Scary books

[Orangey]

Since Halloween is fast approaching, I'm in the mood for some scary books. Does anyone have any good recommendations?

[Thalia the Muse]

Yay, my favorite topic!

Do you like classic or new? Gory or spooky?

Some of my faves:

The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
Ghost Story, Peter Straub
Many by Stephen King -- Salem's Lot, The Shining, Misery, It, Pet Sematary
Summer of Night, Dan Simmons
Dracula, obviously
The Good House, Tananarive Due
The Dark Sister, Graham Joyce -- also The Tooth Fairy, but that one is seriously weird, not everyone's cup of tea
Ancient Images, Ramsey Campbell
The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter (short fiction, mostly adult versions of fairy tales)
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill
The short stories of M. R. James, Ramsey Campbell, H.P. Lovecraft. Campbell's "Mackintosh Willy" might be the single scariest story I have ever read!

[Orangey]

Originally Posted by Thalia the Muse

Yay, my favorite topic!

Do you like classic or new? Gory or spooky?

I like it all
I just finished reading In the Dark of the Night by John Saul and it was good, but not quite scary enough. I think I will see if the library has Ghost Story.These all sound great, thank you!

[Thalia the Muse]

Oh, I haven't read Saul, but I've always kind of meant to.

If you don't mind gore, Clive Barker's Books of Blood are EXCELLENT.

[tinybutterfly]

Originally Posted by Thalia the Muse

Yay, my favorite topic!

Do you like classic or new? Gory or spooky?

Some of my faves:

The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
Ghost Story, Peter Straub
Many by Stephen King -- Salem's Lot, The Shining, Misery, It, Pet Sematary
Summer of Night, Dan Simmons
Dracula, obviously
The Good House, Tananarive Due
The Dark Sister, Graham Joyce -- also The Tooth Fairy, but that one is seriously weird, not everyone's cup of tea
Ancient Images, Ramsey Campbell
The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter (short fiction, mostly adult versions of fairy tales)
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill
The short stories of M. R. James, Ramsey Campbell, H.P. Lovecraft. Campbell's "Mackintosh Willy" might be the single scariest story I have ever read!

You always recommend such terrific books and movies!

I need to come back and write downt the ones here that I haven't read...I am guessing I would like them as I have read several on your list and enjoyed them.

I'll add to the list The Isle of Dr. Moreau by H.P. Lovecraft
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, not exactly scary, but creepy.
Hideaway by Dean Koontz
The Ruins by Scott Smith
The Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
The Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

I guess some of mine are more sci-fi, than horror...but still scary.

[Susana]

thank you for this thread!

I'm in the middle of Dracula right now and am loving it

[Krisis]

Intensity by Dean Koontz scared the crap out of me but it's not monster scary or anything... just intense (ha ha).

Lots of Dean Koontz stuff is really scary but it can also be really gross and graphic. That's the problem I have with scary stories, so many of them are really gross or have really bad language. That's probably the main reason I don't like Stephen King, his language is awful!