What Are You Reading?

[carrie's younger brother]

I have about 1/4 left of Katie by Michael McDowell. As I mentioned many times, this is a writer kingricefan turned me on to a while back and I will forever be grateful! I can't believe I totally overlooked this author when he was alive and writing! If you like well-written horror served up with a wry sense of humor and original storytelling, then this is the author for you! My go-to "back in the day" other than SK was John Saul (Suffer the Children, etc.) but man, his stuff is so formulaic and poorly written. Michael McDowell blows all the other "second tier" writers away!

 

[muskrat]

I dug ol Varney, the Vampyre out of the crypt, blew the dust of 'er, opened to where I'd left off about a year ago--half way done, figure I'll finish the old bastard off at last. Only got about six hunnerd pages to go--good thing it's fine print, derf.

Actually pretty entertaining stuff, like a rousing, blood-n-thunder victorian TV show--which is basically what it was. Lots of humor, of the Pickwick Papers variety. One definitely senses the inevitable influence of the 'Inimitable' on this work. And it's episodic nature makes it easy to fall back into--the chpts. are told in long arcs, like TV seasons; I feared I would be lost, after so long a break, but having left at the conclusion of the last arc, it all came back to me--boom. Game on, let's roll.

It's way better than anyone's ever given it credit for, except for the crazy ol 'clergyman' Montague Summers, who said it was better than Dracula. Nah, Monty, it's good, but let's not be ridiculous.

We'll see. About to start chpt. 100; only got 120 to go.

 

[Kurben]

I dug ol Varney, the Vampyre out of the crypt, blew the dust of 'er, opened to where I'd left off about a year ago--half way done, figure I'll finish the old bastard off at last. Only got about six hunnerd pages to go--good thing it's fine print, derf.

Actually pretty entertaining stuff, like a rousing, blood-n-thunder victorian TV show--which is basically what it was. Lots of humor, of the Pickwick Papers variety. One definitely senses the inevitable influence of the 'Inimitable' on this work. And it's episodic nature makes it easy to fall back into--the chpts. are told in long arcs, like TV seasons; I feared I would be lost, after so long a break, but having left at the conclusion of the last arc, it all came back to me--boom. Game on, let's roll.

It's way better than anyone's ever given it credit for, except for the crazy ol 'clergyman' Montague Summers, who said it was better than Dracula. Nah, Monty, it's good, but let's not be ridiculous.

We'll see. About to start chpt. 100; only got 120 to go.

I've never read it. Have only read one of the forerunners to Dracula and that was Carmilla by Le Fanu. Skipped both John Polidoris The Vampire and Varney, the Vampire.

 

[Blake]

The Dark Tower 3, and The Tomb of Dracula tpb, number 1

 

[muskrat]

I've never read it. Have only read one of the forerunners to Dracula and that was Carmilla by Le Fanu. Skipped both John Polidoris The Vampire and Varney, the Vampire.

Poor Dr Polidori stole the idea, and based his vampire, on Lord Byron. He even stole the name 'Lord Ruthven' from Caroline Lamb's name for Byron in her scandalous Glenarvon. So...in a way, you could say Byron is the father of Dracula. He'd probably hate the idea.

Tell ya, though, ol Draco and Ruthven are pure evil through and through; one thing Varney does unique is introduce the whole idea of a 'reluctant' villain, the ol 'suffering vampire' schtick. Sometimes he's evil and likes it, sometimes he's disgusted with himself. Usually a gentleman around the ladies (when his teeth aren't in their neck, that is.)

 

[fljoe0]

Very apt--I don't like Kubrick much either

Blasphemy, you two!

BTW - I meant to include Achtung with this (Shame on you Achtung ) but I don't know how to do the multi quote thing. Can someone please explain that to me. I can select multiple quotes, I just can't figure out how to get them in my post.

 

[Dana Jean]

Blasphemy, you two!

BTW - I meant to include Achtung with this (Shame on you Achtung ) but I don't know how to do the multi quote thing. Can someone please explain that to me. I can select multiple quotes, I just can't figure out how to get them in my post.

You just hit the multiquote button on each message you want to quote and then when you get to the box where you want to type your message, there is a button that says Insert multiple quotes. Hit that and Then you can type what you want to say.

 

[fljoe0]

It's clear the decks week and get ready for June 2.

I'm currently reading "Quarry's Cut" by Max Allan Collins. The Quarry books are very good. This is my fifth one. Quarry is an anti-hero hitman. The first 4 books were written in the in the 70s and didn't do very well so Collins stopped writing them. They developed a cult following and in the 80s, a new publisher picked them up and reprinted them and Collins wrote another one. Then in the early 2000s, Hard Case Crime started publishing them and he's written a few more. You can pick up most of the kindle versions for $3-$6.

