Ahira's Hangar

***SPOILERS***

Having finished The Lurking Fear and Other Stories, I thought I would rate the individual tales therein:

The Lurking Fear: Relies on standard Lovecraftian tropes and themes (rapid degenearate evolution, bizarre family histories, &c.); expends too much language assuring us that things are cosmically horrifying or indescribably hideous in lieu of actual horror-inducing description; saved by brilliant dreamlogic moments, as when the protagonist is driven to keep digging after he has already removed a coffin, discovers a cramped, pitch black tunnel in the ground, and sojourns into it (crawling) with only a dying flashlight! Grade: B

Dagon: A south seas archeological adventure with Lovecraft in H. Rider Haggard mode; nicely executed and a neat-weird geological idea. Grade: A-

Beyond the Wall of Sleep: Lacks any suspense with H. P. telegraphing the concept from the outset and then lamely trudging toward its conclusion anyway; extra-credit points for Lovecraft's finest title though. Grade: D-

The White Ship: Hmm, not sure what to make of this one; some excellent fantasy ideas and descriptions here, but maybe too brief to muster any real impact. Grade: B-

Arthur Jermyn: Oh no, Lovecraft telegraphing badly again; another degenerate family with a mysterious ancestor; seriously considering other reading material at this point. Grade: F

From Beyond: Liked this one a lot for some reason; maybe for its visual intensity or its snappy pacing; rescued my interest in this book. Grade: A

The Temple: Excellent - rescued my regard for Lovecraft; an unlikely protagonist in a strange and unpredictable tale (another sea-faring story - I like to see H. P. working outside the New England gothic occasionally); evokes a real sense of wonder. Grade: A+

The Moon Bog: Some nice surreal imagery (spirits dancing in moonlight to a pan-pipe - who can resist) makes up for the fact that you're way ahead of the characters the whole time. Grade: C+

The Hound: Don't really remember much about the story, but the initial concept is terrific - the decadent grave-robbers and their personal museum of the horrific; rich in aesthetic detail. Grade: A-

The Unnamable: Predictable but kinda fun as it reveals a bit about how H. P. sees his own craft (the main character is a writer of weird tales); references to 18th Century America are more historically concrete than usual (Cotton Mather, &c.), which is interesting. Grade: B-

The Outsider: Very weird, very intriguing story; twist ending is unfortunately way too obvious. Grade: C

The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Well, I hate to besmirch a classic, but I'm afraid Shadow takes the few Lovecraftian elements that I'm not fond of, and drags them out for 70 tedious pages; obsessed with degenerate families, slow moving, predictable and overly wordy, this is like a 'worst of HPL' compilation for me. The escape/chase through town was handled well though. Grade: D- <i>Edited by: AlphSeeker at: 12/10/03 7:18 pm
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I have been reading an anthology called Dates from Hell. When i get my home computer back, I shall start a thread about the anthology, and at least one of the authors (Kim Harrison) who has a novella in it. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I have started reading a collection of short horror stories by Ray Bradbury, called The October Country.

Thus far most of the sotries are anchored into the real world, and some are still pretty creepy, even though a lot of them are around fifty years old.

Ah, Bradbury can write some excellent short fiction, can't he? ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I must have seen to many cheesy movies based on the book, as the novel is much different and much better than what i was expecting. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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Frankenstein is quite wonderful, by the way.

I think I will start a thread for it once I finish it. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I have been reading an omnibus of Mercedes Lackey's Diana Tregarde supernatural mystery novels. Pretty good.

I will have to start a thread for that and for Frankenstein when I have a bit more time. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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THE TERROR by Dan Simmons, a mixture of historic fiction and horror, set in an Arctic exploration party in the 1840's. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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I've been rading a couple of short novels by Madelyn Alt. They were in the mystery section, but they deal with supernatural issues as well as mystery, so they could also be seen as either fantasy or horror. They are called The Trouble With Magic and A Charmed Death. A woman named Maggie O'Neill has a dead end job in a pokey little town in Indiana. One day she gets a new job in a charming store called Enchantments- and it turns out that her boss is a practicing witch. It turns out that Maggie herself has some empathic talents, and can "feel" spirits".

For a Few Demons More by Kim Harrison. Demons, magic, and mayhem in northern Kentucky and in Cincinnati. I love this series of books.

The old classic Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury...

I've never been that big a fan of Bradbury really. Not sure why even...

--A

Some of his short stories & novellas are superb, but so far I am not really getting into this novel so much...though I am not very far into it yet...

one of the 30 days of night novels. i am enjoying the story very much.

Let the Right One in by John Ajvide Lindqvist (translated to English), a vampire novel originally in Swedish. A horror novel on which a recent Swedish film is based (see seperate entry in this category). First true horror I've read in years; FYI, I consider Generation Loss, read this last summer, by E. Hand a horror novel. Liking it lots. Another message will be given when i finish it.

Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow. It is a very long (hundreds of pages) poem about an LA dog catcher in love with a werewolf bitch. Lots of pack politics and war between rival packs. I know it sounds strange, but it actually very enjoyable.