October - Horror Month (2012)

[Fried Egg]

I've done this for the last two years so it's kind of a habit now.

I'm going to devote this coming October once again to horror and I've started lining up books in anticipation of this.

So far I have three collections lined up, each from authors I've not read before but have been meaning to try for some time:

"Mrs. Midnight: And Other Stories" by Reggie Oliver
"The Birds & Other Stories" by Daphne du Maurier
"Blood Will Have Its Season" by Joseph S. Pulver

 

[Randy M.]

I envy you the Oliver, if nothing else. I read the title story in a Best of ... last year and it was quite good.

In a sense I've been reading for October most of the year: 13 Bullets by David Wellington (decent hard-boiled vampire horror; a beach read, but the kind that doesn't make you feel you've tortured IQ points to death by reading it); Deadfall Hotel by Steve Rasnic Tem (Bradbury-like, but not a pastiche; more like what Bradbury might have written if he had tapped into his mature self more than his inner child); The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers (fine, intricate historical vampire fantasy); The Drowning Girl by Caitlin Kiernan (excellent novel, well-written and complex main character); and The Snowman's Children by Glen Hirshberg (tense thriller with solid characterization and a concern with time and place takes makes it especially strong), among other books.

I'm not sure what I'll read next month. I expect I'll start Laird Barron's The Croning within a week or so and that may take me into October. After that, either The Imago Sequence, Barron's first story collection, or House of Fear, a ghost story collection that received terrific reviews last year.

Randy M.

 

[Fried Egg]

I considered "The Croning" but I've already read Barron's second collection earlier this year and wanted to explore some authors I haven't tried yet.

 

[Randy M.]

I considered "The Croning" but I've already read Barron's second collection earlier this year and wanted to explore some authors I haven't tried yet.

I'll be interested in particular in what you say abut du Maurier. I've only read Rebecca, which is quite good, and "Don't Look Now," which I've never warmed to, even though a lot of readers whose taste I trust love it.


Randy M.

 

[dask]

I think you'll like "The Birds." I enjoyed it much more than the film. Right now I'm a little over halfway through Dashiell Hammett's CREEPS BY NIGHT, the horror anthology he edited back in 1931. Fantastic so far.

 

[Randy M.]

I think you'll like "The Birds." I enjoyed it much more than the film. Right now I'm a little over halfway through Dashiell Hammett's CREEPS BY NIGHT, the horror anthology he edited back in 1931. Fantastic so far.

Thanks, Dask. May be a while before I dig it out (I know I have it somewhere), but I will.


Randy M.

 

[Connavar]

Ah october horror month, i should have saved a Bradbury dark fantasy collection or book.

Did Daphne du Maurier write other weird stories than The Birds? Im not keen on that story but i like the sound of Du Maurier and her being known for psychological realism,mystery in some of her stories.

 

[Fried Egg]

Apparently this Du Maurrier collection is all creepy stuff. According to the blurb:

A classic of alienation and horror, 'The Birds' was immortalised by Hitchcock in his celebrated film. The five other chilling stories in this collection echo a sense of dislocation and mock man's sense of dominance over the natural world. The mountain paradise of Monte Verità promises immortality, but at a terrible price; a neglected wife haunts her husband in the form of an apple tree; a professional photographer steps out from behind the camera and into his subject's life; a date with a cinema usherette leads to a walk in the cemetery; and a jealous father finds a remedy when three's a crowd...

 

[Connavar]

Apparently this Du Maurrier collection is all creepy stuff. According to the blurb:

A classic of alienation and horror, 'The Birds' was immortalised by Hitchcock in his celebrated film. The five other chilling stories in this collection echo a sense of dislocation and mock man's sense of dominance over the natural world. The mountain paradise of Monte Verità promises immortality, but at a terrible price; a neglected wife haunts her husband in the form of an apple tree; a professional photographer steps out from behind the camera and into his subject's life; a date with a cinema usherette leads to a walk in the cemetery; and a jealous father finds a remedy when three's a crowd...

