Bob the Bardbarian Posted March 22, 2016 Report Share Posted March 22, 2016 Fellow Rebels, I'm trying to get into reading more, so I was wondering: Does anyone know if some good horror books? Scary ones, covering any topic. Aliens in space, haunted asylums, creepy children, whatever. Help me find some books that'll make me scared to turn off the lights. 1 Quote Level 4 | Character Sheet | Current Challenge | | Past Challenges | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | Educate - Entertain - Inspire Link to comment
ColoQ Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 House of Leaves - Its the book equivalent of "found footage" movies. As in you are reading the journal of a guy reading another dude's notes on a documentary mad about another dude's haunted house. Its really hard to explain because its so complex and none of the narrators are reliable as they all go crazy. Its really interesting, and good.. just read it. Also: can't be done on an e-Reader, as there are notes and random stuff written in the margins cuz.. well the narrators are all going mad. NOS4A2 - By Joe Hill (The psuedonym of Steven King's Son). A Sentient Evil Car keeps it's operator young by stealing away the souls of children. I am Not a Serial Killer - A young man who knows he is a socio path and who really likes the thought of killing things tries to be a moral and upstanding, albeit troubled, member of society. Until he finds a prey that it is moral to kill, and will satisfy his urges: a Demon. If you are OK With or willing to experiment with Graphic Novels / Comic Books:Lock and Key - The Story of a family who after the violent death of the father go to live in his old childhood manor-home in New England. The Children soon encounter Magical keys that do all sorts of amazing things, and an evil presence in the house that needs to be unlocked. Simultaneously tragically beautiful and psychologically horrifying, this series is everything that comic-book storytelling can be, when you don't focus on Guys in Spandex punching robots. Quote ColoQ || Level: 0 Techno Troll || Assassin ========================= Current Challenge: 0 - V.2 Previous Challenges: , -------------------------------------------------- STR 0 || DEX 0 || STA 0 CON 0 || WIS 0 || CHA 0 -------------------------------------------------- Link to comment
weyrcat Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 I don't read a lot of horror, but when I do I like Stephen King. You can get whole novels (The Shining) or collections of creepy stories (The Night Shift), and those would be my recommendations. Quote WeyrCat Level 7, 2. Neutral Gallifreyan Ranger - Sub-Class Druid.STR: 2 DEX: 2 STA: 4 CON: 4 WIS: 4 CHA: 4 Challenge: 7. Rerolling! Run. Rehydrate, Read, repeat. - Teams: Prismatic Fanatics"Do all the things!"| Quests | Fitocracy | SparkPeople | Rising Heroes | Link to comment
Polgara19 Posted March 28, 2016 Report Share Posted March 28, 2016 Mapelcroft by Cherie Priest is creeping Lovecraftian loveliness! I second the I am not a Serial Killer recommendation. If you like creepy children, then Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children is innovative and neat! Quote Level 6 Ranger Current Challenge - Scrubs! Previous Challenges - Theme-Free Laziness, Medieval Marginalia, Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings Theme - Again, Way of Kings 1, Top Gear Theme, Stargate SG:1 theme, Iron Druid theme! 2016 Battle Log (Long term goal tracking) Link to comment
cw1558 Posted March 29, 2016 Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 I second House of Leaves. Also Nick Cutter's The Troop and The Deep. As for King, go with The Shining or Pet Sematary. Old school King is much scarier. Quote This is what is required of you: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. - Micah 6:8 You can safely assume you have created God in your own image when it turns out he hates all the same people you do. - Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies Like pirates, sharks, monkeys, and ghosts, ninjas will never not be exciting. - Danny Wallace, Yes Man4.25 Link to comment
Bob the Bardbarian Posted March 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 I do like good ol' King as well, but I'm trying to branch out a little bit. His writing style can be... I don't know... "safe" I guess. I want to say "predictable" without sounding like a dick. I actually prefer King's un-scary work (yeah, un-scary is a word now). The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger is a fantastic romp, for anyone here who hasn't read it. It's LOTR, meets post-apocalypse, meets wild west. Yeah, it's that crazy. Polgara, my wife just got Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children, so I may have to steal it. 1 Quote Level 4 | Character Sheet | Current Challenge | | Past Challenges | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | Educate - Entertain - Inspire Link to comment
