The occult, the delusions, and the swamp rats.

April 4, 2014 1:18 PM

Carl Hiaasen meets H.P. Lovecraft. What book am I looking for?

Deadpan delivery, terrible sleeping evils. Too much to ask?

posted by Willie0248 to Media & Arts (15 answers total)

Well, it wasn't quite as good as I was expecting it to be, but you might try "What Ho, Gods of the Abyss" in Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier — Bertie Wooster meets Cthulu.

There are a number of comic vampire books. Christopher Moore's vampire trilogy which includes Bloodsucking Fiends, You Suck, and Bite Me, was pretty funny, and Moore is close to Hiassen in tone (though not quite there). The evils aren't too terrible, but there is definitely a lot of sleeping with it.
posted by ubiquity at 1:30 PM on April 4, 2014 [4 favorites]

John Dies at The End by David Wong.
posted by fshgrl at 1:38 PM on April 4, 2014 [2 favorites]

Charles Stross's Atrocity Archives series

Welcome to Night Vale (podcast)
posted by anotherthink at 1:57 PM on April 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

Not exactly what you want, but try "Gun, With Occasional Music"
posted by thelonius at 2:07 PM on April 4, 2014

Try some Christopher Moore.
posted by soundguy99 at 2:16 PM on April 4, 2014 [2 favorites]

The first thing I thought of was Christopher Moore's The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove.
posted by straw at 2:16 PM on April 4, 2014

The Damned Highway: Fear and Loathing in Arkham, by Brian Keene and Nick Mamatas.
posted by Sticherbeast at 2:21 PM on April 4, 2014

Yes, Charles Stross, the Laundry Files.

Off the top off my head, the books were The Atrocity Archives, The Jennifer Morgue (my favorite), The Fuller Memorandum, The Apocalypse Codex, and The Rhesus Chart is coming soon. And there are a couple of short stories in the same setting. Each book is a pastiche of a particular style - Jennifer Morgue, for example, is a straight up James Bond spoof - but there's a rising sense of dread as Case Nightmare Green draws closer and closer.

If you don't mind some very minor spoilers to the previous books, try a sample short (Overtime, from December 2009) and see if you're hooked.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:22 PM on April 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

Résumé with Monsters.
posted by bonehead at 2:22 PM on April 4, 2014

Resume With Monsters is a hoot. Also check out Irrational Fears and Zod Wallop.
posted by Sticherbeast at 2:26 PM on April 4, 2014

If the lighter end is more your thing, A Night in the Lonesome October by Zelazny as well. Be sure to get the edition with the Gahan Wilson cartoons.
posted by bonehead at 2:37 PM on April 4, 2014 [3 favorites]

Fatale (graphic novel series) by Ed Brubaker.
posted by mbrubeck at 4:59 PM on April 4, 2014

Have a look at Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
posted by Petersondub at 12:00 AM on April 5, 2014

Good Omens... Isn't that the one with the demon who has such robust houseplants because he threatens them?
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 11:44 AM on April 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

The Antipope by Robert Rankin.

And, although it might be too serious in parts, the stupendous The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 11:50 AM on April 5, 2014