From: dmpowell@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Darin M. Powell)
Subject: Re: New horror writers
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 92 17:45:44 EDT

In article <sa38oB2w165w@wuntvor.norman.ok.us> ntraven@wuntvor.norman.ok.us (The Night Raven) writes:

>     good old Steve King: I think the two strongest things Stephen King has
>going for himself as a writer are his depth of characters and his gift of
>story-telling.. Any fan of his will tell you that he doesn't have blazingly
>complex plots, but what he does with simple plot formalus is amazing, and the
>three-dimensions he breathes into his characters makes things much more real.

	I think you've nailed it, although I give King credit for a
	little deeper insight than most.

>     Dean Koontz:  I read almost all of his books before losing complete
>interest.  I enjoyed Lightning and thought The Bad Place had a wonderful plot.
>Watchers was enjoyable and so was Twilight Eyes (his most un-Koontz like novel
>in my opinion)... But after dreck like Midnight, Servants of Twilight, and some
>of Cold Fire, I got sick of his too-perfect characters.  He is very good at
>stringing a plot together, but like an empty stage-set, it has no heart and
>nothing to hold it up.

	I don't find Koontz inspiring or interesting. Your "no heart"
	assertion is pretty close. It just seems to be writing-by-
	numbers.

>     Clive Barker: How can you say Barker is only a horror writer?  He writes
>what he wants to write and lets himself expand through fantasy, horror, and
>wherever else his fancy takes him. He is a brilliant writer, and though some of
>his work is a bit cold (as opposed to someone like King), it is still very very
>well written and often terrifying.

	Barker's more recent turn to fantasy has left me a bit cold.
	I hated _Secret Show_ and couldn't bring myself to pick up
	Imagica. He seems to be overdoing it a tad. What I always
	admired about Barker's earlier stuff was the tightness of
	prose, the way sentences cut like blades. He hit sharp,
	quick, and deep. His more recent work seems to be gaining flab.

>     Robert R. McCammon:  Of his work, I've only read a few of his short
>stories and his wonderful book Swan Song which never bored me throughout its
>700+ page length.  He is a very talented writer and is helping pave the way for
>horror.

	I think McCammon is great...Although I would like him to take
	some more original tacts. An earlier thread discussed the 
	similarity between his style and King's. I would like to see
	him branch out more, if only to avoid being tagged "the second-
	string Steve King."

>Carrion Comfort and have read some of his remarkable short stories.

	Whoops, I deleted a line. Dan Simmons is great. Fuckin' great.
	(at least from his short stories). I will have to explore the
	novels, but from what I see, he is destined for greatness.


	There are a lot of writers who labor in the shadows of
	King/Koontz/Straub/Barker, who aren't often discussed on
	this group.  Again, I reccommend that everyone who hasn't
	check out some of the less-known writers who are doing
	brilliant work. T.E.D. Klein's _Dark Gods_, Karl Edward
	Wagner's _In A Lonely Place_, F. Paul Wilson's _Soft And
	Others_ should be must-reading.

	Darin Powell
	Syracuse University
	Football season is fast approaching...