A must-read horror list
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Great list!
This is a great list and I'm thrilled to have found it and fellow horror fans. There are several faves of mine here already. Huzzah!
Might I add a few? Here they are:
Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto
Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho
Matthew Gregory Lewis' The Monk (bloody creepy when I read it all those years ago as a wee teenager!)
Le Fanu has been mentioned already, I see, and I particularly enjoy his In a Glass Darkly.
Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out.
Has Ambrose Bierce been mentioned already?
Apologies if these have been mentioned already - I was speed reading my way through the thread.
This is a great list and I'm thrilled to have found it and fellow horror fans. There are several faves of mine here already. Huzzah!
Might I add a few? Here they are:
Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto
Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho
Matthew Gregory Lewis' The Monk (bloody creepy when I read it all those years ago as a wee teenager!)
Le Fanu has been mentioned already, I see, and I particularly enjoy his In a Glass Darkly.
Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out.
Has Ambrose Bierce been mentioned already?
Apologies if these have been mentioned already - I was speed reading my way through the thread.
Welcome, writeontime.This is a great list and I'm thrilled to have found it and fellow horror fans. There are several faves of mine here already. Huzzah!
Might I add a few? Here they are:
Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto
Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho
Matthew Gregory Lewis' The Monk (bloody creepy when I read it all those years ago as a wee teenager!)
Le Fanu has been mentioned already, I see, and I particularly enjoy his In a Glass Darkly.
Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out.
Has Ambrose Bierce been mentioned already?
Apologies if these have been mentioned already - I was speed reading my way through the thread.
If Bierce hasn't yet been mentioned, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves.
Do you have a particular Bierce recommendation?
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Clive Barker's The Damnation Game has some truly disturbing elements. My favorite of his short stories is The Body Politic. *willies*
Hello, and thanks for having me.
I remember enjoying Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary in particular.
Also, his stories which stuck in my mind, after all these years, are his Civil War short stories, in particular An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.
I also remember being rather startled by the opening of One Summer Night but for the life of me, I can't remember if I read it in one of those collected works of Ambrose Bierce or one of those collection of horror short stories.
Good choices.
Hello, and thanks for having me.
I remember enjoying Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary in particular.
Also, his stories which stuck in my mind, after all these years, are his Civil War short stories, in particular An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.
I also remember being rather startled by the opening of One Summer Night but for the life of me, I can't remember if I read it in one of those collected works of Ambrose Bierce or one of those collection of horror short stories.
Owl Creek Bridge is easily in my top ten all time short story list. Probably top five. Not horror, but still....
And though I've never finished the Devil's Dictionary (yet) it's a likely choice for Bierce.
Am I the only one who was freaked out beyond belief by Amityville Horror by Jay Anson?
The movies sucked, but the book had me jangly for days.
The movies sucked, but the book had me jangly for days.
I have to confess I haven't read Amityville Horror by Jay Anson. I like a good freak out so I might give that a whirl.
Yes, Owl Creek Bridge is also in my top ten short story list because for me, it stands the test of time.
I'm a fan of horror, it's probably my favorite type of fiction. After looking at this thread though it's clear that I have only scratched the surface of what's out there! Especially this time of year. Here are a few of my favorites.
Psycho and Psycho II by Robert Bloch
Carrie, Rage, and The Shining by Stephen King
The Haunting of Las Vegas by Janice Oberding
Psycho and Psycho II by Robert Bloch
Carrie, Rage, and The Shining by Stephen King
The Haunting of Las Vegas by Janice Oberding
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dondomat
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I'll just add Domain by James Herbert. Reads like Swan Song on speed, and with mutant rats instead of psychic saviors. At his peak Herbert is a curious mix of Koontz's descriptive style (from before Koontz himself developed it) and King's grittiness (which they developed simultaneously)
James Herbert is my greatest discovery this year in the horror field
James Herbert is my greatest discovery this year in the horror field
It's been a long time since I've read any Herbert, but I'm remembering him as more of a science fiction writer, no?
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^All I know is Dune, but that's the quintessential space opera, so...yeah. Not really "horror," per se. Not bad, not at all, but not horror.
Oops. I was thinking of Frank Herbert. Your "Dune" mention clued me in. I don't think I've read any James Herbert. I'll have to check him out.
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When I first stumbled on the guy I confused them too. But, in my forays into Brit horror titans thus far, including the wonderful Brian Lumley and pulp-master Shaun Hutson and weirdo Ramsey Campbell, I only fell in love instantly with Graham Masterton. Prose clean like Len Deighton meets Hammett, the action moves flawlessly from realism to urban fantasy to splatter to Lovecroftian weird - how could I not fall head over heels?
But James Herbert took time. I tried his newest books and was bored out of my wits. Then I decided to start with his 70's stuff. I read Survivor which was very very good and intense, and now Domain which is... I don't know how to explain it. Day of the Triffids meets Stephen King but without any mysticism. A lovely veneer of britishness beneath which eternal horror issues churn and brood. Moments of endearing B film clumsiness compensated by unexpected eruptions of awesomeness. Do try him out.
I don't know if this short story has been mentioned here (I did do a search for it). Last night, I re-read H.P. Lovecraft's short story, The Colour Out of Space. I must have been in a particularly jumpy frame of mind because that story got under my skin. Again.
I have read:
1) Pet Semetary, by Stephen King
2) The Shining By Stephen King
3) Misery by Stephen King (much better then the movie)
4) Carrie by Stephen King
5) The Stand by Stephen King (probably my favourite stand alone book)
6) The Dead Zone by Stephen King
7) The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King (good but took a little while to get into it.)
8) Salem's Lot by Stephen King
9) It by Stephen King
Even though its not exatly horror I would like to add:
10) The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
11) Cujo by Stephen King
I think there is a theme here........
1) Pet Semetary, by Stephen King
2) The Shining By Stephen King
3) Misery by Stephen King (much better then the movie)
4) Carrie by Stephen King
5) The Stand by Stephen King (probably my favourite stand alone book)
6) The Dead Zone by Stephen King
7) The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King (good but took a little while to get into it.)
8) Salem's Lot by Stephen King
9) It by Stephen King
Even though its not exatly horror I would like to add:
10) The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
11) Cujo by Stephen King
I think there is a theme here........
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Ah, I was paging through this thread wondering when someone would mention Graham Masterton--it took until page 6! That surprises me. I love Masterton, and have ever since I tracked down the novel that was made into The Manitou, a wonderfully cheesy 1970s horror film.
Some of my favorites of his:
The Manitou and Revenge of the Manitou (there are three more in the series, but I like the first two best)
Mirror
Ritual (an extremely gory book even for Masterton, who's known for gore)
The Doorkeepers
The Devil in Gray
Edgewise
I also love his short story The Secret Shih-Tan, which was made into a nicely gory episode of the TV show "The Hunger."
The only Masterton novel that I absolutely can't stand and wouldn't recommend to anyone is Unspeakable. The ending is so unbelievably awful that I literally chucked the book across the room when I finished it (and I don't do that--I'm fanatical about taking good care of my books).
Some of my favorites of his:
The Manitou and Revenge of the Manitou (there are three more in the series, but I like the first two best)
Mirror
Ritual (an extremely gory book even for Masterton, who's known for gore)
The Doorkeepers
The Devil in Gray
Edgewise
I also love his short story The Secret Shih-Tan, which was made into a nicely gory episode of the TV show "The Hunger."
The only Masterton novel that I absolutely can't stand and wouldn't recommend to anyone is Unspeakable. The ending is so unbelievably awful that I literally chucked the book across the room when I finished it (and I don't do that--I'm fanatical about taking good care of my books).
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I've been doing a lot of catching up on my horror reading lately. (I know, how DARE I call myself a horror fan without having read Salem's Lot!) Of course, there are the classics, but two more recent releases I read which I really enjoyed were:
Turner by Karl Drinkwater. An original story, while still paying homage to almost every sub-genre of horror.
Violet Eyes by John Everson. This one is a Stoker award winner and particularly disturbing if you don't like spiders.
(I did notice the thread is a little old, but it is stickied, and it's not like the subject matter is really going away anytime soon.)
Turner by Karl Drinkwater. An original story, while still paying homage to almost every sub-genre of horror.
Violet Eyes by John Everson. This one is a Stoker award winner and particularly disturbing if you don't like spiders.
(I did notice the thread is a little old, but it is stickied, and it's not like the subject matter is really going away anytime soon.)
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I read this a while ago but didn't think to add it to the list, still it's a good 'un: Neverland by Douglass Clegg. Pure Southern Gothic. Totally awesome. Loved it.
A top 5 from me...
THE TERROR - DAN SIMMONS
GHOST STORY - PETER STRAUB
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES - RAY BRADBURY
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS - H P LOVECRAFT
FEVRE DREAM - GEORGE R R MARTIN
THE TERROR - DAN SIMMONS
GHOST STORY - PETER STRAUB
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES - RAY BRADBURY
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS - H P LOVECRAFT
FEVRE DREAM - GEORGE R R MARTIN
For me, there's a difference between Must-Read Horror and Horror Books I Like. Must-Read is the stuff like The Exorcist and The Shining that anyone who wants to know the field should be familiar with. But here I want to just talk about what I like:
Beloved (1987) - Toni Morrison - I'm always surprised that fans of horror don't more readily claim this as one of our own. The Handmaid's Tale of horror fiction, it's all about the horror of your dead child returning to offer the life you could have had, as well as the horrors of slavery.
