Thread: Good Horror.

Originally Posted by WriterDude

Clive Barker - The Hellbound Heart (aka Hellraiser) and Books of Blood. It doesn't really get more sick and nasty than that.

I would like to also vote for The Hellbound Heart. It's a wonderful book! Definitely check it out! It's a quick and easy read and it will keep you wanting more.

Originally Posted by An Axe to Grundd

I agree. Stephen King has matured as a writer. Sure, maybe he sold out a little, but most success stories require this because so many people are narrow minded about their media, they don't want to be challenged. I thoroughly enjoyed Cell, The Duma Key, and Lisey's Story. I thought Lisey's Story was one of his very best.

House of Leaves was fantastic! I love it. Creepy as hell, I slept with the lights on.

finished this about a month ago and absolutely loved it. It sucks you in and when you're not reading it you are thinking about it. Or at least I was.

Originally Posted by Stewart

We have a thread on it here. I thought it a dreadful attempt at trying to be more literary and, despite being a voracious reader, he's just not able to carry off the influential styles of others to his own prose.

I haven't had the chance to sit down and read Lisey's Story yet, but as soon as my reading schedule opens up for a brief amount of time, I plan on picking this little morsel up and devouring it. Whether it is shit or not. King is a better writer than I'll ever be, so even if it is shit, I'm not going to complain to loudly about it.

Also, for anyone who does like Richard Laymon, or for that matter gritty, visceral, hardcore horror, then I highly recommend reading anything and everything by a man named Brian Keene. He's brilliant.

I'm about to finish up The Strain by Chuck Hogan and Guillermo del Toro. So far, it's brilliant. I'm finding out rather quickly that anything with del Toro's name on it, is going to be excellent. del Toro gives a new twist to vampire's that I think really needed it, especially after that whole Stephanie Meyer fiasco, that the silent majority are regretting now.

Some stuff not mentioned-Dennis Etchison's Red Dreams and Dark Country are superb volumes of short fiction. His auteurial voice is unique and the stories are well-written, unusual, and satisfying in a sick way.
John Farris' All Heads Turn As the Hunt Goes By has a number of genuinely creepy moments...imo it's much better than the bulk of his output, which is pedestrian.
Almost anything by James Herbert is worth picking up Likewise C.L. Grant.
LP Davies' The Paper Dolls is an excellent and overlooked volume. You could also pick up a collection or novel by Ramsey Campbell, onetime Lovecraft disciple and the man who inspired Clive Barker to write horror. Particularly recommended are the collection Cold Print and the novel Ancient Images.
Ira Levin is another name to reckon with. His titles are well-known because most of them became movies, but the books are better. Rosemary's Baby, This Perfect World, The Stepford Wives, The Boys from Brazil...those are good reading.
Nobody has mentioned in this thread the redoubtable Richard Matheson. Possibly the best fit is his Hell House, which attempts to one-up Shirley Jackson and almost succeeds.