The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All: Stories

"The collosus writhed and uncoiled with satanic majesty, aroused by the whine of flea wings." - The Men From PorlockPlain and simple, this book is amazing. I like to say that I'm a bad reviewer because I'm easy to please and I tend to enjoy things for what they are and experience the art instead of analyzing and consuming with a critical eye. But I don't exaggerate when I say that every story in it is standalone gold, every morsel rich and savory. I would give it six stars compared to other books I consider five star reads. I can see a movie adaptation of every story here. One thing I particularly love about Barron's writing is how the atmosphere, the settings, and the characters he writes are somehow pulpy and literary at the same time. That's the best way I think I can describe what I experience in his prose. The stories somehow occupy and satisfy a duality that is all at once sensational, dime novel AND literary genius. He doesn't seem to eschew any influence, drawing from a full spectrum of flavors. Everything is fair game, everything is on the table. I can appreciate a good popcorn book once in awhile but each entry in this collection is a full course dinner of literary cosmic horror, good to the last bite. Make sure you show up with an empty stomach and don a bib. You'll finish up sated but messy. Compliments to the chef.

I have a confession to make. This is my second Laird Barron book and I didn't finish the first one. Being a fan of H.P. Lovecraft and weird fiction, I had constantly come across Mr. Barron's name among favorite author lists. There were reviews by people whose opinion I respected, that claimed Laird Barron as one of the contemporary great names in weird fiction. Eventually, I purchased his collection Occultation, but after reading the first couple stories, I gave up and put it aside. I didn't blame the author, it was obvious he was a talented writer. I thought perhaps his style was not my cup of tea, or horror of horrors, maybe I just wasn't intelligent enough to appreciate his work! Well, a few months went by and I started hearing about this new collection of stories. Then the Lovecraft eZine mentioned that the Kindle version of the book was only $1.99 and gave it a glowing recommendation. So, I decided to try again and man am I glad I did. I'm not sure what the problem was the first time and I plan to revisit that earlier collection of tales, but now I GET IT! These stories are soooooo enjoyable and masterfully written. The tale "Hand Of Glory" alone is worth the full price of the book. As a matter of fact, if I were reviewing ONLY that one story, it would easily receive 5 stars. It is one of the best weird tales I have ever read. The author's descriptions of events and dialogue are incredibly creative and vivid. Take for example this excerpt, describing the death of one of the characters "Took a couple of seconds for Bane to register it was curtains. His face whitened and his mouth slackened, breath steaming in the chill, his evil soul coming untethered. He had lots of gold fillings. He lurched away and I clutched his sleeve awkwardly with my broken hand and rose, twisting the handle of the blade side to side, turning it like a car crank into his guts and bladder, putting my shoulder and hip into it for leverage. He moaned in panic and dropped the cosh and pried at my wrist, but the strength was draining from him and I slammed him against the wall and worked the handle with murderous joy. The cords of his neck went taut and he looked away, as if embarrassed, eyes milky, a doomed petitioner gaping at Hell in all its fiery majesty." That paragraph is descriptive poetry and horror all in one. It has so much detail crammed into it, that it's like a textual version of High Definition TV. There were a couple works in this collection that didn't resonate as strongly with me, but even those are expertly crafted and interesting. I enjoyed every minute engrossed in this book. Why it didn't happen before, I can't say with certainty, but I'm converted now and will catch up with Laird's earlier works and look forward to future ones.

