Our year ahead!

Well then, here we are! :)

This is our schedule for the year:

January: Traditional/classic Gothic works
February: Supernatural
March: Victorian Gothic
April: Graphic novels & short stories
May: Women & non-English
June: \Gothic\ Pulp & weird fiction
July: Hauntings/ghost stories
August: Psychological
September: Southern Gothic
October: Slasher/thriller
November: Light/humorous
December: Contemporary/modern Gothic

I decided to combine GNs with short stories, figuring folks who aren't interested in one might be interested in the other, and therefore still joining in that month, plus, they're both short! ;) Also pulp & weird, because they're very related and intermingling.

Any questions, comments, etc, go ahead and discuss. Things can, of course, be changed if there's reason!

Whohoo! Group is up!

Also, the schedule looks really good. I like that we're starting with the traditional stuff, good intro for the year. And also because it allows me to read stuff for the KIT that will work with my attempt to read the classics.

Yeah, thanks PM ! I'm already plotting for my future reads; I want to read as much as possible from my books. I love the categories as it's possible to read lots of classics. Away and looking at my bookshelves right now ...

Yeah, even though there's all the different categories, so many things will fit into so many of them. I plan to focus a lot on older works myself, and even for the slasher one there's some classic stuff that I think should fit (which reminds me of some titles that need adding to the lists ;)). This should be lots of fun! :D

Yay! I hope I can find something that appeals for most months! I might need some suggestions for a few of them, but I'm sure I'll be able to come up with most.

We're all happy to help out with ideas where needed! :)

>5 LibraryCin: and 6: Yeah, it's called enabling:)

Hahaha, that's LT at its finest! ;P

Marking my spot so I can find this. I starred but mainly use the "your posts" page first.

>9 luvamystery65: I'm the same way, I'll star stuff but that grouping just seems such a jumble to me for some reason, I hardly ever remember to use it. Which is troublesome when it's threads I've not posted in, haha.

>9 luvamystery65: Yes, that's what I do, too. That's why I'll sometimes post, even when I don't really have something to add! :-) Just to follow along.

I'll be reading The Monk by Matthew Lewis for January. If anyone would like to join me I will be following along an old tutored read from 2012 where lyzard tutored SqueakyChu. Lyzard has graciously offered to answer any new questions and welcomes comments. I'm getting a copy of the book from my local library. I hope someone will be able to join me.

Here is the link to the thread.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/142666

Think I'll be reading these -

January: Traditional/classic Gothic works - Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
February: Supernatural - one of The Night Watch sequels by Sergei Lukyanenko - I'm about half way through the first at the moment.
March: Victorian Gothic - Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre or Bleak House

April: Graphic novels & short stories - don't have anything for this one yet.
May: Women & non-English - perhaps either Frankenstein by Mary Shelley or another of Sergei Lukyanenko
June: (Gothic) Pulp & weird fiction - nothing for this either

July: Hauntings/ghost stories - I have a few books about particular areas which I'm not sure if these would work e.g. Haunted Nottingham: Myths, Magic and Folklore by Wayne Anthony or Ghost Stories and Mysterious Creatures of British Columbia by Barbara Smith
August: Psychological - might have to borrow a Stephen King from my sister for this one
September: Southern Gothic - nothing for this

October: Slasher/thriller - (not sure if these would work - I've tagged them with horror and thriller based on other people's tags) - Congo by Michael Crichton or When the Wind Blows by James Patterson
November: Light/humorous (again not sure if this applies) Shon the Taken by Tanith Lee
December: Contemporary/modern Gothic - again not sure.

Unfortunately, most of the books tagged 'horror' in my collection have got that tag based on how other people have tagged them when I entered them - I go back and check the tags after I've read them.

Others that have that tag include The Historian by Elizabeth Kostovo, The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing, The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, American Godsby Neil Gaiman and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

If anyone thinks I've got things in the wrong place (or that they don't count at all) please let me know - I'm mostly new to the genre with the exception of the Victorian Gothic - all three of which I've read before but a long time ago now. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread and the Reading Suggestions one to add to my knowledge and will look out for things that the local library stocks and hope that I can access them at the right time.

can someone start a wiki where we can track our suggested reads. I need some ideas for sure!

