I Tried The Deep End of Horror Fiction [100 Book Challenge #83-86]

[@Bookpilled]

I forgot to mention in the video that my copy of The Sluts was a gift from Sean of SFUltra, my personal favorite lit podcast. If you're not listening already, I entreat you to start: www.patreon.com/SFULTRA (the main podcast is free to the public).

[@danjameson1572]

good story by Campbell under the alias Don A. Stuart in the Mccomas anthology. forgot the name of it.

[@_Mike.85]

Wheres the link to the Peter Watts 'The Things' book? That sounds great!

[@mab757]

I am a friend of Sean's, and this is of absolutely no surprise to me

[@rhahnabunaid]

Your reading experience with The Sluts reminded me of my experience reading American Psycho; still the only book where I had to scan paragraphs because I couldn't read them.

[@chrisw6164]

Shirley Jackson is a prose master. I love everything from her. Try We Have Always Lived In The Castle, The Bird’s Nest, and any of her short fiction.

[@biznis9965]

Thank you! I enjoyed the TV show and was looking for new horror fiction to pick up. I always love when an author is a favourite rather than a single piece of work.

[@cappyroo]

Negative Space is amazing. It is not my usual fare but I was blown away by the whole mood, the sort of hellscape/suburban nightmare world that Yeager creates. It reminded me in a way of Teatro Grottesco by Ligotti, total existential nihilism, but through a Gen Z lens.

[@jediknighthoe]

The integrity of this man to tap out of a review because of his own personal connection the material is why we love Bookpilled

[@MirrorReaper1]

Have you heard of Frozen Hell? It's apparently the full length novel from which Who Goes There was taken, or something to the effect. Was discovered a while ago.

[@DamnableReverend]

I read it a couple of months ago, and I think Campbell was right to cut it down, personally. The extra stuff is mostly at the beginning and it doesn't start the story off nearly as well.

[@bookfantastic]

I just picked up John W. Campbell's Frozen Hell. Apparently the manuscript of the original version of Who Goes There? had 45 more pages. This book is that version. I hear it's good. Looking forward to reading it.

[@ConvincingPeople]

As a consequence of this video I am now about a quarter of the way through The Sluts (it was already on the list) and finding it simultaneously horrifying and genuinely very funny, which is about what I've come to expect from Cooper given the little bit of his other work I've read (I really need to get back to The Marbled Swarm). More than anything it feels like a really acrid satire of the gay hookup culture of that time and place, but part of that comes in the form of this gradual slide into tales of really ghastly violence and depravity which (initially, at least) may or may not be a bunch of catty backstabbing well-off gay dudes trying to troll and slander each other on a message board… but the fact that they take that form says something in and of itself. And then things keep escalating. Genuinely fascinating if deeply gnarly.

[@nefanee]

Hill House is my mom’s favorite book of all time and I finally read it last year for the first time and I loved it. Genuinely creeped me out in some parts.

[@submetropolis]

always love your takes! I would not have thought hill house would have been so high on the list so I'll be adding it to my list

[@WordsinTime]

I’m not a big horror person but I loved The Thing. I’ll have to check out Who Goes There?

[@rickkearn7100]

The stacked rocks at timestamp 3:30 reminded me of a scene from the original Ghostbusters movie where the guys encounter stacked books in the NY Public Library and Bill Murray's character "Venkman" says to Ray; "you're right, no human being could stack books like that". Kudos for gutting it out with The Sluts, I think I'll pass. I never thought of Campbell's Who Goes There? as a horror story for some reason but it certainly is, in retrospect. Thanks for another great post, BP! Cheers.

[@therealjojo6139]

I just read the Haunting of Hill House last month and loved it, there's so much packed into that book. Would love to hear your thoughts on Jackson's other famous work We have always lived at the castle

[@chrisw6164]

I’ve moved away from reading a lot of horror, because the true crime I’ve been watching on KZbin has changed my outlook on what should be read for “fun”. There are a lot of terrible people and things in the real world. That said, I still like a well-written horror story, just keep the more “realistic” depictions of fictional human-to-human cruelty away. Monsters and surreal / unreal stuff? Sure.

[@arekkrolak6320]

Horror is supposed to be monsters and mythical creatures. Human violence is crime/war more than horror

[@atomsRnot4717]

Same here. I like horror that has supernatural stuff in it - that's the whole point for me. Seems like there's a lot of horror that is nothing more than stabbing or torturing people. Ugh.

[@dgage1776]

Human bad guys are really pretty boring anyway, aren't they?

[@sgtearache5303]

yeah I feel the same way. I can take monsters and ghosts all day long, but slasher and serial killer books/movies and so forth...not interested.

[@kaleishiacann8129]

​@@arekkrolak6320horror isnt predicated on one or another theme/antagonist. Likewise, a scary element does not make something horror. Horror is mostly in the execution. With all due respect, yours is an extremely reductive take. Some of the scariest horrors do not have any supernatural elements. Horror is also not a rigid genre, and it is highly subjective, and the more i talk about it the more i detract from a coherent understanding of the genre, so i'll stop now. Suffice it to say that horror is much more than monsters and mythology

[@MemphiStig]

We had to read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson in high school, and I just sort of assumed it was a fairly well-known story. But that was long ago. It does deserve a read tho. I think it inspired Shyamalan's whole career. But it's better.

