read these two books:
The Illuminatus Trilogy
Foucault's Pendulum.
Both are amazing books near to the topic - the first is a huge spoof that's hilarious and heavily popularized Discordianism (All hail Eris!). The second is a seminal piece of literature by one of the best living authors and everybody should read it...it's about some publishers who put together 'the grand conspiracy' of the Illuminati and suddenly are embroiled in what they created.
I wish the Illuminati was real...the world would be a heck of a lot cooler place!
Synopsis for the lazy. Amazon has it for ~13$...also can get it on the kindle!
There is a fantastic sci-fi/horror book trilogy about Morgellons and alien invasion by Scott Sigler. He captures the feeling of paranoia better than any book I've ever read.
https://www.amazon.com/Infected-Novel-Scott-Sigler/dp/030740630X/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VDZPJ3DDF3YXJES2CM9N
​
infected trilogy by scott sigler
This one for mythos stories not by Lovecraft: http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Cthulhu-Mythos-H-Lovecraft/dp/034542204X/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=07402S2M9VWP3J7ZKT1H
This one for mythos stories by Lovecraft: http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-H-Lovecraft-Bloodcurdling/dp/0345350804/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1397149990&sr=8-13&keywords=lovecraft
I've loaned these two volumes to start any friend who wanted to get into cosmic horror. Enjoy.
No but it looks like it would be on the cover if a Lovecraft book.
Edit: Awwww shit I'm good.
Reave the Just is one of my favorite short story books. http://www.amazon.com/Reave-Other-Tales-Stephen-Donaldson/dp/0553110349
My other favorites are HP Lovecraft, especially Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre (although there are lots of books with his stories) but I can only read a few of them per month. http://www.amazon.com/Best-H-P-Lovecraft-Bloodcurdling/dp/0345350804
Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft. I can't believe his works aren't adapted to film more often. He is a master at creating settings and allowing the reader to visualize. Cthuluhu is one of my favorite stories of his.
When I started getting into Lovecraft, I bought the Del Rey paperbacks. They were affordable and had great art on the covers. And I prefer a small paperback to a big hardback. Big ol' hardbacks are cool and all, but it's so much nicer to just sit with a little paperback; they're lighter, easier to hold, and take up less space when taking them somewhere else to read.
These are the ones I was getting: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
I really love the art on these. Here are some more images of it. I'm pretty sure there was a compilation featuring Dagon that used a detail with the big, red eye.
The fuck? I have a collection of Lovecraft stories with that same image on the back cover. Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre. Had never noticed they were the same before now!
Edit: Guess there are some minor difference, like the absence of the insect to the right. Still the same damn thing.
Try this:
http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Cthulhu-Mythos-H-Lovecraft/dp/034542204X
If you're up for an anthology of shorts, I just finished Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. Here it is on Amazon
You could get a hold of it and see which of the authors you like and then go from there. Pretty good selection.
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos was pretty good, it has a few Lovecraft stories interlaced with other mythos stories from people in the circle. I especially enjoyed Robert Bloch's stories, "Notebook Found in a Deserted House" being one of the few pieces of weird fiction that genuinely scared me. Lovecraft "Haunter of the Dark" and Bloch's "Shadow from the Steeple" actually directly reference each other.
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer is definitely Lovecraftian in atmosphere and setting, as well as plot. I've also seen hints of cosmic horror in there. Highly recommend it.
Yeah, I love the horror fantasy as well. I'm sure you are familiar with the Hellraiser movies....and you may or may not be familiar with Lord of Illusions, but Barker's new book has the protagonist from LoI, who is a paranormal investigator, going to Hell to meet it's Priest, Pinhead. It's called the Scarlet Gospels and is the only one I haven't read yet and am really looking forward to.
Also, there were a series of books called Necroscope by Brian Lumley that you may enjoy.
I'm currently reading The Descent by Jeff Long and I can't put it down.
The Descent (Descent Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/051513175X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_bc.FDb6CP0SNK
the descent by jeff long. https://www.amazon.com/Descent-Jeff-Long/dp/051513175X
sorry for link, on mobile. it inspired a movie by the same name, but is very different.
Ever since I read The White Road by Lotz and The Descent by Long , I’ve been particularly interested in caves/tunnels/tight places in horror. This film really scratched that itch.
The idea of (not sure if spoilers are allowed here) the type of world that was under there, the logistics of getting there, and the reality of what the other place was and it’s physics was also rather appealing.
The poster had completely new meaning to me after watching.
I love the novel this was loosely based on, great read if anyone has not checked it out yet
All of my favorite books!!! But as an aside it is my understanding that the release in October is just a Novella about Auri the third book is going to be The Doors of Stone (working title) yet to get a release date.
G'mornin folks. I had the best start to my day. Just me and my itty baby in bed. She had her breakfast then laid there beside me smiling and grabbing at my face for a good half hour. Melted my heart, she did.
I hope y'all have a great Sunday. If anyone wants a chat hit me up! I'll be around all day. Gonna hang out in TC most of the day too. I refuse to be productive today.
P.S. All my Rothfuss fans... LOOKIT!
Chronicles of the Black Company - Only a 30 pages into it But it's good so far, written sort of Journal like. Not much Fluff, which i like.
Just Finished The Wise Man's Fear Really enjoying that series, but not looking forward to wait times on the next novel....
To clarify, the books have been republished in the form of four omnibus editions:
By today's fantasy standards, this is a four book series, even if it is divided into ten shorter novels.
I recommend you read "Chronicles of the Black Company" (Aka The Books of the North) by Glen Cook.
That will give you a good idea of what grimdark fantasy about men intended for men is supposed to be like.
Let's start with the obvious. You seem to enjoy the Warcraft universe. Did you know that fantasy novels have been released for that universe? See here for more details.
Maybe you want something new, though. I can't vouch for the quality of Warcraft novels, but a lot of the Warhammer Fantasy novels out there have had positive reviews, and take place in a similar (but more grimdark, because Warhammer) world. You can find more information about Warhammer Fantasy novels at Black Library, here.
Okay, so far, so good. But maybe you want something older and unrelated to a game franchise. Instead of mindlessly bleating TOLKIEN TOLKIEN TOLKIEN over and over at you, I'm going to suggest you avoid him. He's one of those fantasy authors that people like to tell everyone to read when they have no better suggestions, or because he's old and somehow a "father of the genre." Instead, try Tad Williams with his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy. It tells the same sort of story, but with more character development and less time spent on epic feasting.
Alternatively, if you enjoy gritty military tales, give The Black Company a whirl - easily one of my favourites in the genre, and a book that inspired another awesome series, Malazan Book of the Fallen. (Note: Malazan is sort of like A Song of Ice and Fire in that it has a ton of characters, frequently jumps around, and can leave you disengaged from one novel to another.)
Edit: I should add that Brandon Sanderson is a good bet, and I'd recommend his Stormlight Archives series (aka, The Way of Kings) over his Mistborn stuff, but that's personal preference. I didn't mention him originally because he'd already been mentioned everywhere else in this thread, and repetition isn't helpful.
The Weird is likely the most comprehensive, though I'd also suggest Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural.
I've been reading The Weird and Ligotti's The Town Manager has probably been my favorite short of the year. It convinced me to pick up Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe and I haven't been disappointed.
Anyway, favorite for the year is The Town Manager. It is about an ineffective town manager who is replaced by someone more incompetent. Has a very Kafkaesque nightmarish world.
I like my anthologies to contain multiple authors across multiple eras, and to provide an overview of the field from some particular perspective.
The classic anthology is Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural a massive 1000+ page stunner that is a great primer for the genre, focusing on earlier work.
Ellen Datlow's Darkness is a great anthology for the 80s - 2000s.
Joyce Carol Oates edited a fantastic history of American gothic fiction, called, not surprisingly American Gothic Tales starting with Washington Irving and ending with Stephen King.
And for a taste of horror from a more modern perspective (while including a lot of classic stories) The Weird is a really terrific overview.
