My Favorite Scares

Well, Halloween is right around the corner, and everyone is going on and on (and on) about all of the best scary stuff out there. I figured I might as well jump on the bandwagon. I know I recently decried the genre of horror in the wake of how annoyed I am by all of the absolute crap that gets pushed in my face this time of year,  every year. But that was, I think, unfair to horror. It's not that I don't like horror, it's that an insanely significant percentage of what passes for horror is honestly crap. It's not good. It just isn't. Yes, there's this nebulous field in the middle comprised of stuff that is so bad it ends up being good (or at least enjoyable), but that classification is much rarer than most people think. Especially these days when people make (or pretend after the fact that they were trying to make) "so bad it's good" on purpose. I am pretty sure that can only actually happen by accident.

But I digress.

I have also mentioned before that my favorite author is Stephen King. I am sad to say that a lot of people out there who are only familiar with his filmed work might be under the impression that he often falls under the "crap" category himself. These people are dead wrong. Unfortunately, there have been many disastrous attempts to adapt King's work to film and television over the last few decades. The reason these attempts so often result in, well, horror (though not the intended kind) is that King's work very largely is about ideas and a lot of his best scenes exist in the character's minds, or in internal dialog. That kind of stuff is just really difficult to translate to a visual medium. But the fact that people keep trying to do so (and every once in a while succeed) should tell you something. If you've never read any of King's work but have watched something based on one of his books hoping for a good scare and come away disappointed you need to do yourself a favor and go read the source material. Then you'll get it.

I am actually lucky enough to be getting to go see King in person next month when he comes through Dallas on his current book tour. My husband is a wonderful person and decided this was an opportunity we just could not pass up. I am very very excited. Between that and all of the horrible not-horror being shoved in my face at present, I have been thinking a lot about King, and about those really enjoyable scares I have found along the way.

Which is all a rather long-winded way of saying that today I thought I'd give you my top three favorite scary books. I could make a whole top ten (at least) just out of King's work, more than likely, but he only wrote two of the top three that came to mind when I started thinking on the topic, so I thought I would just stick with that.

3. It by Stephen King

Oh man, this book. I first read it all of the way through when I was in high school, I think, although it might have been junior high. I had long been aware of King though, my mom being a big fan of his as well (where do you think I got it from, eh?). Like most people my age with a well-developed fear of clowns, I can lay the blame for that solely upon this book. When I was in fifth grade there was a television miniseries based on it, that of course my mom watched, and with one television in the house, so did I (and so did a lot of those kids who ended up scared of clowns). While this miniseries fell somewhere in the middle quality of adaptations of King's work, Tim Curry's turn as Pennywise the clown, amazing and frightening as it was, had nothing on the written version. I get shivers just thinking of it, and to this day I still can't hear "Für Elise" without getting the creeps. It was my gateway King, and during college I read it again every summer, staying up crazy late reading and terrified to turn the lights out once I had finished for the night. Worth every minute. 

2. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

I honestly don't know how to describe this book. It is simultaneously the most freaky and fucked up book I have ever read. (Sorry for the profanity but that is the most accurate word.) It's more or less about this guy's quest to find out about an ostensibly haunted house. But it is so much more. Somewhere along the way it takes about four left turns at once and you are left struggling to keep going. It is a complete mind-trip and even the way the book itself is designed and printed adds to the experience. I barely made it through one reading of this book, but once was enough. This is a book that will never leave me. It is real work to read, but I am glad that I did read it, to be certain, and anyone who likes horror and haunting stories should definitely check it out. But do it in a well-lit room, with plenty of people around. On a random but kind of cool note, Danielewski is the brother of musician Poe, and her album Haunted actually ties in quite a lot with the book, the version of "Hey Pretty" with the spoken dialog takes that dialog directly from House of Leaves.  In the book there are lyrics quoted from the album. There was definitely a bit of collaboration between the two when the book and album were being created. So if you're a fan of Poe and horror but haven't read this book I would definitely recommend you check it out.

