[QUOTE=betenoir]
And then there’s I Have No Mouth By I Must Scream. I won’t say anything more about it because I’m still suffering post stress disorder from reading it ten year ago.
[/QUOTE]
Wow. I read that short story (by Harlan Ellison) as a kid (maybe 35 years ago), and I can still remember parts of the plot.
I second Dracula and add Frankenstein. There is a reason they lasted a century.
(I only skimmed the thread, so there may be some dupes here from previous suggestions.)
AuntiePam, if you like The Anubis Gates, be sure to read The Stress of Her Regard if you haven’t already done so.
Night Shade Books just put out a volume of David Drake’s early horror stories, called Balefires. It’s a good collection.
Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo is the novel that I bet Stephen King wishes he could have written.
And now for a few old-school recommendations:
Arthur Machen. Get a best-of collection. Chaosium put out a couple of volumes, but I don’t know if they’re still in print.
Dover Books should have a best-of volume of Algernon Blackwood.
Dover Books should have a best-of volume of Arthur Conan Doyle’s horror.
William Hope Hodgson’s work is of exceedingly variable quality, but his good material is very good indeed. Night Shade Books is issuing a very complete set, but there are other publishers that have smaller volumes. Try Wildside Press.
Tim Powers has a volume of short horror fiction called Night Moves and Other Stories.
Lovecraft, of course.
Clark Ashton Smith, of course.
Robert E. Howard (the Conan guy) also wrote a lot of horror. Try Wildside Press.
Ambrose Bierce. Get a best-of collection.
John Collier. More “contes cruel” than horror qua horror.
David H. Keller was a psychiatrist who wrote weird fiction.
See if you can find any anthologies of material from Weird Tales magazine.
Midnight House publishes lots of horror. I have several volumes on my to-read list, so I can’t recommend them yet, but you might want to take a look at their offerings.
Francis Marion Crawford. Try to find a collection called For the Blood is the Life.
Robert Bloch (the Psycho guy). Try to find a best-of collection.
Lafcadio Hearn.
Ramsey Campbell. A very good writer in a pure literary sense, and also scary in a very dark lovecraftian way.
[QUOTE=VCO3]
I think that Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves is the scariest book I’ve read, period, and I’m one of those guys that has a complete hardcover Lovecraft library. It’s mainly so effective because of its “documentary” style - it reads like an impartial, third-party report on a Blair Witch-esque film that contains some absolutely terrifying things caught on tape.
[/QUOTE]
I love the first part of that book but it does get a bit weird with the sentences printed with every word in another direction and upside down and split up over different pages. 
The beginning is extremely creepy and unsettling and it is actually one of the first books that genuinely scared me.
I love both King and Barker and I’ve got to second the short stories of Richard Matheson and Lovecarft.
[QUOTE=Hunter Hawk]
Midnight House publishes lots of horror. I have several volumes on my to-read list, so I can’t recommend them yet, but you might want to take a look at their offerings.
[/QUOTE]
Oh yes. They published Bob Leman’s stories – Feesters in the Lake – it’s now my favorite single author collection, displacing Stephen King’s Night Shift.
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Ray Bradbury yet – his short stories are easy to find, and Something Wicked This Way Comes is a must read.
Tom Reamy wrote a more adult take on Wicked – Blind Voices. His short stories are wonderful too. The collection is called San Diego Lightfoot Sue.
[QUOTE=toadbriar]
Seconding Sandkings, it’s a good’un. <snip>
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, it’s a good’un if you like being FREAKED RIGHT OUT!!!
Wasn’t Sandkings filmed for Outer Limits or Twilight Zone? Anybody know? Was it good?
[QUOTE=AuntiePam]
Wasn’t Sandkings filmed for Outer Limits or Twilight Zone? Anybody know? Was it good?
[/QUOTE]
The Outer Limits, in 1995, starring Beau Bridges. Set in the present day, and very, very different from the novella. And suckier. Much, much suckier. Don’t waste your time, says I.
I was just thinking about starting the exact same thread!
Great suggestions - I just dropped $100 at Amazon - keep ‘em commin’!
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness]
If you’re not a D&D dork, the names of the spells wouldn’t register as dorky, most likely. If you are, it’s completely bizarre to see them in that context, sort of as if the archvillain of 'Salem’s Lot had been named Count Chocula.
Daniel
[/QUOTE]
I’m so glad I didn’t know this. I really liked Shadowlands. Even re-read it a couple of times.
Koko and Mystery are better, though.
I’m surprised no on has mentioned **Thomas Ligotti **yet. Imagine a modern Lovecraft, but even bleaker, and more surreal. Your standard horror cliches are almost totally absent from his stories, and there’s virtually no gore – just an overwhelming sense of genuine, crawl-under-your-skin creepiness, much like that of a bad dream. I would not want to live in this guy’s head.
