What book(s) got you hooked on horror?

[comradebunny]

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]

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]

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.

[callalily61]

:eek: 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. :D

[Doodlebug]

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. :cry:

[comradebunny]

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. :cry:

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]

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

[vixey]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[HoraceJames]

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.

[comradebunny]

I love Edgar Allan Poe. This school year, I placed a portrait of him on the outside of my door. I have been asked over 30 times, "Why do you have Poe's picture up?" I reply, "He's my favorite Poet." I have a poetry theme outside my classroom this year. Why is it so strange to so many people that an English teacher loves horror?

P.S. I also share Poe's birthday.

[FOTSGreg]

For me it was Poe followed by Lovecraft, Machen, Derleth, and Bloch. Later came King and Koontz and Feist.

[Jcomp]

I've been hooked since childhood. I honestly don't recall where it started exactly, but I know my favorite books that I can remember from back then were In a Dark, Dark, Room, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Monsters You Never Heard Of, and Ghostly Terrors.

Basically anything that dealt with ghostlore and allegedly true hauntings held me captive. I also remember an anthology book called Shudders, which is where I first read "The Monkey's Paw" and Robert Bloch's "Sweets to the Sweet," which had a great stomach-punch of an ending.

[Shadow_Ferret]

Well, there was no King or Koontz or any of that when I was growing up. I'd say the old Universal horror monsters got me interested. But as far as books, I'd have to say Robert E. Howard's Conan, the old Ace/Lancer paperbacks. Some of those stories were supernatural Lovecraftian creepy. So I came to horror through sword and sorcery.

But to be honest, I still like my horror that way. I still prefer the old school horror writers, Poe, Lovecraft, Derleth, Bloch, and so on over anything more recent. I just haven't found a modern writer who interests me yet.

[livingthedream]

All the R.L. Stine books I read when I was a kid! Plus I also was a big fan of Robert Hawks and Christopher Pike. Now that I'm older I love a good Stephen King novel.

[Inarticulate Babbler]

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.

Robert E. Howard did the first crawling hand. I believe it was in his Solomon Kane stories. He and Lovecraft were good friends--well as good of friends a pair could be with the eccentric Robert E. Howard involved.

[Captain Howdy]

I'm so old that I was 16 years old when Stephen King's The Shining came out..."technically" it got me "hooked" on horror because right about that time the paperback horror boom took off...but I had already been reading Poe, Lovecraft and my still all-time favorite Bram Stoker's "Dracula" since about age 12.

[rugcat]

Robert E. Howard did the first crawling hand. I believe it was in his Solomon Kane stories. He and Lovecraft were good friends--well as good of friends a pair could be with the eccentric Robert E. Howard involved.As opposed to that pillar of normality, HPL?

[Aschenbach]

It was the short story collections of Stephen King that got me going, and the Pan Book of Horror anthologies someone already mentioned.
Naomi's Room by Jonathan Aycliffe, scared the absolute bejasus out of me when younger, as did The Woman in Black (Susan Hill). Those two creepfests were so effective I actually gave the books away just to get them out of my room!
Now I am older and braver I will buy them and re-read them, although I am sure they won't be as scary this time round. Imagination shrinks with age, don't you think?

Also, any UK forum members remember Ghostwatch, broadcast by the BBC in the early-mid 90's? (there is a page on wikipedia to jog any memories). I watched that at an impressionable age and it was probably the most disturbed I have ever been by any horror, film, book or otherwise. I was borderline traumatised.

[comradebunny]

Call me gulible, but the first time I read The Amityville Horror, it scared the hell out of me. I was about 14. I remember at one point going outside because I was too scared to read it in the house. It takes a lot now for a book to shock me like it did when I was younger.

[jennontheisland]

I think I started with Stephen King. I read all of John Saul's books between the ages of 13 and 15. But it was Peter Straub's Shadowland that made me want to write it.

