/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.21522841]

what is the most effective horror novel, by any metric, that you've ever read?

[Anonymous No.21522871]

The only known horror authors i have read are Stephen king and clive barker, and they werent really scary. not that their work is bad, just not scary.

on the other hand i was actually creeped out by creepy pasta when i was younger, remember candle cove

[Anonymous No.21522877]

>>21522841
Not really horror, and not really novels (but rather novellas), but I really enjoyed "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Call of Cthulhu" due to the dreamscape of it.

[Anonymous No.21522881]

The only one that really did anything for me was In The Miso Soup, which, from my understanding, is pretty entry-level. Would be curious to hear from other anons.

[Anonymous No.21522882]

>>21522841
I also am reading "The Night Land" which you may like.

[Anonymous No.21522892]

>>21522882
it seems interesting. i usually look to paranormal stuff for scares. ghosts, demons and whatnot.
the only book that ever scared me enough to sleep with the lights on was haunting of hill house

[Anonymous No.21522896]

I am here to say I was recommended The Fisherman by John Langan in one of these threads. It was not scary like I hoped. It was mostly sad with maybe a little cool lore.

[Anonymous No.21522898]

>>21522871
i get what you mean. i vaguely remember the shining being fairly spooky
creepypastas freaked me the fuck out as a kid but now they're hit or miss whenever i come across them as they've become formulaic and the writing style of some of them seems to have diminished

[Anonymous No.21522902]

>>21522841
The Bible

[Anonymous No.21522906]

>>21522841
Books can't be scary

[Anonymous No.21522907]

>>21522896
hate when that happens, with movies as well as books. it's my understanding the horror we know today stems from the gothic genre which were all love stories (i'm paraphrasing, not sure) but it's a fine line to walk between depressing and scary, usually veering into one or the other too much.

[Anonymous No.21522931]

>>21522841
That picture speaks to me... its how I feel and have been feeling for some time now.

[Anonymous No.21522952]

>>21522841
antiracism

[Anonymous No.21522967]

I thought The Blind Owl was pretty creepy. Quick read as well. Probably kind of a reddit answer but House of Leaves genuinely scared me although i was younger when I read it. the part where Truants white trash female friend kills the dog fucked me up, theres something really off putting about that scene

[Anonymous No.21522992]

>>21522841
Not really horror, and not really novels (but rather novellas), but I really enjoyed "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Call of Cthulhu" due to the dreamscape of it.

[Anonymous No.21523059]

Not really horror, and not really novels (but rather novellas), but I really enjoyed "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Call of Cthulhu" due to the dreamscape of it.

[Anonymous No.21523062]

>>21522841
The willows scared the shit out of me.

[Anonymous No.21523090]

I'm not sure why but I just about shit myself when I played Stein's Gate and a banana turned into green goo.

Yes, visual novels are novels.

[Anonymous No.21523095]

Who the hell gets scared by a book? Fucking queers

[Anonymous No.21523179]

these niggas is gettin scared by words, ink on a page mf

[Anonymous No.21523207]

>>21522871
>>21522898
I think the difference with creepy pasta was that you use to have the sense of "could this have actually have happened? like lost fotage, someone could only post on the internet" kinda stuff, which is kinda hard to feel with a mass published fiction novel.

[Anonymous No.21523224]

The Twenty Days of Turin ( Le venti giornate di Torino: inchiesta di fine secolo) 1975 by Giorgio de Maria.

[Strange Love No.21524331]

>>21522841

[Paul Auster Shill No.21524365]

>>21522841
Haunting of the Hill House by Shirley Jackson is the scariest book I've read

[Anonymous No.21524371]

Horror novels are inevitably bloated and incapable of maintaining tension. The short story is the only appropriate form for horror, except for maybe poetry. Unease, dread, anxiety, fear, these are emotions you can't sustain for 180 pages.

[Anonymous No.21524544]

>>21522871
I found Pet Semetary quite spooky when I was a teen, but I was a teen.

[Anonymous No.21524578]

>>21522841
Lolita

[Anonymous No.21524603]

a conspiracy against the human race

[Anonymous No.21524615]

>>21524578
How? He got caught?

