Kareem
New Member
I'm looking for a series of books, the sort of books that, if only for the relentless clarity of the writing, the lucid, yet overwritten descriptions of the grasses, the mud, the thorns, and the very arc of the road that cuts through all that, presents a clear and episodic progress from one small terror to the next. Murders, vampires, demons, debauchery, cannibalism, diabolical secrets, and horror, horror, and MORE horror. Books that will just plain scare the **** out of me on a windy night, and yet still arouse my most primordial instincts. 
As for the characters...
I have spent a lot of time searching for examples of fiction in which the protagonists displays the characteristics usually seen in antagonists. I do not mean the "anti-hero" who still ends up fighting for "good." I mean someone with a decidedly evil persuasion.
Now, place that character as the main, central character with the story told from his point of view.
My last read was Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles series, and I have to say that I was disappointed. There were a few instances where the characters were ruthless, powerful, and otherwise awesome (such as when Lestat first becomes a vampire in The Vampire Lestat), but other than that they were usually full of self-loathing, defeatism, guilt, nihilism, and moral reservation, which is exactly what I cannot stand. To put it simply, thy were wimps, when they should have been epic villains.
Plus, it seemed to me that the vast majority of the pages are spent exploring the very mundane, mortal aspects of their lives. The stories did not seem like they necessarily belonged to vampires, but to normal people. While there is, indeed, some literary merit to this, Rice ruined a perfectly good chance to present vampires as they should be. Not as crazed monsters and not as pathetic messes, but as perfect protagonist-villains.
Does an example of this exist or even something close to it? Have you read anything like this? I have read so much fiction in which the "good guys" win that it is not worth reading anymore. It is all just so predictable.
As for the characters...
I have spent a lot of time searching for examples of fiction in which the protagonists displays the characteristics usually seen in antagonists. I do not mean the "anti-hero" who still ends up fighting for "good." I mean someone with a decidedly evil persuasion.
Now, place that character as the main, central character with the story told from his point of view.
My last read was Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles series, and I have to say that I was disappointed. There were a few instances where the characters were ruthless, powerful, and otherwise awesome (such as when Lestat first becomes a vampire in The Vampire Lestat), but other than that they were usually full of self-loathing, defeatism, guilt, nihilism, and moral reservation, which is exactly what I cannot stand. To put it simply, thy were wimps, when they should have been epic villains.
Plus, it seemed to me that the vast majority of the pages are spent exploring the very mundane, mortal aspects of their lives. The stories did not seem like they necessarily belonged to vampires, but to normal people. While there is, indeed, some literary merit to this, Rice ruined a perfectly good chance to present vampires as they should be. Not as crazed monsters and not as pathetic messes, but as perfect protagonist-villains.
Does an example of this exist or even something close to it? Have you read anything like this? I have read so much fiction in which the "good guys" win that it is not worth reading anymore. It is all just so predictable.