1. Bag of Bones by Stephen King

The story of an author who retreats to a cabin in the forests of rural Maine and then becomes ensnared in a supernatural plot, Bag of Bones is trademark King at its best. This is an amazingly powerful story and being written later in his career truly reflects how much his writing skills continued to grow and improve the more he wrote. The imagery in this book is vivid and startling. My scare-factor from this book was heightened by my first reading experience of it, to be sure. During spring break my freshman year of college some friends and I went to spend a long weekend at the unfinished cabin one of my friends' uncle was building in the middle of nowhere, Texas. We were pretty much camping out, and I had more than one good scare staying up late into the night reading this book in that cabin. Reading this book I have been the honest to goodness most scared by a book I have ever been in my life. Needless to say, I was pretty delighted to find out that A & E has made a miniseries adaptation of this book (the miniseries always seem to do King's work better justice than outright movies) that is due to air in December. I am really looking forward to that!

So there you have it, my top three favorite scary books. If you were looking for something good to dig into before Halloween, well, now you've got an excellent list of suggestions, don't you?

Does "Genre" Even Exist Anymore?

In the grand scheme of things, it's probably just a little thing, but this time of year, it is a thing that gets pushed in my face repeatedly and thus works its way under my skin. At some point in the last ten or fifteen years, the genre of "horror" has been completely lumped in with science fiction. I don't get it. I don't get it, and furthermore, I don't like it.

I think that's because in the last five or six years I have come to realize that I don't really care for what passes for horror these days. This coming from a girl whose all-time favorite author is Stephen King. (He's still doing it right.) But horror movies these days? None of them appeal to me at all. (Because they are crap, and derivative, uncreative, and very rarely scary in a good way.) Suspense, I can get behind. Supernatural mythology, sure. Horror, not so much. I can't even remember the last time I voluntarily went to see a "scary" movie and actually enjoyed it.

And that's fine, really. Normally I don't have to give it much thought. But this time of year? With Halloween rolling in? Gah. I can't escape it. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate the occasional made-for-TV-B-movie that is so terrible it's good. The kind of stuff that Mystery Science Theater 3000 would love to tear apart. But this time of year, we are flooded with "horror" movies, in the theaters (which means I end up having to sit through commercials for them when I watch the shows I want to watch) as well as on television.

But it's also there on my science fiction sites. Somewhere, somewhen, some marketer somewhere decided that the people who like horror and the people who like science fiction are clearly the same people, so why not just push all of the horror stuff on the science fiction audiences? Because really, it's all the same stuff, right? Grr. I am putting that marketer on my list of people to go back and slap once my time machine is built.

Now, I can fully admit that the same assumption exists with science fiction and fantasy. Outside of those fan pools (and also a little bit inside), very few people see any distinction between the two. This really doesn't bother me at all, and I am sure it is because I actually enjoy both of those genres.

Obviously, there is a lot of overlap going on. There are lots of horror stories in which the element of horror is caused by a science fictional (or fantastical) element. There are also lots of science fiction (and fantasy) stories that are scary, downright horrific even. But to assume that any two (or all three) of those genres is the same thing because there is overlap is to do all of those genres a disservice.

But maybe I am on the losing side of this argument. These days it seems like the lines are blurring between all kinds of genres. Romance and historical fiction and fantasy and horror and science fiction and mysteries, and so on. Clearly people who enjoy any one of those may enjoy another. Science fiction, for example, has spawned oodles of of subsets over the last century: alternate histories, distopian, post apocalyptic, steampunk, and so on. Elements of all of these kinds of stories are slipping their way into the mainstream (thankfully, since specialized channels seem to be struggling to stay both viable and true to their fan base*). People who would never consider themselves fans of science fiction loved Lost. People who would never consider themselves into fantasy totally devoured Harry Potter. Writers considered "mainstream" are coming out of the genre "closet" and slipping genre themes into their work, or outright changing camps.

As it stands right now, it seems to me that the only reason "genre" still exists is so that people who want to sell us things have a nice pre-packaged way to describe what they are trying to make us buy. But I don't know how much longer they are going to be able to keep that up. It won't be too long before the stories will  completely stop fitting in those neat little descriptions. Maybe that's not a bad thing. Maybe it's time to just start calling it all "fiction" and leaving it up to the reader to check out the book jacket or listen to word of mouth to make up her own decision on whether or not it is worth her time. Just a thought.

I still wish people would stop trying to shove that crappy "horror" stuff down my throat though.

Peace out, folks. Enjoy the weekend.

*That's right Syfy, I'm looking at you.

