Tales from Failed Anatomies
December 5, 2014 4:15 PM Subscribe
The Thing In The Pit
Drowning in Sand
Intelligences
Philosophy
The Unspeakable Oath presents audio versions of several Dennis Detwiller stories following the successfull Kickstarting of the Delta Green fiction anthology Tales from Failed Anatomies.
Drowning in Sand
Intelligences
Philosophy
The Unspeakable Oath presents audio versions of several Dennis Detwiller stories following the successfull Kickstarting of the Delta Green fiction anthology Tales from Failed Anatomies.
It's possibly ironic, given how much they emphasized how the new Delta Green will have moved on from Majestic and all of the 90s X-Files style elements*, my favours of these by far is Drowning In Sand which leans heavily on them.
* they would hasten to add that it predates the X Files, or at least evolved in parallel, also the truth behind their Visitors is way weirder.
posted by Artw at 4:23 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
* they would hasten to add that it predates the X Files, or at least evolved in parallel, also the truth behind their Visitors is way weirder.
posted by Artw at 4:23 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
The whole appeal of Delta Green is that it's Lovecraft and X-Files (or the same vein of '90s conspiranoia that X-Files tapped). The idea that they're going to dial all that back seems to miss the point. Of course it's entirely possible that the next iteration will have new flavors of awesome.
posted by graymouser at 4:51 PM on December 5, 2014
posted by graymouser at 4:51 PM on December 5, 2014
I recorded those panels! Anyway, there's a new edition of Delta Green in the works and you can try out the new rules here. I've played it and they seem to work quite well. Guns are lethal, fighting the mythos ruins your life, and horrible things abound.
Also, the new DG will be even darker than the last because it's a look at the Endless War on Terrorism. Give the beta rules a shot to get an idea of its flavor.
posted by clockworkjoe at 4:53 PM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
Also, the new DG will be even darker than the last because it's a look at the Endless War on Terrorism. Give the beta rules a shot to get an idea of its flavor.
posted by clockworkjoe at 4:53 PM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
also the truth behind their Visitors is way weirder
weirder, and yet more comprehensible
posted by murphy slaw at 5:13 PM on December 5, 2014
weirder, and yet more comprehensible
posted by murphy slaw at 5:13 PM on December 5, 2014
It's possibly ironic, given how much they emphasized how the new Delta Green will have moved on from Majestic and all of the 90s X-Files style elements
I only read Delta Green maybe five years ago and couldn't believe how thoroughly 90's it was. Makes me wonder how/if it can survive having its core aesthetic torn out and replaced.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:46 PM on December 5, 2014
I only read Delta Green maybe five years ago and couldn't believe how thoroughly 90's it was. Makes me wonder how/if it can survive having its core aesthetic torn out and replaced.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:46 PM on December 5, 2014
So, if I'm one of those apparently rare people who don't actually want to bother with the unbearable slowness of listening to fiction when I can just read it about three times as fast and whenever it suits me, I'm out of luck?
I love Delta Green, by the way, although I never played it (I played some CoC back in the day). I spent way too much time reading the fiction on the Delta Green site back in the day. I guess a lot of it is pretty 90s/X-Files-y, at least the secret agent stuff, but there's a lot of what could be classified as military horror there too. And yeah, updating it for the current Endless War on Terrorism paradigm should make it darker and grimmer than ever, I think.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 7:50 PM on December 5, 2014
I love Delta Green, by the way, although I never played it (I played some CoC back in the day). I spent way too much time reading the fiction on the Delta Green site back in the day. I guess a lot of it is pretty 90s/X-Files-y, at least the secret agent stuff, but there's a lot of what could be classified as military horror there too. And yeah, updating it for the current Endless War on Terrorism paradigm should make it darker and grimmer than ever, I think.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 7:50 PM on December 5, 2014
Looking at the new beta rules, I see they kept one extremely 90s artifact around: That logo.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 7:53 PM on December 5, 2014
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 7:53 PM on December 5, 2014
I only read Delta Green maybe five years ago and couldn't believe how thoroughly 90's it was. Makes me wonder how/if it can survive having its core aesthetic torn out and replaced.
Take a look at Delta Green: Countdown. Or, as I like to call it, "The True Detective vision statement."
posted by belarius at 7:56 PM on December 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
Take a look at Delta Green: Countdown. Or, as I like to call it, "The True Detective vision statement."
posted by belarius at 7:56 PM on December 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
Kindle version
Everything else
You get more stories but it'll cost you money.
posted by Artw at 7:58 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Everything else
You get more stories but it'll cost you money.
posted by Artw at 7:58 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Artw: "Kindle version
Everything else
You get more stories but it'll cost you money."
Just bought it, thanks.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:00 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Everything else
You get more stories but it'll cost you money."
Just bought it, thanks.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:00 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
This is as good a place as any to ask, I guess. Do people have any suggestions for horror fiction that runs along the lines of Delta Green, that is, spycraft/undercover operations/special forces mixed with more or less cosmic horror or weird tales stuff? (I'm not terribly interested in non-cosmic horror, like Navy Seals vs. zombies or whatever).
