tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post8738630343637748983..comments2024-03-12T12:38:23.542-04:00Comments on The Kind of Face You Hate: The Kind of Face You SLASH!!! - Day 6: Filthy With Bloodbill r.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-84939363512866404602010-11-12T05:08:26.852-05:002010-11-12T05:08:26.852-05:00I'd like to salute Bill for the blog in genera...I'd like to salute Bill for the blog in general, the <i>Face You Slash</i> in particular, and his reviews regarding Adam Golaski and Chuck Beaumont in <i>particular</i> particular, since I've now bought copies of <b>Worse Than Myself</b> and <b>The Howling Man</b> and enjoyed them both thoroughly.<br /><br />I have just this minute finished a review of <b> Worse Than Myself</b> which, if yerself or any of your admiring crowd fancy casting your eye over, can be found here: http://cartesiantheatre.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/worse-than-myself/Andrew LHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04147822916863402703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-70682415698987320552010-10-09T16:37:27.113-04:002010-10-09T16:37:27.113-04:00Hmmm...well, Aickman, unfortunately, is no longer ...Hmmm...well, Aickman, unfortunately, is no longer practicing, as he's dead. But let's see: Thomas Ligotti, Mark Samuels, Terry Lamsley is good from what I've read so far, this guy I've just started reading named Brian Evenson (see subsequent post)...Chet Williamson is good. Um...there are some big names who are good, like Straub, Barker, and King, but I don't need to tell you about them. The short fiction of Joe Lansdale (skip his novels)...bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-66503071427841044712010-10-08T23:18:35.169-04:002010-10-08T23:18:35.169-04:00"The expectations for quality horror prose ha..."The expectations for quality horror prose have descended to such a low level that competency has been celebrated as brilliance."<br /><br />Once again, you've read my mind. I don't read much within the genre anymore, for that very reason. I also more or less walked away from SF and fantasy when I was 18 or so, because I just couldn't take the crappy prose, flat characters and formulaic plots after dipping my toe into the world of "serious" literary fiction. Since I'm now attempting to write in the field, I feel as if I should be up on my contemporary horror, but its been so long I don't know where to begin.<br /><br />Aickman comes with your highest recommendation, obviously. And now Golaski. Who else? If you had to come up with a top ten -- or even a top five -- list (current practitioners only), who would be on it? <br /><br />I'd like to hear what your readers have to say as well. Even "y'all are morons who don't understand ambiguity" John.Frank Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-16816298044019138472010-10-07T12:51:09.148-04:002010-10-07T12:51:09.148-04:00Tom, I wish I had some of those Wagner books. I&#...Tom, I wish I had some of those Wagner books. I'll have to track them down.<br /><br />Greg - You'll be hearing from my lawyers.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-10320037844413463912010-10-07T10:41:09.985-04:002010-10-07T10:41:09.985-04:00Just a warning: As with my Facebook inspired post...Just a warning: As with my Facebook inspired post, I'm going to expand upon the sci-fi idea here for a post and quote you. So say NO MORE ABOUT IT! I'll put it up Sunday, probably.Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05730146625671701859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-76905186007112392722010-10-07T08:58:52.916-04:002010-10-07T08:58:52.916-04:00Yeah, Karl Edward Wagner's year's best hor...Yeah, Karl Edward Wagner's year's best horror antho was published thru DAW books until he died back in the '90s. It had no relationship to the Jones series. I enjoyed Wagner's anthos because he looked to so many obscure sources for stories. I like Datlow and Jones, too, but they both have a stable of favored authors whose work will pop up year after year.Tom B.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-3608778438000596322010-10-07T08:15:51.621-04:002010-10-07T08:15:51.621-04:00Greg, we need to get out there and picket, or poss...Greg, we need to get out there and picket, or possibly "rock the vote". I can never tell which, but I do know that only we can make a difference when it comes to those silly gooses in Congress.<br /><br />And you should look up "hodag". You'll find much of interest!<br /><br />DISTRICT 9 is a perfect SF equivalent of what I'm talking about. People are so over the moon with that film, and you know what I thought? I thought it was fine! Not because I'm so much better than those people, but goodness, where have our standards gone? SF on film (I don't know about contemporary SF literature) is in even worse shape that horror (print or film). How many pure SF movies do we get? I mean, that aren't basically action films. There was MOON, and before that? The SOLARIS remake? Then AI?