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- Newsgroups: alt.horror
- Path: sparky!uunet!van-bc!sqwest!mch
- From: mch@sqwest.wimsey.bc.ca (Mark C. Henderson)
- Subject: Re: Dean Koontz GOOD??! Puh-LEEZ
- Message-ID: <1992Nov19.223845.7909@sqwest.wimsey.bc.ca>
- Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Surrey B.C. CANADA
- References: <1992Nov18.142619.12383@ll.mit.edu> <flar.722137426@vincent2.iastate.edu> <1992Nov19.020856.21334@Princeton.EDU>
- Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 22:38:45 GMT
- Lines: 34
-
- In article <1992Nov19.020856.21334@Princeton.EDU> datepper@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Aaron Tepper) writes:
- > I hate doing this. What I really wanted to do was rip ol' Dean
- >up one side and down the other...
- > But I've got to admit, his characters are three-dimensional
- >people. I find myself rooting for them in spite of myself, and
- >constantly wish he'd write novels where his old characters get back
- >together. Maybe the Dakotas from _The_Bad_Place_ could help that kid
- >Scott from, uh, that one with the weird robopeople doohickeys? Ah well.
-
- Maybe his characters are three dimensional, but they are really
- unremarkable. The net effect on me, is to not give a damn about the
- story. In fact, I've never managed to finish a Koontz book which I
- started reading (and I do finish almost all of the books that I
- start).
-
- Back to Stephen King, nah? I'd go to Ligotti, Machen, Etchison,
- Shirley Jackson, Mark Morris, Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith,
- Aickman, Blackwood, Joseph Payne Brennan, Ramsey Campbell,
- Joe Lansdale, Tanith Lee, David Schow, Karl Edward Wagner, Lisa
- Tuttle, Steve Tem, Melanie Tem, Poppy Z. Brite, ...&c.
-
- Incidentally, if you have access to Necrofile 6, take a look at the
- article by S.T. Joshi. It provides a very insightful analysis of recent
- trends in horror/weird fiction.
-
- Mark
- P.S. I'm not trying to start another King/Koontz flame war here. I'm
- just stating my personal taste. I'm not asserting that my preferences
- are any "better" or any more "valid" than anyone else's.
- --
- Mark Henderson, SoftQuad Inc, 108-10070 King George Hwy, Surrey, B.C. V3T 2W4
- Internet: markh@wimsey.bc.ca, mch@sqwest.wimsey.bc.ca, mch@holonet.net
- UUCP: {van-bc,sq}!sqwest!mch Telephone: +1 604 585 8394 Fax: +1 604 585 1926
- RIPEM public key available by Email/finger mch@holonet.net/keyserver
-