The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All

Blackwood's Baby
4 🌟
I was prepared to hate this, it being about hunters, but at the end, it got me. A group of"hunters" goes to a hunting wilderness in Washington. I had to laugh, because a couple of them got some karma, but I wasn't prepared for the chaos.

The Redfield Girls
3 🌟
They're not girls, except for the niece of one of the women who are teachers at a junior high school in Washington. They go for an annual summer weekend trip, right before the start of school. This year, they choose to stay in a cabin by a haunted lake. Bad things happen.

Hand of Glory
1 🌟
Gangsters in Washington state play quien es mas macho.

The Carrion Gods in their Heaven
1 🌟

The Siphon
1 🌟
B-rated vampire tale

Dropped the book after this.
( )

A really good collection of New Lovecraftian stories set in the Pacific Northwest, combining masculinity, crime, hard boiled characters, and the Cthulhu Mythos. There is also enough cosmicism and nihilism here for the hardened Lovecraft fan. His work combines Dashiel Hammett, Thomas Ligotti, with a bit of Steinbeck. This isn’t always easy reading, but is a very atomospheric, frightening series of stories. Recommended. I will be looking for other works by the same author. ( )

This awesome collection is only $1.99 today at Amazon U.S. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B0SBF1Y?tag=kiq-dds-20

Quote: "There are cracks in the world. These cracks are inhabited by...marvels undreamt of in our philosophies." From the short story, "The Siphon."

I've heard a lot about Laird Barron in various book groups to which I belong. Most especially I hear from fans of Lovecraft that Barron is even better. I have to agree. Ever since I read "The Light is the Darkness" I knew that I would be reading more of Barron's work. Last week I finally got the opportunity to do so, and I jumped on it. I couldn't be more pleased with that decision.

I submit this quote: "The canopy of the trees across the street shushed in the breeze, and fields littered with pockets of light swept into the deeper gloom like the crown of a moonlit sea. The starry night was vast and chill, and Lancaster imagined entities concealed within its folds gazing hungrily upon the lights of the city, the warmth of its inhabitants."

I won't go into a long winded soliloquy about each story, but I will briefly speak about the theme of this collection-cosmic horror- (see the quote above). Robert Chambers (The King in Yellow), Lovecraft and other authors created and loved this theme. I think it's exciting to see how Laird Barron makes it his own. The idea of ancient, alien invader Gods that live under the earth, under the sea, or somewhere in outer space is spooky by itself. To think that there are humans that live to serve them makes the whole idea even scarier. The cracks in the world mentioned above often serve as gateways...but for what is the question?

I loved the ancient, evil magician Phil Wary, who appears in a few of the stories. I loved Phil's answer to the question, do you serve the devil? "The Lord of Flies is only one. There are others, greater and more powerful than he. Presences that command his own obedience. You've seen them. I showed you." I loved the hidden village deep in the forest, (and what was in that tree??!!), in the story The Men From Porlock. I loved the mysterious, reclusive author Tom. L. in the last story. In short (too late!), I loved every story in this collection, but most especially The Siphon and The Jaws of Saturn. Outstanding!

I could go on for quite a while, but I am going to leave it off here.
The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All is worthy of my highest recommendation. If these themes are even remotely attractive to you, get this book now. You won't regret it.

( )

A decent collection with several good stories. No standouts, and no stinkers - I guess that's a good thing?

This was my first contact with Barron. The overall impression was "somewhat disappointing", but I struggle as to pinpoint as to exactly why this is. Most of the stories felt more derivative of earlier authors than I expected, HPL in particular. Several of them was previously published in various Cthulhu-themed anthologies, so this is probably as it should be, but it nonetheless feels like a bit of a let down from an author hailed as "the most exciting writer to come along since Thomas Ligotti".

Also, several of the stories labored under over-long setups that, even though often intriguing and evocative, they ailed to deliver upon. I love a good open ending as much as the next horror nerd, but even so I felt that most of the stories either lacked that final punch, or that they just sort of... petered out.

That said, the collection satisfied me enough that I will probably look up more of his (earlier) stuff in the near future. ( )

This is my second collection read from this very overrated author and I have decided that he is not for me. His stories are distinctly unsatisfying, usually with a long and irrelevant biographical portion followed by "something weird" which leaves you only wondering WTF did you just read. The only story here I liked (hence the extra star) was "The Redfield Girls," which had characters I cared about and a haunting quality. "Vastation," on the other end of the spectrum, was sheer nonsense.

Also, can people stop describing everything as "Lovecraftian"? The work isn't Lovecraftian just because the monster has tentacles, or because H.P. is mentioned by name. ( )