After I finish this, no starting any novels. I'll stick to short stories until June 2.

 

[AchtungBaby]

Blasphemy, you two!

BTW - I meant to include Achtung with this (Shame on you Achtung ) but I don't know how to do the multi quote thing. Can someone please explain that to me. I can select multiple quotes, I just can't figure out how to get them in my post.

What? I'm a huge Stanley Kubrick fan.

 

[fljoe0]

What? I'm a huge Stanley Kubrick fan.

I must have associated your name with a different post. Sorry about that

 

[AchtungBaby]

I must have associated your name with a different post. Sorry about that

Earlier in the thread I compared Peter Straub to Stanley Kubrick, but meant it as a compliment toward both men.

No worries!

 

[fljoe0]

Earlier in the thread I compared Peter Straub to Stanley Kubrick, but meant it as a compliment toward both men.

No worries!

I was just joking around with skimom more than anything.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I've been reading book three from An Song of Ice and Fire series (AKA A Game of Thrones), A Storm of Swords, and I just got to the...

Spoiler

Red Wedding! It wasn't a shock since I've been watching the show, but it was interesting to pick up on the clues that it was coming.

 

[kingricefan]

I have about 1/4 left of Katie by Michael McDowell. As I mentioned many times, this is a writer kingricefan turned me on to a while back and I will forever be grateful! I can't believe I totally overlooked this author when he was alive and writing! If you like well-written horror served up with a wry sense of humor and original storytelling, then this is the author for you! My go-to "back in the day" other than SK was John Saul (Suffer the Children, etc.) but man, his stuff is so formulaic and poorly written. Michael McDowell blows all the other "second tier" writers away!

Me thinks I'll have to start charging for my recommendations from now on, what with this glowing review..... Thanks, CYB, as I said before, I'm just happy that you've enjoyed McDowell's writings. He's in a class by himself!

 

[Kurben]

Poor Dr Polidori stole the idea, and based his vampire, on Lord Byron. He even stole the name 'Lord Ruthven' from Caroline Lamb's name for Byron in her scandalous Glenarvon. So...in a way, you could say Byron is the father of Dracula. He'd probably hate the idea.

Tell ya, though, ol Draco and Ruthven are pure evil through and through; one thing Varney does unique is introduce the whole idea of a 'reluctant' villain, the ol 'suffering vampire' schtick. Sometimes he's evil and likes it, sometimes he's disgusted with himself. Usually a gentleman around the ladies (when his teeth aren't in their neck, that is.)

Well, the vampire as an idea is way older than Byron and it was first published in 1819 as a tale by Lord Byron by the publisher. That was wrong. Both Byron and Polidori was quick to deny it but it stuck. Byron did write a vampire story. In 1816 he wrote Fragment of a novel aka The Burial: A Fragment and Polidori know about this. It takes place in turkey where a character dies of sickness and is quickly buried. No vampires appears. According to Polidori that was Byrons plan to have the buried man reappear as a vampire but he never got that far. Using the name Lord Ruthven was probably Polidoris way of giving an hommage. I think Polidori deserves the credit for his tale. No stealing of an idea is involved.

 

[MadBoJangles]

I've been reading book three from An Song of Ice and Fire series (AKA A Game of Thrones), A Storm of Swords, and I just got to the...

Spoiler

Red Wedding! It wasn't a shock since I've been watching the show, but it was interesting to pick up on the clues that it was coming.

When I first read that bit, I literally had to put it down, take 5 minutes and reread it again to be sure I hadn't just imagined it!

 

[skimom2]

I must have associated your name with a different post. Sorry about that

You were right about me--I don't care for Kubrick at all. Or Spielberg. Or Tarantino. And I DESPISE Woody Allen. (all in reference to their movies--I don't care much about famous people's private lives--lol).

 

[skimom2]

Me thinks I'll have to start charging for my recommendations from now on, what with this glowing review..... Thanks, CYB, as I said before, I'm just happy that you've enjoyed McDowell's writings. He's in a class by himself!

Y'all have intrigued me--the only thing I've read by him is Candles Burning, and that because Mrs. King finished it. I think I have a new (to me) author to look up

 

[Kurben]

Y'all have intrigued me--the only thing I've read by him is Candles Burning, and that because Mrs. King finished it. I think I have a new (to me) author to look up

Thought the exact same thing. Haven't read anything by him.

 

[skimom2]

Slogging through the last quarter of this silly book. More continuity errors, a physical impossibility (sometimes a writer has to 'block' a scene to see if something is physically possible) and even some spelling errors--and this is the writer's 20-something-th book for a major publisher. Depressing. I'm sure that if I was doing a real line edit there would be more; this is just stuff that's jumping out at me.

Anyway, many good books ahead for the summer! Be positive, me! lol