Literary Horror discussion

Does anyone remember the line of horror that Dell Books started in 1991 under the Abyss name? The reason I mention it is because I thought it might be of interest to the group. According to an article I read, the Abyss line was started as "[v]ery much a reaction against the bestseller comforts of King, Koontz, Saul, Andrews, et. al., Abyss published (mostly) unknown young writers who were literate, underground, cool, and defiantly horror." Here's the article that further describes Abyss's goal, who the editor was, etc.: https://www.tor.com/2014/07/25/summer...

This got me curious. Exactly what books were printed in the Abyss line? How long did it last? The list is quite short, less than 50 titles (if the list is complete):

Feb '91: The Cipher, Kathe Koja
Mar '91: Nightlife, Brian Hodge
Apr '91: Dusk, Ron Dee
May '91: Specters, J. M. Dillard
Jun '91: Prodigal, Melanie Tem
Jul '91: Obsessed, Rick Reed
Aug '91: Toplin, Michael McDowell
Sep '91: Mastery, Kelley Wilde
Oct '91: Descent, Ron Dee
Nov '91: Tunnelvision, R. Patrick Gates
Dec '91: Shadow Twin, Dale Hoover
Jan '92: Post Mortem: New Tales of Ghostly Horror, Paul F. Olson & David B. Silva, eds.
Feb '92: The Orpheus Process, Daniel H. Gower
Mar '92: Whipping Boy, John Byrne
Apr '92: Bad Brains, Kathe Koja
May '92: Lost Futures, Lisa Tuttle
Jun '92: Deathgrip, Brian Hodge
Jul '92: MetaHorror, Dennis Etchison, ed.,
Aug '92: Stitch, Mark Morris
Sep '92: Anthony Shriek, Jessica Amanda Salmonson
Oct '92: Lost Souls, Poppy Z. Brite
Oct '92: Death’s Door, John Wooley & Ron Wolfe
Nov '92: Wilding, Melanie Tem
Dec '92: Dark Dance, Tanith Lee
Jan '93: Penance, Rick R. Reed
Feb '93: Personal Darkness
Feb '93: Shadowman, Dennis Etchison
Mar '93: Skin, Kathe Koja
Mar '93: Façade, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Apr '93: Rapid Growth, Mary L. Hanner
May '93: Angel Kiss, Kelley Wilde
Jun '93: The Making of a Monster, Gail Petersen
Jul '93: The Darker Saints, Brian Hodge
Aug '93: Making Love, Melanie Tem & Nancy Holder
Sep '93: Heart-Beast, Tanith Lee
Nov '93: Drawing Blood, Poppy Z. Brite
Nov '93: X, Y, Michael Blumlein
Dec '93: Harrowgate, Daniel H. Gower
Mar '94: Deadweight, Robert Devereaux
Apr '94: 65mm, Dale Hoover
Jun '94: Dead in the Water, Nancy Holder
Sep '94: Revenant, Melanie Tem
Oct '94: Grave Markings, Michael A. Arnzen
Dec ‘94: Sins of the Blood, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Jan '95: California Gothic, Dennis Etchison
Feb '95: The Language of Fear, Del James
Mar '95: Deathwalker, R. Patrick Gates
Aug '95: Little Deaths, ed. Ellen Datlow

Are these titles sufficiently literary to be of interest?

Just found an article that has many of the covers in one spot: http://toomuchhorrorfiction.blogspot....

They are all described as "psychological horror." I've noticed many (most) of the books talked about in this group are also called that. I ask because I've never read any of these authors with the exception of Tanith Lee, who wrote a Weird Tales story of a disembodied, vengeful hand I read years ago that haunts me still. Oh, and I just read my first Kathe Koja short story; it was pretty decent and led to me finding this Abyss line.

Edit: Oh, and I've read J. M. Dillard, but only one of her Star Trek novels, which was fine. Oh my goodness! Looked it up and was surprised to discover the John Byrne who wrote Whipping Boy apparently *is* the same one of comic book fame.

