Classic Horror Lovers discussion

Which authors do you know about that no one seems to mention? Which books/stories by them would you recommend?

Charles L. Grant
His novels are wonderful examples of quiet horror. So are his short stories.

Nightmare Seasons
Tales from the Nightside
For Fear of the Night
The Hour of the Oxrun Dead

I'd say Robert Aickman. I know there is some love for him out there, but you still can't get most of his 'strange stories' (as he called them) outside of expensive hardbacks so I think he is still somewhat obscure.

The recent three Faber Finds paperback editions are all worth getting for the uninitiated.

Recluse - only read a couple of Grants' in anthologies but he does seem very good. Any in particular of those four you'd recommend to a greenhorn?

James- Tales from the Nightside is a solid short story collection.
For Fear of the Night is an excellent introduction to his stand alone novels.

James, I don't think there is anything out there that Recluse hasn't read.

I'm going to go ahead and mention you, James.
"A Writer's Words" is still one of my favorite short stories.

I appriciate this thread, Lady D. I realized that, though I'm open to reading classics, other than Frankenstine, E.A. Poe and Dracula, I'm not very knowledgable of horror written before 1960. The stand, Dean Koontz and things from that time are more familiar to me. It helps getting some good suggestions and, I like the idea of foraging in areas not fully explored by my current generation.

Cool.

Charlene wrote: "James, I don't think there is anything out there that Recluse hasn't read.

I'm going to go ahead and mention you, James.
"A Writer's Words" is still one of my favorite short stories."

I haven't read Twilight...... :P

I'll second that!

You're too kind, both of you.

To redress the karmic balance I'll toss in another one: T.E.D. Klein

Dark Gods is a great collection of novellas.

Oh and also Iain Rownan's Ice Age is a must have if you read self-published books.

I'm a huge T.E.D. Klein fan.
Just reread Dark Gods recently and plan to reread Ceremonies

Yep. Dark Gods is just another one on Recluse's 'already read' shelf. *Sigh*

I've not read any T.E.D. Klein.

I've never read The Ceremonies, although I have read short story The Events At Porloth Farm which I think it was expanded from?

I guess I'll have to get a second-hand copy of The Ceremonies as doesn't look like it will be republished any time soon...

Yes, it is.

Looks that way.

I'll put in a good word for August Derleth. He's usually associated with Lovecraft, but Derleth was an outstanding classic horror writer in his own right. I read several of his stories years ago--very creepy and well-written.August Derleth

I love T.E.D. Klein :) Anyone remember Karl Edward Wagner? He did a lot of anthos and some great dark fantasy.

I'm a big Wagner fan. In a Lonely Place is one of my favorite books.

Was Karl Edward Wagner the guy who wrote a few books about a guy named Kane? I remember reading one or two when I was quite a bit younger and I wanted to see if I could find them again. I just can't remember for sure who the author was? A mind is a terrible thing to lose. : )

Yes, he is, Charlene.

Thanks!

Dennis Etchison. A number of his books are available, but they regularly go out of print. He's not hugely esteemed for his novels, but his short stories are sometimes absolutely top-notch. When he's on, he's better than anybody out there. My favorite of his is On the Pike.

His stories tend to be downers. They have an atmosphere thick with dread. A lot of them don't quite click. But those that do, you'll remember.

Most of what I've read of Wagner was through anthos besides the complete collection of the three major Kane novels I read last year. My library's terrible about keeping older stuff in there sometimes while at others they get some really rare books. Got a library copy of Black Leather Required: Stories once and its got a special place on my shelf. I loved David J Schow's 80s and 90s stuff but haven't tried his noir novels yet.

Wagner is exceedingly hard to find! I'm still looking for his Kane series, with no such luck.

I have the Arkham House edition as well.

He certainly deserves more respect than he's gotten.
His Shadows series was simply incredible.

I've got six of the Shadows series, including the first one, plus his After Midnight, Fears, Horrors, Nightmares and Terrors anthologies.
The publishers back then thought that only teenage boys read horror and bet heavily on the movie-style gore trend, so a lot of great authors didn't get any promotion at all.

Marc - I've read only a few Dennis Etchison stories, but those I have I thought were really great. The last one was called Tell Me I'll See You Again in the anthology 'A Book If Horrors'

That anthology as a whole is well worth checking out, BTW

James wrote: "Marc - I've read only a few Dennis Etchison stories, but those I have I thought were really great. The last one was called Tell Me I'll See You Again in the anthology 'A Book If Horrors'

That anth..."

