Existential Horror books/authors recommendations

[neuroticdog]

Lovecraft might have been the grandaddy here so I'm thinking of more modern authors. I'm a huge fan of Thomas Ligotti so that's where I'm coming from.

It's hard to describe this sub, sub, sub...even more sub genre but think understated, more show then tell, psychological, thinking man's horror that has vast, cosmic implications...feel me?

This thread will explode with activity...I can tell!!

best
Michael

[PeterG]

James Herbert wrote a few that were more about the workings of the brain in "horror" situations and how one's own brain could cause the horror, rather than stories about physical monsters.

[neuroticdog]

I read a James Herbert novel quite a few years ago...I want to say it was called "The Others". It was about an asylum for the severely disfigured...and it was very good!!!

best
Michael

[Blah_Blah_Woof_Woof]

Guillermo del Toro has a whole house full of horror books and is quite the student. His movies like the Devil's Backbone, etc. are interesting and he has written a vampire trilogy of books. I recently read that he's been developing the script and art direction for an adaption of At the Mountains of Madness that has not been picked up yet by a studio.

When I lived in Berkeley in the 90's, I used to shop at a bookstore called Dark Carnival. A couple of the people who worked there turned me on to sci fi books with a dark, almost horror edge. I would rely on their recommendations when discovering new authors.

[neuroticdog]

Guillermo del Toro has a whole house full of horror books and is quite the student. His movies like the Devil's Backbone, etc. are interesting

excellent movie indeed!

and he has written a vampire trilogy of books.

My wife is reading them and she is only luke warm..you are talking about the one's he wrote with Chuck Hogan...right?

I recently read that he's been developing the script and art direction for an adaption of At the Mountains of Madness that has not been picked up yet by a studio.

This was originally green lit a few years ago and then the studio (I think Universal) re-negged and pulled out on it. del Toro is a huge Lovecraft fan and I believe he stated that making a this movie would have been a dream come true for him...or something along those lines. A shame it never came to fruition.

When I lived in Berkeley in the 90's, I used to shop at a bookstore called Dark Carnival. A couple of the people who worked there turned me on to sci fi books with a dark, almost horror edge. I would rely on their recommendations when discovering new authors.

Ok...well let me throw some names out there that might fit what I'm looking for...and if anyone has anything to say about them...please do...

Laird Barron

Robert Chambers.

best
Michael

[Oreb]

Yes, Laird Barron can do this well. His novel The Conjuring is a fine example.

Probably the best story in this vein that I've read in years is a stunning piece by John Langan called 'The Shallows'. Anyone interested in this should read that.

[neuroticdog]

Looked up Langan on Goodreads...this got very good reviews:The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies which includes The Shallows

John Langan has, in the last few years, established himself as one of the leading voices in contemporary horror literature. Gifted with a supple and mellifluous prose style, an imagination that can conjure up clutching terrors with seeming effortlessness, and a thorough knowledge of the rich heritage of weird fiction, Langan has already garnered his share of accolades. This new collection of nine substantial stories includes such masterworks as “Technicolor,” an ingenious riff on Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death”; “How the Day Runs Down,” a gripping tale of the undead; and “The Shallows,” a powerful tale of the Cthulhu Mythos. The capstone to the collection is a previously unpublished novella of supernatural terror, “Mother of Stone.” With an introduction by Jeffrey Ford and an afterword by Laird Barron.

Table of Contents
Introduction: Reading Langan, by Jeffrey Ford
Kids
How the Day Runs Down
Technicolor
The Wide, Carnivorous Sky
City of the Dog
The Shallows
The Revel
June, 1987. Hitchhiking. Mr. Norris.
Mother of Stone
Story Notes
Afterword: Note Found in a Glenfiddich Bottle, by Laird Barron
Acknowledgments(less)


sounds like a plan..

best
Michael

[neuroticdog]

Yes, Laird Barron can do this well. His novel The Conjuring is a fine example.

Probably the best story in this vein that I've read in years is a stunning piece by John Langan called 'The Shallows'. Anyone interested in this should read that.

