What are you currently reading?

[sholloman81]

I’ll be looking forward to your thoughts on LETTERS TO THE PURPLE SATIN KILLER. Ive had the pb in my TBR for 9-10 months now and have been meaning to pick it up, especially since Thunderstorm did a limited.

Am about 100 pages in and it's been better than I was expecting so far. I wasn't sure about the epistolary format going into it, but it has really worked for this particular story. Also, because the letters aren't too long, there's almost a compulsion to keep reading on. I hope the rest of the book maintains this pace and will be interested to see where the plot ends up!

[Sock Monkey]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm LE of Kristopher Rufty's "The Devoured and the Dead", A splatter western and first time read for me. This one was a blast! Exactly what I hope for when reading a splatter western. Loads of good characters, vile villains, a compelling plot, an authenticity to the period, and of course a good dose of splatter. I have read some of Rufty's stuff before, but this one might be my favorite so far! Glad to have added this to my collection.

Am now reading the Thunderstorm LE of Jushua Chaplinsky's "Letters to the Purple Satin Killer, a first time read and author for me.

I’ll be looking forward to your thoughts on LETTERS TO THE PURPLE SATIN KILLER. Ive had the pb in my TBR for 9-10 months now and have been meaning to pick it up, especially since Thunderstorm did a limited.

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm LE of Kristopher Rufty's "The Devoured and the Dead", A splatter western and first time read for me. This one was a blast! Exactly what I hope for when reading a splatter western. Loads of good characters, vile villains, a compelling plot, an authenticity to the period, and of course a good dose of splatter. I have read some of Rufty's stuff before, but this one might be my favorite so far! Glad to have added this to my collection.

Am now reading the Thunderstorm LE of Jushua Chaplinsky's "Letters to the Purple Satin Killer, a first time read and author for me.

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm LE of Nick Roberts' "Anathema", a first-time author and read for me. Really enjoyed this one! Every time I thought I knew where the author was going to go with the plot, he managed to veer off to somewhere else and surprise me. Also enjoyed the characters in this one including the very creepy antagonist. My only complaints with the book are that there were a few plot elements I would have liked explained a bit more and there were also a few times that a character's actions didn't feel like how a real person would act in the situation. Once you get past those few small issues, the book reads extremely well. Overall, am glad to have finally read something by this author and will be reading the sequel to this book sometime soon!

Am now reading the Thunderstorm LE of Kristopher Rufty's "The Devoured and the Dead", A splatter western and first time read for me.

[brlesh]

Finished up The Stand last weekend. This was the second time for the uncut version and the fifth read overall.

I enjoyed the second reading of the uncut version much more than the first reading. I knew what I was getting into this time, versus the first time when my expectations were too high.

Overall, I really enjoyed this reread. I took my time with it (I initially figured on 3 weeks; it took me a month and a few days). I haven’t read The Stand since ‘07 or ‘08, so it’s been 17 or 18 years. Kind of felt like visiting old friends. There were parts of it (a lot of it, actually), they seemed like I had just read them yesterday, and then other parts were I was like “oh shit, I completely forgot about that!”

Maybe had I read the uncut version first it would be my favorite today, but I still think the originally published version is the best. Better flow to the story while retaining all the key plot points.

After The Stand, I read about half of the stories in A Little Blue Book of Civli War Horrors by Ambrose Bierce. For the most part very dark and very good.

Took a break from the Bierce collection to start Memorials by Richard Chizmar. 300 pages in & liking it a lot. It reads more like a suspense thriller than a horror novel. I had some trouble with the characters in the beginning (more why they were together than the characterizations themselves), though the story kind of smoothed over my initial doubts. I have an idea on where the storyline is going, but will see how the last third plays out.

B

[sholloman81]

I've not read any of Triana's work, and wasn't familiar with this one. I just looked it up, and it does sounds great -- drug, prisons, dogs, a convict femme fatale, and a man in desperate circumstances spiraling out of control in the the best noir fashion. I might have to pick up the tpb edition available on Amazon.

When you have time, you should definitely check out Triana's stuff. I think you'd like it, especially some his newer stuff which has moved closer to the mainstream versus the splatter side of things. I would check out this one and "The Old Lady" for sure!

[RonClinton]

Just finished reading Kristopher Triana's "I Don't Recognize This World Anymore", a first time read for me. Man was this book a great read! I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I'm a huge Triana fan and this one might be one of his best so far. Just a very compelling plot with lots of interesting messed-up characters, and boy does he nail the ending! I've thought it before when reading Triana, but man do his stories remind me of something Jack Ketchum would write. Overall, a highly recommended read!

