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What are you reading? |
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TheCheshireKhajiit |
Jun 20 2019, 02:46 AM
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Ancient
Joined: 28-September 16
From: Sheogorath's shrine talking to myselves!
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QUOTE(SubRosa @ Jun 19 2019, 07:25 PM) QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ Jun 19 2019, 08:18 PM) QUOTE(SubRosa @ Jun 19 2019, 05:25 PM) QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ Jun 19 2019, 05:39 PM) Khajiit needs to read more Too. Many. Video. Games. Oh well. Maybe Khajiit can get some quality reading done on beach vacation this year. @Subbie- would you care to make a short list of Cthulhu Mythos stuff that you recommend and post it here? Nothing goes better with beach vacations than reading about humankind’s futile struggle with the Great Old Ones and their abominable kin. Lovecraft's own writing, or non-Lovecraft stories? Non, Khajiit has plenty of Lovecraft’s work. It would be interesting to see what other writers do with the Mythos. That is what I thought you meant. I made a list: If you want to look for individual stories, a lot of these are so old they are public domain: Robert E Howard The Fire of Asshurbanipal The Black Stone Worms of the Earth The People Of The Dark The Tower of the Elephant The Slithering Shadow Karl Edward Wagner Sticks Stephen King Jeruselam's Lot (not Salem's Lot) Michael Shea Tsathaggoua Copping Squid Anthology - The Demiurge (I have not read all of it yet, but I am thinking of buying it) Robert Bloch Notebook Found In A Deserted House The Shambler From The Stars (this was sort of a joke, as two of the characters are stand ins for HP Lovecraft. Lovecraft wrote Haunter of the Dark in response) The Shadow From The Steeple (this is a sequel to HPL's Haunter of the Dark) Frank Belknap Long The Hounds Of Tindalos Clark Ashton Smith Ubbo-Sathla The Hunters From Beyond Algernon Blackwood The Wendigo The Willows If you just want to buy some anthologies, I recommend these: The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack (the first one) - This was like 99 cents for Amazon Kindle Tales Of The Cthuhlu Mythos World War Cthulhu She Walks In Shadows (this was a nice collection written by female authors, and many took established characters like Asenath Waite and Lavinia Whately and told stories from their point of view, which is a real breath of fresh air). Awesome!! This is exactly what Khajiit was looking for! Thank you so much!!
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"Family is an odd thing, is it not? Defined by blood, separated by blood, joined by blood. In the end, it's all just blood." -Dhaunayne Aundae
May you walk on warm sands!
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TheCheshireKhajiit |
Jun 20 2019, 04:51 PM
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Ancient
Joined: 28-September 16
From: Sheogorath's shrine talking to myselves!
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QUOTE(SubRosa @ Jun 20 2019, 10:45 AM) I suggest keeping an eye out for authors like Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Bloch, and Frank Belknap Long, who were all members of Lovecraft's 'inner circle' of writing buddies. And Robert E Howard of course. Some of their stories, especially the earlier ones, are copies of Lovecraft's style, and feel like weak imitations. These were literally their first attempts at writing however, before they found their own voices.
Stay away from August Dereleth stories. He never went beyond imitating Lovecraft, and doing it badly.
I know there is a web site out there with all of Clark Ashton Smith's stories. I found a bunch of Howard stories on Project Gutenberg. All of their stuff is public domain now.
Khajiit shall trust your judgement on this subject. You are pretty much the Lovecraft Guru around these parts, after all. Thanks again for the recommendations!
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"Family is an odd thing, is it not? Defined by blood, separated by blood, joined by blood. In the end, it's all just blood." -Dhaunayne Aundae
May you walk on warm sands!
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TheCheshireKhajiit |
Jun 20 2019, 07:39 PM
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Ancient
Joined: 28-September 16
From: Sheogorath's shrine talking to myselves!
