Horror Aficionados discussion
Novels
>
Anyone else have a hard time finding a book that TRULY scares you?
date
newest »
newest »
This topic has been discussed here before. Most of us are of the consensus that we're a little hard to scare. The bloody horror slasher books don't scare me at all, but occasionally I'll find a book that subtly strikes a nerve and gets under my skin and creeps me out. Scares are subjective, so you or someone else might not experience the same chills I do when reading books I suggest. But here are some that got under my skin:Carrion Comfort
Audrey's Door
Naomi's Room
Under the Skin
Meat
The Ruins
Prey
The Cannibal Within
Off Season
Afraid
When Darkness Loves Us
Survivor
The Strain
If you love horror, you've got to read Stephen King. It and Pet Sematary are his scariest IMO, and Bag of Bones is a great ghost story.Hell House is a scary book - I honestly can't think of a book that's really scared me, but this one definitely sticks out in my mind as making my my skin crawl!
Clive Barker's The Damnation Game is probably the scariest novel I've read.If you liked The Ring you might try the novel, Ring, by Koji Suzuki.
The King books that scared me the most were The Shining and Bag of Bones.
Prey by Masterton creeped me out at times. And if the secret hasn't been spoiled for you already, Scott Smith's The Ruins could be very frightening (less so if it has been--curse those Amazon.com reviewers!)
I read Creepers and I was so unimpressed with it. =( I don't know what I was hoping for but I didn't get it. And I really don't think I even look for books to scare me. I think I just look for disgusting books.
Books don't scare me. Only nightmares can do that, and unfortunately I don't have nearly enough of them.
Oh man, Benjamin, don't mention nightmares ... please! I have them way too often and I dream VIVID dreams. To the point that when I wake up it takes a while for me to figure out what's real.That's the main reason I had to give up my HP Lovecraft books years ago. I was dreaming the Cthulhu Mythos into my reality and it really sucked!
I got over that and while HPL still scares the daylights out of me, I can control those dreams when they occur (Lucid Dreaming).
Brian Keene's work frightens me. He can get into my head and stomp around at will.
There was one book I read a while back that was so over the top gross and just plain indescribable. I had never read anything like it and when I finished I was completely wrung out. I wonder what others thought of it.
'Vaders by R. Patrick Gates
http://www.amazon.com/Vaders-R-Patric...
I've read some graphic books over the years that have given me nightmares, but I can't remember which ones they are.
I was terribly disappointed by "Vaders, I thought it was a total waste of my time.
And well deserved. R. Patrick Gates is great, though, this was just his "one off"
I love the reviewer who lists all the consistencies about the size of the monsters.
Mod
Have you read Grimm Memorials? Icky stuff, I loved it.
Grimm Memorials and Reapings both were awesome, loved them. Lots of fun. The Prison was really excellent too.
Bandit wrote: "Grimm Memorials and Reapings both were awesome, loved them. Lots of fun. The Prison was really excellent too."I kinda like The Prison that is until the end when it actually had about five points at which it seemed it was ending. That drove me nuts.
'Vaders truly is horrible. IT's so over the top that I stopped several times in disbelief. His other work, as you all say, is really good. I think 'Vaders was an experiment or maybe therapy. Had to get all the cheap sensationalism out of his system!
Wow, guys. Thanks for all the responses and recommendations. I'm gonna look into some of these books.And oh, how could I forget? I have read Jack Ketchum's Off Season and adored it. Too bad the sequel wasn't as great, IMO.
Ketchum is good. I found that most of the authors in the Leisure Books stable were pretty good. It's really a shame that Leisure stopped printing paperbacks. I knew that I would like nearly anything from them.Some more;
The Demonologist - Michael Laimo
The Uncanny - Andrew Klavin
Bad Brains - Kathe Koja
The Black Carousel - Charles Grant
Others - James Herbert
The Dark - James Herbert
Premonition - JN Williamson
Raven - SA Swiniarski
The Forbidden Zone - Whitely Streiber
Slob - Rex Miller
Carl suggested Slob to me and I haven't read it yet but I really want to.
OMG, I completely forgot about Slob. I read that many years ago and liked it. Haven't thought about it in ages.
Off Season scarred me more than scared me. The scene when they pull the chick out of the window gives me the heebie jeebies!
Mod
I will never EVER forget this book, in fact I have to re-read it, hopefully with a tiny bit of calm from my side this time...
The scene where the (view spoiler) was shocking when I first read it back in the '80s. I've since read scenes as disgusting, but even that still shocks me when I think about it. I won't ever forget this book either.
I think I started a discussion like this a while back. I've belonged to several horror forums through the years and I've always felt that I seem to get scared more often than a lot of horror fans out there, as if I'm a big wussy. Definitely hit Stephen King. He's one of the few that have scared me. It was one of those I couldn't read when I was alone. Bag of Bones had it's moments and was definitely worth the read. I haven't read it yet but I hear The Shining is real scary.. Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box got me. The most frightening book I've ever read was House of Leaves. That is a hard one to get through but it got to me so badly that I could not even stand to have it in my house.
Sounds like we have similar tastes, McKenzie. :) I can't pinpoint why exactly, but Song of Kali by Dan Simmons made me nearly wet myself. And I'm not generally a jumpy reader. I'm an unabashedly die-hard King fan, and I've read most of his stuff multiple times. I have to say, if you only read one of his novels, make it IT. If you only read two, make it IT and The Shining. If you only read three, make it IT, The Shining, and IT again. ;)
The Red Church by Scott Nicholson and Strange Seed by T. R. Wright both got to me, but I'd say I was more unsettled than scared. Maybe they resonated with me on a personal level.
I was completely blown away by House of Leaves, but it's a divisive novel.
