Horror Mayhem: Let the Mayhem Begin!

Horror Mayhem Cohosts
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My Dopey Discord
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[@w.adammandelbaum1805]

Shorter versions of classics: The Six Pack of Charles Dexter Ward, Poe's The Odd Short Box, The Purloined Tweet, Clark Ashton Smith's The Single Shadow, William Peter Blatty's tale of his former wife...The Ex.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

😅

[@tonette6592]

I love good anthologies; like Roger, I am speechless with excitement.

[@dreamakuma]

LOVE THE WEIRD. That book is an absolute treasure and treat to read through

[@StormReads]

Great pile of Might Be Read books! Enjoy!

[@michaelsamerdyke108]

I read "Fiends and Creatures" back in the Seventies. Some very good stories in that one.

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

So many anthologies. I would read samples from them all.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

The 500 book challenge prevents me from such sampling.

[@GenreBooks23]

Looking forward to “The Beetle”!

[@fangs1972]

I'll coincidentally and inadvertently be able to participate in Horror Mayhem this year as I'll be reading Stephen King's "If It Bleeds."😛

[@tonette6592]

Forgot to mention how EPIC you looked in the title shot the other day and now Roger! LOVE.

[@honeybugg3224]

Off Season is one of the creepiest, grossest books I ever read. It's fabulous. Highly recommend for Horror Mayhem.

[@nicholasjones3207]

Most extreme stuff doesn’t register as disturbing for me but that book actually gives me the creeps and is kinda harrowing. Great book.

[@inanimatecarbongod]

AV-er-WAN. :) I need to get back to The Dark Descent myself. Started reading it when I was in hospital a few years ago but never got further than the first section. Must pick that up again. And The Weird as well. Macabre Reader looks like a lot of fun. Very heavy on HPL and his circle, too. I remember liking Dark Domain, though to be honest I don't recall much about it. Grabinski's been called the Polish Poe or the Polish Lovecraft, though I think he's more like the former than the latter. Case Against Satan is a MUST. I considerably disliked Dagon, though you may get more from it than I did. I came up with a bit of a TBR for this, as I think I said, all drawn from the "Horror: 100 Best Books" book and its "Another 100 Best" companion: The Bloody Chamber (Carter) The Body Snatchers (Finney) The Cement Garden (McEwan) The Course of the Heart (Harrison) The Crystal World (Ballard) The Dark Country (Etchison) Deliver Me From Eva (Bailey) Grendel (Gardner) The Last Bouquet (Bowen) A Nest of Nightmares (Tuttle) The Night Stalker (Rice) A Scent of New Mown Hay (Blackburn) Some of Your Blood (Sturgeon) The Sound of His Horn (Sarban) They Return at Evening (Wakefield) The Wasp Factory (Banks) We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Jackson) The Woman in Black (Hill) No way in Hell I will get through more than a handful of these in May, of course, but if I can knock even a handful off my preposterous list of unread books I'll be happy.

[@ObscureBookAdventures]

I’m looking forward to what you think of the Dracula graphic novel.

[@robertlynn7746]

You need horror mayhem to last a year!

[@niriop]

Just a warning on the Ligotti: the man’s a horror god to me (very influential on my own work), but he repeats a *lot* of his themes and tropes, so maybe just read *one* of the two collections in the book. I’d recommend Songs-“The Chymist” is maybe the best debut horror story I’ve ever read.

[@davlang3783]

The most memorable horror anthology I remember reading for quality and variety was the St Michael 65 Great Tales of Horror, edited by Mary Danby (1982). 688 pages with a great Werwolf face dust jacket cover. It's available on internet Archive, I believe. It has the amazing and funny short story, Now Showing at the Roxy by Harry E. Turner.

[@ObscureBookAdventures]

I also started to read the beetle and I’m loving it. I think it’s very well written.

[@niriop]

All of those anthologies look quite marvellous. I know The Weird has a few interwar Japanese weird fiction writers who I wouldn’t know of if not for their inclusion in there. I’m still reading George Stewart’s Earth Abides, so I’ll have to suspend my own Horror Mayhem for a time.

[@DamnableReverend]

While I'm not sure what's in that specific collection, I'm putting in a word here for my man, Fritz Leiber. Whatever is decided, though, looking forward to hearing you talk about it.

[@marjoriedonnett5467]

I only read two adventure books during April: She by H.Rider Haggard, which I did not enjoy, and The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which I did. I'm almost finished with The Three Body Problem (mind-blowing SF), then I will begin Horror Mayhem. Many books to read!

[@davebrzeski]

I've owned an old paperback of The Beetle for 50 years, and I still haven't got around to reading it!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

It’s pretty good.

[@Themrjoliveira]

Missing some HP Lovecraft there .

[@CliffsDarkGems]

Great video! I really like the look of your anthologies, especially The Dark Descent! I would love to find a copy of The Weird one day, looks so awesome. Dark Forces is my favorite, owned anthology, just so good! I loved Off Season and would recommend it to those who can handle the extreme content.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I read Dark Forces years ago and remember really liking it. I wish I still had it.

[@LovewarpstainIV]

My vote goes to Ligotti + The Dark Domain + Ketchum. By the way, I'm very confused by the coffee situation. You wait to drink it until after getting dressed and shooting a video? You don't stumble out of bed, get your coffee, get back in bed, then drink it with your eyes closed and don't even think of doing anything until the mug is drained?

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I’m strange that way.

