[Frater_Tsalal]

I recently finished off the new Pynchon, Bleeding Edge, which I quite liked, though not to the extent of his historical doorstoppers (though in many ways, this was very much a historical novel as well). It's one of the few Pynchon books I've read where I've actually gotten most of the pop culture and historical references.

Even though I started George R.R. Martin's Feast For Crows earlier this month (and am almost a quarter through it already), I decided to set it aside for next month and to devote October primarily to reading books of a horror/supernatural/weird fiction vein. I think it's time that I finally tackle Stoker's "Dracula," which I've never read. My copy is the Barnes & Noble signature edition that came out last year: I like the cover, which uses the art from Caspar David Friedrich's "The Abbey in the Woods," one of the most atmospheric and Gothic paintings of all-time.

I'm also currently reading Laird Barron's The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All. Although I'm well-read when it comes to the classic weird fiction/horror short story writers, I'm not as well-read when it comes to the modern writers. But reading The Grimscribe's Puppets has convinced me to look more into such writers, and so recently I ordered Matt Cardin's Divinations of the Deep (I've already read Dark Awakenings), Mark Samuels' The Man Who Collected Machen, and Richard Gavin's Omens (I read At Fear's Altar last month and loved it). I'm also expecting S.T. Joshi's The Assaults of Chaos to arrive soon. So, with all those titles in mind, that should keep me busy for most of October.