I have to mention my new favorite short story too: In The Rundown, by Joe Hill. I had a strong visceral reaction to that, though it was more of a nigh-unbearable dread than fear. The subject matter isn't your typical horror fare either.
The only type of horror I've ever found remotely frightening is the type that involves semi-believable mythic creatures. Bigfoot, werewolves etc (not vampires...I see them all as sadly sparkly these days *sigh*). Would anyone have any recommendations along that line? Those novels that take place in the outdoors also seem to be a personal preference of mine so any recommendations would be very much appreciated.
Well there's Dweller as far a bigfoot sort of vibe and Whitley Strieber's The Wolfenas far as werewolves.
I found The Exorcist to be rather scary. Even being familiar with the story from the movie before I read it, the small details, like smells, really bring you into it.
Mod
I love werewolves, Moonbane from Al Sarrantonio was great if you're in the mood for some furries.
I agree that Heart-Shaped Box was creepy. It made me jumpy, something that hasn't really happened for me either in awhile. Stephen King's books I love but I've read and re-read them all a bunch of times, so they don't really scare me anymore, but for someone who has never read him, I'd recommend The Shining, Salem's Lot, and, yes, I'll repeat what's been said a few times, It. :)
Amanda, I read Dweller the other night. Most depressing book I've read in ages. Seriously, just Sad. I found it more a buddy tale than a horror story tho. Enjoyed it nonetheless :). I'll get to Wolfen and Moonbane this week :)
Yeah it bummed me out too but it is a story about a bigfootesque monster nonetheless. Hope Wolfen fits the bill.
Saw it years ago. Thought it was pretty good.
Although apparently it was made to have socio-politcal undertones the book didn't according the a recent article in Fangoria.
I have the vanishing by bentley little available for trade.interested sen me your mailing address and what you have available for trade.i have not read it.i discovered i had two copies.also do you think you can scare me with a real scarely book?send it to me,i Challenge you to send me your scarest book.when done i will return it to you.got one i will give you my mailing address.
I have this same problem but was more satisfied with this classic then almost any other horror story I've come across. It's certainly worth the read, especially coming from a jaded horror bibliophile.
I don't know if it's because I've been reading horror for so long, but nothing scares me anymore. Sickens me, yes, sometimes, but I can't remember the last book that actually scared me. Like Kit, I was scared sh**less by Stephen King way back, but having read them all so many times, there's no 'scary' left. Any suggestions, anyone? Blood and guts doesn't do it, btw... I need a good story, with suspense and surprise to have even a chance it might scare me.
I'm the same way, glenda. Too jaded. Been watching and reading horror from a young age and while I can recognize creepiness factors, they are usually short lived. I can still be disturbed though and dislike that feeling.
I thought Peter Straub's Ghost Story was very scary, but it takes a little while to get there. Other that that, I don't think many books really do that.
Erin wrote: "I'm the same way, glenda. Too jaded. Been watching and reading horror from a young age and while I can recognize creepiness factors, they are usually short lived. I can still be disturbed though an..."Exactly how I feel, Erin!
Jon Recluse wrote: "Song of Kali"Did it scare you, Jon?
Hello, everyone, and good morning from this part of the globe! :) I would just like to say that this thread is helpful to me. I've been a Stephen King fan for years and it came to a point that I want to explore other horror writers and their works. The lists all of you provided are worth checking out, so thank you again :)
Horror Aficionados
Books mentioned in this topic
Ghost Story (other topics)Song of Kali (other topics)
The Exorcist (other topics)
'Salem's Lot (other topics)
It (other topics)
More...
I'm fairly new to this group and website in particular. I've been looking for a horror group/forum on the net via google and could never find anything. I sure am glad I stumbled upon this website because some of the books I discovered through members here do hold some appeal to me.
I've only really discovered my true interest in horror less than two years ago. I enjoy books that SCARE me. I love the kinds of books that I don't want to read when home alone, whenever every creak of the house makes me wanna jump out of my skin! The thrill is torturous and awesome at the same time! :D Yes, maybe that sounds crazy!
But I had a very hard time finding books that do this to me! It's usually not the bloody, slash-filled killfests that do this for me. Granted, Richard Laymon is one of my most favorite authors of all time. I have also enjoyed some of Bryan Smith's works, and some of his stuff is even more brutal than Laymon's. I get great enjoyment out of perverse stories like theirs and like to read them, BUT...these aren't the ones that give me the scare I am looking for.
I am assuming most here like the bloody kinds. I think those types of stories really dominate the horror genre. However, what I really like are the more subtle horror books. Stories with ghosts are some of my favorites. I also like settings that include abandoned hospitals or asylums (or other buildings that are empty in general that could be haunted or scenes of a brutal happening). Also really like stories that take place in old, haunted houses.
I'm going to give you guys some examples of what I like. I guess my point in this thread is to get some recommendations.
Creepers
Homeplace
No Doors, No Windows: A Novel
The Amityville Horror
An Unquiet Grave
A Thousand Bones
Darkness, Tell Us (this Laymon books DID creep me out)
Down to the Bone
The Lake of Dead Languages
Some of these fall into horror, but some are actually romantic suspense and others fall into mystery/thriller.
I have a hard time when I go into any bookstore in finding something good. Half the time when I go into Borders seeking horror, I come out with nothing. As much as I adore that store, their meager selection makes me sad.
Some movies that have scared me might be of help too.
Dead End
The Ring (the ending was kinda meh but I loved the connections to the video and ghost story involved)
The Others
The Mothman Prophecies
I'd like any book similar to these. :)
I have yet to delve into Stephen King and Dean Koontz, believe it or not. I look for more unpublicized authors but I'm up for anything. I'd like some recommendations for next time I go on a book hunt online.
Oh, and please feel free to share your thoughts on this topic too. :)
Thanks in advance.