Yeah instead of recommendations for horror books I made the title of thread weird. I need to read horror books. So are there any recommendations for horror books that you have? [And do not suggest Stephen King, he is not a horror writer all of his books are blah and you get tired of him after a while] I like deep horror something kind of like Poe or Lovecraft. I have the hardest time finding anything good, I like that novel Heart Shape Box.
WTH? You obviously have never read The Shining, cuz if that isn't horror then there is no such genre. So maybe what you really are looking for is CLASSIC GOTHIC HORROR, not general, modern horror. If that's the case, then go immediately to Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.
The Shining was good, but Everlasting was better. But all of his stuffed his rehashed crud that I have read before. Read Dracula before Brahm's Strokers Dracula...didn't scare me much. Read Frankenstein all the versions...didn't scare me. Read Wuthering Heights...Gutenberg.org got me reading old stories.
What is Everlasting? Author? So was it written before 1977? If not, then Everlasting is rehashed crud. Get rid of your bias, and you will enjoy Carrie or Salem's Lot or Misery. I don't care for any of his newer stuff. Or google gothic horror classic, and look for other old crap dated in the 1800's. That sounds like what you're after.
Oooops. I call it everlasting all the time. Cause the first time I saw I thought it said everlasting, but it was when I first woke up in the morning somehow I mumbled going read that. Everything is Eventual by Stephen King, I think its better then The Shining. And I like Black House, but that was Peter Straub and Stephen King. It isn't a bias, its just everything modern these days are about really annoying whining characters that I really hate. Why is this happening to me? Uh cause it is. Why me? Because its you now please get on with your haunting And most ghost stories go something like this: Buy a house it has a history Some weird things happen in the house, but it doesn't bother you Continue living with weird things Oh ghost tries to kill you Go to library check history, be horrified [Don't look for a new house just continue living in your old one] Climax ghost gets really angry You and ghost have fight, you survive You find a new house You live happily in your new house
So it's a different plot you're wanting? Don't they say there are actually only like 7 basic plots that exist, so it's a matter of a writer taking one of these plots and breathing an awesome story into it. Misery was so intense and riveting...really it was an awesome horror/thriller. Same with Salem's Lot. I think you're just too picky. Go read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I dare you. Okay, blah, blah, blah,...she recycles a bunch of other books' plots...whatever, but it is a totally addicting read. Promise. Also, maybe try Ghost Story by Peter Straub. (I haven't read it myself, so I can't swear to it being good; but my father loved it.)
Are there characters who continuely ask themselves, why me? Do they continuely cry and whine? Do they say leave me alone? If yes, no thank you. If no, then I'll try them.
I doubt it with Ghost Story. Not a chance, with The Hunger Games. The MC is a kick-ass girl, take-no-prisoners type; very much the anti-Bella of Twilight.
Ugh a girl as the main character. I cannot connect with girl main characters, not at all. Only male characters.
Okay, I have a few other recommendations. If you nix ALL of these, then I know you just like being a contrarian and will ignore further questions from you. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury The language is a bit archaic, but the basic horror elements are all there I think. The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris Hannibal is two times the villain that The Joker is in The Dark Knight. And if you had googled classic gothic horror, you would have come up w/these: The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) by Ann Radcliffe Vathek, an Arabian Tale (1786) by William Thomas Beckford Caleb Williams (1794) by William Godwin The Monk (1796) by Matthew Lewis Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley The Vampyre (1819) by John William Polidori Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) by Charles Robert Maturin Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821) by Thomas De Quincey The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824) by James Hogg Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker The Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James Gormenghast (1946 - 1959) by Mervyn Peake The Curious Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde () by Robert Louis Stevenson The Castle of Otranto () by Horace Walpole
Hannibal Lecter is my fave character. He is the best cannibal on the planet. Silence of the Lambs good book, good movie. Hannibal was also mentioned in Red Dragon. I like Ray Bradbury, he's cool.
LMAO!! SK isn't a horror writer? It's cool if you don't like SK, I'm a bit put off of him anymore myself and feel much of his newer work is 'blah'. But his name is synonymous with horror. If you read Carrie, Salem's Lot and Pet Cemetery and come back saying it isn't horror, then I know you're just not paying attention. He actually got labeled as a horror writer in his early years as a writer and tried to break out with a few failed novels, one about a race riot, to no avail. Also, you do realize the relationship between him and the author of Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill? Which was a pretty darn good book, imo.
Ahh, thank you, thank you, Garmar, for talking some sense into this dude, lol! I hate most everything King writes now, but his old stuff is classic horror, and excellent at that, imo.
