Recommend me some horror books!

Seconded. Also:

The Hellbound Heart and Books of Blood - Clive Barker
The Doll Who Ate His Mother - Ramsey Campbell
The Island of Doctor Moreau - H.G. Wells
Salem's Lot and The Shining - Stephen King

Also, a lot of Lovecraft's stuff is good, although he does vary. You could start with The Haunter of the Dark and Other Tales, which includes some of the best stories, and if you like that, go from there. I think there's a lot of horror in some SF, such as The Road by Cormac McCarthy or Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, which is arguably the first zombie story.
 
Nerds_feather said:
In the mood. Just read Stephen King's Joyland and bought The Dead Zone, plus have Lauren Beukes The Shining Girls for later. Am curious about Scott Smith's The Ruins and up for other recs.
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Hi, NF.

Not sure how deep your reading in horror is, but in case you want recent books, here goes ...

The Ritual by Adam Nevill. Plot summary sounds hokey -- four college friends hiking uncharted regions of Swedish forest -- but Nevill writes with conviction and some flair, making this somewhat grueling in spots, but believable even in the face of the fantastic.

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. Kinda vampire fiction with a twist. There are dark regions of the mind in this one, and Vic, Hill's main character, is a fine creation. So is Charlie Manx, the villain of the piece, who may even think he's not a villain. A few readers have said this is a bit long, but I didn't feel so. I thought Hill told his story with what was needed and no more or less, unlike some of what I've read by his old man (Stephen King), but with a feel early on like some of his father's best early work.

Deadfall Hotel by Steve Rasnic Tem. Really a collection of stories, most of novella length, I think. Father becomes manager of a titular hotel and he and his daughter have to deal with an array of interesting and sometimes threatening guests. Fortunately the previous manager has stayed on as caretaker to help guide them. Another where summary isn't sufficient. The stories, in their grappling with a father/daughter relationship and the wonders of the world around us has something of a Bradbury feel to it, though Tem doesn't write with the verve of Bradbury. His is a more tempered approach, which adds a different flavor of melancholy to the proceedings.

The Red Tree by Caitlin Kiernan. A psychological thriller/fantasy in which the narrator isn't entirely reliable so while you're certain she's facing a threat, you're not so certain whether it's from within or without. This is one of the best fantasy/horror novels I've read in the last few years and Kiernan's next novel, The Drowning Girl was only a little less appealing to me.

If you read short stories, try Glen Hirshberg's The Two Sams. One of the best ghost story writers around, these are understated and creepy. There's only one story in the book (5 stories total) that I thought weak, and that was only in comparison to the other stories.


A few older books:
Finishing Touches by Thomas Tessier. No supernatural element at all, and this still manages to be one of the creepiest books I've ever read as we watch a young man's gradual corruption.

The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore. Is Bertrand a werewolf or isn't he? Recently reissued in an affordable trade pb edition for the first time in many years, this is the grand-daddy of werewolf novels and a fine melding of horror story -- people keep ending up dead around Bertrand -- and social satire.

Lastly, if you like haunted house fiction, try Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, the best such novel I've ever read, and Richard Matheson's Hell House, his response to Jackson's novel, which I've heard didn't satisfy him as a reader. The former is a literary work in the best sense of that term, exploring the psychology of it's characters, in particular Eleanor, more affected by the atmosphere of Hill House than any of the others. The latter is sort of like the pulp version, but still powerful and with some set pieces that are memorably disturbing.


Randy M.
 
Randy M. said:
The Red Tree by Caitlin Kiernan. A psychological thriller/fantasy in which the narrator isn't entirely reliable so while you're certain she's facing a threat, you're not so certain whether it's from within or without. This is one of the best fantasy/horror novels I've read in the last few years and Kiernan's next novel, The Drowning Girl was only a little less appealing to me.
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I really like the sound of this one. I looked it up intending to get hold of a copy and then I saw the cover...

5356476.jpg


I think I might be too embarrassed to be seen reading that!
 
