You might look into books by Darren Shan. In particular, I’m thinking of the Cirque du Freak series, but his Demonata series might work too, if she can handle some gory stuff; that series lays it on kinda thick at times.
They made a movie based on the Cirque du Freak books a few years ago. The plot involves a kid in his early teens who, for a spoiler-filled reason, becomes a half-vampire, apprentice and assistant to an old vampire named Larten Crepsley, who sometimes travels with a freak show. Honestly, though, it’s made for about a Grade 7 audience. John C. Reilly played Crepsley in the movie, incidentally.
They’re fast reads; I think I finished the 10 Demonata books in less than a month. The first in that series is Lord Loss. You might read that one yourself, see if your kiddo can handle it. Like I said, the gore can be thick at times, so be aware.
Saki ( http://haytom.us/ ) wrote some real shockers! “Sredni Vashtar” was my favorite story when I was a wee little nipper (albeit one weird wee little nipper!). His vocabulary is a bit viscous (as is Poe’s–who also satisfied the horror hunger of my wee little nipperdom), but give her a dictionary, and tell her to have a good time.
Mudgirl, 11YO, is reading Cirque du Freak now. She started them in school, but was enjoying it so much that we got the series on my Nook for her. She doesn’t seem to find them too scary at all. Of course, she’s still in the first couple of books, so maybe they get darker. I haven’t read them.
I have told people a million times that King is in no way whatsoever a horror writer. He is an exceptional writer who has a reputation in the horror genre, but he can write damn near anything.
The Shawshank Redemption, The Body and Misery, just to name three, are not horror stories.
Do you think Lovecraft would be a bit dense for her? They’re very scary, but not in either a gory way or a GOTCHA! way. Very creepy and eldritch and chilling, more than blood-and-guts or monster-popping-out-of-closet. They are, however, written in a florid style, with a bit of an obscure vocabulary.
Lovecraft is way too strong for someone who hasn’t read horror before. Scary, scary, scary. I doubt that someone in her age group would have the patience to read his stuff, anyway.
Stephen King has some very scary stuff, and some great stories that aren’t scary. Misery is closer to horror than I’d probably go, but there’s plenty more, Eyes of the Dragon leaping first to mind. The whole Gunslinger series would keep her busy for a while, though there is some sex and gore in them.
Edited to add: almost forgot, Stephen King’s Danse Macabre might make a good read, it’s a nonfiction book that’s mostly about horror as a genre.
She’s 13, not 6. Agewise, she’s just barely into the squishy border area between YA and adult books. I agree, maybe for someone who’s not yet experienced much of the genre, Lovecraft is kind of iffy. I’d still remember them for a little later, if she takes to horror. They’re classic pulps (and a lot of the Mythos stories by other authors are good, too (not all, though)).
Hard to find (most likely your library will not have it) - “The Face in the Frost” by John Bellairs. It’s scary and fun at the same time and will become one of those treasured ‘comfort books’ that you re-read when nothing seems to suit.
Or, if she’d like a miniature frisson of horror:
M.R. James, “The Mezzotint”
Charlotte P. Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”
D.K. Broster, “Couching at the Door”
Ambrose Bierce, “An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge”
George R.R. Martin’s Fevre Dream, about vampires along the Mississippi River before the Civil War, is atmospheric and spooky and just the right level of scary, IMHO. Not nearly as bloody as it could be, but bloody enough to, er, get the point across. Highly recommended.
No violence (save for someone shooting a shotgun at… nothing), no sex (save for a scene involving a husband and wife waking up in bed together), and only one cheap “Gotcha!” moment.
For “not too scary”? It’s got baby rape. It’s got worse than baby rape (if you can’t imagine that…don’t). It had people at Cannes passing out while running up the aisles.
Stephen King’s *Rose Red *miniseries is neat and scary without being too gory (since it’s a TV miniseries). It’s available on DVD. So are *It *and The Stand, though if she has any issues with clowns I’d suggest avoiding It. (And the ending is horribly cheesy. The rest isn’t bad, though).
Stay away from Graham Masterton. He’s my favorite horror author and I love his stuff to death, but he’s waaaaaayyy too gory for a 13-year-old IMO. And I’m another one who read *The Exorcist *(and Helter Skelter) at a very young age (I think I was 10) and loved them.
I second John Saul. He’s good, about on par with King scary-wise (maybe a little milder) and a lot of his books have teenagers as protagonists.
If she likes her horror a little less supernatural, she might enjoy the “Flowers in the Attic” series. The first few (up until about Garden of Shadows) are pretty good–I found the ones past that mostly unreadable and gave up.
My very very favorite Stephen King book (and I’ve read most of them) is The Eyes of the Dragon. Phenomenal book. It’s more a fantasy fairy tale than anything - he wrote it for his (then) 10ish year-old daughter, Naomi. There’s not much of horror in it, but you do get to meet Flagg and see a spider get crushed.
It occurred to me that there are collections of Tales from the Crypt and the other EC horror comics all over the place. Those are perfect for a beginning horror aficionado.
This was what I came in to recommend. Stine is a good starting point – if your kid complains that they’re lame, you can bump him/her up to the good stuff.