That looks like a complete list. Dell released some books shortly after the imprint was discontinued that you can tell would have been under it if they'd come earlier, like Brian Hodge's Prototype and Tanith Lee's Elephantasm, as well as the rest of her Blood Opera Sequence.

I thought Melanie Tem's (solo) books for the line were superb, and don't think she ever managed to equal them. Tanith Lee's are excellent as well (Dark Dance was the book that made me a fan.)

Many of them do reach the heights Abyss strove for (that sounds funny) but there were some mediocre entries and some downright stinkers. I would say that Tanith Lee, Michael McDowell, and Kathe Koja come closest to being considered "literary."

Actually, I found three more and just added them on to the end of the list (above). I'm pretty confident the list of 43 books is now complete.

Too bad this group doesn't do challenges because reading these 43 would be a hell of one. Scott would win though. He has quite the head start.

I went to Second and Charles and had no luck at all finding any of these titles. The only thing close I found was a Koja book from 1994 you and Scott both panned, hardback for $6.95. No thanks. Book stores are fine for browsing, but when you want specific titles ordering is the only way to go in my opinion.

Dan wrote: "Too bad this group doesn't do challenges because reading these 43 would be a hell of one. Scott would win though. He has quite the head start."

I have read 25 of them. :)

These are the ones I'd recommend the most:

The Cipher, Kathe Koja
Prodigal, Melanie Tem
Toplin, Michael McDowell
Bad Brains, Kathe Koja
Lost Futures, Lisa Tuttle
Anthony Shriek, Jessica Amanda Salmonson
Wilding, Melanie Tem
Dark Dance, Tanith Lee
Heart-Beast, Tanith Lee
Revenant, Melanie Tem

I do hang on to my Tanith Lee, though I did eventually upgrade Dark Dance and Personal Darkness to hardcover and unload the paperbacks.

If I recall correctly, weren't some number of these on the list picked up and re-published by Delirium books as limited /signed by author editions. I don't remember when DB/Darkfuse folded, but they haven't been around for a while.

Anthony Shriek appears to be Jessica Amanda Salmonson's only horror work, and it's her highest regarded. Her fantasy doesn't rate so highly. And her interesting looking last book,Namer of Beasts, Maker of Souls, apparently doesn't rate at all.

Looks like a very special-interest work, and published by...Duck's-Foot Tree Publications? Not surprised few people know of it.

I wish I had been aware of that Centipede edition when it was available; I might have bought it.

Namer of Beasts, Maker of Souls may be her last novel, but I was mistaken about it being her only horror. She recently came out with a story collection of epistolary stories that is horror: The Complete Weird Epistles of Penelope Pettiweather, Ghost Hunter. It's better reviewed on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Epist...

The hardcover version has mostly ISBN 9780356202532 although there is a Dell hc version that seems not to list an ISBN.

The softcover ISBN is 9780751500868, 9780440212744 (Dell), or a 2017 reprint ISBN 9781907737855 from Immanion Press / Magalithica Books.

Immanion Press puts out a number of interesting looking horror books, by the way: https://www.immanion-press.com/. I'd never heard of Tanith Lee's Love in a Time of Dragons and Other Rare Tales before.

A couple Abyss books were published in hardcover. I had Kathe Koja's Skin in hardcover.

Alternately, it could be a book club edition. Is there a price on it?

Yes, the book club of Personal Darkness is the only hardcover that exists. Darkness, I, however, was available in a standard hardcover. My copy is a book club but I remember seeing it at Borders.

I blame Doctors Without Borders. I bet they wish they had Borders now.

Scott wrote: "I blame Doctors Without Borders. I bet they wish they had Borders now."
Ha!

Well if you are ever in Philly let me know.

