Horror Recommendations for the Unenlightened

[Daezarkian]

Originally Posted by crooksy73

Very surprised not to see Clive Barker mentioned here. Some of his novels are amazing, my favourite is probably Cabal which was made into the film Nightbreed. The Damnation Game was an excellent read and if you know the film Hellraiser then this film was based on the novella The Hellbound Heart.
If you like horror short stories then his Books of Blood are well recommended.

James Herbert is another of my favourites. The Rats trilogy is worth picking up, his latest novels have been a bit off the boil but 48 was thrilling. Sepulchre remains one of my favourite all times reads, with Creed and Once being well up there too.

I'll recommend Clive Barker every day of the week.

Tanith Lee also wrote a few quality horror novels: "Dark Dance", "Personal Darkness" and "Heart-Beast" were all well done.

If you like more grotesque, in your face style horror, Brian Keene is a nice choice. "The Rising" and its sequel, "City of the Dead" are both entertaining, classic zombie stories.

Finally, you can't get more pulpy than "Death Troopers", a zombie story in the Star Wars universe. It's silly, predictable, and incredibly gory...and I loved every page of it. =)

[antiloquax]

Very helpful thread. Managed to get my paws on Kobo Abe's "Womand in the Dunes".

a

[JamestheLast]

I am reading Hell House now (hard to get the 73 movie out of my head for the characters though).

I Am Legend is a must read.

I'd recommend two stories by Ambrose Bierce
The Damned Thing
and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge


There's a 1980s non fiction book
the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural which I think is a pretty good primer for the subject.

[Wish]

Alan Dean Foster's Alien novelization is quite overlooked.

[CyBeR]

I've recently completed Alan Wake as a game and, since the story is based heavily on the works of Stephen King, I'd like to get to read something from said author. I've only ever read before Cycle of the werewolf so I really have no idea where to start from with him.
Would anyone care to offer a suggestion on something to read from Stephen King?
Just not The Shining. I hated the film and would really not much care for the story of the book unless it were wildly different.

[springs]

Loads, Cyber; there's quite a good thread on him somewhere too.

For pure horror something like It - demon clowns, Salems lot - vampires, or the Stand - post viral meltdown, probably considered his most important piece of work.
Some of his earlier stuff is very good for characterisation and good story telling; firestarter - kid with pyrokinetic powers, Dead Zone - guy can see future.

i also enjoyed Under the Dome, and i haven't read his new one yet, but it's getting good write ups.

[D_Davis]

'Salem's Lot is a fantastic place to start.

And The Shining is very different from the movie.

[j. d. worthington]

I'm not much of a King fan (though I have no particular animus against him, either), but... yes, I'd suggest The Shining, as it is immensely different from the Kubrick film. Carrie is also quite good... surprisingly so, for such an early novel, and more complex than appears on the surface. Pet Sematary also has a fair amount of power, as do large portions of IT... though I don't see that one as a horror novel, myself, but rather a "study" of rituals of good and evil. Needful Things also has much to recommend it.

I will have to disagree with several on 'Salem's Lot, however. Whilst I loved it when I first read it some 30+ years ago, on a reread back in 2006 I found I had to force my way through the thing, and felt it was terribly hackneyed and almost a "paint-by-the-numbers" exercise (though I will give him kudos for making the Marsden house a truly memorable setting). In total, I found about three pages' worth of truly good writing, though to give him his due, that good was good enough to nearly take my breath away; it was almost painfully beautiful and moving writing; even though it was simple descriptive prose, it was so lucent and poignant that it came close to bringing tears to my eyes. Had the entire novel been written on that level, it would have almost certainly become listed among the ten or fifteen best novels in the field, just on the strength of its writing alone....

For someone who isn't put off by the excess fat and the often pedestrian aspects of his writing -- though when he chooses, he can be really quite good -- there are a number of titles which are worth looking into; not surprising, really, given the man's prolificity....

[Diggler]

I find most of Stephen King's books to just drag on to the nth degree. As for his decent horrors (that I've read) The Shining is top of the list, followed by Thinner under his Richard Bachman persona. Skeleton Crew, Night Shift and Four Seasons are also high on my King reading list for his excellent short stories and novella's including:

The Mist, Survivor Type, The Raft, Apt Pupil, The Body, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, Trucks, The Mangler and Quitter's, inc. and others...

Many of these stories ended up as movies, shorts and tv episodes.

If you want some pulpy, ultra violent and seedy horror, then Shaun Hutson is your man. Assassins by Hutson has always been a bit of a guilt pleasure.

[dask]

Never heard of him but I'll keep an eye open. Seedy sounds good.

[Diggler]

LOL. He is akin to say the goremeister's of the 70's like Fulci, D'Amato, Margheriti and Martino. The guy also has a serious fascination with 80's metal, especially Iron Maiden.

Also at the absolute extreme end of the scale, I would also add Matthew Stokoe's COWS. But be warned that it is one of the most disturbing novels I've read. It easily surpasses The Wasp Factory, and even makes American Psycho look pretty tame. High Life, also by Stokoe, is a mix of crime noir, extreme violence and sociopathic tendencies.

[Anathem]

Nice lists! It's been a long time since I've read a horror book, will have to go through these suggestions and find a good one to try out

[Charles.Dunphey]

H. P. Lovecraft is definitely the godfather of science fiction horror. I recommend the compilation called "Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft". It has the Call of Cthulu so anyone starting off will get a good idea of who H. P. was.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Charles.Dunphey

H. P. Lovecraft is definitely the godfather of science fiction horror. I recommend the compilation called "Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft". It has the Call of Cthulu so anyone starting off will get a good idea of who H. P. was.

Welcome to the Chrons. Always glad to see another Lovecraftian around. I would, however, suggest not picking up this volume (which is seriously flawed textually; e.g., missing a huge section of text in "The Colour Out of Space"), but rather the Barnes & Noble Complete Fiction, which contains all his own original fiction (collaborations, revisions, etc., to be found elsewhere... in the main). However, make certain to get the 2011 printing or after, as there were serious typos in the first several printings. The more recent printings are among the most textually sound editions one can get of Lovecraft, and the book itself is roughly $20....

[dask]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

I would, however, suggest not picking up this volume (which is seriously flawed textually; e.g., missing a huge section of text in "The Colour Out of Spaceof Lovecraft...

You've already explained in other posts why magazine manuscripts might be expurgated, but why for a book of this nature. What does the editor or publisher have to gain? Why not just print the whole blamed thing?