Horror writer recommendations, please.

[kid a]

This is a new genre for me.
Taking a break from my 3 year obsession with political, geographical and biographical non-fiction reading.

I happened to pick up Imajica by Clive Barker last week and finished it today. Read a few King books years ago and have The Stand hardcover on the shelf. Maybe I'll read that next.

Any obscure, amazing upcoming horror writers I should check out?
How about classics?

Thanks in advance.

[gmoney]

1. Sarah Palin is a horrible writer...

:hide:

[kid a]

3. haha...blahhh...I am so sick of seeing that book at Borders (must have over ordered for her visit)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Dan Simmons.

"Drood"- Here's my thread on the book. http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=208&topic_id=17120&mesg_id=17120

"The Terror"- also very good.

"Summer of Night" is a pretty good book, as is the follow up "A Winter Haunting." I ended up reading "Winter" first and they're totally separate books, I enjoyed both. Another loose follow up "Children of Night" is probably the best written vampire book I've read.

[kid a]

4. Thanks - I started Drood at the B&N today and put it on my list for Amazon.

Someone recommended "Carrion Comfort" by Simmons, too. Have you read that?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. I haven't, no.

[cemaphonic]

27. the novella is good. (from one of his story collection books IIRC)

The full length novel isn't nearly as good.

[MiddleFingerMom]

6. One of the best short stories in ANY genre, INMO

.
Look for Clive Barker's "Books of Blood" ("We are all Books of
Blood -- when we're opened up, we're red.")
.
There are six volumes; this story is in Vol. I (although
there's a collection published of Vols I-III).
.
Go straight for "In The Hills, The Cities" (inspired by Goya's
"Colossus/Panic" below. About a gay couple on vacation in
ultra-isolated rural Yugoslavia. If there's anyone who comes
even CLOSE to thinking outside the box, it's Clive Barker.
.
The other stories are impresssive, too.
.
<a href="" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt="MFM-InTheHillsTheCities"></a>

[MiddleFingerMom]

8. INMO??????????

.
I have NO idea what "INMO" means in the Subject line
above. I MEANT to say "IMHO".
.
Sorry if I made anybody dash for a glossary.
.
"I'm Not Maximally Operative" might be a very VERY kind
way to express my normal state of being.
.

[kid a]

9. ...no worries. I didn't even notice. Just checked Books of Blood on Amazon - great reviews

My copy will be here Thursday.

Thanks for the rec!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

7. Not a horror writer per se, but check out "The Ruins" by Scott Smith.

And definitely read "The Stand." That's an excellent book.

[flying rabbit]

10. The Stand is damn good

I would also recommend "It" as teh next best piece of work King has done.

[kid a]

15. My kids and I watched "It" over the holidays - wow...bad movie (Richard Thomas and Jon Ritter)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. Did you watch the whole version, or the abridged version?

I remember the first half being really good, and the second half being terrible, with the ending being ridiculous.

The book was great though.

[kid a]

18. the whole thing, both dvds - first 1/2 definitely better, yup!

[MiddleFingerMom]

24. For sheer unspeakable horror........

.
Check out "The Runs" by Taco Bell.
.

[AllenVanAllen]

11. How about a book?

World War Z is a very entertaining read. I also second the Clive Barker's Books of Blood. :hi:

[kid a]

13. I looked it up - I sent "Zombie Survival Guide" to friend last year - didn't read it.

Didn't know he wrote a second book!
Thanks - It also has excellent reviews

[nomorenomore08]

12. A pretty good self-published novella by a completely unknown author:

'You Know Who I Am' - rather gory, but if you can handle Clive Barker the violence in this one should be a cakewalk:

http://www.amazon.com/You-Know-Who-I-Am/dp/1440417091/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262756522&sr=1-1

[kid a]

16. Thanks.

[BurtWorm]

14. Rick Perlstein's Nixonland and Before the Storm scared the shit out of me.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

19. Howard P. Lovecraft.

Classic well written stuff.

The first paragraph of The Colour Out of Space:

West of Arkham the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut. There are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight. On the gentler slopes there are farms, ancient and rocky, with squat, moss-coated cottages brooding eternally over old New England secrets in the lee of great ledges; but these are all vacant now, the wide chimneys crumbling and the shingled sides bulging perilously beneath low gambrel roofs.

[nomorenomore08]

21. I'm still not sure how I feel about Lovecraft. Good ideas, good descriptive language, but

his overall prose style is kind of cheesy and overwrought. But I can see how his archaic language might be said to have kind of a "timeless" quality to it, which seems appropriate for the eons-old evils that he wrote about.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

25. He never described what Cthulhu looked like either.

I'm not sure who came up with the green tentacle face.

[cemaphonic]

28. While Cthulhu isn't described directly in the confrontation

The various artifacts found earlier in the story are described a fair bit (though with his signature vagueness), giving an overall idea about what he looked like.

Neat narrative trick.

[pokerfan]

32. I love Lovecraft

If I say that my somewhat extravagant imagination yielded simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature, I shall not be unfaithful to the spirit of the thing. A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings; but it was the general outline of the whole which made it most shockingly frightful. (From 'The Call of Cthulhu')

[cemaphonic]

31. He makes the purple prose work though

Lovecraft pastiche or parody always sounds cheesy, but in the stories he actually wrote, it (usually) contributes successfully to the overall atmosphere.

[apocalypsehow]

20. Poe is a good primer in the genre - it's a pretty well developed and rich literary field, despite

what a lot of modern critics say about it.

I'd urge you to go to Horrorfind.com and sign up - that's an excellent resource.

:thumbsup:

[kid a]

35. thanks for the horrorfind link! I have a Poe anthology, what a good start! thanks

[TrogL]

22. read the entire Stephen King oeuvre

especially the Gunslinger series.

[Broken_Hero]

23. You beat me to it

I just got the first four books in HC this past holiday, I plan on rereading them very soon.

Of Kings books, the Dark Tower, Needful Things, and Rose Madder really stand out to me, but a lot of his books are good.

[BlueIris]

26. Shirley Jackson, Robert Bloch and Richard Matheson.

[cemaphonic]

29. I really love "We Have Always Lived in the Castle."

[BlueIris]

30. Oh, me, too. And nothing will ever beat my beloved "Haunting of Hill House." nt

[alphafemale]

33. kick for later nt

[RebelOne]

34. Dean Koontz. All his novels are great.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

36. If you havn't read the original Dracula by Bram Stocker

You owe it to yourself. You will also spend weeks making sure your windows are all locked at night.

[ismnotwasm]

37. "The Exorcist"

Great read