What are you currently reading?

[Sock Monkey]

Touch The Night by Max Booth - disappointing. Gave up on this one a little over half way through.


Oh well, time to finish up The Classic Horror Collection - 2 more stories to go.

B

Oh man, I'd heard good things about Touch The Night, too...

[brlesh]

Touch The Night by Max Booth - disappointing. Gave up on this one a little over half way through.


Oh well, time to finish up The Classic Horror Collection - 2 more stories to go.

B

[brlesh]

Read Widow's Point by Richard & Billy Chizmar the other day. Liked it alot. Felt liked the they really nailed the classic haunted lighthouse story.

The story was kind of a lovechild between King's"1408" and "The Nephews" by Rick Hautala.

Currently reading The Classic Horror Collection, a 900 page tome of old horror stories. Started this one back before Thanksgiving and have just been kind of piecemealing it here and there since. Around 200 pages to go.

B

[brlesh]

Finished Full Throttle the other night and it's probably the best collection I've read this year.

I'd rate it right up there with 20th Century Ghosts.

Now, about half way through Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and liking it a lot.

It's more of a gothic mystery story than the haunted house story I was expecting going into it.

B

[brlesh]

Finished All the Good Indians the other night, and while the story does pick up in the second half, still have to say I was, overall, disappointed with it. Due to the overwhelmingly good reviews I had read before picking it up, may be my expectations were too high to begin with.

On a better note, 2/3 of the way through Full Throttle and really enjoying it.

It's as good, if not better, than 20th Century Ghosts.

B

[c marvel]

It's been a while since I contributed anything to this thread, too many things happening at once I guess. I love the fiction of Cornell Woolrich, for now I've set aside Stories To Be Whispered: The Collected Short Fiction of Cornell Woolrich Volume Two. I am currently reading Nemesis: The Death of Timmy Quinn by Kealan Patrick Burke. In a KPB interview I read it sounds like we should see more of this series with a new main character. I read Ghost Heart by Weston Ochse and Yvonne Navarro-Great story- and Doubledown Book VII Frozen Shadows/Wild Woman by Gene O'Neill/Chris Marrs. I also finished in early December The Haunting Tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne edited by Michael Hayes.

Cap

[brlesh]

Finished The Chrysalis by Brendan Deneen the other night. Some things I liked about the book (mainly the throw back horror feel to the 70's & 80's); some things I didn't (at times the pacing was slow almost to the point of boring; too many unanswered question at the end, and, for me, a conclusion (the last 10 - 15 pages) completely disjointed from the rest of the story).

The Governess by Stephen Gallagher - a chapbook / short story about Malone reconnecting with an estranged Professor Challenger (characters from Doyle's The Lost World) to save the ghost of his recently deceased son.
Fans of Gallagher's work or quiet ghost stories should enjoy this quick read.

All the Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones - I'm a little more than half way through on this one, and it took about to the half way point for the story to kick in for me. I found the first half to be slow and, at times, Jones writing style difficult to follow (too many times I had to re-read sentences and "oh, he's talking about that").

But the story has seemed to pick up about half way through.

We'll see how the rest of the story goes from here.

B

[sholloman81]

Just finished "Ready Player Two" by Ernest Cline. Noticed that it got a lot of flak in reviews and on goodreads; however, I enjoyed it a lot. It pretty much follows the template of the first book with a few minor tweeks and new characters. The majority of the quests had me cracking-up or swimming in nostalgia. Loved the John Hughes section. If you enjoyed "Ready Player One", then I believe that you'll enjoy this sequel.

[mhatchett]

PS published the two volumes above and announced a third volume of what was at the time advertised as a 9 volume series collecting all of Gorman's short fiction.

Unfortunately, soon after the third volume was announced, the series was cancelled.

A multi-volume series collecting the best of Ed Gorman's short fiction?? Sounds to me like this has Centipede Press written all over it!

B

WOW! Nine books, that would have been amazing. I wouldn't say no to Centipede, but for ridiculous sentimental reasons, I'd rather see CD do that series. My first Gorman title was The Dwyer Trilogy. I found it at a Thrift store. It's a little dinged, but overall in good condition.

[RonClinton]

Started last night Michelle Paver's new one, WAKENHYRST, but after two phenomenal, intensely compelling reads -- Paul Tremblay's SURVIVOR SONG and Scott Smith's THE RUINS -- I'm finding it hard to get into this very British, historically-set, gothic novel. Will give it another night or two, then may have to move on to something else for the time being.

[brlesh]

I asked either Ed or Pete Crowther about that after the two volumes came out and none others seemed to follow (or I saw an announcement that the series would be discontinued, I just can't recall anymore), and whomever of the two I spoke said the Collected Stories series was ending because of lack of sales of the two first volumes. Really unfortunate, as I agree, a project like that should exist in the world. As it is, I have every collection he ever published, but his work really deserves to be archived and preserved in a uniform set. Genre short fiction just doesn't get much better than Gorman.

PS published the two volumes above and announced a third volume of what was at the time advertised as a 9 volume series collecting all of Gorman's short fiction.

Unfortunately, soon after the third volume was announced, the series was cancelled.

A multi-volume series collecting the best of Ed Gorman's short fiction?? Sounds to me like this has Centipede Press written all over it!

B

[mhatchett]

I picked my set up from Camelot back when they used to have their 12 days of Xmas sale......

[RonClinton]

I guess, about five years ago, I bought the PS Collection of Gorman's short stories. It was only two volumes and I felt they intended to do follow-up books, but never did. I would love to see CD do a definitive set for Gorman. It seems like a natural fit.....
Ed Gorman.jpg

I asked either Ed or Pete Crowther about that after the two volumes came out and none others seemed to follow (or I saw an announcement that the series would be discontinued, I just can't recall anymore), and whomever of the two I spoke said the Collected Stories series was ending because of lack of sales of the two first volumes. Really unfortunate, as I agree, a project like that should exist in the world. As it is, I have every collection he ever published, but his work really deserves to be archived and preserved in a uniform set. Genre short fiction just doesn't get much better than Gorman.

[mhatchett]

Ed Gorman is one of my all-time favorite writers. He could write it all — mysteries, suspense, horror, noir, westerns, political intrigue, sci-if, etc. — with equal skill, whether long-form or short, and always with that familiar dark poignancy that ran like a bittersweet undercurrent through his work. Ed was a brilliant, humble writer who was as kind (and giving with his time and vast knowledge of the mystery genre) as he was talented.

I guess, about five years ago, I bought the PS Collection of Gorman's short stories. It was only two volumes and I felt they intended to do follow-up books, but never did. I would love to see CD do a definitive set for Gorman. It seems like a natural fit.....
Ed Gorman.jpg

[RonClinton]

Starting Michelle Paver’s WAKENHYRST.
https://twitter.com/ron_clinton/stat...692374019?s=21