Innovative Horror discussion

Who are you? What's led you to join this group?

I'll start. My name is Nicole Cushing and I'm an author and (of course) a reader. I decided to start this group because I feel that innovation in horror fiction is sometimes not given the attention it deserves.

I also realize that readers who dig the innovative stuff can sometimes be a wee bit...eccentric...when compared to type of reader who digs This Year's Stephen King Book (and ONLY This Year's Stephen King Book). So this is a place where we can revel in our oddity! :)

Hello, everybody. My name's Jason and I've been around some of these goodreads forums for a few years now. I joined because I saw Nicole's mentioning her new group on Facebook. I also joined because I love innovative horror.

Hi -

I'm James, author and reader. I read tons of stuff, not just horror, but my favourite authors relevant to this group are people like Shirley Jackson, Robert Aickman, Ramsey Campbell etc.

I've always been interested in the 'theory' of horror - why are we scared and why do we like being scared? And anyway, is the actual point of horror to simply scare us at all? I think most innovative authors will, if only subconsciously, be asking similar questions.

Hello everybody. My name is Ben. Glad to be in a place where innovation and horror meet. There's no place I'd rather be actually ;) Below is my author bio...

Benjamin Kane Ethridge is the Bram Stoker Award winning author of the novel BLACK & ORANGE (Bad Moon Books 2010), BOTTLED ABYSS (Redrum Horror, 2012) and DUNGEON BRAIN (Nightscape Press, 2012). For his master’s thesis he wrote, “CAUSES OF UNEASE: The Rhetoric of Horror Fiction and Film.” Available in an ivory tower near you. Benjamin lives in Southern California with his wife and two creatures who possess stunning resemblances to human children. When he isn’t writing, Benjamin’s defending California’s waterways from pollution.

Cheers, all. My name is Bob Freeman. Glad to be counted among your number. I most certainly have an interest in innovative literature, both as a writer and reader. I tend to write Occult Detective fiction, myself, with minor dabblings in the sword and sorcery genre.

Hi, I'm Char and I'm a horror and dark fiction addict!
I enjoy reading and talking about books. I see Jason from HA is here (waving atchya), and Mr. Everington, of whom I became a fan last year. ( Waving at you, too!) Thank you, Nicole, for the invite!

Hello, I'm Kim. I saw this group on an update from Charlene, and recognized Nicole Cushing's name. Children of No One has to be the one "new author" (to me, at any rate) novella that I am most looking forward to from the DF lineup. I much prefer to read more "obscure" forms of horror than anything that you'd find on a top ten bestseller's list. I'm looking forward to finding new authors and visit some old favorites with like-minded people.

Hi Kim and Charlene!

My name is Todd and I am also an author/reader. I write as Allen Griffin, not a big secret anymore. I know Nicole and am a big fan of her work. Looking forward to some great discussions.

My name's John, a horror/bizarro author and reader.

I think I'm here more for education than discussion. I don't have many strong feelings about who have been innovative writers in horror, but I'm very interested to read what others think, so I'll be keeping an eye on this group. :)

Hi my name is Eddie. For many many years I have been interested in dark and weird fiction including short fiction.I have written some but I am more interested in the psychology behind this kind of reading and writing. I am looking forward to sharing ideas and reading and writing experiences.

Hi, everybody. I'm Dave Thomas. Along with Greg Gifune, I make up half the editorial team at DarkFuse, and am proud to say I gobbled up Nicole's first novella CHIDLREN OF NO ONE before she had a chance to send it to anyone else.

Jeffrey Thomas (no relation, honestly), Tim Waggoner, and Cate Gardner are some of my favorite innovative horror writers right now; they have a style all their own and I never know what the hell I'm getting myself into when I crack one of their books.

Thank you for the invite to your group, Nicole! I am eagerly awaiting your DF novella!

Hi, everybody! I'm Bill and I have been a Goodreads Horror Aficionados member for almost 2 years and recently joined the DarkFuse Kindle Book Club (best book club investment I have ever made and not just because Dave posted above me either!) I see a few of us here too! Hi Jason, Charlene and Kimberly *waiving*

I love all things dark fiction and horror and am very much looking forward to discussing innovative horror with everybody! I don't know if my tbr can stand it though...with HA and DF, I am already fairly nuts :)

Hi Bill, Dave, and everyone! Nice to "see" so many like-minded people. Bill, I hear you with the TBR pile! I keep telling myself "no more until next month", and then the suggestions keep coming. :)

Hello everyone, my name is Daniel and I am a writer. :) I like reading the dark stuff, and I reviewed a lotta lotta fiction for www.HorrorReader.com some years back (now gone, alas). In recent years, I've become a reviewer/critic for Dark Scribe Magazine, which has also been rather quiet of late. I suppose I kill magazines?

I look forward to sharing in the conversations.

Hi everyone, good to be here.

My name is K. Trap Jones and I am a horror author of novels and short stories. I'm also a member of the Horror Writers Association.

I tend to walk the frayed line between fiction and reality with my stories on a quest to change the perception of the readers. I tend to favor classical narrative horror and have been heavily inspired by them.

