Any Machenfags in here? I like Lovecraft and I find Clark Ashton Smith absolutely delightful. On this basis...

Any Machenfags in here? I like Lovecraft and I find Clark Ashton Smith absolutely delightful. On this basis, should I pick up Machen the next time I want a spooky read?

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=SYsL7BUO6c4
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

You might also enjoy Algernon Blackwood if you haven't given him a try.

How does he compare to HPL and CAS? He's one of those names you hear tossed around a lot.

He's a bit more invested in the supernatural and natural as the medium of conveying horror or strangeness. I personally think he's interesting with Wendigo or the Willows, but I felt like I read him more to keep up with weird literature from the era. If you can find a collection for cheap, I'd recommend it.

Thanks for the input.

Machen's writing can be retroactively grouped into what people now call "folk horror". It's very much influenced by paganism, ancient rituals, and a kind of mythical, romanticized Britain. I like what I've read from him and while some of it is a bit dated (detectives finding essential clues by complete coincidence whenever it's convenient), it's still effectively eerie and you can see the elements that HPL amalgamated into his own writing. Get a collection with The White People in it. It's a phenomenally strange little story.

also seconding Algernon Blackwood. Penguin's volume of his short stories is a good start with The Wendigo, The Willows, and The Man Whom the Trees Loved (my personal favorite and pure spookiness).

Thanks; this is just the kind of info I came here looking for.

>some of it is a bit dated (detectives finding essential clues by complete coincidence whenever it's convenient)
I'm totally fine with this. Somehow, the datedness and generally stilted quality of Lovecraft's writing is a big part of what makes it spooky to me.

GOOD post

I recommend the couple of horror stories in The King in Yellow.

Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed it's time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!

Skip the other stories, but read "The Repairer of Reputations", "The Pallid Mask", "The Yellow Sign", and "In the Court of the Dragon"

Try this

If you're a Machenfag then look at this collector.

youtube.com/watch?v=SYsL7BUO6c4

If you love CAS then you should definitely check out Lord Dunsany

Is that the one where a main character is just thinly veiled Yeats?

Machen is good. Of his work I think I enjoy The White People the most. It is successful in a very subtle way. I would say the rest of his work is comparatively over the top. As mentioned before, Blackwood is also a good next step. Ancient Sorceries is my favorite of his.

Chambers is also good. As indirectly mentioned, only about half of The King In Yellow is worth the read.

Clark Ashton Smith is not a name I come across often here and I would like to know what of his you hold in high esteem. He was quite the remarkable talent and it is a shame he's as well-known as he deserves to be.

But really you should read M. R. James. His stories are without peer. Count Magnus is a good place to begin and if you find that you enjoy his stories, move on to any others that attract your eye. An Episode of Cathedral History is also quite good. Save A Warning to the Curious for a little later as it is undoubtedly his best story.

As for horror in general, you should really try to acquire The Dark Descent if you don't have it already. Or anything edited by Peter Haining or Marvin Kaye.

>it is a shame he's not as well-known as he deserves to be.
Is what I meant.

>An Episode of Cathedral History
My man. Maybe my favorite James story.

Blackwood > Machen > Smith > Hodgson > Leiber > Lovecraft > Howard > Long

>detectives finding essential clues by complete coincidence whenever it's convenient
While this was certainly a common (and kind of obnoxious) trope of the time, at least in The Great God Pan I think it's meant deliberately, not JUST as a means of keeping the plot moving. Like people keep discovering just what they need to discover because the universe/God/Pan/whatever wants them to.

Maybe I just read that into it and it isn't really there, but I kind of think it is. Too lazy to find my copy and reread today though.

I've actually considered that as well but it's been so long since I've read it that I can't give a direct example either. I'm not sure if you've seen True Detective, but since the show is so heavy on Chambers references, I always wondered if perhaps the somewhat outrageous nature of the clue that cracks the case was a nod to Machen. I might just be giving too much credit as well, though.

bump for supernatural horror.
Algernon Blackwood looks like someone who was destined to write horror stories. I love this picture.

OP here. Last night I got tipsy and ordered pretty much everything everyone in this thread recommended off BookDepository.

>Last night I got tipsy and ordered pretty much everything everyone in this thread recommended off BookDepository.
the absolute madman
what a wild life

haha oh man

What a champ. Good thread.

Did exactly that this morning except I wasn't tipsy. Wat do?

I consider that extenuating circumstances.

Machen is a bridge between late romantic supernatural horror and the cosmic horror of Lovecraft. His stories have occult elements that point toward the kind of existential or ineffable sense of dread that Lovecraft invokes, but are still rooted in a prescientific and mythical worldview.

For what it’s worth, his prose is much more polished and literary than Lovecraft’s (though I say this as a fan of Lovecraft).