Horror lit thread! last one got archived. What are you guys reading?
>>23816288Started reading all of Barker's Books of Blood, pretty enjoyable
After 4 months, I was finally able to order a physical copy of this. It was so hard to get. Looking forward to reading it.
>>23816288Just finished Haunted Castles by Ray Russell, which was pretty damn good. Now starting on some gothic short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson.
What's your guys favorite short story?
>>23817722Nyarlathotep goes pretty hard
>>23817722"The White People" by Machen.
Any recommendations for books where people experience and navigate really weird places? Already read annihilation and a short stay in hell.
>>23817981Sounds like an A24 premise; a midbrow horror film that's an allegory for whiteness and the trauma of black and indigenous people
>>23818187So you don't know what the story is about then.
>>23817722“Toother” by Terry Dowling
>>23818198I was just having a little laugh! I'm definitely gonna read Machen at some point, seems like a fascinating writer
>>23816288Thank you for starting the thread, OP, but let’s get a bit more gas with a thread question(s): >What element of your current reading makes it successfully horrific?>Where does it fall short?
>>23818273He's one of my favourites. If you want to read a collection, I would suggest The Great God Pan and Other Horror Stories.
Need some recs for stuff like The Fisherman and Experimental Film (no they're not that alike, but things in either vein). Also, in terms of film, I Saw The TV Glow.
>>23818398Is there a novel called Experimental Film, or do you mean experimental film? Btw, I want to see that tranny movie so bad... I guess I should torrent it since it isn't playing near me
>>23818640NTA, but Experimental Film is a novel by Gemma Files.
>>23818741Hmm... seems like a kind of an interesting novel. Is it any good? Anyway, whenever I see a capitalized "Experimental" my mind goes immediately to Serial Experiments Lain and it gives me like an instant rush of dopamine, I freaking love that show lol
>>23818741>Gemma FilesHow is she? I always hear people say she's up there with John Langan,Laird Barron, and Nathan Ballingrud. Which book should I check out?
>>23818398>>23818640>The Fisherman and Experimental Film>(no they're not that alike, but things in either vein)>Also, in terms of film>Uhhhhhh is there a novel called Experimental Film, or do you mean experimental film?Okay, I'm fucking retarded (ESL)
Is there any horror novel like the those movies where all you see are reports where things keep getting more and more disturbing till it seems like the world is about to end? Ex Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Special Report: Zombie Invasion or Without Warning (1994 film)
>>23819138Reading World War Z by Max Brooks gave me that feeling. It's not like the movie at all. Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven, while not amazing, is a fun read.
>>23816288
>>23818935The Fisherman and Experimental Film are both the titles of novels. I was also asking for books like the real life movie I Saw The TV Glow
Favorite cover art?
>>23816288Literature is the wrong medium for horror. It's already difficult for cinema to instill terror. That said, books are often superior to their movie adaptations, a prime example being I Am Legend. But it's not scary.
>>23819471A book can't really jumpscare you, no, but literature can instill dread with more clarity than I have ever personally gotten from a movie.
>>23819471The problem is that what you can do to live action is infinitely more limited than literature. That's why a huge part of it is zombies, ghosts, serial killers, and random bullshit that makes no sense, plus anything but perfect top tier acting fuck up all the immersion. Maybe CGI/AI will change it in a few decades
>>23819488Jumpscares are shit and not what I was talking about. When using your own imagination, you are in control. Terror is instilled by a lack of control. It's like tickling yourself versus getting tickled. Humans are primarily visual, as is reflected by the relative amount of brain matter dedicated to each sense. Literature is like a recipe, your imagination does the cooking. With audiovisual medium, you are an observer, you are no longer the chef.>>23819493>live action is infinitely more limited than literatureTrue, live action is inherently bad because it is too dependent on human performance.>decadesHave you been living under a rock? Frontier AI is already smarter than the average person. We will likely have AI generated movies better than anything human made within the next 2-4 years.
>>23816288https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V8SqCr263g
What a I in for?
>>23819605*am
https://youtube.com/@theslashtraxnetwork?si=jcUsd-NYd0-trc96
>>23816288can someone recc books which will scare the shit out of me???
