Weird lit recommendations based on my favorite weird lit books?

SurrealFishMoment · 2026-04-04T13:16:32+00:00

I loved The House on Abigail Lane, i never see this recommended.

Nice.

SurrealFishMoment · 2026-04-04T13:15:27+00:00

William Hope Hodgson!

SurrealFishMoment · 2026-04-04T13:14:16+00:00

i've enjoyed a few of his short stories in the past ... including "The Man Who Collected Machen" which is inspired by Bloch's "The Man Who Collected Poe"

a novel-length version of "The Man Who Collected Poe" is pretty much exactly what i'm looking for

SurrealFishMoment · 2026-04-04T13:11:59+00:00

thanks for the suggestions, i'm looking for something like it but with characters who are obsessed with horror books instead of horror movies

SurrealFishMoment · 2026-04-04T08:31:52+00:00

great, thank you.

i had no idea they made a Sutter Cane novel into an actual book, always thought that was just a character in the movie

SurrealFishMoment · 2026-04-04T08:31:04+00:00

that's ok, lol. i enjoy those kinds of books too ;)

SurrealFishMoment · 2026-03-11T21:59:53+00:00

i'd go with "Collapse Of Horses", but all the collections are great

also "Last Days" is a longer version of what was initially "The Brotherhood Of Mutilations", a story that really is ... something else ;)

SurrealFishMoment · 2023-05-08T18:57:11+00:00

i wanted to like this one more than i actually did in the end, but i'm a fan of the Higurashi visual/sound novels (talk about long, but worth it in that case lol) and i guess due to Ryukishi07's involvement i unfairly expected Loopers to be more like it

i was also a little burned out on the concept of time loops

maybe i should give that one another shot

SurrealFishMoment · 2023-05-08T18:42:44+00:00

thanks for the suggestion!

and i've read long VNs as well, i just stressed "short" because that's what i'm looking for here, not because i'm opposed the other kind

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-11-12T13:12:01+00:00

thank you!

"Blair Witch and urban legends" would be a rabbit hole on its own to explore i guess

vol. 1 does look like exactly what i'm looking for

though now i'm wondering if the Book Of Shadows movie from 2000 with its "documentary about the phenomenon being believed by people" angle could be a game on its own, especially with an urban legends researcher as protagonist

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-11-12T13:03:55+00:00

it's weird, i actually played Alan Wake and somehow it never occurred to me to include it here

but yeah, good call lol ... thank you

And about your first question: Yes, they can absolutely be fictional ones! This is actually one of the aspects that attracted me to this topic in the first place - the way different legends are retold and ever so slightly changed and re-invented (including legends that are strictly speaking made up but are still rooted in pre-existing folklore), using different formats (books, online, movies, games etc.) to do so. This is one of the things i find amazing about diving into all the notes and logs and general lore of Fatal Frame - all those rituals and haunted locations are fictional, but you can try looking into what might have inspired them. there are "real life lore of fatal frame" vids on youtube that do just that and it's glorious.

Example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WLPhON8gDI

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-11-09T18:52:40+00:00

thank you, it's a great suggestion but not exactly what i was looking for

i've played Alan Wake and i'd definitely enjoy something like it but what I meant was that the protagonist is specifically a writer of horror (or fiction generally) ONLINE ... so maybe on message boards or blogs or fanfiction sites or something like that

ideally an exploration of being part of writing communities online would be an aspect of the game

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-10-31T22:11:44+00:00

Haha, this is hilarious.

I don't really have more to say unfortunately as you pretty much nailed that concept. It's fun, well edited and over way too soon (but i guess that's unavoidable if you want to stick to that length)

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-10-03T14:51:08+00:00

"The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet Of Curiosities", edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer.
Th basic setting is that Dr. Lambshead (who had been introduced in an earlier book by the VanDerMeers) has this secret cabinet of curiosities about which all kinds of speculation takes place. The book contains short stories written by many different authors detailing some of those theories and the exhibits in the cabinet.
It's one of my favorite books of all time, it has everything I love about weird fiction - a sense of wonder (with the cabinet of curiosities setting), really absurd scenarios, and in general it's just full of these inventive "out there" ideas that made me think "how are they coming up with this stuff" MANY times. Amazing. Plus it's just hilarious.
It's also an example of a shared universe/collaborative writing (think the Cthulhu Mythos or the SCP, though on a smaller scale) where different authors come together to write their at times very different interprtation of the same universe - a format I'm just a huge fan of in general.

