Datlow's Inferno

[zhai]

Through the magnanimity of Ellen Datlow I received a copy of Inferno in the mail just before Christmas. As I told Ellen at the time, I was primarily interested in the book for thehollowbox, who had been chomping at the bit to get his hands on it for months. So it will be a less-than-surprising Christmas present, and as per the agreement on Ellen's blog, pre-

Comments

[lumi21]

I generally find myself fascinated by horror writing in a looking-through-the-window-from-outside sort of way; that is, I don't really read any myself (occasionally, I suppose, by accident), but I tend to find it captivates me when it comes up as a topic of discussion or in some other context (to use a rather cliched example, I consider myself an enthusiastic Lovecraft fan without ever having actually read more than a couple pages of his writing).

That said, this collection sounds intriguing. I shall keep an eye out for it when I finish my current reading project. Thank you for the tip =)

[zhai]

How can you be an enthusiastic Lovecraft fan having read so little? ;) I find that I tend to like Lovecraft's ideas but not his actual writing, so I think I can understand being a fan of one dimension of any artist's work.

The collection is worth a look, particularly if you're wanting to get your feet wet in horror without jumping full bore into a novel at random. Cadigan, Shepard, and Ford at least -- I would be pretty sure there are more -- work outside horror, so their voices have a way of easing you into it. But then there seems to be a lot of blurring of lines between fantasy and horror lately. I don't mind this in terms of work, but it was a point of annoyance/disappointment for me with Hartwell & Kramer's latest Year's Best. All fine stories, but almost all of them felt like literary horror to me -- a lot of ghost stories and a focus on the dark or unsettling in terms of emotional identity. I like literary horror, just not between the covers of a book that calls itself fantasy.

[lumi21]

To answer your question, I point you toward a little board game I've been introduced recently. Additionally, I got a total kick out of Baby's First Mythos when Casey bought it for Justin at a con a few years ago. I guess I inadvertently approached him in a roundabout way =)

But yes, this seems like an intriguing book. I shall have to make a point of reading it.

[ellen_datlow]

Hi there,
Found your blog review and thank you so much.

I agree with you about the Hartwell/Cramer YBF--I was surprised by some of their choices--I consider a LOT of what they chose "horror" not fantasy at all. In fact, they overlapped a bit with my choices in 2006.

[ccfinlay]

Both Nathan Ballingrud and Laird Barron have livejournals, at nballingrud and imago1 respectively. Neither post a lot, but you can usually find news about other upcoming stories at both.

[zhai]

Very cool. I will friend them presently. Thanks for the heads up!

[zhai]

Laird/Mr. Barron, welcome, and thank you for the comment, and the terrific story!

[zhai]

I will do so! Thank you, and welcome again. :)

[fastfwd]

Thanks for your comments re "Stilled Life." You made my year.:)

[zhai]

Wow -- I didn't realize you were on livejournal! Thanks very much for the story and the comment, and my pleasure!