[Anonymous No.21524620]

>>21522841
Meditations on Moloch

[Anonymous No.21524623]

>>21522841
The section in Unsong where they go to hell is particularly fucked up. It's only a small section but it was too much

[Anonymous No.21524645]

>>21522841
Call of the crocodile and the Call series

[Anonymous No.21524728]

>>21524615
Because of his long, creepy descriptions of “nymphettes” and the fact he still diddled a kid? Him getting caught doesn’t change what happened.

[Anonymous No.21524779]

>>21522841
Actually not a horror but SF: Annihilation by Jeff Vandemer had me questioning what I'd read. It's sort of an unreliable narrator (it isn't but it makes you paranoid), so I would go back to check what was said, but it was 2 in the morning when I was finishing it, and I couldn't find what I was looking for. So that didn't help my own paranoia.

The theme was about how much unnatural something needs to blend in before it's considered natural and normal, really helped with the mood.

Don't watch the movie. It was so fucking boring.

[Anonymous No.21524780]

>>21524371
So true, I tried Salem's Lot and King did manage to build up some unease in the beginning, but it was quickly gone.
With that said:
The Events at Poroth Farm

[Anonymous No.21524853]

The Ruins by Scott Smith

[Anonymous No.21524870]

>>21523179
xd

[Anonymous No.21525197]

>>21523224
See I didn't particularly care for this book. I barely know anything about Italian history, though, and I guess that plays a large role in the story. I wanted to like it more than I did.

[Anonymous No.21525209]

>>21524779
Movie was great, you're just mad that it wasn't an entirely faithful adaptation.

[Anonymous No.21525878]

>>21525209
I watched the movie first. Gave the books shot because I liked the overall idea.

Disappointed the book didn't have the fungus skull scene, but it was so much better otherwise.

[Anonymous No.21525909]

>>21522871
good post

[Anonymous No.21525948]

>>21522882
i just finished this a couple of weeks ago
really disappointed desu, i loved the setting and world, but the dude just goes on and on about eating his food tablets, and powdered water for so long to the point of tedium
although it didn't really feel that spooky imo

[Anonymous No.21525994]

>>21522967
she tosses the dog out of a car, right? a station wagon iirc?
been a while since i read it

[Anonymous No.21526105]

>>21523224
>>21522896
That is the problems with books like those two: They are great at creating a really unsettling and ominious atmosphere, better then any movie could, .... and then they explain the scary stuff that is going on and its just farcical and silly-

[Anonymous No.21526400]

the book that scared me the most is picrel, and it's because it's transmedia. I have a hard time getting scared by books, which kinda sucks
>>21524578
I found the r*dditor

[Anonymous No.21526806]

[Anonymous No.21526908]

My sociology text book.
Unironically I'm burning it on campus at the end of this semester

[Anonymous No.21526948]

>>21526806
Aw damn I remember these. I think they were a big factor in my taste in books and art growing up

[Anonymous No.21527247]

>>21522841
Read the part about Hell in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

[Anonymous No.21527329]

>>21522841
Rats in the Walls and Color Out of Space spooked me pretty good
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream
I enjoyed Salem's Lot and Duma Key by Stephen King but they weren't particularly scary
Our Lady of Darkness by Fitz Lieber was pretty spooky
But I think the most horrifying story I've read was the novella A Momentary Taste of Being by James Tiptree Jr

[Anonymous No.21527501]

>>2152462
this, what the fuck did scott alexander snort

[Anonymous No.21527530]

The Atrocity Exhibition

[Anonymous No.21527635]

[Anonymous No.21527649]

>>21524365
Agreed, it's much better than I thought it was going to be

[Anonymous No.21527655]

I dont think you can really be scared in the traditional sense. However I have been profoundly uncomfortable before, like the rape scene in Blindness

[Anonymous No.21527762]

>>21522841
The Road, enjoyed the catamite scene.

[Anonymous No.21527769]

>>21527762
oh, and The Yellow Wallpaper (short story). Not surprisingly written by a 19th century woman since it's a good depiction of mental illness.

[Anonymous No.21527911]

>>21525994
Yeah. It's not the act itself so much I just remember something about the way that scene was written it felt off-putting in dreamy way like a late career Lynch movie and it really stuck with me.

