Harlan Ellison. He does short stories of many different genres mostly, but I Have No Mouth and i Must Scream was very chilling when I read it. I'm generally not a fan of horror though, so other may have different opinions, but I find him to be the best short story writer I've read.
Currently reading some Stephen King, but would love to hear about other authors
Few names I haven't seen mentioned.
Clive Barker-Lots of his more modern stuff is more dark fantasy,but his early stuff,Books of blood era,is gory gross as hell horror.Plus his horror novel for kids,The Thief of Always,is amazing.
Jack Ketchum-Almost all his novels are based on real events. Which gives his work a gutpunch feel. His "The Girl Next Door" is the only book that got to me so much I had to stop reading it. I did finish it but it was days later.His short fiction can sometimes include supernatural elements. Plus he has won at least 1B Bram Stroker award for short horror fiction.
Richard Laymon-Sadly RIP,but he wrote sometimes great novels that read like a really good 80s DTV horror movie.Laymon goes places that King rarely goes.
Edward Lee-The king of gross. This guy writes great but gross as hell horror fiction. Like his adaptation of the Haunting that includes a porn film being filmed at the haunted house. He is not for everyone.And he even goes too far for my tastes sometimes.But I am never bored when I read something from Mr Lee.
Post by SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman on Apr 6, 2017 5:26:29 GMT -5
House of Leaves, mostly because it's not just horror and mostly focuses on how the various characters and their relationship with one-another are affected by the supernatural events, and there's also an analysis of literary and cinema criticism, all with incredible atmosphere and visual gimmicks that actually add something to the story.
It can be a chore, but HP Lovecraft is a classic. And while I've never read anything by him, Clive Barker is highly regarded.
And while not a horror book, I recommend House of Leaves.
I highly recommend the novella "The Hellbound Heart", especially for Hellraiser fans since it was basically a blueprint for that film and it's interesting to see what was different originally (I think most changes were for the best but there are some things from the novella that I wish were in the movie.
The Lucha Kittens: you know they'd beat your favourite tag-team.
Post by Ryback on a Pole! on Apr 6, 2017 7:45:37 GMT -5
Richard Layton
He's got a Twisted mind but a creative one. My favourites of his are...
The Traveling Vampire Show - About a show traveling to a town claiming to have the only Vampire in captivity. The build up to the show and the setting are great. One of my favorite ever horror books.
The Beast House - A trilogy centred around a house where legend says the past inhabitants were killed by a mysterious animal. Really good but not for the faint hearted.
Funland - about a creepy amusement park and the local towns crazy homeless population.
Another one I'd recommend is Iain Rob Wright. The Housemates is his best book. It's a saw style horror about a group of people who enter a supposed reality TV show and find out it isn't what it seems.
He's got a Twisted mind but a creative one. My favourites of his are...
The Traveling Vampire Show - About a show traveling to a town claiming to have the only Vampire in captivity. The build up to the show and the setting are great. One of my favorite ever horror books.
The Beast House - A trilogy centred around a house where legend says the past inhabitants were killed by a mysterious animal. Really good but not for the faint hearted.
Funland - about a creepy amusement park and the local towns crazy homeless population.
Another one I'd recommend is Iain Rob Wright. The Housemates is his best book. It's a saw style horror about a group of people who enter a supposed reality TV show and find out it isn't what it seems.
Ya some one else is a Laymon fan. The beasthouse series is great,really out of the 12 or so of his novels I have read only Dark Mountain and The Lake were bad. From what I have read the Lake was unfinished when Laymon died.
Ya some one else is a Laymon fan. The beasthouse series is great,really out of the 12 or so of his novels I have read only Dark Mountain and The Lake were bad. From what I have read the Lake was unfinished when Laymon died.
I quite liked Dark Mountain, I'm surprised it tends to get a bad rep. It's a bit clichéd but I enjoyed it. The Lake is one of the few I haven't read yet. The only ones I haven't liked so far were Flesh and All Hallow's Eve. The rest though I've enjoyed a lot.
Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Apr 7, 2017 5:25:28 GMT -5
-Thomas Ligotti. you can get his first two books ("Song of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe") in an omnibus from Penguin Publishing. it's utterly brilliant stuff and there's nobody quite like him. heavily recommended if you want something scary as hell but also deeply intellectual. -Ramsey Campbell's a personal favorite. in a lot of ways he's the british Stephen King. I recommend any of his short fiction collections as a good starting point. as for his novels, "The Face that Must Die" and "Obsession" are good places to start. -Richard Laymon's a great writer when it comes to writing trashy horror novels while still being compelling. "Resurrection Dreams" and "Blood Games" are personal favorites. fair warning, though, his work 9 times out of 10 features rape so if that's something that bothers you I can't really recommend him. -Bentley Little. easily the best of the Splatterpunk movement. his work drips with satire and gunge. I STRONGLY recommend "The Burning" as a great starting point. -Douglas Clegg is IMO one of the great unsung heroes of modern horror. "You Come When I Call You" is one of the great american horror novels and I can't recommend "The Halloween Man" enough. I also recommend his short fiction collection, "The Nightmare Chronicles". - Joe Hill has yet to leave me unimpressed. his work definitely feels a lot like his dad's but with a more generation x/millenial feel than papa's more Boomer-oriented works. I'd start with his short fiction collection "20th Century Ghosts" and "NOS4A2". -for a guy who mostly does sci fi and weird fantasy, China Mieville's "3 Moments of an Explosion" short fiction collection has brilliant horror stories by the boatload. -Joe R Lansdale's been writing some of the best southern fried horror for years. I'd start with his "best of" short fiction collection "High Cotton" and its companion piece, "Bumper Crop".