So far, my current favorites in this particular subgenre are Tim Powers' Declare (which is ridiculously well-researched), Greg Stolze's "Mask of the Other", and Charles Stross' Laundry series, and I just started currently reading World War Cthulhu, a collection of mythos/war short stories, which so far has at least some good stuff.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:11 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
So far, my current favorites in this particular subgenre are Tim Powers' Declare (which is ridiculously well-researched), Greg Stolze's "Mask of the Other", and Charles Stross' Laundry series, and I just started currently reading World War Cthulhu, a collection of mythos/war short stories, which so far has at least some good stuff.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:11 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'll be keeping an eye on replies for sure since I just read through Declare (so, so good!) after reading all of the Laundry Files books... I'll definitely have to check out Mask of the Other.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:18 PM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by jason_steakums at 8:18 PM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
jason_steakums, Mask of the Other is quite good, I'd definitely recommend it, though it's not up to the level of Declare. It's also a pretty short, quick read.
Not that Declare is perfect, I was bothered by its morality and worldview, specifically the very obvious Catholicism and anti-communism, and the idea that there are clear moral sides, good guys and bad guys in international covert operations, when the reality is that pretty much everyone's an amoral asshole, or ends up as one after enough time in that particular business. But it's still a fantastic book, and I was amazed with the appendix that outlined how many of its events, especially in the story of Kim Philby, were historical fact, including some really outrageous, hard to believe stuff.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:31 PM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
Not that Declare is perfect, I was bothered by its morality and worldview, specifically the very obvious Catholicism and anti-communism, and the idea that there are clear moral sides, good guys and bad guys in international covert operations, when the reality is that pretty much everyone's an amoral asshole, or ends up as one after enough time in that particular business. But it's still a fantastic book, and I was amazed with the appendix that outlined how many of its events, especially in the story of Kim Philby, were historical fact, including some really outrageous, hard to believe stuff.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:31 PM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
Most of Declare was just very good, and I definitely agree with your take on its worldview being a bit problematic... but Philby was just fantastic, the weird and broken character Powers built out of integrating the supernatural stuff into Kim Philby's life really took the entire book to the next level and had me wanting a lot more of that specific supernatural Le Carre pastiche thing.
If there's something out there that's like a Lovecraftian Sandbaggers or Queen & Country, I'll be all over it. Something about the dryness of that particular Le Carre strain of spy fiction works like gangbusters when combined with supernatural horror.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:46 PM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
If there's something out there that's like a Lovecraftian Sandbaggers or Queen & Country, I'll be all over it. Something about the dryness of that particular Le Carre strain of spy fiction works like gangbusters when combined with supernatural horror.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:46 PM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
Going to start right now! I looked for it on the Kindle before but I could only find it as part of some anthologies, thanks for the link!
posted by jason_steakums at 8:54 PM on December 5, 2014
posted by jason_steakums at 8:54 PM on December 5, 2014
Artw: "Everyone has read A Colder War, right"
Yeah, I forgot to mention that, it's actually even better than his Laundry stuff, because it strips out the incessant Slashdot/Perl references and "suits are dumb, amirite" and just goes unrelentingly grim. Not that I don't enjoy some of the humor in the Laundry series, but sometimes I feel like it slightly ruins the not inconsiderable potential for sheer horror that the concepts often have.
I think that's why spy fiction and cosmic horror mesh so well for me, both of them work best when they have imperfect characters trying to do their best against impossible adversaries, participating in a huge game they can only glimpse pieces of, all victories are temporary at best, and everyone ends up broken or dead. The outlook is similar, you could say.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:31 PM on December 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
Yeah, I forgot to mention that, it's actually even better than his Laundry stuff, because it strips out the incessant Slashdot/Perl references and "suits are dumb, amirite" and just goes unrelentingly grim. Not that I don't enjoy some of the humor in the Laundry series, but sometimes I feel like it slightly ruins the not inconsiderable potential for sheer horror that the concepts often have.
I think that's why spy fiction and cosmic horror mesh so well for me, both of them work best when they have imperfect characters trying to do their best against impossible adversaries, participating in a huge game they can only glimpse pieces of, all victories are temporary at best, and everyone ends up broken or dead. The outlook is similar, you could say.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:31 PM on December 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
I think it was Stross who pointed out that "occult" and "secret intelligence" are basically the same word.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:32 PM on December 5, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:32 PM on December 5, 2014 [5 favorites]
Artw: "On Kindle it's part of this very solid anthology"
Man, there are so many "X of Cthulhu" anthologies and collections out there, it's hard to know where to start. I liked Black Wings of Cthulhu quite a lot, though.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:33 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Man, there are so many "X of Cthulhu" anthologies and collections out there, it's hard to know where to start. I liked Black Wings of Cthulhu quite a lot, though.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:33 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm a fan of Lovecraft Unbound, which downplays the tentacles in favor of Lovecraftian themes.
