The GMG SF/Fantasy/Horror Club

[Tapkaara]

Uhmm ... let me guess: Akira Ifukube (or Godzilla fame). 

Well, that is a good point, isn't it? Ifukube's original Godzilla score is, in my estimation anyway, a masterpiece and it hasn't aged one bit.

Sibelius I think could write a good score for a horror film. There's an eeeriness in his music that could work very well.

I see Strauss as a good candidate to, but I see him more as an epic sci-fi composer, maybe. And NO, that has nothing to do with 2001!

[Fëanor]

At the risk of seeming to flip off Christians, I'll mention Michael Moorcock's Behold the Man.  A book with a fascinating if provocative premise.

Here a time traveler, provoked by his atheist girlfriend, decides to return to biblical Palestine to find the "historical Jesus".  This is he does: turns out the actual Jesus is the deformed, mentally retarded son of Mary, a slut, and Joseph, his natural father or more likely not, an embittered, much older man.

However circumstances propel our time travel to fulfill the role, such as it is, of the "historical Jesus".  As much to prove to his girlfriend that there was an historical Jesus as for any other reason, he get Judas to betray him and goes through with the execution.

A physician steals his body because he believes it has magical powers, (fulfilling Jesus' disappearance from the tomb).  The physician is disappointed when the body rots as bodies typically do.

[Bogey]

Well, dah!    I suppose you can guess from my moniker that I'm a Tolkien fan, (if not fanatic). You tell given that while I thought Jackson's Lord of the Rings films were very good, I personally resented the departures from the J.R.R.'s sacred text.  Of course "Fëanor" is scarely if mentioned at all in Lord of the Rings, (probably in the Appendices), but rather in The Silmarillion which is compulsory reading if you want to understand the LoTR in its "historical" context.
" ...

Oh, I agree with your take on the films, especially ROTK and its abysmal ending.  Still my favorite fantasy ever done on film though.

[Elgarian]

My next favourite Fantasy is probably The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison.

Have you tried William Morris's The Well at the World's End? For many years it stood alongside LOTR for me, and they shared top billing in the fantasy stakes; but gradually LOTR faded for me over the years, leaving Morris standing alone.

[Daidalos]

I want to join this club!

I'm a major sci-fi junkie, my favourite authors being Isaac Asimov and Iain M. Banks.

Regarding the fantasy and horror genres... despite my hobby of playing fantasy roleplaying games, I have never really enjoyed any fantasy book or movie (including LotR). Somehow, it doesn't agree with me at all. As for horror, not since my father showed me the movie Alien (one of my favourites now) when I was four years old have I been frightened of anything on the screen. I've read a lot of H.P. Lovecraft and some Stephen King, but it does not scare me in the slightest. Am I doing something wrong? Should one be horrified by horror-fiction, or can you enjoy it in any other way?

[canninator]

As for Sci Fi, my hands-down favourite is The Book of the New Sun tetralogy by Gene Wolfe, plus the sequel, Urth of the New Sun.  Spoiler alert: definitely read the last last.  Like it says, "Best SF novel of the last century" ...

Loved Book of the New Sun, absolutely loved it. Top draw Sci-Fi but I found the Urth of the New Sun a horrendous tacked on cash in and wish I had never read it. Gene Wolfe has suffered from the same grating disease that affects all truly great fantasy/Sci-Fi writers; they write a single masterpiece within an original and interesting universe that strikes a chord within a broad readership so they go on to milk it for all it's worth for years. I think Robert Holdstocks Mythago Wood is one of the top 5 Fantasy/Sci-Fi of all time but the legacy of this remarkable book has been despoiled by a never ending spiral of prequels/sequels/whateverquels of logarithmically decreasing quality.

[Dr. Dread]

Am I doing something wrong? Should one be horrified by horror-fiction, or can you enjoy it in any other way?

I sound like a broken record sometimes, but try some Thomas Ligotti. You may even be able to find a story or two online.

[canninator]

I sound like a broken record sometimes, but try some Thomas Ligotti. You may even be able to find a story or two online.

On the whole I like Ligotti. Teatro Grottesco is definitely my favorite but for me the hit:miss ratio is about 70:30 (but the hits are out of the park to use your baseballing parlance). Read 'My Work is Not Yet Done' recently, similar themes to Teattro but the writing is weaker and the endings are forced.

