Wearing your influences on your sleeve isn’t a bad thing!
But sometimes it’s good to get away from the classics, and push in a new direction.
That’s where growth lives! And it’s how a lot of genre fiction finds
new legs, while still paying tribute to the OGs.
As much as folks love good old Howard Phillips, we’ve gotta admit that his peak output was
around a century ago. A lot of the themes, localities, and attitudes
towards certain things are, well, outdated. H.P. laid the groundwork for an entire genre,
inspired millions, and was reliably terrifying, but it’s probably time to look to the new
generation of cosmic horrorers. Hello horror heads, and welcome back to the
scariest channel on YouTube: Top5ScaryVideos. I’m your horror host, Keegan Hughes, and
today we’re taking a look at the Top 5 Scary Cosmic Horror Stories Not Written By H.P.
Lovecraft. Take one last look at objective reality without
a mush-brain, because we’re staring into the abyss very soon.
Before we get started, make sure to give this video a big thumbs up, and subscribe for more
literary lunacy. Perfect, let’s begin.
NUMBER FIVE: VASTARIEN - THOMAS LIGOTTI A good place to start when trying to find
cosmic horror outside of the established granddaddy’s work is with Ligotti’s tale of a man driven
mad by his love for a book. Seems like a lot of Lovecraft fans might find
parts of themselves here. Vastarien is a short story from the collection
known as Songs of a Dead Dreamer. The anthology is split into three parts: Dreams
for Sleepwalkers, Insomniacs, and the Dead, with Vastarien taking residence in the third.
All of the tales in Ligotti’s collection are clearly influenced by cosmic horror, with
each part becoming even darker. The tale we’ll discuss plays on the cliche
that “every book has an ideal reader,” by introducing us to Victor Keirion.
Victor loves his dreams, so much so that he’d rather be asleep than awake.
They aren’t lovely flights of fancy, though. They’re dark, warped visions of a reality
that’s fallen apart. He refers to it as a “beautiful land of
shadows.” Not everyone’s cup of tea, but Mr. Keirion
is happy. Soon, he comes across a book shop full of
seemingly boring tomes. A strange, dark man brings him to the back,
and introduces him to a volume detailing the world of Vasterien.
This place reminds him so intensely of his dreams that he has to have it.
There is no way he can leave without this book, for it speaks to him on a level deeper
than he could have ever imagined. Commentary on literary cultists? The folks
so obsessively devoted to their literary gods, they will defend that relationship jealously?
Religiously? Once Keirion takes the book home, his dreams
begin to change. It seems like an outside influence has come
in and infected his perfect world. Things aren’t exactly what they seem, and
madness is waiting just around the corner. NUMBER FOUR: THE BALLAD OF BLACK TOM - VICTOR
LAVALLE Remember The Horror at Red Hook?
Yeah, most of us would rather forget. They can’t all be winners, hey?
For all of the lastingly terrifying stories Lovecraft wrote, there were some that he just
couldn’t make compelling. Or largely coherent. Or not horribly xenophobic.
Thankfully, over 90 years later, Victor LaValle retold the story with some new elements to
make it both fresh and palatable. The Ballad of Black Tom mirrors a lot of themes
and elements originally present in The Horror at Red Hook, but this time presents them in
a different light. A much more flattering one.
It tells the tale of Tommy Tester, Brooklyn-based supernatural hustler and musician.
By taking on a little side gig involving some Necronomicon-adjacent deliveries, he ends
up embroiled in a scheme involving the Great Old Ones.
As things get dark, the story switches to the view of detective Mallone, who some will
recognize from the source material. Providing an additional viewpoint, and revisiting
some of what made Red Hook scary to begin with, this is a smart move to keep things
interesting. By taking a look back at 20’s New York with
all of the benefits of being alive in a modern era, LaValle is able to pen a smart and topical
retelling. He compares cosmic indifference to racist
malice and brutality, and even though some see it as a direct rebuttal to Red Hook, The
Ballad of Black Tom still manages to get some terrifying cosmic horror in.
Somehow, and I know this might seem a little crazy, it finds a way to connect the inhumanity
of the universe to the inhumanity of people. Definitely an interesting way to interpret
Lovecraft’s work. NUMBER THREE: THE CIPHER - KATHE KOJA
Ah, the 90’s. Home to some of the best book covers of all
time, bar none. Thankfully, it wasn’t all just for show!
There were some wicked tales between the pages. In her debut novel, Kathe Koja takes a weird
hole in the basement of someone’s apartment building and makes it an existentially terrifying,
disease-ridden read. Originally titled “The Funhole” (wonder
why they changed that), we take a look at a doomed couple.
Nicholas and Nakota should not by any means be together.
They’re both full of venom and hatred, but something keeps them coming back.
Oh yeah, it’s the strange hole in the storage room that they’re both unhealthily obsessed
with. This is another thing that shouldn’t be
there. But the fact that it’s unexplainable, and
somewhat explorable through the use of 90’s video-capture technology, makes it impossible
to ignore. It pulses, and exudes an aura of wrongness.