HP Lovecraft is the most obvious literary destination. If you've never read him you're in luck, as there are two more or less complete collections of his work: if you're a stickler for accuracy try this one and if you want to get something beautiful but with some typos and errors you can order this exquisite leather-bound edition (even its marbled endpapers hide monsters).
In terms of more modern stuff, Jeff Vandermeer's Area X trilogy is some of the best Lovecraft-infused fiction I've read. Which is no surprise when you know that his wife is the current editor of Weird Tales, one of the first places to publish Lovecraft. Indeed, they've actually put out an anthology of Lovecraftian short stories by all sorts of writers, old and new, including Lovecraft.
In terms of movies, I hope at some point Guillermo del Toro will get to make his At the Mountains of Madness film, but the fact that he hasn't speaks to the difficulty of a) financing expensive R-Rated horror movies b) parsing Lovecraft's gloomy visions with hero-driven narrative. One of the few films to nail the tone, even if its execution leaves something to be desired, is Frank Darabont's The Mist.
Well . . . if you're looking at a book simply as a collection of text, I too have never feared a line of text. What books allow, is a slow building of fear that require quite a bit of character development. I don't read horror novels waiting to be frightened, and truthfully read very little horror. The fear just happens. To be honest, it's a different type of fear - more of an uneasy feeling really. Certainly, a book can't have, what my son calls, "The scary jump out scenes". But if we exchange the term fear with edgy, here are a list of my favorite books with an "Edge":
[The Passage] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Passage-Novel-Book-Trilogy/dp/0345528174)
[The Terror] (http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Novel-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316008079/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404481514&sr=1-1&keywords=terror)
The Stand
Carrion Comfort
Desperation
I am Legend
The Sparrow
Night
Frankenstein
All Quite on the Western Front
Hunger
Blood Meridian
Watchers
The Minus Man
In no particular order - Not the usual suggestions either. Hope it helps, and happy reading!
I'm gonna be that guy. Buy the book. It's a quick read...and its subject matter is more thought provoking than the movie. The movie is fine (I own it) but its just a bit above a box-standard zombie movie.
Hell...the book is cheaper
This is Peggy, in the loopy bar, sitting and watching the moment when the loopy enters the stage. "Swamp water" is a drink.
> The curtain swept open with such a rush, she almost dropped her glass. It thumped down heavily on the table, swamp water cascading up its sides and raining on her hand. The music exploded shrapnel of ear-cutting cacophony and her body jerked. On the tablecloth, her hands twitched white on white while claws of uncontrollable demand pulled up her frightened eyes.
~Matthew Richardson: Dance of the Dead
The last sentence sends shivers down my spine whenever I read it.
"Dance of the Dead" and "I am Legend" are incredibly awesome. I think it was Mike that recommended it somewhere on OOC, thank you!
As to my own sentence - I don't think I have a favorite that stands on its own. They all live in their little place where they were born and raised. In that form I would choose this two word sentence.
Check out This Book Is Full of Spiders, Seriously Dude Don't Touch It.
COWS by Mathew Stokoe amazon
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk amazon
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks amazon
Contingency Cannibalism: Superhardcore Survivalism's Dirty Little Secret by Shiguru Takada amazon
Apocalypse Culture by Adam Parfrey amazon
Eat Thy Neighbor by Daniel Diehl and Mark P. Donnelly amazon
We So Seldom Look On Love by Barbara Gowdy amazon
Those are just a few of my favorites.. by far COWS is the worst on the list.. You feel like you need a shower after finishing it, but at the same time if you're as into morbid stuff as I am, it's oddly cathartic in that you'll feel no need to scour the depths of the interwebs for nastiness for days (maybe weeks) afterwards..
http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-Library-America/dp/1931082723/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396570805&sr=8-1
One of the best volumes of horror writing you will ever find, and the vast majority of respected horror writers since have been crediting him as an influence.
Pick up H.P. Lovecraft: Tales and read "Call of Cthulhu" first. While not his absolute best short story, it's the ideal starting point. My favorite is "The Shadow Out of Time", which is also included in that collection.
The thing about Lovecraft is that you'll probably love him or hate him. It all comes down to whether or not you like his writing style. "Call of Cthulhu" will give you a good introduction.
I have the library of America edition too, it's a good inexpensive hardcover collection of a lot of his major stories.
http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-Library-America/dp/1931082723/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261864434&sr=8-1
>It's just a made-up book of rituals
Could say that about all religious books, but lets save that level of bravery for /r/atheism.
>Its the name that throws me off though, its like the religion was named that way just to add in some edginess.
That's what suckered me in to be honest. Same reason I got "Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmosphere".
By the publishers who brought you Baby Jesus Butt Plug and The Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmospher
Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmosphere
Amazon links for all the books announced for translation–nothing beyond Nisemonogatari has been confirmed.
Kizumonogatari (Released)
Bakemonogatari 1 (Released)
Bakemonogatari 2 (February 28th)
Bakemonogatari 3 (April 25th)
Nisemonogatari 1 (June 27th)
Nisemonogatari 2 (August 22nd)
The "compilation" is the source material. Thats all they are, just excepts from the novels. I highly recommend them.
https://www.amazon.com/BAKEMONOGATARI-Part-1-Monster-Tale/dp/1942993889/
https://www.bookdepository.com/Bakemonogatari-Part-1-Nisioisin/9781942993889
so apparently Bakemonogatari in the original language is more expensive than the translated version. To get all of Bakemonogatari in Japanese will cost me slightly more than it does to get all of it in English apparently? I get that there's import/shipping costs and stuff, but usually with manga the translation costs more than make up for it...
but idk about this Kodansha Box series. They're softcover right? I handled the latest Monogatari at Kinokuniya and that's what it seemed like to me, it just came in a box.
Well that assistant dude is super sketchy... He either did it or helped with it... I mean it was clear from the moment he got off the phone... She'd never say something like that about her work(I think).
Don't forget that Decapitation: Kubikiri Cycle get's released on January by Vertical. If it's as good as the Kizumonogatari translation should be quite a good read. Which is just a few days after Bakemonogatari part 1 comes out I believe :3 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1945054212
Bakemonogatari part 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1942993889/
John Dies at the End by David Wong.
I got hooked on City of Thieves from the first few pages, and pretty much didn't move until I finished it. Beat the Reaper also starts off very quickly, and moves along at a pretty breathtaking pace. John Dies at the End is a comedy/science fiction/horror, and is a lot of fun. I'd also second Christopher Moore- I'd start with either Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal , or The Stupidest Angel.
Mogworld, by Yahtzee Croshaw
The protagonist is Jim, a former wizard in training who was killed and then raised from the dead by a necromancer. Every time Jim dies, he's raised again by the necromancer. Now all Jim wants to do is die, once and for all. The book plays on conventions from the fantasy genre, as well as Dungeons & Dragons and videogames. Funny and well written.
The Dresden Files series, by Jim Butcher
It's not really focused on humor, and it's not so much about genre bending. But it is off-kilter in the sense that it's about a wizard/private investigator, and it's set in the modern world and has vampires, faeries, werewolves, etc. I thought the first book was just interesting enough to get me to read the 2nd. I thought it got more interesting as it went on. I've since heard a rumor that Butcher wrote the first few books without a publisher, and only got an editor later on in the series. That might make sense, because I enjoyed the later books much more. (As an experienced reader, you might have already heard of the Dresden Files. It's on reddit's top 100 fantasy books.)
... There's another off-kilter fantasy book out there tickling the edges of my brain, but I can't remember it right now. I'll come back if I can think of it.
John Dies at the End, by David Wong
It's more of an off-kilter action/horror book. There's supernatural stuff, but no wizards of orcs in this one. Still, if you're looking for something sort of genre bending, then this might fit.
It's from this great book
I suggest reading Phillp K.Dick's We Can Remember It for You Wholesale instead; this is the short story that turned into Total Recall, and if you need a work of fiction involving drugs and saving the world this one is much better written.