>13 Peace2: I'm not sure that Shon the Taken by Tanith Lee is light/humorous (I've never known her to write very funny stuff, though I love her; she's a very gothic writer), but I love the other books you have on your list. :) I only have maybe have a dozen ideas, and some months I may not do, because I don't own any classics. (I plan on just reading what I own.) Good luck with your list! :)

>14 ccookie: I definitely need some ideas, too. :) I've tried searching for "gothic horror" tags, but those don't include enough choices, imho.

>15 saraslibrary: I wasn't sure about the Tanith Lee book - but had put it there less because it was 'light/humorous' and more because I figured it's probably sort of YA, but I'll remove it and hunt for something else in its place :D

>16 Peace2: Sorry to make you change your mind about the book. I see what you mean now about it probably being a YA book (it probably is). I hope I didn't discourage you. :)

>17 saraslibrary: Not at all - from what I've read of hers before I totally agree with you - it hasn't discouraged me at all. I'm just trying to match books that I already own to the months appropriately & I wanted advice on doing that. I wasn't totally sure that she classed as 'horror' anyway, although some of her books have a distinctly creepy feeling to them.

Yeah, she's definitely more gothic and moody than splatterpunk. She might fit into your May/Women or December/Contemporary Gothic category. Maybe even June/Weird fiction, I'm not sure. I'm trying to do the same thing: fit books I own into the categories. I may not do every month, since I'm lacking in older books. We'll see. Good luck with your months. :)

>14 ccookie: The ideas are all listed in the other main thread, here. I don't mind setting up a wiki, but it would be for listing those titles read, or intended on being read, not just every possible idea that would fit—that's what the thread is for. :) Personally I find it irritating when wikis get super long, so I try to avoid that where possible. Longer threads just seem more manageable to me than long wikis. Could just be me. *shrug* lol

>12 luvamystery65:: The Monk is a possible for January. It's free for anyone with an e-reader or tablet from Project Gutenberg, as are many of the old gothic books:

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

How do we proceed once we start reading? I've made an early start on The Monk and I'm assuming I comment in my personal thread, although I don't know whether to make comments as I go or wait until I've finished the whole book so as not to spoil anything for anyone.

For anyone still prevaricating over January's choice, The Monk so far is a lot of fun and a surprisingly easy read, once you get into it.

Will there be individual threads for each month's reading?

>22 Moomin_Mama: Honestly, I have no idea. :D I would like to have individual threads for each month, but I don't know if we'll have that much conversation going on that we'll need that many threads. I would be happy to get individual threads going, but shouldn't the creator be the one who decides that? Or does it matter? Anyone else's thoughts?

Also, it couldn't hurt to post your comments on this thread as well as your own. :) That way you've kind of got your bases covered. And The Monk does sound interesting. I'm still on the fence with this month. I did find an oldish anthology of mine that has some gothic stories, but I'm not sure if they're old enough to qualify. I'll have to check.

>23 nancyewhite: Good question. :) I have no idea, but I think it'd be cool if we could do that, just to keep it more organized.

PM who started the group/challenge hasn't been around for a while, and even so, it's not a dictatorship. If people want to make their own threads, they can do so. I'm not going to, because I'm a member of quite a few groups already, and have threads in all of them and having another is just a bit too much to handle. So I'll just be posting in the main thread. But to each his or her own.

>25 PawsforThought: I've noticed s/he hasn't been around for awhile either. *shrugs* You're right; it's not a dictatorship; but I don't like stepping on people's toes either. I can totally understand not wanting to add another thread to your list. :) Thanks for the input!

PM won't be offended by people taking some action and deciding on things, I promise. She's taken breaks from LT before so I'm guessing that's what's going on now.

I don't mind starting a monthly thread each month if folks want that.

I've never been a member of this sort of group so don't know what the usual format would be. If a monthly thread is the usual way to go then I don't see anyone having a problem.

>28 majkia: I'd kind of like to see a monthly thread, but like Sara, I wasn't sure I wanted to step on any toes, either... :-)

>28 majkia: yes please majkia

I'm sure PM won't mind us helping out. I'll start one in a bit.

Has everybody decided on a January book? I know some people were undecided for this month, is that because of a lack of enthusiasm or knowledge about the subject? I settled on The Monk as I'd heard it was the more action-packed of the early Gothics, and because my other choice - Frankenstein - is thought of as later, 'Romantic' Gothic (according to Wikipedia). I'm hoping to fit Frankenstein in as a bridge between the early and the Victorian Gothics.