I Think They Are Reproducing When I Am Not Looking

Yesterday I finished the second book in Fandemonium's Stargate Atlantis Legacy series. This is the series (I think it is planned to be six books, but I could totally be making that up) that sets out to provide answers to all of the questions left when Stargate Atlantis finished its five-season run on television. Without going into too much detail, I will say that so far it is completely AWESOME (I want Jo Graham to be involved with every Stargate Atlantis book that Fandemonium puts out going forward, seriously). If you are feeling the forthcoming lack of Stargate goodness, you should really check these books out.

After I finished the book, I put it on the bookshelf and then went to grab the next book in my reading pile. Ahh, my reading pile. After retrieving the next book to read, I went ahead and did something I have been meaning to do for a while now. I tackled the pile and gave it a good reorganizing.

It needed it.

I had been putting the books on a dresser in the bedroom in two vertical stacks (and one messy pile of comic books and graphic novels). These stacks were starting to get perilous though, and frequently I have found myself pushing books closer to the wall so as to prevent toppling. So yesterday I pulled everything off the dresser (then dusted because, um, yeah) and spread it all out and really took a look at what I had.

I sorted the books by priority, as in, which books I really wanted to read and in what order. This is harder than it sounds. For instance, the last four books are last not because I don't want to read them very much but because I will have to read the first three books in that particular series again before I can get to those four. Still, I think I managed a good queue. Then I put them back on the dresser in a much neater (and hopefully safer) fashion. They are now in three horizontal rows, with the ones I am most excited about in the front.

I have four books pre-ordered from Amazon right now (one of which will immediately go to the front of the queue when it gets here, the other three are of middling priority). I am going to try very hard to only purchase any new books in series that I am already reading for the rest of the year (i.e., Stargate books). Plus, every six weeks I get a new Stephen King book because I am totally doing the Stephen King book club thing. Some of these are just hardcover versions of books we already have in paperback and are upgrading, but those that aren't will go to on the pile in the back. I don't think there's any way for me to not continue adding to the pile. Me not buying any new books is not a thing that is going to happen. But hopefully I can stanch the flow until I get some of these knocked out.

Also, I have resolved to do a reorg after I finish a "row" to keep the pile from turning into a leaning tower of scary again. That just seems like a sensible idea.

This whole project has reminded me that I don't read anywhere near as much as I like to anymore. Sadly, I am pretty sure video games take the brunt of the blame for that. I am usually playing during the time that is most ideally suited for me to read. I think when I finish my current game sequence, I may need to take a break from video games again for a while and dive into the books. With the nicer weather coming on hopefully that won't be too difficult, since reading outside will have a decent appeal.

Right now my plan is to read the book I just started (another Stargate book, the last in my pile for the time being and a quick read) and then get to my huge pile of comic books and graphic novels:

My current pile of graphic novels and comic books to tackle.

Once I've survived that, it will be time to start climbing Everest.

The newly reorganized reading pile.

I am actually really excited about that first row! For the curious, here is what it contains:

Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik (part of the Temeraire series)
Blackveil by Kristen Britain (part of the Green Rider series)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (book one of The Inheritance Trilogy)
The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (book two of The Inheritance Trilogy)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Star Wars: Knight Errant by John Jackson Miller
Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit by Mercedes Lackey

So, yeah, good stuff all around.

I Really Don't See The Point In Being So Mean

So it was announced last week that George R. R. Martin is finally, officially, done with the next book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. The manuscript is by all accounts massive but it is still on track to be ready on time for the scheduled July 12 release date by all accounts.

This announcement was of course met with much joy and celebration, but for every article I saw reveling in the news, the comments were full of people bitterly stating that they would believe it when they held the book in their hands, and not until then. Lots and lots of bitter, angry, and often mean comments. From people professing to love this series and claiming to be eager for the release of the next book.

I don't get it. I really, really don't.

Okay, yeah, it's been six years since the last one came out, and (the hypothetical) you has been waiting (clearly not patiently). You feel (with arguable levels of justification) that you've been burned about this before.

But, well, so what?

The book is actually finally coming out. That's a good thing, right? You've probably already preordered your copy and/or are planning to attend a midnight release party at your local bookstore (you know there are gonna be some of those). So, shouldn't you be, at the very least, cautiously optimistic rather than cranky and disbelieving?

I mean, come on, it is just a book series. Seriously.