For a comedic novel-length story, John Dies at the End is absolutely hilarious. (The book, not the movie.)
John Dies at the End by David Wong
Summary: STOP. You should not have touched this flyer with your bare hands. NO, don't put it down. It's too late. They're watching you. My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye. The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me.
The important thing is this: The drug is called Soy Sauce and it gives users a window into another dimension. John and I never had the chance to say no. You still do. I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind: None of this was my fault.
Commentary: If comedic horror is to your taste, I recommend this. It's still horror, but the dark comedy adds something to it.
I'd highly recommend the Broken Empire trilogy by Mark Lawrence (Starting with Prince of Thorns).
It's very dark with a good dose of sarcasm. There are plenty of interesting characters but you won't get lost trying to memorize a millions names and places. Plus Mark is a regular on Reddit and seems to be a super cool guy.
Doesn't sound like RAW to me. I think this is Foucault's Pendulum
Whatever you do, don't read this.
Try Infected by Scott Sigler. A blurb about the book:
A mysterious disease is turning thousands of ordinary Americans into raving, paranoid murderers who inflict brutal horrors on strangers, their own families, and even themselves. And one morning, ex–football star Perry Dawsey awakens to find mysterious welts growing all over his body. Soon Perry finds himself acting and thinking strangely, hearing voices, fighting uncontrollable rage . . . he is infected. Worse, the disease wants something from him, something that could alter the fate of the human race.
I started with this story collection and I would definitely recommend it to someone just starting out. It has a lot of variety in stories and the rest of that "series" would get you through his works and a lot of the works he edited.
I'll suggest "The Rats in the Wall," and also "The Colour out of Space," "Innsmouth" and "Erich Zann." Here is a very good paperback introduction to Lovecraft, with an excellent essay by Robert Bloch: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0345350804?pc_redir=1409138655&robot_redir=1
With the first volume of the three-volume Ballantine Books complete-Lovecraft anthology: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre. It's got all of the important stories except for the Dream Saga in one volume. The second volume collects all the Dream Saga; the third volume collects Lovecraft's early fiction, when he was still developing his style.
If you are talking about Lovecraftian style storywriting from authors other than Lovecraft, you have plenty to choose from. There are several books which lump together some of the best works from authors that contribute to or are influenced by the "mythos" including Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos and The Children of Cthulhu
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos was (I think) the first anthology dedicated to the Mythos, edited by Derleth. It's got Lovecraft and others, with both classic stories and some more recent ones (the version I linked to is revised, which removed a few of the 60's stories and replaced them with others).
I remember liking Lurker at The Threshold by August Derleth when I read it as a teen.
I haven't read this http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/034542204X but it looks right up your alley.
I've seen quite a few weird fiction readers in /r/printsf. I'll ask if I can advertise there.
I just finished Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural and it was excellent. Last week I also read Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer which I thoroughly enjoyed.
I haven't decided what to read next. I was looking at Dark Descent or a collection of Kafka stories which includes one of my favorite weird stories, In the Penal Colony.
This reminds me of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy.
If you're a reader, and love Zone Fiction, you might consider checking out Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy, especially the first book or two, Annihilation and Authority. The backdrop is a mysterious, anomalous Zone cordoned off by secret government agencies and explored by repeated, failed expeditions, and this Zone is in and around Georgia and North Florida.
The author says he was inspiried by lots of hikes and nature walks he took in the area. You may find it's right in your wheelhouse. Very creepy, very Zone Fiction + Weird Nature.
If you want a straightforward page-turner, try The Descent by Jeff Long. Turns out, a species of hominid diverged from homo sapiens a long time ago, and continued to evolve deep below the earth, in underground caves and tunnels. All of a sudden they seem to be coming to the surface to attack people, and we've got to stop 'em. To paraphrase one of the characters, "we've declared war on hell".
If you want something more challenging, how about House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. It's hard to describe this book, but if you get a chance to pick it up in the bookstore, flip through the pages and look at how it's laid out. The fonts and layout change, some pages only have a couple of words on them, some pages are printed diagonally, others reversed. The book itself is a mystery about a mystery. It may be a horror story, or it may not be, but it will definitely give you an uneasy feeling when you're out there in the woods.
If you want a book that may inspire you while you're out there, pretty much anything by John Muir would do, but how about The Wild Muir: Twenty-Two of John Muir's Greatest Adventures. I haven't read this book, but it's a compilation of his writing and I'm sure I've read many of the stories that go into it. Muir is a great lover of and writer about nature, and had a lot of adventures to draw from.
Have fun on your trip!
A couple of books that I enjoyed:
Felix Gilman - The Half-Made World
http://www.amazon.com/Half-Made-World-Felix-Gilman/dp/0765325535/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422115061&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Half-Made+World&pebp=1422115068901&peasin=765325535
The lost city of Z
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-City-Deadly-Obsession-Amazon/dp/1400078458/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422115097&sr=1-1&keywords=lost+city+of+z
Jeff Long - The Descent
http://www.amazon.com/Descent-Jeff-Long/dp/051513175X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422115133&sr=1-3&keywords=the+decent
Edit: I would also check out Mark Hodder's Burton & Swinburne series. Book 3 Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon is what I was thinking of.
The Descent by Jeff Long.
To follow up on this, if you don't want to go into caves but still want to experience the fright and thrill of them, read this book.
It's fantastic and scary and also makes you sit back and make you think.
I was going to say Jeff Long's - The Descent, but that's probably not it. But you may enjoy it anyways.
Year Zero by Jeff Long. It's more like plague apocalypse but trust me I find this book much much scarier than any zombie/monster apocalypse books I've read before.
Also the Descent from the same author. This one has real monster and body horror. I still suffered nightmares from it
I'm new to reddit so hope I didn't mess up posting links in comment too much >_<
edit: yep...messed up the link
I'm waiting on THIS. Also, I finally got my wife to read The Name of the Wind. She's slowly getting through it, but she is starting to get hooked.
Here's something to keep you busy for a bit then: http://www.amazon.com/The-Slow-Regard-Silent-Things/dp/0756410436/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1412046798&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=NAme+of+the+wind
I only found out through a friend but he's releasing a novella based on Auri that was originally supposed to show up in GRRMartin's Rogues collection (he settled on a story featuring Bast). Should be out in October.
Source:Amazon
I am reading "Before they are hanged" by Joe Abercrombie. It is the second book in a three part series called "The first law".
It's a great series so far. His world building, characters, and especially his fight scenes are incredible.
If you haven't read anything by him I would start with "Half a King". I couldn't put it down when I started.. Although I just noticed it is actually going to be a series and I know that annoys some so be warned.
edit: and this book will be next.. It's on pre-order and will be delivered next week.. I can't wait. The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
http://amzn.com/0756410436
off the top of my head right now the only one I can think of is this one and the first three dark tower books. At work right now i'll come up with list ASAP.
Not sure how easy it is to find the actual book, here it is:
http://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Black-Company-Glen-Cook/dp/0765319233
I'd definitely suggest Glen Cook's The Black Company about a group of mercenaries with a mysterious past that would fit right into the background history of The Witcher universe.
The books have an equally dark tone and don't shy away from consequence or death. The books are told from the Company Historian's perspective that records the events, so there's a hook of an unreliable narrator, with selective memory - the black company are not good people, they're just fighting to survive.
There's a bunch of parallels to the Witcher, not the least of which being the sense that they're the last generation of a long line that's been dying out.
(Think: a group of freelance soldiers that are employed by an empire of sorcerers and warriors as powerful as the Wild Hunt)
Sexy Rexy!
I have never been gifted either, i just posted my intro last night actually!
http://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Black-Company-Glen-Cook/dp/0765319233/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&amp;colid=3RHOBNPXHQ933&amp;coliid=I2TFAT0VMH420K
Another voice for yes. I really enjoyed their compendium of strange and dark stories "The Weird"
That canvas! If I had access to the rest of the needed supplies, that would definitely be something I'd want. Though I don't...