[Anonymous No.21528077]

>>21522841
The Third Reich by Roberto Bolano. Nothing is as scary as the existential dread of being a German without faith or higher goals. A terrifying read.

[Anonymous No.21528093]

Books where the MC gets fucked by life and has a initial background story similar to your life to the point you see yourself also dreadring that very likely fate.

[Anonymous No.21528106]

>>21522841
>>21522841
Sliced and squished down the drain.
Trapped in an oversized blender 2.
Detonated by an decompressive hell fungi which also controls your mid 4.
I know in which cellar i will trap you and its much deeper as yours 5.
And at last "Blood explosion 2"

I also found this molded Manson toast under my bed.

[Anonymous No.21528171]

>>21522871
Candle Cove is still one of the best creepypasta out there. Nothing comes close.

[Anonymous No.21528180]

I tried HP Lovecraft and his stories are not that scary just interesting. I can see why they were unique in his time but they are not that great.

[Anonymous No.21528764]

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver was creepy as fuck. Looking forward to reading Thin Air. And The Woman in Black by Susan(?) Hill.

Both good at that subtly pervasive threatening atmosphere.

[Anonymous No.21528810]

>>21523179
but unironically this. I don't feel imagined visions to be scary at all. maybe I just don't have soul...

[ary No.21528833]

>>21522841
ghost of greylock was intense and nightmarys was good too.

[ary No.21528843]

>>21524779
this book is extremely important, finish it and pay attention.

[Anonymous No.21528856]

>>21528810
Have you had nightmare before?

[Anonymous No.21528865]

>>21528843
You mean the trilogy? I've got the second all lined up.

[Anonymous No.21528908]

>>21528843
nta, sell me on it briefly if you care to. the theme described interests me and I think I will pick it up

[ary No.21528968]

>>21528908
it is a book for all and for none, i really cant say any more than that because the trash of the world is too smart

[Anonymous No.21529250]

>>21528908
Group of women chosen (surprisingly for non woke reasons) to investigate an area of reclaimed wilderness in the us where weird shit is happening. Each has their own speciality, and it's written as an epistolary of the Botanist (nobody has names).

Hijinks ensue, paranoia takes grip.

The wilderness would be classified as an SCP, if you're a fan.

I read it In two sittings, highly recommend finishing late at night so you start questioning reality.

[Anonymous No.21530883]

>>21526400
>transmedia
my mind is broken by the internet and I understood this as media made for transsexuals.

[Anonymous No.21532494]

>>21522906
Wrong.

[Anonymous No.21532510]

Pet Sematary made me shit my pants!

[Anonymous No.21533013]

>>21522841
I greatly enjoyed the exorcist although I must admit it wasn't that scary

[Anonymous No.21533032]

>>21524779
Vandequeer is a terrible author. I remember saying that once to this guy who turned out to be a basedboy cali liberal and he got passive aggressive and started bitching like a woman.
"Well THANK YOU for telling me YOUR opinion on this author that I like!!"

[Anonymous No.21533038]

>>21522841
GPS although not horror, mainly because I think half of it was real

[Anonymous No.21533192]

>>21533032
what in your opinion makes him terrible or otherwise lacking uniqueness?

[Anonymous No.21533202]

>>21533192
I opened the story and it was about four strong super smart Scientist Women who can do anything a man can do and don't need no man, are serious super smart and intelligent and super awesome at Science!!!
dialogue is flat and boring and has no character
descriptions are bland and trite
the plot i dont know because i never got that far, but I assume is boring bland milquetoast libfodder just like the opening

[Anonymous No.21533208]

https://youtu.be/YugLGMYX030

The short story "Psychosis" by Matt Dymerski. Give it a listen in the middle of the night and prepare to poo yourself a little.

[Anonymous No.21533333]

>>21524779
Read the whole trilogy. Vandermeer’s got a knack for making someone feel like there’s something wrong throughout, even when you can’t exactly pinpoint what. I loved how he described scenery, and you can always feel something looming over the horizon, and you think it’s not approaching when it’s just closing in very slowly. And you still end up not anticipating when it’s right before you.

