Looking to find some truly good horror.

[Joyrock]

So I'm a long time fan of Stephen King, having fell in love with his style; subtle but deeply disturbing, with tons of intrigue and revelations. I love how even to this day he manages to suck me in; Duma Key and Under The Dome were both fantastic books, and I still have a massive collection, although I haven't read all of it(I'm halfway through The Talisman, and stopped about halfway through Tommyknockers, which started out amazing in my opinion but lost all steam when it started looking at the townsfolk).

However, I'm approaching a bit of a roadblock; I'm running out of King books I haven't read(or at least ones with great interest, most of the major titles I've either read or don't wish to) and because of this and the fact that I have a general lack of exposure to horror, I'm running out of good horror.

I've loved Dean Koontz, but I've read so much of his work already, and I find that he lacks the subtlety King has most of the time. His work is still great, but I find it to be more of a hollywood-blockbuster kind of horror(It always baffled me that King, an author that really doesn't do so well with direct translations to film, gets so much more media than Koontz). Also, it has been awhile since I saw something from him that I didn't detest :/

I tried fixing this by venturing into another author I'd heard a lot about, Bentley Little. I read The Ignored, and it was fantastic even if it lost a bit of steam, and The Burning was ok. Started out MUCH stronger than it ended. However, the more of him I read, the less impressed I was as he seemed to just toss seemingly mindless scenes of grotesque acts at the reader; the end result wasn't horrific, it was just weird.

So are there any authors out there that DO approach King's level? I've been looking at picking up The Terror, and maybe some other Dan Simmons, and some of Clive Barker but beyond that I'm clueless.

 

[TheImp]

H P Lovecraft was a big inspiration for King, and i'd argue his work was better. It's mostly short stories though. Call of Cthulhu is his most famous and best work.

Richard Matheson is mostly known for I Am Legend aswell, but his horror novels are just as good. Can't go wrong with any of his stuff.

and yeah, Clive Barker is pretty good, i don't think he's as good as King though. definitely worth checking out all the same, i really liked the hellbound heart.

 

[CodanOfCanada]

In addition to TheImp's suggestions I recommend checking out Clark Ashton Smith's works and Robert E. Howard's horror works.

 

[Randy M.]

The suggestions so far are good (although I have yet to read any amount of Barker -- I have some catchin' up to do), Matheson in particular; in some ways King is Matheson 2.0.

If you're willing to read short fiction, you might start with some of the recent "Best of ..." anthologies to see if any particular writer catches your eye. You might also check out King's non-fiction book, Danse Macabre -- it badly needs updating (came out in the early '80s as I recall), but would give you names for many older writers you might find as entertaining as King did. Also, check some of the recent threads here for suggestions on "Fantastic horror" and novels about "going insane."

If you are really only interested in novel length horror, then you should know that that form only became truly popular after the 1960s. Before that, it was hit and miss and the majority of horror fiction was in the shorter forms.

A couple of King's influences:
Richard Matheson: I am Legend & Hell House (the latter is a sort of commentary on the Jackson's novel)
Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House

Some other writers who came before King:
Ray Bradbury: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Thomas Tryon: The Other & Harvest Home (I think you'd see some parallels with these and King's work)
Fritz Leiber: Our Lady of Darkness (his much older work, Conjure Wife was recently reissued and is worth reading, though it does show its age a bit)

King contemporaries:
Peter Straub: Ghost Story & Koko & lost boy lost girl (the last two are part of the 'Blue Rose' sequence of novels and stories, which I'd strongly recommend even though Mystery and The Throat aren't really horror, though they each have moments.)
Ramsey Campbell: The Doll Who Ate His Mother & Midnight Sun & Ancient Images (actually, you might start with the last; it's the closest to King-like that I've read by this writer. I find him more distanced from his characters than King is -- by which I mean, King writes so you pretty much know what he thinks of his characters, where Campbell leaves it to you to decide; Campbell's latest, Creatures from the Pool was just released in mass market pb)

Post-King:
Joe Hill: Heart-Shaped Box (first novel, good, though the end tails off a bit; Hill is King's son)
Douglas Clegg: Isis (didn't care for his Mischief, but your mileage may vary on that one; Neverland was recently reissued and that one looks interesting to me)

A stretch in directions away from the King trajectory:
Stewart O'Nan: The Night Country
Caitlin Kiernan: The Red Tree (if you're really addicted to King's style, this might not suit you, but it would be a stretch in a somewhat different direction from King)
Thomas Tessier: Finishing Touches (non-supernatural, but truly disturbing)
Patrick Susskind: Perfume
M. John Harrison: The Course of the Heart (this diverges quite a bit from King-like story-telling; I think it might be a love it/hate it book, with little range of reaction between those poles for most fantasy/horror readers)
Toni Morrison: Beloved


Randy M.

