Can anyone recommend a good horror book?

[Mike C.]

Like a lot of you I'm a big fan of scary movies. Not the ones where teens fall victim to psycho slashers. Ones that are about ghosts and the supernatural and that kind of stuff. My complaint about todays so called horror movies is that the simply are not scary anymore so I turned to reading horror books instead. My sister got me 2 for my birthday in June (1 fiction from some Icelandic woman called I Remember You and 1 nonfiction, House of Darkness, Hose of Light by Andrea Perron) and I'm already finished both. Need more.

[Bugatti Fan]

Not sure what to recommend book wise as there are so many horror movies out there already.   The Psycho Slashers and Zombie movies are more of the same each time one comes out.......BORING!

Stephen King is reckoned to be the master of the horror story, book wise. Might be worth looking up his titles and subject matter of each book. Christine the demonic car is one of his I believe.

Maybe look up other horror story writers on the web?         Of course, not to be forgotten, there are the two old classics Dracula by Bram Stoker, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley that may be worth a visit.

I have two books each containing the works of H.G.Wells and Jules Verne. Not strictly horror but more turn of the century 1800's to 1900's science fiction that have a sprinkling of horror stories within them like The Invisible Man. Jeckyll and Hyde, and the Mysterious Island. Both album books are really good reads if you are into Victorian/Edwardian Sci fi.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Bugatti Fan

[espo]

I can't remember the author and there was a movie made called The Road. Sort of a post-apocalyptic setting. The acting is actually well done as is the store. 

[Mike C.]

19 minutes ago, Bugatti Fan said:

 

Maybe look up other horror story writers on the web?         

I have googled "horror books". The trouble is everybody seems to have a different opinion of what horror is.

[iamsuperdan]

I don't know if you would classify them as horror, but I'm a fan of zombie lit.

Kim Paffenroth - Dying To Live ( and the sequels: Dying To Live & Last Rites)

J L Bourne - Day By Day Armageddon (and the sequals: Beyond Exile, Shattered Hourglass)

V M Zito - The Return Man. This one is one of my favourites.

 

Mira Grant has her Parasite trilogy, which are excellent. As is her Newsflesh trilogy.

I like the classics, like Stephen King. Christine is probably my favourite book.

 

 

Also search out Permuted Press. That's a publishing house specializing in horror and apocalyptic fiction. Most available on Amazon too.

 

 

[Mike C.]

1 hour ago, iamsuperdan said:

I don't know if you would classify them as horror, but I'm a fan of zombie lit.

Kim Paffenroth - Dying To Live ( and the sequels: Dying To Live & Last Rites)

J L Bourne - Day By Day Armageddon (and the sequals: Beyond Exile, Shattered Hourglass)

V M Zito - The Return Man. This one is one of my favourites.

 

Mira Grant has her Parasite trilogy, which are excellent. As is her Newsflesh trilogy.

I like the classics, like Stephen King. Christine is probably my favourite book.

 

 

Also search out Permuted Press. That's a publishing house specializing in horror and apocalyptic fiction. Most available on Amazon too.

 

 

Thanks Dan, but I'm kinda over my zombie phase. Kind of burnt out on the whole genre. It's ghost stories and stuff like that that always kept my interest. Fiction and non-fiction.

[NOBLNG]

I’m not a big reader, but try this.

https://www.google.com/search?q=best+occult+novels&source

[Mike C.]

Thanks Greg. Thats more what I'm into. The demon stuff is always pretty scary. The psycho clowns from outer space trying to carve you to pieces really never did it for me. Also, as much as I love Stephen King, cars really don't frighten me all that much. Now The Shining, that was really good.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Mike C.

[Bronzekeg]

mothman prophecies was decent.

[Mike C.]

9 minutes ago, Bronzekeg said:

mothman prophecies was decent.

That was a good film.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Who needs artificial horror? Just watch the news as the world is overrun by brain-dead zombies intent on "fixing" everything.

