What would you people recommend for someone interested in contemporary horror literature? It’s kind of hard to be more specific, but I think what I am after is this kind of “abstract” horror like in House of Leaves.
Regarding the distinction between terror and horror, I think it’s about building terror in a very psychological way. Probably without “showing” any kind of aberration, providing a sensation of “wrong” or “out of place” instead.
What are the essentials of this kind of contemporary terror?
Mental illness/insanity works well in this regard. Sometimes the real monster is our own mind. As for literature that explores this, I don't know. I don't really read horror.
I watched this movie once where two twins were convinced that their mother had been killed and replaced by some monster. Turned out that it actually was their mother, and the boys twin was his split personality.
Jose Martinez
Saw that one too, can't remember the name of it though
Elijah Roberts
Goodnight Mommy. It was a great movie.
Nathaniel Morris
Lots of movies go that way, but I don't think all of them succeed.
Insanity is the way to go I think. How would you build that sense of deep but subtle "uneasiness"
Anthony Long
Ligotti?
Kevin Thompson
Not a book but a short story, "Lettre d'un fou" from Guy de Maupassant. It's an A in my list.
Ian Johnson
Discard, I just realized you asked for contemporary terror, I still think you should check it out.
Hudson Williams
>contemporary terror
The only terror-related thing about House of Leaves is how terrible it is that it got published.
Jace Davis
I've read this name brought up a lot regarding horror. Any entry-level recommendation?
Dylan Roberts
Checking it up. Thanks, mate.
Bentley Hill
>Lettre d'un fou
Having a hard time finding this in English. Do you happen to have a source?
Oliver Miller
What would be actually good contemporary terror stories according to you, then?
Our Temporary Supervisor is my favorite story of his. "Corporate horror."
Connor Ward
is this the one w the story of him in an israeli prison with a kid who'd get mouthraped every night?
Ayden James
Gira's a better musician than a writer, but it's a good read and he's still patrician as fuck.
Connor Stewart
Underrated choice. Most people say Last Feast of Harlequin/The Frolic.
Thomas Russell
Regarding Ligotti, I've read the term "philosophical horror" to describe his style. Any other authors in this same vein? I can only think of Junji Ito.
Carter Barnes
Ligotti is a good horror writer but if you say that 75% of his work isn't boring as fuck you're lying to yourself. I like the idea of reading his stories more than reading them.
Grimscribe. The Last Feast of Harlequin is fantastic
Josiah Sullivan
Not subtle or abstract terror, but a really comfy contemporary horror book. It's a haunted house story with vampires and magic, and it doesn't read in the slightest bit like genre fiction.
Some minor spoilers for the interested: Two demonic beings from the Victorian era lure someone to their house every nine years to consume that person's soul. Each chapter of the book is set nine years after the last, each one from the perspective of the latest victim. Starts in the '70s or '80s, I think, and makes its way to present day.
Also, it's very short. This is the guy who wrote Cloud Atlas, btw.
Hunter Hernandez
Wish he would re-release this through Young God Records sometime like he seems to be re-releasing the albums that were difficult to find for the past ten years.
Sebastian Harris
Already interested, David Mitchell is a pretty damn good writer with a knack for making structure complicated enough for it to be refreshing but accessible enough to be read just before bed-time.
Joshua Stewart
There's a free pdf of this online. And its really not that long. Its more disgusting than terrifying but oh boy is it disgusting.
Lincoln Howard
You may like 'weird fiction'
It's a recent term mostly coming from VanderMeer, it's not really horror, but it shares some elements, but it's also a bit of magical realism, SF, fantasy, the macabre etc.
Some great authors usually claimed by Weird writers are Bruno Schulz (DEFINITELY recommended, but has been dead for >70 years), Laird Barron, VanderMeer himself. Get VanderMeer's The Weird collection, absolutely great.
Oliver Rodriguez
>'weird fiction' >a recent term >user has never owned a cat named niggerman
Samuel Butler
>implying I am not scared of a gorilla-like thing and his tom-tom poundings under an eerie moon
You're right, I forgot that Lovecraft himself coined the term, I was somehow under the impression it was more recent and they just co-opted older writers
Tyler Smith
I love horror and fucking hate weird fiction. Read it online before paying for it, it definitely isn't for everyone.
Wyatt Ross
Can't find epub/mobi for this one
Anyone got it?
Eli Martinez
I have no idea if he's sufficiently "contemporary" for you, but you should really give Robert Aickman a try. He is truly the master of "wrong" and "out of place", while remaining much subtler than someone like Ligotti.
Reggie Oliver, Simon Strantzas and John Langan are all good living writers operating in the small press weird fiction niche who focus on the kind of thing you described.
