/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.10122298]

What scary books are you guys reading this October boyos?

[Anonymous No.10122316]

20th century ghosts, probably

[Anonymous No.10123395]

I'd like to re-read Bram Stoker's Dracula.

[Anonymous No.10123400]

Are they zombies or vampires?

[Anonymous No.10123476]

>>10122298
Going through some Gaskell short stories currently.

>>10123400
Vampires, but they behave like a mindless horde rather than charismatic Counts.

[Anonymous No.10123581]

>>10122298
The Hound of the Baskervilles I always thought had a Gothic feel to it. I enjoy revisiting it this time of year.

[Anonymous No.10123659]

I have dark tower on audible from days ago. Is it any good or any scary

[Anonymous No.10123667]

>I am Legend
>Scary
choose one :/

[Anonymous No.10123704]

>>10123659
Its King, so its long and boring.

[Anonymous No.10123725]

dark tower isnt scary. i already read the troop and im now reading hex. probably gonna get the deep. so far nothing i have ever read has been frightening.

[Anonymous No.10123727]

my diery

[Anonymous No.10123762]

This one. Some disturbing and unsettling shit.

[Anonymous No.10123860]

Laird Barron if you want some good short stories.

[Anonymous No.10123978]

Any /lit/ like slasher movies ?

[Anonymous No.10123999]

Shutter island not that spooky but still thrilling enough for me

[Anonymous No.10124061]

>>10123395
Dracula has definitely stood the test of time. It's a shame "modern" vampire stories aren't very good.

[Anonymous No.10124115]

Currently reading this

[Anonymous No.10124455]

>>10124061
>>10124115
Penguin Classics has some top tier spooky books.

[Anonymous No.10124502]

>>10122298
Blackwater - Michael McDowell
>Southern Gothic/Horror

http://www.valancourtbooks.com/blackwater-1983.html

[Anonymous No.10124540]

my spooklist contains heart of darkness, ccru collected writings, cyclonopedia, king in yellow, and songs of a dead dreamer. don't know if i'll get through all of 'em though.

[Anonymous No.10125262]

BOO!

[Anonymous No.10125291]

>>10123400
They are zombies in behavior but vampire in name

[Anonymous No.10125406]

>>10123978

[Anonymous No.10125465]

[Anonymous No.10125553]

>>10122298
i've read that one a couple days ago, i can't believe how much more retarded the movie was compared to it, though in retrospective i guess i don't know why i didn't expect this.
And i am continuing the slog that is the resident evil book series

[Anonymous No.10125575]

Hope i can finish it. Its so sacary

[Anonymous No.10125580]

i'm feeling spooked just thinking about it

[Anonymous No.10125604]

The subjective, sounding off

[Anonymous No.10125608]

Recommended by BEE himself, if that means anything

[Anonymous No.10125640]

P spoopy

[Anonymous No.10125721]

>>10125575
I know you're memeing, but goddamn, the goosebumps books are legit creepy for kids- what always got me was the twist endings, where it was always like "JK EVERYBODY SUFFERS! LOL!" I hated that. It was awful for me.
>tfw listening to "the haunted mask" on cassette

[Anonymous No.10126348]

>>10125465
This book is superb.

[Anonymous No.10126372]

used to love these as a kid, maybe I'll revisit them

[Anonymous No.10126378]

>>10123667

[Anonymous No.10126384]

>>10122298
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-f9PDmCY78

[Anonymous No.10126456]

Anyone here read Thomas Ligotti? I've been recommended and I don't know much about horror fiction. Any of his work worth a read?

[Anonymous No.10126508]

>>10126456
Teatro Grottesco, Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe are good starting places for reading Ligotti.

[Anonymous No.10126670]

>>10126508
Thanks anon, here's a you.

[Anonymous No.10126729]

I'm incidentally reading Stephen King's It anyway so I guess I've got Halloween (and Thanksgiving, and Christmas) covered.

>>10125406
Muh nigga.
Not really Halloween-y, though. You should read Winter Moon.

[Anonymous No.10127933]

>>10125608
BEE?

[Anonymous No.10128106]

>>10124115
This intrigues me. Is it good?

[Anonymous No.10128118]

Currently Ligotti for the first time.

Fuck its good

[Anonymous No.10128658]

Pretty good Horror/ Science Fiction

[Anonymous No.10128972]

>>10128658
got an epub/mobi link?

>>10128118
it gets a bit overwhelming

[Anonymous No.10128982]

>>10128658
Yeah, it's got some great scenes, and a very cool premise.

[Anonymous No.10129008]

hugh walpole

[Anonymous No.10129462]

>>10122298
Pic related

[Anonymous No.10129470]

>>10122298

[Anonymous No.10129498]

Currently audiobooking Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. It was great for the first hour, I liked the letters and the intro. The monster just got borned. Does it get better or worse from here? Do years of clichés ruin this book or does its greatness endure?

[Anonymous No.10130247]

>>10129462
Manga does not count, but that is cute, what is it?

[Anonymous No.10130539]

>>10128106
It's pretty interesting. So far though its just multiple readings on different ideas on the concept of hell and the afterlife.

Stuff like a monk sees a ghost and the ghost is damned to hell. Sometimes he can save the soul. Sometimes not.

I'm only halfway through though.

[Anonymous No.10130559]

>>10122298
pic rel

[Anonymous No.10130835]

[Anonymous No.10130839]

(((>>10130835)))

[Anonymous No.10131964]

Don't know if it's "scary" but I've made it my mission to start and finish this series by November, almost half way there

[Anonymous No.10132037]

>>10131964
I like kaiju.
I like literature.
It would stand to reason this would be right up my alley. But I have had absolutely zero interest in it. I prefer my literary monsters to be Lovecraftian

[Anonymous No.10132107]

>>10132037
Shame, I haven't got there yet but what little I know about the series past the second book they start to get that way

[Anonymous No.10132156]

>>10123860
Best Living Horror author today

[Anonymous No.10132166]

>>10125640
Check out his collections Strange Wine and Deathbird Stories.

[Anonymous No.10132175]

>>10130559
Only the first 4 stories of that book are actually horror just FYI.