I'm very fond of his short fiction anthologies. He has less room to work with and they are not as likely to suffer from the 'bloat' that most of his work is afflicted with. His novella's tend to be like normal novels. Misery is one of my fav's also. Not true horror like his earliest work, but quite horrifying in it's on right!
Leaka, you sound like a very picky person. Stephen King is one of the best horror writers out there. To say he isn't is bordering on ignorance. Yes, his latest stuff may not be his best, but his earlier works are mostly brilliant. I recommend reading Misery, Salem's Lot, Carrie, The Shining, and Cell. Dean Koontz is also one of the top horror writers around. He's a little wordy, but his characters are mostly likeable, his stories good, and his books scary. The Taking is one of the scariest books I've read in years. Check it out. Next time you're in a bookstore, check out the horror section. I'm sure there's loads of new horror writers out there. Some of them have to take your fancy.
I am very picky, that is one of my flaws when it comes to books. I am sorry even his older stuff was like meh to me. Maybe its because my horror, just like my comedy, is a bit jaded. I watch and read to many foreign horrors and horrors books so Stephen King to me isn't horror. I like some stuff from Dean Koontz. @gramar: Even though Joe Hill and Stephen King have a close relationship, that doesn't make Joe Hill Stephen King. I like the ideas in the Heart Shaped Box. But to me that wasn't exactly scary or horrifying. I like the idea: "Maybe ghost hide minds and not places"
in your opinion stephen king is "blah" in my opinion...that man is a writing GENIUS. My grandfather has collected every single book that man has published. god...if only he were single and into younger gals
Well... I'd suggest Lovecraft and Poe's short stories (if you haven't already), and really any short story calling itself horror. I find short stories have better horror value than novels. Just, y'know, look around a lot.
I go to a used bookstore, to the end of the horror section, & pick up paperback anthologies by various authors. My favorite authors are Isaac Asimov, Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, Robert Bloch, Anthony Boucher, Ray Bradbury, Frederic Brown, Ramsey Campbell, Hugh B Cave, August Dereleth, Thomas M Disch, Harlan Ellison, Philip Jose Farmer, Charles L Grant, Robert A Heinlein, Robert E Howard, W W Jacobs, M R James, Stephen King, Henry Kuttner, Joe R Landsdale, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Tanith Lee, Fritz Leiber, Thomas Ligotti, H P Lovecraft, Brian Lumley, Arthur Machen, Kim Newman, Joyce Carol Oates, Edgar Allen Poe, Robert M Price, Joanna Russ, Clark Ashton Smith, Bram Stoker, Theodore Sturgeon, Steve Rasnic Tem, Lisa Tuttle, Manly Wade Wellman, and F Paul Wilson. Many of these write/had written novels also, so you can look these up.
im not sure if anyones already mentioned this or not..but the author of Heart Shaped Box is stephen Kings son...If I remember correctly. Stephen King is a phenomenal writer and has written some truly amazing books, but he does get a little bit redundant sometimes. If you want a truly creepy and disturbing horror book that I read was about a bunch of people that decided to stay in a cabin in the woods and there were a bunch of inbreds that were cannibals. I can't for the life of me remember the name..it was sickening and terrifying! That's one book I wished I hadn't read. "Off Season" By Jack Ketchum!!!!!! That's the one. Damn that was a disturbing book
When I was a kid, I pretty much worshiped Steven King. I had only read two of his novels at the time, Carrie and Salem's Lot, and I was not a person who scared easily, but even I got scared. Carrie is scary, not because its about a teenager who has psychic abilities, but because of that overbearing Christian mother. She gave me the creeps. Salem's Lot wasn't scary when I was reading it, but I used to wake up a lot in the middle of the night, and when all is quiet and memories of what you had read come flooding back, it spooks you. I saw The Exorcist as a kid, and that didn't scare me at all, but yet King scared me. Speaking of The Exorcist, you might want to check out that novel. Stephen King is, for the most part, horror. Some have called him "Thriller", but as Eli Roth said "Thriller is what they call horror when they want to win an Academy Award" I don't know how I feel about King anymore, but I know that he has had WAY too much influence on me and my writing, or at least on my story ideas. lol! Anyways, back to the topic at hand. I bought a book, a while back, called On Writing Horror, and It really wasn't worth the 16 bucks I paid for it, but the people that put it out have a writers society called the "Horror writers association" and they have a web site, just do a Google search for it. They should have a list of Horror writers you can view and see if anything intrigue you. Clive Barker comes to mind as a writer to check out. Hellrasier was based on one of his short stories. Keep in mind though, a writer can only provide so much. Reading is a give and take thing. You need to help the story along by imagining it and giving it life. Create an environment, not just in your mind, but also around you to help build a sense of fear. Then if you're still not scared by anything, then you're SOL. lol!