Raxie Posted March 30, 2016 Report Share Posted March 30, 2016 +1 for the Dark Tower series (actually +123486123168948, it's my favourite series ever). Stephen King's books are generally amazing, especially his older ones, though I understand the desire to branch out from that. Dan Simmons Children of Night is really good, totally different than a lot of other books I've read. Pretty scary, too. He does horror really well in general actually - Song of Kali is also very good by him. Another modern classic but totally worth the read is The Hellbound Heart. Clive Barker is brilliant. Mr. B Gone is one of my favourites of his as well. Quote forty-seven: Raxie and the Joining of Unlike Things << previous challenges >> >> instagram || goodreads << Link to comment
Trixie Falsae Posted April 16, 2016 Report Share Posted April 16, 2016 I love the Vampire Hunter D series by Hideyuki Kikuchi. There are 30 books in the series, but I don't remember how many have been translated to English. Every time I think the novels are getting predictable he changes things up and hooks me again. Quote Mama Gnome, Healer and Crafter Keeper of the Five Hobbits All Around Awesome Link to comment
Kiki Dee Posted May 17, 2016 Report Share Posted May 17, 2016 Bit late to the party, but have you tried vintage horror? I made my way through the entire Lovecraft compendium a few years back and loved it. It's really more eerie than truly horrific though by today's standards. I too loved Stephen King for a long time but yes, his stories do get a bit predictable. I find he's at his best when he's portraying truly awful humans, rather than the supernatural elements. That's the kind of horror that really sticks with me. :S The best "supernatural thriller" I've read in recent years was "White is for Witching". It weirded me out so much that I still think of it 5 years down the track! 3 Quote My ramblings in my first Battle Log First Challenge - May 2016, Second Challenge (incomplete) - June 2016, Third (Utterly Abandoned) Challenge - December 2016 My New and Improved Battle Log Current Challenge Link to comment
Luds Posted May 27, 2016 Report Share Posted May 27, 2016 Clive Barker's "Books Of Blood", collections of stories, rather good read, found them via an anthology titled "splatterpunk" years ago.. so keep that in mind. 1 Quote Remember that sensory deprivation causes hallucinations Link to comment
Viasynth Posted June 13, 2016 Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 A lot of really good suggestions in this thread! I was raised on Stephen King and definitely agree that his older work is much scarier. My personal favorite is IT. As for more recent stuff, I just finished Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun. It's about a world ravaged by mass insomnia and definitely has some unsettling scenes, especially when you read it right before bed! Quote Link to comment
Myrdinn Posted August 11, 2016 Report Share Posted August 11, 2016 I'll second @Kiki Dee on the Lovecraft tip. The Shadow Over Innsmouth is my personal favourite of his but Call of Cthulhu, At The Mountains of Madness and The Watcher In The Dark are all great too. Dracula is a great novel too. Genuinely scary. Quote Level 2 Warlock Battle Log | First Challenge | Current Challenge Link to comment
Shibs Posted August 20, 2016 Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 I've got to second (or third?) the Dark Tower series. It isn't entirely horror, though it does have its moments. While on the topic of Stephen King, I have to suggest Duma Key. I get the sense that it wasn't well received, as I'm the only I've found who really enjoyed it. But it scared the daylights out of me. It is all very surreal - birds flying upside down, smiling horses, lawn jockeys that shimmer in and out of existence. Makes me shudder just thinking about it. Quote "Mike! I found the chocolate pudding!" Fitbit | Character | Battle | Challenge Link to comment