I have so many lists.. But here goes:
Super Sculpey is on my artsy list because I found you can alter vinyl figures with it and boil or lightly bake it! Further customizing, which I find neat.
Bravely Default is on my list because the demo got me hooked. I use to hate JRPG type games and turn-based games, but this one seems fun with a lot of extra's. (Like extra things to do.)
Purple bed set.. SO DARN ELEGANT.. I mean shhh. Basically purple and black go together so wonderfully and my bed is a mess of colors right now. xD Tiger stripes with green bedding and flowery and black pillow cases. Also a big purple pillow and a leopard print.
African Violet perfume oil is on my list because back when I would go to the flea market there was a man and lady who sold essential oils. African violet was such a mesmerizing scent. I had it all over my room, the house.. Basically anywhere it would smell divine at.
Hard choice between House Of Leaves and I Am Legend. Both are books I want to read because I love the reviews. I generally go for non-fiction, horror books. Both seem to be right for the reading. I want to be scared or intrigued! Hooked into a story.
Coloring book... because I am a kid at heart!
Magnetic cubes! I want these because the original circular buckyballs/neocubes are always WAY to high priced. It's an alternative, and I love magnetic things.
Nubian goat light switch cover because.. goats! I love nubian goats and that's, that! (Also love just about any type of goats..)
Daemon tarot cards because I am fascinated with anything to do with demons, or entities. Generally anything tarot card or fortune related also. More so things that are evil, because people tend to shy away.. While I go towards them.
Last but not least...
I'm such a sucker for Norman Reedus... I want it to hang on my wall. I even have a frame waiting for it. (Thank's WalMart.) Got 2 frames for the price of one!
I'm very interested in your copies of Your Inner Fish, Anatomy of an Epidemic, and Evil Genes. I would love to be able to take all three off your hands. I have several books that I can offer you in exchange, all of which I've read and highly recommend! What I have that might match your interests are:
And seeing that you had a Steve Berry novel up for trade, I also have these two excellent Brad Meltzer thriller novels:
If any of my books peak your interests, I'd love to make a trade!
I recommend you read I am Legend. Forget the movie. The book is way better than any of the several movies made from it.
I can't say more without spoiling it. This may seem out of left field but it is relevant to the OP.
Summerfuntime!
I would love I am Legend. I loved the movie and I have yet to find a movie made from a book where the book wasn't better!
Not yet, kind of got sidetracked by this thing. Definitely a bit absurd, but for sure engaging.
This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It (John Dies at the End) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250036658/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_R8i8BbJATNAJQ
John Dies at the End, without a doubt. And the sequel, This Book Is Full of Spiders, is just as amazing. The deadpan narration that accompanies the batshit crazy events just makes them so entertaining to read.
I adore this book. Another favorite of mine is Haunted.
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski.
I read this book years ago and it still haunts me. I love it but I still don't have it all figured out.I would really love to see a film adaptation, as difficult as that sounds, because of how nontraditional the narrative/film would be. In the right hands it could be pulled off really well (like say, Fincher, Aronofsky or maybe Lynch could really turn up the horrific/suspenseful elements). I wish someone would adapt it because it is such an intense mindfuck of a story.
I would also really love to see Haunted by Chuck Palahnuik made into a movie.
Try haunted Or maybe red dragon by Thomas Harris.
It's from his book Haunted. It's filled with other great short stories tied together by an overarching plot. Definitely worth checking out.
reminds me of this
Amazon.com (maybe this one?)(Israel shipping rates) would be reasonable choice.
The Library of America collection (it's called "Tales") is, apparently, the definitive collection of his short stories. It's hard back and written on papery-thin bible-esque pages (which I find mildly annoying), but it has all of his essential stories. If you're into short horror fiction, you will not be disappointed - he is my absolute favorite. (http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-Library-America/dp/1931082723/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t/184-6430677-0677735) If you're not sure whether or not you want to drop the $25 outright, his writings have all fallen into the public domain, and are available for free online. (http://www.hplovecraft.com/)
Potentially off-topic, but there's also a game by the name of "Call of Cthulhu" for the original Xbox system. The game is based upon his story, "The Nightmare at Innsmouth," and it's a lot of fun. If you dig Lovecraft, it's an essential play-through.
Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmosphere: Three Novels
I prefer "Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmosphere" (http://www.amazon.de/Rampaging-Fuckers-Everything-Shitting-Atmosphere/dp/1933929782)
This. I haven't read it yet but just the title is insane...
While unrelated to cooking, this might be a contender:
http://www.amazon.com/Rampaging-Fuckers-Everything-Shitting-Atmosphere/dp/1933929782/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1301518196&amp;sr=8-1
the shit you find on amazon
Wow, this is new to me! I should probably hold off entering until I've had my caffeine, cause I always read shit wrong lol BUT
/u/ladyoops
Gift 15?
Judging by the reviews it seems a tough job even for the fans.
Vertical Inc started publishing the novels in English in December 2016, the translations are pretty good for the most part. amazon link
I can't believe no one has recommended World War Z yet. The book is written as transcripts of interviews used to provide an oral history of a fictional zombie war. The audiobook version is narrated by a full cast with actors like Mark Hamill, Alan Alda, Simon Pegg, Nathan Fillion, and more. Make sure to get the 'Complete Edition' and not the abridged one for the full effect.
Another really good audiobook is the one for Allison Hewitt is trapped. The book is written by a grad student surviving at the start of another zombie apocalypse. It's written as blog posts with comments at the bottom that are also narrated by a full cast.
There's a new version?!?
Holy crap there is
World War Z by Max Brooks narrated by a lot of people.
I read the book a few years ago but heard great things about this audiobook so I wanted to check it out. Overall it was very good, it's definitely a book that benefits from audio format since it is set as an oral history. I listened to the whole book before reading who all the narrators were - I was surprised I had not recognized some of the more famous voices while I was listening (Simon Pegg, Martin Scorsese).
My question is - when a zombie catches a person, they start to eat them. But if they eat them entirely they won't regenerate into a walking zombie, and you wouldn't see the extreme rise of the zombie population. It seems like the only way to get such a large zombie population is if they just catch humans, take a bite and move on, but that seems unlikely.
https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Complete-Tie-History/dp/B00BIK73QA
That is the abridged version though. Take a look at one of the chapters on youtube see if ya like it. has 1-3 here is the link for the first
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGBN7IPkgGg
Well, here goes. Recently, my phone went into a pool and I used my phone for a variety of things beyond a phone. I used it for classes, alarms, messaging (not just texting), keeping up with emails on the go, and so on. I've also very much been looking into getting a tablet for class, so I would be free to not take my laptop everywhere. Bad encounter with rain caused my laptop to become unusable and I ended up getting an entirely new one. It would be much easier to carry a tablet to certain classes instead of my whole laptop.
Aside from that, I actually haven't been reading a whole lot. I would really love to get into comics and graphic novels.. and I'm sure the Kindle Fire would be fantastic for that!
An eBook that I would want is: Penpal--I read the nosleep parts and would enjoy reading the actual book!
Thank you 186394 for such a great contest! Your generosity is amazing.
not entering.I just bought this book last night. 0.99 cents. Supposed to be weird. Looks cool. Will let you know =)Top 10 list of horror books
Oh hell, I will enter. Vincent Price =) Pen pal I have this on my paperback WL, but added it as kindle. It looks scary.
His name is Dathan Auerbach, and he actually compiled all six of those stories, plus some extra details and touch-ups, into a physical paperback book. I highly recommend it, the story he wrote is probably one of the best I've ever read. Here's an Amazon link.
Dr. Joyce Brothers may be highly known, but her psychological credentials are highly suspect.
You should definitely read Gaiman's comic book series Sandman, too. It is both the best thing Gaiman's ever written and one of the best comic books ever written.
