Scary horror novels

[Cayal]

Is anyone actually scared by horror novels? This isn't a post criticising the genre, I don't read many horror novels just because I don't think they could achieve what I think they set out to do. However I could be wrong in their intentions.

Are horror stories meant to be scary or just have a horror implication? (like *real* vampires attacking kids or monsters from the bog stalking the abandoned amusement park etc.).

The last novel that freaked me out was Phantoms by Dean Koontz. Before that, it was probably R. L. Stine and his Goosebumps (that's how long ago I am talking).

[Fried Egg]

I think that horror stories are not going to scare in quite the same way as films do. That is because the way the medium of film can cleverly make use of sound and vision to create frights. In addition, the film maker can precisely control the pace with which events unfold. In books, you just can't really do that.

Books have to work in a different way. They rely on firing your imagination in such a way that you scare yourself. Good horror books are not a passive affair in the way horror films often are. There the director carefully orchestrates your experience and you just sit back and enjoy the ride. If you go from having watched a lot of horror films to reading horror and expect the same experience, you will innevitably be disappointed. Books require far more of an "investment" by the reader. They require the reader to actively engage, to flesh out with your imagination what is described, sometimes to fill in the deliberate blanks, to contemplate the implications yourself.

So yes, I think they can scare. And I think that they can be ultimately more rewarding than a film if you are prepared to engage with them properly (and it's a good book of course).

[Jennifer Kirk]

I've never yet been scared reading a horror novel, though as has already been said, this may be more down to the limits of the medium than anything else. Is this because I've not read proper really behind-the-sofa scary books yet? Maybe. Certainly being scary in book form is a more subtle art in the writing. Even a mediocre horror film can be scary because it provides you with all the visual information that you need. In a book this is always going to be far harder to do.

[zaltys13]

the only book thats ever really scared me was Mark Z Danielewski's House Of Leaves, and I've been reading horror fiction for 25 years. That's not to say I dont enjoy a good Horror novel it's just that the real world is far more frightening.

[blacknorth]

Generally I just like to be mildly spooked so don't read for extreme thrills of any kind. But I did read a novel by F Paul Wilson that scared by the bejesus out of me. Having said that - it re-used an old horror stalwart - burial alive - to good effect: a Cornell Woolrich favourite.

[Cayal]

Originally Posted by zaltys13

the only book thats ever really scared me was Mark Z Danielewski's House Of Leaves, and I've been reading horror fiction for 25 years. That's not to say I dont enjoy a good Horror novel it's just that the real world is far more frightening.

I really enjoyed that book, but I didn't think it was scary.

[dlsevern]

Horror novels absolutely can be scary. Lovecraft actually gave me nightmares. Stephen King's "It" terrified me as well as Bentley Little's "The Return", and Peter Straub's "Floating Dragon". I'm pretty desensitized to horror now but there are always new novels that that give me the willies!

[biodroid]

I also thought Phantoms was scary, Watcher by Koontz is also freaky. Stephen King wrote some scary ones, The Shining and Pet Sematary are especially freaky.

[dlsevern]

Originally Posted by dlsevern

Horror novels absolutely can be scary. Lovecraft actually gave me nightmares. Stephen King's "It" terrified me as well as Bentley Little's "The Return", and Peter Straub's "Floating Dragon". I'm pretty desensitized to horror now but there are always new novels that that give me the willies!

I would also like to add to this Gord Rollo's "Crimson", Ramsey Campbell's "The Grin of the Dark", and I'm reading Dan Simmon's "Summer of Night" which is so far excellent.

[paranoid marvin]

'Horror' is in the mind of the belholder. To some it is simply a clown or a particularly icky looking bug. To others it's the dark ,or confined spaces , or the thing hiding under your bed....

Try 'Poe' (The Monkeys Paw) or Wheatly (The Haunting of Toby Jugg) , 2 of my favourite horror novels. Also many of King's short story collections send shivers up the spine , with the Sun Dog (from Four Past Midnight) being a particular favourite.

As well as finding the right novel , it is important to read a horror novel in the right place. Sat on a train full of commuters or during your lunch break in the canteen is not the place for setting the scene. Try a comfortable chair in front of the fire at night with the lights turned down low after your other half has turned in ; or if alone , sat up in bed with only a bedside lamp for illumination. It's amazing how the magination can go into overdrive when the correct buttons are pushed.

[dask]

You mean W. W. Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw" don't you? Or did Poe really write a story by that name?

[paranoid marvin]

Sorry , I lost part of my sentence (I get a little ahead of myself sometimes!). I meant Poe's 'The Telltale Heart' or Jacob's 'The Monkeys Paw'

[Tinsel]

Originally Posted by Cayal

Is anyone actually scared by horror novels? This isn't a post criticising the genre, I don't read many horror novels just because I don't think they could achieve what I think they set out to do. However I could be wrong in their intentions.

Are horror stories meant to be scary or just have a horror implication? (like *real* vampires attacking kids or monsters from the bog stalking the abandoned amusement park etc.).

The last novel that freaked me out was Phantoms by Dean Koontz. Before that, it was probably R. L. Stine and his Goosebumps (that's how long ago I am talking).

There is some fear in the modern world, but the modern world is not very mysterious, so the plots that use fear, have no place in horror since what threatens us is natural conflict.

Modern horror existed in the 1950 - 1980's and than it slowly became comedy. It is all reflective now and more like nostalgia for the power that once existed, expressed, and still felt by the reader.

It just is not a leading force anymore, so horror is not scary, although there might be a little bit of tension that you would feel over some supernatural plot line however people don't develop superstition into real life paradoxes, so there is no reason to fear.

[shaun45]

i think it all depends on your imagionation like really were as with films you dont need the imgination its just there

[drosdelnoch]

If you're looking for something different you might want to try Graham Masterton, theres a lot of research into his subject matter and its pretty good scares along the way.