Horror debutant

Pennarin

Pennarin

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Joined
Aug 21, 2011
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So, I'm this regular genre fan...of SF, who's only recently decided to take the plunge to horror.
Deciding points? A few horror-themed SF stories, for sure, but it started with Dan Simmons' Summer of Nights and A Winter Haunting, then Caitlín R. Kiernan's The Dry Salvages, and finally audiobooks of H. P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Shadow over Innsmounth".

I've just bought and await shipping on Centipede Press' Masters of the Weird Tale H. P. Lovecraft volume, and PS Publishing's Black Wings: Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, edited by S. T. Joshi, plus classics such as a Frankenstein from Centipede Press and a Dracula from Norton.

What else would you propose a beginner, and why?

Thanks in advance for the effort, boys and girls.
 
Bravo you, Pennarin, for taking the leap.

It is quite a rich and diverse area. I'm pleased you've taken the Lovecraft, which I really like but I can usually only read in small doses. And the Centipede Press edition is lovely looking (but very expensive!) Add Edgar Allen Poe to the list of classics to try (though I'm not a big fan of his poetry, if I'm honest.)

Can I suggest you look through Randy M's suggestions for Halloween for more ideas? Lots of good stuff there, and enough detail to give you an idea of whether you think you'd like them or not.

Personally, I'm going to add M R James, the master of the creepy ghost story. I'm also going to suggest one that Randy recommended as a sampler a few years ago: Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural edited by Phyllis Cerf Wagner & Herbert Wise. Probably the best ever collection, in my opinion, for the range if nothing else, is The Dark Descent, edited by David Hartwell - so large a book it was divided into three when published here in the UK.
 
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I just finished up Laird Barron's short story collection That Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and really enjoyed it. He does a great job with characters and setting up the scene before dropping us into a world similar to Lovecraft.
 
Wow, thanks people! I've checked every one of the suggestions, and archived those I liked for future consideration.

One thing I did not think to ask: what are the good stories that mix SF and non-supernatural horror?
 
Pennarin said:
Wow, thanks people! I've checked every one of the suggestions, and archived those I liked for future consideration.

One thing I did not think to ask: what are the good stories that mix SF and non-supernatural horror?
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From October 2010

Several short stories there, and frankly that list doesn't exhaust the possibilities. My knowledge of novel length sf/horror is sketchy, though. For instance, I never got into Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, etc.) but he might be one to consider.


Randy M.
 
Apart from the writers mentioned in the cosmic horror thread, I would recommend Robert Aickman and Brian Evenson. Aickman writes ghost stories with a twist - the explanation might be supernatural but it might also be psychological. His stories aren't finished neat and tidy but will make you think.

Evenson is hard to describe. There aren't any monsters in his stories, but just people, lost people, often doing incomprehensible acts of violence. The violence is described very detailed in a very detached fashion and is completely devoid of any moral judgement. This makes for some tough and very draining reads, but it is all worth it.

For me, though, the king of horror is Thomas Ligotti. I haven't read anything that comes close to Teattro Grotesco and Grimscribe in quality. The atmosphere and sense of oppression is overwhelming, and Ligotti writes like a god.
 
Yeah, from the list, “The Screwfly Solution” by James Tiptree, Jr. was anguishing as hell. I had to stop reading it several times.
 
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Pennarin said:
Yeah, from the list, “The Screwfly Solution” by James Tiptree, Jr. was anguishing as hell. I had to stop reading it several times.
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"[A]nguishing" is a good word for it.

And I can't believe I didn't think of Ligotti. Or Aickman, for that matter for the csomic horror thread. Sheesh.


Randy M.
 
Stephen King? I love his horror books, though he sucks at endings.
 
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