So I don’t usually read much horror – I read classics such as Shirley Jackson / Bram Stoker / H.P. Lovecraft, canon literature like American Psycho, occasionally something “niche” but influential like The Hellbound Heart, or niche but highly reviewed things like Mariana Enriquez, but I’m by no means a serious horror reader. Maybe 5-10% of my reading might fall under horror.
But I came across this booktuber who’s all about Extreme Horror and Splatterpunk, and I like her style and enjoyed her reviews, so I decided to give that genre a fair attempt.
I picked 3 things to read that seemed to cover multiple bases and were highly reviewed:
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca
His Pain by Wrath James White
Full Brutal by Kristopher Triana
I really wanted to make sure I gave the genre a serious go. But I thought two of those had no merits whatsoever, and one was *easy entertainment* and fun enough but nothing to leave a lasting impression. I don’t know whether I should say which one? I don’t want to shit on anyone’s likes, and I’m not sure it’s really important to my request.
The thing is I don’t want to give up here, because American Psycho was certainly gory but an excellent read, and Shirley Jackson is certainly horror but is amazing, and there’s other horror things – not “Extreme Horror” maybe but horror – that I enjoyed, like some Chuck Palahniuk, Poppy Z. Brite, it’s not like I dislike horror generally… so I want to know – are there any Splatterpunk / Extreme Horror books that you think really hold up in terms of literary merit? Things that maybe get overlooked because of the genre they’re in? Things that are “extreme”, but not for the sole purpose of being extreme, and that are actually well-written and put together and maybe even challenging / profound? I really want to give this genre a chance before I decide it’s not for me.
by ksarlathotep