Horror Aficionados discussion

So I love going into musty bookstores in whatever town I find myself in. It's always one of the first things I search for - right after I figure out where I am going to eat. Anyway, mainly I am looking for old horror paperbacks. It doesn't matter by who, just as long as I don't have them. The reason? Cover Art! I absolutely adore old horror covers. When everything was painted and probably far more menacing than what was held within. Let's face it, many of the books are downright terrible, but the covers are to die for!

So I was thinking of getting a thread going of amazing, or god awful, books with fantastic covers. If this topic has been covered, and I just didn't find it, I am sorry for the repetition.

Here are some of my own examples:
Daddy's Little Girl
Venom
Caly

There are a TON more. but i just added a few.

I love those old school covers! Here are two favorites from my childhood.

Best Friends
Baby Dolly

Bark's Book Nonsense wrote: "I love those old school covers! Here are two favorites from my childhood.

Best Friends
Baby Dolly"

LOVE the old 80's horror covers! I actually have Best Friends sitting on my shelf at home right now. :)

Some of the few I remember:

The Sentinel (Remember those ones with the foil cutouts? This one had one of those.)

Son of the Endless Night
The Fury

I was just reading a story in Bad Apples 3: Seven Slices of Halloween Horror, where a guy started a relationship with a girl in a store because every time he went in there she was reading pulpy 80's horror books.

I remember those foil cutouts. The creepiest were those Flowers in the Attic books. I'd stare at those for hours. Mesmerizing.

I need to buy myself Bad Apples 3. I loved the other two.

Bark's Book Nonsense wrote: "I remember those foil cutouts. The creepiest were those Flowers in the Attic books. I'd stare at those for hours. Mesmerizing.

I need to buy myself Bad Apples 3. I loved the other two."

YES!!! LMAO The ose Flowers in the Attic books wre ALL the rage!

Yes, those old covers were the best! I was/still am partial to Ruby Jean Jensen. I ordered 5-6 of hers from thriftbooks a month or so ago. The cover art seems to make the story even better;-).


Some of my favorites covers of books I've read or own:

Bark's Book Nonsense wrote: "I remember those foil cutouts. The creepiest were those Flowers in the Attic books. I'd stare at those for hours. Mesmerizing.

I need to buy myself Bad Apples 3. I loved the other two."

I think V.C. Andrew's books were what started my early love affair with anything gothic-like;-). Those cut outs were the best. Although the publishing company is still publishing books under her name (written by other authors), they no longer do the cut outs. Such a shame!

I just saw this one mentioned on another thread and it really brought back memories of reading King's stories in the early '80s.

WendyB wrote: "I just saw this one mentioned on another thread and it really brought back memories of reading King's stories in the early '80s.

"

Yep, that was the cover on the copy that I read. Loved that book then and I still do now.

Kelly wrote: "Yes, those old covers were the best! I was/still am partial to Ruby Jean Jensen. I ordered 5-6 of hers from thriftbooks a month or so ago. The cover art seems to make the story even..."


I love that one for Sandman
I want to read it based on the cover alone.

That is what was great about these 80s books. You could read a big chunk of it, and it wasn't that great, but then you closed the book for the day and stared at the cover for awhile. It made it all better in your mind.

Casey wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Yes, those old covers were the best! I was/still am partial to Ruby Jean Jensen. I ordered 5-6 of hers from thriftbooks a month or so ago. The cover art seems to make ..."

That one is super cool, Casey!
Looks like the Johnstone books are coming back for Kindle now. I've downloaded Bats. I have high hopes for it.

I loved covers that opened up or revealed a little bit of a picture behind it. IDK how else to describe it. And covers that had textured lettering!

Off the top of my head I remember these books, which were the ~scary books of teen series:




which opens up to this:
(view spoiler)[
(hide spoiler)]

So good. Lol. Christopher Pike did covers like that too. I loved his Last Vampire series. No one uses like "Chiller" style font anymore with bumpy lettering. What a shame!

Rachel wrote: "I loved covers that opened up or revealed a little bit of a picture behind it. IDK how else to describe it. And covers that had textured lettering!."

That's the best! I never did read those Sweet Valley High books. Had I known they contained such creepy goodness, I would've swooped them all up.