2nd book is just static though. There’s a reason they made a movie of the 1st one only. It’s an artistic interpretation that’s just fun to watch, but dumbed down massively

[Anonymous No.21533337]

>>21533202
I'm glad your review so clearly indicates to me you didn't read the book because you're a snowflake and I can gloss over your opinion. Post your triggers next time lmao

[Anonymous No.21533571]

>>21522841
I liked Stephen Kings Revival, wasn't horror was a slightly scary.

[Anonymous No.21533620]

>>21533571
I think this is his second best book, and it's one of the best things I've ever read. The Tommyknockers is his masterpiece, a near perfect novel. But neither of them is particularly scary. It, as in IT, is terrifying. The swamp monster was the last straw for me. Consider that I was in my early teens up alone in the middle of the night, in a vacation rental in 1987 with nothing else to do, but I still remember noping the fuck out from that shit and I never went back.

The scariest thing I've ever read is a Joe Haldeman story called Seasons. Holy fuck. More recently, Yellowjackets by Robert McCammon.

[Anonymous No.21533751]

One of my favs

[Anonymous No.21533753]

>>21524365
>>21527649

I thought the haunting of hill house was dull and a huge let down. One of you fags recommended it but I really don't understand the appeal and its popularity. One of the worst books I've read in a while, void of a story.

[Anonymous No.21533811]

>>21524615
That’s what makes it scary

[Anonymous No.21534432]

>>21533202
You didn't read it did you? The reason for the 5 (not 4) women is stated quite early. And like I said, it's a surprisingly non woke reason. And they can only do what their specialist fields are, they aren't straight replacements for previous expeditions.

[Anonymous No.21534440]

>>21533333
>2nd book is just static though. There’s a reason they made a movie of the 1st one only
I've heard the 2nd is meth, but they also spoil it with the movie with the motives of the Psychologist.

Might make it my next read.

[Anonymous No.21534449]

>>21533753
I wish I found Hill House scarier. It was really atmospheric but I got nothing from it. Possibly the best opening page for a horror ever though.

I think I need to reread it.

[Anonymous No.21534478]

>>21522841

[Anonymous No.21534527]

>>21534478
Don't even joke, anon.

[Anonymous No.21534653]

I remember being infatuated on this story written on a subreddit called no sleep years back, I think it was one of the higher rated stories at the time not sure now. It was about random stairways that were found in the middle of the forest. Looking back, it wasn't all that scary but very eerie and suspenseful...

[Anonymous No.21534674]

>>21522841
Das Kapital

[Anonymous No.21534975]

>>21522841
SCP-55 and its related stories. Amounts to novel and is absolutely terrifying on so many levels. Sure beats Lovecraft.

[Anonymous No.21535134]

Should be talked about in the same league as other classics.

[Anonymous No.21535141]

>>21522841
The Woman in the Dunes.

[Anonymous No.21535148]

>>21533333
>dumbed down massively
You mean elevated. The movie is far better than the book.

[Anonymous No.21535175]

>>21534449
>Possibly the best opening page for a horror ever though.
I haven't read much horror but that first paragraph is excellent

[Anonymous No.21535193]

>>21535148
You’ve got no real basis for that.
Flashier symbolism and nice colours do not make a movie better.

[Anonymous No.21535257]

>>21535148
>The movie is far better than the book.
The movie doesn't even explain its own title.

Don't know how you make a movie with a mutant mimick ghoul bear boring, but by god, Alex Garland found a way.

[Anonymous No.21535449]

>>21535193
>You’ve got no real basis for that.
Even though the book was short I found it to be a slog. The narrator was one-note throughout and the more interesting moments (e.g. describing her finding of the vacant lot as a kid) were few and far between. I also found the evolving writing on the wall paperback thriller-tier and all the stuff about "it's a pit but I call it a tower" stuff to be heavy-handed. I also don't think the deterioration of the group was handled well at all and the decision of the narrator at the end of the book was predictable from page one and cliche (largely because, as mentioned, the characterization was so flat).
>>21535257
>The movie doesn't even explain its own title.
It leaves a lot of things up to the audience and the title plays into the theme of the whole thing instead of being a gimmicky twist. It's not a 10/10 film or anything and it does go up it's own ass a bit at the end--but I found it to have more depth and resonance than the novel (which is what I base a movie being better than it's source on).
>Don't know how you make a movie with a mutant mimick ghoul bear boring
I found the book boring. It's basically a slightly elevated thriller novel whereas the movie is unique (and the bear scene was amazing).

[Anonymous No.21535455]

>>21535193
>>21535449
>inb4 she's detached
Like I said, one-note.

[Anonymous No.21535459]

>>21522841
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkP0BSDnf40

[Anonymous No.21535478]

>>21535449
>the bear scene was amazing
The bear scene was amazing. It was also in the trailer.

I liked the movie enough to want to check out the book. Thankfully the worst elements were made or prolonged for the movie.

[Anonymous No.21535528]

>>21535449
>It leaves a lot of things up to the audience
If anything I thought it kept hitting the audience over the head with how the mutation worked (though it doesn't work at all like that in the book).

And the underlying horror is that the characters don't know they're being forced to explore a living flesh tunnel, due to hypnotic suggestion, and the psychologist's kill switch was the cruelest thing in the wasteland. Or how they have no idea how many teams have been before, or how many mutations have escaped ... In fact none of that was in the movie, and it turned into Natalie Portman doing a break dance battle with a fractal disco ball.

[Anonymous No.21535544]

I don't think a book ever scared me. IT caused some anxiety, but I was younger then and I doubt it would have the same effect on me now.
I wouldn't mind though. Just let it be something spooky and mysterious, not gory and torture-porny.

[Anonymous No.21535565]

>all these people reading books like movies and expecting jump scares

come on.

[Anonymous No.21535571]

>>21522906
go back to /tv/ or /v/

[Anonymous No.21535578]

>>21533208
I might just do that since it's bed time for me. It better not be shit, anon. That intro is a little try-hard.

[Anonymous No.21535592]

>>21522841
anything existential usually spoops me pretty hard. Sometimes when I'm in the right state of mind and the right things happen to make me think of it, I think about eternity, both being dead and alive. Just the concept of forever. Infinite and unending passage of time. Horrifying.

[Anonymous No.21535603]

>>21533620
>The scariest thing I've ever read is a Joe Haldeman story called Seasons.
Requesting more info on this. Can't find shit on google. Is it part of an anthology of short stories?

[Anonymous No.21535732]

>>21535134
isn't this proto children of the corn?

[Anonymous No.21535952]

>>21524331
Remember, Oxygen is a poison and its slowly killing each one of us

[Anonymous No.21536011]

>>21524779
The first book is great but both sequels are complete ass

[Anonymous No.21536313]

bump,
none of the books sound any good

[Anonymous No.21536423]

I'll never understand how anything fictional can be scary. It's just a book, what's happening on the tv isn't real, etc. I am in no danger whatsoever.

[Anonymous No.21536448]

>>21536423
Not enough life experience.

[Anonymous No.21536490]

>>21536448
Opposite. I've been through too much real shit for some words on a page to spook me.

[Anonymous No.21536637]

>>21522841
The Mist is probably the only explicit horror novel that actually affected horror in me, unless The Road is horror. Lovecraft is honestly more interesting than scary. King can never seem to stick the landing, so most of the works I've read were ruined by the ending.

When I was 12 I read a Michael Creighton book about nanomachines that lacerated people's arteries. I still feel uncomfortable baring my jugular or inner wrists more than necessary, though that one is probably just me.

The First Law trilogy does cosmic horror well. The plot and tone match a standard fantasy adventure until you realize at the end of the trilogy every main character is either dead or objectively worse off, and all of them were simply pawns of god-like ancient wizards
it doesn't feel like horror though until near the end.

in retrospect I guess I don't read many horror novels, but there you have it. Out of these I would say The Mist was most frightening to read by a lot.

>>21522882
idk... I guess it has some spooky scenes, but I've always thought of it primarily as a travelogue.

