Is Stephen King’s The Institute horror or more of a sci-fi book?

[Brad]

I’m trying to figure out what I’ll be reading for my October horror month and from the descriptions of this book I can figure out if it’s a very good choice or if it’s mainly just a sci-fi novel with some horror elements.

[Trike]

SF and Fantasy are foundational genres, upon which you can hang any other genre. So if you’re looking for horror, as long as it’s scary it doesn’t matter if it’s SF, Fantasy, or just straight fiction.

Alien; I Am Legend = Science Fiction Horror
Maplecroft; The Shining = Fantasy Horror
Psycho, Jaws = Fiction Horror

[TraceyL]

I just read The Institute the other day. I wouldn't really call it a horror novel. It's much more of a science fiction/thriller book. There are definitely some bloody fight scenes in it, and there's an injury I'll write as a minor spoiler below which is quite graphic, but not horrific. At least not by Stephen King standards.

(view spoiler)[A character slices their own ear off. (hide spoiler)]

[Brad]

Thanks Tracey, I think I’ll save this one for later in that case.

Trike, I get that but maybe I’m just wording my question poorly. Basically I just want to read spooky books for the month of October, stuff that will get me into a Halloween kind of mood. For example, I know that something like Peter F. Hamilton’s “Night’s Dawn” trilogy is very terrifying but it’s not exactly something that would get me into that Halloween mood. Something like Stephen King’s “It” however is more of a traditional horror novel and something like that is more what I’m looking for.

[TraceyL]

If you like short stories, I think Stephen King's book Night Shift is a great Halloween read. Every story has a different monster and they cover a lot of common fears - The Boogeyman, rats, serial killers, ghosts, even the fear of heights.

[John (Taloni)]

If it's that spooky feel you want, hard to go wrong with Ray Bradbury. The October Country and Something Wicked This Way Comes would be good.

[Trike]

Brad wrote: "Thanks Tracey, I think I’ll save this one for later in that case.

Trike, I get that but maybe I’m just wording my question poorly. Basically I just want to read spooky books for the month of Octo..."

Ah, I read that as you were thinking SF and Horror were mutually exclusive. The problem was in my set, not your signal.

[Brad]

Thanks for the suggestions. I just picked up October Country for $2.99 on kindle and Night Shift I thought I had read for some reason but I’ve only read the first 3 stories so far.

[Rob, Roberator]

I haven't read this book, but King gets automatically binned as horror, even when he writes a non-horror book which always makes it harder to know what you're getting with a new book.

He's done a straight fantasy (The Eyes of the Dragon), or mystery/thriller (Joyland, Mr. Mercedes and its sequels), alternate history (11/22/63), etc and I've seen all of them called "horror"

I'm sure there are more examples since he's written so many books.

I might still read it this month even though it's not horror. I'm not a big horror fan anyways, but I've enjoyed most of the novels I've read by King.

[Jen]

I finished The Institute about a week ago and it was an excellent book but I would absolutely not classify it as a a Horror novel. It is scifi/thriller. I don't know if you have read anything else by him but if you had think more Gunslinger than Carrie. If you are looking for a recently published spooky read maybe try The Hunger by Alma Katsu; it's about the Donner Party with a supernatural twist. Or Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son).

[Adelaide]

I think imprisoning and torturing children is pretty horrific, so I would classify this as horror. But it’s not the supernatural stuff one usually associates with Halloween.

[Brad]

I agree that sounds horrific but there’s a lot of stuff in non-horror novels I’d call horrific. There’s quite a bit of horrific things happening in a lot of fantasy but I wouldn’t classify it as horror. Malazan Book of The Fallen for example has some of the most horrific things I’ve ever read, but I would still place those books firmly in the fantasy genre.

[Adelaide]

Brad wrote: "I agree that sounds horrific but there’s a lot of stuff in non-horror novels I’d call horrific. There’s quite a bit of horrific things happening in a lot of fantasy but I wouldn’t classify it as ho..."

Things can be in more than one genre. I classify all supernatural horror as also being fantasy. Not sure why we wouldn't classify a lot of horrific fantasy as horror as well.

[Ian (RebelGeek)]

I just finished The Institute. I liked it a lot, but it's not scary at all.
For scary, I recommend The Outsider
& spooky Halloween short fiction Haunted Nights.