Horror

[close] This global discussion group has been designed to encourage debates about important and underreported issues of our era. All you need is an enquiring mind and a desire to gain or share “underground knowledge”. This is also a place to discuss the controversial topics explored in The Underground Knowledge Series (non-fiction books) by James Morcan & Lance Morcan as well as the Underground Knowledge podcast show.

[close] We want to read fun stuff as a group and do lots of buddy reads on the side. And we like to chat a bit, too. Friends don't let friends read alone:) Please note: One of the reasons our group works so well is that we are a small group of engaged members. If a member is completely inactive for 6 months and has not communicated with one of the group moderators, then we may remove them from the group. In this way we limit the group to those individuals who are truly interested in participating, and we maintain the environment that makes SpecFic Buddy Reads the kind of group our members want.

[close] This group is dedicated to an appreciation of important works of literature, both classic and contemporary... that happen to fall into the category of Dark Fiction. We tend to avoid the big, banal blockbusters (and the more lurid fare) in favor of beautifully written explorations of the unknown, many of them obscure, all of them extraordinary. [Note from the Moderator: A couple of years ago, we changed our group name from "Literary Horror" in order to expand our sphere of interests (and dislodge a few embedded trolls). Our enthusiasms embrace Gothic, Weird Fiction, and Noir, as well as much that might be classified as Horror, but we also appreciate literary fiction that cannot be easily fitted into a marketing niche. In fact, this latter group of titles has evolved into our primary focus. Most serious fiction deals (to some extent) with darker themes, and many works of distinction have employed supernatural, surreal or existentialist elements. These books have power. They endure, because they appeal to serious readers and provide thoughtful entertainment. Come. Explore them with us.]

[close] Consider the horror sub-genre of the werewolf. Werewolves are different from all other supernatural beings of myth or legend. They aren't generated in a laboratory, or powered by electricity. They don't suck blood or rise up from graves their flesh decaying from having been dead. Nor are they gigantic or mutated. Werewolves are men and women, mortal human beings who just happen to be cursed. By day, werewolves walk among other humans, completely unsuspected. Most nights too. When the moon comes out things begin to happen. Fur and fangs grow; feet turn into pads, fingers into claws. The standing human transmorgifies into a creature on all fours. To the extent they're conscious at all, these tortured beings are unhappy werewolves. They tend to be hungry, so they hunt, and when they do the innocent become fair game as prey. Fiction writers have spun tales of this creature for more than three centuries. We are here to find out about those tales, the earliest as well as the best, and then read them together.