/lit/ - Literature

>>20314603
Let The Right One In

its a Swedish Gothic horror novel, it starts with a boy in school that is dealing with bullies, and later he start befriending a mysterious girl next door when he meets her in the playground near his house.

Themes:
Gothic
Vampires
Bullying
depressive town

Slewfoot

Its a Dark Fantasy/Horror novel, it starts with a girl that goes to a Puritan town with a husband, a weird entity awakens near her farm, and the town is very religious and she struggles to fit in.

Themes:
Witches
Old Gods
Religious horror
Puritan
Historic
Revenge

Certain Dark Things

Its Urban Fantasy/Horror novel, its about a Vampire living in a futuristic city that hunts vampires, it starts with a homeless teen that befriends her and get caught in the middle of the hunt.

Themes:
Vampires
Cyberpunk
Thriller
Crime

Bump

post more books

>>20314603
prefer natsuo kirino's type of low-key "horror"

>>20315178
I also liked The Mist, only book I read from Stephan King, it starts comfy but get more spooky the more you read.

>>20315179
Most the books here is not the stereotypical horror, its more atmospheric and dark than horror, maybe, if that's what you consider low-key then I recommend checking the books out if they look interesting.

Dead Sea by Tim Curran

Passengers and crew of a ship find themselves stranded in a strange sea surrounded by endless fog and filled with horrifying abominations.

>>20315625
Looks interesting, thanks.

>>20315756
Hope you enjoy it. I won't say more than the cyclops segment was my favorite part.

>>20315200
Love this pic, definitely inspired by Great God Pan

>>20316357
Yeah, a more animalistic version.

Bros what is/are the essential horror books that aren't just pulpy nonsense? The few horror books I've read were absolute cack.

>>20315179
Her books are more "thriller." I wouldn't call them horror they're just crime dramas.

>>20317201
Honestly I don't really know what's essential, some people recommend Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, or Stephen King, but I don't think you have to sit down reading about Cuthulu if you are not interested in it, its better to read a book that you enjoy than something essential.

>>20317201
The Haunting of Hill House.

>>20314622
This sounds great. Post more like this if you know of any.

>>20317301
anything by shirley jackson really

The hungry moon

currently half way through Hare House. It's enjoyable so far, it has a good atmosphere and I'm interested to see what happens.

A while back I read Starve Acre, which also features hares funnily enough, and that was excellent. It actually creeped me out for a number of nights after I had finished.

>>20314622
This sounds really fucking gay.

just got done with pic related. i think it qualifies as horror, although i would recommend picking it up solely for sections I, II, and V if you’re looking for horror. the others are mostly just the author speculating on the meaning and motivations of his encounters

I bought this yesterday. I don't usually read genre fiction, but I figured I'd give it a shot. I hope it's good.

i read this pretty recently, enjoyed most of it. it’s good if you like long descriptions of feeling sadness and despair while grieving. the middle forty pages or so kind of suck but the end takes a cosmic horror sort of turn. don’t pay attention to the descriptions of the story online or the back of the book, they try to paint it as a “technology centric” horror novel but it doesn’t really make any statements on technology, more just that the technology is around and exists? still pretty good tho

>>20317201
Aickmans cold hand in mine. Really good if youre okay with subtlety. A sad romantic overtone over all of the stories but actually shiver down the spine creepy.

>>20317406
Where do i go after house/castle/lottery?

>>20318136
Is the movie any good compared to the book?

>>20315625
What i read of curran was pulpy and trashy

>>20318284
>Where do i go after house/castle/lottery?
Not him but her other short stories, there's a few collections of them. The Summer People, The Tooth, The Renegade, A Visit are some of my favorites from her. Also Hangsaman if you want another novel. Also great taste, I love Aickman too

>>20318284
>>20318136
the movie isn’t really that scary, christopher walken makes it pretty silly as well as the shitty alien effects (still love the movie), the book actually gave me a little bit of paranoia. i’m not scared easily, but been thinking i’m seeing little gray dudes running around my apartment

>>20318179

It’s comfy. Feels like reading through a Dark Souls clone.

>>20314613
Bought this. Sounds like a good book

>>20318179
It's very good. Idk if it's high art, but it's enjoyable and feels.... spiritual without being phoney.

>>20315178
Ok.

For me it's short story anthologies by a single author.

>>20318136
I just ordered this. Very interested in ayyliens.