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QUOTE(Lopov @ Jun 20 2019, 12:35 PM) I finished Duma Key from Stephen King today, I read it on German, so its title was Wahn - a delusion. I recommend it to anyone that likes stories which build up slowly, which take place on a remote island and where there aren't too many characters involved.
I still have ten days of vacations ahead of me, so now it's time for some Poe - The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, but I read it on German, so it's Der Bericht des Arthur Gordon Pym.
If I finish even this one, then I still have the Blood Meridian (on English this time) from McCarthy with me.
Can’t go wrong with Poe! Enjoy!!
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"Family is an odd thing, is it not? Defined by blood, separated by blood, joined by blood. In the end, it's all just blood." -Dhaunayne Aundae
May you walk on warm sands!
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SubRosa |
Jun 21 2019, 12:33 AM
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Ancient
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds
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I read Who Goes There by John Campbell. I was surprised at how closely Carpenter's The Thing follows it. Like the movie, it is a solid horror story. It prompted me to watch it again.
I also finished another story from Escape Artists today - What Throat by Annie Neugebauer. It was a neat weird fiction tale about two groups of people in the woods. Both are lost, and soon find themselves harassed by wolves, who are for some reason very hostile. At one point they are described as being extremely thin, implying that they are starving. But why they would be starving is never explained.
There is also something else out there in the woods, which the wolves themselves appear to be afraid of. It mimics the sounds of other creatures, but somehow wrong. We never see it, but it is out there, and it is hunting.
Eventually the characters are driven together, and things come to a head. It ends rather ambiguously, but there are dark hints. A lot is left unexplained, which is why I call it a weird tale, rather than a straight up horror story. I think Lovecraft would have liked it.
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TheCheshireKhajiit |
Jun 21 2019, 05:22 AM
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Ancient
Joined: 28-September 16
From: Sheogorath's shrine talking to myselves!
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QUOTE(SubRosa @ Jun 20 2019, 06:33 PM) I also finished another story from Escape Artists today - What Throat by Annie Neugebauer. It was a neat weird fiction tale about two groups of people in the woods. Both are lost, and soon find themselves harassed by wolves, who are for some reason very hostile. At one point they are described as being extremely thin, implying that they are starving. But why they would be starving is never explained.
There is also something else out there in the woods, which the wolves themselves appear to be afraid of. It mimics the sounds of other creatures, but somehow wrong. We never see it, but it is out there, and it is hunting.
Eventually the characters are driven together, and things come to a head. It ends rather ambiguously, but there are dark hints. A lot is left unexplained, which is why I call it a weird tale, rather than a straight up horror story. I think Lovecraft would have liked it.
That sounds really interesting! I’ll add that one to the list!
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"Family is an odd thing, is it not? Defined by blood, separated by blood, joined by blood. In the end, it's all just blood." -Dhaunayne Aundae
May you walk on warm sands!
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Winter Wolf |
Jun 23 2019, 08:01 AM
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Knower
Joined: 15-March 10
From: Melbourne, Australia
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QUOTE(Lopov @ Jun 20 2019, 06:35 PM) I finished Duma Key from Stephen King today, I read it on German, so its title was Wahn - a delusion. I recommend it to anyone that likes stories which build up slowly, which take place on a remote island and where there aren't too many characters involved.
Thanks! I have wanted to read that Stephen King for so long now. I actually did start it two years ago but got sidetracked for some reason or other, lol. It seemed really good- I like the way he got inside the head of the protagonist. I never did reach the island though. This month I have finished Eldest (book 2) Christopher Paolini. Amazing that he finished the two books by about the age of 21. Rarely can someone so young achieve that. The book was very slow as Eragon learnt the skills of magic but it all came together in the end so I was happy enough. Next week I will finish River God (Wilbur Smith). It is a blast and I am loving it.