 

[TheImp]

The Shrinking Man is also really good, another matheson book.

 

[Joyrock]

Oh man I can't believe I forgot Something Wicked This Way Comes; along with Piers Anthony and Bradbury were my first ventures into Fantasy & Sci-Fi, and Bradbury still has a great deal of respect from me.

And also I do not mind short fiction at all; in fact, I love it. I am primarily looking for novel-length fiction, but good short story suggestions are more than welcome. I actually find that King is at his best with short stories, and Bradbury wrote some amazing ones

 

[Elatha]

Bentley Little is a talented author, but unfortunately his stories do tend to run out of steam toward the end, as you noticed with The Ignored. He seems to have a tendency to want to wrap up all of his plot threads too neatly, and it comes off feeling a little contrived on occasion. I'd say that of his works that I've read, The Ignored is probably the best, although The Walking was very good as well.

I'd definitely second the recommendation for Ramsey Campbell, although his style may well take some adjustment after cutting teeth on King and Koontz. Campbell often seems very cold and distant, but this plays very well into his themes of alienation. He frequently works with Lovecraftian themes, especially in his early works, which were sometimes little more than pastiches. As a starting point, I'd suggest trying The Parasite and The Darkest Part of the Woods. The latter in particular is a very strong work.

Tying Campbell for the title of best current horror author would be Thomas Ligotti. He is certainly the best prose stylist in the horror field. His work may be somewhat hard to fathom for many, as his worldview seems to be very different from most. Make no mistake, this is pitch-dark, difficult material, but it's endlessly rewarding reading. Sadly, many of his books are out of print, but if you can find a copy of The Nightmare Factory, I'd grab it in a heartbeat.

 

[ben1xy]

I'm currently reading Apartment 16. I'm liking it so far

 

[Randy M.]

Oh man I can't believe I forgot Something Wicked This Way Comes; along with Piers Anthony and Bradbury were my first ventures into Fantasy & Sci-Fi, and Bradbury still has a great deal of respect from me.

And also I do not mind short fiction at all; in fact, I love it. I am primarily looking for novel-length fiction, but good short story suggestions are more than welcome. I actually find that King is at his best with short stories, and Bradbury wrote some amazing ones

Elatha beat me to the punch -- I second Ligotti; more on him below.

I am a bit more comfortable with short stories -- category horror novels tend toward a sameness, so I don't read that many of them. (That said, I'm interested in either getting to or reading more by Little, Conrad Williams, Gary Braunbeck, Sarah Langan, and John Langan, among others.) By pure coincidence off-forum someone just asked me about collections I'd recommend, so I've tailored that list a bit for your question.

Ramsey Campbell: Alone With the Horrors (haven't finished; I tend to savor a few, then set it aside so I don't o.d.; he's a fine short story writer)
Poppy Z. Brite: Wormwood (Southern writer, some early work that feels a bit thin, but this shows her development. Some terrific, disturbing and fantastic work. Still see the pb on the stands.)
Michael Blumlein: The Brains of Rats (disturbing)
Glen Hirshberg: The Two Sams (He writes with enormous control of his content; "Mr. Dark's Carnival" is worth the price of admission. There was a trade pb.)
Kathe Koja: Extremities (Mix of types of stories, some leaning mainstream, some toward fantasy, all are dark. Pared down, direct and often emotionally charged in a way you wouldn't expect from such spare prose. Might be hard to find. Came out in trade pb as well as hardcover.)
Thomas Ligotti: Grimscribe & My Work is Not Yet Done (Latter title story, a short novel, is graphic, moreso than I expect from Ligotti. Both collections offer weirdness, the sense of experience being filtered through a skewed and perhaps insane perspective. Teatro Grottesco, another collection, is still in stories locally; I've read some of the stories in that and they are good.)
Sarah Monette: The Bone Key (Good melding of HP Lovecraft and MR James featuring a recurring character. Sometimes Monette feels a bit too nice, not quite ruthless enough for the material. But the last few stories are especially good.)
Brian MacNaughton: The Throne of Bones (Weird Tales weirdness, featuring ghouls; MacNaughton is riffing on the work of Clark Ashton Smith. Fun, and the suite of stories comprising the title story is powerful.)

