Horror Aficionados discussion

hi, I'm Francisco from Spain, I'm avid reader of horror, specially the modern one, I like King, T.E.D. Klein, Karl Edward Wagner, Dennis Etchison, Charles L Grant, Dan Simmons, Robert R Mccammon, Joe R Lansdale, Lisa Tuttle, Graham Masterton, Clive Barker,Ramsey Campbell... the problem is they don't publish more modern horror in Spain, so I have no idea of authors from the 90's on, am I missing good authors, taking in consideration my likes, could you recommend me some of them? are the anthologies of Stephen Jones and Ellen Datlow a good way to introduce myself in current tendencies in horror?

thanks in advance

Hi, Francisco from Spain!

Those anthologies are an EXCELLENT way to discover new authors! I've been doing that for years. (Until my To Be Read, (TBR) pile became unmanageable, that is.) :)

Some of today's authors that I greatly enjoy are:

Joe Hill!! (Stephen King's son and a fantastic author in his own right.)
James Newman
Alan Ryker
Michael Rowe
Lee Thompson
Tim Curran
Ron Malfi
William Meikle
Stephen Gregory
Joe Lansdale
John Connolly
Bernard Taylor
Neil Gaiman

and Bentley Little, Bryan Smith or Scott Nicholson are interesting enough?

The Reapers are the Angels

I'll add Greg Gifune and Michael McBride to Charlene's exceptional list! :-)

Francisco wrote: "and Bentley Little, Bryan Smith or Scott Nicholson are interesting enough?"

I should have had both Gifune and McBride on that list! My apologies-my only excuse is I just dashed those off, as they were the first to come to mind. :)

And yes, Little, Smith and Nicholson are all good ones too. :)

Charlene wrote: "I should have had both Gifune and McBride on that list! My apologies-my only excuse is I just dashed those off, as they were the first to come to mind. :)"

It's OK - I promise not to tell them ;-)

Charlene's list has all very good recommendations and I would highly recommend Greg Gifune and Michael McBride as well.
Based on your list, I would also recommend:
Gary Braunbeck
Jonathan Maberry
Tim Lebbon
Kealan Patrick Burke (His Turtle Boy books are most excellent)


If you like reading extreme horror (extreme, graphic sex and gore), most of Bryan Smith's books are on the extreme side.

Donna wrote:If you like reading extreme horror (extreme, graphic sex and gore), most of Bryan Smith's books are on the extreme side.

I don't like specially extreme horror, I prefer authors more or less like Stephen King or more subtle and psychological like T.E.D. Klein

Donna is steering you true, Francisco!

The Turtle Boy is available for free on Smashwords if you want to try some of Kealan's work.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

The turtle boy? it seems something in the style of Tim Burton, isn't it?

who are the authors more similar to Stephen King?

On my list would also be:

Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch

Adam Nevill is wonderful, I've been reading his stuff lately.

Francisco wrote: "I don't like specially extreme horror, I prefer authors more or less like Stephen King or more subtle and psychological like T.E.D. Klein "

Thomas Ligotti

Laird Barron

Jonathan Janz
Kevin Lucia
Brian Moreland
Brian Hodge

I would recommend Brian Keene. In my opinion, his world/universe/multiverse building abilites are comparable to Stephen King himself, but he's specialized in a more gory and "pulpy" kind of horror, James Herbert style. Recommendations:

The Rising
City of the Dead
Terminal

You should have missed the arrival of the bizarro movement & genre, too. Check out Carlton Mellick III and Cameron Pierce. Bizarro as a genre is not necessarily horror per se, but these works are, for example:

The Cannibals of Candyland (urban fantasy with a surreal atmosphere and nightmarisch undertones)

Zombies and Shit (A trashy, pulpy and hilariously funny turn on the zombie genre)

Apeshit
Clusterfuck (Mellick experimented with splatterpunk and the slasher genre here. Again, it is hilariously funny)

Cthulhu Comes to the Vampire Kingdom
(Cthulhu and vampires, I don't need to write more)

I thought Brian Keene only wrote about zombies, what about his novels Urban gothic and Castaways, I'm thinking about reading them, Terminal is translated to Spanish so I'll probably read it too

I like splatterpunk but this bizarro thing is not for me ;

Dayum, there are some awesome authors listed here. :)

Francisco wrote: "I thought Brian Keene only wrote about zombies, what about his novels Urban gothic and Castaways, I'm thinking about reading them"

I haven't read Urban Gothic yet, but Castaways is a nice little cryptid/cannibal/monster flick. Keene described it as a hommage to Richard Laymon's Beasthouse series.

