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Just read Ramsey Campbell's The Doll Who Ate His Mother and The Parasite. Only read Campbell's short fiction up until now so I was curious to see how his novels would compare. Doll was interesting for the ambiguity of the supernatural element and the fact that the whole thing read more like a crime novel, with the intrepid gang of amateur sleuths out to catch the killer. Parasite meanwhile was interesting in the way the inventive prose was at odds with the commercial plotting. And after the multiple viewpoints in Doll it was interesting to compare the use of a single POV in Parasite. Also enjoyed the New Age/occult elements, with all the references to the Golden Dawn. I thought the story's pacing was a bit off but after reading the afterword it turned out that Campbell wrote the book at his agent's prompting in order to have a bestseller and so ignored a lot of his natural instincts as a writer then made a lot of cuts to try and salvage the story. Consequently he isn't happy with the way the novel turned out. Actually, he was more critical of it than I was.

Anyway, I enjoyed both books enough that I want to read some more of his novels.

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Justice League of America: That was Now, This is Then. Written by Roger Stern. Illustrated by John Byre and Mark Farmer. An immensely powerful alien named Titus arrives on Earth claiming to be a god and challenging the deities from the world's religions to fight him. When no gods accept his challenge it is up to the Justice League to stop him. But can mere mortals defy a being with the power of a god? And why does Titus claim to know the Justice League when no one has any memory of him? The story cuts between the present day and a mission by a previous incarnation of the League as the truth is revealed. Stern delivers non-stop thrills with only the briefest of moments for quiet reflection, this is very much a case of showing character through action. As such there are no real surprises; the villain is villainous and the heroes are heroic, albeit with distinguishing traits -- Superman is nobility personified, Green Arrow cocky and impetuous, The Atom wisecracking but pragmatic. The dialogue feels a little clunky in places but behind the awkward one-liners and the super-powered fisticuffs Stern works in themes of religious tolerance, the abuse of power and the nature of faith and prayer. If you really want to start reading stuff into it he even touches on the varieties of godhood -- monotheism, polytheism and pantheism. Not bad for a story which is just an extended punch-up.

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I'm a big fan of Burke also. His Dave Robicheaux stuff is excellent and chock full of local flavor. Clete is probably my favorite character in that series. His non-Robicheaux books are excellent, as well.

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Recently picked up the Thin Man Press edition of A Wave of Dreams, by Louis Aragon. This is a very early piece of Surrealist writing, dating from the 'sleeping fits' period when the Paris group were experimenting with trance states. It's as bizarre as you might expect, but also weirdly ecstatic, full of the excitement of the first flush of Surrealist exploration. What really makes the edition is the CD of settings of extracts read by Alex Walker, to music and soundscapes by Tymon Dogg and Alex Thomas. Especially recommended to fans of the Industrial and ambient genres - samples at the foot of the page here:

Thin Man Press

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As far as his non-Robicheaux stuff s concerned I've only read a handful of short stories. Looking forward to reading more.

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I just finished reading Houses That Kill by Roger de Lafforest (1974).

The book is non-fiction (well, unless you're a hardboiled skeptic). It's about the paranormal in architecture and deals with how certain buildings may create an aura of menace or seem to attract an inordinate amount of tragedies and unexplained phenomena. de Lafforest approaches the topic from both the scientific and the esoteric/occult sides of the argument. He also addresses how certain "wrong" angles may create a "dissonance" in the atmosphere or affect one's mental or physcial health in a negative way -- shades of HPL's "Dreams in the Witch-House".

I've been looking for a book on this topic for years and was delighted to finally find one that goes far beyond the basic principles of feng shui or sacred geometry, like the golden ratio, and into something far more sinister and outré.

At times, certain descriptions or tales remind me of the mad architect from the first Ghostbusters movie, Ivo Shandor, the occultist who designed a skyscraper to be an "occult battery" -- truly a fascinating book.

http://pics.librarything.com/picsize...4d414f4541.jpg

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Good on you, New Nonsense! Houses That Kill has long been a favourite of mine, both for its eccentricity and its unique approach to the phenomena of haunted houses.

Richard

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Thanks for mentioning this title, Kevin and Richard. Sounds most interesting! This title is quite difficult to obtain but I noticed that the book was published in French and this version is still in print. I might consider purchasing it in the future.

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Been reading some James Sallis.

Cypress Grove and Cripple Creek are about a city detective turned small town deputy. The novels take all the hardboiled cliches -- troubled yet compassionate detective with ridiculously impressive qualifications and life experiences (psychotherapist, former convict and ex-special forces soldier) who is forced out of retirement and uncovers murder and intrigue -- then shoves the tired tropes into the background while the hero concentrates on telling anecdotes about his past and how he is settling into the small town.

Also read Drive. A stunt driver turned getaway driver is double-crossed while working his latest heist and has to stay one step ahead of the crooks who want him dead. All while the narrative keeps flip-flopping between the present day and the events that led to him becoming a wheelman.

