1069
Banned
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2006
- Messages
- 24,975
- Reaction score
- 5,126
- Gender
- Undisclosed
- Political Leaning
- Undisclosed
There's a new author named Sarah Langan whom I've got my eye on.
She's barely more than a college student at this point, but she's published three big epic horror novels in the past two years; she's certainly prolific, and she's got a spark of real talent, a way of writing which transcends genre.
King had it too, as a young man just beginning to publish, and so did Straub (who, coincidentally, apparently sees the same thing in Sarah Langan that I do, and writes all the cover blurbs for her novels; at first I wondered if perhaps he was her dad, but apparently he's unrelated).
I believe, if she maintains this seemingly impossible momentum, that Langan will be the horror writer for the new millenium- Stephen King and Peter Straub rolled into one.
She's better than either of them were in their earliest novels, which is not very surprising; a lot of writers are better than King is. But few are as prolific as he is, while still maintaining any semblance of quality and avoiding formulaic- as distinct from genre- writing.
Sarah Langlan is.
And if she can continue to produce high quality horror novels at the incredible rate of one to two per year (or even if she slacks off and produces one every two years) she will certainly be the next big thing.
A talented writer writing that many novels can hardly help but hit the jackpot and write a singularly spectacular story every decade or so. Law of averages. King manages it; he's consistently produced one remarkable novel for every three or four clunkers. But when one is producing seven or eight novels per decade, that's a lot of remarkable novels.
Straub is a better writer than King, but he is not nearly as prolific and also not as dedicated to the horror genre; he frequently digresses from it, and even in his purest horror novels, the horror is merely psychological, and one never knows, really, whether the horror was real and the character was legitimately menaced by supernatural forces, or whether he or she was merely insane the whole time.
Anyway, keep your eyes on the little Langan chick.
I predict she's the future of horror.
She's barely more than a college student at this point, but she's published three big epic horror novels in the past two years; she's certainly prolific, and she's got a spark of real talent, a way of writing which transcends genre.
King had it too, as a young man just beginning to publish, and so did Straub (who, coincidentally, apparently sees the same thing in Sarah Langan that I do, and writes all the cover blurbs for her novels; at first I wondered if perhaps he was her dad, but apparently he's unrelated).
I believe, if she maintains this seemingly impossible momentum, that Langan will be the horror writer for the new millenium- Stephen King and Peter Straub rolled into one.
She's better than either of them were in their earliest novels, which is not very surprising; a lot of writers are better than King is. But few are as prolific as he is, while still maintaining any semblance of quality and avoiding formulaic- as distinct from genre- writing.
Sarah Langlan is.
And if she can continue to produce high quality horror novels at the incredible rate of one to two per year (or even if she slacks off and produces one every two years) she will certainly be the next big thing.
A talented writer writing that many novels can hardly help but hit the jackpot and write a singularly spectacular story every decade or so. Law of averages. King manages it; he's consistently produced one remarkable novel for every three or four clunkers. But when one is producing seven or eight novels per decade, that's a lot of remarkable novels.
Straub is a better writer than King, but he is not nearly as prolific and also not as dedicated to the horror genre; he frequently digresses from it, and even in his purest horror novels, the horror is merely psychological, and one never knows, really, whether the horror was real and the character was legitimately menaced by supernatural forces, or whether he or she was merely insane the whole time.
Anyway, keep your eyes on the little Langan chick.
I predict she's the future of horror.
Last edited: