Scaaaaaaary stories

[brigdh]

It is now October, which is of course the month of Halloween (a.k.a. best holiday ever!). And I'm in the mood to read some scary books. Recommend me your favorites!

I was going to make a list of ones I've read already, but a) that would be a really long list, and b) I'm willing to reread good things. So go ahead and throw out all the horror novels and ghost stories and so on you've got! I like supernatural horror (vampires and werewolves, most Stephen King), I like realistic stuff (serial killers, deadly plagues, Thomas Harris), I like existential stuff (The House of Leaves, Natsuo Kirino), I like gothics (Anne Rice- well, her early stuff- Turn of the Screw), I like modern stuff (I don't think I need an example here!) and classic stuff (Dracula, Frankenstein), I like cheesy melodrama and thoughtful, deep writing. Basically, if it's scary, I like it. I am not so interested in Charlaine Harris/most urban fantasy/Twilight type books, anything where the focus is more on romance than horror. Bonus points if it's available as an ebook, and, since I'm falling behind on 50books_poc, super double bonus points for authors of color.

Comments

[firebirdgrrl.livejournal.com]

Waking the Moon-Elizabeth Hand (does have a good showing of different sexualities, gender power stuff and a major supporting Filipino character)
Black Light-All Dionysos, All Halloween, All Elizabeth Hand.
Kindred-Octavia Butler. This is one of the most frightening books I have ever read because it really brought home what American slavery was like, plus very scary time travel. This is a masterpiece.
The Red Tree-Caitlin R. Kiernan-Lovecrafty, spooky, uncanny story (with an unstoppable ending) and eerieness beyond all measure. The main character is also an older lesbian, so some more good variety there.
Anno Dracula-Kim Newmann What if Dracula won? Chock full of Victoriana, mixed in with fictional characters and events (including imperialism) and a damn fine read.

Hope those help!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oooo, I haven't read any of those, and they look really good. Thanks so much!

[petronia.livejournal.com]

The novel of Let The Right One In (or Let Me In as I think it's been translated) is excellent - very dark though, spells out a lot of the triggery stuff the movie hints at.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I actually haven't seen the movie yet, though I keep meaning to, but thank you! I will check that out.

[askeladden.livejournal.com]

John Bellairs, The Face in the Frost. Mostly it's a light-hearted picaresque about two wizards named Prospero and Roger Bacon (Prospero isn't the one you're thinking of, but Roger Bacon is). But there are a few scenes that are completely terrifying, and overall there's a dark, autumnal thread through an otherwise fluffy little book.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Second rec for this (I'm here via rm, by the way). John Bellairs in general is fabulous - don't let the fact that his YA stuff is for kids get in the way of a good story.

Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box freaked the hell out of me... and I used to review horror/mystery books.

[askeladden.livejournal.com]

Heart Shaped Box didn't really do it for me, but Joe Hill's short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts, knocked my socks off. Highly recommended.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Awesome, thanks! I haven't read anything by Joe Hill yet, but I really should check him out. I've heard good things.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs! I've heard very good things about 'Heart Shaped Box', so I'm definitely checking that one out! (And also the others, but I think HSB might be at the top of my to-read list.)

[torenheksje.livejournal.com]

I was going to say "Turn of the Screw," but since you mentioned that one, I'll recommend Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House."

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, Shirley Jackson is SO SCARY. I do need to read more of her.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the one I was coming over here to recommend.

No live organism can continue for long to exist under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

— Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It is a really excellent story.

[hazard-us.livejournal.com]

If House of Leaves isn't on your list, it should be.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

SUCH A GOOD BOOK. I've read it once, but I really should re-read it, since it seems like one of those books that really benefits from multiple readings.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

The Red Tree by Caitlin Kiernan. Intense, creepy, possibly unreliable narrator. Ignore the awful cover art.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I am definitely going to check this one out.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Seconding John Bellairs-- all of his stuff is good, although some books written under his name after he died are pretty terrible. The House With The Clock in Its Walls is for kids, IIRC, but still super-creepy.

Walter Mosely's The Man in My Basement is nominally contemporary fiction, but it's deeply unsettling.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ooooo. I've just read a review of the Mosely book, and it sounds really fascinating. Thanks so much for the rec, I hadn't heard of it before!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed it, hope you'll like it too!

Best Holiday Ever

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

There are other holidays?

Re: Best Holiday Ever

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Not important ones, ha!

Re: Best Holiday Ever

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

Minds great, alike in thoughts are they, yes!

[gaaneden.livejournal.com]

Close Encounters of the Urban Kind anthology edited by Jennifer Brozek (me) - most people are so freaked out by the first story they have to put the anthology down for a bit. Available on Kindle - http://www.amazon.com/Close-Encounters-Urban-Kind-ebook/dp/B003IPDN76/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1286302740&sr=8-4 and other e-versions: http://www.apexbookcompany.com/apex-store/ebooks/

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I have to admit that I'm not a big alien fan, but the short story up on the website is really good.

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

Scariest book I've ever read, next to The Haunting of Hill House, is Ammie, Come Home, by Barbara Michaels (another pseudonym of Elizabeth Peters, she of the Amelia Peabody mysteries set in Edwardian Egypt - but utterly, utterly different from those in tone and atmosphere).

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds really excellent. And I've been meaning to read something by that author for some time. Thanks!

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

Ah, and another possibility just occurred to me, though it'll probably be harder to find: Karl Edward Wagner's short story "Sticks." You might turn it up in an anthology at a library. The icing on it is that the scariest part is more or less true.

[askeladden.livejournal.com]

Also, you mentioned that you like Stephen King, but I know some people who've read a buch of his novels without ever getting around to his short story collections. They're excellent. I don't remember which anthologies they're in, but some of his scariest:

Gramma
Survivor Type
I am the Doorway
The Mangler

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I've read a few of his short story collections, but most of these I don't remember. The only one I've read is The Mangler (which is quite good!). I think 'Apt Pupil' (also a short story) is the scariest thing he's ever written. I haven't seen the movie version, but I hear it's not as good.

Here via rm

[soukup.livejournal.com]

I am so random, because this short story (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1952/1952-h/1952-h.htm) isn't even remotely Halloween-y; but I can never resist a chance to rec it, because I really think it may be the scariest thing I've ever read.

Re: Here via rm

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oooo, thanks for that link. I've read it before, but ages ago- I think I was about ten at the time- and didn't really appreciate it fully. I've been meaning to read it again, so thanks for giving me a reason too!

?

[keith418.livejournal.com]

1) Anything by Thomas Ligotti
2) Anything by Arthur Machen
3) Anything by Mark Valentine
4) Anything by Reggie Oliver
5) Anything by Robert Aickman
6) Anything by Sarban
7) Anything by Clark Ashton Smith
8) Anything by M.P. Shiel
9) Anything by L. A. Lewis
10) Anything by Mark Samuels

Re: ?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thank you! All of these are new to me.

Re: ?

[keith418.livejournal.com]

Representative works by each author:

1) "The Town Manager"

2) "N"

3) "Pale Roses"

4) "A Donkey at the Mysteries"

5) "The Roman Question"

6) "The Sound Of His Horn"

7) "The White Sybil"

8) "The House of Sounds"

9) "The Tower of Moab"

10) "The Black Mould"

Re: ?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That's very helpful.

here via rm

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

Nashville feminist blogger Tiny Cat Pants (http://tinycatpants.wordpress.com/) collects local ghost stories. There's some on her blog and she's published a book, "City of Ghosts", by Betsy Phillips. If you like local haunting stories, you might like that.

Re: here via rm

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ooo, thanks! I do enjoy local ghost stories.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Currently reading a book of interlinked stories by Richard Marsh called Curios that is both scary and funny. It's 100+ years old, though, so the usual 19th century caveats apply.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

That sounds really interesting! Thanks for the rec.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I really like Peter Straub for normal, straight-out horror. Koko was the first one I read, and wow did I get sucked in.