For those wanting to hold the book, not just read the e-print, The Cipher by Kathe Koja is at long last being published in a second edition (Amazon is taking pre-orders). I just wasn't going to pay over $90 to obtain a used copy of the first edition. We only have four more months to wait. Anyone up for a buddy read of this in September?

Damn, I should have held on to mine. Of course, that doesn't mean that it actually sells at that price.

Dan wrote: "For those wanting to hold the book, not just read the e-print, The Cipher by Kathe Koja is at long last being published in a second edition (Amazon is taking pre-orders). I just wasn't going to pay over $90 to obtain a used copy of the first edition. We only have four more months to wait. Anyone up for a buddy read of this in September?"

I suspect most of us who wanted to read the book already read it as a buddy read in March: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The consensus at that time was that it's a pretty terrible book, so caveat emptor and all that.

Thanks, Marie-Therese. I skimmed your all's comments back then, but didn't realize it was Koja's first novel you all were reading. Not only was it Koja's first, it was the Abyss line's first.

Koja had written and published about ten short stories before this novel. They were really highly regarded and appeared in the top mags of the day like F&SF. Some three or four either won awards or were nominated for them. She wrote all sorts of speculative fiction, not just horror. She writes Weird too. A story in her second short story collection, just published last month, featured in the November 2008 issue of Weird Tales, for example.

I am surprised reactions here were so negative. It's true, she did have a hard time placing the novel at first. The main Dell editor turned it down, but the editor of the Abyss line liked it so much she picked it up for the purpose of starting Abyss with it. I read somewhere that the Abyss line was just an idea floating around Dell until that editor found this book. It won awards and sort of started (or re-started) the psychological literary horror this group is known to love. From the sound of your comments, I'm thinking maybe it's too primitive. Its success spawned a movement that passed it up?

I've got to read this, but I really want to read a print version. Maybe it makes a big difference for this book if it's print.

I loved The Cipher when I read it. Also, Bad Brains.

I've really enjoyed much of Koja's other, later, work, and just bought her most recent collection of short stories Extremities, but 'The Cipher' was really pretty bad. It dragged on and on and on, generally to little effect.

If you haven't read anything previously by Koja and want to start with one of her earlier, non-fantasy works, I think Skin is good. It has a lot of the same body-horror and art scene weirdness featured in 'The Cipher' but with a much better story and pacing.

Marie-Therese wrote: "I've really enjoyed much of Koja's other, later, work, and just bought her most recent collection of short stories Extremities, but 'The Cipher' was really pretty bad. It dragged on a..."

Extremeties is Koja's first story collection. Her most recent (second) story collection is Velocities, published just a couple weeks ago. The second collection has three stories in it never before published, nine published this century in various venues, and one from the late 1990s. Koja's earlier collection, of course, has earlier stories. However, neither collection publishes any of her well-regarded stories from the late 1980s. She has a number of other uncollected short stories too. I finally tracked down a copy of "Happy Birthday, Kim White," her first published story, from an obscure magazine: the Jan-Feb 1987 issue of SF International. It's coming to me from England, so I have to wait some, but I will review it once I can read it.

Randolph wrote: "I found at least two more volumes in the series.
California Gothic by Dennis Etchison Jan. ‘95, and Sins of the Blood by [author:Kristine Kathryn Rusch|..."

Wow! That's super useful, Randolph. I've added your finds in the series to my list up in message #1. I'll keep updating the list as more discoveries, if any, are made. Thanks!

Dan wrote: "Extremeties is Koja's first story collection. Her most recent (second) story collection is Velocities, published just a couple weeks ago."

Eek! Yeah, I meant Velocities. I preordered the ebook and just downloaded it to my Kindle a couple of weeks ago. Haven't had a chance to even glance at it yet, though.

Randolph wrote: "Dark Dance by Tanith Lee was also issued as a book club hard cover. The sequel, Personal Darkness, was issued in 1994 by just plain old Dell without the Abyss imprint even though other titles were still being released as Abyss. I have a book club hardcover."