I continue to debate whether 'The Beautiful Thing...' or 'Swift to Chase' is my favorite Barron shorts collection. This was the first book by Laird Barron I encountered, and I think it was a great introduction - I have now read everything released by him (that I am aware of) and this contains some of my favorite shorts by anyone, ever, including 'The Jaws of Saturn', 'The Men From Porlock', and the mind battering conclusion 'More Dark'.What I do not question is that Laird Barron is my favorite living author, as a modern and refreshingly original writer that should *appeal* to Lovecraft fans but *is not* simply a boring knock-off riding HP's coattails (I could poke at quite a few but I'm not here to talk trash). Barron may occasionally treat his characters with a similar disregard, even spite, but a major distinction which really stands out to me is his obvious compassion and humanity, even as he is about to utterly destroy a character's physical or mental health. Dialogue is organic and rarely serves merely to thin the fourth wall for the sake of plot development/story progression (except when that style itself is an intentional flavor of the story and a legitimate method of storytelling). Some characters you might recognize, at least by name, from other stories. This is not yet when he begins to fully realize an intertwined universe, but you can see those pieces beginning to fit together as his voice evolves in this third collection.I hesitate to use genre labels... horror, sci-fi, fantasy, weird/bizarro, etc. and its fusions are becoming arbitrary and inadequate descriptions for writers like Laird Barron as they cross all of these and more with experimental styles, tipping hats in every direction while realizing their individuality emerging from a combination of influences both literary and life. So when I see a handful of low star reviews griping it's "not horror" or it's "boring", all I can suspect is that they either just don't get it, or didn't immerse enough to try to. It is unfortunate the use of second person to describe one's subjective opinion has become so universal, as if every english speaker wishes to subconsciously push others to wear their reality-goggles - hopefully the intrigued will not be dissuaded from giving this author a try based on the reviews of a few people that didn't care for his descriptive streams littered with suddenly erratic or abstract diversions peering into an outrageous imagination. It may be an acquired taste, which is to say more of a cult following kind of writer than a Billboard Pop chart cookie-cutter horror writer with TV movies taking artistic liberties with his creations.As in the past, this collection is in great part dark and brooding. There is a lot of slow-burn in many of his stories, building quietly with atmosphere and series' of seemingly (but not really) insignificant thoughts and incidents. Swift to Chase is a little more flashy, direct, and fast-paced if that's what you're looking for (definitely not compromising in fantastically creative visions in the process)... but if you just want Fisher Price: My First Generic Horror Stereotype you will be SOL on this one. On the occasion a classic/cliché plot device is used (such as the hunting party of Blackwood's Baby), expect that it does not wrap around and follow the same ABCs of what you've seen/read before. With all Barron's works, expect that it will not have a textbook Stephen King ending you knew would happen halfway through; expect the unexpected, including unprovoked rants that temporarily derail the continuity of the story, and that sometimes this stream-of-consciousness will ride out the rest of the story. You either feel it or you don't. That is what makes him who he is, and one of the things I absolutely cherish about his works. If you want a crash-course on Barron's occasional tribal pounding of cackling lunacy disguised as slam poetry strange fiction, Vastation is an excellent selection. If that gem doesn't tickle your pineal gland, perhaps this isn't the author for you. But for his following, it is precisely that style that sets him out from the rest. It is HIS real voice, not a semi-original idea cast in a template and written by a word processing algorithm like the mainstream slashermonster horror the haters are looking for. There is emotion and complexity sewn into these words. Even small-part stock characters either arrive or depart with unexpected flourishes.A personal anecdote, if you won't mind me a while longer. For as long as I can remember I have had this image that pops up in my mind every time I follow existential wanderings and introspections. The image is the ultimate and omnipresent answer for all of my questions, always the conclusion I draw when pained to wonder anything which causes me confusion or anxiety. For years I believed the image my mind keeps flashing is arriving from my hippocampus, undoubtedly stored from an ancient session drooling over a Ralph Steadman book, although my memory of it was never exact - certain facets of it always changing, the color palette switching from vibrant to pastel to greyscale depending on the question it is answering. Finally, one day I sought out the Steadman book I believed this image to be from, and discovered that no, this image in my mind's eye which asserts itself daily as the indisputable resolution to every quandary, every fear, every hope and regret I contemplate, this image is not something which had imprinted from somewhere else. Perhaps the theme or style is derived from a convoluted collection of things that have moved me in the past, but it is an image that does not exist in any corporeal sense. In a way, this new development felt vindicating, as if it were some expression of my individual subconscious which speaks of who I am, not just someone else's memory. I almost wished I could draw or paint in order to breathe life into the idea, maybe see if someone else felt the same about the absolute Truth at the center of everything. But it was also simultaneously disheartening and lonely to realize this notion was not one I knew I shared with another member of humanity. Still the conception continues to flash at the end of every private thought, always shifting in its tone, even in my perception of it after it strikes.But finally, after falling deep into this book a couple years ago, putting off homework for entire nights to lay in my dorm reading myself to sleep, I found my cohort and comrade. In the last story of this anthology, 'More Dark', my subconscious self-portrait is painted in words, and connects with me in a way no other author ever has before. This helped me realize the often unseen manner in Barron's crafting of his stories' background. The mood he sets with environments often becomes the largest piece of the picture - while I could copypaste some quick, catchy quote, this would not begin to do justice to all the space around that sentiment. While the purpose and punchline of his stories (More Dark in particular) can be definite and unmistakeable, they are only just words from a mundane theme when left alone in the negative space. Every word up until then, however, is one more intentional step toward the end, one more brush stroke outside the centerpiece, and be it abstract or meandering it provides a tone to the story which subtly defines it. A blurry, blown up image of something I don't recognize yet subconsciously just know what it is. He draws up complex emotions, often through indirect means and metaphors, with the beauty of nature stripped down to its shear apathy once removed from an anthropocentric bias, or with a character's inner contemplations possibly reflecting the author's true life, definitely reflecting mine... it's as if he draws the chalk outline of a shadow in pitch dark for reference, and then removes it to return me to the big picture with new understanding and fresh eyes in order to coinhabit his realm. The resulting piece is, as they say, more than merely the sum of its parts. Because of this I can recall each story as a whole picture, rather than a chronological sequence of isolated fragments. These pictures he creates move me in an indescribable way (although I have obviously attempted in vain to describe it at length), and this is why Laird Barron is my favorite living author.If you actually read this whole thing, I say to you either thank you, sorry, or both of those.Love,Bugs