Somehow, this manages to be magnetic. Could be a commentary on both the main characters,
and their life choices. Does that mean that I’m terrible for being
drawn to horrid media? Naaaaaaah.
If the characters and subject matter didn’t disturb you, the prose will.
The Cipher is written to make you upset at every turn.
It reeks of disease and cancer. Odd sentence structure, hypnotic pacing, malignant
terrors within the funhole, this is a magnificent piece of otherworldly terror.
Plus, Koja managed to write this while taking care of her young child.
Maybe that’s what inspired the extreme darkness. NUMBER TWO: BLINDSIGHT - PETER WATTS
Fans of hard sci-fi should have their ears perked up right now.
Oh, and folks with an interest in nihilism. Maybe people who like their fiction very,
very technical. Has this piqued any interests? Perfect.
Blindsight is a first-contact story, involving artificial intelligence, space vampires, and
nine-legged spider things. Cool.
It opens with some choice phrases like “If we’re not in pain, we’re not alive,”
and “you will die like a dog for no good reason.”
That’s how you know what direction it’s heading in.
By addressing themes like identity and consciousness, Blindsight makes readers wonder if we’re
even anything at all. It’s cosmic in a more universal sense.
It doesn’t necessarily anthropomorphize or idolize the uncaring forces of the universe.
There are no Great Ones or Outer Gods here. Instead, the universe just sort of… is.
There’s a spacecraft known as the Rorschach that seemingly communicates with the humans
aboard the Theseus. Not exactly subtle names here, but they work.
The Rorschach appears to be deliberately making attempts to correspond with the Theseus, but
later on it’s made clear that it may not actually know what it is saying.
The beings on board, though, have abilities beyond the scope of humanity, and operate
on a level beyond our comprehension. They don’t really care about us, and we
couldn’t possibly understand them. See where this is going?
While a lot of hard sci-fi can get overly technical and difficult to parse, Watts does
a commendable job of making it accessible enough for folks who are entering from other
literary spheres. And for every big idea, there’s a big scare
to go along with it. Just don’t expect that everything will wrap
up in a tight little package. NUMBER ONE: THE CRONING - LAIRD BARRON
By introducing the often hard-to-visualize themes of cosmic horror to a doomed love story,
Laird Barron finds storytelling gold in The Croning.
It’s the tale of a man, desperately in love with his wife, who is deeply involved with
something occult. The Children of Old Leech, if you will.
The big twist, though, is that our protagonist, Donald Miller, is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
He and his wife have been together for decades. Don has followed her around the world as she
seeks out strange and supernatural events and objects.
The plot bounces back and forth between Don in the 80’s, full of life, totally cognizant
of the strange events happening around him, and Don now, confused and amnesia-stricken.
By dealing with the amnesiac trope in a different way, the audience is presented with some extremely
effective dramatic irony. As we move between time periods, readers become
more aware of the danger Don is in, and how deeply entrenched his wife is in the cult.
However, as he recalls details from his past, he also forgets due to his condition.
He wants to believe that he’s just imagining things, and that the supernatural beings aren’t
real. And thanks to his lack of permanent memories,
they seem to be just a silly story he’s misremembering.
But the threat is real. And everyone but Don knows it.
Creative in it’s execution, terrifying in it’s delivery, The Croning is a shining
achievement in modern cosmic literature. OUTRO
So what did you think of the list? How many of these have you read before?
Any you might pick up sometime soon? What’s your favourite non-HP cosmic horror
story? Make sure you let me know down in the comments!
Speaking of comments, let’s take a look at some of your more watery ones from the
Top 5 SCARY HAUNTED MUSEUMS YOU SHOULD NEVER VISIT:
King Ivan says “I went to Zach Bagans Haunted Museum in Vegas. The museum is inside an actual
haunted building” Hey! You’re forgetting the golden rule:
What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas. But I bet it was a blast!
Ashley Brown says “If Ben Stiller taught ME one thing it’s that male models can’t
not die in a freak gasoline fight accident.” Can’t not die, huh? What about Mr. Blue
Steel himself? He made it! Marie-Anne Rioux says “You should do a part
2 :-)” Well if you ask so politely, I might have
to oblige! Great nose on that smiley. URSA MINOR JIM says “No mention of the Hughes
Museum in Toronto? Its sole exhibit is a cursed boudoir portrait of a sexy, bespectacled nooge
clad only in boxer shorts, black socks, and a wristwatch. Legend has it the gaze of this
so-called “weak, spineless man of temptations” is so powerful and alluring it can distract
an entire YouTube horror audience within mere seconds.”
Unfortunately, that collection is not open to the public, nor is it likely to ever be.
Scott Snyder says “First comment” There are no words to describe the immense
pride swelling in my bosom upon viewing this comment. Congratulations, and godspeed.
And that’s all the time we have for today! Before I attempt to repair an AC unit with
a ruptured freon line, make sure to give this video a big thumbs up, and subscribe for more
inhuman interest! Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next
time.