THE DEEP ONES: Spring 2020 Planning Thread

This thread is for nominations and voting on stories for inclusion in the April-June reads in this group. Please feel free to draw on the ongoing brainstorming thread for nominations, but don't limit yourself to items discussed there.

As in past rounds, any story that gets more "No" than "Yes" votes won't make the cut; otherwise they'll be prioritized according to net-yes-minus-no, and the final list will be in OPD sequence. Ties will be broken in favor of author and period variety.

To propose a story for voting, place the title and author between HTML-style angle-bracket tags. The open tag says vote (in brackets); the close tag says /vote (ditto). Multiple polls seem to need multiple posts. If you put the name of the author in double square brackets, it will make it a linked "touchstone" for the LT database, and first publication dates of nominated stories are appreciated. Also welcome are remarks about the story, the author, and your nomination motives, and/or a link to an online version.

You can see a sortable list of all previous discussions here. A persistent brainstorming thread is here. Nominations repeating old discussions will be disqualified, but revival of dormant discussion threads is always welcome. "That is not dead which can eternal lie," etc.

VOTING is scheduled to END on the Spring Equinox: Thursday, March 19.

Sorry about the late start on this thread, gang.

About a dark family secret that would perhaps have best remained unexplored. Widely anthologized, and available online frex at Wikisource.

frahealee mentioned this one in the brainstorming thread. Unlike some of Lovecraft's collaborations, it's freely available online, e.g. at Wikisource.

>2 paradoxosalpha:

Any chance of you joining in the discussions again next quarter? Your contributions have been missed.

>5 AndreasJ:

I'm actually hoping to join later today; I haven't finished reading the story yet, though. I know my "attendance" has been patchy this year.

Today's discussion is unfortunately one I'm sitting out, since I haven't got around to getting a copy of the story.

I also welcome participation by paradoxosalpha, always enjoy his insights and enthusiasm for The Weird.

My own participation has been less frequent since 2019, but it may be useful to know that's entirely up to changes in my homelife schedule. Nothing about LT or DEEP ONES that prompted this, so I've resolved to not let it worry me and simply try to participate as much as I can. It's part of why I like the format here: the asynchronous discussion allows me to continue participating, even if not as close to the start of a story's discussion. In the past, going through offline schedule changes pretty much spelled doom for other book clubs I've been involved in, but that's not necessary here.

>8 elenchus:

Pretty much the same here. I can usually get the weekly discussion posts up and ready on Fridays. I'll post a few Spring nominations shortly.

Referred to in "No. 252 Rue M. le Prince" by Ralph Adams Cram and available online.

https://www.bartleby.com/166/6.html

With connections to the Cthulhu Mythos and Bran Mak Morn. Available online:

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0607961h.html

Anthologized in Cthulhusattva and Year's Best Hardcore Horror Volume 2. Editor Scott Jones calls this story "Barker-esque," and I have a vivid memory of reading it over breakfast at a hotel in D.C.

Widely anthologized. More explicitly engaged with yog-sothothery than the usual run of Ligotti's work, this story has accordingly been much reprinted under the Cthulhvian aegis.

The title story of Wilum's 2006 collection, and his contribution to New Cthulhu.

Very widely anthologized, including in McCauley's Dark Forces. Reportedly one of Wolfe's own favorites among his stories. McCauley characterizes it thus: "To the casual reader, it might seem a parody on a certain kind of nineteeth-century style and genre, but a closer look reveals a statement of deep personal belief and commitment, wrapped in the manners and atmosphere of another century, one (Wolfe) perhaps sees as especially significant to the close of this one."

Theatrical weird similar to Oliver's "Countess Otho" we did some time ago, with a side order of Jack the Ripper.

Does not seem to be (legally) available online, but the Tartarus Press volume with this as the title story is not too expensive.

A sort of Romance/Weird hybrid, originally published in The King in Yellow. Online in various places, e.g. Wikisource.

Recently read this in Black Wings, and I'm curious what the group would make of it. Available also in the inexpensive kindle collection The Legacy of Erich Zann and Other Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos.

A doppelganger and a train according to a review by Brian Stableford. Only available, however, in two collections: The Motion Demon and The Dark Domain.

Cinematic weirdness that got a World Fantasy Award in '14. Online here.

A Stefan Grabiński story that's more readily accessible in that it's included in The Weird. VanderMeer's intro emphasizes its atmosphere and strangeness.

A fantasmagoria from the borderlands between fairytale and nightmare. Incongruously reminded me of the decidedly unviolent "The Ice Man" we recently read. Included in The Weird.

One of Kuttner's more frequently collected tales. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?59566
There's an online version (of dubious legality) at http://maxima-library.org/knigi/knigi/b/41503?format=read

It concerns "the strange affair of the lost bells of Mission San Xavier" in California.

I'm going to tally votes around sunset, so you've got a few hours to make sure yours reflect your actual intentions.

Oops. I'm late. Counting votes now.