PageOfCups

Hi, I used to read horror books a lot when I was a kid but then I drifted over to fantasy. Lately though I've been getting curious about horror again. The problem with this is that when I took a look at the horror section the whole thing was taken up by Stephen King (who I have nothing against, but my mother was a prolific horror reader and tells me that he has one or two excellant books but the rest are mediocre and that seems to be the general concensus), Dean Koontz (who just doesn't interest me for some reason), and a slew of books with watered down vampires.

The last of these is what bothers me most. To me a horror book should be scary or it should make you cringe. Those books don't do either.

So I was wondering if someone could recomend me some good horror books that don't fall into any of those catagories. Thank you ^.^

lin

H.P. Lovecraft

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PageOfCups

Anything by him in particular or is pretty much everything of his worth reading? (thanks by the way)

SoNickSays...

I know you said not Stephen King, but I DO recommend Cell.

I know what you mean by King. The general plot of the book will be good, but then he seems to drift off into random explanations of completely irrelevant things.

But, Cell kept me interested (which is rare to me for a book of that size and for the annoying style King writes in), so hopefully it should you too.

PageOfCups

Well, I was really hoping to hear about authors that I'd never heard of, but I'll take a look at Cell. Thanks for telling me about it ^.^

Sam Winchester

Cell, in my opinion, is one of King's finest pieces of literature. For once the man didn't go off on a tangent every page.

Koontz is pretty good - I recommend reading The Taking.

Richard Matheson - I am Legend.

F. Paul Wilson - The Keep.

Susan Hill - The Woman in Black. (Chilling novel.)

Thomas Harris - The Silence of the Lambs

Clive Barker - Pretty much anything he's written.


Sam.

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To those who live by and never stray from the creedo of "show, don't tell," here's a thought - it's called storytelling not storyshowing.

PageOfCups

I've read one of Barkers, Cabal. I've ordered another one (The Hellbound Heart). Cabal was actually the book that reignited my interest in horror.

Thanks for the other recomendations ^.^ I'll definitely have to look into them.

Sam Winchester

Jack Priest - Gecko

James Rollins - The Judas Strain

Richard K. Morgan - Th1rTe3n (Thirteen)



Sam.

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To those who live by and never stray from the creedo of "show, don't tell," here's a thought - it's called storytelling not storyshowing.

Sam Winchester

Glad to help.

Sam.

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To those who live by and never stray from the creedo of "show, don't tell," here's a thought - it's called storytelling not storyshowing.

Katastrof

H.P Lovecraft's mostly shorts (I think) but they are really, really good. Some are bit on the long side and some are only for the most hardcore Lovecraft fans but here are a few good ones that I loved reading:

The Call of the Cthulhu
The Whisperer in the Darkness
The Music of Erich Zann
Pickman's Model
The Color of Outer Space

He's got a lot more but these I thought were the best that I have read so far.

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Read:

When The Man Comes Around

"Carpe Diem, quam minimum credula postero"
(Seize the day put no trust in tomorrow.) ~ Horace

PageOfCups

I thought James Rollins wrote action/thriller. I've got one of his (Map of Bones) and really enjoyed it. I didn't realise he wrote horror under that name. (I know he writes fantasy under the pen name James Clemens, he's kind of my role model when it comes to writing.)

The title Thirteen sounds familiar as well.

And Katastrof, thank you for letting me know what I'm looking for when it comes to Lovecraft ^.^

Malone

Good horror? I didn't know there was such a thing.

Everyone raves on Lovecraft. I have his complete works but have yet to read a single story.

Thomas Harris writes good page turners, but I always thought of them more as detective novels than horror, although I can see how they could be viewed that way.

Koontz is lame, watered down shit.

King is the man in this genre. IT, The Stand, The Dark Half, Christine, Desperation...I could go on and on. I've yet to find another writer in the horror genre that interest me anywhere near the level of King. He's as famous as he is for a reason.

SoNickSays...

I have heard of the success King received for The Stand, and I suppose once you're in to it The Dark Half gets good, but beware of IT and Christine! He just goes on and on and on and on!

Especially with IT.

Erm... to be very honest, King is really the only horror writer I have had the pleasure of reading a book from. Four Past Midnight, maybe? The Langoliers and Library Policeman are good inside that book.

Other than those I really can't suggest better horror books. I've been getting into them too, so I may have to check out the ones people recommend.

SoNickSays...

I have heard of the success King received for The Stand, and I suppose once you're in to it The Dark Half gets good, but beware of IT and Christine! He just goes on and on and on and on!

Especially with IT.

Erm... to be very honest, King is really the only horror writer I have had the pleasure of reading a book from. Four Past Midnight, maybe? The Langoliers and Library Policeman are good inside that book.

Other than those I really can't suggest better horror books. I've been getting into them too, so I may have to check out the ones people recommend.

horrormike

I would reccomend Clive Barker, Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, Poppy Z. Brite, Ryan Harding, Michael Slade, Bret Easton Ellis, Matthew Stokoe, John Skipp, and Monica J. O'Rourke. Those are all "extreme horror" authors, which is the genre I dig, and discovered after suffering pretty bad horror burnout (there are only so many zombie/vampire stories you can read!)