Horror Aficionados discussion

Who were the first authors that really got you into reading horror?

Stephen King was the first horror author I ever dared dip into beginning with IT. After I survived that harrowing encounter, I expanded into other authors beginning with:
H.P. Lovecraft
F. Paul Wilson
James Herbert
Michael Slade
Dean Koontz
Peter Straub
Brian Lumley
Anne Rice
Robert McCammon
Peter Benchley
Noel Hynd
Phil Rickman

It's been pedal to the metal ever since.

For me it was James Herbert with The Rats and then I read most of his other books. One of my favourites of his is The Spear. So influenced that eventually I wrote my own horror stories, of which my fifth collection is coming out in the next week or two available from Amazon

Stephen king and Ann rice

R.L. Stine and Stephen King

R.L. Stine started it for me with Goosebumps, when I got a little older I read a couple of his teen books and read some Stephen King.

Ruby Jean Jensen. I can't remember the title, but it was about a carnival. For some reason, it was actually in my middle school library.

Stephen King. First Carrie, then I went on from there.

I forgot Christopher pike and rl stine

R. L Stine’s Fear Street definitely

Wow, great question. I discovered horror when I was a kid. I started with the Dark Forces series and Twilight: Where Darkness Begins series. From there I discovered R L Stine, Christopher Pike, Lois Duncan, Diane Hoh, and other Point Horror books. When my mother noticed what I was reading she came completely unglued and my reading had to then be done in secret.

Once I was a little older I moved on to Stephen King, Bentley Little, Rick Hautala, and a few Dean Koontz novels. Oh, and Zebra Horror books, I love the trashy covers! And whatever other horror novels I came across that caught my attention.

R.L. Stein, Poe, then Lovecraft. Stephen King honestly didn't come into my life until recently.

Apparently I'm old. My first encounter, as far as I can recall, was reading "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell in school. After that, Poe. At some point I picked up on Robert Bloch and through him, Lovecraft (or vice versa; refer to first sentence). From there, The Other by Thomas Tryon and Jaws by Peter Benchley and Dracula by Bram Stoker, and in between collections by HPL, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, and others.

RM

I began with the classics first:

Edgar Allen Poe
Bram Stoker
Mary Shelley

My first modern author was Stephen King's The Shining.

Jay Anson with Amityville Horror and 666

R.L Stine when I was a kid, Stephen King as I got older.

I usually credit Stephen King with Cycle of the Werewolf and Christine and might already have done so in this thread, but I just remembered that I actually read The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde at age 8 or 9.

My first horror read was a childrens collection of spooky stories after my dad let me watch Interview with the Vampire, which left me both horrified and intrigued. I developed a small obsession with vampires and began collecting Anne Rice a few years later.

The Addams Family & Scooby-Doo were my gateway to all things spooky. Once I was reading, I came across graphic novelizations of Dracula & Frankenstein that were miss-shelved in the children's section of my small public library. I was obsessed with them and checked them out every chance I got till someone realized that they shouldn't be in with the kid books. Sadly, I've never come across them again.

John Bellairs was a HUGE favorite of mine as an elementary school kid. Edward Gorey's art was a perfect fit with the creepy scary stories about regular everyday kids (awkward, non-athletic, etc) battling evil. I read Dracula for the first time when I was 9 or 10 and just became further obsessed.

I wasn’t into horror books as a kid, just spooky movies from behind the sofa! Safer!! My first horror reads were Stephen King and Anne Rice.

One of our neighbours got a bunch us together and read an excerpt from The Fog when we were but knee high to a blade of grass one Halloween. Safe to say, James Herbert broke me into Horror.

I read Amityville Horror as a kid back in the 70's, but I was more of a horror movies watcher than reader. As I got older (still love watching them) I got into reading more horror. Dean Koontz and John Saul were my go to authors. I have expanded from there. So many good scary authors out there....

Edgar Allan Poe, first and forever.

My very first horror story was The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. My second was The Rats by James Herbert. Then came Carrie by Stephen King.