[Aschenbach]

I think I started with Stephen King. I read all of John Saul's books between the ages of 13 and 15. But it was Peter Straub's Shadowland that made me want to write it.

Seconded on Straub - anyone who thinks horror is trash, show them a Straub and if they have any critical judgement at all they will have to change their mind. He is a wonderful novelist.

Floating Dragon is the most literary horror novel I have read so far, and very creepy (although it does go totally overboard at the climax). Ghost Story also very good, and his mysteries (The Throat, The Hellfire Club, and others I haven't read yet).

An inspiration to all aspiring genre writers!

[The Scip]

Anyone ever read John Bellairs?

He wrote childrens ghost/horror stories in the 80's he got me going then I moved on to Poe and King. I remember the first time I tried to read Stephen King I had to hide It under my bed so my mother didn't see it. It was young then maybe 7 or 8, right when it first came out I think.

[C.bronco]

Pre-school: The Addams Family tv show, and Poe's "The Raven."
Elementary: Comics- The Thing Under The Stairs, Dracula, Dr. Strange, anything with monsters.
Middle School: The Shining, The Night Shift Collection, The Stand, The Exorcist, Hans Holzer books
High School: More King, Lovecraft, Peter Straub
College: Clive Barker, more King
Afterwards: Ann Rice, Thomas Harris

[HoraceJames]

Ooo! One that I almost forgot about, that should probably be considered a must-read: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. Very, very scary book, well-written and influential.

Excellent film adaptation, too.

[beezle]

I've been hooked since childhood. I honestly don't recall where it started exactly, but I know my favorite books that I can remember from back then were In a Dark, Dark, Room, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Monsters You Never Heard Of, and Ghostly Terrors.

Basically anything that dealt with ghostlore and allegedly true hauntings held me captive. I also remember an anthology book called Shudders, which is where I first read "The Monkey's Paw" and Robert Bloch's "Sweets to the Sweet," which had a great stomach-punch of an ending.

Yeah I came to it pretty much the same way, anthologies of ghost and monster tales, adult and kids, old and new. I picked them up second hand or ordered anything with a scary name from the library catalogue.

[comradebunny]

Ooo! One that I almost forgot about, that should probably be considered a must-read: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. Very, very scary book, well-written and influential.

Excellent film adaptation, too.

I love Bradbury. I have a collection of all his short strories. I say it's a must read.

[The Scip]

Ooo! One that I almost forgot about, that should probably be considered a must-read: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. Very, very scary book, well-written and influential.

Excellent film adaptation, too.

I forgot that one too! Great One!

[Doodlebug]

I love Bradbury. I have a collection of all his short strories. I say it's a must read.


There's a short story of his, I think it's actually called 'Halloween', that still gives me the creeps. I'll never play that party game with the cold spaghetti again.

[Feidb]

I actually started with sci-fi stories that had monsters in them. There were a few short story collections by Heinlin and more by Ray Bradbury that I really liked. I think one of them inspired the monster movie, "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms." From there, I got into a book called The Metal Monster. That was pretty cool. I gravitated to horror, and was drawn to the darker stories. I've never liked either Stephen King or any Vampire stories, so those are out of the running.

A real thrill was discovering Dean Koontz in the 90's. Around that time, I also discovered R. Karl Largent. His first books were horror and I loved them. I also discovered Carol Davis Luce. Though not strictly horror, her stories had horror elements.

Today, I really like Bentley Little and Scott Nicholson for pure horror. For crossover into thriller territory, I like Preston & Child and the first few James Rollins books.

There are others, but those were the most influential.

Feidb

[Cranky]

There's a short story of his, I think it's actually called 'Halloween', that still gives me the creeps. I'll never play that party game with the cold spaghetti again.

Ewwww! :) Love Bradbury, too. And I'm FINALLY getting my hands on a copy of Straub's Ghost Story. I should have it either today or tomorrow!

