The Amityville Horror discussion

Are there any other good horror authors out there? MODERN aithors please!!

I recently stared reading Peter Straub. I rather enjoy his work.

Stephen King
Shirley Jackson

And I haven't read Erik Larson, but he's on my tbr list. I've heard good things.

Bentley Little. Joe Hill.

I know SK and am not interested in ShirleyJackson. I will check out Joe Hill (SK's son!)

Herbert West Reanimator & At the Mountains Of Madness etc etc.- Lovecraft
Fall Of the House of Usher- Poe
The Keep- Wilson
I assume you've read Frankenstein and Dracula
The Willows & The Man Who Found Out- Blackwood
Haunting of Hill house- Jackson
Varney The Vampire
Faust

Haha you assumed right. I have read some Poe but not Fall of The House Of Usher

Also check out Graham Masterston

Uncle Silas is a pretty decent Gothic horror novel. T. E. D. Klein was an 80s era Lovecraftian horror writer that has great prose and a fairly strong understanding of what makes Lovecraft work.

Okay, thanks for all the recommendations guys!!

The Terror or Summner of Night from DanSimmons.

It's early in the morning. That's how I excuse the spelling of "Summer" and running together the first and last name of Dan Simmons in my last post. Sorry, folks.

Last comment...I swear. Straub's Ghost Story might be the best horror novel ever published.

Oh...and Bloodthirst in Babylon. I happen to know the author.

Okay, David, thanks for the recommendations

I have The Howling on my kindle, and a lot of Scott Nicolson. Andrew Neidermans The Dark looks good though.

Has anyone seen Alfred Hitchcock's "The Lodger"? I'm watching it today

I like John Saul, some of his books are excellent, some not so much.

You must read Swan Song by Robert McCammon! Also Dan Simmons is excellent and both are modern.

I've heard a lot about Swan Song

Mine the Robert McCammon one

Richard Laymon or Michael Slade- a heads up.... Michael Slade is a loose comparison to Marquis de SAde- he is quite bizare- recommend "Burnt Bones", If you know anything about the folklore "wickerman" theres a bit of that coverd as well

Jean wrote: "You must read Swan Song by Robert McCammon! Also Dan Simmons is excellent and both are modern."

Kyle wrote: "Swan Song is an excellent book, Josiah. I've read most of Robert McCammon's novels, and they're all great.






[bookcover:Brai..."

Swan song is probably one of the best books Ive ever read- try Ushers passing by Mcammon as well- weird but very good

While some of these recommendations are good, the authors are mostly slaves to generic conventions energized by King's meteoric rise in popularity in the early 80s. To seek out some quality horror not completely indebted to King, you might want to check out anything edited by S. T. Joshi, who might be the world's foremost expert on American horror. The Library of America put out a volume of stories edited by Joshi that are modern American horror stories, including T. E. D. Klein and whatnot.

The problem with American horror of the 80s is that there is a lot of crap to wade through in order to stumble upon that one gem.

I highly recommend the first two novels by Tom Tryon, by the way. The Other and Harvest Home are two of the best horror novels ever written!

I think I'll try Harvest Home

I highly recommend and

If you don't mind a little sci-fi with your horror, check out

Jean wrote: "You must read Swan Song by Robert McCammon! Also Dan Simmons is excellent and both are modern."
I vote Swan Song.

Heard a lot about Swan Song...

I know you said "modern writers" but you can't fully appreciate the horror genre until you read the classics! M.R. James' short stories were my very first dip into the pool when I was just a child, and I enjoy them to this day. Also, Sheridan LeFanu and Algernon Blackwood and of course H. P. Lovecraft are all masters.

Well that's fine, although I have most HP Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe and MR James

Tried Edward Lee, Jack Ketchum, Caitlin Kiernan, John Skipp & Craig Spector?

Clive Barker

I see you have an impressive list suggested here already . . . but I would add CARRION COMFORT
by Dan Simmons

The Light at the End (Best 80's vampire novel ever.)
The Scream
Animals
Son Of The Endless Night
The Axman Cometh (This one might require a couple of tries to understand it... Farris is pretty unconventional with this novel).
Deathgrip. I wish I could find more Brian Hodge novels. The only other two I've read were Dark Advent (basically, a pale The Stand clone) and Nightlife, which I barely remember.
The Hellbound Heart (The basis for the movie Hellraiser).
In fact, any of Clive Barker's Books of Blood. There are stories in there that still haunt me 25 years after I read them ("In The Hills, The Cities" jumps to mind).
The Exorcist and Legion.
Hungry Moon
On the McCammon front, I'd seriously push Stinger and Wolf's Hour.
The Wolfen
I vaguely remember The Hunger being good.

