Hobbit Towers Halloween resurrected

[Hobbit]

Thanks Randy for resurrecting this one: Hard to think I wrote this nearly three years ago. That's lived longer than some websites: or publishers!

You know, the good threads don't go away, they just come back.

Perhaps we should make this one a sticky each October?

Anyway, to business. As the beginning of the thread said, I love Halloween. This year, my reading matter of choice will probably be the new Library of America boxed set of American Fantastic Tales, edited by Peter Straub. My copy was put in the post today, so it should be here at Hobbit Towers by Halloween, fingers crossed.

Here's a link: HERE

And here's the covers:

and in a lovely box too:

The stories are a fantastic selection too:

Volume 1: Poe to the Pulps:

Charles Brockden Brown Somnambulism: A Fragment
Washington Irving The Adventure of the German Student
Edgar Allan Poe Berenice
Nathaniel Hawthorne Young Goodman Brown
Herman Melville The Tartarus of Maids
Fitz-James O’Brien What Was It?
Bret Harte The Legend of Monte del Diablo
Harriet Prescott Spofford The Moonstone Mass
W. C. Morrow His Unconquerable Enemy
Sarah Orne Jewett In Dark New England Days
Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Yellow Wall Paper
Stephen Crane The Black Dog
Kate Chopin Ma’ame Pélagie
John Kendrick Bangs Thurlow’s Christmas Story
Robert W. Chambers The Repairer of Reputations
Ralph Adams Cram The Dead Valley
Madeline Yale Wynne The Little Room
Gertrude Atherton The Striding Place
Emma Francis Dawson An Itinerant House
Mary Wilkins Freeman Luella Miller
Frank Norris Grettir at Thorhall-stead
Lafcadio Hearn Yuki-Onna
F. Marion Crawford For the Blood Is the Life
Ambrose Bierce The Moonlit Road
Edward Lucas White Lukundoo
Olivia Howard Dunbar The Shell of Sense
Henry James The Jolly Corner
Alice Brown Golden Baby
Edith Wharton Afterward
Willa Cather Consequences
Ellen Glasgow The Shadowy Third
Julian Hawthorne Absolute Evil
Francis Stevens Unseen—Unfeared
F. Scott Fitzgerald The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Seabury Quinn The Curse of Everard Maundy
Stephen Vincent Benét The King of the Cats
David H. Keller The Jelly-Fish
Conrad Aiken Mr. Arcularis
Robert E. Howard The Black Stone
Henry S. Whitehead Passing of a God
August Derleth The Panelled Room
H. P. Lovecraft The Thing on the Doorstep
Clark Ashton Smith Genius Loci
Robert Bloch The Cloak

and Volume 2: From the 1940's to Now

John Collier Evening Primrose
Fritz Leiber Smoke Ghost
Tennessee Williams The Mysteries of the Joy Rio
Jane Rice The Refugee
Anthony Boucher Mr. Lupescu
Truman Capote Miriam
Jack Snow Midnight
John Cheever Torch Song
Shirley Jackson The Daemon Lover
Paul Bowles The Circular Valley
Jack Finney I’m Scared
Vladimir Nabokov The Vane Sisters
Ray Bradbury The April Witch
Charles Beaumont Black Country
Jerome Bixby Trace
Davis Grubb Where the Woodbine Twineth
Donald Wandrei Nightmare
Harlan Ellison I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
Richard Matheson Prey
T.E.D. Klein The Events at Poroth Farm
Isaac Bashevis Singer Hanka
Fred Chappell Linnaeus Forgets
John Crowley Novelty
Jonathan Carroll Mr Fiddlehead
Joyce Carol Oates Family
Thomas Ligotti The Last Feast of Harlequin
Peter Straub A Short Guide to the City
Jeff VanderMeer The General Who Is Dead
Stephen King That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French
George Saunders Sea Oak
Caitlín Kiernan The Long Hall on the Top Floor
Thomas Tessier Nocturne
Michael Chabon The God of Dark Laughter
Joe Hill Pop Art
Poppy Z. Brite Pansu
Steven Millhauser Dangerous Laughter
M. Rickert The Chambered Fruit
Brian Evenson The Wavering Knife
Kelly Link Stone Animals
Tim Powers Pat Moore
Gene Wolfe The Little Stranger
Benjamin Percy Dial Tone

OK: that's over 80 stories and 1459 pages. Though I know a few, (and they are great!) there's a lot I don't. Should be a great read.