[Dr. Dread]

On the whole I like Ligotti. Teatro Grottesco is definitely my favorite but for me the hit:miss ratio is about 70:30 (but the hits are out of the park to use your baseballing parlance). Read 'My Work is Not Yet Done' recently, similar themes to Teattro but the writing is weaker and the endings are forced.

Oy. Well, at least you like him 70% of the time.

[Fëanor]

Have you tried William Morris's The Well at the World's End? For many years it stood alongside LOTR for me, and they shared top billing in the fantasy stakes; but gradually LOTR faded for me over the years, leaving Morris standing alone.

Yes, I've read Well at the World's End and certainly enjoyed it very much.  That was many years ago but perhaps I'll read it again; (I'm retiring in less that a year's time and will have a little time on my hands).  The tone and sensibility are pretty Victorian as I recall, but it's moot whether that adds or detracts from the charm of the work.

[Fëanor]

Loved Book of the New Sun, absolutely loved it. Top draw Sci-Fi but I found the Urth of the New Sun a horrendous tacked on cash in and wish I had never read it. Gene Wolfe has suffered from the same grating disease that affects all truly great fantasy/Sci-Fi writers ...

I totally see your point about Urth of the New Sun.  I first read the tetralogy a good many (20??) years ago, but Urth only a couple of years ago.  It is absolutely possible to read only the first four books and leave it there, however I'm not sorry I read Urth.  Certainly it ties together and good many threads and explains various bizarre or unexplainable things in the preceeding books.

Perhaps there is a certain parallel with LoTR.  Many people read the trilogy and left it there very happily, (my wife for example).  While some (like me) read the appendices, the Hobbit, and subsequently The Silmarillion and are delighted to understand the "historical" background for LoTR itself -- even though Silmarillion as a standalone is not a really gread read, IMO.

[bwv 1080]

Anyone else see that HBO has greenlighted George RR Martin's Game of Thrones?

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/sean-bean-leads-hbos-game-of-thrones.php

[Dr. Dread]

That'll be cool...I hope.

[DavidW]

Fantastic!  Still waiting on more entries in the series.  I feel like the series is kind of getting bogged down.

Hey boy Sean Bean sure gets typecast!

[Elgarian]

The tone and sensibility are pretty Victorian as I recall, but it's moot whether that adds or detracts from the charm of the work.

It's written in a kind of Morrisian Medievalese, which takes a chapter or two to get used to, but when the culture shock subsides it fits his imaginary medievalised world like a glove. I know the language puts some people off, but for me, it's like having a picture put in exactly the right frame, perfectly designed by the artist himself.

[snyprrr]

Ah, I'm so jealous. My Horror Movie thread went nowhere.

[Fëanor]

It's written in a kind of Morrisian Medievalese, which takes a chapter or two to get used to, but when the culture shock subsides it fits his imaginary medievalised world like a glove. I know the language puts some people off, but for me, it's like having a picture put in exactly the right frame, perfectly designed by the artist himself.

Yes, you're right ultimately.  And incidentally, E.R. Eddison uses a somewhat similar, very elegant pseudo-Elizabethan style to great effect in his Ouroboros books which I mentioned earlier.

[Elgarian]

And incidentally, E.R. Eddison uses a somewhat similar, very elegant pseudo-Elizabethan style to great effect in his Ouroboros books which I mentioned earlier.

I did have a go at reading Ouroboros a long time ago, and didn't make it through to the end, though for no obvious reason that I can recall. These things often balance on a hair, don't they? And sometimes even the best things don't click with us and we don't really know why.

I got very hooked on Morris for years, and read all his later romances: The Wood Beyond the World, The Sundering Flood, The Water of the Wondrous Isles, and The Glittering Plain. And fine things they are, too - but The Well is the masterpiece.

[DavidW]

So I checked out The Devil You Know by Mike Carey based on MN Dave's advise, hope it's good, since I finished the Bach bio I'll be starting it soon.

[Dr. Dread]

So I checked out The Devil You Know by Mike Carey based on MN Dave's advise, hope it's good, since I finished the Bach bio I'll be starting it soon.

It's good. If you don't think so, it's not the book's fault. 

I started this: