What book(s) got you hooked on horror?

comradebunny · Sep 12, 2008

I'm just curious about what book or books you think cemented your love of the genre. I'll start.

The book that cemented my love of horror was Skeleton Crew by Stephen King. It was my best friend's mother's book. We would sneak it out of her room and read it to each other (we were in about fourth or fifth grade and would have been in so much trouble if we got caught). The story I'll never forget is "The Boogeyman". It really creeped me out. I have earlier recollections of scary type children's books that I liked, for example Bunnicula, but Skeleton Crew stands out as the book that started my love affair with horror.

What's your story?

Donkey · Sep 12, 2008

Mine was another Stephen King novel....The Shining. I was barely a teenager, and identified strongly with the boy, who was the MC. His character was all but forgotten in the movie, which was weird.

rugcat · Sep 12, 2008

When I grew up there was no Steven King.

The first horror story I ever read was H.P. Lovecraft's The Rats In The Walls, in an ghost story anthology. I then read everything else of his I could find, then every Arkham House book I could locate -- Frank Belknap Long, Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, etc.

In fact, I had an entire collection of Arkham House books, scrounged over the years freon various second hand bookstores. They all burned in a fire some thirty years ago -- today that collection would bring $10,000 - $20,000, easy.

Calla Lily · Sep 13, 2008

rugcat, I shudder and weep at the thought. ALL the Arkham House books! :e2thud:

And HP also was my initial hook. I still own everything he wrote, plus most of Long and a little Derleth. Great minds think alike.

Doodlebug · Sep 13, 2008

When I was a kid, I'd scour those Scholastic book order forms for the scary stuff - especially those short story collections. Then, when I got older, I found these Alfred Hitchcock anthologies in the library and read all of them cover to cover.

Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and the others followed later on.

The really sad thing is that, lately, I have a very hard time finding books that recapture the 'scare me silly' feeling I had as a kid/teenager. I suppose that's the price of middle age.

comradebunny · Sep 13, 2008

Doodlebug said:
When I was a kid, I'd scour those Scholastic book order forms for the scary stuff - especially those short story collections. Then, when I got older, I found these Alfred Hitchcock anthologies in the library and read all of them cover to cover.

Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and the others followed later on.

The really sad thing is that, lately, I have a very hard time finding books that recapture the 'scare me silly' feeling I had as a kid/teenager. I suppose that's the price of middle age.

I know how you feel. Chalk it up to too much exposure I guess. Recently, the books that have scared me the most were not in the horror genre, but the fantasy. The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory has a group know as the Endarkened. They scare the living crap out of me. Every time I get to a chapter they are in I cringe. It's a good feeling to have again.

I adore Lovecraft, but I didn't discover him until I was in college.

roncouch · Sep 13, 2008

Poe's short story, "The Tell-tale Heart" and King's "The Shining"

vixey · Sep 13, 2008

OMG, I devoured Poe as a kid!

I wouldn't actually say I'm hooked on horror, more fascinated than anything else. I tend to read many genres. I guess the book I'm currently reading could be considered horror suspense as it deals with demonic elements (Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Club Dumas). But my all time favorite is Stephen King's The Stand.

GLAZE_by_KyrstinMc · Sep 13, 2008

Ha . . . Goosebumps . . . Fear Street, I loved those at 8.

At 12 I started reading Poe, and this book called "Coraline" which scared the bajeeba's outta me!

Now, I'll read "The Shining", and I'm starting some Steven King novels.

Cranky · Sep 13, 2008

Gosh. Well, I'd say it was Poe that got me interested first, though in a roundabout way. I first read Annabelle Lee and liked it, then realized...Hey! This guy writes some weird stuff! Yay! Sherlock Holmes also had something to do with it, though of course, those are mysteries.

Stephen King's IT sealed the deal. Even though he's written some duds, I still rank him as one of my favorite authors. And thanks to him and some of his non-fiction, I've been introduced to still other writers I'd never heard of before.

I owe a lot to him, that way.

comradebunny · Sep 13, 2008

vixey said:
OMG, I devoured Poe as a kid!

I wouldn't actually say I'm hooked on horror, more fascinated than anything else. I tend to read many genres. I guess the book I'm currently reading could be considered horror suspense as it deals with demonic elements (Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Club Dumas). But my all time favorite is Stephen King's The Stand.

I also read a ton of other genres (except romance and western-ewww). My favorite by far is horror. I usually have at least three books that I'm reading at once.

Doodlebug · Sep 13, 2008

GLAZE_by_KyrstinMc said:
At 12 I started reading Poe, and this book called "Coraline" which scared the bajeeba's outta me!

"Coraline" is an awesome book (Neil Gaiman is a favorite of mine!). I've heard that they are making it into a movie.

I read "Coraline" to my girls, and it really freaked them out. Something about those shoebutton eyes...