>>20318489
I’m reading pic related right now
Most of the stories are pretty good but more low key creepy than outright horrific
I also got a chuckle out of the one that’s basically a guy realizing he has a SKELETON INSIDE HIM RIGHT NOW

>>20318589
You should check out Ghouljaw after you finish that. Not all the stories are bangers, but the ones that are are excellent. I can't recommend the author's second anthology though. It was way too goofy and 'feminine.' Couldn't even finish it.

>>20318395
Hope you like it, its one of my favorite stories.

>>20318284
>What i read of curran was pulpy and trashy

This is how a snobbish stick in the mud spells "fun."

>>20314603
What are the best post-2000s horror? It is an era that is a big blind spot for me

>>20320293
I think most of the books here is post-2000s, I recommend checking them out if they look interesting to you.

>>20314613
2004
>>20314622
2021
>>20314631
I think 2016
>>20315625
2007
>>20318179
2012
>>20318280
2021

>>20317201
The Terror

>>20320293
The Red Tree by Caitlin Kiernan
Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill

>>20317201
Horror is shit anon. Non horror books manage to put fear in me. I dunno horror writers try too hard. The undine in book of the new sun terrifies more than any horror monster etc.

>>20317201
Something Wicked This Way Comes

>>20318909
>>20314613
>>20314603
I saw the movie years ago and the implication was the vampire was a castrated boy, which wasn't quite what I was going for: hoping rather for twilightesque with actual horror. Does this hold true for the book? And if not, what are some books with friendship or romance alongside the horror? >>20321010 is excellent, but I reread it recently.

>>20314603
how can anyone find a book scary?
>and then the monster grab her and ate her and it was very spooky!! :o
seriously, how can anyone ever be scared by words?
horror is visual

>>20321010
reading this right now and wishing i had saved it for october. bradbury really knows how to create the halloween atmosphere

>>20321054
I get what you’re saying, but I think it’s more the concepts that are laid down in horror literature that frighten people. Horror might be visual for you, but it’s psychological for a lot of us as well.

>>20321054
>getting scared by films
I remember when I was twelve, too.

Horror is an emotion that does not exist in reality. It comes from the interaction of mental fear without any of the physiological responses. When you are actually in danger in life, it's like you're an animal. Horror is entirely different, because no matter how involved you feel, you are essential disconnected. It is simulation. And, on the word of simulations, playing a virtual reality game is significantly more intense than any film. And this is what you are confusing, tension and fear. Tension can enhance fear, but it doesn't produce it. If you want to test this, try watching something scary, and the whole time thinking to yourself "this is boring." You'll still feel tension based on the level of the medium, but you'll mostly feel baffled because your mind doesn't have any fear to channel that tension into.

>>20321037
Also implied in the book, I don't know what you mean by twilightesque, but I really enjoyed the relationship between the boy and the vampire

>>20321098
I’m not the guy you’re responding to, but part of the point of horror in any medium (as well as any other genre fiction) is to simulate emotions that we normally do not feel in real life. Yes, you could watch a horror movie and think “this is boring” the whole time, but why would you? What would be the point of watching the movie? I try to go into horror (and other genres) with an openness so I DO get scared. I’m not sure why you would encourage someone to dull themselves to feeling what a work of film or literature is supposed to make them feel. Why bother at that point?

>>20321054
>horror is visual
Blind people are fearless warriors

>>20321073
Not him but I like the feeling and atmosphere of horror books, I don't read them to get spooked.

>>20321122
That is exactly my point. Not that you should, but that it's possible. Arguing whether a specific medium is unsuitable for horror is like arguing a specific medium is unsuitable for comedy. This isn't to say the medium is unimportant, but if someone cannot appreciate, say, Hitchhiker's Guide as well as Duck Soup, then that is a defect in their own imagination. Likewise with Soma or Alien or Grimscribe.

>>20315625
Oh my god, thank you! I love this kind of shit!

This book is both fun and gorey. It avoids devolving into a parody.

>>20321122
True, its more fun to immerse yourself in the movie, same thing with books.

>>20320988
>The undine in book of the new sun terrifies more than any horror monster etc.
The alzabo at the cabin did it for me

>>20319379
Well it wasnt boring because it was short and fast paced but there were cringy choices in the narrative voice. It would be much more intense if it was tighter. I would have had much more fun if i felt like i was in the hands of someone with a better editing eye or someone who wasnt writing to churn out. But i checked out reviews for his other books and even his fans seem to have mixed feelings for some of them so maybe I skipped his best

>>20321131
That makes sense, I really like the atmosphere as well. I mean, reading Dracula would suck (haha) if I was just in it for the scares

>>20314603
Easily one of the best body horror books I've read. Also manages to be genuinely sad too.