>>23820234If you don't tell us what scares you, people can't help you. Also read The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum if you want to have a bad time
>>23820317I've never been scared by a novel or film in my adult life. That is why I ask for a recc. I get scared about the dangers in our world, if a fiction novel is able to induce a similar horror, somehow, then great.
>>23819605Gross descriptions but very shallow. Don't understand the love for Aron Beauregard. Describing something disgustingly isn't what makes horror work. It's like making a painting out of your own shit and expecting someone to recoil in fear and laud it as a horrific masterpiece.
>>23819605Imo these extreme shock novels are boring and a drag to get through, you only see the main character as victim fodder so you don't give a shit about them.
You guys have recommendations for horror fiction about nature, animal and plants. I know Algernon Blackwood and Richard Gavin get recommended. I was thinking of picking up a copy of Cujo.
>>23817722The stephen king story about the guy stuck on the island
Frankenstein and Dracula are both comfy
>>23821712Scott Smith's The Ruins wasn't for me, but it's nature/plant horror.
>>23821771Care to elaborate on haunted?
The summer people by Shirley Jackson was creepy.
Recs for some sweet sweet folk horror please
>>23817722The Shadow over Innsmouth, if you can call it a short story.
>>23816288Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
>>23821813The author's writing style is questionable but it's good if you like modern horror
>>23817722I really like Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, but it's barely a horror story. The only story I have ever read that manages to make "then the protagonist woke up" a satisfying ending.Ballad of the Flexible Bullet is also great, but again it's not very spooky in the traditional sense. More of a look into the nature of mental instability.
>>23821876>The Shadow over InnsmouthI can't find it scary after finding out it's basically a story about lovecraft finding out he's 1/32 black and moving to a black majority city and a black rights group while calling himself black.
>>23816288I guess I'll ask this here:I haven't read any Horror novels except At the Mountains of Madness. I also really like The Monkey's Paw short story. I like the fear of the unknown and monsters you can't conceive of or you die type tropes. What should I read?
>>23821712Animorphs
>>23822040If you liked Mountains of Madness, more of Lovecraft's well known stories would be a sure bet. Call of Cthulhu most matches what you describe and is obviously the most popular of his stories. The Whisperer in the Darkness is sort of similar to Mountains of Madness in that it deals with what was at the time very new and shrouded in mystery, but is now commonplace so it might seem comical. Pickman's Model would be my personal pick for your criteria.
>>23822071Thank you, I'll check 'em all out.
>>23822040Not really a horror story but the Three Body Problem trilogy from Cixin Liu was scarier than any horror story with aliens to me. Simply because The Dark Forest hypothesis is a very real possibility if several aliens species exist or existed.
>>23822040>I like the fear of the unknown and monsters you can't conceive of or you die type tropes.Start with The King in Yellow, is the original and one of the most praised novels of all times.
>>23818008There's that one where they find mummified Tibetans in a cave and it turns out there's a hollow earth "real hell."
>>23816360where'd you order from? never seen a physical copy.
>>23822124Jeff Long's The Descent?I really enjoyed that one. The sequel was a bit of a stinker in comparison but I still enjoyed it.
>>23818008>AIEEEEEEEE HORRIFICABLE THINGS AFOOT, NAY I CAN NARY EVEN SPEAK OF THEM>walk into old colleagues room>AIEEEEEEEEEEE SUCH THINGS I CAN NARY EVEN SPEAK, SUFFICE TO SAY OLD COLLEAGUE IS NO LONGER AFOOTABLErinse and repeat. lame
>>23816933What a bunch of slop and garbage. Only the first column is horror.
>>23822226What is missing?
Started reading some Brian Lumley lately since I found a couple of them used I'm making my way through the Dagon's Bell collection. Going to try and track down the other Necroscope novels. He's got a pretty unique approach to how to handle Lovecraftian beings, I like how there is a bit of fight in his characters rather than just letting them sit back and accept the inevtible dread and despair.
>>23819605>>23819627>>23820680>>23821094I liked it desu.Next up:>
There are no good horror books. Change my mind.
>>23823002Solzhenitsyn Cancer Ward
>>23816288Are House on the Borderland and The Night Land both by William Hope Hodgson related?
