Are there any good scifi horror books out there?

[Moggle]

I love scifi horror on film. But who are the John Carpenters, James Camerons and Ridley Scotts of the literary world? The only scifi horror story I ever read was Sandkings by George Martin. I'm looking for some amazing scifi horror books.

[AE35Unit]

Well the only one that springs to mind is Who Goes There by John W Campbell jr which of course formed the basis of the movie The Thing (itself a remake of an earlier film) but its been so long since I read it I can't remember if it was written as a horror.

[j. d. worthington]

Well, as with anything else, it depends on what you're looking for.

Groff Conklin edited a book called Science Fiction Terror Tales (1955), which runs the gamut from the Fredric Brown classic "Arena" to the quiet, subtle "Flies", by Isaac Asimov, or from the pulpish (but quite nastily effective) "Microscopic Giants" by Paul Ernst to the almost lyrical but terrifying "Let Me Live in a House", by Chad Oliver. It's not terribly easy to find these days, but does show up occasionally, for very low prices. Here's the Wiki article on this one:

Science Fiction Terror Tales - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

While not exclusively horror, Jim Wynorski's 1981 anthology, They Came From Outer Space does contain a fair number of classic sf tales which became sf horror films:

Amazon.com: They Came from Outer Space: 12 Classic Science Fiction Tales That Became Major Motion Pictures (9780385185028): Jim Wynorski, Ray Bradbury: Books

Forrest J Ackerman also edited some sf anthologies which included sf horror tales:

Forrest J Ackerman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And, of course, a fair number of Lovecraft's tales are a blending of science fiction and horror: At the Mountains of Madness, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "The Shadow Out of Time", "Through the Gales of the Silver Key", "The Dreams in the Witch House", "The Whisperer in Darkness", "Beyond the Wall of Sleep", "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Challenge from Beyond" (written with A. Merritt, C. L. Moore, Robert E. Howard, and Frank Belknap Long); "The Colour Out of Space", "From Beyond", "Herbert West -- Reanimator", "Hypnos", "In the Walls of Eryx" (written with Kenneth J. Sterling)....

Then there are the books listed in this little bit:

Gothic science fiction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are also the "straight" sf stories which are chilling or terrifying in their visions of the future as well: "With Folded Hands", by Jack Williamson, for example...

Quite a few stories by Ray Bradbury would fit the bill as well, whether in The Martian Chronicles, S is for Space, R is for Rocket, I Sing the Body Electric, or numerous other collections (as well as a novel or two); Richard Matheson has blent the two quite often as well... Hell House, a story about a haunted house, is also a science fiction tale in its own way, while I Am Legend is certainly science fiction horror, as is The Shrinking Man, as well as quite a few of his stories in the Shock! series or The Shores of Space...

Also a number of Harlan Ellison's stories blend the two very well; you might especially want to look up the collection Deathbird Stories....

These are the ones which come to mind right off, but there may be others lurking there which haven't quite kicked in....

[Fried Egg]

Actually Michael Moorcock's "The Black Corridor" is a good SF psychologilcal horror story.

[AE35Unit]

I think Arthur Conan Doyle might have written some 'horror SF' type stories with the likes of The Great Keinplatz Experiment, The Horror of the Heights and The Ring of Thoth tho I've not read them yet.
And earlier still Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus is an early example!

[BookStop]

Dean Koontz, esp the early years, has sf-horror. Stephen King is quite prolific as well. The Mist is particularly chilling and I would say science fiction.

Lots of sf horror reads like a thriller with elements of the horrific and technology of sf. Take Michael Crichton, definitely thriller, sometimes with sf, sometimes with horror. Sphere is an example of combining all 3.

You can also try Whitley Strieber. SOme of books have a horror bend. There is a really chilling tale about a serial killer trying to make zombie slaves by giving lobotomies...I'm not sure about hte title, but worth a read if you can track it down. creepy to say the least.

[GOLLUM]

Perhaps we could include Stanislaw Lem's Solaris, being an example of psychological horror?

[Hypnos164]

I have no Mouth and I must Scream - Harlan Ellison ?

[paranoid marvin]

The Mist , The Stand , Cell , Under The Dome, - all by Mr.King

[paranoid marvin]

In fact a LOT of the more modern Stephen King work is sci-fi , including The Tommyknockers and the brilliantly chilling The Langoliers

[J Riff]

Space-HoRRoR! Love it, used to hunt it down. Deep space stuff usually, earthmen, explorers, miners or whatever, the typical Alien or Black Destroyer setting, and anything goes. Some of these stories scared me so bad that I can't remember much anymore. So they must have been really good. Some of my writing is pretty horrifying.

[WizardofOwls]

Sci-Fi horror.... reminds me of a comic book I read once. A bunch of people are on a space ship heading to a colony on another planet when people start turning up dead with 2 holes in their necks. It is finally decided that there is a vampire on board and the only way to kill it is a wooden stake in through the heart. However, being a space ship there is no wood on board, except for this one old man's cane. And in the final picture, you see the cane slowly floating away from the ship out in space.

[vgunn]

Originally Posted by AE35Unit

Well the only one that springs to mind is Who Goes There by John W Campbell jr which of course formed the basis of the movie The Thing (itself a remake of an earlier film) but its been so long since I read it I can't remember if it was written as a horror.

I would say so, though more psychological than outright gore. Loved the story, certainly worth a read.

[vgunn]

I would add Robert McCammon's Stinger to the list. A blend of SF and horror, though the action takes place on earth.