[Anonymous No.10132729]

>>10122298
Richard Matheson has written some GOAT horror

[Anonymous No.10132957]

[Anonymous No.10133387]

[Anonymous No.10133392]

It isn't horror but I recently read Solaris by Lem. Some of the scenes with the 'guests' early on in the story gave me a sort of shock that I haven't had since I was young when I would read ghost stories. Felt good to be jarred again.

[Anonymous No.10133710]

>>10123395
It's pretty spoopy

[Anonymous No.10133715]

>>10122298

[Anonymous No.10133721]

>>10124455
>The White People
This is how white genocide continues

[Anonymous No.10133730]

>>10130247
https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Nue_Houjuu

[Anonymous No.10133731]

The Complete Cthulhu Mythos

[Anonymous No.10134192]

>>10133730
Oh.
Tohou shit.

[Anonymous No.10134228]

how bad are the Resident Evil novels? Has anyone read them?

[Anonymous No.10134361]

>>10134228
Oh hey. They're actually pretty good for trashy tie-in novels. I only read your pic related but they all have a good reputation. Not terribly scary, though.

[Anonymous No.10134501]

>>10125640
the only thing spoopy about this meme is how every paragraph manages to be so consistently boring

[Anonymous No.10134541]

>>10124455
Lord Dunsany is great. Very underrated IMO.

[Anonymous No.10134717]

>>10134192
Yes, the poster who originally posted her may not even know the source is a game

[Anonymous No.10134732]

TW Brown Dead: Series They are all good, Read everyone of them, also maybe coming to a TV series hopefully.

[Anonymous No.10134943]

Robert E. Howard>Lovecraft

[Anonymous No.10134958]

>>10124455
>>10134943
Muh nuggas. I just ordered these and a few others last week. Should be arriving today or tomorrow.

[Anonymous No.10134961]

nice bread /lit/

[Anonymous No.10134978]

>>10123860
>>10132156
>Laird Barron

Eight free, non-pirated (i.e., author-approved) Laird Barron stories:
>http://www.freesfonline.de/authors/Laird_Barron.html

'Old Virginia' is a good one - real good.

So are 'The Forest,' and 'Blackwood's Baby'.

[Anonymous No.10135040]

>>10134978
Yeah those are good ones.

I would say my personal favorite of his is “The Broadsword.”

[Anonymous No.10135782]

[Anonymous No.10135927]

[Anonymous No.10136617]

>>10122298
I finished Carrion Comfort recently and it was a very good read. It has Nazis and "these people with immense psychic powers that could be considered a type of vampire, as they feed off the energy of those they indirectly kill to gain youth and energy" but The Terror is probably still my favorite of his Horror books.

[Anonymous No.10136663]

>>10132175
I know, but thanks for the heads up. The Dover edition is not identical with The King in Yellow in terms of contents. It excludes the bohemian romances from TKIY and includes some spooky stories from Chambers's other collections. Cheers from another horror fan.

[Anonymous No.10136667]

>>10130247
>Manga does not count
read Junji Ito

[Anonymous No.10136669]

>>10136617
Is Kali any good? The description sounded stupid. Also, ever check out Drood?

[Anonymous No.10136832]

David Drake, Night & Demons.

Drake, best known for military sci fi, started out writing short horror fiction.

He wrote about half-a-dozen horror stories set in Vietnam, where he served. They have a very cool mood and feel. "Arclight" and "Firefight" are particularly good.

I give the Vietnam stories an A or A-, and the rest of the collection ranges from B- to B+.

It's a good read; will scratch that horror itch.

Here's a review:
>https://www.ragnarokpub.com/single-post/2016/02/17/Night-and-Demons-The-Early-Horror-of-David-Drake

[Anonymous No.10136845]

[Anonymous No.10136853]

>>10136669
>Is Kali any good?
I'd say yes, very atmospheric and haunting at times but definitely not his best.

>Also, ever check out Drood?
Not yet.

[Anonymous No.10136931]

>>10134732
>TW Brown Dead: Series

That's looks interesting, Imma check it out.

Read a bunch of zombie books a couple of years ago. Here are the best of the best:

- Flesheaters by Joe McKinney. Houston gets flooded + zombies. At the same time, some bent cops are trying to rob an underwater bank (shades of 'Hard Rain', the movie, which I suspect inspired the subplot). Very comfy book. McKinney knows how to write good, clean prose, has some nicely developed characters, good dialogue, and feel for building suspense.

- Dead City by Joe McKinney. The author is an ex-cop, and he knows cops and police procedure. The opening scene in this - the first 30-odd pages - where the cops roll up on a domestic violence call only to have it descend into night of the living dead, is really nicely done, almost a tour de force. The rest of the book is fast-paced and good, but the opening scene takes the cake.

- Left with the Dead by Stephen Knight. A novella. The best thing I've read by Knight. A suspenseful and moving story of a lone soldier in NYC who tries to save a woman and her child from the encroaching zombie horde.

- Valley of the Dead by Kim Paffenroth, who's an academic who writes zombie fiction in his spare time. This is an inspired take on Dante -- it tells the story of Dante surviving a plague of zombies, "of which Inferno is the interpretation." This is far and away the best written of the books I've listed here, and probably the only one that can fairly be described as " /lit/ ". Very good storytelling, rich in situations and characters, and written with a certain stylized gravitas - picture a woodcut landscape like pic related - that makes the whole thing strangely compelling, like a fever dream.

- The Dead by Charlie Higson. Young adult novel where kids and teens face off against zombie-like adults. Great characters, great storytelling. As such, I was really looking forward to the sequel, but it let me down; somewhere the magic dissipated. But this first book in the series is a pleasure to read.

[Anonymous No.10137341]

>>10136667
Doesn't matter. Being good doesn't make it /lit.

[Anonymous No.10137378]

>>10129498
Can someone answer my Frankenstein question please

[Anonymous No.10137424]

>>10129498
>>10137378
It's good throughout, and gets better as the monster gets more sophisticated. It shares next to nothing with its Hollywood counterpart, so it isn't sullied by the pop culture cliche of Frankenstein's monster -- not a whit.