What's the opposite genera than horror fiction. Like if you took Steven King who is his complete opposite?
>>23823105real murders descriptions
>>23823105>Like if you took Steven King who is his complete opposite?Terry Pratchett.>Elaborate on thatNo.
I started going through Stephen Kings work. Went through the Dark Tower, and liked it... mostly. I started the Mr Mercedes series, and they were retarded. I followed it up with the Outsider not realising it was a sequel to the Mr Mercedes books, and that book was great until the autist Redditor shows up. I'm thinking I check out Night Shift.
>>23823407I'd say check out Night Shift and Skeleton Crew for short stories, and The Shining, Misery, and 'Salem's Lot for novels if you want some of his best
>>23817722Leaving out Lovecraft, The Procession of the Black Sloth by Laird Barron.
Reading Slow Burn by Bobby Adair. Pretty good zombie slop ngl.
>>23824302Did this motherfucker really name the protagonist of his zombie novels Zed? I might give it a shot but judging from the synopsis I'm not expecting much. Zombie stuff seems destined to remain bottom of the barrel trash even among its contemporaries in the horror genre.
>>23824581and that's a good thing. You don't expect a lore heavy high brow mumbo jumbo with zombie books, it's all Tom Clancy survival nitty gritty pulp.
>>23824617That was kinda my point to begin with. Most horror can be considered pulp, and I like pulp. But pretty much all zombie shit I've tried so far was just plain shit.
>>23824653Works 4 me
>Why yes I deliberately wrote my 500+ pages horror/fantasy epic in the most archaic prose imaginable, how could you tell?
>>23824904Imagine what he could've written had he survived the war
If it doesn't have Loona from helluva boss, then I'm not interested, simple as.
>>23826213Ah yes, "Tell me I'm worthless" now that's a good book!
>>23817722It’s not really unique but Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher is good. Chaucer’s Friar’s Tale is another one- it has the devil in it and the message is about a Franklin (as in the medieval job) being damned to hell through his own avarice.
>>23822864Just don't go down the slide. Problem solved.
Is there a splatterpunk chart?
>>23827239On reddit
>>23827664Ha, ha. Funny guy.
>>23828040I'm not joking, there's a chart on extreme horror that was made very recently. Splatterpunk isn't really my thing so I don't know if it's a good chart but it's there
>>23822136NTA:https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-divine-farce-michael-s-a-graziano/21776069?ean=9781935248040
>>23828139NTA, but splatterpunk is not really the same as extreme horror.
>>23828215There seems to be loads of splatterpunk on that list but fair enough, it isn't my area. What does differentiate it, out of curiosity? I often see The Cipher on splatterpunk lists which struck me as incorrect so clearly I could do with some educating
>>23828299Splatterpunk is a subgenre of horror that originated in the 80's, and was big in the 80's and 90's (and kind of ended in the late 90's). It is a combination of horror that is more extreme than was the norm at the time, and has punk, queer, counterculture themes that set themselves apart from traditional, suggestive horror by being more direct, gory and in your face. Splatterpunk tends to have a message when it comes to culture, sociopolitical issues, etc., and uses the more intense horror to make those points. Note that not all splatterpunk is extreme.Extreme horror is a subgenre that was created from splatterpunk, and is written a lot right now. (Sometimes current writers of extreme horror call their work splatterpunk as if it's interchangeable with extreme horror, so be mindful of that.) Extreme horror sets out to simply write the most extreme stuff you can imagine, especially in regard to (sexual) abuse and torture. There's no deeper meaning behind the work or acts described, and tends to have a pretty low quality of writing. This is more pulpy and sensational than splatterpunk.I'm not super well read when it comes to splatterpunk, but some works that I can recommend that belong in that subgenre are:>Clive Barker - Books of Blood (not that extreme)>Kathe Koja - The Cipher (not that extreme)>Poppy Z Brite - Exquisite Corpse>Jack Ketchum - The Girl Next Door
>>23828384>Sometimes current writers of extreme horror call their work splatterpunk as if it's interchangeable with extreme horror, so be mindful of thatThis is probably where my confusion comes from. Makes sense why The Cipher is in the list now, thanks! I guess I thought the definitions were the other way round.