After that, you should read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett. Amazon is adapting it as a mini series set to debut sometime 2019.
As an aside, after Gaiman, you may want to give Brom a try. Lost Gods features many of the same themes with a slightly different tone. The Library at Mount Char also has a great blend of the weird and fantastical.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00BIK73QA/ref=pd_aw_sim_129_1?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=X5GF3TZPS92F6AJDH2WH&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=81X3YRRJZ6L
Prince of Thorns - There are 5 or 6 books now in this post apocalyptic fantasy series
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052RERW8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1
One thing that makes me happy is Cinderella III This is the greatest Disney Direct-to-DVD movie in existence. I really feel like it finally took Cinderella back to its action-movie roots. When your new niece or nephew is old enough, I would highly recommend getting her/him this movie - it is fun for kids but even better for adults, and it doesn't take itself seriously at all.
As for books, I would highly recommend Agyar by Steven Brust and Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
I ain't birthed no babies! and Happy Birfday
After loads of reading on the bus to work every day, here follows my reading list for military aviation:
Modern
Vietnam
WWII
Overall/Other
Bonus non-military aviation
I highly second the recommendations of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and Diamond Age. I would also recommend:
Most of this is copypasta from another reply on this thread, since it seemed silly to just rephrase all the things. Please note the last paragraph if none of these seem fun. I read a lot, mostly exclusively SF/F (both adult and YA), and boy do I have opinions on it. And if you're not a reader starting with YA is a thought. There's a lot of fun, intelligent YA out there now as publishers realize teens don't actually want to be treated like they're stupid.
For a low commitment (i.e. not part of a series), humorous start there's Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman's Good Omens. I like a lot of Gaiman's work, which ranges from the strange and humorous (see: GO) to the strange and creepy (Anasazi Boys), but what I'd recommend from him depends on what you're looking for.
In the funny but harder scifi range I'd rec the beloved classic Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. This is seriously one of the wittiest books I've ever read besides being an action-packed scifi romp.
If you're interested in urban fantasy I have all the recs. Everything from Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series Book 1: Storm Front, for the grown-up wizard, to Seanan McGuire's October Daye series Book 1: Rosemary and Rue, if you're more into fae.
For the dark and more sexual (seriously, there is sex in these books) I highly recommend the Fever Series by Karen Moning, Book 1: Darkfever.
If you like SF/F books (like Discworld, Animorphs, etc.) let me know what subgenres (e.g. hard scifi, urban fantasy, urban scifi, fantasy romance, young adult _____ ) you think you might like and I guarantee you I have a recommendation or two. I read a lot.
If you've not read Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch you should. It was my first Terry Pratchett. <3
I'd say get in at least a few young adult fiction, as they're full of saccharine and angst ridden metaphor:
• The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
• Looking For Alaska
A few historical fictions:
• Wolf Hall
• Memoirs Of A Geisha
Comedy:
• The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
• Good Omens
Stephen king (just because he's a favorite)
• 11/22/63
• IT
And finally, some objectively "bad" books, to learn what not to do.
• Wild Animus: A Novel
• The Da Vinci Code
• Moon People
All of these books are personal favorites for one reason or another, and some may fit into multiple categories (see: looking for Alaska under YA fiction and "bad,").
That said, this should at least keep you busy for a bit.
Happy reading, and good luck on your novel!
You should check out The Prince of Thorns and sequels for just this. He's a totally evil, terrible person who you end up pulling for.
It's now a book
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates who said, "I drank what?"
I like gift cards, but if you want to buy a thing Good Omens is a great choice.
Thank you for the contest!
Looks like it is.
https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Complete-Tie-History/dp/B00BIK73QA
The amazon listing doesn't have the audiobook for sale but claims it's "free with your audible trial" -- is it not there?
So, I've wanted to try getting into audiobooks. Haven't signed up for Audible because I didn't know if I'd get my money's worth out of a subscription service. Would I need to be a subscriber to listen to just one book to see how I like it (I ask because it may take me longer than the 30 day trial to get through it)? If not, I'd really like to give World War Z: The Complete Edition a listen.
Even The Complete Edition skips chapters?
Prince of Thorns. Quality fantasy.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052RERW8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1
For those wondering and have never read it
The Second Draft of J Michael Straczynski WWZ script
This was the second in I believe 5 subsequent rewrites. Some like it, some don't. Myself, I believe it captures a lot of what Max was trying to hit and the tone itself of a guy investigating and getting a lot of the zombie war in flashbacks. I really, REALLY wanted to see his versions of Yonkers and India as well as I think he nailed them perfectly. But it tends to bank into government cover up territory as well.
Also one good thing that came out of it was that Max and Random House decided to complete the EXCELLENT Audio Book of WWZ and filling in all the missing from the 'abridged' version with yet more STELLAR casting - like Simon Pegg, Nathan Fillion, Martin Scorsese (who is doing the what sounds like Steven Spielberg story from the book), Paul Sorvino, and Frank Darabont!
WWZ the Complete Edition
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. "Medievalesque" fantasy set in a far future. Main character Jorg is a right bastard, but he grows on you.
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie, . Grimdark fantasy, short on magic and long on swords. Abercrombie is great at characters and action scenes. There are several books set in this world; I think this standalone is the best introduction.
For those interested, you can buy the paperback on amazon or the e-book here and if you want to read the original series he posted on /r/nosleep, here's the first part.
If you liked it, you should also check out Good Omens also by Neil Gaiman (And Terry Pratchett).
My username is named after a character in Good Omens
Good Omens by Sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - a classic comedic Apocalypse tale
> Because he rather liked people. It was a major failing in a demon.
> Oh, he did his best to make their short lives miserable, because that was his job, but nothing he could think up was half as bad as the stuff they thought up themselves. They seemed to have a talent for it. It was built into the design, somehow. They were born into a world that was against them in a thousand little ways, and then devoted most of their energies into making it worse. Over the years Crowley had found it increasingly difficult to find anything demonic to do which showed up against the natural background of generalized nastiness. There had been times, over the past millennium, when he'd felt like sending a message back Below saying, Look, we may as well give up right now, we might as well shut down Dis and Pandemonium and everywhere and move up here, there's nothing we can do to them that they don't do themselves and they do things we've never even thought of, often involving electrodes. They've got what we lack. They've got imagination. And electricity, of course.
> One of them had written it, hadn't he... "Hell is empty, and the devils are here."
> Crowley had got a commendation for the Spanish Inquisition. He had been in Spain then, mainly hanging around cantinas in the nicer parts, and hadn't even known about it until the commendation arrived. He'd gone to have a look, and had come back and got drunk for a week.
-- Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
This Book! because it's got great reviews, it's under $4 and I just finished my last e-book so I need a new one.
Thanks for the contest!
Miskatonic University
Good Omens was the first thing I thought of when I read the prompt.
http://www.amazon.com/Stress-Buster-Desktop-Punching-Ball/dp/B0051V68DQ/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1398180747&amp;sr=8-15&amp;keywords=stress+relief
This could help you relax and smile :)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008WVVKCQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;colid=1OCYQBIQB0HKN&amp;coliid=IQ4I0AF0BXFIX
If I win I'd like to read this or surprise me.
I can't stop procrastinating :-p I really can't I should be cleaning.
Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman is both hilarious and really uplifting.
Chistopher Moore is also often both of those things, and I'd really recommend Lamb: the Gospel According to Bif, Christ's Childhood Friend. Again, very hilarious but also surprisingly touching.
I'm not sure why I went with two satirical books about religion, but those are the first that come to mind. For something a little different, the Princess Bride is really light and funny, though it may seem a little too familiar if you've seen the movie recently (it's pretty faithful to the book.) If you're into fantasy, the Riyria Revelations are really fun, light reads, with some great characters and terrific dialogue.
