Horror Recommendations!

Hemingway · May 1st, 2003, 06:19 PM

What Horror novels do you recommend?

**fluffy bunny** · May 1st, 2003, 07:21 PM

The Stand- Stephen King (pet semetary and the shining are also worth reading)

Have a look though the HP lovecraft tales (depends on the anthology you pick up as to which ones occur in which volume)- quite a few pretty good ones - try and find one with montains of madness in it to start with

Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood- Algernon Blackwood (is an antholgy edited by Bleiler

I am Legend - Matheson (sp?)
Frankenstein- Shelly
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - R.L. Stevenson
The Exorcist- Blatty
Something Wicked This Way Comes- Ray Bradbury
Hungry Moon- Ramsey Campbell (good luck finding it though)
Rosemary's Baby- Ira Levin
Imajica- Clive Barker
Sineater- Massie
Relic- Preston
Sacrifice- Vachss
The Between - Tananarive Due
Lost Souls - Brite

[on the edit]

Ah- found the list I was using to decide what to read when I got back into the genre last yr:

http://www.horror.org/readlist.htm

(it's been updated with winners of the Stoker awards- oh surprise surprise- american gods won last year)

**AuntiePam** · May 4th, 2003, 03:04 PM

fluffy bunny, At the Mountains of Madness is my favorite HPL story.

Extremely powerful story. HPL has never been better. I had to grab a blanket while reading it -- did anything like that happen with you?

I'd like to read it again, but re-reads are often a disappointment, and I don't want to ruin the memories of that story.

**fluffy bunny** · May 5th, 2003, 01:23 AM

It's easy to forget how much tension one author can pack into such a relatively small number of pages. I think my sanity was preserved by reading it in 2 sittings rather than one due to time, but I was gripped nonetheless.

Loved the style Lovecraft writes in- MoM hooked me from the start. 'I am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why. It is altogether against my will that I tell my reasons for opposing this contemplated invasion of the antarctic - with its vast fossil hunt and its wholesale boring of the ancient ice caps. And I am all the more reluctant because my warning may be in vain.' From there, it starts off benign enough, but it builds and builds. Genius.

I find that the short stories of Lovecraft are best read between big novels of genres based in normality rather than all in one big chunk. Keeps you on your toes, looking over your shoulder. Something is out there brewing in the background of normailty, and the quest to find it has driven many people insane. Conspiracy lovers would thrive on it. In one go, I'd imagine Lovecraft loses some of his impact.

**AuntiePam** · May 5th, 2003, 05:36 PM

Fluffy, I think you must be right, about interspersing HPL with normal reading.

Did you ever think that the Necronomicon might actually exist? That HPL knew something we didn't, that his "fictional" stories were the only way he could tell us about The Old Ones?

At the least, did you ever think that HPL believed what he was writing? I sure do, uh, er, did.

There lies madness. Now I'm freaking myself out.

**Zaknafein** · May 9th, 2003, 05:22 AM

Most recently, I enjoyed "Sumer of Night" and "A Winter Haunting" by Dan Simmons very much.

**Heathen** · May 9th, 2003, 10:15 AM

SWAN SONG by Robert McCammon

IT by Stephen King

Good horror short stories by Rob't McCammon in BLUE WORLD

**Gravity's End** · May 14th, 2003, 02:53 PM

Originally posted by AuntiePam

Did you ever think that the Necronomicon might actually exist? That HPL knew something we didn't, that his "fictional" stories were the only way he could tell us about The Old Ones?

Of course, there is a book that came out years ago purporting to be "the real" Necronomicon. I read through it, and it appeared to be the mediocre result of an attempt to sell books through marketing, but hey, you may want to take a look at it.

The foreward, which includes some hilarious accounts of "tragedies" and "odd events" coinciding with the publishing of the book is worth reading, just for laughs.

**AuntiePam** · May 14th, 2003, 05:47 PM

Gravity's End, I think I've heard of that one. Yeah, it's not the real thing, of course, and by now I realize that the real thing doesn't exist.

But it was fun, back in the late 70's, calling bookstores and asking did they have this book, and then having to spell it for them.

**diabolus** · June 30th, 2003, 03:33 PM

Does Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door count as horror? I'd say so. There were some pretty horrible scenes, that's for sure.

**AuntiePam** · July 3rd, 2003, 03:14 PM

diabolus -- The Girl Next Door probably counts as horror but without the supernatural aspect. Or is there a supernatural aspect? I haven't read it -- it's a psycho killer story, isn't it?

**Chick Flava** · December 1st, 2003, 02:42 PM

Originally posted by Zaknafein
Most recently, I enjoyed "Sumer of Night" and "A Winter Haunting" by Dan Simmons very much.

Summer of Night! I loved that book. I also recommend it.

**NeuroMortis** · December 4th, 2003, 03:10 PM

Read The List of Seven by Mark Frost.

No, really. Go. Right now. Buy it. Read it. Fear it.

**Radone** · January 10th, 2004, 03:56 PM

I finished "The Fallen" by Dale Bailey and am in the middle of his next book "House of Bones".
I usually don't read horror, but I've really liked his books so far.

**LUKEDAWG** · January 18th, 2004, 05:25 PM

The Fallen..any relation to the movie w/ denzel Washington and John Goodman, where the detective finds this demon that passes through people by touch? Love that movie!