[Anonymous No.10138479]

>>10136845
Only Stephen King book to date that has creeped me out

[Anonymous No.10138484]

> reading horror
The only way for true spooks is to find them

[Anonymous No.10139300]

>>10124455
That Charles Beaumont book is amazing. Clever, brilliant, and funny.

[Anonymous No.10139301]

>>10136845
You have good taste in King.

[Anonymous No.10139318]

>>10129008
Currently reading this one. Jackson is very good at establishing mood, and her protagonists are loners so it is easily relatable. I highly reccommend We Have Always Lived in the Castle, too.

[Anonymous No.10139323]

>>10129498
It's nothing like what Hollywood has produced over the years.

The scene where the count descends the side of the tower still sticks with me five years after I first read it.

It's a very well written book, however, the plot does drag a bit in the middle. Just get through it, it'll be worth your while

[Anonymous No.10139349]

Already finished Machen's The Great God Pan and Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes so far. Currently reading through a bunch of Lovecraft. I know he's a meme but I was in an Eldritch mood and I already own the complete fiction.

[Anonymous No.10139470]

>>10137424
I would add to this that it's not really "scary" in the sense of modern horror fiction, but more troubling on a philosophy-of-life level (which you'd expect, coming from the same environment as Byron and Percy S.)

[Anonymous No.10139843]

[Anonymous No.10139846]

>>10122298
existentialism

[Anonymous No.10140318]

>>10125608
Seconded. Then remastered and full-colored.

[Anonymous No.10140353]

I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed this.

[Anonymous No.10141054]

>>10122316
Yeah his books are usually fun.

[Anonymous No.10141371]

>>10128658
not scary but pretty cool

[Anonymous No.10141426]

>>10141054
Yeah, I really liked horns.

[Anonymous No.10141447]

>>10141054
I read Heart-shaped Box and I thought it was really cheap and cliche.

[Anonymous No.10141898]

[Anonymous No.10142094]

>>10131964
I swear i read project Memesis

[Anonymous No.10142105]

>>10141898
Great selection, but they should have included something other than the mediocre Stoker and James stories. Like something from Howard or Clark.

[Anonymous No.10142109]

>>10141898

Horrible NYRB cover.
Absolutely pleddit.

[Anonymous No.10142119]

[Anonymous No.10142145]

>>10139843
Great premise, but no satisfying horror payoff. I was disappoint.

[Anonymous No.10142418]

>>10141447
If was his first novel, NOS4A2 and Horns were improvements for sure.

[Anonymous No.10143242]

>>10124455
>Ray Russell
Good stuff.

[Anonymous No.10143248]

>>10122298
Vonnegut. His writing style worries and scares me

[Anonymous No.10143281]

posted in that other horror thread but I'd like to hear if anyone else has read it.

I'm currently on my second read of The Girl in a Swing by Richard Adams. Yes, this is the Watership Down Richard Adams, except writing a subtle horror novel where the psychological and supernatural blend nearly into incoherence, sort of in the vein of Robert Aickman with all his erotic underpinnings. Upon my second reading it's incredible how heavily Adams foreshadows the ending both in seemingly significant and also completely innocuous sentences.

[Anonymous No.10143953]

>>10123659
Dark Tower isn't scary at all
Read IT or some of his short stories (Survivor Type is horrifying)

[Anonymous No.10144083]

>>10143281
Sounds intriguing but why does the cover for the Kindle edition have to be so shite?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PSKERD8

[Anonymous No.10144113]

>>10134978
>>10123860
Bought The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All based on this thread
Read half of it today. Blackwood's Baby started off a little rough but once I got into his style it started rolling.
Eerie stuff, made me turn on a bunch of lights in my apartment cause I didn't like how my shadows were moving.

[Anonymous No.10144136]

>>10139301
I just finished reading Misery a few days ago. I'm not a huge Stephen King fan, but I was really impressed by that book. There was a lot more depth to it than I expected.

I've been considering reading either IT, or something by Clive Barker next, but I haven't decided.

[Anonymous No.10144137]

>>10144136
I think Clive Barker's Books of Blood are sublime, I tried many of his full length novels and always gave up somewhere in the middle (Great and Secret Show was ridiculously boring, for example)

[Anonymous No.10144200]

>>10144136
Cabal and The Hellbound Heart were both interesting

[Anonymous No.10144635]

>>10139349
post photo of the edition.

I've ordered the almost complete fiction. Four volumes in total, still waiting for one to arrive. I know he gets a lot of hate, but reading all those pastas from /x/ got me into the mood for some eldritch stories, and I've liked what I've read so far.

Also, surprisingly, Wordsworth managed to do a decent job with the horror-series covers. At least I enjoy them.

[Anonymous No.10145183]

>>10144635
Here's the other book from the series.

[Anonymous No.10145333]

>>10144083
lol. that almost seems like a public domain type cover but the book isn't that old.

[Anonymous No.10145666]

Reading this one, my first Stephen King novel.
It's great so far. I've had a cold this whole week while reading it so I'm getting some great immersion haha.

[Anonymous No.10145813]

>>10123395
I'm re-reading it right now. Victorian-era heroes are the best.

[Anonymous No.10145985]

>>10145813
I was reading it last year but stopped halfway through because of a major life event. Protein should resume it considering the season.

[Anonymous No.10146023]

>>10145985
>Protein should resume it considering the season.
/fitlit/ where you at

[Anonymous No.10146045]

>>10146023
Goddammit.

[Anonymous No.10146064]

>>10125580
kek

>>10125608
Seconding this; it gets memed hard but it's a legitimately disturbing read.

[Anonymous No.10146129]

>>10145666
It starts off fantastic anon but he fucks up the ending like usual. Classic Stephen.

[Anonymous No.10146564]

[Anonymous No.10146657]

>>10133721
lol

[Anonymous No.10146668]

>>10125608
It's good, dont believe the pseuds.

[Anonymous No.10146702]

>>10142109
What? It's fucking great. what the hell is "pleddit"?

[Anonymous No.10146744]

Here’s what I’ve got on at the moment. Gorey’s selection is quite traditional making a nice contrast with the, themselves conflicting, weirdness of Ligotti and Aickman.

