Best 'Introduction to Horror' Books

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sara_ash

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I've never really read any horror books, but I would love to get into them. Does anyone know any great 'beginner' horror books? What book got you hooked on the horror genre?
 

Rhoda Nightingale

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Well, sort of "horror" are you interested in? Serial killers? Ghosts? Vampires? Pandemic diseases? Evil aliens? There's all sorts. I hang out in the "dark fantasy" corner myself. I can't remember which book specifically got me hooked back in the day, but The Picture of Dorian Gray remains an all-time fave.
 

sara_ash

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I'd be interested in any type (except, maybe not vampires). I'd completely forgotten about The Picture of Dorian Gray. I keep meaning to read it, but it always slips my mind. Thanks for reminding me!
 

GingerGunlock

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Poe is great. H.P. Lovecraft has super creepy and awesome ideas, but isn't necessarily the most "readable". Shirley Jackson is a safe bet (The Haunting of Hill House is one of the best books ever, in my eyes).

For serial killers, Red Dragon by Thomas Harris is one of my favorites (and Silence of the Lambs).
 

writer_mccall

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If you don't mind historical settings then I highly recommend The Terror by Dan Simmons, one of the best horror books ever written.
It even inspired me to write a short story that is currently in the publishing process
 
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GingerGunlock

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If you don't mind historical settings then I highly recommend The Terror by Dan Simmons, one of the best horror books I've ever written.
It even inspired me to write a short story that is currently in the publishing process

Ooh yes, The Terror is fantastic! I was trying to think of it and couldn't, so I'm glad somebody did.
 

Furious Deep

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If I have a friend who has a new interest in horror films, I usually show them something like Evil Dead or Dead Alive at first. They are both films that are kind of a mix between The Exorcist and The Three Stooges. There is humor, slapstick, gore and ghouls all mashed up together into something that is genuinely fun.

Christopher Moore's books can be a good intro into horror for those that want something that isn't too oppressively gory or dark. His books such as "Practical Demon Keeping" "Blood Sucking Fiends" and "A Dirty Job" are all more like humor lit with a good dose of horror thrown in. They are by no means horror classics that are exemplary of the genre and will make you terrified sleep with the lights off. They might, however, pique your interest in the macabre if you enjoy some of the messy bits. Then you can move along into some of the more serious stuff.
 

sara_ash

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Thanks for all of this. I've written a list and I'm going to start reading through them. I think I'll be reading horror for the next two months! :)
 

Wormwood

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I know that Stephen King is pretty obvious, but the book that got me hooked on Horror was "The Shining."

He has so many books that are easy reading and skirt the line between Horror, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction and fantasy. Although a lot of his stories are straight forward. In my opinion he's an under-rated short story author. Some of his shorts would be great introductions to horror.

-Micah

micahackerman.weebly.com
 

writer_mccall

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I know that Stephen King is pretty obvious, but the book that got me hooked on Horror was "The Shining."

He has so many books that are easy reading and skirt the line between Horror, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction and fantasy. Although a lot of his stories are straight forward. In my opinion he's an under-rated short story author. Some of his shorts would be great introductions to horror.

-Micah

micahackerman.weebly.com

Yeah that's true, if you don't feel like starting one of King's length tomes his short stories are excellent. I particularly remember 'The Sun Dog' as quite scary
 

Rechan

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My recommendation is to get a horror anthology or three.

This lets you sample not only a wide variety of authors, but different types of stories. Even big authors are either in anthologies, or have collections of their own short stores.

There are general horror anthologies, as well as thematic ones (Ghosts, Lovecraftian, etc) as well as compilations of "the best stuff" - the best of year x or the best of decades.

Some titles:

Just After Sunset - Stephen King
Gathering the Bones
The Best New Horror
Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror
The Mammoth Book Of (Monsters/Modern Ghost Stories/Best New Horror)
 

Arcadia Divine

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I know that Stephen King is pretty obvious, but the book that got me hooked on Horror was "The Shining."

I despised The Shining. My mom has the Unabridged edition and it drug on, and on, and on. I have a heck of a time reading anything with the label "Horror" after that damn thing. At least I'm pretty sure it was The Shining. It was one of his famously scary books that has the Unabridged edition and a "shortened" edition. I'll be honest and say I haven't read anything else by him since.
 
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