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Games I am playing- Dead Island Fallout NV/Fallout 4
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SubRosa |
Jun 27 2019, 10:20 PM
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Ancient
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds
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It's not exactly reading, but it is not music either so I did not put this in the Listening To topic. I have discovered a number of interesting podcasts lately. My starting point was HPPodcraft, which I am almost caught up with. They mentioned Monster Talk, which I checked out. It seems pretty good. I have listened to a handful of their episodes now. They focus on monsters in pop-culture and folklore (which I suppose is really just yesteryear's pop-culture). They have a skeptic's point of view, so it is mostly them explaining the reality behind these myths and ideas. They also go into how they got created and why. It's basically a science-based discussion about things like dragons, megalodons, faeries, etc... They had an episode about Lovecraft and King Tut that got my interest. That led me to The Archaeological Fantasies Podcast. They have some crossover episodes with Monstertalk, as they sometimes are covering the same things. They only have a handful of episodes. I have only listened to the Viking Warrior Women one, which was good. It was mostly in response to a new tv show that Megan Fox hosts (I saw a little bit of it a while back, and was not impressed). The podcast was well done though, and I enjoyed the guest - Chelsi Slotten. This led me to the Women In Archaeology Podcast, which I also found had some interesting podcasts. That led me to PodCapers, which is a podcast about comics and super movies and superhero geekdom. Chelsi also guest stars in an episode here about the representation of women in comics. Which is what brought me to the podcast. The only downside I have found with PodCapers is that there are no options for a direct mp3 download. I had to find Tube Ninja which will take a url and convert it to an mp3.
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SubRosa |
Jul 10 2019, 10:13 PM
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Ancient
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds
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A few days ago I read The Ballad of Black Tom, by Victor Lavelle. It is based on Lovecraft's story The Horror at Red Hook. It is far better than Lovecraft's tale. Light years better. For starters it is a character-driven piece, with two protagonists whom you can believe are real people, with real motivations, whom you can empathize with. Malone, Lovecraft's original character, is less fleshed out in this regard. But Lavelle still writes him much better than Lovecraft did.
Black Tom is the main character however. He drives the plot. He is a young black man, a hustler, looking to make a buck any way he can. His father is a man who was worn out and physically broken before his time thanks to a life of manual labor. A life Tom refuses to even contemplate, and one cannot blame him.
Lavelle's plot is much tighter than the original as well, dispensing with Lilith, and Suydam marrying, dying on a ship, and his body being brought back and reanimated for some weird ritual underground. Instead Suydam is a scholar who has gotten a glimpse of the mythos, and wants more. He is seduced by the promise of power for those few left behind after the Cthulhuian Apocalypse. An apocalypse he intends on creating.
Speaking of Cthulhu, the creature Suydam is ultimately taking his marching orders from is called The Sleeping God. This shadowy figure is always witnessed under a dark and murky sea. Not to hard to guess who that is, is it?
Tom becomes mixed up with Suydam, and the older man's machinations. But where Suydam is not truly committed, Tom is, thanks to his father being murdered by a racist private detective working for a very scary old woman named Ma Aat. If that sounds like an Egyptian goddess, it should... That, and Malone and the police department's approval of the death, sends Tom over the edge. He goes farther than Suydam ever would. He goes all the way.
I won't give any more away. It is a solid read, with really good characters. The real monsters here are not Cthulhu and the cthultists, but rather racist America. Let's face it, the Mythos cannot really hold a candle to the Evil of Man.
Speaking of the latter I also read Lovecraft Country today by Matt Ruff. I thought it was a full length novel, but instead it is an anthology of mythos stories, with African-American protagonists. I only finished the titular story. Again, racism is the true evil here. Though there are delightfully disturbing impressions of things out in the woods, just out of sight, breaking down trees with their monstrous bulk.
It is another well-written piece, with strong characterizations. Much of the story is spent with the protagonists driving across country. A simple thing for most people, but not for a black person in the 50s. The author makes a great deal of use from The Safe Negro Travel Guide, a fictional version of a very real guide that existed to give African-Americans a list of safe hotels and restaurants they could go to while traveling, as well as warnings on where the stay away from. It is really pathetic that something like this had to exist in 20th century America. But sadly not at all surprising.