>>23824904wait, WHH was a bodybuilder? based
>>23828384Thank you
Which of these should I get:Lafcadio Hearn - Japanese Ghost StoriesNathaniel Hawthorne - Mosses From an Old ManseBest of Richard MathesonLikewise for Arthur MachenLikewise for Clark Ashton Smith
>>23822864Any care to give me a spoiler run down of this book? Is it just torturing kids or what
>>23828384All know about slatterpunk is that one of the few horror literary critics who takes the genre too serious S.T Joshi hates the movement and dislikes most of the writers.
Just recently finished Laird Barron's new short story collection and thought it was pretty shit until I got to the afterward section where he talks about how he almost died and is essentially physically fucked and then I felt like the world's biggest asshole.
>>23816288malpertuis by jean raylooks pretty interesting especially after reading the prologue
>>23828895That's one of my favourites! I hope you'll enjoy it
>>23822281Missing? It has too much slop and not enough quality. "Early horror" for books written in the 20th century, lmao.
>>23822040machen, king in yellow, and other lovecraft. thats all along those veins.
>>23829007Which works are slop in your opinion, and which quality works are missing?
>>23829039Almost everything under the mislabel of "early horror" is high quality. Almost everything after that is slop.> are missing?Too many. I may as well do a new chart.
>>23829180okay boomer
>>23817981this is the most unsettling story i've read
>>23829407Read a synopsis, sounds kinda gay. The Great God Pan is great though.
>>23828638Clark Ashton Smith is pretty fantasticalMachen is more literary I think, I'd go with him
>>23829414why bother reading a synopsis when there are probably several tik tok videos breaking down the themes of the story in a neat little 20 second package, do you not care about your time expenditure? that's totally sus bro ngmi skill issue fr
>>23829423>Tiktok I'm too old for that shit
>>23829428I know I'm just angry and defensive of this storythe white people is very atmospheric, i doubt a synopsis conveys the full scope, though it's very scattered and full of random vignettes so it's a style over structure situation everyone should at least give it a shot, it sucks that Great God Pan has overshadowed White People, they're both good, but White People is a perfect story as far as I'm concerned
>>23829180You sound like a retard who can't back up his shit opinion.
>>23829180Ah, so you're just an edgelord without a real opinion
Good books about haunted houses?
>>23829784The Shining is incredible psychological horror.
>>23822040The Other Side of the Mountain. Really good.
>>23823096No they are separate books.
>>23829784Haunting of Hill House
Currently reading Under The Dome. So far it's been really good. Gonna read IT after
>>23821712The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones was decent nature horror about some modern day Native Americans.I really liked The Ruins by Scott Smith. A really good nature horror.
>>23829250why would anyone want to read that.
>>23829418>>23828638Okay I went with Machen and Japanese Ghost Stories.
>>23831084Sounds good! Which collection of Machen are you going to get? I still want to read Japanese Ghost Stories myself.
Reading HP Lovecraft Omnibus. Dude really didn't write much.
>>23831463Lovecraft is the worst of the "cosmic horror" authors. Don't care if he's considered the "OG" his stories are shit.
>>23831405I went with the Penguin collection The White People and Other Weird Stories. Didn't realize until after that it doesn't include The Great God Pan, maybe they thought they would save it for a second volume. But that's okay.
>>23832528I had bought the Great God Pan & Other Stories and I'm pretty sure The White People was included in that collection ironically.
what am I in for?
>>23832528Should have gotten the Oxford Press edition desu
>>23833259It's a pretty sick book. Well written and compelling, it accomplishes what it sets out to do. One bit that I vividly remember years after reading it is the girl has a stab wound on her arm and she's digging and scratching at it. I'm glad I read it but I won't read it again.
>>23833259A well written book that's gonna make you feel like absolute shit
Splatterpunk bores me. I found some stories here far more effective, like Making Snakes.
any recommendations for well written horror?
>>23834231>Algernon Blackwood - The Wendigo and Other Stories>Thomas Tryon - The Other>Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber>Kathe Koja - The Cipher>Poppy Z Brite - Exquisite Corpse>Nathan Ballingrud - North American Lake MonstersThese are ones that are more on the literary side, and have great prose.