Like so many others, Poe was a main influence (especially, "the Tell-Tale Heart") followed by Doyle but what is of special importance will always be (what I believe to be was the first) as a child will always be those "Hitchcock" juveniles. Especially, "Haunted Houseful" from Random House. I believe RH used the "Hitchcock" name for a sort of brand recognition because Hitchcock had a very high profile at the time of publication due television show and the film, "Psycho".

Christopher Pike and Dean Koontz
I like some Stephen King but not all.
I think my love of horror started through reading Christopher Pike. Then I expanded to liking horror movies etc

My first intro to horror was Salem's lot when I was five. Then I gravitated to PBS's Mystery narrated by Vincent Price. Think I read Poe's The Raven in second grade and Stephen King's Night Shift shortly after that.
From third grade onwards it was Bunnicula (if you could call that horror) and R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Until I got into high school and started with the "serious" horror authors like William Peter Blatty, Poppy Z. Brite, Anne rice, Bram Stoker, etc.

Earliest Horror books I remember reading:

The Stand, by Stephen King
The Rats, by James Herbert
The Pack, by David Fisher
The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells
From Below, by William Essex (John Tigges)
Lowland Rider, by Chet Williamson
The Light at the End, by Skipp and Spector

Horror was one of the last genres in fiction that I committed to regularly, in terms of browsing its shelves at the bookstores, getting to know names, and acquiring reading guides and “100 Best” lists.

Brian Keene:The Rising/City Of The Dead/Ghoul
Iain Rob Wright:Dead Sea
Clive Barker:Hellbound Heart/Coldheart Canyon/ Mister B. Gone(get the print version, because to have this on kindle is just not right. The pages look like they’ve been in a fire to accompany the story

My first horror author was Stephen King. I read his book Cujo back in the early 80's. From that point on I was hooked on reading horror books. So early horror authors were:

Stephen King
John Saul
Dean Koontz
Peter Straub

Like many, Stephen King was probably my first.

However, the first horror book I can distinctly remember reading was Phantoms by Dean Koontz.

D.S. wrote: "Like many, Stephen King was probably my first.

However, the first horror book I can distinctly remember reading was Phantoms by Dean Koontz."

Phantoms was one of the first non-King books I read after trying Koontz's Watchers. It's still one of my all time faves.

I think Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft were my firsts :)

Mine was Lovecraft. Mrs. Akers took At the Mountains of Madness away from me in the 3rd grade because she didn't think it was appropriate reading material for me. Aaaah, the 70s.

Bentley Little is one author that I 've read that I need to read a lot more of.

My first modern horror author was Stephen King, and Stephen King writing as Bachman. From there I branched out to Dean Koontz, Peter Straub, and dark fantasists.

I started this thread originally, and somehow I always forget that Poe was really the first horror I ever read. King was more of the beginning of me reading it regularly.

My very first was The Shinning by Stephen King. I may of start on too much of a high.

For me...

- R.L. Stine
- Stephen King
- Dean Koontz

Alvin Schwartz, R. L. Stine, and Stephen King

Pretty sure R.L Stein and the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books. King probably way too young. But my favorite kids book that I learned to read on was The Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree but I'm sure that doesn't count.

For me....
Jon Athan
Edward Lee
Matt Shaw

Poe Edgar Alan was my very first, quickly followed by Stephen King, Anne Rice and Christopher Pike. I have branched out a lot in recent years and now include Joe Hill, Neil Gaiman, Paul Tremblay, Josh Malerman and so many others as must reads.

The GOAT R.L. Stine for sure. I was terrified of the goosebumps books that my older siblings had 😂

Mary ♥ wrote: "The GOAT R.L. Stine for sure. I was terrified of the goosebumps books that my older siblings had 😂"

Oh my gosh same! I remember my library having those books and the covers looked so interesting so I started reading them. I remember the silliest Goosebumps I read was the Horror at Camp Jellyjam. Goosebumps really made me love horror

Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Household and Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories For Late At Night, published in 1961, borrowed from the Dickson County (TN) Library. Of course Poe, Lovecraft.

"the sunny slopes of long ago."

R.L. Stine and these books of the same vein called Shivers by M.D. Spenser. And straight down the pipeline to Christopher Pike and Fear Street for me.