Mark

 

[Winter]

Ah, I am not doing anything different for October. However, I am devoting December to Poe and will likely read some Thomas Ligotti and M. R. James if I have some time left. Though I may find time this month to read the latter two instead of waiting. As to why I chose December, the answer to that is easy:

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
~ The Raven

Edit:

And that looks like a great read, Mark.

 

[Hobbit]

Thanks, Winter. As I've said, I'm quite looking forward to it. I suspect it'll be one to dip in and out of: I could still be reading it in December!

I do read a fair bit of Horror around Christmas too, actually. Can't beat MRJ at Christmas!

 

[Raule]

Thought I'd resurrect this thread, bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!!
Anyone else have a hankering for creepy, macabre reads during October or just around Halloween?
Randy M.

Yes! I do often find myself craving creepy/unsettling books to read this time of year, once the temps drop and leaves start falling off the trees. I'm not much of a fan of physical horror, but I do enjoy the psychological/ambiguous kind.

I've been reading some of the stories from Ligotti's Teatro Grottesco. Can't seem to make myself read very much at time, mainly just a story a day. I find this more disturbing than scary -- kind of like being invited into the dream world of a deranged person's mind and told with a sense of detachment.

I also just recently finished Straub's Ghost Story. Great for this mood and time of year. My only quibble was that I felt he bit off more than he could chew with the large cast of characters. I became less enthralled as the story shifted from very atmospheric ghost story to battling the supernatural beings. Still recommended as an engrossing pageturner.

Randy, I think you'll like Kiernan's The Red Tree. It's not a book where everything gets resolved, though, and some might not like that. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes books where it's unclear whether the haunting is real or in the mind or even perhaps contrived. It's been one of my favorite reads so far this year.

Somewhere I've got Dinesen's Seven Gothic Tales. I'm thinking it's due for a re-read.

Another book I recommend is Sarah Waters' latest, The Little Stranger. It's a slow burner that gradually creeps up on you (or it did me, at least).

Oh... re the previous posts about Dark Shadows... I thought I read somewhere that Tim Burton was considering making a film of it, most likely with Depp starring.

 

[Randy M.]

OK: that's over 80 stories and 1459 pages. Though I know a few, (and they are great!) there's a lot I don't. Should be a great read.

Mark

There's a lot in the 2nd volume I haven't read. I'm deeply, deeply envious, though a few of the selections strike me as eccentric ("Bernice"? "The Tartarus of Maids"? "The Thing on the Doorstep"? "The Cloak"? -- a little odd; not necessarily bad, just not what I'd expect for those authors).

If you haven't read the Klein or the Chambers, you have a treat ahead of you.


Randy M.

 

[Randy M.]

I don't usually do Halloween-themed horror reading but for whatever reason I've been on a horror kick this past week. Close enough!

[...]

I was wondering, considering your posts to the Sept & Oct reading threads. I've heard Needful Things isn't one of his more satisfying works, and like you I have a high regard for Pet Semetary. I think you'll like 'Salem's Lot, though. Early King, pared down and probably stronger for the editing.

I'm debating on Simmons' The Terror for sometime over the winter.

Nickee: I'm interested in hearing more about the Lee. I've been meaning to read some of her work but just haven't gotten there, yet.

Ben: What's in Terror 3?


Randy M.

 

[Seak]

I started reading GRRM's "short" story Skin Trade. Good stuff.

 

[Randy M.]

Yes! I do often find myself craving creepy/unsettling books to read this time of year, once the temps drop and leaves start falling off the trees. I'm not much of a fan of physical horror, but I do enjoy the psychological/ambiguous kind.

