Horror Reads for the season

Since I know we have a lot of avid readers on the site, I wanted to start a discussion just on horror novels, short stories and the like - it sounds cheesy but I always dedicate my reading time to exclusively horror throughout October. I like reading horror anyway but it's fun to get in the spirit of the season.

Here are some of my favorite authors/books, and I'd be curious to hear yours...

Clive Barker - A lot of his novels are more on the dark fantasy or fantasy side of things but his short story collections The Books of Blood are amazing. Just crazy imaginative and original. Highly recommended to any and all horror fans.

Ray Bradbury - Not your standard horror author by any stretch but some of his short stories are pretty awesome. Check out October Country, especially the stories The Scythe, The Wind, and The Veldt.

Laird Barron - Reading this guy for the first time and damn he is good. Super atmospheric and evocative cosmic horror. I am reading the collection The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and it is fantastic so far.

Shirley Jackson - everyone knows her for the lottery but she wrote some really awesome short stories, as well as The Haunting of Hill House (basis for the netflix TV show). No blood and guts here, more understated, brooding psychological horror.

I'm not a big horror reader but really liked the Necroscope series by Brian Lumley - The books are about a guy who can talk to the dead, vampires and esp-branches of Britain and Russia 'at war' with each other.

Carnelian wrote:

I'm not a big horror reader but really liked the Necroscope series by Brian Lumley - The books are about a guy who can talk to the dead, vampires and esp-branches of Britain and Russia 'at war' with each other.

I hope I don't come across as a contrarian but I read a few of the Necroscope books some years ago and in my opinion the protagonist was simply too powerful in relation to his enemies. I can't recall a single instant where he faced serious setbacks or struggled to overcome the opposition. Now the opposition is very cool and both inspiring, and I think inspired an iconic RPG faction in a well known RPG, but to me the resolution of the conflicts in the books didn't feel very engaging.

He is certainly very powerful but I also found him quiet fragile. I also think your wrong that he doesn’t suffer set backs.... there are some pretty serious ones throughout the books and the mistakes he makes. Hard to discuss though without giving spoilers.

Each to their own though.

Some other horror books I like is HP Lovecrafts short stories. I think those are a bit like marmite, you either love or hate them.

Sounds like a hell of a series Dave - definitely will have to check that out at some point.

I used to love HP Lovecraft, now hes kind of tough for me. Love the lore and ideas and creatures, cults etc. in his stories, but his writing style grates on me a lot more than it did when I was younger for some reason...I read The Shadow over Innsmouth recently and felt like it was never going to end lol. Undoubtedly a classic horror author though.

Had to turn to google to figure out what marmite was

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Clive Barker - A lot of his novels are more on the dark fantasy or fantasy side of things but his short story collections The Books of Blood are amazing. Just crazy imaginative and original. Highly recommended to any and all horror fans.

Just bought the kindle version for $3.99. That was a super easy call. As a Clive Barker fan, I am ashamed to say I have never READ any of his works. The Hellraiser movies still, to this day, fuck me up. So, I am happy to finally have something from him.

To add to this list, I really appreciated Richard Laymon's works. I haven't read him in years, but he wrote some fucked up horror.

I recommend "One Rainy Night" and I remember "In the Dark" really had me enthralled when I was just out of high school.

Jeff, you ever watch Nightbreed? It's another Barker movie.

I've only watched it once, probably 20+ years ago. I remember it being very cool. But I may have smoked something.

I've heard of it but never watched it. But I definitely will now. I love seeing how old movies have aged.

Iron and Metal wrote:

Quote :

Clive Barker - A lot of his novels are more on the dark fantasy or fantasy side of things but his short story collections The Books of Blood are amazing. Just crazy imaginative and original. Highly recommended to any and all horror fans.

Just bought the kindle version for $3.99. That was a super easy call. As a Clive Barker fan, I am ashamed to say I have never READ any of his works. The Hellraiser movies still, to this day, fuck me up. So, I am happy to finally have something from him.

To add to this list, I really appreciated Richard Laymon's works. I haven't read him in years, but he wrote some fucked up horror.

I recommend "One Rainy Night" and I remember "In the Dark" really had me enthralled when I was just out of high school.

Let me know what you think. I LOVE the Books of Blood. Honestly, I read a novel of his and was less impressed, but the short stories in BoB left a big impact on me.

On the flip side of the coin I have never watched any of the movies based on his work - including Hellraiser! It's on my list lol.

If you like slow-building dread and weird fiction/cosmic horror, I cannot recommend The Fisherman by John Langan enough. I read that one shortly after drafting this list and it was fucking awesome. Very spooky, made me legitimately shiver and just offered a really affecting gut-wrenching portrait of loss. It's like if you made took a HP Lovecraft story, made it about grief and turned the narrator into a everyman fisherman guy from upstate New York.

I have heard good things about Nightbreed Dave, I do really wanna check that out. I believe it's actually getting a TV show adaptation soon...

https://deadentertainment.com/2019/01/28/clive-barker-offers-updates-on-syfys-nightbreed-announces-new-projects/

Meanwhile, Jordan Peele is directing a sequel or remake or something of Candyman - again, haven't seen the original and it's on my list but I'll throw money at any horror movie by JP.

https://collider.com/candyman-filming-begins-jordan-peele/