What horror novel/short story are you reading?

Farhad

Registered
Joined
Mar 19, 2017
Messages
29
Reaction score
5
I'm just about to finish Stephen King's Needful Things. Not really scary but certainly brilliant. The Lovecraft references are particularly fun.

Hmm, read that a long time ago, before I got introduced to Lovecraft. Looks like it's worth a second read.
 

Pony.

Aspiring supervillain
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 28, 2015
Messages
3,563
Reaction score
194
I have The Long Walk by Richard Bachman going now. Bachman was a pen name Stephen King tried to write under a while back. He got two or three books out, plus a few that are now credited to King, before some reviewer snitched him out and blew his cover. In the intro to The Long Walk King says Bachman was an alter ego, representing his vampire side, until someone draged him into the light where he wasted and died.
 

Spooky

Even the sphinx has eyes O_O
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 16, 2017
Messages
147
Reaction score
3
Location
Dead Hand Bunker
Another constant Kingster here, been picking through Salem's Lot again, always appreciated the introduction he wrote about desiring to present cartoon strip vamps which used to scare the crap out of him as a kid, makes me laugh when he says how they made the victims go YARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH and it left an impact on him.
 

Earthling

I come in peace
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 3, 2016
Messages
1,210
Reaction score
192
I'm re-reading THE RATS by James Herbert, which I loved as a teenager. A writer friend (hello if you're reading!) read it on my recommendation and said it was full of padding and head hopping, so I was curious if my perception of it would change now I'm a writer. I'm 30% through and so far still love it. Noticed a few comma splices but the backstories aren't bothering me - they're entertaining and seem like part of the story, not padding.
 
Last edited:

MerriTudor

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 22, 2017
Messages
240
Reaction score
33
Location
Maine
Website
crampedquartersblog.wordpress.com
I LOVE The King in Yellow! I've just finished rereading a collection of Algernon Blackwood stories. Also starting on Snowfall and Other Chilling Events by Elizabeth Walter. I've read this more times than I can count.
 

Esmae Tyler

This & That
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 1, 2014
Messages
294
Reaction score
75
Location
New York
Joe Hill's The Fireman. Having Stephen King for a father is apparently pretty darn impactful! I've read his other books (Heart-Shaped Box, Hornes, and N0S4A2) and I'm pretty sure this one is his best piece yet. There's something terrible and wonderful about a contagious fungus that causes spontaneous combustion.
 

Feidb

Been Here A While
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 22, 2008
Messages
606
Reaction score
51
Location
Las Vegas
Website
www.fredrayworth.com
Have been "haunting" the shelves for good b-movie icky bug, but nothing's caught my eye lately. Now Amazon is another story, but I prefer to hold it and feel it first. Every once in a while, I'll go to Amazon and buy a batch after careful "look first" browsing. Haven't in a while because I like to support the local bookstores. On the other hand, many authors like myself have a huge hurdle getting into bookstores so I'll go for Amazon now and again. I keep hoping for another book by Hunter Shea or Greig Beck to show up in stores, but still nothing. Oh well...
 

PresumedDead

Registered
Joined
Jun 27, 2017
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
I'm switching between Stephen King's Needful Things and Clive Barker's Books Of Blood 1-3
 

jdp1886

Registered
Joined
Jul 1, 2017
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood". Real-life horror.

On a serious note, if you're a horror fan, check out my new book under the name J. David Myers called A House of Badgers. Here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072Z6QCVS/?tag=absowrit-20

The one guy who read it (ha) really liked it. Before purchasing, please click the cover to get a free preview. It's a travesty of justice when a reader spends their hard-earned money on something they wouldn't like. If you like what you see from there, great! Cheers.
 

DavidBrett

Alas, poor Yorick, he fed me 'nanas
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
1,361
Reaction score
184
Location
London, UK
Website
davidbrettandrews.wordpress.com
New to this area of the forum, so don't know if you count dark,weird fiction, but I just reread one of my favourite short stories, "The Red Tower" by Thomas Ligotti - first read it in English Lit years ago as a comparison to the more well-known Poe and Lovecraft, and just fell in love with its bizarreness.
 

Joe Quenell

Registered
Joined
Jul 10, 2017
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Well, I was fooled again. Another Stephen King endorsed novel and it totally sucked. I mean totally. The Deep was wretched. A literary character study with a horror element that crawled and had no payoff. Sorry I let that other book on the shelf by this author fool me. Never again. I ever see a book by Nick Cutter again, I'll give it a wide margin.