Machine of Death is a really interesting anthology series. The premise is based on a machine that can predict how one will die but in cryptic and often ironic ways. :)
Good Omens is also a good book if you like Neil Gaiman
Unnatural creatures is also a really lovely anthology with stories chosen by Neil Gaiman. I tend to like anthologies just because they can explore multiple worlds without getting too bogged down on the environment and just letting the plot drive it
Not exactly what you're describing but you may enjoy Penpal by Dathan Auerbach, aka 1000vultures from nosleep, if you haven't already read it.
9.99 on amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008WVVKCQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Awesome Contest
Your life is complete shit, Maya. Just accept it. that said, things do eventually turn around. there are good people and good things in the world, and there is joy in small moments, you just have to be willing to see that joy when it happens. life is hard, and shitty things happen, but overall things are good. keep your chin up. ebook
The Crying of Lot 49 is pretty amazing.
I'm also a big fan of both Gravity's Rainbow and Foucalt's Pendulum.
Ah I've seen your comment below. read maybe:
Joe Abercrombie - Best Served Cold
Max Berry - lexicon
Dürrenmatt - Suspicion
Gaiman - Good Omens
Kafka - The Trial
Sillitoe - The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide ( no way you haven't read that - but who knows )
Branderson - Way Of Kings
Libba Bray - The Diviners
Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra ( there is a really ugly bible style translation - beware!!! )
Lynn Kurland - Star Of The Morning ( your sex and age is of interest )
Schwab - Vicious
Bakker - The Darkness That Comes Before
Robert Thier - Storm and Silence
Eco - Name Of The Rose ( no way you haven't read it but u know the drill ) + Foucault's Pendulum
Lord Of The Rings ( duh )
Sanderson - Mistborn
Sanderson - Alloy of Law
Harris - Hannibal
Rothfuss - The Name Of The Wind
Bukowski -Ham on Rye
Burroughs - Running With Scissors
Wong - John Dies at the End
Apophenia: The human tendency to see patterns in things. We find come correspondance and we (people) want to put meaning into it.
Have I got some books for you:
A discussion, via a novel, of coincidences, and how we can find connections to everything: Foucaults Pendulum
https://www.amazon.com/Foucaults-Pendulum-Umberto-Eco/dp/015603297X
Best related scene: The Comte De Saint Germain (sort of) points to a magazine kiosk, and points out all the connections between its design and the solar system at large. Also points out you can find something connected to something else everywhere. Most of the book revolves and resolves around this concept (as well as a few others).
A more humorous, but very cool take, on "kabballistic" thought and correspondences: Unsongbook.com
Best related scene: The main character Aaron, is challenged by someone one to defend a kabbalist's ability to find connections when looking at completed events, and in ability to predict future events.
The correspondence of Pi and the number of seconds in a year can be looked at through both these lenses. Sure... the number isn't exact. But you could go forward or backward in time (the earth's orbital velocity changes through the aeons), to find a moment when these numbers do correspond, maybe you could make some additional connections to that period.
Bonus connection: A pendulum that swings at exactly once a second is exactly one yard long at the equator. (I.e. one of the old definitions of a yard.)
That's just for 2008 though... I'd open it up to other years.
First up is anything by Umberto Eco. He's the guy who wrote "Name of the Rose", but his other books are phenomenal. If you hated "The DaVinci Code" then check out "Foucalt's Pendulum". He makes Dan Brown look mildly retarded. His novels are so heavy and serious that I was surprised by his tiny book of essays "How To Travel With a Salmon" which is hilarious.
Let's see... what else... "Shadow of the Wind" is excellent. The Musashi novels are fun to read. Scaramouche, which was turned into an OK movie. Classics like Cyrano de Bergerac should be required reading.
I had a hard time hunting down all the volumes to "Journey to the West" and it's not a task that should be taken on lightly, but I think I'm a better person for having muscled through them.
Links:
http://www.amazon.com/Name-Rose-Everymans-Library-Cloth/dp/0307264890/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1228637805&amp;sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Foucaults-Pendulum-Umberto-Eco/dp/015603297X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1228637841&amp;sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Travel-Salmon-Other-Essays-Harvest/dp/015600125X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1228637864&amp;sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Wind-Carlos-Ruiz-Zaf%C3%B3n/dp/0143034901/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1228637894&amp;sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Musashi-Eiji-Yoshikawa/dp/4770019572/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1228637921&amp;sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Scaramouche-Rafael-Sabatini/dp/0554360268/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1228637963&amp;sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Cyrano-Bergerac-Edmond-Rostand/dp/0451528921/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1228637993&amp;sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-West-4-Boxed-Set/dp/7119016636/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1228637756&amp;sr=8-1
You could try what They tried in Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum
https://www.amazon.com/dp/015603297X
I'm going to recommend two based on the books you've read:
I'm a big fan of books about cryptography, codes, etc. This one is fun, smart, and a good read. Based on your interests (Cryptonomicon, Millenium series, etc.) I think you'll really enjoy it.
This is the ultimate conspiracy book. The first 100 pages are hard to get through, but it's amazingly worth it.
If you liked Dan Brown, you could give Umberto Eco a try with Foucault's Pendulum or In the Name of the Rose - His books are more intelligent and were written before Brown was around.
I read a lot of historical fiction, if that is of interest you could start with The Gates of Fire by Pressfield or The Last Kingdom by Cornwell
Mystery, action, and fantasy all rolled into one - Dresden Files might be of interest to you - it is kind of a detective noir mixed with fantasy. Also, the series vastly improves as it progresses.
If you would like a coming of age story, The Power of One follows a boy in turn-of-the-century South Africa and examines class and race relations in a very accessible way.
If you want to try reading some of what are considered "The Classics" I would recommend All Quiet on the Western Front and To Kill a Mockingbird
Tried to think of some of my favorites across several very different genres...If any of these appeal, I can expand on them with more similar suggestions.
I love Dean Koontz. I'm from Pittsburgh originally, but spent my teen years in Bedford, PA. I used to pass his old house on my way to work! haha.
It's no secret that I'm a huge Stephen King fan, but I can understand why people don't like a lot of his books. Although I do have to say, I think you may still like 11/22/63.
Otherwise, I would suggest reading Infected by Scott Sigler. It's so good! I may end up reading it again.
My favorite Koontz book is Phantoms. But my favorite opening to a book ever is, "Death was driving an emerald green Lexus" from Invasion.
Thanks for the contest!
Ender's Game and sequels. I read it before it was cool and all hollywood.
Don't watch the movie(s), they will more than likely suck. God I miss those books. EDIT: Aw shit someone else suggested it... okay then.. think.. aw fuck.. OH! Infected, had to google for it. http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/030740630X Involves alien invasion via spores, blue triangles, gore, and that's only in the first 6 chapters. Reader discretion is advised, it gets violent. Don't forget to read the sequels as well, they're all good and usually available in the adult people section of your local book repositorium.
i'm reading it right now too, i just started plague. all the books the first comment listed are great. escape from furnace series is great.
http://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Gordon-Smith/e/B0034Q552A/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
not sure how old you are, but these are good too, anything by scott sigler
http://www.amazon.com/Infected-Novel-Scott-Sigler/dp/030740630X/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1370542953&amp;sr=1-4&amp;keywords=scott+sigler
Infected by Scott Sigler
Idk how much I should say, but I was physically in pain while reading this in some parts. There was one specific section in particular that I got my female friend to read first and let me know how bad it was before I would start again. Was I overreacting? Maybe a little... but just the thought of it now (A friend lent it to me) is causing me to begin going back into the fetal position.
[For the brave or uncaring](/s"The book follows 2 or 3 storylines, but one of them is about a guy who becomes infected by these little spores that attach themselves to five or six different parts of his body, including his butthole and ballsack, and begin to grow. As the book continues, he realizes he has to kill the spores and so starts finding ways he get rid of them (pulling, burning, etc.) until he gets to the one attached to his ballsack. SO PAINFUL TO READ")
Infected by Scott Sigler was excellent.
I'm going to throw a couple of non-King books out there that are good Halloween reads....... Clive Barker Books of Blood........Amazing short stories......