I've not read any of Triana's work, and wasn't familiar with this one. I just looked it up, and it does sounds great -- drug, prisons, dogs, a convict femme fatale, and a man in desperate circumstances spiraling out of control in the the best noir fashion. I might have to pick up the tpb edition available on Amazon.

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading Kristopher Triana's "I Don't Recognize This World Anymore", a first time read for me. Man was this book a great read! I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I'm a huge Triana fan and this one might be one of his best so far. Just a very compelling plot with lots of interesting messed-up characters, and boy does he nail the ending! I've thought it before when reading Triana, but man do his stories remind me of something Jack Ketchum would write. Overall, a highly recommended read!

Am now reading the Thunderstorm LE of Nick Roberts' "Anathema" a first time author and read for me

[dannyboy121070]

I started reading Kristopher Rufty's BONE CHIMES 2, and found that one of the stories in the collection is related to his novel, SOMETHING VIOLENT, so I decided to jump in and read that before the short story. I'm not a fan of murder novels, so this Natural Born Killers-esque tale of good-looking hillbilly lovers on a murderous rampage is really not my cup of tea, but it's holding my interest enough that I haven't walked away from it yet......

I'm also in the home stretch of Rachel Harrison's CACKLE. I've been circling Harrison's work for a few years now...She's a bestselling author who happens to be local, so she does signings here all the time, and the local B&N's have tons of signed books. CACKLE is probably a little more girly than I would like, which is why I avoided her work for so long, but...she has a very readable style, and I am just flying though this book. A very different take on witchcraft than Grady Hendrix's WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS, and waaaaay more enjoyable a read. Really looking forward to digging into the rest of her books, and hoping to meet her the next time she does a signing.

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading Aron Beauregard's "Playground", a first-time read. This book definitely lives up to its reputation. This was one of the most hardcore splatter books that I have ever read. There were parts of the story where I was cringing at what was going on or what I was guessing was going to happen. Been a long time since that has happened to me with a splatter story. The book itself is well written and isn't just about the depravity of the kills. The author truly has something to say with this tale and uses some very well written characters and an interesting plot to get his themes across. It also has a truly despicable set of villains to root against. Overall, I was very impressed by this book and will definitely be reading the prequel sometime soon!

Am now reading Kristopher Triana's "I Don't Recognize This World Anymore", a first time read for me.

[Ben Staad]

Both stories sound up my alley. Thanks for mentioning them.

Just finished reading Daniel J Volpe's "Runts", a first time read and author for me. This book was dedicated to Ed Lee's Luntville series of stories and reads exactly like one of them; so, if you liked those stories, you will definitely like this one. Nothing ground-breaking, just a pure-high-octane splatter story.

Am now reading Aron Beauregard's "Playground", a first-time read and rather infamous book. Will be interested to see how it lands!

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading Daniel J Volpe's "Runts", a first time read and author for me. This book was dedicated to Ed Lee's Luntville series of stories and reads exactly like one of them; so, if you liked those stories, you will definitely like this one. Nothing ground-breaking, just a pure-high-octane splatter story.

Am now reading Aron Beauregard's "Playground", a first-time read and rather infamous book. Will be interested to see how it lands!

[RonClinton]

HARD RAIN FALLING, Don Carpenter. George Pelecanos’ introduction in my NYRB edition is duplicated here:

https://therumpus.net/2009/11/02/an-...-rain-falling/

[brlesh]

Officially half way through The Stand.

When I started I was figuring on three weeks to get through it, but now it is looking like a good month at least.

That’s OK.

Taking my time with it and enjoying the journey.

B

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading Aron Beauregard's "Handyman", a first time read for me. I usually enjoy Beauregard's version of splatter-horror, but this one fell a bit flat for me. There were truly no characters to root for which hurt the book, and while it did have some crazy splatter scenes, a lot of the book felt boring. Also, a lot of the mythology within the story was left unexplained or just didn't make sense. The ending was also very predictable and not something that I especially enjoyed. Overall, while I will be reading Beauregard again in the future, this particular book just wasn't for me.

Am now reading Daniel J Volpe's "Runts", a first time read and author for me. I've heard Volpe's name mentioned within the splatter community for a while and decided to finally give him a try with this book. Am only a few chapters into it, but boy does it read like vintage Ed Lee!