Cutter can be hit or miss. But his debut, The Troop, is blistering. I'd 100% recommend it.
 

Michael Sellars

Just getting started.
Registered
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Location
Liverpool
Currently reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla. It's the closest to a horror novel of the series so far, with it's referencing of Salem's Lot. Really enjoying it, particularly given the fact that I found the last volume a bit of a trudge. About halfway through.
 

Esmae Tyler

This & That
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 1, 2014
Messages
294
Reaction score
75
Location
New York
Robert McCammon's Swan Song. Despite being 30 years old and set at the end of the Cold War it doesn't read quite as dated as many books from the 80s do now. It tied Misery for the original Bram Stoker novel award and so far seems to be holding its own. Good vs. Evil never seems to get old!
 

Shoeless

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
2,308
Reaction score
295
Robert McCammon's Swan Song. Despite being 30 years old and set at the end of the Cold War it doesn't read quite as dated as many books from the 80s do now. It tied Misery for the original Bram Stoker novel award and so far seems to be holding its own. Good vs. Evil never seems to get old!

I remember reading that years ago. Had some parallels with The Stand, but it mostly was its own tale with some great characters. I don't remember too much of the specific plot points now, but I vividly remember absolutely falling in love with the relationship between Josh and Swan. Really tugged at my heart strings.
 

Esmae Tyler

This & That
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 1, 2014
Messages
294
Reaction score
75
Location
New York
I remember reading that years ago. Had some parallels with The Stand, but it mostly was its own tale with some great characters. I don't remember too much of the specific plot points now, but I vividly remember absolutely falling in love with the relationship between Josh and Swan. Really tugged at my heart strings.

There are a lot of similarities to The Stand, for sure. But it absolutely stands on its own, and I think now I can use it mentally as a model to remind myself that stories do not in fact have to be 100% original and unique, or even 90% original or unique, and to quit worrying that some concept or element may have been done already somewhere.

Also apparently it is 304k words long. Ebooks are so deceptive!
 

Shoeless

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
2,308
Reaction score
295
There are a lot of similarities to The Stand, for sure. But it absolutely stands on its own, and I think now I can use it mentally as a model to remind myself that stories do not in fact have to be 100% original and unique, or even 90% original or unique, and to quit worrying that some concept or element may have been done already somewhere.

Also apparently it is 304k words long. Ebooks are so deceptive!

Oh man, yeah, Swan Song is absolutely HUGE. I originally read the paper back when a friend loaned it to me back in the late 80s. It was intimidating seeing it in physical form.

And I also agree that you don't need something that's 100% original in order for it to be enjoyable. Just make it your own, and make it enjoyable, and any similarities will be less important than the fact that you've engaged readers and made them care.
 

DavidBrett

Alas, poor Yorick, he fed me 'nanas
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
1,361
Reaction score
184
Location
London, UK
Website
davidbrettandrews.wordpress.com
I don't know if it counts as horror (as compared to his more well-known works), or just a grim, dark fantasy as it is at times creepy, depressing and yet also whimsical, but I'm currently reading through Clive Barker's "The Great and Secret Show"
 

charliewwriter

Human Person
Registered
Joined
Sep 27, 2017
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Location
Mississippi, US
I'm currently re-reading Clive Barker's Books of Blood Vol. 1-3. Next up is David J. Schow's The Shaft. Just read The Night Class by Tom Piccirilli and House of Windows by John Langan.
 

Jade Rothwell

rolling dice
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 24, 2016
Messages
1,310
Reaction score
166
Age
30
Location
Ontario, Canada
I read The Yellow Wallpaper (which I would call a psychological horror) this morning. it was phenomenal
 

iszevthere

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
320
Reaction score
15
I read "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson, for the second time. It terrified me the first time, and I -loved- it. I finished reading it again last night, and have a very different understanding. It was not terrifying, which was a letdown. It -was- very creepy, unsettling, and a few parts -did- give me nightmares, but not nearly as much as the first time. I was able to appreciate the writing style a lot more, and understood the story in a different way. I want to keep rereading it; I have a feeling this will be a book that I get something new out of each time.
 

Calla Lily

On hiatus
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
39,307
Reaction score
17,490
Location
Non carborundum illegitimi
Website
www.aliceloweecey.net
Truly a creepy book! I listened to the audiobook on a *very* long road trip a few months ago. The narrator didn’t quite do it for me, but after several chapters she took a back seat to the brilliance of the story.