[ SECRET POST #4923 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4923 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.



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02.
[Legend of the White Snake]


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03.
[Komi Can't Communicate]


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04.
[The Elm-Chanted Forest]


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05.
(Lucifer, Supernatural)


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06.
[Wheel of Time]


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07.
[Queer Eye]


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08.
[Criminal Minds]






















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 49 secrets from Secret Submission Post #705.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I have the same problem. I love gothic stories with haunted houses and there are so many fascinating plots out there! But the execution is often disappointing and doesn't live up to the initial premise. :(

[sparklywalls]

Indeed, there's usually a variation on a theme with the genre so I know what I'm getting but sometimes I just don't really enjoy the execution. In this case it was a book where the supernatural was 100% real (rather than my favourite where it's ambiguous) and that's fine, I can suspend my disbelief well enough. It's just that it wasn't particularly scary or thrilling and was more of a family drama (that just so happened to have a ghost) in the end. It was a book called The Lost Ones in case anyone is wondering!

By contrast another recent-ish book in the same genre actually spooked me to the point that I needed a couple of breaks if I was reading it at night haha (The Silent Companions.)

[(Anonymous)]

I enjoyed The Silent Companions and felt the same way about getting the creeps!

I liked Alison Greenwood's The Unquiet House but could see the ending coming. Still enjoyed the journey, though. I read some Simone St. James and that was decent but it's gothic romance, not straight up horror. Someone on FS recced Darcy Coates' work. She's a very prolific author but the execution is very...hmmm, don't know how to describe it. Not very polished.

[sparklywalls]

Laura Purcell's other two books are worth a read if you haven't already. I think the first was definitely the best and she certainly has a formula now but she knows how to creep out her readers.

I haven't read The Unquiet House so will put that on my to-read as a reminder! Darcy Coates does seem to be rated highly on Goodreads but I know that doesn't mean everything, it's easy to "game" Goodreads if the fanbase is big enough. I might give her a go anyway but perhaps go in with tempered expectations.

Of the perhaps obvious stories (that I assume most ghost story fans have already read!) I did really like The Haunting of Hill House and The Woman in Black.

I also read a few classics from the Gothic Horror/Romance genre a few years ago after I attended a really interesting exhibition at the British Library. A lot of it has problems relating to the era, for example there's some pretty gross stuff about women (and a horrible plot point involving drugging a virtuous character) in The Monk but despite that I did quite enjoy that story as a way to see how the genre developed. Plus the main character does get what he deserves in the end.

[(Anonymous)]

I read The Corset but liked The Silent Companions better. I'm definitely checking out the rest of her work, though.

Re: Darcy Coates, it's not like her writing is bad, I just didn't find it particularly exceptional in the few that I tried. Great themes and ideas, which probably resonate with a lot of readers just like OP's secrets resonates with people here. A more structured plot would help, IMO.

Oh yes, I enjoy the classics. Especially British horror, like M.R. James.