I remember at last fall's Brandon Sanderson signing for the latest The Wheel of Time book meeting a guy in line who was decrying his desire to get into any new book series' that weren't finished in case the author "pulled a Martin." (He was also more than a little cavalier about Robert Jordan having the audacity to die before he had completed his book series, despite the fact that the man managed to make arrangements to see the series finished after he had passed on.) His attitude about the situation kind of made him lose all credibility in my eyes (and made me think, at least a little bit, that he was kind of a terrible person).

I am given to conclude two things about this vocal subset of George R. R. Martin "fans" from their behavior regarding this series. The first is that they must not have read any other book series before every volume was published. More on that in a moment. The second is that they really don't have any grasp on how the publishing industry works. If the first book in a new series doesn't sell well because people are waiting for the second book to come out before they start it...there will be no second book, and so on down the line. The publishing house is under no obligation to pay the writer to complete the series if people stop buying the books halfway through just because they feel it is taking too long in between releases. Duh. I could list three or four series off the top of my head that I have read which will likely never get concluded because they just didn't sell that well. I am not happy about that, but they are just stories, my life goes on. Sure I am curious about what might have happened if the story had been completed (as I am when a television show I like gets canceled before it is given a proper conclusion), but that's what my imagination is for.

But seriously, six years? That's the gripe? That's really nothing. It is a little high, but not unheard of.  Let's look at another series for example, shall we? A wildly popular one (arguably more popular than Martin's series), even.

Stephen King's The Dark Tower Series
The Gunslinger was released in 1982.
The Drawing of the Three was released in 1987.
The Wastelands was released in 1991.
Wizard and Glass was released in 1997.
Wolves of the Calla was released in 2003.
Song of Susannah was released in 2004.
The Dark Tower was released in 2004.

Five years, four years, six years, six years, one year, less than one year. That's an average of a little over three years between books, sure, but the average doesn't really mean anything when you are waiting for the next book, does it? And two of the books had a six year wait. Those last three, I will also note, came after King had his near-death-hit-by-a-van experience, after which his writing output increased exponentially. Meanwhile, from 1982 to 2004 he put out, not including The Dark Tower books, something like 43 other books and short story/novella collections. Forty. Three. Even if you haven't read anything by King, I'm sure you've seen his books in the store--those suckers aren't short.

I've been a fan of King since before I stopped reading The Babysitter Club books, and even though that well predates my awareness of the internet, I don't recall any sort of fan outcry at the delay between books in the series or at the fact that King was writing any books other than those in the series.  Except, of course, for when he was hit by that van, when the collective fandom was going ohgodohgodohgodhe'sgonnadieandwwe'renevergonnafindoutwhathappens but well, that's sort of understandable, isn't it? Even then, most of the concern was for King's health more than for, you know, the books he might or might not have written.

But when George R. R. Martin blogs about working on a project that is not A Song of Ice and Fire, or about doing something that isn't writing at all, his "fans" cry out in anger.  They seem to feel like because they have started reading his series and want to know what happens next, he is somehow obligated to keep doing nothing else but write that series until it is finished to their satisfaction. Look, that's just not how the creative process works. But higher authorities than myself have already spoken to this subject and how ridiculous that mindset actually is.

It seems to me as if these people could care less about Martin as a writer. They certainly don't want him to be successful, if they did, they would be pleased to see he has more in his wheelhouse than one series. They also don't seem to appreciate that this series is indeed Martin's intellectual property. He is willing to share his playground, certainly, but it is still his. The "fans" do not own the world of Westeros.

I mean, I know that this very vocal group of the "fans" are probably the minority and that the way the internet works exacerbates their presence. But I am still of the mind that if you don't have anything nice to say...well, you know. So I am really perplexed as to why this (hopefully) minority is so vocal. What do they hope to achieve with this? I mean, seriously, if I was Martin, I would be tempted just to write a short story killing EVERYONE off and call that the end of the series, just to get them to leave me alone. Geez.

It just seems to me that if (again the hypothetical) you have been moaning and groaning about how long this book has been taking to come out, you would be happy that The Powers That Be are finally confident enough to announce a release date, a "for reals this time the book is actually done" release date rather than a tentative projection based on previous experience (which should always be viewed as subject to change). Being mean about getting the news you've been wanting to get just seems counter-intuitive to me, I guess.

But hey, I've got lots of books to read while Martin writes something he thinks we (and more importantly he) will be happy with. Maybe these people just don't have anything better to do?

How sad.