General Weird discusion thread

[Lobolover]

Adding the description,to make sure people dont think its just one of the "bad Cooper imitations"
:"The Hidden Children (1914) -- where, in 1778 New York State, the young Euan Loskiel defeats the evil scarlet priest Amochol of the Seneca tribe and the nasty alien minions he has conjured up"


Also,for people studiying local lore,I'd recomend reading a book called at times
"(Ankou)",whose original title is "La legende de la mort chez les Bretons armoricains" by Anatole Le Braz
-it deals with the specific local Bretoneese belief in a local personification of death called "Ankou"-rather interesting,considering theese are folk tales. Noticed it by chance-and the cover-dar and white,with a skeletal creature on the cover,sure caught my atention.

Also-today have finished "An Exchange of souls" by Barry Pain-and though it takes a while to start ,it surely develops into a marvelous litle bizare tale:

Spoiler

One thing I have to note,though-are the fibs found early on-they smoothly disipitate during the novels course,even though they ARE found later,but mostly in conversation-theese would realy seem to betray Pain's practice of Humour writing-I dont think I noticed any such particular signs in Jacobs or Cobbs' weird tales (one from each)-though both were-like Pain,primarily humorists.Also,the ringing of the phone at the end-where the deceased speak to the narrator through a non-conected telephone aparatus (I like the old way of saying theese things) is kinda mediocre and somewhat lacking the geniality of the rest of the work.

Also,just started "Lazarus" by Hénri Beraud.

What I wanted to talk about though-are there any other weird tales, besides "The Monkey Paw" which W.W.Jacobs wrote?
Same question goes to Cobb."The Escape of Mr. Trimm" for instance,is it such a tale?

Besides this,the intro to "An Exchange of souls" mentions Jerome K. Jerome to have also writen a weird tale.Im at a loss which.

Also-anyone know why HPL never mentioned Hodgson's "The voice in the night" in his SHiL?Its a peefectly ghastly weird tale,and I dont see why it wasnt,alongside "A tropical horror" mentioned as examples of Hogdson's short stories.

 

[j d worthington]

At the time HPL wrote the essay (and, indeed, until Arkham House put out their omnibus The House on the Borderland and Other Novels in 1946, for the contents of which, see below), Hodgson's work was very difficult to come by; it wasn't, in fact, until H. C. Koenig brought Hodgson to HPL's attention in 1934 (iirc) that he inserted the section on him in SHiL. This was one of those stories -- included in Men of Deep Waters, as I recall -- to which HPL simply did not have access.

The House on the Borderland and Other Novels - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks for bringing this Chambers to my attention... I'll have to give it a go soon...

As for Jacobs -- he wrote several mystery and weird tales which were scattered throughout his story collections; but a number of them were collected together a few years ago as The Monkey's Paw and Other Tales of Mystery and the Macabre:

Amazon.com: The Monkey's Paw and Other Tales of Mystery and the Macabre: W.W. Jacobs, Gary Hoppenstand: Books

And yes, "The Escape of Mr. Trimm" is one of Cobb's macabre tales....

 

[Lobolover]

Thanks,J.D.,Ill read it.

By the way,just finished "The seven who were hanged",I heartily encourage anyone to read it.

 

[Lobolover]

Well,am going through Barry Pains 1901 "Stories in the dark".

Recomended so far:The Moon Slave,Diary of a God,The Bottom of the gulf.

That is all isnt bad,but it isnt anything of a world shatering level-similar to "The case of Vincent Pyrwhit"-moderate fiction you wont regret reading.

Also,from Edward Lucas White-I have to say the man continues to not fail me again,his "Amina" is a wonderfull litle oddity.

 

[j d worthington]

Well,am going through Barry Pains 1901 "Stories in the dark".

Recomended so far:The Moon Slave,Diary of a God,The Bottom of the gulf.

That is all isnt bad,but it isnt anything of a world shatering level-similar to "The case of Vincent Pyrwhit"-moderate fiction you wont regret reading.

Also,from Edward Lucas White-I have to say the man continues to not fail me again,his "Amina" is a wonderfull litle oddity.

I've still to read most of White's work, though I now have three collections of his weird (and other) tales; but what I have read has always made him stand out, yes....

Will have to make time for the Pain soon....

Incidentally, I've begun a reread (for the first time in about 25 years) of Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".... I'd forgotten how subtle Hyde's differences were as far as the physical realm is concerned; and I must say I think this adds to the eerieness of the whole. It's easy to be repulsed by a monstrous-appearing individual, but someone who is largely described as being "small" or "dwarfish" doesn't automatically engender hatred, fear, or loathing; it's the subtle touches that indicate the true deformity is of the spirit or the soul, and is recognized despite the lack of true physical deformity by those around him.

It also interests me how Stevenson, despite a rather brisk style, manages to convey a great feeling of displacement by Hyde's mere presence, as if his very existence somehow threatens to open the door to even worse things....

 

[Lobolover]

Hmm yes-I think HPL should have praised White a bit more.

For theese cases ive created the "Supernatural Horror in literature V. II" project,if you could look at it-and help corecting the title,my "e" key is weird.

Anyway,next fiction-short,I plan to read "Mrs. Amworth" and "The Escaoe if Mr. Trimm" after The Undying thing.Will have to return to "A strange manuscript etc." soon though,only have 5 chapters finished.