Wow, you got some amazing recommendations right off the bat. I would like to second all of what has been offered up so far. Joe Hill has emerged as something very special recently; I finished NOS4A2 a month ago and loved it. A very different and unique vampire tale. Anything from Clive Barker's early days will scare your pants off; I recommend Books of Blood and Hellbound Heart, even Weaveworld. Stephen King is a must, Dead Zone was a good choice. I Am Legend from Richard Matheson is a damn masterpiece. Peter Straub's Koko and Ghost Story are also very good choices.

Have fun with them, take care of them, and remember to leave the lamp on when you fall asleep. :)
 
Nerds_feather said:
In the mood. Just read Stephen King's Joyland and bought The Dead Zone, plus have Lauren Beukes The Shining Girls for later. Am curious about Scott Smith's The Ruins and up for other recs.
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The Ruins was pretty good...definitely much better than the movie.

Toby Frost recommended Salem's Lot, which I read very recently and enjoyed, although it's a bit old-fashioned and anti-climactic. Still worth a read for that small-town-turns-to-ashes vibe.

I'm reading The Shining now, and though it's a little uneven, it is still dreadfully effective at bringing you along for the ride as the protagonist slowly descends into madness. King's stream-of-thought technique in this novel is unmatched in anything else I've read. Consequently, it's taking me much longer to read than usual because I feel so awful after I finish the darker chapters.
 
Some awesome recommendations so far! Let me just fill in a bit on my background with horror: I've read a fair portion of stuff that crosses over with SF, especially post-apocalyptic SF, like I am Legend, The Road, Day of the Triffids, etc. I've read some Clive Barker and a bit of Stephen King. I've read plenty of zombie books and, at the moment, don't really need to read any more. I'm allergic to vampires, evil sentient mechanical items and need ghost stories to be fairly atmospheric and psychological in order to enjoy them. On the other hand, I love the idea of the horror being in the environment or coming from creepy cults and unreliable narrators are also appealing to me.

The Ritual certainly sounds enticing to me.
 
Fried Egg said:
I really like the sound of this one. I looked it up intending to get hold of a copy and then I saw the cover...

[...]

I think I might be too embarrassed to be seen reading that!
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The cover is a bit ... romance novelish, which is not the group of readers I'd expect to warm to the book. For what it's worth, the novel is superior of its type -- weird fantasy -- and a fine novel of character besides.

Think of yourself as a brave reader, willing to suffer the brickbats of critical adversity and personal scorn to secure and read the very best works available no matter what their covers!

As for myself, I managed to appear manly by deepening my speaking voice and hiding my copy behind a Playboy magazine.

(*cough*)


Randy M.
 
Nerds_feather said:
Some awesome recommendations so far! Let me just fill in a bit on my background with horror: I've read a fair portion of stuff that crosses over with SF, especially post-apocalyptic SF, like I am Legend, The Road, Day of the Triffids, etc. I've read some Clive Barker and a bit of Stephen King. I've read plenty of zombie books and, at the moment, don't really need to read any more. I'm allergic to vampires,
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Just to defend vampires: The interesting ones don't sparkle.

There, I feel better now.

Seriously, a lot of good vampire fiction plays with the concept of vampires -- Matheson's vamps in I am Legend are certainly not Dracula. And that's true of Hill's NOS4A2 and Suzy McKee Charnas' "Unicorn Tapestry" vampire and John Langan's outer space vamp in "The Wide, Carnivorous Sea." A lot of them could be termed parasitic -- like C. M. Kornbluth's "The Mindworm" -- and that would suffice, but the lore that's built up around the vampires has grown so writers like playing with it.

evil sentient mechanical items
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Not a fan of Sturgeon's "Killdozer"?

and need ghost stories to be fairly atmospheric and psychological in order to enjoy them.
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The Jackson novel, if you haven't read it, more than suffices. It is, for me at least, a novel that insinuates itself into your subconscious and never quite lets go. There is an excellent movie of it from the early 1960s, The Haunting (just don't confuse it with the 1990s remake -- bleeeech).