I loved Dark Dance and it was what hooked me on Lee's work. She's been a favorite ever since.

I found another and added it to the list in message #1. It's the Mar '95 entry. Does not look like a lost gem at all.

Also, on Shadowman, the book Scott and Randall both agree to hate, I have a further consideration to offer. Shadowman got some rave reviews on Amazon, guys. One dude says this about it: "This is, in my opinion, the best example of Etchison's writing. Other reviewers have complained about his meandering plots, but I believe that this aspect is what makes Etchison so great. He only writes what needs to be said, leaves the rest up to the reader's imagination, then "meanders" on."

Not convinced you missed something yet? Another reviewer has this to say: "Jack Martin, the protagonist of Etchison's award-winning masterpiece "The Dark Country" materializes again in what is both a horror novel and a meditation on Etchison's favorite theme: alienation. Each character suffers from some sort of self-disconnect. A master of atmosphere, with just a surgically placed comma Etchison can make a Styrofoam cup appear menacing. The novel's plot skirts the penumbral edges of a series of child murders/disappearances in California. If there is one fault with this novel, it's that the characters find themselves more victims than agents of freewill; but this really isn't a fault, since it stems from a writer who has developed his own unique vision of the dystopic world he lives in. J.G. Ballard and Kathe Koja are the only other modern writers I have come across with this gift."

Scott and Randall, may I suggest a reread is in order? It's clear you have failed to appreciate the novel's finer qualities.

I've read three of Etchison's collections and I think he's a great short story writer, but that novel didn't do it for me. Unfortunately, I remember nothing about it, so I can't expound on why that is.

Like Randolph, I'm not inclined to re-read something I didn't like the first time, at least if it's in the fairly recent past when my tastes were probably about the same as they are now.

You guys can't be serious. I always reread books I thought were crap!

I agree with you Randolph on liking Second and Charles. I like Augusta, Georgia's branch even more than Columbia's. They take almost all my trade-in books. Columbia's branch is so particular. The rebel in me rather admires the courage of your civilly disobedient book vendor. These could not have been easy times for him.

I've never read Dennis Etchison. I wonder if I ever will.

Dan wrote: "You guys can't be serious. I always reread books I thought were crap!"

Does it help?

Yes.

Randolph wrote: "Grave Markings by Michael A. Arnzen November 1994
Little Deaths by Ellen Datlow September 1995
Covenant with the Vampire by [author:Jeanne Kalogridis|491..."

Little Deaths is great.
I haven't read the others.

Thank you so much for the update Randolph. I've updated the list with them and removed three duplicates.

The author of the last book you mention is a pseudonym for J.M. Dillard. The first book you mention was up for some serious awards, surprising for how little it has been reviewed here at GR.

According to Poppy Z. Brite it was an Abyss Book: http://www.poppyzbrite.com/bio.html. ISFDB lists it too: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pubs_not.... So I guess we'll keep it. I do need to fix that publication date though.

Further research leads me to the conclusion Covenant with the Vampire is not an Abyss books title after all. I am removing it for now, pending proof.

I tweaked the list. We now have 48 books listed. I'll be pleasantly surprised if another is discovered. I truly think four dozen is it.

I may pick up a copy soon. I really enjoy Dillard's Star Trek work. Happy to know that's a pseudonym and that she's written even more under her real name. I just have to get past my boredom with the vampire concept.

I didn't know they were the same person. I read Dillard's Abyss novel (Specters) and thought it was pretty average.

Yeah. That one's not widely read. Judging from the reviews and given the subject, probably deservedly so. There are all kinds of "rules" you had better know as a writer before you get anywhere near that topic. Even the popular Law & Order series, SVU, screwed them up its first season or two before seeming to discover them. Sounds like Dillard unknowingly broke a few. I won't bother reading to find out which rules.

I don't know that there are rules but I just found it very pedestrian, not at all the innovative and fresh direction Abyss was supposed to be going for.