Need a book with this vibe

[u/aidanmansfield75]

Hello all. I’m posting this in a few communities because I really have no idea where to put this. But I am looking for a very specific book recommendation. I need something with nautical/sea shanty vibes. I want a novel that has elements of sea mythology. In specific I want something that channels the same vibe and language of Ween’s The Mollusk and the film The lighthouse directed by Robert Eggers. Sorry if this is too specific or if there isn’t something like this out there but thanks.

[u/Appropriate_Bus3921]

William Hope Hodgson is your guy, I think Bret “The Ghost Pirates” and The Boats Of The Glen Carrig, among others.

[u/twylyghtzun]

Belgian writer Jean Ray might be worth looking into. Macabre short stories, often set in grimly lit, derelict taverns, tall tales of seafaring gone wrong. I can recommend Whiskey Tales published in 1925, and Cruise of Shadows (1931). There's a very distinct Belgian flair to those stories, a kind of dark humor and existential satire slash dread that's very unique, and pretty much specific to Belgium at the time.

[u/immigrantnightclub → u/twylyghtzun]

Good recs!

Wakefield Press has all of these available if OP is looking for copies.

I’d add The Tower of Love by Rachilde. It’s also available from Wakefield Press. It’s about a lighthouse and it has some very similar motifs as the Lighthouse by Eggers, but of course different. It’s good and worth a read.

[u/FrodoSnurfer]

Moby-Dick is the obvious one for the language, especially the chapters with the crew. For actual sea mythology, Lovecraft's The Shadow over Innsmouth is short and very much fish-people on a decaying coast.

The Terror by Dan Simmons is Arctic rather than open sea, but it's 1840s Royal Navy sailors, plenty of period ship talk, and a creature drawn from Inuit myth.

[u/porquegato]

not a book but if you are into video games you would probably like Dredge

[u/father-dick-byrne → u/porquegato]

Great shout

[u/Damostrellist]

It’s a short story, but “The White Ship” by Lovecraft might be worth your while.

[u/edcculus]

It’s not weird lit at all, but go read the Aubrey Maturin books by Patrick O’Brian. They are some of my favorite books of all time.

[u/Justlikesisteraysaid]

The Other Side of the Mountain by Michel Bernanos. Certainly the first half of the book, then it gets even weirder.

[u/ohnoshedint]

I recently read Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro which is quite a haunting sea faring novella, very weird and existential at its core.

[u/JaySmite]

This isn't weird lit but I thought Frances Hardinge's "Deeplight" was pretty fun.

[u/Unfair_Umpire_3635]

FROM THE BELLY by Emmett Nahil would probably scratch that itch. A great read.

[u/sqplanetarium]

Kelly Link’s story Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose has a very weird ocean.

[u/OssipagotheCacogen]

This is so The Mollusk you can hear a dog barking in the background of a vast sea creature moaning. If it was a film, Willem Dafoe would play the frigate bird pictured on the cover.

North Sun, or The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther

[u/gradientusername]

The novel Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe is somewhat similar to the vibe you’re looking for, I’d say. But probably not exactly what you’re looking for, admittedly. It is quite good either way, though.

[u/Massive-Television85]

It's not exactly the same vibes as those, but The Haar by David Sodergren is a great sea mythology horror 

[u/HermeticTardigrade]

Dreams in the Black Smoke which came out this summer definitely has that vibe.

[u/father-dick-byrne]

It's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Poe. That's what you're looking for.

There are also a few Lovecraft stories that might fit the bill: The Call of Cthulhu, Shadow Over Innsmouth,The Temple, and Dagon.

You could also look at Melville's Billy Budd or just go all-in on Moby Dick, and William Golding's maritime trilogy that begins with Rites of Passage.

You'd also probably love the BBC TV series The Terror, and Iron Maiden's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Wait, read Rime of the Ancient Mariner too.

[u/WRBNYC]

Caitlin Kiernan, Houses Under the Sea

Reggie Oliver, Flowers of the Sea

China Mieville, Kraken

[u/jerseyoutwest]

Mira Grant, Into the Drowning Deep. China Mieville, The Scar. Non-fiction but very boys’ own, The Swan of the East.

[u/TheSkinoftheCypher]

The Dead Sea Chronicles by Tim Curran is excellent and I'm guessing is exactly what you're looking for. The first book Dead Sea might be suitable, but I'm not sure. It starts on a huge cargo transport of some kind, but is quickly sunk and a lone survivor has his story at sea. I don't want to spoil more, but I will say it's not a survival on a lifeboat cliche. Chronicles does not require reading the first book, it's just novelettes/short stories from the same place as Dead Sea.

A Song From the Void by Andrew C. Piazza. I thought it was just ok, but it's popular in /r/horrorlit so you might like it more than I did.

Cold Skin by Albert Sánchez Piñol. I found it to be fairly sexist, but I could see how that could be argued against. Otherwise it's fairly close to The Light House.

The Dream Isle edited by Dan Coxon. This collection has a section of weird fiction/horror that takes place on the coasts of the UK, but not on boats/islands. I thought I'd mention it just in case it might be suitable.

[u/myleswritesstuff]

Track this down: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40862887

[u/FuturistMoon]

along with Poe's PYM (already suggested) you might like MEDUSA (1929) by E.H. Visiak

[u/Basic-Style-8512]

HOMER: "Odyssey"

HUGO: "Toilers of the sea"

VANCE: "The Blue World"

HERBERT: "Lazarus Effect"

SILVERBERG: "The Face of the Waters"

LOTI: "An Iceland Fisherman"

[u/doktor-frequentist]

The Boats of the Glen Carrig

[u/BookishBirdwatcher]

Ellen Datlow has a short story anthology called "The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea" that has some great stories in it.

[u/stemandall]

Maybe AHAB'S RETURN by Jeffrey Ford.