# Any good dreadful/paranormal novels? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [November 4, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750 "2020-11-04T14:40:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CorpusNeptune](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corpusneptune/32/17561_2.png) [@CorpusNeptune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CorpusNeptune)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/1 "2020-11-04T14:40:09Z")
Now, when I say “paranormal,” I don’t mean “creepy monster with no face jumpscare me and eat my thigh off.” I mean the type that fills you will uneasiness and dread. I’ve always been into creepy stuff like this on the internet, but I’m interested in seeing if there are any good novels with this same theme. If you need any clarification, just let me know. -Baleaf ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/2 "2020-11-04T18:54:03Z")
Do you mean something like [Stephen King’s story “N.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._(novella)) or [Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_God_Pan) which inspired it? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/3 "2020-11-04T19:20:24Z")
_“Tekeli-li!”_ — The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, of Nantucket ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/4 "2020-11-04T19:26:03Z")
If that’s what he meant he should look up T. Kingfisher’s 2 horror novels: The Twisted Ones (Also inspired by Machen!), and The Hollow Places (Inspired by Algernon Blackwood) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/5 "2020-11-04T19:40:39Z")
Hah! Frodo, those were going to be my suggestion. They’re wry, easy reads that are braided in with some deep _holy shit that’s just wrong_ creepy dread. Since you took those, I’ll go in the other direction. For some beautifully written, nearly impenetrable, very serious dread, check out some Jeff Van Der Meer. He’s probably most famous for his _Southern Reach_ trilogy, whose general mood is like you’re staggering across the deck of a storm-tossed sea after taking too much acid. It’s very hard to figure out what’s going on, but whatever it is, it’s deeply fucked up. There’s also _Borne_, which starts with a 3-story-tall giant golden bear flying over a ruined city and eating everyone it finds, but then gets weird. Or _Finch_, a film noir-type novel with mycological horrors. For another bit of film noir weirdness with serious paranormal dread, there’s China Mieville’s _The City and the City_, which is best left undescribed, because figuring out just what the hell is going on is the great delight of the novel. If you’re good with fantasy, _The Raven Tower_, by Ann Leckie, has a wonderful mood of dread that overlays it. In general, the New Weird genre is a great place to hang out if you like dread. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/6 "2020-11-04T19:44:19Z")
😃 I just finished The Hollow Place two days ago, mi wife, intrigued by my constant exclamations on the vein of “oh that’s NOT CREEPY AT ALL”, “welp!”, “and what NOW?”, finished it yesterday (but she says it was good but not that creepy, Stephen King addicts, what can you say?, they are used to the harder stuff 😛) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/7 "2020-11-04T19:45:38Z")
That’s almost exactly the inverse of my wife and me. I read a lot more horror fiction than her, and so while I really loved Kingfisher, it didn’t freak me out the way it did her. We both grew up in the North Carolina piedmont, though, so the landscape and the characters were real familiar to us. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/8 "2020-11-05T23:41:47Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Hah! Frodo, those were going to be my suggestion. They’re wry, easy reads that are braided in with some deep _holy shit that’s just wrong_ creepy dread. > > Since you took those, I’ll go in the other direction. For some beautifully written, nearly impenetrable, very serious dread, check out some Jeff Van Der Meer. He’s probably most famous for his _Southern Reach_ trilogy, whose general mood is like you’re staggering across the deck of a storm-tossed sea after taking too much acid. It’s very hard to figure out what’s going on, but whatever it is, it’s deeply fucked up. There’s also _Borne_, which starts with a 3-story-tall giant golden bear flying over a ruined city and eating everyone it finds, but then gets weird. Or _Finch_, a film noir-type novel with mycological horrors. > > For another bit of film noir weirdness with serious paranormal dread, there’s China Mieville’s _The City and the City_, which is best left undescribed, because figuring out just what the hell is going on is the great delight of the novel. > > If you’re good with fantasy, _The Raven Tower_, by Ann Leckie, has a wonderful mood of dread that overlays it. > > In general, the New Weird genre is a great place to hang out if you like dread. Excellent call on _The City and the City_. I’d also add Mieville’s _Kraken_, which has some seriously creepy villains. And some seriously creepy good guys, too. I wondered whether to recommend _Embassytown_. It’s one of my favorite Mieville novels, but I’m not sure if it pegs high on the “paranormal dread” index. Weird, yes; brilliant, also yes; but creepy? Dunno. That’s why I haven’t added the Bas Lag novels. Because they are so weird and alien and _outre_. Dread, in my mind, comes from the inclusion of something subtly wrong in a familiar environment; the birds on a wire, staring at you; the shadow that’s always in the corner of your eye; the flicker of movement deep in the back of the mirror. The New Crobuzon novels are scary, yes, but not in the way I think the OP seeks. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/9 "2020-11-06T01:17:04Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > The New Crobuzon novels are scary, yes, but not in the way I think the OP seeks. Fair. It might be helpful for the OP to give some examples. Baleaf, you around? ---
**Author:** ![CorpusNeptune](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corpusneptune/32/17561_2.png) [@CorpusNeptune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CorpusNeptune)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/10 "2020-11-06T14:51:31Z")
Yep, I’m still here, haha. The internet stuff I mentioned in my original post is stuff like creepypastas (basically the equivalent of campfire stories) and YouTube channels like Nexpo and Night Mind (just search them up on YouTube to see what I’m talking about). Hope my examples helped! -Baleaf ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/11 "2020-11-06T14:54:42Z")
Hmm…I’m not familiar with those, although I’ve heard of creepypastas. I am a giant book nerd, though, so if you can tell me some novels you’ve enjoyed, I might be more helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/12 "2020-11-06T14:59:07Z")
Definitively try T. Kingfisher then, reading them I got the sense that she certainly has read creepy pasta on the web and enjoyed it. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-dreadful-paranormal-novels/924750/13 "2020-11-06T19:22:06Z")
Sorrow’s Knot by Erin Bow