I've been reading some of the stories from Ligotti's Teatro Grottesco. Can't seem to make myself read very much at time, mainly just a story a day. I find this more disturbing than scary -- kind of like being invited into the dream world of a deranged person's mind and told with a sense of detachment.

I have a similar feeling with his Songs of a Dead Dreamer. Every so often I pull it down, re/read a few stories, put it back, never quite finish the collection. I did read Grimscribe cover to cover a couple of years ago, so I wonder if it was just me rather than his work, or if the maturation of his work between Songs... and Grimscribe might account for it.

I also just recently finished Straub's Ghost Story. Great for this mood and time of year. My only quibble was that I felt he bit off more than he could chew with the large cast of characters. I became less enthralled as the story shifted from very atmospheric ghost story to battling the supernatural beings. Still recommended as an engrossing pageturner.

One of my favorites. I'm debating about rereading it in December/January.

Randy, I think you'll like Kiernan's The Red Tree. It's not a book where everything gets resolved, though, and some might not like that. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes books where it's unclear whether the haunting is real or in the mind or even perhaps contrived. It's been one of my favorite reads so far this year.

I'm fine with unresolved. Ever since I read Threshold I've been telling myself I need to get back to Kiernan's work.

Somewhere I've got Dinesen's Seven Gothic Tales. I'm thinking it's due for a re-read.

Huh. We must be on a similar wavelength. I've been thinking about pulling this out and finally reading it cover to cover. We'll see.

Another book I recommend is Sarah Waters' latest, The Little Stranger. It's a slow burner that gradually creeps up on you (or it did me, at least).

Oh... re the previous posts about Dark Shadows... I thought I read somewhere that Tim Burton was considering making a film of it, most likely with Depp starring.

The Waters' sounds right up my alley, and I've heard the same Burton/Depp rumors about Dark Shadows, too. Interesting. As will be the Alice movie.


Randy M.

 

[Slack Bladder]

I'm considering a re-read of Naomi's Room by Jonathan Aycliffe, a very creepy and effective ghost story.

 

[Cranky Hamster]

I'm debating on Simmons' The Terror for sometime over the winter.

It has some great nightmarish bits. As much as I hissed and scratched at the book for its ending (and I take nothing back! nothing!!), there are some really epic scenes in the novel. It could and should have been 200-300 pages shorter, but looking back on it, the moments of brilliance do stick with me. They are powerful.

I should flip through and do a quick reread of the good parts. I would probably like them a lot more once they're separated from the rest of the slog. It's definitely a panning-for-gold book, IMO, but at least the gold nuggets are big ones.

 

[Randy M.]

I'm considering a re-read of Naomi's Room by Jonathan Aycliffe, a very creepy and effective ghost story.

It's not my favorite -- Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House is still my ideal of a haunted house/ghost story -- but I agree it's a very effective novel. The ending chilled me.


Randy M.

 

[Slack Bladder]

It's not my favorite -- Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House is still my ideal of a haunted house/ghost story -- but I agree it's a very effective novel. The ending chilled me.

I've never gotten around to Jackson's novel. (Call myself a horror fan, huh?) It's on my shelf, though so I'll definitely move it up the pile.

 

[Randy M.]

It has some great nightmarish bits. As much as I hissed and scratched at the book for its ending (and I take nothing back! nothing!!), there are some really epic scenes in the novel. It could and should have been 200-300 pages shorter, but looking back on it, the moments of brilliance do stick with me. They are powerful.

My sentiment about a lot of Stephen King's novels.

I should flip through and do a quick reread of the good parts. I would probably like them a lot more once they're separated from the rest of the slog. It's definitely a panning-for-gold book, IMO, but at least the gold nuggets are big ones.

I'll keep it in mind. I've also considered Summer of Night, but was put off by the early paragraphs which read like a not-so-good refiguring of the first paragraph of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. I've liked other books by Simmons, though, so I think I'll eventually get to both.

