General Weird discusion thread

j.d.-you liked "A strange manuscript found in a copper cylinder" by de mille?
 
Another I've not yet read. Keep in mind that many of these that are listed in Lovecraft's Library I only found out about rather recently myself, and tracking them down in book form (I, too, intensely dislike reading books off a screen) takes time, perseverance, and patience. (Not that I exactly run out of things to read, mind you. In addition to the weird items, I'm also interested in reading various other things that he read or that may have influenced him, from scientific -- even popular scientific -- books to philosophy to folklore to historical books to... well, you get the idea. At present, my "to-be-read" list of books I have is well into the hundreds....) But I hope to get a copy eventually; if not, reading it online is something I do when all else fails....
 
also-while reading the intro for "An exchang of souls"-ive found out that HPL originaly intended to review Pain's "The undying thing" from "Stories in the dark"-I have a few other tales,but one ive finished is a bit mediocre-though, "the moon slave" HAS GOT an interesting title.
 
I'll have to look more of Pain's stuff up; Joshi includes one of his tales in an anthology he edited: "Diary of a God". Pain seems to be a somewhat neglected master of the form, from what I gather; though his work is once more beginning to gain recognition from various quarters.

I'd forgotten that he was the writer of The Octave of Claudius, which was made into a film featuring Lon Chaney, Sr.... one I've always wanted to see (I'm rather a fan of Chaney Sr.'s work....)

A Blind Bargain (1922)

http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/2007/cur0702.htm
 
I actualy always wanted to get the book,considering all his much later stories are on the net,but something he published in the 19th century and which Orwell himself called a masterpiece of weirdness in his 40's essay ?

"Diary of a God"-hmm,have that,guss il read it-thing is,ive read his short "case of vincent pyrhwhit",which is very mediocre,thus turning me away for a spoil.
 
If you don't have this one, you can find "The Moon Slave" in The Phoenix Tree, ed. by Robert H. Boher and Kenneth J. Zahorski.

Unfortunately, most of Pain's work is rather difficult to come by these days... though that may change, as he's beginning to get more attention....
 
oh,I HAVE the diary and the moon slave,I meant "the octave"

and Ive got two more general questions:

1-what do you think of the so-called "new weird"

and

2-which story do you think is the best weird story?
 
I suppose it depends on what one means by it. There seems some debate as to whether it is a movement or more of a label from outside... a bit like the New Wave in sf in the 1960s-1970s. Or, for that matter, what writers one includes in this category....

At any rate, though Mieville doesn't quite hit me the way he does many, I admire his abilities and his imagination. At his best, he's damned good, frankly.

Ligotti, though somewhat uneven, is a fine writer -- one of the best and most disturbing working, as he creates a genuine aura of nightmare that is rare at any time in the field. Highly recommended.

Caitlin R. Kiernan sometimes annoys me with her merging of words (which come off to me at times like a particularly disastrous train-wreck) that can yank a reader out of the text... but that's a minor complaint about an otherwise very fine writer in the genre. Another who manages to subtly displace reality in a very nightmarish fashion, all on a very quiet level....

M. John Harrison I'm more familiar with as writer of sf, having come out of the New Wave movement of which I remain very much a proponent.

Several of the others I've either read nothing by, or so little that I really haven't yet formed an opinion....
 
Uh,I had another question posted,but thanks anyway

but-" merging of words"?Ive never realy read anything from her,so I cant quite picture what that means.
 
I don't have any of her books to hand at the moment, but she sometimes combines words denoting single objects into one, making for particularly awkward imagery and flow of the text/sense.... It doesn't happen too often, and some of them are fine... but occasionally....

As for which story I think the best... I'm not sure you can narrow it down to a single best, frankly....
 
well,could you narrow it down to say a top 5 or so?

Mine is clear:"The King in Yellow"-I have not yet been so disturbed,touched and inspired by any book since .
 
A "top 5" out of those I've read...?

I'll have to give this one considerable thought....

One I would put quite highly -- at least, as far as disturbing imagery, certainly, is Clark Ashton Smith's "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis"....
 
Ive never heard of that one-pittifull thing is,HPL doesnt mention any SPECIFIC CAS tales in his essay-which devoided me the ability to see if any were published round here.Recently read "the veaver in the vault" too-quite nice- even if the ball was handeled a tad bit-well,pseudo scientificaly,the spider motive saved it .
 
Lobolover said:
Ive never heard of that one-pittifull thing is,HPL doesnt mention any SPECIFIC CAS tales in his essay-which devoided me the ability to see if any were published round here.Recently read "the veaver in the vault" too-quite nice- even if the ball was handeled a tad bit-well,pseudo scientificaly,the spider motive saved it .
Click to expand...

Actually, he does mention the booklet The Double Shadow and Other Fantasies. He doesn't give any other titles because, frankly, there weren't any collections of Smith's stories available at the time other than this (his poetry was another matter).

The contents of The Double Shadow, by the way, are:

"The Voyage of King Euvoran"
"The Maze of the Enchanter"
"The Double Shadow"
"A Night in Malnéant"
"The Devotee of Evil"
"The Willow Landscape"
 
havent read any of thise till now-strange.

I meant he didnt mention those specific titles or some of them at least.

And the other 4?
 
I was asking about if you could think of another 4 stories you think ar among the best.

And seeing as im going of now,Id like to ask something in advance-do you think the Polidori "Vampyre" story is worth reading?
 
Yes. It's flawed, and a bit too melodramatic and overly written, but it definitely has some very good moments....
 
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