(btw...as far as kids' horror stories goes, "Skeleton Man" is tops.)

Kerr · Sep 13, 2008

I loved Tell-tale Heart as a kid. That was probably the first story that reallyl hooked me into horror. But I never read Coraline. I'll have to check out. Later, it was almost entirely King, starting early with Thinner.

Haggis · Sep 13, 2008

Poe.

Before I read Poe, I was into the Hardy Boys. After I read Poe, that crap was soooooooo tame.

I also blame Poe for my fixation on short stories. Don't get me wrong. I love novels, but to me, the purist form of storytelling is the first person short story told around a campfire. Toss in a couple of the living dead, and you've got me for the evening.

vixey · Sep 13, 2008

Haggis said:
to me, the purist form of storytelling is the first person short story told around a campfire. Toss in a couple of the living dead, and you've got me for the evening.

I'll bring the marshmallows and chocolate. Sounds like a great camping trip!

LaurieD · Sep 13, 2008

My first taste of horror was from a scholastic book thing in like 6th grade - The House on Hackman's Hill. To this day, 20 something years later, I can still remember lines of it.

My senior year I picked up Dean Koontz - The Bad Place. My shelves now overflow with most of his books, Stephen King, Richard Laymon, Douglas Clegg, John Saul, and Clive Barker - to name those on the front row of the bookcase by my desk

comradebunny · Sep 13, 2008

The majority of my book collection is now in my classroom library or listed on paperbackswap.com (so I can get more books for my classroom). I've been a book hoarder for years and even had a very impressive zombie fiction collection. Then, I decided that I really cared more about getting my students to read. So, I'm swapping books right and left. It's a great site, you should check it outl.

By the way, as I was reading this, I remembered that I need to pick up new copies of Edgar Allan Poe's complete works and H.P. Lovecraft books. They, along with King's novels, always seem to turn up missing.

Inarticulate Babbler · Sep 13, 2008

Christine
It
The Dark Half by Stephen King

The Bad Place
Cold Fire
Strangers by Dean R. Koontz

Nathaniel
Darkness
When the Wind Blows by John Saul

The Howling by Gary Brandner

Necroscope
Vamphyri!
Demogorgon by Brian Lumley

Swan Song
Stinger
The Wolf's Hour
Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon

Cabal
The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker

The House of Caine by Ken Eulo

Nightblood by T. Chris Martindale

comradebunny · Sep 13, 2008

I loved Cabal. It's just that I wanted more. The story was wonderful, but I felt like it ended way to soon. I understand why he did it this way, but I'm still allowed to whine if I want to. :tongue

kct webber · Sep 14, 2008

Poe's "The Tell-tale Heart" and King's The Stand. Read them both as a kid--the first horror I ever read.

Frosted Flame · Sep 14, 2008

Feeling quite guilty here... I first picked up Stephen King's 'The Green Mile' when I was six years old. Yeah, six... my mother snatched it back when she realized what I was reading, so I only managed a few pages. Years later I found a short story called 'The Grandstand'; I can't remember who wrote it, but it was from a series called 'After Dark', and it scared me so much I never finished it and had nightmares for weeks afterward.

A while later, I picked up 'The Green Mile' again (I was thirteen this time) and read the whole lot. And thus began my Stephen King addiction. I love reading horror stories, especially his, although I can't seem to write horror myself. 'The Green Mile' is still one of my favourites, definitely my favourite out of what he's written.

williemeikle · Sep 14, 2008

rugcat said:
When I grew up there was no Steven King.

And no Stephen King either

Same for me... I was weaned on the Pan Books of Horror anthologies and cheap Lovecraft paperbacks in the late sixties. That and Dennis Wheatley kept me going until the Exorcist/King/Tyron boom in the early 70's.

comradebunny · Sep 14, 2008

I'm trying to remember the Lovecraft story that I read first. I think it was "The Color from Space". All I remember is somthing creeping forward and taking more and more things over. At least that's what I remember. Anyone know if I'm on target?

donroc · Sep 14, 2008

As a child, I was hooked on Poe's stories, at age 12 read Dracula, and two years later discovered Lovecraft.

HoraceJames · Sep 14, 2008

I became interested in horror mainly through the old movies that I saw on TV. The original Frankenstein/Wolfman/Dracula films and their sequels, fifties sci-fi and horror (mostly involving oversized something or other,) and American International stuff with Vincent Price.

The horror movie that made the biggest impression on me as a kid was a cheapo matinee flick called "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors." It was a series of stories, and there was one about a severed hand that had me and my little buddies screaming like girls.

Books! I cut my teeth on the Doc Savage books, not really horror but great pulp. Then started reading HP Lovecraft paperbacks (because of the garish cover art) and was hooked.

I loved King's Salem's Lot and The Shining when they came out, and were the first books that made me think, hey, maybe I could do this.

What book(s) got you hooked on horror?

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