I was flipping back through the horror forum and noticed just how often we get "looking for something to read" type threads come up. And you know... it gave me an idea.
From classics to pulpy horror to modern. And all things in between. If you're going to write horror, you need to read horror; to know what's come before you and just to get to know your genre to begin with.
Compiled list:
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill
The Dark Sacrament by David Kiely
The Absence by Bill Hussey
Pet Semetary, by Stephen King
The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
Apartment 14F - An Oriental Ghost Story by C.M Saunders.
The Store by Bentley Little
Dying to Live by Kim Paffenroth
The Shining By Stephen King
Darkness on the Edge of Town By Brian Keene
Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
The Mist by Stephen King
The Rising by Brian Keene
Misery by Stephen King
Carrie by Stephen King
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
The Stand by Stephen King
Ghost Story, Shadowland by Peter Straub
We Have Always Lived In the Castle -- Shirley Jackson
At the Mountains of Madness, "The Shadow Out of Innsmouth," "The Colour Out of Space" -- HP Lovecraft
The King in Yellow -- Robert W. Chambers
On the Beach -- Nevil Shute
The House on the Borderland -- William Hope Hodgson
"The Beckoning Fair One" -- Oliver Onions
"Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" - M.R. James
Macbeth and The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Watchers by Dean Koontz
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
Wolfen by Whitley Streiber
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
Interview with a vampire, the vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
I am Legend by Richard Mathieson
The Keep by F. Paul Wilson
Urban Gothic, Castaways by Brian Keene
Faery Tale by Raymond E. Feist
The longest single note by Peter Crowther
The Walking by Bentley Little
"The Dreams in the Witch House" and "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" by H.P. Lovecraft
The Black Cat" by Poe
The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Swan Song and Boy's Life by Robert McCammon
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King.
Salem's Lot by Stephen King
It by Stephen King
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
Perfume: The story of a Murder Patrick Suskind
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Yeval by C. W. Schultz
Marabou Stork Nightmare by Irvine Welsh
Nightwalker by Thomas Tessier
The Bad Place Dean Koontz
The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft
Out Of The Deeps and The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham
The Edge of Running Water by William Sloane
Winter Moon, Darkfall, Strangers, Midnight, Demon Seed, and Phantoms by Dean Koontz.
From classics to pulpy horror to modern. And all things in between. If you're going to write horror, you need to read horror; to know what's come before you and just to get to know your genre to begin with.
Compiled list:
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill
The Dark Sacrament by David Kiely
The Absence by Bill Hussey
Pet Semetary, by Stephen King
The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
Apartment 14F - An Oriental Ghost Story by C.M Saunders.
The Store by Bentley Little
Dying to Live by Kim Paffenroth
The Shining By Stephen King
Darkness on the Edge of Town By Brian Keene
Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
The Mist by Stephen King
The Rising by Brian Keene
Misery by Stephen King
Carrie by Stephen King
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
The Stand by Stephen King
Ghost Story, Shadowland by Peter Straub
We Have Always Lived In the Castle -- Shirley Jackson
At the Mountains of Madness, "The Shadow Out of Innsmouth," "The Colour Out of Space" -- HP Lovecraft
The King in Yellow -- Robert W. Chambers
On the Beach -- Nevil Shute
The House on the Borderland -- William Hope Hodgson
"The Beckoning Fair One" -- Oliver Onions
"Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" - M.R. James
Macbeth and The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Watchers by Dean Koontz
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
Wolfen by Whitley Streiber
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
Interview with a vampire, the vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
I am Legend by Richard Mathieson
The Keep by F. Paul Wilson
Urban Gothic, Castaways by Brian Keene
Faery Tale by Raymond E. Feist
The longest single note by Peter Crowther
The Walking by Bentley Little
"The Dreams in the Witch House" and "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" by H.P. Lovecraft
The Black Cat" by Poe
The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Swan Song and Boy's Life by Robert McCammon
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King.
Salem's Lot by Stephen King
It by Stephen King
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
Perfume: The story of a Murder Patrick Suskind
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Yeval by C. W. Schultz
Marabou Stork Nightmare by Irvine Welsh
Nightwalker by Thomas Tessier
The Bad Place Dean Koontz
The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft
Out Of The Deeps and The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham
The Edge of Running Water by William Sloane
Winter Moon, Darkfall, Strangers, Midnight, Demon Seed, and Phantoms by Dean Koontz.
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