Would like to tackle a Machen novel before the end of the month also.

[Anonymous No.10146810]

>>10122298
Currently reading short stories by Robert Aickman. Aickman is amazing and very underrated, /lit/ doesn't discuss him at all.

[Anonymous No.10146823]

>>10146564
Is it any good?

[Anonymous No.10146903]

>>10146810
Have you read any other his other collections? I’m the poster above just starting Cold Hand In Mine and so far it’s as good if not better than what I recall of Dark Entries.

But yeah, Aickman is severely underrated, under-represented, and under-discussed. Although I often struggle to comprehend, yet alone discuss coherently, his conclusions.

[Anonymous No.10146905]

>>10146744
>>10146810
my fuckin niggas. I've only read two books by Aickman so far but they've consistently stuck in my mind for years. He also introduced me to Xavier Mellery and Charles Sims who were some very stunning artists.

[Anonymous No.10146920]

>>10146903
I read Cold Hand In Mine, Dark Entries and The Wine Dark Sea. Cold Hand In Mine is my favourite, The Wine Dark Sea is also worth checking out.

[Anonymous No.10146937]

>>10122298
Mark Samuels has some creepy stories. He's not a particularly good writer, but the concepts he create never fail to spook me.

[Anonymous No.10146943]

>>10123400
They are vampires. Though there is a difference between the ones who changed and retained their humanity for lack of a better word and the ones who became beasts.

[Anonymous No.10146948]

maldoror

[Anonymous No.10146959]

Where do I start with larid Barron? I tried reading Occultation and hated it.

[Anonymous No.10147164]

Almost finished Salem's Lot, not scary at all desu but comfy. Thinking about The Keep next for some pulp vampire shit

Is this a good intro to Lovecraft collection?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143129457/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I1QEMIYBBJU03B&colid=323YTTMPJ785K

I know Penguin collected all his stuff across 3 volumes and this is the first one. I like the idea of being able to get a complete collection without a bunch of repeats

[Anonymous No.10147197]

>>10147164
The three Penguin volumes are great, but I’d recommend getting the standard Classics or Modern Classics edition and not the deluxe one with shitty deckled edges.

[Anonymous No.10147207]

>>10147197
This. Still waiting on a nice/scholarly complete works volume.

[Anonymous No.10147785]

>>10146959
Don’t know dude, if didn’t like then I say don’t read him.

[Anonymous No.10147794]

>>10146905
>>10146903
Aickman is pretty /lit/ actually.

I do actually like that he doesn’t explain in stories. I think he’s trying to mimic how real people experience real weird events. I think we’ve all experienced a weird person or event and never got an explanation.

[Anonymous No.10149262]

>>10147794
There's a nice little documentary on him called Robert Aickman: Author of Strange Tales. I think Tartarus Press did it but it's on youtube.

[Anonymous No.10149370]

I haven't actually read a Stephen King book so I'm going to fix that.

[Anonymous No.10149378]

>>10122298

Does the dog die in the book too? I have it on my shelf but I've only ever watched the movie. I don't really want to read it if something bad happens to the dog. I'm a softy.

[Anonymous No.10149395]

>>10149378
It's not at all the same but yes

[Anonymous No.10149408]

>>10149395

Damn. I really hate that.

[Anonymous No.10149409]

I think I will re-read Frankenstein and Dracula. Frankenstein is one of my all time favs.

I might get to read The Monk, which have been on my to-read list for almost ten years. And I still don't have the book, so I'll have to get the pdf somewhere.

A bookclub of which I take part once in a while wants to read some Lovecraft's short stories. I've read a few, didn't like them. Maybe I could take this chance to read some more Lovecraft and see if I find anything I like in him.

[Anonymous No.10149416]

>>10149409
The Colour Out Of Space is pretty grand, and relatively unusual, give it a chance

[Anonymous No.10149424]

>>10149409
Do you remember which stories you read? If you don't like his prose, then you're pretty out of luck, but the actual content of his stories changes quite a bit over the years. For example you've got the more Gothic, Poe-influenced horror of his earlier writings versus the existential sci-fi/horror he wrote later that's generally what people are thinking of when they say "Lovecraftian".

[Anonymous No.10149445]

>>10149424
>Do you remember which stories you read? If you don't like his prose, then you're pretty out of luck
I read The Colour Out Of Space, but it was a spanish translation so I didn't have a chance to appreciate his own prose.

It might have been the only Lovecraft I read. I have another book, Necronomicon, atributed to Lovecraft on the cover, but inside it's just a collection of short stories by several authors.

[Anonymous No.10150217]

>>10149370
Which one?

[Anonymous No.10150235]

>>10150217
Probably The Shining since I love the film and I'm familiar with the huge differences second handedly but would like to read them for myself.

[Anonymous No.10150556]

>>10124502
Started reading this on your recommendation ... and I love it. Already finished the first of the six books. Yay!

[Anonymous No.10150634]

>>10128658
Saw this post and read the book. Literally live-action Scooby-Doo (it even describes itself that way). Would appeal to people who watch a lot of TV, rather than people who read a lot of books. Nothing but locked doors for the first two-thirds of the book. Irrelevant sexist dialogue ... girls in their undergarments. Then ... intergalactic multidimensional time-travel monster-spawn CIA-agent cliches. Thanks for the recommendation, in any case.

[Anonymous No.10150708]

>>10147197
>Modern Classics edition
That's what I have, much better quality than other cheaply made Lovecraft reprints.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0141187069

[Anonymous No.10150859]

>>10135927
I think Johannes Cabal is pretty good Fantasy/Horror. Haven't read Carter & Lovecraft. Added to my list.

[Anonymous No.10150919]

>>10124455
The cover of The White People is wonderful. Also Welsh poetry in general is an unknown jem for a lot of readers now, worth exploring

[Anonymous No.10151055]

Thoughts on the Knickerbocker edition?

[Anonymous No.10151082]

>>10139301
>>10144136
I used to listen to a lot of audiobooks at work. I often ran out of things to download or just neglected to download new things, so I've listened to the Misery audiobook at least 6 times. It's really good though.

