/b/ - Random

>>13707
Although I haven't read this for a long time, one story that always stood out to me was The Crucible. What stood out to me was how quickly things fell apart when one person was out for blood. Whenever I watch some internet drama unfold, the Crucible always comes to mind.

>>13707
>What stories have you read recently?
"The nameless city" from Lovecraft
>What books do you like?
Informational mainly, also D&D 5e recently
>>13719
>how-to-get-a-flat-belly.jpg

>>13731
>how-to-get-a-flat-belly.jpg
It will flatten your stomach.

>>13707
I just finished reading World War Z by Max Brooks and man is it harrowing. Countries literally act as you'd expect them to act nowadays.(which is painful to see to be honest) My favorite part of the book is the story of a japanese otaku who lost internet connection and escaped his infested apartment complex using skills he learned from the internet.

>>13707
The King in Yellow by R.W.Chambers
Was good.

>>13859
What made the story good?

>>13862
Not him but what seals the deal is a mix of gothic and cosmic horror. It's an anthology and some of the stories are loosely if not quite unrelated. The stories that are actually connected to the king in yellow/the yellow sign are killer though.

I like The King in Yellow, too. Like >>13874 said, it's an anthology. The the first four stories are the ones that most tightly orbit the titular King (he never actually appears outside of ambiguous illusions, which makes these very effective cosmic horror stories).
>"The Repairer of Reputations": A tale of paranoia and ego, in which the insane Hildred Castaigne plays for a power and status promised by the eldritch deity. Somewhat Shakespearean. Takes place in a then-future year of 1920, it is of note that the setting has some coincidences that would have been difficult to predict when the story was written in 1895. America is in a period of prosperity and has gained a new aristocratic class, bloody revolutions are occurring elsewhere in the world, reactive fascistic sentiment is on the rise as a result.
>"The Mask": A dream turning into an unnerving nightmare. A story of artists, love, and the cold unknowable prison of death.
>"In the Court of the Dragon": A story of religion and of holy terror, fear for one's own soul. I find this one particularly thrilling.
>"The Yellow Sign": Another tale about an ill-fated artist, bears several similarities to The Mask. Really dreadful and suffocating, channels Edgar Allen Poe.
These ones are the best, the other stories are mostly milquetoast late 19th century romances with little nuance or skill. I don't consider them worth reading, barring two exceptions:
>The Demoiselle d'Ys: the 4th story in the anthology, mentions the King in Yellow. It bears supernatural elements and the strange tragic quality I enjoy, but starts to fall into the aforementioned clunky romance.
>The Prophets' Paradise: A collection of poems, great style, great atmosphere. Many of them are haunting, and seem tangentially connected to the fictional play.
Mr. Chambers definitely had a strong suite, it's really too bad he didn't embrace the fledgling genre of Weird Fiction more intentionally. Most of his other works, virtually all of them, are dime-a-dozen romances. The King in Yellow is by far his most popular work, it heavily inspired H.P. Lovecraft and holds its own to this day. I highly recommend it.

>>13707
I've read very few novels but my favorite is Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim. I read it after I watched the movie. It's a great novel. Sometimes it's a little difficult to read due to the unsettling subject matter but it's very powerful.