Do you mean "The Croning" by any chance?

best
Michael

[Oreb]

Yes! Slip of the fingers...

[WytchCrypt]

I've been a Lovecraft maniac forever, and the only modern existential horror author I stumbled on is Brian Lumley and his Necroscope series. I thought it was a fresh take on a very HPL point of view.

[Oreb]

I think a lot of the people working in the genre are far, far better writers than HPL. As effective as some of his stories are, IMO his importance is more for his general notions than his way with words.

[trurl]

I've been a Lovecraft maniac forever, and the only modern existential horror author I stumbled on is Brian Lumley and his Necroscope series. I thought it was a fresh take on a very HPL point of view.

That was my initial thought as well. Didn't Lumley write some books set in the Lovecraft universe?

[JKL2000]

I think a lot of the people working in the genre are far, far better writers than HPL. As effective as some of his stories are, IMO his importance is more for his general notions than his way with words.

Oh, I think it's both. Most of his stories are very well written.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Check out Iain Banks's THE WASP FACTORY.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Also the late 60s/early 70s work of J.G. Ballard, like CRASH, HIGH RISE, CONCRETE ISLAND, and (especially) THE ATROCITY EXHIBITION.

[neuroticdog]

I never thought about looking at Ballard in that light...in fact the sad truth is haven't read any Ballard yet...this might light a fire under my ass. Where would you start?

I have read "The Wasp Factory" however and...yeah, I suppose you can call that existential horror, even though I wouldn't have thought so at the time. In hindsight though, yeah, most definitely. (Damm good book too...miss you Iain!)

best
Michael

[Lou]

Found this on Amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/Masterpieces-o...R1BD2T2ZX749XM

[WytchCrypt]

That was my initial thought as well. Didn't Lumley write some books set in the Lovecraft universe?

Didn't know that, but I think you're right...thanks for the tip...

http://www.brianlumley.com/books/cthulhu/

[R_burke]

Indigo by Graham Joyce

[llanwydd]

I'm a little confused by the word "existential". I know what it means but not in this context. In any case, my two favorites, which I highly recommend are "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary" and "More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary", both by M.R. James. No blood and guts. The anticipation of carnage and mayhem is what keeps the stories interesting. At least one of the ghost stories, "Casting the Runes" was made into a very creepy film with Dana Andrews called "Night of the Demon".

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Michael, if you're interested in looking at Ballard as a horror writer I would definitely begin with THE ATROCITY EXHIBITION. It has a weird publishing history - the first American edition (under the title LOVE AND NAPALM: EXPORT USA) was pulped when the publisher's CEO realized that it had a chapter called "Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan."

It's the story or stories of a psychiatrist who can't come to terms with reality and ... well, I can't even explain it! It's very odd, and at times it's not clear whether the protagonist (whose name is Travis or Travers or Trabert or...) is sane, insane, or a new kind of sane; and whether he is one person or many. It's written as a series of short pieces that somehow tie together to make a greater whole.

If you can't tell, I love this thing. I recommend the RE/Search edition (http://www.researchpubs.com/), which has (a) a few extra chapters/stories, (b) annotations by Ballard and (c) some really creepy illos.

[neuroticdog]

I was reading some of the reviews on Goodreads about "The Atrocity Exhibition" and everyone say's the edition to get is the one you mentioned (RE/Search) because of the notes by Ballard which supposedly aid in understanding (if thats possible) what Ballard is going on about.

Thanks for the recommendations everyone...That Amazon list is interesting because none of them, at least in my mind, would seem to fit "my" definition of existential horror...but after reading about them they all would most definitely sit well within this realm. So, what I originally thought was a total "prog ghetto" of a genre is turning into something bigger...and that's a good thing!

So llanwydd, I guess the whole think is pretty wide open but there does seem to be general themes popping up, at least in this thread. Just to throw out some key phrases..."Lovecraft inpired", "psychological", "meta-verse", "mind fucks", "cosmic implications", "what is sanity", "subtle", "implied horror", "of or relating to existence, whether human, real, imagined or otherwise".

There...I probably just muddied the waters.

best
Michael