Estos relatos, demuestran el gran talento que tiene Laird Barron para contar historias inquietantes ,con estilo lovecraftiano ,todo un maestro en su género.

If you like tales of the macabre then you’ll like this

Ausgedehnte Splatterorgien sucht man bei Laird Barron vergebens, dafür schleicht sich das Grauen auf leisen Sohlen an und überfällt den Leser aus dem Hinterhalt. Die Hauptcharaktere seiner Stories sind oftmals gescheiterte Existenzen am Rande der Gesellschaft, mit einer besonderen Beziehung zur Gewalt: Glücksritter, Großwildjäger, Bodyguards oder Geldeintreiber. Obwohl sie das Leben nur von seiner rauhen Seite kennen, werden sie früher oder später mit einem Grauen konfrontiert, das weit über den Tod hinausreicht. "Blackwoods Baby" kehrt z.B. die Rolle des Jägers und des gejagten Wildes um, die Jagdgesellschaft aus "The Men from Porlock" begegnet einer Macht, die viel älter ist als die Wildnis, und selbst eine sterile Geschäftswelt kann ihre dunklen Seiten haben ("The Siphon").Es gibt auch Ausnahmen von der Regel: in "The Carrion Gods in their Heaven" geht eine Frau eine unheilige Allianz ein, um ihrem gewalttätigen Ehemann zu entkommen, und "The Redfield Girls" kann als Warnung vor zu viel Neugier verstanden werden, die manchen Charakteren zum Verhängnis wird.Die besten Stories sind jedoch "Hand of Glory" und das post-apokalyptische "Vastation". Wem stilvoller Horror zusagt, ist bei Laird Barron gut aufgehoben!

Brilliant book for settling down with in front of a fire, whiskey and cosy slippers. Not so brilliant when you need to mong out after a hard day at work dealing with the ever flourishing morons in the world. Needs a little concentration but is worth the effort unlike 40 hours of my life a week wasted on morons

Another fantastic collection of stories from Laird Barron,every bit as good(if not slightly superior the The Imago Sequence),Barron continues to improve and build on his own personal Mythos.Although you dont have to have read The Croning to appreciate this book,I have found that both works are enhanced by the experience.