Horror Aficionados discussion

I've heard that Brian Keene has written good splattery stuff. I haven't read any of his work though. Which is the best stuff of his to start with? Anything I should steer clear of? Any input would be greatly appreciated!

I haven't read much I haven't liked. His first major book was The Rising, but if you're tired of zombs try The Ghoul or Kill Whitey.

Ghoul is great.

Ghoul is pretty good. Castaways is another good one. Personally, I didn't care much for his zombie books.

I've read many Keene books but the only ones I didn't like were Urban Gothic and Castaways.

Tressa wrote: "I've read many Keene books but the only ones I didn't like were Urban Gothic and Castaways."

Those were both so bad...

11811 (Eleven) wrote: "Tressa wrote: "I've read many Keene books but the only ones I didn't like were Urban Gothic and Castaways."

Those were both so bad..."

I have a great respect for Keene and have loved so many of his books, but, yeah, it's almost like those two books were written by someone else; they just don't match the quality of horror I've come to expect from Keene.

I completely agree with Tressa about Castaways and Urban Gothic. I have read almost all of his stuff and those are the only two that I didn't like.

I started with The Rising, City of the Dead, Dead Sea and then Conqueror Worms (later changed to Earthworm Gods) then Ghoul. Basically I was on my fourth Keene book before the plot did not involve the end of the world. Intense dude.

Personal favorite is probably Terminal.

Chris wrote: "I completely agree with Tressa about Castaways and Urban Gothic. I have read almost all of his stuff and those are the only two that I didn't like.

I started with The Rising, City of the Dead, ..."

A number of people have mentioned Terminal to me. I have to move that up my list.

Cool, thanks for the suggestions! I just started reading Ghoul today. I'm only through the prologue, but so far so good! If I enjoy it I'll probably read Terminal next.

Brian Keene is one of my favourite zombie author's. I've only been reading like two of his books. but I couldn't put them down his style is awsome.

Loved Keene's Conqueror Worms. Very good reading.

Terminal is one of his better books. Not strictly horror, but a very well written thriller with some supernatural elemnts.

As Tressa wrote: "I have a great respect for Keene and have loved so many of his books, but, yeah, it's almost like those two books were written by someone else; they just don't match the quality of horror I've come to expect from Keene."

I seem to remember seeing that these two were homages to Richard Laymon (Castaways) and Edward Lee or Jack Ketchum (Urban Gothic), giving both a different feel than his other books. I remember Castaways as being a fun, over the top read in a similar way as Laymon's books. Lots of gore, sex and mayhem. I didn't really like Urban Gothic as much though, but I also don't really dig the splatterpunk stuff anyway.

I enjoyed his zombie books, but Conqueror Worms is still my favorite of his.

I just finished reading Ghoul today! Fun read. I definitely get how people say Keene is bleak, that ending is definitely not a happy one.

I was expecting a little more gruesomeness in the book than there was. I've always heard that Keene writes a lot of splatterpunk but, while this book did have some violent moments, it was more subdued than what I'd consider splat. Does he have work that gets gorier than this, or is this a fair example of Keene's general violence level?

Urban Gothic is very gory but not the best example of his writing.

I have read a good amount of Brian Keene and love his work.

his zombie books take on a different twist as to why everything is happening which I liked. I highly recommend reading his book the rising.

Ghoul is definitely a fav. I also enjoyed reading Dark Hallow and didn't see anyone mention that.

His work is gory. I felt the zombie series was gorier.

I read his book castaways recently and although there was gore, I felt that it was the weakest book I've read of his so far.

He's okay, need to check out more of his stuff. His Dead Sea was a five star and my favorite zombie novel - but haven't read others of his that impressed me above a 3 yet.

I read Castaways and did not like it. I guess I was hoping for more suspense and plot and less gore.

TERMINAL I can recommend.

Brian is one of my favorite writers in the world and an influence on my work. You won't go wrong with anything he writes, but my favorites so far have been THE RISING, DARK HOLLOW, and THE LAST OF THE ALBATWITCHES.

Castaways and Urban Gothic are his "splatterpunk" books where he was channeling Laymon and Edward Lee respectively. I like them both but they don't really fit with the rest of his work.