>>23834272>Nathan Ballingrud - North American Lake MonstersSell me on this one
>>23835207Incredible psychological horror stories where the supernatural is more in the background, and the stories are more about the effects the traumatic events have on the characters, and their struggles and failures to deal with it. Highly recommend it.
>>23835215That sounds awful. I was expecting sea monsters.
>>23835217lol and lmao
Splatterpunk sea monster books pls
>>23835433The Haar by David Sodergren
>>23817722the wendigo by blackwood. the beautiful stranger by shirley jackson.
I copped Dracula from library, what am I in for?
>>23836874An incredible first third, and then things slowing down a lot.
Horror for me is a purely visual medium, I cannot conceive of the written word eliciting such a reaction from me -- adrenaline/excitement, sure, but not actual terror/horror/dread. However I am completely unfamiliar with the genre, the only "horror" novel I've ever read being Dracula back when I was a kid, so give me your scariest and most atmospheric horror novels! My current to-read-list looks like this>The Fisherman>The Haunting of Hill House>some King (Salem's Lot, Misery, Danse Macabre for non-fictional reading)Although I'm fine with "human" horror (e.g. serial killers), I am primarily interested in fiction that deals implicitly or explicitly with the supernatural.
>>23838133I actually recommend the Splatterpunk genre of horror to many because it is very graphic and visceral stuff that at the very least kicks off the revulsion side of horror.
>>23838157Thanks for the rec, but gross-out horror is very low on my list of reading priorities. I might check it out though.
>>23819455Is this book a Reddit/Goodreads meme or is it actually good?
>>23838133Read The Shining even if you've seen the movie. It's very different and it's excellent. Also check out Hell House by Richard Matheson.
>>23838133>I need le heckin' jump spookerinos to be scurred Go back to Plebbit
>>23838157Splatterpunk ain't the one for someone that isn't scared of books.
What are the longest horror novels not written by Stephen King?Bonus points for exreme horror and/or splatterpunk
>>23838700Swan Song by Robert McCammonThe Terror by Dan Simmonsyou should read both of those
>>23838700Almost anything by Peter Straub, specially Ghost Story, Floating Dragon and Koko.Also the Blackwater series by Michael Mcdowell.
>>23838133The only time I got that hit of adrenaline was when I was reading Pet Sematary, specifically the part where the kid gets run down by a truck. My stomach dropped pretty hard in that moment.
>>23838832>>23839014thanks anons
>>23838700For older books, The Mysteries of Udolpho, and Varney the Vampire, for newer books House of Leaves
>>23821712For killer dog books, I think Hell Hound by Ken Greenhall is the better novel. The narrative is punchier and less flabby imo. Valancourt Books did a reprint
>>23828789Too bad about his physical ailments, but I felt like Barron is an author who dropped off hard. I liked his early collections but thought Swift to Chase was a steaming pile of garbage and I haven't read anything of his since
>>23829784The Elementals by Michael McDowell... a southern gothic haunted house novel with a good dose of black humor. His Cold Moon Over Babylon is an excellent "revenge ghost" tale as well
Anyone have a link for this, preferably as an .epub? My library doesn't have it and I own way too many books. Not on libgen either.
>>23840082Anna's Archive, bro
>>23839953Yeah, I really felt like Swift To Chase is where it all started to go downhill. His novellas X's For Eyes and that one about the Yakuza member weren't bad at all though.
>>23839953S.T Joshi said the same thing about Barron.
>>23841411>S.T JoshiTakes things that are public domain and sells them.
>>23834220Film Maudit is absolute kino
Where can I share my horror story with like minded people who won't call me a shill?
>>23842071Shill
>>23816288The Mona Lisa from Halo:Evolutions. I had a LOT of fun listening to it.
>>23840894based, thanks
https://archive.org/details/price-of-fearUPGRADES
>>23839905>Varney the VampireFucking penny dreadfuls were terrible.
what do you guys do while you listen to audiobooks?