[Anonymous No.10151600]

>>10150859
ist that ya? I honestly don't know. I started reading it and it really felt ya to me.

[Anonymous No.10151702]

[Anonymous No.10151722]

>>10151702
what?

[Anonymous No.10151757]

>>10151722
??

[Anonymous No.10151769]

>>10125608
It's kinda annoying and pretentious but it is spooky and does some interesting stuff.

[Anonymous No.10151848]

>>10151702
>>10151722
shitty CreateSpace books

[Anonymous No.10151851]

>>10151055
better than its predecessors but still cheap, kind of stupid looking, and lacking Joshi's notes

[Anonymous No.10151855]

>>10125608
>Recommended by BEE himself, if that means anything
it doesn't

[Anonymous No.10151987]

So far I'm fan of Robert McCammon. Any good recs for his books?

[Anonymous No.10152008]

>>10151987
They Thirst is a good pulp vampire novel.

Not great but... it will satiate your thirst.

[Anonymous No.10152086]

>>10152008
Sounds like fun. Anyone read The Keep? Probably gonna do that one next.

[Anonymous No.10152294]

>>10123860
I've been rereading everything of his that's solo-published since the first of the month.
All that's left now is Swift to Chase and A little Brown Book of Burials (which contains Man With No Name, but I'll probably grab a separate copy of that sometime since I'm a fucking fanboy.)
I'm excited for Blood Standard.

>>10132156
100% in agreement my dude

>>10144113
I finished my first read of The Croning a couple years back at ~2 AM, staying at a friend's place while they were out of town.
I felt compelled to leave the light on, and browsed the internet until morning; it was fantastic.

[Anonymous No.10152306]

>>10152086
The Keep is bretty gud.

There was a vampire lore twist in the last third that I found slightly annoying - like so many horror novels, it doesn't stick the landing - but on the whole it's a good read. A lot of comfy Carpathian Mountain creepy-cold-spooky type feels.

[Anonymous No.10152308]

>>10144113
Also be sure to pick up Imago and Occultation before The Croning, if you decide you want to read it.
A number of short stories from Barron's collections get more solidly tied together as part of a shared continuity in The Croning.

[Anonymous No.10152339]

>>10149408
It's tougher to stomach in the book. I saw the movie first and when I read this book it still sucker-punched me. By the way, this book is a horror masterpiece and way better and different from the movie. Give it a shot.

[Anonymous No.10152381]

>>10151987
I heard he more or less disowned his first three novels because he did not feel they were as good as his later books so I think those would be safe to avoid.

I'll give you a quick rundown of what I'm familiar with:

The Wolf's Hour and The Hunter from the Woods if you want something fun but still scary enough to get some cheap thrills that has shapeshifters/werewolves and Nazis

Swan Song is a post apocalyptic/nuclear fallout story that is in some ways very comparable to The Stand (but is superior IMO)

Usher's Passing is a gothic mystery horror story and is intentionally very reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe

Stinger is the book version of an old school sci-fi alien invasion monster movie with an appropriate amount of gore and action

Mine is a psychological thriller about a psychopath kidnapping a baby that gets pretty intense

Blue World (as far as I know his only short story collection but I could be mistaken) has a good mix of fantasy and horror stories, some have a Twilight Zone feel to them

[Anonymous No.10152389]

>>10133387
loved this , particularly Dread and In the Flesh

[Anonymous No.10152502]

Finally finished Carnacki the Ghost Finder. It was mostly filled with comfy and entertaining horror/mysteries. It certainly left enough room for speculation and the construction of its own mythos but it was flawed too. I'm curious as to how good are the Carnacki stories written by others. I'd separate the stories as such:

Great:
>The Horse of the Invisible
>The Whistling Room
>The Hog
>The Searcher of the End House

Good:
>The Gateway of the Monster
>The House Among the Laurels

Mediocre
>The Haunted Jarvee

Bad
>The Find
>The Thing Invisible (not even worth reading)

As a side note there are collections that place the Thing Invisible as the first story because August Derleth changed the original order when he reprinted the stories and added the posthumous ones. This story is NOT an appropiate representation of the rest of the collection, it lacks so many things the rest of the stories have that it's speculated by some to have been the first Carnacki written. I think this might cause some to read it and then go "this is shit" and throw away the book (which is what i did) but I invite you to power trough it and give the collection a try.

[Anonymous No.10152513]

Are any of Koontz's novels genuinely scary?

[Anonymous No.10152777]

>>10152513
Phantoms and Intensity. Not the absolute scariest horror stuff out there but still effective.

[Anonymous No.10152962]

>>10152777
I've heard that Koontz wrote something closer to straight horror in his early books.

Anyone familiar with those, and are any of them particularly good?

[Anonymous No.10152973]

1) There are some great finds on the Too Much Horror Fiction blog, and his write-ups are topnotch.

He tipped me to a couple of books I really dug, including The Search for Joseph Tully by William Hallahan, a super-comfy, great read.

>Creating an inescapable mood of wintry dread hanging over a soon-to-be-demolished historical apartment building in a disused part of Brooklyn, author William H. Hallahan skillfully brings together two disparate stories in a frigid climax of suggestive '70s horror.

>There are lots of people looking forlornly out of windows onto landscapes of frozen fields and streets and rundown cities trapped in snowy desolation, while the apartment building slowly empties out beneath swirling winds and high clouds moving out towards the black waters of the North Atlantic. Everywhere there is palpable cold and frost and snow and slush, and all the while terrors whisper across generations, mysterious terrors of vengeance and lost souls unmoored from justice and eternal rest, which only man can render unto man, no matter what.

[Tully inspired me to dig into Hallahan's oeuvre a bit. The Ross Forgery is a terrific, offbeat crime novel (it goes into deep, fascinating detail on the subject of forging antique typeset documents); Dead of Winter was kind of a meh crime novel, with a decent premise but labored and rather contrived in the execution.]

(2) The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman. Good to very good vampire novel. Very enjoyable read. Buehlman is a top-notch prose stylist. I am currently reading an earlier vampire book by the same author, The Lesser Dead. The plot is not as engaging as Suicide Motor Club, which really rocks.