<br /><br />Bryce - Yes, and what I liked about the way he was invited into the house is that you don't even know who did it. It's like a disembodied voice lets doom waltz right on in.<br /><br />I read "Dread" about 20 years ago. Sorta remember it, but not too well.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-55855284762221281662010-10-07T04:05:09.568-04:002010-10-07T04:05:09.568-04:00One of the rules for surviving a horror fiction ne...One of the rules for surviving a horror fiction needs to be that if someone needs a very formalized stated invitation to enter the place you currently are; THEN FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST DO. NOT. GIVE. IT. TO. THEM.<br /><br />I'm going to go read Dread now. <br /><br />Best thing Barker's written IMO.Bryce Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17040954580033470664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-24426476155763303472010-10-06T20:21:18.353-04:002010-10-06T20:21:18.353-04:00I just wish we, the people, would pass a law again...I just wish we, the people, would pass a law against those knuckleheads doing all that shuckin' and jivin' 'cause brother, it burns me up!<br /><br />Also, always glad to see someone use the name "Whitey" in a story. I never knew a "Whitey" so it really takes me away to another universe. <br /><br />The doodad godog dodag thingamabobber is AWESOME!<br /><br />Finally, I know what you mean by standards, in this case horror writing, falling so low that competence is celebrated as brilliance. That's how I feel about modern sci-fi, so collapsed under the weight of its own cliches that when something like the rather average <b>District 9</b> comes along, it's celebrated as a modern classic. And, it's not.Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05730146625671701859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-21974881165284216662010-10-06T16:20:39.023-04:002010-10-06T16:20:39.023-04:00Obviously, I flat out loved the Golaski story, and...Obviously, I flat out loved the Golaski story, and will be picking up that collection as soon as I can.<br /><br />But if "The Man from the Peak" reminded me of Etchison at all, it reminded me of what Etchison is trying for, but often falling shy of. I don't want to keep running Etchison down -- I really have nothing against the guy, and plan to read him in the future. It's just the level of regard he's attained does not match my reading experience. Something like the Golaski story is what I'm ALWAYS trying to get when I read horror, and it's a true thrill when I find it.<br /><br />I thought I'd heard that when Wagner died, his peers and friends kept the collection going through various editors, until it finally morphed into the Jones series. Although now that you mention it, that would explain why the Jones series is only at volume 20. Oy. Where did I get that idea, anyway?bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-4289093042478864652010-10-06T16:00:44.186-04:002010-10-06T16:00:44.186-04:00The Golaski story (the only one of these I've ...The Golaski story (the only one of these I've read) impressed me, too, enough to get me to shell out for a copy of his book "Worse Than Me" (a collection of stories), but I haven't read anything else of his yet.<br /><br />Funnily enough, that story reminded me a lot of Etchison, for some reason, the spare, incisive writing, the imagery and atmosphere reminiscent of some of his more gruesome stories, like "It Only Comes Out at Night", "The Dark Country", "The Woman in Black", etc.<br /><br />"Gifts are always better when they're furry." Uh-huh. That quote sounds like sheer glibness trying to pass for minimalism. Can't say that particular story sounds too promising.<br /><br />(Just a note on the "Best Horror" anthologies: the Wagner books were a wholly separate series under a different publisher. There had been two previous editors in its run through the '70s & '80s, and Wagner was the last; it ended with his death. But, for a couple of years at the beginning of the '90s, I suppose this means that there were at least three major "Best Of" anthologies going for horror: the Wagners, the Joneses, and the Datlows (her section of the "Best Fantasy and Horror" series). The interesting thing about this, from what I've seen, is the way the contents of all three books seemed so rarely to overlap. Wagner, especially, seemed happy to shun all the most popular names and titles, and took the bulk of his selections from all kinds of obscure and unlikely venues.)Johnnoreply@blogger.com