Thanks James, I'll do a search for it. Too bad his novels aren't as well-regarded as his short stories; if they were, he's got the talent to be huge. Even interviews with him are very rewarding.

That was mean to be A Book OF Horrors, obviously.



INTRODUCTION: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO HORROR? Stephen Jones
THE LITTLE GREEN GOD OF AGONY Stephen King
CHARCLOTH, FIRESTEEL AND FLINT Caitlín R. Kiernan
GHOSTS WITH TEETH Peter Crowther
THE COFFIN-MAKER’S DAUGHTER Angela Slatter
ROOTS AND ALL Brian Hodge
TELL ME I’LL SEE YOU AGAIN Dennis Etchison
THE MUSIC OF BENGT KARLSSON, MURDERER John Ajvide Lindqvist
GETTING IT WRONG Ramsey Campbell
ALICE THROUGH THE PLASTIC SHEET Robert Shearman
THE MAN IN THE DITCH Lisa Tuttle
A CHILD’S PROBLEM Reggie Oliver
SAD, DARK THING Michael Marshall Smith
NEAR ZENNOR Elizabeth Hand
LAST WORDS Richard Christian Matheson

Kindle edition $20.59, paperback $8.90? What the ...?

Typical.

This book was on sale last week. I got an email from ereaderiq.com. But it only dropped in price by a few dollars, so I didn't get it.
It's one of the most expensive Kindle books I've seen.

A Kindle edition shouldn't be more expensive than a mass market paperback. Ever.

I'm actually willing to pay slightly more for the Kindle ed. just for the convenience and how much easier it is to read.

But not that much more.

For me, it depends on the book.

I'm getting KIndle editions of books from the 80s for about $2.99.

A book has to really sell me on its merits for me to pay much these days. It is so easy to get a huge backlog of books for free or very cheap -- and that's if you're even buying. When a book is quite expensive, there's always the library, too.

For anyone interested in Charles L. Grant

http://www.amazon.com/The-Curse-ebook...

Ooh, thanks, Recluse!

You're welcome!

I check certain publishers every week for new releases.

Jodi wrote: "Marc wrote: "Dennis Etchison. A number of his books are available, but they regularly go out of print. He's not hugely esteemed for his novels, but his short stories are sometimes absolutely top-..."

That sounds like a great experience!

Recluse wrote: "For anyone interested in Charles L. Grant

http://www.amazon.com/The-Curse-ebook..."

Nice. Have you read this one?

It would be great if all his stuff came back in e-book form and at a great price.

Actually, no.

And I never expected to get the chance.

Crossroad Press has been re-releasing a lot of books from the late 70s and 80s in ebook form for $2.99.
This is their first Grant book.
Necon Ebooks has been slowly re-releasing his novella collections. A little more expensive, $4.99, but still a bargain.

I hope they get around to Michael McDowell. His Blackwater series was super highly regarded in the 80's, but now he has almost fallen off the map completely.

This stuff, when it's good, is timeless, so I'd love for all the old great classics to come back, especially if it's not as the world's sloppiest screwball OCR scans.

I'll second that!

I have The Pet, and Shadows 1 and 5 in the original paperbacks.

His Oxrun Station books are hard to find.

And I don't trust second party book sellers thru Amazon.

Got another one!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Grave-Stati...

I think it's great that everyone is recommending modern authors, but since this is a classic horror group, can you think of some pre-1960 authors?

Sorry, Lady Danielle!

G.K. Chesterton: The Man Who Was Thursday
Guy Endore: The Werewolf of Paris
Cornell Woolrich: Night Has A Thousand Eyes
Walter Van Tilburg Clark: Track of the Cat
Joseph Payne Brennan: Nine Horrors and a Dream
Jack Williamson: Darker Than You Think
Mervyn Peake: Gormenghast
Robert Bloch: The Opener of the Way
Abraham Merritt: Creep, Shadow

Better?

No need to be sorry. I just wanted to get some older stuff in there. I admit it's a bit selfish, since I am always on the lookout for classic horror. :)

And thanks! Adding to the list the ones I don't have already!

Some of those are not traditional horror, but horror just the same, to my thinking.

Do you have Charles Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer and James Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner on your list? They are personal favorites of mine.

I'd vote for Adrian Ross The Hole of the Pit as one of the better unsung horror tales of yesteryear...

I have Melmoth the Wanderer. I wondered where I had got it from! It must've been a recommendation from Recluse. : )

Robert Aickman would be one of my favourite pre-60s writers. He's anthologised quite a bit, so not exactly obscure. But hasn't has the recognition he deserves.