Some mixed collections with horror stories:
Octavia Butler: Bloodchild and Other Stories (Again, pared down prose. Terrific s.f. title story, others very good, and the two essays are fascinating. See it in the bookstores still.)
Bob Leman: The Feesters in the Lake and Other Stories (Small press book, probably hard to find. Older work from the '60s and '70s that feels like it was written even earlier. Leman started writing when he was in his 40s or 50s, I believe, and these stories were finally pulled together in the early oughts. Solid work.)
Graham Joyce: Partial Eclipse and Other Stories (With his rep, I expected more fireworks, but it's solid & the novella "Leningrad Nights" is stunning, one of the best novellas I've read in awhile.)
John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights (Work from the 1920s-1950s. Fantasy, mystery, horror, humor, just good story-telling, all couched in impeccable prose.)

Some older works that might interest you:
Clark Ashton Smith: Zothique (Absolutely one of the best books of fantasy I've read in the last 10 years.)
The Ghost Stories of Murial Spark (Not really scary, but terrific writing.)
Fritz Leiber: You're All Alone (Title story deserves to be better known, and "Four Ghosts in Hamlet" is terrific. Last story, "The Creature from the Cleveland Depths" seems prescient about iPod/cell phone addiction, but simultaneously very old-fashioned in the telling. It never gels.)
Carl Jacobi: Revelations in Black (Weird tales from Weird Tales. Great fun.)
Arthur Machen: The Three Imposters (Story collection with a framework. Framework doesn't gel for me, and first story plods some, but the others are exceptional.)
Davis Grubb: Twelve Tales of Suspense and the Supernatural (Supernatural tales from the writer of Night of the Hunter. Entertaining and the last one, "Where the Woodbine Twineth" is frequently anthologized. Probably hard to find.)
Charles Beaumont: The Howling Man and Other Stories (Haven't finished this one, but the first half is great work from one of the original writers for the Twilight Zone.)

Recent horror collections that I haven't read that look particularly good to me, include,
Laird Barron: The Imago Sequence
Joel Lane: The Lost District
Barbara Roden: Northwest Passage
Glen Hirshberg: American Morons
Caitlin Kiernan: To Charles Fort, With Love & Tales of Pain and Wonder
Tim Lebbon: As the Sun Goes Down

Randy M.

 

[krm0915]

The suggestions so far are good (although I have yet to read any amount of Barker -- I have some catchin' up to do), Matheson in particular; in some ways King is Matheson 2.0.

Perhaps stylistically/thematically they are quite similar, but [PERSONAL OPINION]I think Matheson is a better author[/PERSONAL OPINION]

A couple of King's influences:
Richard Matheson: I am Legend & Hell House (the latter is a sort of commentary on the Jackson's novel)
Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House

Two of my favorites, and the exact authors I was going to recommend when I saw this thread.

 

[Joyrock]

Awesome, some great suggestions here, I'll slowly plod through them and let you know what I think

 

[SLASH]

Mike Carey's Felix Castor series is awesome
Guillermo Del Toro's - The Strain is a great one as well

 

[Randy M.]

Perhaps stylistically/thematically they are quite similar, but [PERSONAL OPINION]I think Matheson is a better author[/PERSONAL OPINION]

I think you hit it with stylistic/thematic similarities. I'm not sure if Matheson is better, but their strengths are different. A plus for King, I think, is that his characterization is stronger because he focuses on that more, while Matheson came from a generation that was more focused on the conceit powering the story and resolving it. (That isn't meant to knock Matheson's characterization; it is always sufficient for the story he's telling.) A plus for Matheson is that his novels are never bloated. RM came along at a time when novels the size of The Stand were rare in any form of fiction, and unheard of in genre, and his popularity never overpowered editors like King's may have.

Personally, I have nothing but respect for anyone who could write I am Legend and, though with a couple of reservations about the book, Hell House, and at least a handful of the most powerful short stories from the 1950s and 1960s, not least his first published, "Born of Man and Woman." Similarly, I have great respect for the ability to write 'Salem's Lot, The Shining and Pet Semetary, "The Reach" and "The Mist." I haven't read much of King's later works because, frankly, there just ain't enough time in a day and there are so many other writers I enjoy just as much or more.

Two of my favorites, and the exact authors I was going to recommend when I saw this thread.

Great minds ...


Randy M.

 

[metalprof]

I'll put in a good word for Robert R. McCammon, here. His first few books were so-so, but he really hit a good stride with Mystery Walk, The Wolf's Hour, Swan Song and Stinger. Swan Song is very comparable to The Stand. Stinger is a sort of sci-fi / horror hybrid. His collection of short stories, Blue World, is worth looking at too. He moved away from horror eventually. But no matter what else, be sure to read Boy's Life - which is not horror but is one of the best books I've ever read.

I'd second the suggestions for some early Peter Straub. Ghost Story will keep you up at night.

