Great reading of M.R. James. He’s the kind of guy I feel like works best when you’re reading him alone in a cozy room, which I suppose is where his protagonists usually make their first blunder. I like how the relationship is kind of mutual, how the scholars are poking their heads into where they don’t belong and in response the ghosts etc poke their own heads into this realm. That’s a common thing in horror, but James does it really well. Respect the boundaries, fellas! Also, Night of the Demon rules.
Quick question: did you ever read any John Bellairs as a kid?
I don't think I did… however… I see he is from Michigan…
re: mutuality, one I really enjoyed was "Stalls of Barchester Cathedral" where the murderer is punished by what you assume is a vengeful ghost… and it is… but like, the vengeful ghost of a totally different thing whose wrath he inadvertently triggered by touching something (while being a murderer).
That one’s great! I have a lot of fond reading M.R. James memories.
I ask about John Bellairs bc he was a Catholic children’s horror author who had a bit of James in him. I liked them a lot when I was young, especially the Edward Gorey covers. A lot of scholarly intrusion in those!
I'll have to look into them… I was not raised Catholic, I'm a convert actually, though there are some things from my childhood that sound Catholic (like being obsessed with saints).
Nice to hear a bit more about McIntyre; she was an early student of Delany’s and her work was praised, but then she got diverted into writing Star Trek novelizations. I think she gave Sulu his canonical first name?
For what it’s worth, Martyrs is a really great movie and probably as horrifying as you think. I think of all the horror movies I’ve seen in the past decade, that one lives on in my thoughts the most.
I actually really do want to watch it, I think it's very relevant to My Interests in addition to sounding quite powerful. I can just be extremely sensitive to gore!
Yesssss. This is my kind of Spooky Season Content (no horrifically upsetting books, ma'am, I am a wimp).
I always linked "Lost Hearts" with The Magician's Nephew in my mind--kind of generally mild-mannered scientist-type who is perfectly willing to sacrifice human lives he doesn't consider valuable (& doesn't view this as morally reprehensible). Possibly this just resonates with other preoccupations of mine, but there is a specific kind of horror in a "nice" monster who is, frankly, a little bemused by your distress.
Great reading of M.R. James. He’s the kind of guy I feel like works best when you’re reading him alone in a cozy room, which I suppose is where his protagonists usually make their first blunder. I like how the relationship is kind of mutual, how the scholars are poking their heads into where they don’t belong and in response the ghosts etc poke their own heads into this realm. That’s a common thing in horror, but James does it really well. Respect the boundaries, fellas! Also, Night of the Demon rules.
Quick question: did you ever read any John Bellairs as a kid?
I don't think I did… however… I see he is from Michigan…
re: mutuality, one I really enjoyed was "Stalls of Barchester Cathedral" where the murderer is punished by what you assume is a vengeful ghost… and it is… but like, the vengeful ghost of a totally different thing whose wrath he inadvertently triggered by touching something (while being a murderer).
That one’s great! I have a lot of fond reading M.R. James memories.
I ask about John Bellairs bc he was a Catholic children’s horror author who had a bit of James in him. I liked them a lot when I was young, especially the Edward Gorey covers. A lot of scholarly intrusion in those!
I'll have to look into them… I was not raised Catholic, I'm a convert actually, though there are some things from my childhood that sound Catholic (like being obsessed with saints).
I was raised weird Baptist, so these books were how I found out about saints!
Nice to hear a bit more about McIntyre; she was an early student of Delany’s and her work was praised, but then she got diverted into writing Star Trek novelizations. I think she gave Sulu his canonical first name?
she did… she also wrote the novel of the Wrath of Khan!
For what it’s worth, Martyrs is a really great movie and probably as horrifying as you think. I think of all the horror movies I’ve seen in the past decade, that one lives on in my thoughts the most.
I actually really do want to watch it, I think it's very relevant to My Interests in addition to sounding quite powerful. I can just be extremely sensitive to gore!
Yesssss. This is my kind of Spooky Season Content (no horrifically upsetting books, ma'am, I am a wimp).
I always linked "Lost Hearts" with The Magician's Nephew in my mind--kind of generally mild-mannered scientist-type who is perfectly willing to sacrifice human lives he doesn't consider valuable (& doesn't view this as morally reprehensible). Possibly this just resonates with other preoccupations of mine, but there is a specific kind of horror in a "nice" monster who is, frankly, a little bemused by your distress.
but we can give him this one thing… he doesn't golf