Five recent Weird and/or Lovecraftian books you’ll want to check out!
A list (with links) of five recent books that readers of The Weird and/or Lovecraftian/cosmic horror will want to read!
Category Archives: Weird Fiction
Gou Tanabe Delivers Stunning Manga Adaptations with “H.P. Lovecraft’s The Hound and Other Stories”
Dark Horse has provided us with a chance to experience the work of a contemporary Japanese master, working at the peak of his form, adapting the work of one of our own beloved past masters.
James Champagne Pens a Love Letter to Providence & Lovecraft with “Harlem Smoke”
HARLEM SMOKE is an ambitious novel. Within its covers one will find eldritch horrors, magical rituals gone horribly awry, serial killers, horrorcore rap, you name it, it’s in there… it is not only an engrossing read but also a manual of great art, literature, music and philosophy wrapped within entertaining covers.
Eric Stener Carlson Delivers Gripping, Intelligent Horror with “Muladona”.
Carlson’s work grapples with larger themes of historical pressures without resorting to the easy relief of societal approved scapegoats and ready made bogeymen. Carlson’s use of separation, be it of time, subject matter, or genre expectations allows him to tread Huysmans’ second highway with ease while engrossing the reader in a compelling narrative.
Behold the Void, by Philip Fracassi — with interior illustrations!
From the introduction by Laird Barron: “When you open this collection, you’re headed down a dark alley within the precincts of the Twilight Zone. It’s the kind of place where the wrong people get hurt; hazard is everywhere and it doesn’t play favorites. The complacent won’t find refuge here on the threshold of the void. Nobody is safe and nothing is sacred. Enjoy the ride.”
Avalon Brantley Carries the torch for American Decadence in “Descended Suns Resuscitate”
Avalon Brantley’s work is addictive because it is the combined result of a profound knowledge of humanity’s past, an exquisite prose style and a deep love for the act of storytelling. More than anything it is an all-consuming love of writing that lends its luminosity to DESCENDED SUNS RESUSCITATE.
Ramsey Campbell starts the ‘Three Births of Daoloth’ cycle with “The Searching Dead”
To read The Searching Dead is to relax comfortably in the knowledge you are in the presence of a master storyteller at the apex of their craft, one who has studied and absorbed the works of past masters and brings those insights to bear with a thoughtful dignity.
Swan River Press Craft an Object of Physical Beauty with “The Scarlet Soul: Stories for Dorian Gray”
THE SCARLET SOUL is a testament to the love and dedication Swan River Press put into their craft and they should be applauded for the physical allure alone. This is a book one can see becoming an heirloom object. My advice would be to snap up a copy of The Scarlet Soul while they are still available and keep an eye out for future releases by Swan River Press, while their price range is affordable their books are imminently collectible.
Avalon Brantley and Zagava offer a reading experience like few others with “The House of Silence”
I closed THE HOUSE OF SILENCE with a grateful sigh, knowing I would pull it from my shelves again and again with the eagerness I greet a long-lost friend.
Vastarien: A Literary Journal – “Nightmare Made Normal”
VASTARIEN is a source of critical study and creative response to the corpus of Thomas Ligotti as well as associated authors and ideas. The inaugural issue is going to be something unusually special, filled with in-depth essays, interviews, original visual art pieces, weird fiction, terrific poetry, and fascinating hybrid pieces. An interview with Thomas Ligotti and an introduction by him, neither of which have ever been presented in English, are included.
Mark E. Smith, Post-Punk Icon and Lifelong Acolyte of Weird Fiction
It is often a shopworn and tired cliché to say in the wake of one’s passing, “there will never be another like him,” yet in the case of Mark E. Smith there is indeed a perilous chance this statement will bear true. In this milieu it is not hard to imagine the loss of yet another long-standing English tradition.
Hippocampus Press Fills A Void with “William Hope Hodgson: Voices From Beyond the Borderland”
With WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON: VOICES FROM THE BORDERLAND Hippocampus Press once again proves why they hold such an esteemed position within the world of weird fiction. As I continue through their Library of Criticism I am continuously impressed with the rigorous standards of scholarship, craft and dedication evident within each volume.
Sam Gafford Delivers Otherworldly Terror and Suspense in “Whitechapel”
I recently had a conversation with a friend where we discussed the idea that terror is the emotion one feels preceding an event and horror is the emotion one feels witnessing the effects of that event. Gafford employs both to devastating effect within Whitechapel, building a foreboding sense of malaise and then, most importantly, delivering when called upon.
African Horror Returns with Nuzo Onoh’s “Dead Corpse”
Read Dead Corpse for the wonderful fiction and let its deeper truths settle into your soul.
Jac Jemc crafts hallucinatory horror in “The Grip Of It: A Novel”
Jac Jemc’s writing conveys the easy grace and simplicity achieved through years of work, sweat and toil that causes onlookers everywhere to say, “Well that looks easy, I bet I could do that,” after watching a championship athlete or performer at work.