RhiaWolfe Posted November 10, 2016 Report Share Posted November 10, 2016 I read Stephen King's IT last year when I was looking for scary books. It's hard for me to find books that actually scare me or creep me out. I had a fear of the movie IT when I was a kid, so I figured that if anything would scare me, that would be it. However, I was mistaken. I was actually more interested in the relationship between the kids and how they grew together and overcame the issues they were facing. None of it really 'scared me'. Every once in a while some part of it was kinda creepy. Some of it was just goofy. I haven't read any other Stephen King horror. I started the dark tower, but never finished it. NOS4A2 was a really good book. I found it somewhat creepy at times, but not really 'scary' to me. I really liked the concept though. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it. I have yet to find a book that has creeped me out to the point that I get shivers up my spine or am afraid to be in the dark. It's kinda disappointing, but maybe I'll find something eventually. I usually like to read these types of books around Halloween. Quote Heroine of Time Height: 5'8 Weight: 272 lbs Current Challenge: Legend of RhiaWolfe: Tears of the Food Cravings Previous Challenges: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 "Reach for the stars! If you only make it to the moon, you've still done good!" - My Dad "Hyaaaat! Jeeyat-Hiyaaaah Hiet! Hyaaaaaaa Hiyyyyet! Hiyaaaaat Hiyaaaa!" - Link Link to comment
Merrin Posted January 2, 2017 Report Share Posted January 2, 2017 For anybody in here that enjoyed N0S4A2, there's a companion graphic novel titled Wraith. Well worth the read. Quote Sylph Spellblade | Level 10 STR 5.2 | DEX 4.2 | STA 6.2 | CON 11.32 | WIS 6.75 | CHA 7.3 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Battle Log Epic Quest! Link to comment
JMarduk Posted February 2, 2017 Report Share Posted February 2, 2017 I second Clive Barker, Books of Blood is a fantastic introduction to him but my favorite book from him is The Great and Secret Show, horror at itd purest form. Also, if you like Lovecraft, search for Clark Ashton Smith: The Dark Eidolon, The Colossus of Ylourgne, Abominations of Yondo; dude had an outstanding imagination to create creatures and scenarios. Quote Link to comment
ChirpyBird Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 On 3/22/2016 at 0:21 PM, Bob the Bard said: Fellow Rebels, I'm trying to get into reading more, so I was wondering: Does anyone know if some good horror books? Scary ones, covering any topic. Aliens in space, haunted asylums, creepy children, whatever. Help me find some books that'll make me scared to turn off the lights. I'm a fellow horror book lover! We should exchange suggestions, as I'm always looking for a good scary book! A few I loved that I would recommend are: The Troop by Nick Cutter Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer It by Stephen King Watchers by Dean Koontz I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells Alien: A River of Pain by Christopher Golden Jurassic Park by Michael Chrichton is AWESOME Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (anything by Joe Hill is fantastic haha) Hope this helps! Let me know if you've read any good horror books lately, I'd love to check them out! Quote "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." My NF Character | Goodreads | Twitter | My Author Site HUMAN DRUID Level: 1 | STR 6 | DEX 3 | STA 3 | CON 5 | WIS 13 | CHA 5 Link to comment
Super Starling! Posted September 23, 2017 Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 Definitely backing everyone up on the House of Leaves love and Joe Hill love. Heart Shaped Box was my favorite. Other novels that kept me up at night: Bird Box by Josh Malerman -- oh, you know, if you see the monsters, they make you crazy. So you have to keep your eyes shut every time you leave the house. The Woman In Black by Susan Hill -- yes, I know that Harry Potter was in the film version, but you must believe me that this is delightful. Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay -- It's about demonic possession, which feels trite, topically, but this book is creepy AF. I've heard great things about Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, but haven't read it yet. Quote Super Starling! aka Leah Felicity Lucci Instagram | Portfolio | Ravelry Jan 1 - Feb 4 Challenge: Keep 2018 From Being a Dumpster Fire Link to comment
Bookish Badger Posted October 12, 2017 Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 I don't read a lot of horror these days so some recommendations are going to be older... Nancy Collins, the Sonja Blue series. Sunglasses After Dark is the first book. Poppy Z. Brite, Lost Souls and Drawing Blood. Stephen King, Everything's Eventual; Full Dark, No Stars; and Bazaar of Bad Dreams - as great as King's novels are, I've long had a soft spot for his short fiction. Bonus: if you get the Bazaar of Bad Dreams audiobook, King introduces each story himself, and reads a couple of them. Quote "'It's time for a few small repairs,' she said." - Shawn Colvin Link to comment
GeekWingChun Posted August 15, 2018 Report Share Posted August 15, 2018 THE CELLAR by Richard Laymon GHOULS by Edward Lee THE CIPHER by Kathe Koja Quote Steve G. Link to comment
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