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SubRosa |
Jul 16 2019, 11:22 PM
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Ancient
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds
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I finished Lovecraft Country. While it is an collection of short stories, all those stories tie in together to tell a single, larger tale. It could be seen as a single novel. Except that each "chapter" has a different protagonist. It was good. A breath of fresh air in fact. I highly recommend it.
Today I started reading The Girl In Red by Christina Henry. It is a post apocalypse story about a girl, in red, trying to get to her grandmother's house. If it sounds a little like Little Red Riding Hood, well, that is one of the fun things about the story. The author fully embraces it, and it works. Because Red is a very well done character. We spend a great deal of time in her head, and the author breathes her in full, vibrant life.
She is a science fiction fan, and we often find her thinking in terms of what she learned from books and movies. For example: she knows to stay away from roads because that is where the government is going to set up road blocks to corral people. She knows she does not want the government getting her because they will put her in the refugee camp. She knows that during a deadly plague outbreak, a refugee camp is guaranteed to spread the disease to everyone in the camp and kill them all.
Like all the protagonists in Lovecraft Country, she is a person of color, just barely enough for people to constantly stare at her, trying to figure out what category to put her in. She is also an amputee, which was a real nice change in a protagonist as well. So far I am enjoying it immensely.
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SubRosa |
Aug 9 2019, 02:02 AM
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Ancient
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds
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I just finished reading Ghost Days, by Asher Elbein, with artwork by Tiffany Turrill. It is an anthology of short stories about a conjure woman in Appalachian Mountains at the start of the 20th Century. It starts with how she becomes a witch, and progresses as she learns more and more of her craft, facing down Appalachian monsters. The Ewah, the Wampus Mask, the Raven Mocker, and other actual beings from Appalachian folklore are highlighted here. Plus some new ones.
I was strongly reminded of Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John stories of course, because of the same location and similar veins. But I vastly preferred Ghost Tales. For one the creatures in this are almost all drawn from real world beliefs, where I am pretty sure all of MWW's are all fictional. Though I do love some of his, like the Right Behind You (which I believe was driven to extinction by selfie sticks...). For two I liked the protagonist much more. Interesting thing, Anna is also a missing part of one of her legs, just as the protagonist from the previous story I read - The Girl In Red.
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SubRosa |
Aug 22 2019, 01:00 AM
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Ancient
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds
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Yesterday I finished reading The Lamb Will Slaughter The Lion by Margaret Killjoy. I enjoyed it greatly. It is a novella about an anarchist traveler named Danielle (not Dani!). She goes to an anarchist free town in Iowa because her best friend had come from there, and then committed suicide. She is looking for answers, and finds that the town has a guardian, which her best friend helped summon a year before. It is an Endless Spirit, and takes the form of a 3-antlered deer. It kills all predators. All predators, human, animal, etc... It cannot be killed. I cannot be stopped. Now it is killing the people who summoned it.
I like the supernatural elements of course. While they tend to call the deer a demon, the mythology behind it is not really Christian in origin, which I liked. It is a nice breath of fresh air. In fact, the author leaves that part very vague, allowing you to fill in your own blanks if you really feel a need to.
I also enjoyed the anarchist slant to it all. All the characters are anarchists in the story, living in an anarchist town, with no interference from the outside world. Again, it was a really refreshing change of pace. The villains are the villains in all anarchist philosophy: people who try to take power over others and become rulers, and kill whoever gets in their way. Where in true anarchist culture everyone is equal, everyone has an equal voice, decisions are made by group consensus, and everyone contributes to the welfare of the community. If that sounds too good to be true, see the part I mentioned about villains trying to make themselves kings of the anarchists through intimidation and murder.
Next up is Killjoy's second novella in the series - The Barrow Will Send What It May.
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