*rubs hands together and cackles*

I've been hearing about it for awhile now, but just hadn't gotten around to reading it. Looking forward to the experience. :D

[Feidb]

I must add that though I read a lot of horror, only one book has ever creeped me out.

It was called "The Cormorant" and was written by Stephen Gregory, a Welsh author that is famous over in Jolly Olde' Englande' for his horror stories.

That book'll make you want to take a hot shower and get in the sun as fast as you can!

Feidb

[callalily61]

That reminded me: I read McCammon's Swan Song for the first time in the middle of summer. Halfway through, I realized I kept looking outside--and going outside to read--just to remind myself that everything was still green and beautiful.

Great and terrifying book.

[VeggieChick]

Poe since I was a kid (seriously). Then Salem's Lot by Stephen King. That did it.

[OctoberRain]

Stephen King's Pet Sematary was my first foray into King's twisted world. I was 11 or 12 and found it under my mother's bed. I couldn't sleep well for a week... but it was the most enjoyable and delicious feeling ever. I mean, the cat came BACK! And then it just got crazier after that. Right after that, I read IT, and officially declared my Sweet Valley High obsession over.

Two decades later I've burned through multiple copies of both and they're still two of my favourite books of all time.

[Xfonic]

Well I started off reading whatever I could get my hands on. In my house you did not get in trouble for reading something beyond your age it was encouraged. I had access to my grandfathers very large collection so I started with Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, read all the classic Tarzan books and finally I made my way to Hawthorne and finally to Lovecraft, (of which I could not then, nor now, get enough of).

Skeleton Crew is a wonderful book, I have also burned through about 20 copies over the years. I am currently reading House of Leaves, (a job in itself).

[Clio]

I don't write horror, but I do read lots and lots of it. Being of a certain age, I began with those old Pan Book of Horror Stories volumes - you know the ones: The Monkey's Paw was always in one, and The Beast with Four Fingers (anyone remember these?) And in every single volume there was always one about a spider. Killing a small spider made a slightly bigger one appear, so on and so forth until this great bloody monster appeared to bite off the hero's head. I was about 7 years old when I read those and loved them - but I'm still scared of spiders.

When I was 9, I progressed to Dracula by Bram Stoker, because I'd had a thing for vampires for ages. Nor do they scare me, I just love 'em. I went through a phase of wanting to be one!

Even now, although I love to read horror, the only tales that really put a shiver down my spine are ghost tales. I know all the rest is fake, but there's something about the odd ghostie that makes me wonder....

[StacyB]

No doubt Stephen King started the obsession with horror. The first being Cujo when I was nine. Has anyone read Robert R. McCammon's Swan Song? One of the best I have read when I started reading the genre and still remains the top favorite for me!

[Inarticulate Babbler]

No doubt Stephen King started the obsession with horror. The first being Cujo when I was nine. Has anyone read Robert R. McCammon's Swan Song? One of the best I have read when I started reading the genre and still remains the top favorite for me!

I've read almost all of McCammon's books. Boy's Life is my all-time favorite book--ever. The Wolf's Hour is a great one, too. Have you seen his come-back Speaks the Nightbird Vol. 1 and Vol. 2? John Saul's Nathaniel is up there on my list, too.

[StacyB]

Oh yeah! I have read the 2 volumes of Speaks the Nightbird. I was so excited when it came out! But I was more impressed with Boy's Life and Swan Song. Peter Straub and Clive Barker are amazing too :D

[StacyB]

Uh Oh I forgot another favorite! How could I forget F. Paul Wilson? The Adversary Cycle books were awesome :)

[KAP]

I'm with OctoberRain. SK's Pet Cemetery got me. I loved Poe and horror early on, but reading Pet Cemetery was the hook.

kap

[HorrorWriter]

I was hooked after I read Poe's ANNABEL LEE. I read several of his works shortly thereafter. Then, I got into Stephen King. CARRIE got me hooked. :D

[stormie]

There was a book for young readers that someone had a copy of called Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery. Eleven Short Stories for Young Readers. That got me hooked. I was in fourth grade.