If I think of more, I'll add them to the list.

I like the works of a real rising star nemed Terry Lloyd Vinson. He wrote Sidekicks inc., Deolation Outpost, Recluses, Creeping Dread, Bloodlines, Skeletal Remains, Mr. Hate, and many other good "bone Chilling" novels. I highly encourage everyone to check him out.

Out of all the horror novels I've read, The Exorcist is easily the most gripping. I can't recommend this one enough!! I'd also recommend Graham Masterton.

Of course, if you're looking for a real life horror story I guess it can't hurt to plug my own nightmare I'm experiencing (The Sleepover: An Entirely True Story) which began after spending the night in a haunted house. Basically, whatever it was that I witnessed that night is, um, following me. :(

I'd add a voice to Clive Barker - any Cliver Barker. And Neil Gaiman and Tom Piccirilli. Straub is my favorite living dark fiction writer (Picirrilli is a close second.) I'll toss in a couple friends while I'm at it - Brian Keene and Mike Oliveri.

I just finished reading This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It, the sequel to John Dies at the End. Both are disturbingly spooky and hilarious at the same time. Give them a go.

David wrote: "Last comment...I swear. Straub's Ghost Story might be the best horror novel ever published.

Oh...and Bloodthirst in Babylon. I happen to know the author."



I love Peter Straubs books but I think his best is Koko.

Ramsay Campbell is considered to be the UK's Stephen King. I don't really see any similarity between the two, although I do love and recommend his books.

And seriously, Clive Barker. If you passed over the previous recommendation about Barker, consider it again. He wrote a short story that was so scary it actually made me cry.

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist and Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman are 2 story driven horror novels well worth checking out.

Patrisia wrote: " He wrote a short story that was so scary it actually made me cry."

Which one? He had several in the Books of Blood that freaked me out to the point of nightmares.

Wake Wood by KA Johns is a deliciously creepy horror....and most books by James Herbert are excellent if you love a bit of horror!

Bill wrote: "The Light at the End (Best 80's vampire novel ever.)
The Scream
Animals
Son Of The Endless Night
The Axman Cometh (This one might require a couple of tries to understand it... Farris is pretty unco..."
have you read "Fiends" by Farris- yes he is one of the greats- SK said he "teethed" on Farris

Kumonee wrote: "ave you read "Fiends" by Farris- yes he is one of the greats- SK said he "teethed" on Farris "
I may have, but it's been so long ago, I forgot.

The two I did throw up there, I definitely remember, and definitely enjoyed. I also read Phantom Nights, but it wasn't as scary as it was spooky (if that makes any sense).

Kumonee wrote: "Richard Laymon or Michael Slade- a heads up.... Michael Slade is a loose comparison to Marquis de SAde- he is quite bizare- recommend "Burnt Bones", If you know anything about the folklore "wickerm..."

Slade is converting all his backlog of 13 books to eBook format for Kindle, iBooks, and Nook reading devices.

I have all of his books and have read all twice and am in the process of collecting all the eBooks as well. Then I can take them with me wherever I go.

John Connolly's Charlie Parker series. (Recommend reading them in order but that's just me.) Wonderful writer.

Josiah wrote: "Are there any other good horror authors out there? MODERN authors please!!"

Meh..why insist on modern? Bunch of hacks, for the most part.

SK is really no 'master'; he's very talented but he unfortunately bolstered his career with far too much dependency on past authors; almost bordering on plagiarism. Its the ignorance of the modern audience which allowed him to become a bestseller. So to you, I say: why not go to the sources he derives his stories from?

Anyway. 'Moderns only'. Very short list. But here ya go:
Rachel Ingalls
T.E.D. Klein
The House Next Door
Ramsay Campbell
Graham Masterton
Hawksmoor

Josiah;

My recommendations would be either "The Ceremonies" or "Dark Gods" by T. E. D. Klein. I do have a certain fondness for "Harvest Home", though; it is the subtlest and least supernatural of the three books I recommended here.

Lair

James Herbert has some fantastic horror books out there!

Wade wrote: "Lair

James Herbert has some fantastic horror books out there!"

Also, The Rats and The Fog.