[@barrymoore4470]

It's one of the most frequently anthologized short stories, and indeed I think one of the greatest English-language short stories of the last century. Many first encounter it as assigned reading in high school, and I remember studying it in that context (though I had read it before then). It's almost surely Jackson's most famous work.

[@gtm604]

Agree with you on Who Goes There. excellent little novella.

[@kufujitsu]

Shirley Jackson writes with learned simplicity - she uses fewer words than most, & yet she displays a clearer picture than most. It's easy to create horror in fiction, & some of it is entertaining - but I'd like to see today's horror writers try to use suggestiveness the way that Jackson does, & we'll see how far they get - most of them wouldn't get close to her level if they went that route. Just read the 1st paragraph of The Haunting of Hill House, & you'll see what I mean. Her short fiction is worth seeking out as well.

[@francissreckofabian01]

Not my cup of tea. I've never been interested in Horror. Or, what people say is Horror. One reviewer described Three Body Problem and Blindsight as Horror. I didn't see it. The death of humanity doesn't bother me. The death of me? Yeah, As for the "vampire" in Blindsight I wasn't concerned.

[@wildmanz8233]

Is the space craft shown under the ice in The Thing piloted by the creature? Was it intelligent? Or did it kill the alien pilot(s) and crash on earth?

[@elikrey]

There is a good horror novella by V. Sorokin called “Nastya” kind of a social horror satire, not for the weak reader I warn you…

[@doublestarships646]

Man I can't begin to think on a starting point on where to start on how I feel about ultra violent media. I can totally understand that you should be able to write terrible things and people as how they are in real life but I can also understand someone being 100% against it. It is a form of expression and it is definitely a way to get the brain sparking very uncomfortable signals lol. I am slowly climbing my way there but I am sure I am very close to that wall and I can tell you already that I will turn right around to leave that sort of thing behind. 🤣

[@LACaradoc]

I also loved the Haunting of Hill House. Specifically for those reasons you mentioned.

[@jordangouveia6016]

Amazing video as usual. Love the transitions as well.

[@LiterateTexan]

You know, for whatever reason, I've never developed an appreciation of The Haunting of Hill House, and I've tried several times. I've always wanted to read "Who Goes There?" but I've never gotten to it. I enjoyed this video, and I liked your comparison of Hill House with A24 movies.

[@pamelatarajcak5634]

The Haunting of Hill House is a gosh darned masterpiece!

[@ludvanbeethoven1]

Gorgeous place, where did you film this video?

[@Tetsujin-28]

Hi MATT. It's Robert J. Clark. Do you know where my books are?

[@Bookpilled]

Hahaha

[@cybersnap6072]

I've had a lot of weird synchronicities while reading Negative Space over the past couple weeks. When reading the part about how Saint Gobnait was a beekeeper, a bee buzzed right by me. And believe it or not, the same thing happened but with a wasp when reading the part about wasps flying out of the casket. Now here I am with just a few chapters left when a booktuber who I mostly follow for his sci-fi takes uploads a video featuring it.. I'm not done yet but I'm close. I had to put it down today because it was making me feel gross. What a disturbing book.

[@ru997]

To be fair many book influencers push negative space and he says in the video this was meant to be for Halloween, but the bug stuff is suspicious. Been experiencing many synchronicities myself too.

[@mizfeldy]

Read We Have Always Lived in the Castle. If A24 movies don't quite scratch your itch, I bet that will.

[@DamnableReverend]

The Sl*ts is definitely a creative work. Haven't read any other Cooper but i had a good time with this one. You didn't say this so maybe it's just me? But i found it to be quite amusing/funny, and I do think that sort of worked to undermine (in a good way maybe?) the more horrific aspects of the book. We just did a Chrononauts podcast episode on Campbell and "Who Goes There?" a couple of months ago. I still love the novella, but man, Campbell was such a dick. Oh well. Watched the Carpenter movie again over the weekend. Still one of my favourites. The friends i watched it with seem to prefer the A24 horror movies though. Hmph. You could go for We have Always Lived in the Castle next from jackson, or maybe a collection of her short stories, many of which are incredible. Nice to see you delving a little more into horror lately. I've been feeling some of that stuff a lot myself.

[@RidleyJones]

One thing that pleasantly surprised me about Hill House (since I expected it to be quite somber and morose throughout) was the little bits of dry, self-deprecating, almost British humor sprinkled in here and there, especially from Eleanor's internal monologue.

[@chocolatemonk]

great vid! thx

[@arekkrolak6320]

I would say if the book brings up emotions in relation to real life event I do not need more of a recommendation

[@meesalikeu]

i mean who didn't read the lottery by shirley jackson in high school?

[@heathmotley9675]

What was the name of his book about the Thing?

[@Bookpilled]

clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/

[@personmcpersonperson2893]

Favorite youtube channel for sure

[@jjcrazi]

I just read ‘Who goes There’ and his other short stories. They were ok, bit of racism in there. I didn’t enjoy his style of writing in particular either. Some of the ideas were good.

[@jjcrazi]

And yeah, the scientists were really friggin dumb in that story

[@JackLockwood-fi2jg]

Honestly I think there's a limit for everyone out there.

[@hypatia4754]

Love horror but also won't read or watch anything that borders on realistic torture porn. Reality is bad enough

[@no_problem8023]

3:34 are those edible? Dare you to try