Though if we're going for bleak, buried in the mostly unremarkable Miskatonic University is Will Murray's "The Sothis Radiant", which has an absolutely pitch-black ending.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:34 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Though if we're going for bleak, buried in the mostly unremarkable Miskatonic University is Will Murray's "The Sothis Radiant", which has an absolutely pitch-black ending.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:34 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Cody Goodfellow's books are also in that ballpark but I never felt like he really stuck the landing.
posted by Artw at 9:44 PM on December 5, 2014
posted by Artw at 9:44 PM on December 5, 2014
Oh shit, of course this got posted to Metafilter. Laugh! I love you guys.
A buddy of mine had his wife pledge the Kickstarter for him at the $500 level, which was, "Dennis Detwiller will write a new story about a character or antagonist of your choice." He chose his character from my DG game.
So when these stories are eventually written and released, and you all read about John Fosey ... that's m'boy.
posted by Myca at 9:59 PM on December 5, 2014 [4 favorites]
A buddy of mine had his wife pledge the Kickstarter for him at the $500 level, which was, "Dennis Detwiller will write a new story about a character or antagonist of your choice." He chose his character from my DG game.
So when these stories are eventually written and released, and you all read about John Fosey ... that's m'boy.
posted by Myca at 9:59 PM on December 5, 2014 [4 favorites]
Artw: "Cody Goodfellow's books are also in that ballpark but I never felt like he really stuck the landing"
...and this cover doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 10:31 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
...and this cover doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 10:31 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
So when these stories are eventually written and released, and you all read about John Fosey ... that's m'boy.
It's probably not going to end well for him, but he knew that going in...
posted by Artw at 11:39 PM on December 5, 2014
It's probably not going to end well for him, but he knew that going in...
posted by Artw at 11:39 PM on December 5, 2014
It's probably not going to end well for him, but he knew that going in...
Oh, it's already ended badly for him. Music From A Darkened Room is a hell of a scenario, and it's left my players with a tendency to twitch uncontrollably at hearing the opening strains of Moonlight Sonata.
posted by Myca at 9:08 AM on December 6, 2014
Oh, it's already ended badly for him. Music From A Darkened Room is a hell of a scenario, and it's left my players with a tendency to twitch uncontrollably at hearing the opening strains of Moonlight Sonata.
posted by Myca at 9:08 AM on December 6, 2014
Overall strong Cthulhu anthologies: Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos ("Sticks" by Karl Edward Wagner is a favorite of mine), The Book of Cthulhu (The Book of Cthulhu II was pretty good, but not as good as the first), New Cthulhu.
posted by Zed at 11:47 AM on December 6, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Zed at 11:47 AM on December 6, 2014 [3 favorites]
Zed: "Overall strong Cthulhu anthologies: Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos ("Sticks" by Karl Edward Wagner is a favorite of mine), The Book of Cthulhu (The Book of Cthulhu II was pretty good, but not as good as the first), New Cthulhu"
Is Sticks the one that has a really good, creepy, long setup and then has a dumb ending in a basement?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:40 PM on December 7, 2014
Is Sticks the one that has a really good, creepy, long setup and then has a dumb ending in a basement?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:40 PM on December 7, 2014
Are you sure that's not "The Shunned House"?
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:15 PM on December 7, 2014
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:15 PM on December 7, 2014
Pope Guilty: "Are you sure that's not "The Shunned House"?"
No, creepier, and then dumber. Well, ok, creepier, and then about as dumb. But different.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:03 AM on December 8, 2014
No, creepier, and then dumber. Well, ok, creepier, and then about as dumb. But different.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:03 AM on December 8, 2014
Is it a movie from 1999?
posted by Artw at 5:31 AM on December 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:31 AM on December 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
I was wondering how long it would be before the Blair Witch joke, because that was a perfect setup.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:10 AM on December 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by jason_steakums at 6:10 AM on December 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I have to admit that while Sticks is amazing atmosphere-wise I'm kind of hazy on the plot details. I don't remember the ending blowing it particularly, but strong build-ups ruined by an ending that fails to pay off is a frequent problem in Lovecraftian fiction.
posted by Artw at 6:27 AM on December 8, 2014
posted by Artw at 6:27 AM on December 8, 2014
I have to admit that while Sticks is amazing atmosphere-wise I'm kind of hazy on the plot details. I don't remember the ending blowing it particularly, but strong build-ups ruined by an ending that fails to pay off is a frequent problem in Lovecraftian fiction.
What Artw said, exactly -- I plain don't remember the ending; I remember loving the premise and being overall very happy with the story.
posted by Zed at 12:29 PM on December 8, 2014
What Artw said, exactly -- I plain don't remember the ending; I remember loving the premise and being overall very happy with the story.
posted by Zed at 12:29 PM on December 8, 2014
"Sticks" apparently inspired the stick-stuff in True Detective..
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:25 PM on December 8, 2014
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:25 PM on December 8, 2014
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