Also reread Sallis's The Long-Legged Fly about New Orleans PI Lew Griffin. Griffin works various missing persons cases over the course of four decades while falling in love, committing murder, being hassled by cops for being black and hassled by activists wanting him to aid the civil rights movement. In fact back in the '90s when I first read this I remember seeing copies in Forbidden Planet stocked under 'Black Fiction' despite Sallis actually being white.

All the novels contain sparse prose with a poetic streak accompanied by philosophical musings and the occasional wisecrack. Good fun.

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Was recently given a copy of Arthur Machen's "Selected Letters". The letters are mostly short, chatty notes to friends but, even in an informal context, it seems the man was incapable of writing a dull or clumsy line. It's the kind of book you pick up to dip into, and don't emerge for an hour.

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HOUSE OF LEAVES fans may be interested in the next issue of Axis Vol. 11 published by Inkerman Press. It will include:

"Some-body and No-body in the Space of the House: House of Leaves and Critical Practice by Will Slocombe and Daniel Watt [with an afterword by Brian Jarvis] (November 2011) "

http://www.inkermenpress.co.uk/index...chk=1&Itemid=4

Should this book get its own thread? I've seen it discussed in at least half a dozen TLO threads over the years. It certainly deserves it. Any takers?

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The Pledge by Friedrich Duerrenmatt. A good novel about a promise turned obsession. Similar to the movie, but it has more room to explore philosophical and psychological ideas.

Traps by Friedrich Duerrenmatt. This was an outstanding short novel dealing with crime, motivation, and guilt. From the back cover: " a mock trial, conducted by four gluttionous and sardonic old me, that exposes a shocking crime in the life of their laughing volunteer 'defendant' and victim." This book is very funny too. I checked the net for this pb and the cheapest I can find is over $75! I know I didn't pay more than $10, but it has been a while. It is good but not that good.

Thanks Montag.

The Case Worker by George Konrad. Another good novel. Compared to Kafka and Beckett. (more Beckett than Kafka, imo). Well written and full of interesting insights.

http://rggblog.wordpress.com/2010/07...he-caseworker/

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I must be one of a handful of people who found THoL unreadable. The format ruined it for me. So whatever the book is about doesn't matter to me. It could be the greatest story ever told, but to me it will always be the greatest story never told.

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To bendk:Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Selected Writings, Volume 2, Fictions, Dürrenmatt, Agee, Ziolkowski

The cloth volume of fictions contains virtually all of Durrenmatt's novels and some short stories. Only 35 bucks. Also free online story to read... The Barlach books (The Quarry) are cheaper...pb... Glad you liked Traps. The ending was a nice little inversion, eh?
In the end, who was the judge?

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I've been reading the ghost stories of Edith Wharton, which combine in an interesting manner the tropes of traditional fireside stories with a psychological bent reminiscent of Henry James and, occasionally, a philosophical undercurrent that would not be totally alien to readers of Ligotti. I've written a brief blog entry about Wharton's ghost stories here.

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Read and enjoyed. I've got the 1973 Constable copy of The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton and a copy of Ghost Feelers, introduced by Peter Haining.

Do you like Mary Elizabeth Counselman, also?

www.birdsnest.me.uk

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I couldn't stand the book myself. If I wanted a puzzle, I would get a puzzle. If I wanted to study cryptography, I would find experts on those matters to study. When I wish to read a story, however, I want a story that is reasonably understandable (this isn't to say that I'm not a fan of more complex works, I am. THoL crossed into the absurd, and not in a good way).

Not too long ago, I read A Lover's Discourse by Roland Barthes that I enjoyed and am making my way through a Winston Churchill biography (by William Manchester) as well as a biography of Thomas Paine by Craig Nelson. Reading, though, has come sporadically for me in recent years.

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The Cremator by Ladislav Fuks. Funny and disturbing. Some people may find it far-fetched. Unfortunately, it's not. Thanks going out to Slawek and Tobias for drawing my attention to this novel. But I still haven't seen the movie.

The eccentric Mr. Kopfkringl enjoys his work in the Prague crematorium. He is proud of his expertise in the mechanics of incineration and the social usefulness of his calling. He takes a mystical satisfaction in the speedy despatch of the dead 'into the ether', thus, he believes, hastening their journey towards reincarnation. In off-duty hours he expounds the humanitarian mysteries of cremation to family and friends, rereads his treasured volume on Tibet, and coos patronizingly over his beautiful wife and children. But in the newly Nazi-occupied Prague, they have other needs for his special skills.

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Andrew Vachss The Weight. Couldn't put it down.

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I have just finished reading The Purple Cloud by M.P. Shiel. The book reeks of extreme egotism, and it was quite a chore for me to finish over the past five or six or so weeks; but there are many striking passages that appeal to me greatly.