Francisco wrote: "I thought Brian Keene only wrote about zombies, what about his novels Urban gothic and Castaways, I'm thinking about reading them, Terminal is translated to Spanish so I'll probably read it too

I ..."

Zombies (specifically The Rising) really put him on the map, but he's written about much more than that, and I think he's a great writer. I almost mentioned him when you asked who the "next King" was, because before the epic flameout of Leisure, which set many authors back, his popularity was growing very rapidly, and deservedly so, IMO.

Terminal is fantastic - definitely check it out.

Sorry, what's the meaning of cryptid? I see similitudes in the plot with other novel by Richard Laymon , Island

Francisco wrote: "Sorry, what's the meaning of cryptid? I see similitudes in the plot with other novel by Richard Laymon , Island"

Cryptids are the unknown animal species & monsters cryptoozoology deals with. Stuff like Bigfoot, Nessie and El Chupacabra. In case of Castaways, we are talking about hairy, neanderthal-like cannibals here.

Francisco wrote: "I like splatterpunk but this bizarro thing is not for me ; "

I wonder if Edward Lee might be something for you, but his works are not only splattery & gory, but most often outright pornographic, and we are not talking about normal sex but stuff like beastiality, urine, tentacles and "headers" here. I think he must be the most extreme horror writer out there, and works like Pig and The Bighead are also very funny and dark humoured. Lee also wrote a lot of erotic/pornographic Lovecraft pastiches & homages.

I have read and enjoyed Shaun Hutson althought maybe he isn't as extreme as Lee, I think he is not my cup of tea but the plot of The backwoods looks interesting

Francisco, I'll echo the good words about Brian Keene. He is one of only (I think) twenty-four writers to be awarded the title "Grand Master of Horror," and he's only forty-seven years old. He has a big book coming out next year called PRESSURE that's going to be huge. You won't go wrong with any of his books, but my favorites are DARK HOLLOW and GHOUL.

It's strange you haven't mentioned Norman Partridge and Dark harvest

Francisco wrote: "It's strange you haven't mentioned Norman Partridge and Dark harvest"

Norman Partridge writes fantastic short stories, and I love his style. Not that his long works are bad, either, but IMO he's a master of the short form.

Some years ago I was doing a research of contemporary horror writers and I found the names of Daniel Pyle and John Everson who haven't been mentioned here, are they interesting writers?

I wasn't that impressed with Dark Harvest. I much preferred Harvest Home.

John Everson is pretty good-a lot of his work combines erotica and horror.
I haven't read any of Pyles work, but I do own a few of his stories.

Charlene wrote: "I wasn't that impressed with Dark Harvest. I much preferred Harvest Home.

John Everson is pretty good-a lot of his work combines erotica and horror.
I haven't read any of Pyles work..."

I love both DARK HARVEST and HARVEST HOME, but I can see why you might not dig DH. For me, the writing was so glorious that I wasn't bothered by any of the book's possible shortcomings, but we all have different reactions to an author's work.

Francisco, like Charlene said, Everson's stuff combines erotica and horror. I always enjoy his books. Also like Charlene, I haven't read Pyle.

Ekel wrote: "Francisco wrote: "Sorry, what's the meaning of cryptid? I see similitudes in the plot with other novel by Richard Laymon , Island"

Cryptids are the unknown animal species & monsters cryptoozoology..."

If you find yourself drawn to the cryptid stories, check out Hunter Shea. You can find him here on Goodreads. Lots of good books and cryptids are a passion of his.