The Werewolf of Paris (1933) - Guy Endor - without a doubt, horror's great werewolf book. You can't tell where it's going for a while, but then there's that final chapter and...whoa. The humanity!
Rotters (2011) - Daniel Kraus - don't hate it because it's YA. This is the most vile, disgusting, and morally bankrupt novel to be published in years. A father and son bond over filth, moral depravity, corpse mutilation, and grave-robbing. A dark little sun of a book that is so gleefully reprehensible and countercultural that it feels dirty to read it.
Cujo (1981) - Stephen King - out of everything King has written, this is his most literary and ambitious book. The dog with rabies? Barely even the main character. I write a lot more about it here (with spoilers), but trust me, if you're open to it, this is one of the meanest, sweetest, most moving books King has written.
Hawksmoor (1985) - Peter Ackroyd - everything Alan Moore does in From Hell was done in this freaky little claustrophobic book years earlier. Occult architecture, metaphysical time travel, religious murder...this is like a wet diaper, soggy with filth and rotten meat, that gets wrapped around your face and slowly suffocates you.
The Green Man (1969) - Kingsley Amis - a classic M.R. James haunting filtered through Amis's nasty old man style that manages to wind up being quite moving. Especially for a book that's mostly concerned with a drunk trying to convince his wife to have a three-way with her best friend.
The Phantom Lover (1886) - Vernon Lee - written by Violet Paget, this book has the same kind of emotional delicacy, micro-observation, and subtle sense of pure, creeping wrongness that you find in the best Henry James ghost stories. In fact, I'd say if Lee had written more she'd be as well known as James, at least in the realm of short fiction.
Also, if you don't know who W.F. Harvey is, then go read his 1910 short story, "August Heat." A one-man Twilight Zone of a writer, he specialized in 2,000 - 4,000 word short stories that cover everything from a killer hand to a housekeeper who plots to keep her job by arranging to have her employer "accidentally" run over her own child. He should be way better known.
Beloved (1987) - Toni Morrison - I'm always surprised that fans of horror don't more readily claim this as one of our own. The Handmaid's Tale of horror fiction, it's all about the horror of your dead child returning to offer the life you could have had, as well as the horrors of slavery.
The Werewolf of Paris (1933) - Guy Endor - without a doubt, horror's great werewolf book. You can't tell where it's going for a while, but then there's that final chapter and...whoa. The humanity!
Rotters (2011) - Daniel Kraus - don't hate it because it's YA. This is the most vile, disgusting, and morally bankrupt novel to be published in years. A father and son bond over filth, moral depravity, corpse mutilation, and grave-robbing. A dark little sun of a book that is so gleefully reprehensible and countercultural that it feels dirty to read it.
Cujo (1981) - Stephen King - out of everything King has written, this is his most literary and ambitious book. The dog with rabies? Barely even the main character. I write a lot more about it here (with spoilers), but trust me, if you're open to it, this is one of the meanest, sweetest, most moving books King has written.
Hawksmoor (1985) - Peter Ackroyd - everything Alan Moore does in From Hell was done in this freaky little claustrophobic book years earlier. Occult architecture, metaphysical time travel, religious murder...this is like a wet diaper, soggy with filth and rotten meat, that gets wrapped around your face and slowly suffocates you.
The Green Man (1969) - Kingsley Amis - a classic M.R. James haunting filtered through Amis's nasty old man style that manages to wind up being quite moving. Especially for a book that's mostly concerned with a drunk trying to convince his wife to have a three-way with her best friend.
The Phantom Lover (1886) - Vernon Lee - written by Violet Paget, this book has the same kind of emotional delicacy, micro-observation, and subtle sense of pure, creeping wrongness that you find in the best Henry James ghost stories. In fact, I'd say if Lee had written more she'd be as well known as James, at least in the realm of short fiction.
Also, if you don't know who W.F. Harvey is, then go read his 1910 short story, "August Heat." A one-man Twilight Zone of a writer, he specialized in 2,000 - 4,000 word short stories that cover everything from a killer hand to a housekeeper who plots to keep her job by arranging to have her employer "accidentally" run over her own child. He should be way better known.
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I saw this recently on a Women in Horror must-read list--specifically, Black Women in Horror, which is a reading list I try to put together every February if I can (it being WiH month and Black History month). I had no idea it was a ghost story. So it's at the top of the list for this year. Looking forward!
Let me know what you think. To me, it's absolutely horror, but I know that some people disagree and try to keep the wall up between literary fiction and speculative fiction.