Somehow I didn't like The Rising that much, perhaps because of the rather open ending, but the sequel City of the Dead was the best piece of apocalyptic horror since James Herbert's Domain. My second favourite book by Keene would be Terminal, because it's hard, bitter, ironic and depressing, all that while telling a quite realistic heist story with little supernatural elements. His other works (Castaways, Kill Whitey, The Darkess at the Edge of Town etc.) are still good reads (4 stars at average). I like the way his stories are interconnected...

Dead Sea was an enjoyable read.

I'm reading Clickers vs. Zombies right now:



The last three books in J. F. Gonzaelz's Clickers series were co-written by Keene. While the second book is a straight sequel, the third one is crossover between Clicker's, Lovecraft and Keene's Labyrinth mythos. Clickers vs. Zombies is a crossover between Clickers and
The Rising, set in another reality level of the main sagas. Despite being crossovers, Keene's own mythology and multiverse is rather well explained in these volumes.

The Conqueror Worms was an appalling book, I strongly recommend you avoid that one!

Wolfrott wrote: "The Conqueror Worms was an appalling book, I strongly recommend you avoid that one!"

I loved The Conqueror Worms and would adamantly recommend it. I just read Dark Hollow and that was even better.

I haven;t read many of his books but I really enjoyed KILL WHITEY.

I have only read The Rising, its sequel City of the Dead and Dead Sea and I can only recommend the three of them.

The first two were in my opinion pretty good, with a lot of gore, splatt and blood. They are zombie novels with a very interesting twist, so they are a little different than the usual zombie novel.
They are fun, fast paced and not suitable for the faint of heart or stomach.

I've only read three Keene titles: Ghoul, The Conqueror Worms, and The Girl on the Glider. I find Keene too self-pitying to enjoy.

I am going to give him one more try at some point before I give up on him for good, though. But I find zombies boring (several friends have recommended The Rising), but I'll eventually find one.

I read The Rising and it was like a group of 9th graders with a 6th grade reading level decided to write a book about the coolest gore they could imagine. That was more than enough to make me dismiss him as a serious author. Not to be mean... 8 (

It was his first novel - he's improved vastly since then.

Squire wrote: "I've only read three Keene titles: Ghoul, The Conqueror Worms, and The Girl on the Glider. I find Keene too self-pitying to enjoy.

I am going to give hi..."

What do you mean by self-pitying?

I agree about zombies. I don't read a lot of zombie fiction either.

Erin ☕ *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "What do you mean by self-pitying?"

The character that is Keene (and every book I've read has a "Keene" character in it) is feeling sorry for himself and it takes over the book's atmosphere. It comes out full-blown in The Girl on the Glider: Keene, writing about himself in this one, constantly bemoans the fact that he is a "mid-list horror writer" and I suppose is going through a midlife crisis. It is really unappealing and not very interesting (the book is saved only by a really spooky finale--that doesn't involve zombies or worms!). It would seem to me that he is pretty lucky to be even a mid-list horror writer (though he's bottom-list for me right now).

I usually like most everything Brian has done, except for The Complex... no story line, no character development - just useless gore and hack em up. Can't even finish it. very disappointing.

Yes?? Wait I'm not him, I'm me...I think :/

I just started reading stuff by him - by reading all of your posts I know now not to read Castaways and Urban Gothic. I just read Dark Hollow which was excellent and I am now reading Ghost Walk the sequel to Dark Hollow. Ghost Walk so far is excellent too.

Also read his short story Alone which was okay - I didn't find it scary - I found it more strange than anything - then when I got to the end and finally figured out what was going on, it reminded me of a horror flick I had seen a few years back.

I read The Complex ,(and I'm planning to get a signed one from him tomorrow), earlier this year and I thought it was a total blast! Fun, fast paced and totally whacked out, with an ending that didn't shy away from what needed to be done. :)

I didn't find there to be any "feel sorry for your self" characters in it, as they were all too busy trying to stay alive.

Granted, I own a LOT of Keene books but have only recently become a fan, so haven't read that many of them. Yet.

Char wrote: "I read The Complex ,(and I'm planning to get a signed one from him tomorrow), earlier this year and I thought it was a total blast! Fun, fast paced and totally whacked out, with an ending that didn..."

I'm with you, Charlene. The Complex was great fun!