[Anonymous No.21536925]

>>21535528
The cut out the whole concept of hypnosis which added so much more nuanced horror to it, which justifies the movie being a ‘dumbed down’ version of the book.
Then again, it wouldn’t have been flashy enough for a movie. Kudos to the speaking boar-creature though

[Anonymous No.21537010]

>>21522841
Horror is better read in short form. That's always been the case. Trying to frighten someone over a long period of time is extremely difficult. More often, a novel is a lot of tiny shocks under the umbrella of one larger theme (which causes fright). And while the theme may be realized, it's rare that it is frightening, because for me, it means the fear has to stick with you. So for an effective novel, for a fear that's stuck with me, you'd need smaller shocks with one larger fright...it has to be Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door. I can't think of another that's come close. Short fiction, on the other hand, there are loads of great stories out there.

[Anonymous No.21537118]

>>21535732

More like midsommar or wicker man (came out same year)

[Anonymous No.21537365]

>>21522967
she wasn’t his friend she was just a broad with huge fake tits that lude goaded Johnny into talking to, somehow he ends up getting in her truck for a ride, that part is dark as fuck because of the way he says he wants to take the dog but she insists on taking the dog, assuring him that she’s got a big yard and she loves animals

[Anonymous No.21537464]

>>21522841
I have been reading quite a lot of horror novels in the last couple of years, and the only one that scared me a little bit was T.E.D. Klein, especially "Nadelman's God".

[Anonymous No.21537469]

>>21524779
Annihilation is great, shame the other two books in the trilogy are absolute trash.

[Anonymous No.21538130]

>>21527911
For me it wasn't scary as much as it was just deeply fucked up.

[Anonymous No.21538363]

T Kingfisher has been on my radar for a while and I spotted pic related cheap and it arrived today.

But on doing rule 99 as a sneak peek, I thought it read more like an Alan Partridge memoir.

Did I make a huge mistake?

[Anonymous No.21538592]

>>21533751
I am very disappointed with the fact that none of you cunts have read this.

[Anonymous No.21539555]

Read Off Season by Ketchum

[Anonymous No.21539669]

I’m not sure what it is about Algernon Blackwood’s stories, but the Willows gave me lingering chills even after reading it. No other horror stories I’d read up to that point gave me such a vivid emotion other than a Creepypasta about a tall skinny white man stalking an Anon over fine China.

My taste is all over the place.

[Anonymous No.21539999]

>>21522841
discord.gg/Pf4ZJzHg

[Anonymous No.21540987]

Under the Skin without getting spoiled beforehand
>>21539669
>a Creepypasta about a tall skinny white man stalking an Anon over fine China.
Would you happen to remember the name of this story? Unless it was an /x/ greentext, of course.

[Anonymous No.21541075]

>>21540987
I don’t remember it but I believe you could find it on the Creepypasta website, under the category entities. It was very highly rated, though its quality may not be guaranteed for I last read it a decade ago.

[Anonymous No.21541123]

Weird thing is straight horror fiction never scares me but lots of things by Gene Wolfe creep me out. The notion that there's a darker secret that isn't ambiguous but can still be sussed out through context cues, yet is never ever fully explained, creates this intense paranoia during my reading experience. I think most horror fiction fails because they can never adequately capture the experience of visual or auditory horror, and it just becomes its own sort of aesthetic, but puzzle plot style horror is a different thing altogether.

[Anonymous No.21541163]

>>21522841
>ctrl+f blindsight
>no results

That novel ruined me when I first read it; I couldn't stop thinking about consciousness' self-centeredness. It more-or-less threw me into crisis for a few years and eventually led to some major personality change and going into postgrad philosophy. I wrote the author and he sent me a signed copy, cool.

[Anonymous No.21541244]

[Anonymous No.21541283]

>>21522841
I was very spooked by both Pet Sematary and Phantoms, but then again I was like 12 when I read them

[Anonymous No.21541290]

>>21527635
Yes, it was very scary when the sexy lady fucked the man to death, please don't give me pills that make be able to cum again and again and fuck me to death pls no haha

[Anonymous No.21541309]

>>21541283
Pet Sematary has good, spooky scenes when it's about the mystery part behind the barrier, but otherwise i find King's work to be rather weak. Maybe I'm too used to old-fashioned gothic horror, but the fact the big bad sounds like some ordinary asshole just makes it laughable.