Brian Keene writes short horror novels you can read in a few hours. They're not challenging, but they can be entertaining.

Ken

 

[Aktunka]

I would highly recommend the following authors...

Andrew Neiderman - He has been writing since the early 70s and most of the books I have read from him are pretty darn good. He is the guy who wrong the book The Devil's Advocate that the movie The Devil's Advocate was adapted from. The book was better than the movie IMO, but then again, the movie did introduce the lovely Charlize Theron to my senses, so even up there

John Saul - Another author I really like, although I haven't read any of his stuff in quite a while (haven't really read any horror in the past few years). His stuff tends to be more along the lines of evil / bad people doing realistic bad things rather than creepy monsters and such, but depending on your point of view that can make it all the more scary.

 

[vangel]

I've heard that Dan Simmons has written good horror books, his best are Song of Kali and Summer of Night.

 

[Elatha]

Goodness, I can't believe I forgot about Straub and Simmons. Both of them are fantastic.

Straub is an amazing stylist. When he's at the top of his game, there are very few authors that can come close. Personally, I've always preferred his earlier books (I'm thinking of If You Could See Me Now and Ghost Story in particular here.) His later mystery/thriller type novels don't really do it for me, although I did enjoy The Throat. If you can find it, his novella "Fee" is a simply devastating read. It's one of the only things I've ever read that actually had me close to tears by the end. I read it in Borderlands many years ago, I'm not sure if it's been republished in one of his collections or not.

I think that Straub at his best is probably the superior talent, but Simmons is far more consistent. I've enjoyed all of his books that I've read, although I did find the later Hyperion books to be rather heavy going. As for his horror works, Song of Kali is very, very good. You can really feel the malevolence oozing from every page. I haven't seen very much discussion of his book Summer of Night, which mines similar territory to King's It, but is a more concise treatment of the theme. Definitely worth the read.

@ Metalprof here: You mentioned Brian Keene, which is interesting to me, as I find him a prime example of early promise unfulfilled. The Rising and City of the Dead were pretty good zombie novels with a different take. Ever since then though, I've noticed this creeping thread of misogyny entering his works, which is really repellent. Dark Hollow was a very ugly read for me, and I found it quite disturbing in a bad way. I kinda see him turning into another Edward Lee, and that's... well, let's just say I don't care for it and leave it at that.

Hmm, didn't mean to derail the thread there...

 

[ColdSun]

Scott Sigler.

I love his books! There are quite a few good thriller and horror books by Scott. Here are my favorites:

Infected - What are the blue triangles on Perry's body and why are they talking to him in his head???
Contagious (sequel to Infection)
Earthcore (think the movie The Descent but better)
Ancestor - What happens when you create a new life form designed to grow fast in order to harvest organs to save humans?

I hear Jonathan Maberry is also a good horror writer. I'm just about to start one of his books.

David Wellington wrote some good zombie books, but his Vampire books are even better (in my opinion). Good old fashioned scary vampires - not these glowy teen things we see these days.

Richard Laymon can be pretty good, but he is a bit graphic and adult. Just a warning.

I've heard good things about James Herbert's The Fog. Its on my Kindle list.

Joe Hill (Stephen King's son) has a couple books out. I haven't read either of them, but they seem to get good reviews. Heart-shaped Box is his first published I think.

I liked Live Girls by Ray Garton. A good old-fashioned vampire story again.

Jeff Long wrote a good book called The Descent. The movie was not based on this book. It is hard to describe, but it sort of reminded me of a scary version of Journey to the Center of the Earth. I liked it.

Sarah Langan has some good books, especially The Missing.

F. Paul Wilson and Thomas Ligotti are also two of my favorites. Believe it or not, I hear good things about the Resident Evil series of books by S.D. Perry. I have them on my Kindle list as well.

Hope this helps!

 

[Ratatoskr]

I've heard that Dan Simmons has written good horror books, his best are Song of Kali and Summer of Night.

I second Simmons. I found Song of Kali decent, but not overwhelming. Summer of Night is a suspenseful and highly entertaining read, with strong thematic similarities to King's It, but original in its execution.
I also recommend A Winter Haunting, a sequel of sorts to the above mentioned book, but very different stylistically. Other notable horror works by Simmons, which are supposed to be good, but which I haven't read yet, are Carrion Comfort (oop, but soon to be reissued) and Children of the Night, supposedly a vampire story with original ideas and non-sparkling vampires.

 

[Joyrock]

So I just finished Carrion Comfort, I absolutely love Dan Simmons.

I'm moving off Sci-Fi for the moment to explore him, reading his Ilium/Olympos saga.