[Anonymous No.10153474]

>>10144635
>>10145183

Thoughts on this edition?

[Anonymous No.10153846]

>>10152513
Watchers was the first book to give me a scare. I think I was twelve.

>>10152962
Yes, like >>10152777 (muh nigga) and Winter Moon, which is reimagined zombies, sorta.

[Anonymous No.10153917]

>>10126378
Fuck this made me kekle. Dat chimney picture.

[Anonymous No.10153930]

Not scary but sick incest

[Anonymous No.10154216]

>>10152502
Nice, its been a long time since I read the Carnacki stories, thanks for the info (although Gateway of the Monster was my favourite).

Ive got House on the Borderlands sitting around waiting to be read too. Intrigued to known if Hodgeson can carry over into long-form.

[Anonymous No.10154250]

The Gates of Janus by Ian Brady

[Anonymous No.10154311]

>>10151055
It was the version I read. Has most of the important works, though it's lacking Lovecrafts Supernatural horror in literature, earlier works and a decent introduction. Worth it if you don't want to fork out more for the Barnes and Noble version. Managed to grab mine for about £12 online.That being said the B&N version is much more complete.

[Anonymous No.10154345]

>>10154250
only really worth it for the afterword since Brady is unbearably pretentious.

[Anonymous No.10154455]

>>10151987
I've read Boy's Life, Gone South, and Stinger. All 3 are great but definitely check out Boy's Life.

[Anonymous No.10154459]

>>10152086
Reading The Keep right now, half way through and so far it's a perfect read for a rainy October day

[Anonymous No.10154476]

>>10139301
I like that cover but that looks nothing like how her property is described in the book

[Anonymous No.10154479]

This and Bighead by Edward Lee.

[Anonymous No.10154482]

>>10141054
This is more sad then scary

[Anonymous No.10154532]

>>10153474
They're hot mane. Got this annotated collection myself. It hasn't got all his stories but its got most of them. Annotated Lovecraft can be a big help too considering his "esoteric" digressions. Used to have a nice compact "American Authors" collection, which I'm pretty sure had just about everything, including his letters, then I gave it to some thot who I'm pretty sure never touched it and when she claimed to read a lot I think it just meant she had daddy issues and read Lolita repeatedly.

[Anonymous No.10154553]

>>10134228
I read the first 6 as a kid. They were great. Probably the best books you'll find based on a video game.

[Anonymous No.10154555]

>>10122298

[Anonymous No.10155343]

This has some of his best short stories

[Anonymous No.10155705]

>>10154532
It's a very nicely done volume in some respects, but I found that book cumbersome to read. With the oversize pages set up in double columns and the weight of the thing, just trying to maneuver the book into a comfortable position to read it was kind of a pain. (I suppose if you sat at a desk and read it on the desktop then the physical formatting wouldn't be an issue.)

[Anonymous No.10155772]

>>10154532
>introduction by Alan Moore

Fuggggggggg now I want it

[Anonymous No.10156012]

>>10154555
A lotta spooks in there for sure!

[Anonymous No.10156322]

>>10146920
Just bought them all, can't wait to check them out.

[Anonymous No.10156327]

this is the scary

[Anonymous No.10156462]

>>10125465
recently finished that one and picked up The Decent. was a pretty good read.

[Anonymous No.10156513]

>>10132729
holy shit hell house was fucking intense

[Anonymous No.10156659]

>>10154216
House is a damn good book, Hodgson was a true original however as with most of his stuff it has flaws too. Around 3/4th into the novel you will stumble into some tedious and supremely boring passages detailing little by little a particular event and it goes on for a while, this is the weak point in the novel. However everything else including the first half and the ending is just grade A weird fiction, cosmic, scary, tense, mysterious and just straight up weird. Hodgson is one of those few authors I've considered re reading based on the power of his imagination.

[Anonymous No.10156815]

>>10122298
>bram stoker dracula
>Zom-B(darren shan)
>call of cthulhu if I can find the right one

[Anonymous No.10156831]

>>10122298
>bram stoker dracula
>Zom-B(darren shan)
>call of cthulhu if I can find the right one
>a bible

[Anonymous No.10156876]

>>10144635
>>10145183
I'm this dude

They've finally arrived
>>10154532

[Anonymous No.10156893]

[Anonymous No.10156989]

>>10132037
you're a plebian, the most /lit/ monsters to read about are ourselves

[Anonymous No.10157698]

[Anonymous No.10157909]

>>10157698
I’ve heard of these books. The story I read from one of them was reprinted in a “Year’s Best” anthology and was about a Irish guy encountering the ghost of a real-life Unionist serial killer. I believe the name of the story was “Slaughtered Lamb.”

[Anonymous No.10158074]

This one was actually pretty spooky and disturbing.

Only flawed piece is the one that for no reason is written like a theater play. It's supposed to tie the whole book together, but the format is kinda sloppy and unneeded. Other than that, superb read.

[Anonymous No.10158299]

>>10122298
Any Brian Evenson fans up in here?

[Anonymous No.10158699]

>>10122298
>What scary books are you guys reading this October boyos?
A couple by Jeremy Robert Johnson
>Horror/Weird Fiction

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31213372-entropy-in-bloom
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35941662-in-the-river

[Anonymous No.10158774]

>>10158074
Oh man, yeah I read a piece from there, it is pretty disturbing.

[Anonymous No.10158821]

>>10158299
Read Last Days in one sitting a week ago, the dude is really good at chapter cliff hangers and has a great sense of black humor. It wasn't as scary and disturbing as many people claim but that's maybe because I prefer strongly metaphysical horror. His prose is very good. I'd say Last Days is kinda like Breaking Bad but with cults instead of cartels.

[Anonymous No.10158860]

>>10158074

i thought he was a little too under the influence of ligotti and i didn't much like the ventriloquism theme, but some of the stories were great. i especially liked 'The Indoor Swamp' and 'The Infusorium'

[Anonymous No.10158882]

I'm reading Cisco's "The Divinity Student", bout a third of the book in and it's just surreal so far, not really scary. Plenty of weird shit going on, it reads as if I was watching a painting from Leonora Carrington.