Sounds good that there is more than the Birds. I have seen Du Maurrier often in the library and i like to try her and not read mostly male authors in this field.

 

[Fried Egg]

Sounds good that there is more than the Birds. I have seen Du Maurrier often in the library and i like to try her and not read mostly male authors in this field.

Apparently, she has written a lot set in Cornwall; Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek, etc. All places I'm familiar with so I am definitely keen to explore her writing...

 

[thatollie]

I'm definitely going to read more horror than I did last year. Now I just need to pick some books.

Bradbury is a must read.
Some Lovecraft for short fiction, I think.
And probably Weaveworld by Clive Barker.

 

[Connavar]

Apparently, she has written a lot set in Cornwall; Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek, etc. All places I'm familiar with so I am definitely keen to explore her writing...

She was apparently fascinated by her local history, the history of her family, according Goodreads bio info she wrote about Cornwell because of that.

Im not familiar with those areas of course but i have loaned Classics of the Macabre by her just today from the library for October horror month. I will try her and read a new favourite we have in common in Robert Aickman. Then i will see if i have time to read a Hodgson or another horror favourite.

 

[Fried Egg]

Good to hear you are planning on reading some more Aickman.

I was also considering Hodgson, maybe "The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig'", if I have time.

 

[Fried Egg]

Did Daphne du Maurier write other weird stories than The Birds? Im not keen on that story but i like the sound of Du Maurier and her being known for psychological realism,mystery in some of her stories.

I just read "The Birds" and thought it was very powerful, creating such a bleak and terrifying vision of what might happen if all birds somehow came together and decided to wipe out mankind, like they were directed by some form of intelligence. It had quite an apocalyptic SF feel to it which I liked.

 

[Connavar]

Good to hear you are planning on reading some more Aickman.

I was also considering Hodgson, maybe "The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig'", if I have time.

Now that is creepy, The Boats of the Glen Carrig is the Hodgson book i have as backup to read if i have more time in October.

 

[j d worthington]

Boats of the "Glen Carrig" is certainly one of WHH's weakest novels as a whole, expending far too much time on a rather stickily-handled romance... yet the fantastic elements there make it well worth reading.

I don't know whether or not you are aware, but apparently Hodgson saw this as the first of a trilogy, completed by (respectively) The House on the Borderland and The Ghost Pirates....

My own reading for October is still somewhat up in the air, as my current situation has still not settled down (hence I have little idea how much reading time I'm likely to have). Today, however, I am reading the novelette "Murgunstrumm", by Hugh B. Cave... better than I recall it being, though still very much pulp. It is, however, quite atmospheric and eerie so far, despite a certain tendency to take obvious methods for getting there....

 

[dask]

Finally getting around to this:

Probably my favorite Dracula cover. After seeing several movie adaptations I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it but, as you might expect, it's a lot better than any film.
Also reading this before I put out the lights:

First story is "Danse Macabre" by Mervyn Peake, my first exposure to him though I do have his famous trilogy in my collection. I've read some rather negative things about him off and on here at the Chrons and was afraid I'd be disappointed but to my surprise his story is delivering quite the peake experience. Can Titus be groaning far behind?

 

[j d worthington]

Ouch, Dask! That was... painful.

Weird Shadows from Beyond, as I recall, has some rather good things in it, though I've not read it in something over twenty years.

As for Peake... I admire the man's work tremendously; one of the greatest sculptors of English prose of the twentieth century, in my opinion. The way he made it work for him, especially in the Gormenghast books, is an achievement of the first rank....

 

[dask]

Peake's "Danse Macabre" is essential reading for anyone who has done their own laundry. Leaving little room for doubt he tells us what really has happened to all those missing socks!

 

[thatollie]

I love Weird Shadows from Beyond.

Couldn't find my Lovecraft collection, reading Bierce instead.