 

[Connavar]

I cant believe my luck today.

I picked up from the library The Mammoth Book of Fantasy.


I saw Lord Dunsany that i wanted to try and didnt even check the rest of the content. When i got home and sat down with the book and saw the names of some of the authors. Many pleasent surprises !

Clark Ashton Smith
A.Meritt - The Moon Pool short story heh
Thedore Sturgeon
Harlan Ellison
Robert E. Howard - The Valley of The Worm my first REH that isnt Conan !

 

[AE35Unit]

I cant believe my luck today.

I picked up from the library The Mammoth Book of Fantasy.


I saw Lord Dunsany that i wanted to try and didnt even check the rest of the content. When i got home and sat down with the book and saw the names of some of the authors. Many pleasent surprises !

Clark Ashton Smith
A.Meritt - The Moon Pool short story heh
Thedore Sturgeon
Harlan Ellison
Robert E. Howard - The Valley of The Worm my first REH that isnt Conan !

Conn,thats the title of the book I sent you isn't it?

 

[Connavar]

No this is another one.

The one you sent me was called The Mammoth Book of Short Fantasy Novels.

I wouldnt borrow from the library a book i have already read

 

[AE35Unit]

Ah yes that makes sense! Talking of which have you seen just how many Mammoth books there are out there? Hundreds!

 

[Connavar]

Ah yes that makes sense! Talking of which have you seen just how many Mammoth books there are out there? Hundreds!

I borrowed at the same time The Mammoth Book of Science Fiction


It has PKD(dont need since i collect him already ),Baxter,Aldiss i have already read.

Cliford D. Simak
Peter F. Hamilton
Robert Reed
Connie Willis
Greg Egan

Is why i borrowed it too.

 

[AE35Unit]

I had a similar one,bought at the same time as the fantasy one. Had Enemy Mine in it by Barry B Longyear but never got to read it and it mysteriously disappeared!

 

[j d worthington]

Steering things slightly back on course(): Are there any tales in either of the two Mammoth fantasy books you would say fit with the general term "weird literature", Connavar?

 

[Connavar]

The Valley of the Worm was very wierd

It was interesting seeing how REH used the old school narrative technique i have read in HG Wells,Poe,ERB and other older writers of that era. I mean where there is someone telling the story who had seen it happen or knew the person it happened to.

The Noird character was interesting. I liked seeing a story who was different from Conan since it was about the Norse men before Hyboria civilisation.


By the way i read alittle of Lord Dunsany in a anthology called something like Irish fantasy or something while i was in the library. It had many irish authors i had never heard before. Except T.H White, James Joyce.

Before every story there was a brief info about the author by the editor. Lord Dunasy writing style was so modern that i thought i still was reading the editors word....

I understood when i saw words like Bog which is a dead give away about certain authors and even words i had never heard before.

 

[Lobolover]

Hmm-I think I can give the Valley a Try.

Anyway,if you liked that,then you could also like his by far best story-."The Black Stone"-trust me,its weird.

 

[Connavar]

Is it historical or pre Conan Hyboria story like the Valley ?

Have to get his other works beside Conan now that i had a very nice taste. Some historical stories and/or Soloman Kane and Kull.

It was nice seeing his amazing prose used outside Conan.

About this thread must the fantasy/horror we talk about be very old ?

Im reading much 40s,50s,60s weird like fantasy right now.

 

[j d worthington]

I wouldn't class "The Black Stone" as among Howard's best works, myself (though I am rather fond of it); it has too many flaws in the writing to fit into that category, though still a quite effective tale in its own way. It's not like "The Valley of the Worm", no; this one is more directly influenced by HPL, though also showing Howard's fascination with the conflicts between barbarism and civilization, etc.

As for all the work discussed here needing to be old... I don't know as that's a requirement, and I'm fine with discussing a broad range of work; but the older work seldom gets mentioned these days, and I think that's more what this thread was set up to discuss, for that reason.

 

[Connavar]

Thats what i wondered there are some real old authors that dont have threads here that we can talk about.

REH,ERB,Meritt has their threads.

For example i saw a George Macdonald in my Mammoth Fantasy collection. He,Lord Dunsany and some others dont have threads here.

 

[Lobolover]

Mac Donald-I dunno,I read Lilith,liked it-but hes somethign entierly diferent-also his comparison to C.E.Lewis and Tolkien annoy me.

J.D.-I meant from his "Lovecraftian" tales.

 

[j d worthington]

Mac Donald-I dunno,I read Lilith,liked it-but hes somethign entierly diferent-also his comparison to C.E.Lewis and Tolkien annoy me.

Lewis I can understand -- both writers were heavily Christian and heavily allegorical (albeit I think MacDonald did a better job artistically, in the main). But I've never quite understood the comparison to Tolkien, save for people lumping all fantasy into that particular pigeonhole....

J.D.-I meant from his "Lovecraftian" tales.

From REH's Lovecraftian tales? If you're meaning those which are direct Lovecraftian pastiche, then I think I'd probably agree with you. If you include those where he used Lovecraftian elements (and sometimes themes) for his own purposes, then I think it still falls in the second rank. Either way, it is, overall, a very enjoyable tale, and conveys the atmosphere quite well....

No, Connavar, neither of them do have threads here, as I recall; though Dunsany, at least, comes up for discussion fairly frequently. Why don't you begin such a thread....?