[Anonymous No.10158883]

anyone read Greener Pastures by Wehunt? overall, it's inconsistent but it has two of the scarier stories i've read (the title story Greener Pastures and then October Film Haunt: Under the House)

[Anonymous No.10158899]

>>10158882
he has another novel that is more explicitly a horror novel (The Wretch of the Sun) though even then it's more strange than scary.

[Anonymous No.10158929]

>>10158883
Oh fuck yeah man, I didn't finish the collection but it damn those two were some great stories particularly how he fucked with you with the change in POVs. I stopped reading it because as you said it's inconsistent and mainly because the dude tries hard to write non horror stuff and he just doesn't shine as well in those stories. The one about the gay swan dude and the abused girl felt very pedestrian. He is doing a diservisse to himself because it's clear he has a lot of potential when he stays in horror.

>>10158899
yeah i read all the praise for Divinity and the dude in general and was eager to give it a try, lets see if after finishing it I see something for me to keep reading his stuff.

[Anonymous No.10159032]

>>10132957
Frankenstein isn't spooky, It's sad if anything

[Anonymous No.10159626]

>>10158299
Good stuff

[Anonymous No.10159805]

>>10122298
This had some top-tier weird/bizarro horror fiction.
Definitely one of the better Anthologies I've come across of late.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16111986-the-best-bizarro-fiction-of-the-decade

[Anonymous No.10159848]

Best modern horror. Better than King (& I really enjoy King). Does Ligotti better than Ligotti.

[Anonymous No.10160033]

>>10159848
How close to the movie is it? I liked the movie a lot.

[Anonymous No.10160038]

>>10159848
I don't want to read/watch this because David Wong shilled this to no end back when I used to read Cracked.

[Anonymous No.10160151]

>>10159848
>Does Ligotti better than Ligotti.

elaborate plz

[Anonymous No.10160154]

Good stuff but some get tedious

[Rap7628016 No.10160386]

The Turn of the Screw
Henry James

[Anonymous No.10160485]

>>10122298
My diary desu

[Anonymous No.10161471]

>>10123659
Good, but not scary

[Anonymous No.10161480]

>>10160033
the movie is shit.
if you liked the movie, the book will blow your mind.

[Anonymous No.10162393]

[Anonymous No.10162560]

>>10162393
Never read Gaskell. What are her tales like? I presume they’re not ghost stories. What am I in for?

[Anonymous No.10163174]

>>10160033
The Jamaican scene the movie got right. The book is both funnier and more disturbing. And the ending is the same, more or less. Lots more fun in the middle.

>>10160038
Fair enough, but Wong is pretty fucking funny.

>>10160151
Imagine if Ligotti was funny, not boring, and used precision when giving you the cosmic/psychosis willies, instead of his rather boring walkabout way.

Sort of like if you checked your old elementary school yearbooks and your childhood best friend was no longer there & your parents don't remember him.

As for shilling, just download the audiobook or epub... You know actually good horror is rare. This is good.

[Anonymous No.10163177]

>>10132957
The Everymans Library Frankenstein is a very handsome edition.

[Anonymous No.10163738]

>>10154455
>Boy's Life
Hardly ever see that recommended on /lit/, that's rather unfortunate seeing as how good of a read it is.

[Anonymous No.10164075]

>>10154455
>Boy's Life
>Gone South
Muh nigga.

[Anonymous No.10165052]

[Anonymous No.10165228]

Which novels are horror mystery kino?

[Anonymous No.10166252]

Underrated King

[Anonymous No.10166266]

>>10158299
Read a story of his once about a man who goes blind after an accident and now has trouble relating to the world, namely to his wife who keeps asking if he needs any help.

The whole story was genuinely creepy and got very disturbing towards the end. But then the last sentence made me laugh out loud. I don't know if that was the intended effect, but that sentence was just perfectly ironic.

Then I read The Church of Mutilation, which wasn't as creepy but I liked it, though apparently it's only half a novel. I'll have to look up the rest some time.

[Anonymous No.10166345]

Can any one recommend a horror book about losing your sanity? I like those type of movies and I'm curious if they can work in a book due to the medium's limitations

[Anonymous No.10166445]

Reading Camp of the saints. It's absolutely terrifying how much it's telling the current story of Europe.

[Anonymous No.10166740]

>>10166345
Not a book per se, but look up Stephen King's story "survivor type"

[Anonymous No.10167604]

>>10166345
Almost every single Lovecraft story

[Anonymous No.10167623]

>>10166345
Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House is *the* classic horror novel about losing your sanity.

She is one of the better prose stylists to write horror fiction - arguably the best. The book casts a grim spell that is not easy to shake off. It's a deep dive into a very dark hole.

>I'm curious if they can work in a book due to the medium's limitations

Mon ami, a book is not a limited medium in this respect. Rather, it's *the* medium for immersion into a crumbling grasp on reality, which is the subject, broadly stated, of Hill House.

I note that the book also has plenty of gothic, spooky stuff to satisfy that Halloween itch. But it is a far more substantial work of literature than most horror novels, and is, I'm pretty sure, on many lists of best 100 novels of the 20th century.

Poe's Tell-Tale Heart, and probably other of his stories - though can't think of any at the moment - also track a descent into madness. Chekhov's Ward 6 does it more or less outside the horror genre (it's arguably a horror story, I suppose -- it's a very grim tale).

But there's nothing I can think of that's quite like The Haunting of Hill House -- that's as potent and immersive, to the point where the reading experience really becomes quite disturbing. (Some people rank Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle very highly - as high or higher than Hill House - but I wasn't able to get into it, myself.)

PS: Conrad Aiken's Silent Snow, Secret Snow also comes to mind as a rather potent short story about a descent into madness, or something something approaching madness. You can find the text posted in a couple of places online.

[Anonymous No.10167639]

>>10166445
It's amazing how many people are retarded and think immigration is literally just a meaningless shitskin flood (a la camp of the saints) and not the direct result of imperialism

[Anonymous No.10167690]

>>10127933
i assume he means bret easton ellis

[Anonymous No.10167704]

>>10167639
It's amazing how many people are retarded and think that immigration is literally just about imperialism and not a result of living in a near Utopia and not defending it.

