1. Sedegh Hedayat, The Blind Owl. This book, written in Iran in 1941 (the only Persian book I've read written by an author actually living in the country and in Farsi), was noted in the new translation by Porochista Khakpour as being a national sensation that, to some (like her father), seemed to "encourage" its readers to commit suicide. It is a feverish tale, one that moves readers with its cruel tale of a cuckold and his dreams that haze the bounds between the real and the irreal.

2. Charles Williams, The Descent Into Hell. The most famous work by the other Inkling. I'm currently about halfway into it and it is living up to the promise of its title, but who doesn't get fascinated at times with seeing the creeping madness of others portrayed in fiction?

3. Mark Samuel, The Man Who Collected Machen and Other Weird Tales. Recent collection of some of Samuel's weird fictions. This particular story, "The Age of Decayed Futurity," is my favorite from this solid collection.

4. Michael Cisco, The Great Lover. I've barely begun this novel that was released earlier this month, but Cisco is one of my favorite weird fiction writers and from what I have gathered, this might be even better than last year's The Narrator, which I reviewed as part of a group review project.

5. Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses. First volume of his acclaimed Border Trilogy. I haven't read more than the first couple of chapters, but so far, McCarthy's limpid, cutting prose has made this a stark, powerful tale to read.

6. Thomas Ligotti, The Nightmare Factory/Songs of a Dead Dreamer. This particular story, "The Chymist," is not one the reader will ever forget soon. One of the best horror writers of the 20th/21st centuries, what unfolds in this tale and in so many others is so captivating due to Ligotti's precise use of language to create an atmosphere that ultimately terrifies.


So, any of you more curious (or less) about these works now that you know their titles and authors?