>33 Moomin_Mama: I haven't decided on anything. I don't know when I'll be reading what books. I highly doubt I'lll come anywhere close to reading a HorrorKIT book every month. I'll just read what I want and hope that some of it fits in with the KIT.

>34 PawsforThought: I'm so new to this that I don't know what KIT stands for!

>35 Moomin_Mama: Over in the Category Challenge group (where the Horror group originated) there are sub-challenges called Categories and Themes, known as CATs. There are three every year and quite a few people participate in them. The subjects are chosen yearly by the participants (this year I believe it's history, sci-fi/fantasy and the repeated RandomCAT where the theme is chosen by volunteers every month). The subjects/themes that are suggested but don't end up as one of the chosen three are sometimes, if there is enough interest in them, turned into mini-CATs - KIT(tens). Horror was suggested when the new CATs for 2015 were to be voted on but didn't make it to the end so PM suggested it become a KIT. Because of some issues in the Category Challenge group that I'd rather not talk about, she wanted to move it from that group into a completely new one, and here we are.

#35 by Moomin_Mama> KIT means an unofficial CAT challenge. However, at the last minute PM decided to pull out of the 2015 Category Challenge so started this group instead. We still tend to think of it as a KIT which it was at first.

I found it on audio, which I thought might be easier to fit in, especially since nothing that fits is on my tbr, but I'll try The Castle of Otranto. An added bonus is that it's short!

January thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185828

>36 PawsforThought: So KIT is for Kitten! I like it ;)

>39 majkia: Thanks majkia, it now feels official.

>40 Moomin_Mama: Yep. So don't feel too bad about talking about feline friends in here...

I think I'm the only dog person on LT at times....

>41 PawsforThought: I don't mind dogs. I'm just very much a cat person. I like all the dogs I know but wouldn't want to own one. All the cats, however - I'd want to own all the cats on the planet!

I'm a 'both person'!

Crazy over my dog and crazy over my cat. If you are interested you can click through to a picture of each of them.

My cat: Jean-Luc Moustache
http://www.librarything.com/pic/279750

My dog: Addison Bundren (Addie)
http://www.librarything.com/pic/279749

>43 PawsforThought: That's me, too. I am fine with dogs, but I just don't want to have any myself. Yup, crazy cat lady for me... if I wasn't limited by renting! Luckily, I also volunteer with cats at a local rescue. :-)

>44 ccookie: Oh, your babies are cute!

>44 ccookie: They're adorable, and the photo of your cat is such a good one. He looks like he's laughing - what was he actually doing?

Sod it, you can see mine...

Here's Sweep, some years ago now, on my very cluttered desk:
https://www.librarything.com/pic/4676933

Here's Woody:
https://www.librarything.com/pic/4676937

Here's the pair of them, helping out as I'm packing things away before builders come in. Notice the size difference - Sweep is (now) the small fat one, Woody the big-headed, big-pawed floppy one:
https://www.librarything.com/pic/4676939

>42 majkia: you're not alone.

>47 Moomin_Mama:
Jean-Luc was yawning!

>44 ccookie: My two are black (Angel) and tuxedo (Io), as well! And Io is the chubby boy!

>49 ccookie: He has a very happy-looking yawn :)

>50 LibraryCin: Angel and Io are very sweet, they look like my kind of cats. I've never heard the term 'tuxedo' used for cat-colouring before, but I do like it. I worked for a cat charity and they had a terrible time re-homing the black and white cats, people didn't seem to want them as much. We should have advertised them as tuxedos, no doubt they would have sounded more stylish and been snapped up.

And yes, believe it or not some people really do want cats that go with their décor. Another request that blew my mind was a cat for mousing, if it could be returned when it had eaten all the mice!!!

Adore dogs too but neither of my cats have been brought up around dogs so I don't have a say in the matter, cat lady I am (for now).

>51 Moomin_Mama: I can't remember when I first hear the term tuxedo for a black and white kitty. I find tuxedos are so photogenic, really! I think they are beautiful with their markings. :-)

I volunteer for a cat rescue (and used to volunteer with cats at the local Humane Society). I have read a number of times that, statistically, black cats take the longest to get adopted. I'm not sure if that expands to tuxedos, as well, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Oh no! Return poor kitty after the mice are gone? Nice... (not) :-(

I think, for the sanity of the people who aren't cat people, why don't I start an "off topic" cat thread. Polymathic Monkey can nix it later if she'd rather not have it... But, that will get those of us who want to talk about our kitties someplace "better" to do it, maybe?

http://www.librarything.com/topic/186011

>53 LibraryCin: I don't think anyone would have objections to an off-topic cat thread, but you can also discuss cat-related horror books like Pet Sematary. ;)

Hmmmm. *Somebody's* reading horror and didn't invite me... :)

I love this idea! Mind if I watch and maybe join in a month or two?