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
And someone I know probably no one here has heard about...... Scott Sigler....... He's an amazing horror author.... Start with infected..... It's not for the squeamish lol https://www.amazon.com/Infected-Novel-Scott-Sigler/dp/030740630X
One of the guys writing about him on amazon said this about it...... "Part Stephen King, part Chuck Palahniuk, Infected blends science fiction and horror into a pulpy masterpiece of action, terror, and suspense. Three recommendations: don't read it at night, or just after you've eaten a full meal, or if you're weak of heart. You've been warned!"
The Forest of Hands and Teeth. It's a YA novel, but it totally gave me weird dreams while I was reading it. Creepy as hell. I bought the sequel but haven't brought myself to read it yet.
Also, Infected: A Novel. Pretty atmospheric, although not amazing. I think it would work better as a movie than a book, which is a rare thing.
Old Man's War (recommended by Penny Arcade!)
And if you can consider this science fiction, then Infected it's pretty awesome, and very raw and gritty
I like the various Del Ray anthologies. This one is a good place to start:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-H-Lovecraft-Bloodcurdling/dp/0345350804
"The Rats In The Walls" is a good story to start with. And, coincidentally, it's the first story in that book, IIRC.
hp lovecraft
Covers Have some similar features
This is the one I picked up almost 25 years ago, and it's still in print: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345350804/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_-JzMzbYBQ0WT5
It has a great selection of stories!
I read this in HS http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0345350804/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?qid=1452821304&amp;sr=8-8&amp;pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&amp;keywords=hp+lovecraft&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51YbqO27OpL&amp;ref=plSrch
The best starter collection is from Del Rey, so it'll give a nice intro to the basics of the mythos. I really can't recommend it highly enough.
You might find thicker collections, but they almost always contain non-Lovecraft material; the stuff by August Derelth and Clark Ashton Smith, and what all. I'd hate to see someone read these by accident before reading the real Lovecraft stories.
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Cthulhu-Mythos-H-Lovecraft/dp/034542204X
This anthology contains one of my all-time favorite stories set in that universe- The Freshman by Philip Jose Farmer.
Also Crouch End from Stephen King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes!
Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
Here is a link to the in print book containing hounds plus many other Cthulhu mythos goodies
https://www.amazon.com.au/Tales-Cthulhu-Mythos-H-P-Lovecraft/dp/034542204X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1523742862&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Tales+of+the+Cthulhu+Mythos
This is the collection I ended up with. It doesn't have everything, but it has all of the best stuff. EDIT: plus these Gollancz collections are the prettiest. There are a couple of Conan ones that I highly recommend.
This is another good one. It's a collection of stuff that edited, reworked or completely rewrote for other authors, so there's a lot of his voice in it, only with a wider range of styles and themes.
I bought this collection. I have not finished it but so far there have been some great stories.
It's 3:30 in the morning, I have school at 8 and I was reading this lil' puppy to try to get to sleep before I gave up and went on Reddit.
So that's that.
The plot and setting are entirely different, but I found myself comparing the The Witch's tone and atmosphere to Annihilation. They both have that surreal sense of unease about an unseen force, and deal with isolation and mistrust.
Annihilation (first in the trilogy) - a great mind-bender in the "new weird" category. Plus it's a quick read!
All-time greatest epic fantasy series (IMO blows away GRR Martin and Tolkien): The Malazan Book of the Fallen - 10-book compilation
I'd love to pick up The 11th Hour CISSP Study Guide :)
cheers, and happy Monday!
If you had more time before your next session, I'd recommend reading Annihilation by James VanderMeer. Lots of great inspiration there for strange passages to different planes, and, explicitly, lighthouses and towers.
Maybe you'd enjoy Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, which begins with Annhilation. Personally, it was a little bizarre for my taste (like reading the diary of Salvador Dali while on acid kind of bizarre), but it was certainly unique to my experience. I haven't read the second two yet, but from what I understand, while the politics increases, I don't think it becomes completely politics-centered. Based on your description, it might be what you're looking for.
Annihilation: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374104093/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_HR9Yzb4CJ84K0
Is this the correct book series?
Has anyone ever heard of this book, Annihilation??
It's much, much lighter than that.
http://www.amazon.com/Station-Eleven-Emily-John-Mandel/dp/0385353308
http://www.amazon.com/Annihilation-Novel-Southern-Reach-Trilogy/dp/0374104093/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1426626059&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=annihilation
Is this the book you mean? I love that book so much. I have read it about 4-5 times, and it never is boring. Alas, I lent someone my copy long ago and they never returned it. Been wanting to read it again lately.
guhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh like the end of 2015 MAYBE more like mid-2016 MAYBE uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
stop reminding us.
In the meantime though, there are cool short stories. One comes out in a few weeks!
http://www.amazon.com/The-Slow-Regard-Silent-Things/dp/0756410436
Read the main series first though.
It should be out now. http://www.amazon.com/The-Slow-Regard-Silent-Things/dp/0756410436
The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
Working on Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet, then it'll be on to Slow Regard of Silent Things.
Amazon link - from goodreads, google wouldn't give it as a result
I imagine someone will ask him in Portland or Seattle. Hopefully news will out.
You are very generous indeed,
I would like to request - Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook in physical
I have always heard this is such a great series but my local library doesn't have it, and I have blown my next 3 months book budget already.. Thanks Sanderson Leatherbounds
The Black Company Series by Glenn Cook first three books found here
Really good read, no real similarites between them and NoTW, WMF, except for a certain irreverence. But could be my favorite fantasy series.
Dark / Gothic?
Chronicles of the Black Company, my friend.
...years ago I bought a huge compendium of weird horror fiction. That was the first time I read Daphne du Maurier's "Don't Look Now"
...then, I had a professor, who loves the Criterion Collection, tell me about the film when it released on CC. I had no idea there was a movie too. :) Now, I love it.
The Weird is one of my favorite collections of Weird stories. It's a behemoth, but well worth it imo.
I'm having a little trouble because most fantasy things, set in another universe with worldbuilding like LOTD, Wheel of Time, GoT, etc, don't really have horror elements, and vice versa. Even Lovecraft's stuff is mostly set on Earth, even though it's decidedly non-real. For classic horror I recommend Dracula, which is apparently free on Kindle, or I Am Legend.
I am legend book
I love reading books! :D
Did you like Owen Meany? I hated it, but I had to read it over the summer for my senior year of high school. I also didn't like Ender's Game. :( Boo, I know.
Anyway, I would suggest White Oleander by Janet Fitch, for some reason it sort of reminds me of the subject matter in John Green's books but it's quite different. I would also suggest The Gates by John Connolly, I thought it was quite good. :D
I would like dis book, mass market paperback is fine. :D
Thanks for the contest!
Here's a link to the book. Some of the stories are really good even if they only take up two or three pages.
Dachsund
Scottish Fold
Chameleon
Woof Woof! I'd like this book.
You might enjoy this book: https://www.amazon.com/This-Book-Full-Spiders-Seriously/dp/1250036658
I read that book.
Goddammit I love CRACKED so goddamn much and I don't care what anybody else says about it.
You should all use your bonus $100 to pick up David Wong's This Book Is Full of Spiders if you haven't already!
John Dies at the End and it's sequel This Book is Full of Spiders.
http://www.amazon.com/This-Book-Full-Spiders-Seriously/dp/1250036658
I'm also scared of books, they're full of spiders!
Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk? . It fits your time frame and involves a rich host who I believe isn't actually in the contest.
Might not be exactly what you are looking for, but Haunted: A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk is pretty good. It's a novel built around a series of short stories written by characters in the over-arching story. I found it to be a quick read, as is most of Palahniuk's writing which I attribute to his minimalist prose style.
Sidenote: don't under any circumstances read his book Pygmy. It's a stinker. Anything from Fight Club up to and including Rant, I would recommend. Just not Pygmy. Never Pygmy.