(Hmm, I’m not sure if that was an endorsement of his writing or a warning. Maybe both.)
Can Ligotti be compared to Lovecraft? I imagine Ligotti’s writing is better, less purple and all that, but Lovecraft could sure set a dreadful mood.
I bought two Ligotti books and got rid of both without reading them. They exuded . . . something. (cue Twilight Zone music)
Have you read King’s It? If not, you should! It’s my favorite SK book, followed closely by The Stand.
Another author I think you might like if you like King is Rick Hautala. Another Mainer, I think actually… Anyway, I find his stuff pretty enjoyable. I’d describe his books as John Saul(not a huge fan, but he can be entertaining) meets Stephen King.
Has anyone mentioned Robert R. McCammon? Try Boy’s Life.
[QUOTE=VCO3]
I think that Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves is the scariest book I’ve read, period, and I’m one of those guys that has a complete hardcover Lovecraft library.
[/QUOTE]
I still don’t believe people who claim that this is a horror novel. It’s interesting in a Pale Fire sort of way, but there’s only one scary scene in the entire book. It would be perfect for a Madness in Literature class, however.
If anyone reads **Lost Boy Lost Girl ** by Peter Straub, make sure you follow it up with In The Night Room. It would have been less puzzling at the end of LBLG to know that there was going to be a sequel.
Old Straub is better, though. My favorite is either The Floating Dragon or Shadowland. Ghost Story and If You Could See Me Now (recently and shamelessly ripped off by Dan Simmons A Winter Haunting) are good as well. Avoid Magical Terror - it’s not good.
Some of Dean Koontz’s latest stuff is pretty good. I love Life Expectancy, but it’s not horror. I’m not sure what genre it is, but not horror. The Taking and The Face are rather good and horror.
I’m beginning to like Christopher Golden too. One of the best books I’ve read in the past five years, horror or otherwise, is Strangewood. Wildwood Road is okay, but it gets strange… I have two more of his novels, but I haven’t even started them yet so I can’t offer an opinion on them.
Lost by Gary Devon is really good, but sort of expensive used because it’s OOP. I aspire to someday write something as disturbing 
Others by James Herbert surprised me by how much I liked it. I found his later novel Once… to be god-awful, but I heard good things about Others and gave it a shot. I’m glad I did.
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness]
I highly recommend the anthologies The YEar’s Best Fantasy and Horror. They define both terms broadly, and they have wonderful stories in them ranging from the literary to the splattery (one of them had a story, I think it was called “Gut,” that still makes me ill to think about).
Daniel
[/QUOTE]
That would be “Guts” by Chuck Palahniuk. I had the same reaction–most disturbing short story I’ve ever read as far as shock value goes. There’s a lot of rumors of people becoming physically ill after reading it and I felt queasy myself. If you google it you can find it online. If you really, really want to. Think long and hard about it before you do such a thing to yourself. Consider yourself warned. No, really.
I highly recommend The Terror by Dan Simmons. The story and characters are so well-drawn that the horror element is almost unnecessary. It’s still the best book I’ve read in 2007 so far.
In the same vein as hardcore horror as “Guts”, I’ll also recommend The Rising. It’s the first in a series of really intensely gory end-of-the-world zombie apocalypse novels and it’s a relentlessly good read.
[QUOTE=elfkin477]
If anyone reads **Lost Boy Lost Girl ** by Peter Straub, make sure you follow it up with In The Night Room. It would have been less puzzling at the end of LBLG to know that there was going to be a sequel.
[/QUOTE]
Ahh, thanks for mentioning that. I’m about 50 or so pages into lost boy lost girl and while I haven’t gotten into any crazy stuff yet I’m enjoying it so far, so it’s good to know that there is a sequel of sorts.
All these suggestions are awesome guys, I think I may end up blowing a lot of money :smack: 
[QUOTE=Greywolf73]
In the same vein as hardcore horror as “Guts”, I’ll also recommend The Rising. It’s the first in a series of really intensely gory end-of-the-world zombie apocalypse novels and it’s a relentlessly good read.
[/QUOTE]
I had some problems with this book and didn’t finish it. Heck, I didn’t even get started. I couldn’t figure if Brian was writing an over-the-top spoof or if I was supposed to take it seriously. When the tropical fish broke the tank and started to talk, I :rolleyes: and stopped reading.
I should have kept the book though. It was the first edition hardcover, signed, and I hear it’s bringing big bucks now.
The Terror was indeed excellent.
[QUOTE=Veuve_ClicquotNJ]
“The House Next Door” - Anne Rivers Siddons
[/QUOTE]
Ooh, I just re-read that a month ago. Fine, fine book. I read it first, long ago, on the recommendation of Stephen King himself, in Danse Macabre.