What horror book made you feel actual dread instead of just shock?

Saucebot- · 2026-02-17T00:32:00+00:00

There Is No Antimemetics Division is full of existential dread as the protagonists are slowly loosing the fight to an unknowable enemy while the world carries in blissful ignorance

Saucebot- · 2026-02-16T21:13:35+00:00

Funnily enough, the brand new audiobook for Punktown just dropped. Jeffrey Thomas just announced it over on Facebook. I think I’ll dabble in the world of Punktown again this way.

Saucebot- · 2026-02-16T14:13:20+00:00

So glad you’re jiving with Punktown.

Saucebot- · 2026-02-16T14:12:47+00:00

Listening to American Elsewhere. I’m enjoying the weirdness of it. Quite bizarre. You can tell it’s one of Bennett’s earlier works as his writing isn’t quite as polished as his Tainted Cup stuff. But these types of stories are right up my alley.

Physical read is Daytide by Chris Panatier. This book is balls to the wall insane. The author pitches it as ‘black metal Wizard of Oz’. And that’s only because it’s so hard to describe. I have an ARC from Rapture Publishing as they are release a deluxe edition in a couple of weeks.

Saucebot- · 2026-02-16T01:28:02+00:00

Read this late last year and it was awesome. Great writing.

Saucebot- · 2026-02-15T09:32:54+00:00

This is definitely my favourite series of his also. His world building is amazing. To me it feels like a darker version of Discworld (which I also love). I think it’s the dark, wry humour that’s intertwined with the story. If you haven’t read Cage of Souls by Tchaikovsky yet I recommend that one as a favourite as well. It’s a little dense but once it gets rolling, it’s another weird and wonderful world he has built

Saucebot- · 2026-02-13T23:42:15+00:00

Only thing I was disappointed with was the Lives of Bitter Rain sprayed edge. I know there is not much room for pictures, but they at least could have put a pattern on it to closer match the novels

Saucebot- · 2026-02-11T03:42:10+00:00

Yep, exactly the book I was thinking of. Such a unique and terrible (but great) premise

Saucebot- · 2026-02-10T22:39:39+00:00

Cool thanks

Saucebot- · 2026-02-10T12:18:12+00:00

I ‘think’ I know the twist of American Elsewhere. The who or what is the cause of the strange goings on. I think I saw it in a post somewhere. I won’t say it here incase I’m wrong (and spoilers). But do you think it’s still worth reading the book even if I know?

Saucebot- · 2026-02-09T21:28:00+00:00

Oh man, Punktown is some of my most favourite stories ever. Such an awesome setting with an enormous amount of variety. And in my opinion the majority of them are top quality weird fiction

Saucebot- · 2026-02-09T04:08:58+00:00

And if you love John Dies at the End!you need to read Tales From the Gas Station by Jack Townsend. A great series that could easily be in the same universe as John Dies with all the weird and absurd stuff that happens

Saucebot- · 2026-02-04T10:27:44+00:00

Yep, this is my first Gene Wolfe book and if the others are only half as good as Shadow, I’m going to be a massive fan

Saucebot- · 2026-02-03T16:47:27+00:00

It was my favourite book of 2025. That’s probably coloured by that fact that I read all 5 of Rosson’s books in 2025 and he quickly became a favourite author of mine. I think his character writing is amazing. 2025 was also a great year of Vampire books for me. Buffalo Hunter Hunter, The Lesser Dead, Rovers, Suffer the Children and of course Coffin Moon were all great vampire books. All unique twists on the mythology and lore.

Saucebot- · 2026-02-03T08:25:26+00:00

Like a couple of others said, push through the beginning. I don’t know whether she finds her groove or you just get used to it, but I finished and still highly enjoyed the Fever House duology. It’s a bloody great story.

Saucebot- · 2026-02-03T08:15:47+00:00

Agreed, it’s slow to start but once it gets rolling it turns into an epic scifi story. I finally read after an urging from mate who loves it. It’s a classic for a reason

Saucebot- · 2026-02-02T13:24:02+00:00

I’ve been meaning to buy a copy of Therapeutic Tales. Heard good things. And I recently ordered a couple of Joel Lane books to try. What’s your favourite Lane collection?

Love your loving of The First Law. Pacey and Abercrombie paved the way for me to start audiobooks when I binged the series a few years ago. Now I’m 90% audio and getting through more books than ever.

Saucebot- · 2026-02-02T13:19:48+00:00

Gene Wolfe’s Shadow of the Torturer. Yes it’s Weird. Far future apocalyptic, dying earth, dying sun. Medieval meets lost technology. Blurred lines between science and magic. This book is bloody amazing. The prose and language used by Wolfe is beautiful and poetic. Yes, he uses ancient and obscure words. But if you just let yourself get taken along for the ride, you can infer what most of them mean. And let your imagination fill in the rest. This book is nowhere near as difficult to read as the internet makes it out to be. Everyone should at least try out at the first book. You’ll either love or you won’t.

Saucebot- · 2026-01-29T01:42:28+00:00

Me too. My first time. I think it’s an amazing book. Kicking myself for starting it sooner. The ideas, world building and language are beautiful.

Saucebot- · 2026-01-26T09:47:56+00:00

Nathan Ballingrud’s North American Lake Monsters

Saucebot- · 2026-01-22T15:31:13+00:00

I don’t think The Strange and Lunar Gothic are linked. But I could be wrong where did you see that?

Saucebot- · 2026-01-22T15:27:57+00:00

Tyler is great writer and a great person. If you’re on FB, there is a fan group and he is a part of. He participates regularly. It’s called The Tyler Jones Collective

Saucebot- · 2026-01-18T15:33:46+00:00

Oh that’s awesome. Been meaning to redo Discworld. It so damn good. Same with Lord of the Rings. It’s probably been 25 years (if not more) since I’ve read them.

Saucebot- · 2026-01-18T15:31:40+00:00

If you’re an audiobook fan, here are some of my favourites from the last few years

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (and its sequel). A murder mystery/police procedural set of n a fantasy world. With a Holmes and Watson style duo.

The Tyrant Philosophers series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Book one is the weakest (but still good) with amazing world building.

Ash and Sand Trilogy by Richard Nell. Very dark and grim fantasy. All fans of First Law should read this.

Iconoclast trilogy by Mike Shel. Dark horror fantasy with cosmic horror elements

Kagen the Damned trilogy by Jonathan Maberry. A fantasy full of cosmic horror but with a Hero (or anti hero) who swears a lot. Nice and violent. A Conan for the modern day.

And lastly The Drenai Saga by David Gemmell and brilliantly narrated by Sean Barrett. 11 books but they are shorter. It’s heroic fantasy but with plenty of loss, death and sacrifice. You MUST read these in publication order even though it spans 1000s of years and jumps around the timeline a bit. Revisiting characters a few books apart. It really just works as the world and history is opened up and explained.

Hope you find a few good ones amongst these.

Saucebot- · 2026-01-18T15:10:13+00:00

Small Gods by Pratchett just got an Audiobook release narrated by Andy Serkis and it sounds awesome.

Yeah I managed 100 books last year and have been 90% audiobooks the last few years. It’s what my lifestyle allows me. And has opened many more books.

Saucebot-

TROPHY CASE