[@brettrobson5739]

Horror anthologies - Dark Forces Kirby McCauley. It's forty odd years old now but was completely original at the time. Multiple authors have said they have been inspired by this collection, and multiple authors in the book claim their Dark Forces story as their favourite. When they reprinted it in the 21st century it sold out in days.

[@w.adammandelbaum1805]

Fantastic antho, have the original edition.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

That was a great anthology.

[@theemperorprotects7815]

Great video. My vote is currently for Ligotti, CAS and Grabinski. Great stuff!

[@davebrzeski]

I can pretty much guarantee that I have every story in that B&N anthology elsewhere, at least once... probably several times. 😆

[@yuleham]

What a fantastic list of books. I’m interested in hearing more about Flowers from the Moon and other Lunacies

[@knittymama570]

I'm down for The Beetle. I'm also going to read John Saul's Blackstone Chronicles. 6 novellas that were originally published as a series. I think they were later collected into one big book. I have the separate ones. Each about 80-95 pages. I've never read John Saul before. 😊

[@hughiegibson1716]

I love John Saul and the Blackstone Chronicles is epic! I read it as it was released many many years ago. Enjoy.

[@knittymama570]

@@hughiegibson1716 Awesome. Thanks

[@JzyShzy]

Hey Michael! I'll probably do Marsh's The Beetle, a bit of mayhem, a bit of cheapness and falls within my own goals -- very efficient, I can probably take the rest of the month off!😊

[@duanespurlock5879]

That's a tall, tottering, tower of books for one month! Good luck!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks

[@rickcroucher]

The books edited by Peter Straub are not in publication at this time. I had to order them from ebay. I was told there was not enough interest to keep them available.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I thought they were supposed to keep their books permanently in print. Liars!

[@crawdad19141]

Cold Skin the 2017 film, is one of the best most original horror films in recent memory, you need to watch that. As good or better than the novel.

[@TheMike28212]

So many amazing books! I don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

[@danieltenney1896]

Very cool. I hope you can narrow it down. For me I think I might read some Poe, M. R. James, and Blackwood. The anthology of Blackwood that you got awhile back inspired me to pick up his stories on Kindle. I'll probably also read some of the Creepy EC Comics from the recent collections too. But I gotta finish The Wager before I get to those from Spring into Adventure lol.

[@mindysbookjourney]

So Many Possibilities. The day is finally here!

[@arekkrolak6320]

I'm quite surprised I haven't read any Grabinski yet, even though I read quite a lot antologies where he could have been included... time to catch up!

[@nicholasjones3207]

I’m amazed at how good the case of Charles dexter ward is, so I think I might read some more hpl.then I’m going to read the beetle probably. Might chuck in a few Richard laymon shorts too as I am slowly working my way through his books. Maybe I might try out some m r James or le fanu as I have some of their collections to hand.

[@adriennelee26]

You should read The Case Against Satan and some of the stories from Alone With the Horrors, one of my favorite Campbell collections.

[@raymondrhorer6045]

Hello Michael, I'm not sure if you've been asked in the past, but would you ever consider trying out Manga? In particular, Berserk. It's pretty hardcore, but I really think it'd be right up your alley, and I'd love to see your reaction and hear your thoughts on the story. The art is also amazing and I think you'd appreciate it.

[@Old_Scot]

If you read some unread books, you will also contribute to your 500 Challenge!

[@Yesica1993]

Michael, if you read that "Weird" book, it should count for at least 10 books in your challenge.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I’ve read that one, actually.

[@Yesica1993]

@@michaelk.vaughan8617 There ya go!

[@LuckyBastardProd]

I’m think I’ll bust out Boarderlands Vol. 1 from 1990. It has T.E.D. Klein, Joe Landsale and some Ellison, the 90s PB has a cool cover as well.

[@GentleReader01]

You should read some Ligotti for sure. And his name has a short O - it rhymes with “he’s not dotty”.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks

[@freelivefree7221]

Dark Gods is excellent. Shadows with Eyes is very solid Leiber. A Leiber story could be anything from awful to brilliant, but Shadows was mostly the good. The Barnes and Noble collection is probably good for someone just getting in to classic horror. The Weird is excellent. It has a lot of foreign and little known writers of talent. If you want translated horror try the two Jean Ray stories. Ray was considered the Belgian Poe or Lovecraft and the two stories in the Weird are his best. (Along with his novel Malpertuis.) Like Lovecraft and Poe, he could be uneven, but when he was on he was the equal of their best stuff.

[@kevinburns4420]

I read The Weird anthology. Took me 3 years. 😂

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

That sounds about right!

[@arthurodell3281]

Read all the short books.

[@mrmicro22]

Have to advocate for A Boy's Life by Robert McCammon. It is a horror novel but also a commentary of society, race, growing up. It works on many levels.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I’ve heard a lot of good things about that book.

[@redwawst3258]

😊

[@SuperStrangSshadow]

You should read Off Season by Jack Ketchum. I kind of want to read it myself. Is there any reading prompts for the horror mayhem challenge?

[@DDB168]

Nightrider....read Nightrider

[@angusmckeogh659]

What was the event where people were named something dirty, like It Came from the Page, was renamed It Came on the Page? Is this the same event?

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Garbaugust!

[@jordanthomas4379]

ARE YOU ENTERTAINED!?

[@Spacejack-xx2yp]

"Al McWilliams" is Al Williamson, right?

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

No. Different artist.

[@nulla_vox]

I tag Roger for Moisturizer May. Apply moisturizer for 31 days!

[@QueenoftheBlackCoast]

Then Roger would fall apart! 😞