>Archibald and Sir Gregory were walking down the street>They stopped suddenly and Archibald pointed toward a house>You see that house? My friend experienced a terrifying horror of utmost evil there>My word! what happened?>I don't know. He didn't say>Well I hope he is ok now>He isn't>The EndI formally take back every meme about Lovecraft not describing his horror and apply them to Machen
>>23842994The Great God Pan is great, fuck you. Lovecraft is trash.
>>23842998Yeah I liked the part where uh wait hold on, I'll think of a part with something in a moment.
>>23842484I usually listen to audiobooks when jogging, cooking and doing laundry. Generally speaking when I'm doing anything that doesn't require my full attention but makes me unable to read or watch anything. Also for a 10-30 minutes in bed before going to sleep.
>>23842998love how machen nests his stories a few nests deep
>>23816288was watching ops picrel and noticed this bitch was reading wuthering heights
>>23816360What the fuck did I just read?7+/10?
>>23816288It’s been mentioned already in this thread but I recently finished Annihilation. Incredibly good but I’m not sure I’d place it entirely in horrorThe protagonist and thus the audience does not view the phenomena occurring in area x as horrifying but as something to be observed and studied
>>23842484play Call Of Duty
I enjoyed this one
>>23844263I loved Roadside Picnic, should I bother with The Southern Reach books?
>>23819471Literature is the best for horror are you retarded?Just finished reading little heaven and i felt nothing but despair at the ending
>>23821756Surviver type
Is De Sade overhyped wrt grossness?
>>23844694he just turned his own fantasies into books
>>23844715sexual*
>>23844694I've read 120 Days of Sodom, it's easily one of the worst, most boring, repetitive works of ""literature"" that I've ever had the misfortune of reading.
>>23844694What dat text message say, PERVERT!?
>>23844694De Sade was just /gif/ in written form.
>>23844741This, I hope it's not your poor, dear old mum.. what if she finds out that her son is a literal fucking scumbag snuff smut reading psychopath?
>>23828653>poor families sign kids up to test secretive new playground gear>but oh noez its actually torture equipment and you're all now trapped!>>23833259Bleak. >>23839014Massively struggling with pic related. I'm 7 hrs into the audiobook and whilst Straub is a great writer, it feels it needs a bit of trimming. Hes great at fleshing out everything but there's no tension and just waffle.>>23842484Drive to and from and during work.
>>23844808Forgot pic.
>>23828653>>23844808Don’t forget the graphic descriptions of used dildo licking and shit eating
>>23844815I tried it a few years ago, DNF'd about a third of the way in. It had nice atmosphere but it was just... so... SLOW. I plan on giving it another try sometime this winter, because people rave about it and like I said I really did like the atmosphere. Hopefully it clicks for me this time.
>>23844292I haven’t read the others so I can’t guarantee their quality Annihilation genuinely changed my perspective about life, especially about humanity and whether we are the center of this world
>>23844949>whether we are the center of this worldlmao, really? The answer is "no" we're not.
>>23829539>Makes a list with 10 good books and 3000000000 slop>Hey bro this sucks>Can you tell me what is missing?>Too much bro>WTF YOU DONT HAVE A REAL OPINION SHUT UP SHUT SHUT UPPPPP!!11Ok. Like I said, I will do another chart when I have time. Keep reading Stephen King and eating your slop.
>>23845004>What's missing? Ummm yeah just too much bro, it's so goddamn much I cannot give a single example, everything else is garbage though just trust me bro, you're not reading all the good books that I'm unable to name a single one of!!!
What am I in for?
>>23845576Slop
>>23817722Miss Mack, by Michael McDowell
>>23845576I read some of his books when I was a teenager, they're sort of amusing at that age but he isn't a very good writer
I finished Under the dome and it was awfully boring. Nothing worth mentioning happens after they figure out they cant damage the dome. I could have dropped the book the moment the acid didnt work and I'd have missed anything
>>23846121That's not horror
>>23847837Literally me
>>23817722Mackintosh Willy by Ramsey Campbell
>>23817722is this sentence grammatically correct? it feels wrong as an ESL but so does you guys, or you guys's
>>23848089no, but it's not so weird as to get people's hackles up. You Guys' would probably be more common and more correct but it's about equally childish and freewheeling as a construction.
