…but not Ghost Story by Peter Straub. (good book, but I’ve read it)
I’m looking for something spooky to read, and last week’s visit to the library failed utterly on this score since I couldn’t think of anything I hadn’t read that I’d heard had ghosts in it. I found a book of short stories that might be a little spooky, but I’d prefer a novel or seven to read
Instead of each person listing a bunch of titles, I’d be thrilled if they’d pick a novel (or two) and explain why they think it ought to be read by me and anyone else looking for something to add to their to-read. Adult, YA, whichever. Engaging voice is a huge plus - I couldn’t read Julian’s House because the narration was so boring. I like books in first person POV, but a well written third person that isn’t bogged down with superfluous and/or dry description is fine.
Oh, and I’ve read nearly every book by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Peter Straub and Clive Barker, so you might want to leave them out.
The one spooky novel I have to recommend is the original gothic novel, Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. Yes, the language is antique and the plot is often unintentionally campy today, but that to me only adds to its charm. You’ll find virtually all of the tropes of the classic gothic novel already present here at the creation. And it’s a short, quick read.
May I also recommend some short stories?
Edward Bulwer-Lytton is famous as the author who wrote the opening line, “It was a dark and stormy night.” You would expect him to be a hack writer, at least I did. But his story The Haunted and the Haunters: Or, The House and the Brain came as a surprise. After a more or less routine haunted house story in the first half, it gets progressively weirder and weirder to its ending, which anticipates H.P. Lovecraft by a half century.
Playing With Fire is a tale about a sign from the other side, by Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle.
Fengriffen by David Case. One of the best ghost stories I’ve read. It’s got all the standard elements: rational visiting doctor, haunted ancestral mansion, off-his-rocker scion of the estate, a family curse, frightful weather, etc. yet manages to be riveting instead of cliche. Spooky as you could want.
Read The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. It will scare the bejesus out of you. When I finished reading it, I was too scared to get out of my chair and walk across the room. Have fun!
There are no ghosts in it, but try reading Wind, by Ray Bradbury on a cold winter night when the wind is howling. In short, the wind is alive. It’s an evil killer whose sound comes from the souls of it victims, and it’s coming for you. Elegantly simple.
Again, without ghosts per se, Daphne du Maurier’s short story “The Birds” is guaranteed to give you the heebie-jeebies.
In terms of classics, there’s always Bram Stoker’s Dracula… the last half (in London) becomes sort of a chase, but the first part (Jonathan’s diary in Transylvania) is spooky as hell.
Heh. Welllllll, what I suggest isn’t your typical creepy ghost story. You’ll either love it or hate it.
The Throne of Bones by Brian McNaughton. It’s a collection of short stories, all taking place in the same milieu. Think of it as Lovecraft being obsessed with ghouls instead of aliens.
It delves into the perspective of ghouls occasionally, getting their take on why they like to rob graves and eat corpses. The descriptions of the perverted ghastliness that goes on is often over the top. Some stories are unintentionally hilarious, and some are just plain icky. It’s not just the ghouls that make you sick, but also the living people.
May i recommend some short stories as well? I haven’t read an extensive amount by him, but I’ve always enjoyed Robert Aickman’s short stories (I believe he has a couple of novels as well, though I’m not familiar with those), particularly The Inner Room. His stories have always seemed kind of unique to me–I wouldn’t necessarily call them horror in the classic sense, but a lot of his stories have a disturbing quality to them, in a way that is hard to pinpoint at times. His stories often take unexpected twists, and, to me, somehow add up to more than the sum of their individual parts–his stories do a great job of setting an atmosphere or mood, while many of the plot elements must be pieced together by the reader.
I’m not aware of any anthologies in print that are exclusively Aickman, but there are several general collections that include a story or two by him. The Inner Room, in particular, is anthologized in My Favorite Horror Story.
Why not try some non-fiction? The Demonologist is what King uses as his main reference book when writing so you know it has to be good. Although judging by the reviews, I suggest you to find the hardcover instead
I like old stuff. Unfortunately, the novel form for horror didn’t really take off until 1967’s Rosemary’s Baby (a really really good read if you haven’t tried it already), and the 1970s advent of King. So my recommendations will be for short stories.
Possibly my top pick for all-time bes tghost story is Oliver Onions’ “The Beckoning Fair One.” VERY subtle, very unsettling. Long enough to qualify as a novella.
A good collection of M.R. James, and one of E.F. Benson, are musts for any bedside bookshelf.
And Herman Melville’s “The Tartarus of Maids.” No ghost in it, but it sure seems like it’s full of the walking dead.
Hmm… My favorite ghost stories - here’s a couple ranging from the ironicly humorous to the terrifying.
First: “Nackles” by Donald E. Westlake. For those of you who don’t know him, Westlake was one of the pioneers of the ‘hard boiled humor’ mystery/suspense story. A great deal of fun is to be found in is Dorfmunder books. The collection I’d first read this story in was A Yuletide Universe edited by Brian M. Thompson. I believe it has been collected several other times since then. Basically - this is the Christmas Ghost… with teeth.
Next: “In the Vault” by H.P. Lovecraft. I happen to believe that Lovecraft is an awful author - he never uses one word when a polysyllabic archaic anglophone phrase might serve. In spite of his many sins as an author, he’s still managed to convey the macabre as no other author I’ve ever read. The only writer who’s ever frightened me as much as S. M. Stirling and his wasn’t really a ghost story. This story is a classic ghost story - wrong done, and retribution. My copy is in my Arkham House edition of Lovecraft’s shorter stories: The Dunwich Horror and Others.
Building off Lovecraft we come to my favorite modern horror writer: Tim Powers. I first read his On Stranger Tides, which seems very much to have been a precursor for the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Only much, much harsher. But his best ghost stories, to my mind are: for simple horror and unnatural hazards - Dinner at Deviant’s Palace; and for a proper ghost story populated with ghosts and those people who are aware of them, and the hazards that follow - Experiation Date. I don’t want to say too much, but in many ways, I think that Dinner reads like a continuation of one of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories “The Colour Out of Space”. Date is great for many reasons, not least of which is a climax where the ghost of the RMS Queen Mary wakes. :eek:
Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll keep them in mind when I go to the library next. I’m surprised, the only ones I’ve read on this list are “The Boogeyman” and The Turning of the Screw. I’ll probably have to do inter-library requests for most, though. The library doesn’t have anything by Lovecraft, isn’t that weird? They have many obscure authors, but not him. :dubious:
Try House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It’s written as a “report” on the events that “happened,” so it feels so real that it’ll scare the hell out of you. Parts shook me up so bad that I couldn’t read it at night.
Maybe you’re supposed to convince the librarian that you have the mental fortitude to be allowed to look at the books in the locked filing cabinets? <innocent look>
Is it possible I’m the first to recommend The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson? Great stuff.
For a short story – “The Phantom Rickshaw” by Kipling. One of the best.
(If you’re about to ask, “Kipling Who?”, just get the hell out. On the other hand, if I ask you, “Do you like Kipling?” and you answer, “I don’t know, you naughty boy, I’ve never kippled!” then you’ll make me happy.)