[stitchdup]

introduction to advanced algebra was pretty horrific but I'm guessing thats the wrong horror

[Can-Con]

Try here Mike.  loads of stuff to check out. you should be able to find something here. 

Klik on the book and a lot of them have a wright up of what it's about.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/genres/?gp=H

 

[Mike C.]

11 hours ago, Can-Con said:

Try here Mike.  loads of stuff to check out. you should be able to find something here. 

Klik on the book and a lot of them have a wright up of what it's about.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/genres/?gp=H

 

Thanks Steve. That looks like a good link.

[Calb56]

Peter Straub's novel Ghost Story.

 

[LDO]

Stephen King’s “The Shining”. I read it about 30 years ago. I always sleep on my right side. While I was reading that book, I slept with my head at the foot of the bed so I could watch for that purple lady. “The Dead Zone” was good, also. 

[kpnuts]

Can't remember the authors name but the first horror book I read was called Croc. I read it cover to cover in a single reading, I literally couldn't put it down, definitely well worth a read.

As has been said stephen king is the king of horror books, he also writes under the name of Bachmann.

Also checkout Dean Koontz (especially his frankenstine series of books)

[Scott Colmer]

Another vote for The Shinning - by a long shot. I've read a lot of horror.

The Kubrick movie was terrible compared to book. Don't see it if you have not. Makes the book all the better.

[Mike C.]

9 hours ago, Scott Colmer said:

Another vote for The Shinning - by a long shot. I've read a lot of horror.

The Kubrick movie was terrible compared to book. Don't see it if you have not. Makes the book all the better.

I just might go ahead and read that classic. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn't seen the movie. I have heard more than one story about how Stephen King was not pleased about the way Kubrick directed that film. Maybe the book is the way to go.

[landman]

A Cry in the Night by Mary Higgins Clark. Rated as mystery but spooky enough. I enjoyed it.

[iamsuperdan]

Just started re-reading Christine.  Prob my favourite book. I'll re-read it at least once a year. And heck, we're in spooky season now, so it fits. And it's so much better than the movie, which is saying a lot because I love that movie.

 

 

 

Also, Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. Read that recently. It's excellent, and definitely a little different. 

 

 

 

Give this bookstore a follow on IG. They have some good recommendations. 

https://www.horrorbookstore.com/

[Mike C.]

2 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

Just started re-reading Christine.  Prob my favourite book. I'll re-read it at least once a year. And heck, we're in spooky season now, so it fits. And it's so much better than the movie, which is saying a lot because I love that movie.

 

 

 

Also, Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. Read that recently. It's excellent, and definitely a little different. 

 

 

 

Give this bookstore a follow on IG. They have some good recommendations. 

https://www.horrorbookstore.com/

I don't know, as highly regarded as Stephen King is, I just never found cars to be at all scary.

[Can-Con]

The first Stephen King story I ever read was "The Raft". 

At the time, my cousins and me would go swimming in Grand Lake almost every day it was nice and some when it wasn't so nice. It was about a 1/2 hour bike ride. 

Didn't go in the water for a while after reading that story.

At the time I had a subscription to Twilight Zone Magazine and this is the issue it was in is pictured below. It was also in his anthology "Skeleton Crew" and in the second "Creepshow" movie, but the movie wasn't 1/2 as disturbing as reading the actual story. 

Edited September 21, 2022 by Can-Con

[Chuckyg1]

Fantastic fiction is a great site. Check out Scott Sigler on it. His " Infected" trilogy is one of my all time favorites. His stand alone, "Ancestor", is another good one.

[Jantrix]

As far as sheer scariness, for me it was Stephen Kings IT, and his novella collections, Skeleton Crew and Night Shift. I read a few other horror writers like Dean Koontz (awful writer), Robert McCammon, Brian Lumley, John Saul. None are as good as King, frankly. Let me reiterate, about Koontz. He writes well, spins a good story, but his endings are the most disappointing of any writer I've encountered. A 340 page novel should not end and wrap up in six pages.