LAIRD BARRON

[Malachi_Constant]

Murony,

I might have to ask for your help in making some of the connections, as it seems you've done your homework! I'd give you credit for sure, if my essay is chosen for publication.

I like the cycles you pointed out, although I think all four of those cycles are just smaller categories of the same larger cycle. Hand of Glory especially does a good job of making it clear that the Blackwood stories and the Old Leech/Broadsword stories are definitely part of the same universe.

Also, something very interesting that Barron himself pointed out to me at NecronomiCon, was that his stories mostly take part in two separate universes. I think one is more pulpy (all the Old Leech, Broadsword, and Blackwood stories to start). But the universes intersect. Miranda, from Parallax disappears, yet reappears in Barron's other universe as a character in The Carrion Gods and Their Heaven. So by disappearing it seems as if she somehow slipped into this alternate dimension. Pretty wild eh?

[Murony_Pyre]

@Justin Steele:

Thanks, I'd be glad to help, if I can.

I appreciate your comments regarding "the strains", if you will. It is also somewhat beneficial that you spoke to the author himself, as it is safe to say that he might know something about the design not immediately apparent to his readers--he being the "omniscient narrator" after all.

Wow! I'd not made the "Miranda Connection", but when recently reading Imago a week and a half ago, I thought I recalled the name from before. I was going to put the call out to others as to where this may have been but now it is all in place, and with a great and unexpected insight, to boot! I was thinking that "Carrion Gods" was a just a particularly well done werewolf tale with just enough "human interest" to make it chilling but this adds another spin to it which I will prompt another looking into soon. Thanks.

PM me with whatever research you'd like me to do. I'd be glad to compile data. I'm am very up on the stories having read all of them in the last 45 days. but it has been about 6 months since I read The Croning.

[Malachi_Constant]

@Murony - Thanks! I'd not made the "Miranda Connection" myself either, it's been awhile since I've read either story. I've read most of his stories multiple times, and I'll send you a message with any questions since it's all still fresh on your mind! I am definitely a big fan of Barron's work, and I think it makes it even cooler the way it's all interconnected. And his one blog post pointed out the Luke Honey and Miller connection, which didn't even click with me. Now I'm eager to dive back in with a keener eye and take a lot of notes!

[orwell84]

When I think of living horror author's, I would rate Laird Barron second only to Ligotti. My top 10 favourite stories in no particular order would be Shiva, Open your Eye, Hallucigenia, The Imago Sequence, The Forest, The Lagerstatte, Mysterium Tremendum, Catch Hell, The Broadsword, The Siphon and The Men from Porlock. If pressed, I would say the two best mentioned above would probably be Hallucigenia and The Broadsword. A few years back, when I first finished reading The Broadsword, I remember going outside and sitting quietly by myself for about 10 minutes, almost in a stupor. I don't ever recall a story ever having that effect on me before. I know that may sound silly to some, but it's the truth.

[Michael]

Baird is an unmitigated master. His genius was very, very explicitly adding in the mystery and paranoia that the best of the Noir genre emits. Hard boiled Lovecraft is how I tend to think of him and not just limited to the hard ass gets caught up in the Weird, much much more sophisticated and intelligent than that oversimplification.

[Trolley Driver]

I just finished reading The Lagerstatte and it is the most oppressively pessimistic story I have ever read. And I say this fresh from reading Ligotti's TCAHR and Teattro Grottesco.

That said, Barron is an amazing author and I've just ordered four more of his books. I may be crossing the line from commiseration to masochism but am willing to take the risk.

[Michael]

You can't go wrong with Laird. I've read things from him I like less than others but I haven't encountered anything I hate. He's actually who I have started recommending as a gateway drug to people who have zero background with weird fiction. Lovecraft and CA Smith, the language is an automatic barrier to a lot of people, even though that's one of my favorite things about both of them. Ligotti, the philosophy and conceptual aspects of his writing have the potential to be the same barriers, but, again, are my favorite things about his writing. With Laird, you're reading and reading and crap did I just read a weird fiction story? Yup, I did. I'm starting to think of him as the Hemingway of Weird Fiction. Concise. Sharp. To the point of drawing blood. Other writers may explore other aspects of the Weird better than Laird but if you want a story that goes down your gullet before you even realized it was in your system, Laird's your man.

[Masonwire]

S.T. Joshi is writing a follow-up to Unutterable Horror called 21st Century Horror. His chapter on Laird Barron can be read online.
I guess that won't help to calm down any controversy that may still lurk in the corners of the weird fiction community.

[MadsPLP]

Quote Originally Posted by Masonwire

S.T. Joshi is writing a follow-up to Unutterable Horror called 21st Century Horror. His chapter on Laird Barron can be read online. I guess that won't help to calm down any controversy that may still lurk in the corners of the weird fiction community.

Not much interested in the controversy, but he's spot on (though I don't really understand the need to point out every time a story has been published in a "Lovecraftian" anthology isn't exactly Lovecraftian - it seems like nitpicking that distracts from the argument in general). The Light Is the Darkness is painfully bad. The recent two collections have been - bar some standout stories in The Beautiful Thing... - lacklustre. The decline is evident and pretty sad for someone so gifted as Barron is.

[faliol]

I'd have to agree MasPLP, the last couple of collections have not been as good as the older stuff. Not sure what it is; I could not finish Swift to Chase for some reason. Maybe its the more detective, noir type of story he's heading to lately. But don't get my wrong, Barron is a kickass writer! love the Croning and the older stories!