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S by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst. I mean, after reading the first three chapters I decided to finish it right there because it was too boring. I believe I will finish it later because I hate to leave books unfinished.

Oh, and Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli and Ronin by Frank Miller (both recomended); the latter has become my favorite of all of Miller's works.

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The Other Side of the Mountain by Michel Bernanos: it is a compelling and engrossing tale similar to Hodgson and E.H. Visiak's weird novel Medusa, beginning with a nautical background ere hurling us into an accursed nightmare land underneath a blood-red sun.

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GOD'S DEMON by Wayne Barlowe

I thought it was excellent. Fans of TO REIGN IN HELL by Steven Brust will certainly enjoy this.

http://autumnshadows.webs.com/God's%20Demon.jpg

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Mr. Barlowe is an excellent artist of extra-planetary and Hadean visions and his novel, though I have not read it, is a mighty work that, along with his paintings, captures the restless, scorching atmosphere of Hell perfectly.

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Sorry. You think its a mighty work... though you haven't read it..... I don't get that.

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It'll make more sense when you're initiated into the A Priori Knowledge Society. Among other things, you'll know whether new menu items at Burger King are worth leaving the house for, without leaving the house.

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I think if propositions like 'True Detective is the most intelligent show in TV history' or 'Will Self is the greatest contemporary writer' were true in a fairly narrow sense then certain gloomy conclusions would follow A priori.

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I guess this is the future.. where you don't need to read a book to know its a masterpiece. I'm not hating on that.. it would save one a lot of time for other activites besides reading...

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I recently read and very much enjoyed THESE LAST EMBERS, the new chapbook from Simon Strantzas. Short but very good, weird and surreal like so much of his work. Beautiful wrap-around cover too.

http://i.imgur.com/teWsvri.jpg

Also just finished RESONATOR, an anthology of stories based on "From Beyond," both the HPL story and crazypants movie version. A couple of the stories didn't really hit for me but on the whole, a very good assortment. Singled out: Cody Goodfellow, Christopher Slatsky, Matthew M. Bartlett, Christine Morgan, Orrin Grey, and Scott Nicolay. Well worth a read!

RESONATOR also has the first story I've seen from Leeman Kessler, the fellow who does the Ask Lovecraft YouTube videos. I didn't know he was a writer too! His story is clever and a little droll. I quite liked it. I will be watching for more stories from Mr. Kessler.

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Thanks Sam! I'm quite pleased to see you liked "Film Maudit", particularly in such company.

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I have just finished reading On the Trail of the Assassins by Jim Garrison for the second time (the first was in 1999). A great book by a real hero.

Also, I recommend the director's cut of JFK, a mesmerizing film based on the book. The Blu-Ray edition includes the JFK: The Question of Conspiracy documentary, two multimedia essays and about an hour of deleted scenes, so it is really worth it, in my view.

I also look forward to watching the The Untold History of the United States TV series, also by Oliver Stone, and maybe reading the companion book he wrote with Peter Kuznick.

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Ana Kai TangataScott Nicolay

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Last weekend I finished reading George MacDonald's Lilith. It is a great book, and rather different from other Victorian phantasies. There is a tremendous bestiary of hideous monsters and ghoulish spectres from shunned, fear-haunted dimensions herein and a scene that carries the ultra-potency of Eternity. MacDonald is often ranked alongside Tolkien and Lewis and other optimistic and Christian fantaisistes (his The Golden Key is being reprinted by Pegana Press, thus putting the great Scottish fantaisiste in the company of Clark Ashton Smith and Dunsany), yet, whilst Christianity is not entirely absent, MacDonald's book does not strike me as being overtly preachy. I also began and finished Frank Belknap Long's memoir of Lovecraft, Dreamer on the Nightside. It is full of fine observations and amusements; though Long did know Lovecraft in person, I would say that S.T. Joshi does know Lovecraft better than anyone else.

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Black Dog and How the Marquis Got His Coat Back, two short stories/novellas by Neil Gaiman. I found them to be severely lacking and underwhelming. I also reread Watchmen; it is still a masterpiece.

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Battling Boy by Paul Pope, one of the best artists out there, even though I hate the fact that he is a Libertarian.

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Aeschylus The Orestia.

I've decided to go back to the beginning. It is amazing. Hadn't read it since high school and my God has it aged well (or maybe I aged well, not sure).

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On Love and Death by Patrick Süskind, a little book that is an essay about, well, love and death. Great book by a great, if not prolific, author. I've read everything he published (not much) and enjoyed it tremendously.

https://thewrittenwordreviews.files....-and-death.jpg

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Do audiobooks count? Just finished listening to Lovecraft's Dunwich Horror and Shadow Over Innsmouth. Also Wittginstein's Tractatus Logico-philosophicus, and am over halfway through Dick's Galactic Pot-Healer. Am currently rereading Harold Bloom's Genius over and over, and just started Dickens' Pickwick Papers.

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I say audiobooks absolutely count.