#55 by drneutron> come on in!

>55 drneutron: The more the merrier :D

Thanks to whomever started a January thread! :) But now I noticed we have two January threads:

* January 2015 Horror! Read - Traditional/classic Gothic works
* January: Original/classic Gothic works

Which one do we use?

>33 Moomin_Mama: I haven't started on a January book yet. I think you hit the nail on the head: "lack of enthusiasm or knowledge about the subject." I rarely read books before 1900, so this all new to me.

>34 PawsforThought: Same here. :)

>36 PawsforThought: Thanks for clarifying that! :) I wasn't aware what all it meant either.

>44 ccookie: & >47 Moomin_Mama: Thanks so much for the pet photos! :) They're so adorable!!

>55 drneutron: Many apologies! :) Of course you're welcome to join.

>58 saraslibrary: Well, one started on Jan 2 and has 14 messages and the other started on Jan 4 and has one message, so I'd suggest sticking to the first one.

>55 drneutron: Sorry! Of course you're welcome! More than welcome! The more the merrier.

>59 PawsforThought: Gotcha! That makes sense. :) Is there a way we could delete an extra thread?

>61 saraslibrary: You can delete individual messages (only your own messages) by clicking "More" below the message and then "Delete". Might work for a thread starter, too - I don't know.

LibraryCin was the one who wrote it so see if she can do that.

>62 PawsforThought: That makes sense. No hurry or anything. It was just something I noticed and didn't know which thread I should be writing on. :)

>53 LibraryCin: We now have our very own Cat Corner - I think it was time.

>54 mathgirl40: Someone had to, didn't they? We were asking for it ;)

>58 saraslibrary: It's all new to me Sara, you're not the only one. I vaguely remembered reading somewhere that The Monk was one of the more scandalous Gothics and that intrigued me, but if I'd known how short The Castle of Otranto was I'd have picked that instead. I'm now glad I didn't as I'm loving The Monk, it's a lot of fun.

Maybe a good way to pick is to read the first page or two of the books recommended, and see which one grabs you. If you really can't do this month maybe you can pick a book for another month and let the group know if you think it's worth a read when we get there.

>64 Moomin_Mama: I just checked The Castle of Otranto and The Monk on our catalog. Surprisingly, we don't have a copy of The Monk, so I'd have to ILL that one. But The Castle of Otranto we have in ebook & audiobook format. I may try that one and see how it goes. Thanks for the help! :)

>54 mathgirl40: LOL!

For the extra thread, sorry everyone! I thought I had deleted it, but it's still there? Sigh...

ETA: Ok, I've tried again. I hope it worked this time!

And, back to the January horror conversation, I'm another one who's "iffy" on classics, so early ones are tough for me!

>67 LibraryCin: Another idea is to read something like Lovecraft's Supernatural Horror in Literature (well, just the section or two about early Gothic). You'll familiarise yourself with the genre at least, without having to read any of the books. You'll get the plots of the books in full, so not a good idea if you then want to read one straight after. I read it last year and thankfully forgot all of the plots.

Anyone have any similar suggestions? Is it cheating to read something about the month's sub-genre instead?Stephen King's Danse Macabre has got some good chapters on horror literature.

>66 LibraryCin: No worries. :) I think we all know where to go now.

>68 Moomin_Mama: Short stories maybe? I'm not sure if shorts were really popular back then. I don't see why nonfiction or reference books like Danse Macabre couldn't count really. I mean, it does have parts about traditional/classic gothic works. Ok, maybe I'm stretching a bit. :)

>69 saraslibrary: Sara, I think non-fiction/reference/essays would be a great way for people to stay involved if they really can't get along with a particular month's sub-genre. I'm all for it.

As for short stories, I don't think they were popular that early. Even the poems in those days were LOOOOOOOOONG!

>68 Moomin_Mama: hmmmm, that might be interesting...

>65 saraslibrary:
both The Monk and The Castle of Otranto are available free from Project Gutenberg

>72 ccookie: And that would be one of the advantages to the classics, I guess! :-)

>70 Moomin_Mama: Agreed! :) I'll have to look for some nonfiction/reference books we have here at work. And you're probably right about the poems. :) But I'll look for anything at this point.