Actually, my real recommendation is that you find one of Amy Hempel's short story collection and give that a try. Palahniuk is a big fan and is very persuasive as to why you should read her. Although, fair warning: She Breaks Your Heart.
Here you go
If you spend time in the webcomics part of the internet you probably heard of Machine of Death when it was published a couple years back. If you don't, you probably never heard of it, unless you heard Glenn Beck complaining that this book kept one of his books from debuting at #1.
The book is a collection of short stories that were inspired by a Dinosaur Comics webcomic that fans wanted the author to make happen. Notable figures from across the internet, as well as some random authors, each wrote a short story based only on that comic (essentially, that a machine somehow existed that would tell you in very few words how you would die, but not when or where). Every story is accompanied by a single amazing illustration from a different artist.
What is so cool about the book is that every author worked from the same original but with no communication, so you get these amazingly unique interpretations. Many are sad, but some are happy and a few are laugh out loud funny. I read it during a cross country trip and absolutely lost myself in it for the better part of the trip.
(On a side note, a few people are recommending Chuck Pahalniuk. His style will engross you, hold you tight, and then hold your head underwater until you can't breath. He regularly has people pass out at the line "corn and peanuts" when he reads a particular short story to groups. If you pick one of his books, go with one where the characters do a lot of the story telling, it adds so many layers of depth and gives you some needed diversity in prose. Rant or Haunted I would say are hands down his best books, despite the fact that Fightclub and Choke were made into movies.)
But then I read Haunted so there was no perfect character
Used this book Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk is 4.99 with free shipping
It's actually a chapter from one of his books, a character introduction really, since the guy shows up again throughout the rest of the book. You may or may not know this, but I figured someone might not. The book's called Haunted, by Chuck Palahnuik, for those curious.
Hey, welcome to this subreddit! I just joined a few days ago myself. I've been on that turntable thing like all day every day since I joined. haha
My least favorite thing about the day is my dog is getting over a bee sting that covered his body in hives and made him swell up like crazy. :(
My favorite part about today is that I'm going to a concert in a few hours for The Killers! SO EXCITED! :)
If possible this book used of course, (only .49!) would be cool. If not, I still love you anyways for doing this! :)
It's been nearly 100 years since HP Lovecraft wrote, and his stories are still the gold standard for Horror fiction.
http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-Library-America/dp/1931082723?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;redirect=true&amp;ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
This one is my favorite. But, if cost is a concern, note that there are links to a free PDF/e-book collection in the sidebar of this sub.
I recently bought the Library of America collection of Lovecraft's tales. I've been told it is an excellent entry point, although I've also been warned that it will leave me hungry for more! Nevertheless, it contains what are most popularly considered the "major" works of Lovecraft, including the Cthulu cycle. I am quite happy with it :)
Click through to Amazon, then hover and Look Inside This Book
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1931082723/ref=sib_dp_pop_toc?ie=UTF8&amp;p=S00F#reader-link
You should definitely check out the first story of this book. It's called "Monster Cocks" :)
I'll just leave you with these...
Sex sells. You know? The books feel like some cross between a Troma film fan fiction.
In fact, Bizarro Central describes Bizarro as:
Other great Bizarro authors include Jeff Burk, Mykle Hansen, and Cameron Pierce.
It's really fun stuff, in the way that art house films and dropping acid are really fun stuff.
Is your novel "Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmosphere"?
https://www.amazon.com/BAKEMONOGATARI-Part-1-NISIOISIN/dp/1942993889
here you go m8
Nademonogatari was announced for July. Now if only we could faster translations, Vertical. Just noticed this. Pre-ordered.
only a 2 dollar saving for canadians :(
It's an official one. Thank you for your recommendation! Any links? Is it BAKEMONOGATARI?
Question if anyone is still lurking here. Is this the same manga as https://www.amazon.com/dp/1942993889/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_tqPVAb8AYTP3M
Im out of the loop
Read this book.
As for me I want this here book.
My name is Matt :D I think my favorite ebook would probably be Ender's Game but I already have that! So I'll pick John Dies at the End even though I've never read it. I watched the movie a couple weeks ago and I liked it even though it was pretty weird, and I've heard and read that the book is much better, so I'd love to read it!
Thanks for doing the contest, it's amazing that everyone on here is so willing to give :D One of the reasons I love it here :D
Um, holy shit. Thank you for this super generous contest!
I'm Kim, and right now I'm right keen to read John Dies in the End. It has been recommended to me so many times I feel it's only right to get on with it.
Seriously, amazing. Thank you.
Ok, if you liked this video and you like books, you really should read (not watch) John Dies at the End.
Checking in after about a month and figured I'd give you [a suggestion.] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007KJHGNI/ref=cm_sw_su_dp#customerReviews)
It's the sequel, and [the first book] (http://www.amazon.com/John-Dies-End-David-Wong-ebook/dp/B002Q7H7JC/ref=pd_sim_351_1?ie=UTF8&amp;dpID=51ylhGxU%2BRL&amp;dpSrc=sims&amp;preST=_AC_UL160_SR107%2C160_&amp;refRID=1MB8B8FABEMY896MWYTB) is also good, but it's on Netflix so you can just watch that if you'd rather. (Honestly, John Dies at the End is a strange read - he originally wrote it as a series, not a novel, so it doesn't always flow very well - still worth it though, IMO.)
The Blade Itself
Prince of Thorns
I'm really failing at this whole thing.
I have three books I'm currently in an on hold status on:
Those would be my suggestions for this month. I have read The Girl on the Train and have neutral feelings on it.
I can't help but think of Infected by Scott Sigler
He has a short story coming out in October I believe.
http://www.amazon.com/Regard-Silent-Things-Kingkiller-Chronicles/dp/0756410436/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1406913321&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=pat+rothfuss
It's about Auri and I suspect it will be a great read. Unfortunately it isn't book three :(
For horror, many of Poe's stories fit the bill. "The Mask of the Red Death" is one of his best, though I might also recommend "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "The Tell-Yale Heart". That last is an especially gripping tale of guilt driving a man insane. If you can find the reading by Basil Rathbone, listen to it. It's up on Spotify.
E. A. Poe's works are regularly collected and reprinted, as they've been in the public domain for decades. Here's a link to one nice looking release.
I'd suggest any of the collections of Lovecraft's books published by Ballantine/Del Ray for an introduction to Lovecraftian horror; a very specific subset of horror that I'm especially fond of. Amazon carries them. Here's a direct link to Lovecraft's dream cycle, stories he drew directly from his dreams. The book's title is "Dreams of Terror and Death", And it's also available on Audible.
The last collection I'm gonna suggest covers weird fiction in general (not just horror, but stories of all different genres that have a touch of "strangeness" or "otherness" to them) throughout the 20th century and very early 21st, from 1908 to 2010. It's titled "The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories". It contains 110 stories from various artists throughout that century, some straight horror, others sort of dark fantasy.
There's tons more that I could suggest, but this's already weeks of reading, at the least. Don't wanna completely swamp ya. \^_\^
> Richard Matheson, Vincent Price, Charlton Heston, and Will Smith already did this...
FTFY
There were two types of infected: 1) Those infected who did not succumb to the infection leading to death and 2) Those infected whom did die and could become reanimated. The reanimated ones were feral, having no memories of their past lives and killed without hesitation, which is where I think the confusion lies between vampirism and modern day zombies.
The symptoms are that of vampirism and not that of typical "walking dead" as we know them today.
I'd recommend reading the novel the movie is loosely based on by Richard Matheson.
His vampirism was a catalyst in the development of modern day zombies and heavily influenced the likes of George A. Romero and Stephen King.
Romero himself is quoted as saying, "I had written a short story, which I basically had ripped off from a Richard Matheson novel called I Am Legend." The title of Romero and co-author John Russo's short story is called "Monster Flick" and was originally intended to be a horror comedy which has little resemblance to the final product.
Good Omens
https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Complete-Tie-History/dp/B00BIK73QA