[jgold]

It was an amazing anthology called the "Treasury of American Horror Stories." It had a story set in all fifty states plus one for DC. Contributors included King, Derleth, Bloch, Lovecraft, MacDonald and forty-six other fabulous writers.

There was one story in particular by Tom Reamy that sticks with me to this day. A few years ago, I decided to look this author up again. He only published one novel and a collection of short stories (he died at the age of 28). I paid a fortune for the first edition of the novel and am still on the look-out for the collection of his short stories. If he'd lived longer, maybe his name would be on the same level as Koontz, King and the others.

[StacyB]

I was hooked after I read Poe's ANNABEL LEE. I read several of his works shortly thereafter. Then, I got into Stephen King. CARRIE got me hooked. :D
I LOVED that poem. so hauntingly beautiful. I loved it so much I named my daughter Annabel! Her middle name is not Lee though just because our last name is Bolli. I thought Lee Bolli sounded a bit redundant :)

[vfury]

Believe it or not, Christopher Pike. I was ten, I loved it, and by damn I was going to write it some day, lol.

[HorrorWriter]

I LOVED that poem. so hauntingly beautiful. I loved it so much I named my daughter Annabel! Her middle name is not Lee though just because our last name is Bolli. I thought Lee Bolli sounded a bit redundant :)

LOL. Yeah, that would have been weird. :D That is my favorite poem, along with Phenomenal Woman by Dr. Maya Angelou.

Welcome to AW. ;)

[StacyB]

LOL. Yeah, that would have been weird. :D That is my favorite poem, along with Phenomenal Woman by Dr. Maya Angelou.

Welcome to AW. ;)
Thank you for the welcome! Dr. Angelou is brilliant. I loved the book When the Caged Bird sings. Getting away from horror here, but have you tried Toni Morrison? She is wonderful :)

[HorrorWriter]

Toni Morrison is brilliant. BELOVED and the BLUEST EYE are excellent. :D

[RickN]

As a kid, I read lots of horror comics (loved Ripley's Believe It or Not comics), short stories, Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock anthologies. At 12, I got a copy of 'Salem's Lot' from my Dad. "You might like this."

So it began.

[Grant]

Clive Barker's Hellbound Heart was what got me hooked.

[Zazz]

I was going to start a similar thread, but then I thought I might want to do a search first to see if it had been touched on already. It has, so I'm just going to comment on this one instead. Hope no one minds me dragging up an older thread...

For me it was Poe's "The Black Cat", or at least I think it was that one... The story was about a man who killed his wife and walled her up in the cellar. Then I discovered Stephen King. So that's what got me hooked on horror.

However...

What really made me decide to write was my discovery of a Canadian author named Gordon Korman. He wrote (and still writes) humourous YA novels and had his first novel published when he was in 7th grade. I was in grade 5 when I found this out and took my first crack at a novel that same year. I'd written short stories before that, but I always just did that for my own enjoyment. For some strange reason I never put 2 and 2 together and considered it an actual career possibility. Until Korman, that is.

[BigWords]

I cut my teeth on the Doc Savage books, not really horror but great pulp.

Considering he gave his enemies lobotomies, I would say the horror angle is in there as well as the adventure.

I was really into R. Chetwynd-Hayes and Valentine Dyall when I was about ten or eleven, then discovered EC Comics in reprint form. From then on it was a steady diet of Shaun Hutson, Clive Barker and weird stuff. I'll read just about anything, but the horror novel that really impacted on my brain was The 15th Pan Book Of Horror Stories, which I picked up second-hand at some point. I think I would have been twelve or thirteen when I bought it.

[TedTheewen]

When I was in 6th grade, I found a few books edited by Bill Pronzini. One was called Creature and another Werewolves, I think. That got me started.