>72 ccookie: D'oh! I completely forgot about that. Thank you so much for reminding me about Project Gutenberg. :) I really need to bookmark that site.

ETA: I've just downloaded The Castle of Otranto and will read that one for my January book. Thanks again! :)

ETAA: My audiobook hold arrived today at the library, and I'm getting much further with it than the ebook. I'm not really liking the book. I'm just confused by older books.

Backing up to nonfiction/reference books on horror or gothic books, I stumbled across this one at work: Tomes of Terror: Haunted Bookstores and Libraries by Mark Leslie. It looks kind of interesting, but I haven't read it yet.

>74 saraslibrary: It's a shame you're not enjoying it. I found the following for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn_n1hEXj5o

The Castle of Otranto, animated, only 7 minutes long!

>76 Moomin_Mama: Omg, awesome! :) I'll have to watch that on my next work break. Thank you! Seven minutes I can handle. Plus it's animated! :)

ETA: Yep, the animated version made about as much sense as the audiobook I'm listening to, especially with the foreign captions on the video (well, "Isabelo" I understood ;). Still, I'm a visual person, so I liked it somewhat. I'd highly recommend it over the book. Sorry! :)

>77 saraslibrary: 'Made about as much sense as the audiobook' :D

>78 Moomin_Mama: I know; that probably sounded mean, but I just didn't "get" the book. I finished The Castle today, btw, and was so glad to have it done and over with. I don't remember a single thing about it, and that's fine by me. :) I'd rather move on and find some books that'll linger in my brain a bit longer.

I just got my copy of The Trail of the Serpent by Mary Elizabeth Braddon for March!

>80 luvamystery65: Awesome! :) You are way ahead of the game.

This is a little belated, but I just found this cool horror reading bingo card online, if anyone wants to use it. I noticed there were a lot of bingo cards on LT, but none that were horror-related. So enjoy! :)

>82 saraslibrary: Oh, that looks fun!

>83 LibraryCin: I thought so too. :) I just added it to my thread, but I still need to go back and cross boxes off.

>82 saraslibrary: Looks fun but how would I use it? I wouldn't know how to add it to my thread or cross boxes off - is that what you do?

The other bingo cards used by the Category Challenge people are cards made specially (by me and one by LShelby) that LShelby then made a special utility for (she adjusted one she'd already made, but anyway) to make it possible for people to cross/dot squares off as they read books that fit.

If anyone wants to play bingo with another bingo card they either have to print them out and cross them by hand or save the image to their hard drive and cross the squares in some form of editing software (like Photoshop or something). There are editing sites online that they could use to, but they'd have to save the image to their hard drive first.

>85 Moomin_Mama: If you save the photo to Photobucket they have a sticker selection in their editing that works well to cover the squares.

>85 Moomin_Mama: Yes, I'll probably cross each box off. I think Paws and luvamystery both have good ideas of how to do it (see below).

>86 PawsforThought: The Category Challenge bingo cards, with their 'special utility' (:D) sound very clever! I may struggle to edit my own bingo card on Photoshop but I'll have a go...

>87 luvamystery65: If I fail at the editing I'll definitely look into that option.

May looks like it should be pretty easy, I think. "Women and Non-English". I'm sure I can find plenty with strong women characters and by women authors.

>90 LibraryCin: I agree about May being pretty easy. And that's a good point you brought up. I assumed the books had to be written by women authors, but what about lead women characters? I have no problem finding women horror writers, but I'm curious if we could be really broad in our book choices?

>90 LibraryCin: I think a lot of what I've found is both: a woman character + a woman author. Of course, the definition of "horror" may vary. :-) I've just gone based on tags.

- The Lunatic Cafe / Laurell K. Hamilton
- Dead Ever After / Charlaine Harris
- Sunshine / Robin McKinley
- Blood Bound / Patricia Briggs
- The Winter People / Jennifer McMahon

Plus one more option for me with a woman author, but not main character.
- Vittorio the Vampire / Anne Rice

>92 LibraryCin: I've noticed that, too. Usually the gender of an author results in what the main character will be. Sometimes. Those look like awesome choices! :) Do you plan on reading them all? ;) Or just choosing 1 or 2?

>93 saraslibrary: haha! No, I do too many monthly challenges to do them all. Those are just my top options. I will choose one or two. :-)