My novel THE SINNER won the Royal Palm Literary Award and the sequel, THE HARVESTER is coming out this year from Blood Bound Books. I also have a few other projects that are currently in the hands of publishers.

Thanks for the invite!

Hi, I'm Tim. I read and writer horror, and I teach in Seton Hill University's MFA in Writing Popular Fiction program.

Hello! My name is John Claude Smith and I write Dark Fiction of all sorts. I have one collection out, The Dark is Light Enough for Me. Though I've yet to jump into any conversations, I'm quite enjoying what I am reading here and look forward to getting to know you all.

;-)

Hi, I'm Lauren. I write and read horror, and while I'm always willing to pick up This Year's Stephen King Book, I also love finding authors and stories (and story ideas!) more off the beaten path. I'm looking forward to the discussions and all the recommendations my bank account can handle.

Welcome, y'all! Great to see more and more people joining the group.

Hello, Lauren! I enjoyed your review of James Everington's Falling Over. I'm looking forward to reading your collection as well. :)

Hi Im Sophie and I am new here.
I really enjoy reading horror and mysterious phenomenon stuffs.
My favorite is The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft

Welcome, Sophie!

Hi, I'm Steven Roy.

I'm a long time horror fan, especially HPL, Arthur Machen.

With more recent writers I think Laird Barron is pretty darn good.

I do some writing myself and you can find my books here: Steven Roy

Hi! My name is Terry Moore. I just received my Master's degree in Library Science and am looking for a job, so I have lots of time to read. I started reading Lovecraft as a kid, and have been seeking out and reading odd and innovative horror since.

Although I love mainstream horror writers like Stephen King, I'm drawn to the bizarre, the edgy, the sick, and the taboo.

Hello Steven and Terry!

I have only read The Light is the Darkness by Laird Barron. I have to say that I thought it was excellent and impressive.

I haven't gotten to The light is the Darkness yet, but the others I have read by him were really great.

I already own The Croning and I can't wait to read it. I've heard some really great things about it.

Steven, if you have a Kindle or a Kindle app, I could loan you The Light if you want. I just checked and the Kindle book is lendable.

Charlene wrote: "Steven, if you have a Kindle or a Kindle app, I could loan you The Light if you want. I just checked and the Kindle book is lendable."

Sure, I would love to try it out. How do you lend books on Kindle. I could also lend you something if you like.

All I need is your email address. I will go to my Manage Your Kindle page and pull up the book, click the action button next to the book, click loan and send it off to you. Easy peasy. :)
You'll receive an email from Amazon to claim it. You have the book for 2 weeks and then it will return to me.
Send me a message with your email whenever you're ready. :)

Thanks Charlene,

I'm definitely going to take you up on that once I finish the few books I'm reading now.

I can let you borrow something from me in the meantime, like maybe the book I wrote :)

Thanks, Steven. I'm pretty backed up right now. I have a group at Shelfari that reads a book a week and I'm participating in several group reads as well as doing a pre-read for one of my favorite authors. Whew! I'm tired just reading all that.
Tell me the name of the book when you have a sec. and I'll take a look. If it looks right for us, I might nominate it for a group read with my group.

It's a really fun horror book that's been compared to Tremors with a touch of literature.

Don't know if any of your groups would be interested, but, if they like adventure and fun, they might like it. Thanks for checking it out either way.

LOL! Well, it definitely sounds interesting. You don't see too many titles like that. :)

Wait until you read it. :) It has a very unique protagonist.

George wrote: "I've not long finished which is the most innovative horror (in a creeping darkness - not splattergore sense) I've read this year.
It's somewhere be..."

I haven't, George. But I just read your review and a couple of others. It looks pretty good. :)

Looks intriguing.

It does look intriguing, however, I have a bit of a problem paying $2.99 for a 28 page story. Sorry, but there it is. :)

Hey!! I'm Mayank. I just finished reading the Passage by Justin Cronin.
Can anybody suggest some innovative horror you've read?????

Snap!!!!
Not available in my country.
Tragedy of my life.

Plz suggest more.....
And keep posting interesting updates.

Nicole's book Children of No One was good.
Tim Curran's
Sow and Fear Me and Puppet Graveyard all rocked.

Laird Barron's The Light is the Darknesswas flat out awesome.

I wrote reviews on all of them, so you can check them out to get a little more about the stories.

Laird Barron's short stories are excellent.

You can't go wrong with anything by Laird Barron.

George wrote:
Mayank - does this link work for you?
http://www.amazon.in/De..."

I messaged the author......he gave me the same link.
It works. Thanks.

Hey! I'm not joining this group because I'm already aware of who's writing innovative horror. I'm joining this group to find out who they are!

My name is Ryan. I stumbled across this group while looking for recommendations based on books that I like. Shirley Jackson is one of my favorites.

Hello, Ryan! I love Shirley Jackson as well. :)

Boo, Everyone!

My name is Michael Stephenson and I am an Indie author. I look forward to interacting in this group when I get time away from writing as I love all things horror, especially writing it. I also look forward to promote some of my own works as I find them to be innovative.

Michael:

Thanks for stopping by. Please note that any promotional threads will need to be started in the "Your Innovations" section.

Best,

Nicole