At Lit Hub he shared a spooky season starter kit for readers curious about horror. One title on the list:
Laird Barron, The Imago SequenceRead about the other entries on the list.
Another contemporary writer, Laird Barron works largely in the ‘cosmic’ horror realm—a kind of horror inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Arthur Machen and Robert Chambers, which looks at unknowable entities from other dimensions or from across the cosmos whose sheer existence so warps the state of reality that it will leave any human who encounters them permanently scarred. Barron’s stories often have a bit of noir to them as well (he’s since added crime novelist to his resume) and the blend of tough guys facing down mind-bending horrors provides a refreshing spin on both. His stories can often be mind-bending in their scope, but that’s part of the fun.
--Marshal Zeringue