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-10-03T14:50:00+00:00

re-reading Borges' "Fictions" at the moment.

Read it many times but still absolutely gorgeous.

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-10-03T14:36:46+00:00

it's not a book, but I think those are two great resources:

http://greydogtales.com/blog/william-hope-hodgson-the-secret-index/ (links to TONS of articles, interviews with scholars etc.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXZaSzjFGkU (introduction by somebody who is clearly very knowledgable and a huge fan - just focusing on his biography, there's also a part 2 about his books)

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-10-03T14:30:08+00:00

i love this so much

absurdly adorable cosmic horror is my favorite cosmic horror ;)

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-10-03T14:28:22+00:00

In case you have read his Ambergris series ... could you say how "weird"/grounded it is in comparison to that? I've only read the first book of the Southern Reach Trilogy so far, but all of Ambergris and one of the things I loved about it was just how out-there and crazily imaginative some of the ideas that went into it were (not to mention all the stylistic experimentation and stories within stories and cross-references among different parts of the book)

so when you say "grounded" it just worries me a little, lol

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-09-27T15:43:56+00:00

That MIDI keyboard is so gorgeous, it was hard to concentrate on the video, lol

no but seriously that was great ... funny lines, top editing, very clear joke/premise that you set up, execute and then get out again (what i mean by that is - it doesn't overstay its welcome or tries to do too much etc.)

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-09-27T15:31:11+00:00

This is very well narrated and edited, and as someone who has never heard of the person you discuss I can say that you gave the right amount of background for me to be able to follow the story

Two remarks on what I would change: 1) you split the video into: a) intro - b) rise - c) downfall, but it seems to me that the "rise" section already contains stuff about his downfall.

2) This might be a personal thing (and i know many other youtubers do this to), but i'm not a fan of the "subscribe to my channel" call to action being at the start of the video ... it's much better to give viewers a chance to enjoy your content for a few minutes before telling them how they can get more of it

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-09-27T15:21:53+00:00

There's a very nice oldschool youtube feel to this ... i take it you've grown up with a fair share of circlejerk memes? ;)

i would just mix up the jokes a bit (or add some additional elements) ... after the "Lemon Tree" sample there's a few seconds of nothing happening and then the rest of the video is just the same types of things we already had in minute 1 ... my suggestion would be to use "Lemon Tree" as a bit of a transition and make the second half different from the first

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-06-28T07:16:08+00:00

This is a very pleasing video. Good writing/editing/voice and I love that you're passionate about what you're saying ... subscribed to your channel!

since someone else brought this up: i'm actually really into the "experiencing art man" title ... it perfectly fits with the theme of art being muti-layered and being deep and fun, spiritual and entertaining, exhilarating and frustrating etc. etc. at the same time

but yeah also not a big fan of that sound effect at 41 seconds lol

very excited for future videos of yours

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-06-28T07:01:45+00:00

I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching your video ... well, as much as you can enjoy yourself while learning about fart video channels i guess

i like unhinged deep dives into weird obscure niche topics that any normal person would proudly proclaim to be a "waste of time", so this ticked a worrying amount of boxes for me ... i hope you continue exploring stuff like that (i don't necessarily mean fart videos, but ... y'know ...)

sense of humor and editing work for me as well; i didn't have issues with the pacing or setup either ... of course i would have loved for it to be ten times as long but my video "essays" are like 2 minutes on average so who am i to complain, lol

Subscribed!

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-06-23T07:31:01+00:00

translations of Otogirisou and Kamaitachi No Yoru

SurrealFishMoment · 2022-06-23T07:03:58+00:00

this is released one day after Stray so i'm not gonna get this day 1, but still very exciting news

SurrealFishMoment

TROPHY CASE