Matheson's novel manages atmosphere, too, but a more brutal, direct haunting. It is still disturbing in its explicitness, even though published in the early 1970s.

On the other hand, I love the idea of the horror being in the environment or coming from creepy cults and unreliable narrators are also appealing to me.

The Ritual certainly sounds enticing to me.
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In his acknowledgements to The Ritual, Nevill mentions Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, James Dickey and Cormac McCarthy. Nevill knows what's been written about the mysteries and events in secluded areas of the world, and I think that shows in some sage story choices. I have yet to read Dickey's Deliverance but the others I've read, and they'd be worth your time to check into, in particular Blackwood's "The Willows" and "The Wendigo," both available from Project Gutenberg.

I also recently bought, but haven't read, Nevill's Last Days which deals with a creepy cult. That sounds right up your alley.

For unreliable narrator, besides the Kiernan novels, try Ramsey Campbell's The Grin of the Dark. This one is excellent, the threads so tightly woven, the progression of the story so excruciating while you hope the main character can avoid what you see coming ... the ending is all the more chilling when you realize what's been happening.

Oh, and I'd second the Lovecraft and Straub recommendations. Barker I still need to get to. Seems like I always get side-tracked when I think I'm going to read him.

One of these days.


Randy M.
 
Hmmm.... I don't care for the overabundance of vampire fiction I see floating around, but there are some very fine examples still to be found. A rather unusual take on it is Dan Simmons' Carrion Comfort which, despite a few flaws, is, for my money, one of the best horror books of the past 30 years. And for older tales, such things as E. F. Benson's "The Room in the Tower", "Mrs. Amworth", and "Caterpillars" (again, a rather unusual take on the vampire theme) are all worth looking up.

Zombies? Well, it depends on what you expect. The section of William F. Seabrook's The Magic Island (about his experiences in Haiti) dealing with zombies remains genuinely uncomfortable reading even today, close to a century after its original publication. You can find this chapter, "Dead Men Working in the Cane Fields", in Montague Summers' massive The Supernatural Omnibus, should you not be interested in reading The Magic Island in its entirety... though reading it certainly can add something to reading Henry S. Whitehead's stories about the West Indies and their various supernatural inhabitants. Speaking of which, Whitehead's own take on the zombie, "jumbee", etc., beliefs, are often quite original and carry a great deal of verisimilitude. (And his short story "The Lips" is one of the nastiest pieces it has been my, um, pleasure to encounter.)
 
You know, if all else fails, rustle up a copy of THE MONSTER CLUB by R. Chetwynd-Hayes. Highly recommended.
 
Nerds_feather said:
In the mood. Just read Stephen King's Joyland and bought The Dead Zone, plus have Lauren Beukes The Shining Girls for later. Am curious about Scott Smith's The Ruins and up for other recs.
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Feather - amazingly, as I've read very little horror at all - I have actually read Scott Smith's The Ruins. I can't decide what to tell you... like all Smith's books, I suspect, it is an easy read - he's fast paced and writes quite well. I read his Simple Plan (not horror) and it was very good - much better then The Ruins in my view. The problem with The Ruins for me was that I thought there was going to be more to it than there was (monster/undead/creature-wise) and some of the images were truly disturbing to me. Though maybe that's a good thing if you're into horror! But for me, some scenes left a real mark that wasn't entirely pleasant. I've read some Stephen King and don't feel the same way about his work at all. Perhaps I'm just a wuss, but I'd only partially recommend it. If you like things grisly, with characters in huge amounts of pain for large periods of the book, it may be more your cup of tea than mine.
 
Randy M. said:
Think of yourself as a brave reader, willing to suffer the brickbats of critical adversity and personal scorn to secure and read the very best works available no matter what their covers!
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Well, I've just started "The Red Tree" (and I've got by brown paper bag). I'll let you know how much I enjoy it...
 
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