Randy M.

 

[Slack Bladder]

Song of Kali by Simmons is one of his best. I'm a bit daunted by the size of The Terror and Carrion Comfort (for that matter).

 

[Randy M.]

Song of Kali by Simmons is one of his best. I'm a bit daunted by the size of The Terror and Carrion Comfort (for that matter).

Haven't gotten to Song..., but I agree about the size of the others. Have you read the novella version of "Carrion Comfort"? That was quite good. I think it was in his first collection, Prayers to Broken Stones.

Randy M.

 

[Slack Bladder]

Haven't gotten to Song..., but I agree about the size of the others. Have you read the novella version of "Carrion Comfort"? That was quite good. I think it was in his first collection, Prayers to Broken Stones.

No, I haven't read the novella version. I have a copy of Prayers to Broken Stones somewhere so I'll give it ago. I think the novella also appeared in Ellen Datlow's anthology Blood is not Enough.

 

[Cranky Hamster]

I've also considered Summer of Night, but was put off by the early paragraphs which read like a not-so-good refiguring of the first paragraph of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House.

Really? Everybody says it's more like a rehashing of It, which isn't quite fair but I can see where that criticism is coming from. Anyway, Summer of Night is a lot more "even" than The Terror, by which I mean that it doesn't have the same peaks of awesome nor the troughs of "wtf where'd the story go" for 5 to 50 pages at a time.

It's also a lot more... tropetastic, I guess, since "predictable" isn't quite the right word. Maybe because of that, it's clumsier in integrating its parts; you can see where the author inserted 10 pages of Wistful Evocation of Boyhood Gone or a half-page of Spooky Pseudo-Encyclopedic Infodump. Those parts are exactly written to measure. They're well done, but it is so transparent what Simmons was going for and as a result it feels kind of awkward, like he was following a how-to checklist instead of writing a seamlessly natural story.

Anyway. It's worth reading and it's particularly worth analyzing if for some reason you feel compelled to break down a mainstream 80s/90s horror novel into its component parts, because while it's very well executed, it is also super easy to see where the joins are in that book. If I were teaching a class on story construction I would definitely pick Summer of Night for the assigned reading list.

I have yet to read Haunting of Hill House. I keep looking at it and going "meh" and putting it back. One of these days I'll get around to it, but probably not until I can find it at a library or otherwise read it for free. It has a stellar reputation but it also sounds sufficiently "not for me" that I'm reluctant to take the plunge and buy it.

 

[Randy M.]

No, I haven't read the novella version. I have a copy of Prayers to Broken Stones somewhere so I'll give it ago. I think the novella also appeared in Ellen Datlow's anthology Blood is not Enough.

I didn't remember that. Cool. Last year Barnes & Noble brought back Blood... combined with A Whisper of Blood in a rather nice package. I should dig that back out...

Randy M.

 

[Randy M.]

I have yet to read Haunting of Hill House. I keep looking at it and going "meh" and putting it back. One of these days I'll get around to it, but probably not until I can find it at a library or otherwise read it for free. It has a stellar reputation but it also sounds sufficiently "not for me" that I'm reluctant to take the plunge and buy it.

The first paragraph is probably one of the most famous openings in the history of ghost/horror stories. It comes right up to the edge of being too much, but it establishes a tone that remains pretty constant throughout.

I think early on you'll see some of the same sort of narrative machinery that you saw in Summer... but for me, very early, it smooths out. Eleanor is one of the more realistic female protagonists I've come across in genre fiction, and while for years I've thought she might have been a bit more of her time than of later years, I'm not so sure anymore. In some ways, the aging of the baby-boom generation may have made her position as her mother's keeper more relevant.

Anyway, even if you're not fond of it, it has the wonderful features of being short, concise and written in a prose which, in spite of my quibble about the first graph, is pretty much flawless.


Randy M.

 

[ben1xy]

Ben: What's in Terror 3?


Randy M.

oops, i meant Dan Simmon's The Terror