LAIRD BARRON

[Mr. Veech]

I guess I'll give him another try. I suppose part of the reason I chose not to pursue Barron's work is because of some of the things he's said regarding one of my favorite authors. I'm willing to give him another go, though.

[New Devilry]

I wouldn't bother with anything past The Beautiful Thing that Awaits Us All.

[Frater_Tsalal]

Sadly, I don't rate him all that highly: while I haven't read his last few books, I did read his collections The Imago Sequence and The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All as well his novel The Croning, and while I found them competent there was something about his writing style that was a bit too slick and professional for my tastes... or maybe I should say I often found the scenarios for the stories more interesting than their execution. Much of it struck me as Weird Fiction written by someone who really wasn't that weird at all. Needless to say, his public persona and online antics over the last few years hasn't exactly endeared him to me, either.

I think that Joshi may be onto something when he suggests that perhaps Barron got too big too fast, and that maybe it went to his head. I'm no mind reader, but I can't help but wonder if his heart is really into writing Weird Fiction/horror, and that he keeps doing it because it's what his fanbase expects, and that maybe he'd be more happy doing straight up noir/mystery (I see that his next book is of the "crime fiction" genre, which I think is a genre he'd probably feel more at home working in).

Still, despite my negative feelings towards him and his work, I would say that The Imago Sequence at the very least is a collection that's worth checking out, as it has a few strong stories. But I'm not sure if I can recommend the rest of his output.

[Speaking Mute]

The Barron that I've read reminds me too much of Haggard, Merritt, and similar adventure-horror writers from the early 20th century. I happen to like that strain of pulp fiction, but here my feelings are the same as with anything Lovecraftian - I'd rather just reread the original works for the nth time than read the nth variation from a contemporary author.

I have, however, come to really like More Dark over the years - I still deem it horribly catty, but I find it a lot funnier after all the spats in the last couple years.

[Hidden X]

I think that in "The Croning" he went a bit too far with explaining exact nature and motives of his Mythos's chief antagonists, to a point where it sucked out a bit of its strangeness and mystery, and of reader's curiosity. And, I guess, it made them less terrifying, which is exact opposite of what he was going for. Somehow, their all too human evil and sadism is far less effective than the completely unknowable, truly alien natures of Lovecraft's godlike aliens. I still think his earlier short stories stellar though.

[MadsPLP]

Quote Originally Posted by Hidden X

I think that in "The Croning" he went a bit too far with explaining exact nature and motives of his Mythos's chief antagonists, to a point where it sucked out a bit of its strangeness and mystery, and of reader's curiosity. And, I guess, it made them less terrifying, which is exact opposite of what he was going for. Somehow, their all too human evil and sadism is far less effective than the completely unknowable, truly alien natures of Lovecraft's godlike aliens. I still think his earlier short stories stellar though.

I tend to agree. That, too, was a problem in The Light Is the Darkness. It all comes off as a sort of David Icke-scenario where the reptilians have their sadism for fun and power.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Veech

I suppose part of the reason I chose not to pursue Barron's work is because of some of the things he's said regarding one of my favorite authors.

When we're exploring fiction and poetry I think it's best to forget about all these dramas (although I understand those who don't want to fund genuine extremists). You can bet your old favourites didn't or wouldn't always get on swimmingly.

[Ucasuni]

I agree with many of the critiques the Joshi makes here, but am inclined to reject the legitimacy of the project as a whole as an airing of grievances. Joshi's diagnosis of Barron's declining quality as being an excess of self-regard is not literary criticism... it's personal. If he had stuck with the technical shortcomings of Barron's work, I'd call the essay "frequently incisive". However, as it is, Joshi's pettiness (an unfortunate product, it seems, of his Lovecraftian fever prompted by the debates over HPLs legacy) ends up undercutting the strength of his critique. Now, I'm compelled to wonder whether his analysis is as thorough as it seems to be or whether my agreement is merely a case of confirmation bias.

EDIT: Also, the commentary on "More Dark" is more non-commentary. Basically, Joshi's takeaway is that Barron was being a dick. And while that may be true, it's not literary criticism, and doesn't really seem to fit one way or another into Joshi's contention that Barron is becoming more and more restricted by certain stylistic crutches (which, as I indicated above, is a view that I think has merit).

[Speaking Mute]

Maybe I'm just burnt out on Weird Horror, but Joshi's complaints about Barron mirror those I have about the entire genre as it now stands. Indeed, I think Joshi's oblivious to his own influence here; he pushed loose ends and ambiguity as the epitome of Weird, so I find it somewhat hypocritical for him to criticize Barron for applying these techniques in The Croning. I'm likewise not much enthused when Joshi holds up Richard Gavin and Caitlin Kiernan as Barron's superiors. Gavin's not a bad writer - he's just not a good one either; he leaves me with the same mushy impression as Barron.

Regarding More Dark, Barron's joke about Mark Samuels being murdered over a dispute about women in literature turned out to be symbolically prophetic. And from my own interactions with Ligotti here on TLO, I believe he does maintain something of a stage persona - which puts him in the company of many other artists and literary types. Barron only satirically cranked him up from an early Robert Smith to a terminal stage Marilyn Manson. Barron probably isn't the one to write it, but the Weird Fiction community seems ripe for a Confederacy of Dunces/Lucky Jim type send up. Maybe Justin Isis?

	TLO THOMAS LIGOTTI ONLINE

[ToALonelyPeace]

I'll check out Laird Barron earlier works since the community thinks quite highly of him but I have to say "More Dark" writing is not good. It's choppy and the descriptions sound like they're copy-pasted from an undergrad creative writing class.

"Wood creaked beneath our shoes and brass gleamed here and there between folds of curtains, and the space around the bar was at capacity with an audience that buzzed rather than spoke. A living, breathing, telepathically communing Yin-Yang symbol. Intimate and impersonal as an Arctic starfield. Everything smelled of cigarette smoke and liquor and sweet, sweet perfume, and musk. The golden-green light tasted exactly like the last round of mystery mead we’d shared at the nameless tavern."