If I have to pick between living in a desert with sand in my dick hole all day and no food or I can have a free house, free food and get away with sexually assaulting women I sure as fuck am not picking option 1.

Go watch Empire of dust and you will understand exactly why the shitskins will flood any where that will take them. The Chinese sum it up perfectly even if they're super jewy.

Now lets get back on topic.

[Anonymous No.10168098]

[Anonymous No.10168161]

>>10122298
The Art of the Deal

[Anonymous No.10168212]

>>10125575
The covers of these books always terrified me as a kid.

[Anonymous No.10168777]

>>10134501
I was surprised at how shit it was.

>>10133387
Shame that Sphere did their own print of Vol 4-6. It's fucking garbage in almost every aspect.

>>10144137
He's one of those people who works best when doing short stories.

[Anonymous No.10168828]

Wasn't planning on doing any spoopy reading for the season, but now that I'm thinking about it, I might go back and read the Deptford Mice trilogy to see how it holds up. I wonder if all the war crimes, cannibalism, and horrible mouse deaths are still as potent as they were when I was young.

[Anonymous No.10168914]

I'm relatively new here, but got the memes down for the most part and I'm legitimately surprised how many /lit/ users are fans of horror novels. I thought this board would shit on them but this is a pleasant surprise.

[Anonymous No.10169792]

I did not expect this to be as weird as it is

time moving so fast it makes the sun moving across the sky looking like a vibrating harp string is cool as fuck

[Anonymous No.10170099]

>>10169792
yeah that one is a capital W weird, i really liked the siege sequences and the once on the weird beach

[Anonymous No.10171215]

>>10152513

[Anonymous No.10171383]

>>10168914
/lit/ likes a wide variety of things, just because something is spooky doesn't mean it has to pleb

but yeah you gotta look out for the good threads and avoid the memes/retardation

[Anonymous No.10171632]

[Anonymous No.10171919]

Anyone have recs of where to start with for Ramsey Campbell?

[Anonymous No.10172124]

>>10171919
Alone With the Horrors

[Anonymous No.10172145]

>>10125608
Hi BEE.

[Anonymous No.10172287]

>>10172124
How about novels?

[Anonymous No.10173043]

[Anonymous No.10174102]

[Anonymous No.10174403]

[Anonymous No.10175440]

bump

[Anonymous No.10175619]

The Dead Zone
Great God Pan
The Haunting of Hill House
Robert E. Howard Horror Stories

I plan to finish these by the end of October.....

[Anonymous No.10176290]

>>10126378
What are some books that deliver on the middle pic?

[Anonymous No.10176329]

>>10154311
Is the B&N one worth it? The notes seem interesting.
The cover though. A weird mix of kinda cool and tacky as fuck

[Anonymous No.10176338]

>>10176329
>https://nullk.github.io/penguin.html
Just get the black necronomicon version sounds corny but doesn't look lame as shit

[Anonymous No.10176362]

>>10176338
https://www.bookdepository.com/Necronomicon/9780575081567

That one right? I'll miss on the notes and shit, is that a noticeable loss?

Also is that publisher good? They have some cute Pratchett hardbacks

[Anonymous No.10176920]

[Anonymous No.10177009]

>>10176329
>>10176362
The black one has a lot less stories then the B&N. I’m not sure the B&N one is still made anymore, you’d probably have to buy it used.

[Anonymous No.10177257]

>>10177009
It's sold new on some places. Bookdepository being one of them, I think

[Anonymous No.10178253]

[Anonymous No.10178265]

>>10177009
>>10177257
I picked this one up at B&N just the other day on their clearance table for ten bucks. Absolutely worth it. The cover is some type of cheap vinyl crap, but it's well bound and really sturdy. Also, ALL his shit in a single volume.

[Anonymous No.10178330]

>>10123476
there are also those that are intelligent

[Anonymous No.10178335]

>>10178253
I gotta read this one, it seems neat.
>>10178265
What was the color of the bookmark? There are 2 versions, and one of them has a lot of typoos

[Anonymous No.10178849]

[Anonymous No.10178852]

>>10178335
It’s gold, I’m pretty sure it’s the corrected version

>>10178265
Technically it’s not actually his complete fiction. It only has like 2 of his collaborations with other writers. Lovecraft ghostwrote a lot, and I feel like they could include some more but whatever. Also, I wish they put in some of his poems like the Fungai from Yuggoth and others. They put his Supernatural Horror in Literature essay in it but none of his best known poems.

[Anonymous No.10179001]

>>10156462
Pretty good or just decent?

[Anonymous No.10179077]

>>10178335
The one with the silver gilt edging is the corrected one. Avoid copies with gold edging.

[Anonymous No.10179299]

>>10123395
I'm reading this too. I read the abridged version as a kid, and I figured it was time to read the real thing.

[Anonymous No.10179665]

I'm having a pretty good time with this one right now. Anybody read the next 2 in the series?

[Anonymous No.10179686]

I have Stevenson's Jekyl and Hyde and Dracula. I can probably crush 1 by Halloween if I really try. Which should I read?

[Anonymous No.10179692]

This one. Interesting ideas like the five swallow rule.

[Anonymous No.10179727]

>>10179686
Jekyl and Hyde is the better book, Dracula is more horror-y. I'd say probably read Jekyl and Hyde in a day or two (it's short as fuck) and then do Dracula

[Anonymous No.10179749]

[Anonymous No.10179800]

[Anonymous No.10179848]

>>10179727
Thanks

[Anonymous No.10179868]

>>10178253
Nice book. Personally, I believe it's not Wells' best, but it does fit the 'horror' criteria more. If you haven't, I'd recommend reading The Time Machine. His description of the scenery in the far-far-future really gave me chills.

[Anonymous No.10179924]

Whenever I want a good spook, I read Flowers for Algernon. Always leaves me unsettled for days.

[Anonymous No.10179949]

>>10122298
If you wanna have a laugh, give this a shot. The most enjoyable shit book I've ever read. I even laughed out loud a couple of times.