From: mch@sqwest.wimsey.bc.ca (Mark C. Henderson)
Subject: Re: A few more authors
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Surrey, British Columbia, CANADA
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 20:08:20 GMT

In article <6841@stan.xx.swin.oz.au> ov@saturn.cs.swin.oz.au (Owen Veenstra) writes:
>
>      Unfortunately, it seems that a few people out there are obsessed with
>  a *very* select number of authors (Koontz/King...), so I figure that I'll 
>  liven things up with a few names I consider worth reading.
>
>     Clarke Ashton Smith ( C.A. Smith ) was one that wrote horror pulp way
>  way back.  If you can, definately pick up his work; it is well worth the
>  read.  Apparently Necronomicon Press books have printed some of his stuff...
I'll second the recommendation of the works of Clark Ashton Smith. His style
is unique, sort of fantastic, wistful horror. If you want lots gore and fast paced 
action, you're better off reading someone else. The prose has a definite
poetic quality.
>
>      William Hope Hodgson has been compared to HPL ("A classic of the first
>  water" quotes HPL on one of WH Hodgson's books).  Unfortantely, I haven't
>  read any of his work, but certain whispers say it's OK to read.  This
>  guy, too, apparently wrote a lot of stuff back when pulp mags were big.
Necronomicon Press has issued a new collection of his 'not recently
published' weird tales. Most of his novels and some of his short stories
are in print and aren't very hard to find (at least here in Canada).
Another one of the neglected (at least in this newsgroup) masters.
Unfortunately he died young, but nevertheless he did produce a fair
amount of weird fiction.

>
>      T.E.D. Klein ( also seen as TED Klein ) is claimed by some as a 
Unfortunately, T.E.D. Klein just isn't a very prolific writer. 

A few of others I'd like to add, who aren't newcomers (except for one),
but are of the highest calibre. I'm intentionally not going to give a
lot of detail about these authors as I don't really have time to write
reviews.

Robert Aickman - Known for his 'strange stories'. Again not one for those
who are seeking fast paced action thriller horror fiction. His fiction
is more of the quality one finds in _Whispers_ (in fact some of it
appeared in these).

Joseph Payne Brennan - _Canavan's Back Yard_ has to be one of the most 
effective examples of horrific short fiction of the century. I would rant
about the inferior sequel, but I did that last week.

Nina Kiriki Hoffmann - A relative newcomer (I promised one above).
She has a couple of collections out, and a number of stories in
various magazines and anthologies.

Karl Edward Wagner (also a great horror editor) - Try _Sticks_ or _In
the Pines_, for example. He has also been the editor of the _Year's Best
Horror_ series for the last ten (or so) years. I see that someone else just
recommended him here, so I'll second that recommendation.

Russell Kirk - Although I can't really say that I have much sympathy
for his world view (which does come across in his stories), I'll recommend
him anyway. A master of the weird tale.

Dennis Etchison - Known primarily for his short fiction and anthologies.
Very disturbing fiction and excellent anthologies.

There are a lot of other authors that I might mention, but I figure 
most everyone knows about them, so I won't bother (e.g. Bloch,
Campbell, Lovecraft, Grant, Jacobi, Long...) and there are certainly
some I really enjoy that just didn't come to mind.

Mark
-- 
Mark Henderson, SoftQuad Inc, 108-10070 King George Hwy, Surrey, B.C. V3T 2W4
Internet:   mch@west.sq.com, mch@sqwest.wimsey.bc.ca
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