A must-read horror list

EFCollins

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I was flipping back through the horror forum and noticed just how often we get "looking for something to read" type threads come up. And you know... it gave me an idea.

From classics to pulpy horror to modern. And all things in between. If you're going to write horror, you need to read horror; to know what's come before you and just to get to know your genre to begin with.

Compiled list:

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill

The Dark Sacrament by David Kiely

The Absence by Bill Hussey

Pet Semetary, by Stephen King

The Woman In Black by Susan Hill

Apartment 14F - An Oriental Ghost Story by C.M Saunders.

The Store by Bentley Little

Dying to Live by Kim Paffenroth

The Shining By Stephen King

Darkness on the Edge of Town By Brian Keene

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite

The Mist by Stephen King

The Rising by Brian Keene

Misery by Stephen King

Carrie by Stephen King

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

The Stand by Stephen King

Ghost Story, Shadowland by Peter Straub

We Have Always Lived In the Castle -- Shirley Jackson

At the Mountains of Madness, "The Shadow Out of Innsmouth," "The Colour Out of Space" -- HP Lovecraft

The King in Yellow -- Robert W. Chambers

On the Beach -- Nevil Shute

The House on the Borderland -- William Hope Hodgson

"The Beckoning Fair One" -- Oliver Onions

"Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" - M.R. James

Macbeth and The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Watchers by Dean Koontz

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

Wolfen by Whitley Streiber

The Dead Zone by Stephen King

Interview with a vampire, the vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

I am Legend by Richard Mathieson

The Keep by F. Paul Wilson

Urban Gothic, Castaways by Brian Keene

Faery Tale by Raymond E. Feist

The longest single note by Peter Crowther

The Walking by Bentley Little

"The Dreams in the Witch House" and "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" by H.P. Lovecraft

The Black Cat" by Poe

The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Swan Song and Boy's Life by Robert McCammon

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King.

Salem's Lot by Stephen King

It by Stephen King

Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons

Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite

Perfume: The story of a Murder Patrick Suskind

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Yeval by C. W. Schultz

Marabou Stork Nightmare by Irvine Welsh

Nightwalker by Thomas Tessier

The Bad Place Dean Koontz

The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft

Out Of The Deeps and The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham

The Edge of Running Water by William Sloane

Winter Moon, Darkfall, Strangers, Midnight, Demon Seed, and Phantoms by Dean Koontz.
 
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Fiona

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My favourite's include the following:


* The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

* Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill

* The Dark Sacrament by David Kiely

* The Absence by Bill Hussey

* Pet Semetary, by Stephen King

* The Woman In Black by Susan Hill

* Apartment 14F - An Oriental Ghost Story (this one gave me the creeps!) by C.M Saunders.

I'm actually planning on buying some books soon so I'll look forward to other people's recommendations :)

Those are just some I can think of but I'm sure I can add more later. I'm obsessed with horror. My favourite books are normally more creepy, traditional ghost stories though.
 

brainstorm77

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Huge fan of horror here!

1. The Store by Bentley Little
2. Dying to Live by Kim Paffenroth
3. The Shining By Stephen King
4. Darkness on the Edge of Town By Brian Keene
5. Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
6. The Mist by Stephen King
7. The Rising by Brian Keene
8. Misery by Stephen King
9. Carrie by Stephen King
10. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer :evil

These are just a few that I have read and loved. Ok, well the last was just tossed in for a joke. But there are many others that I have enjoyed not included here.
 

dgrintalis

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The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
The Shining, The Stand by Stephen King
Ghost Story, Shadowland by Peter Straub
 

Calla Lily

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I'll add on, since many of my "musts' are already listed:

We Have Always Lived In the Castle -- Shirley Jackson
At the Mountains of Madness, "The Shadow Out of Innsmouth," "The Colour Out of Space" -- HP Lovecraft
The King in Yellow -- Robert W. Chambers
On the Beach -- Nevil Shute
The House on the Borderland -- William Hope Hodgson
"The Beckoning Fair One" -- Oliver Onions
"Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" - M.R. James
 

donatos

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Great thread! The original poster did such a great job covering so many bases I will just throw in some spices to the already fantastic ingredient list.

Wolfen by Whitley Streiber
The Dead Zone by Stephen King (practically every novel he did from 70's to mid 80s)
Interview with a vampire, the vampire Lestat by Anne Rice (don't care how much vampires annoy real horror fans now, these books were smokin'!)
I am Legend by Richard Mathieson (get an edition chalk full of his short stories, or go out and get the stories)
The Keep by F. Paul Wilson
Urban Gothic, Castaways by Brian Keene
Faery Tale by Raymond E. Feist
The longest single note by Peter Crowther
The Walking by Bentley Little
 
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donatos

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The horror field is so rich which is why it's tragic when books go out of print or you can't find anything in the bookstores. There's just sooo much.
 

EFCollins

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I'm adding all suggested reading to the original post... if y'all notice any dupes, let me know. I tried to keep the duplicates from being double posted. Thanks for helping me compile this list, everyone. :) It'll be great for our forum to have... especially when one of us is looking for something to read.
 

Thump

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I'll add "The Dreams in the Witch House" and "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" by H.P. Lovecraft to the list, two of my favourites!

Not a novel but still needing to be read, "The Black Cat" by Poe and I'd say "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, I know, not usually classified as Horror but I still think it has a certain horrifying quality and I find it unsettling.
 

Haggis

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What? No Robert McCammon books? No Jack Ketchum books?

Here are two must reads from McCammon: Swan Song and Boy's Life. And from Ketchum, The Girl Next Door is a must read for anyone interested in psychological horror. It's also the only book I ever recommend with a warning. It discusses child abuse in detail, and if that's something you cannot stomach, do not read this book.
 

Calla Lily

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Thanks for the warning, little undead Krampus. I will avoid The Girl Next Door. My kind of horror is demons or ghosts or vampires or nuclear war, not the true horror I see too often in the headlines.

/soapbox.

I forgot about Swan Song. Very good book.
 

EFCollins

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Your suggestions have been added, Puppy. I'm not huge on Ketchum, but have to agree with the McCammon books. And besides, what I may not find interesting, someone else might. This is a list for all of us.

I'm trying to remember a title from Jayne Krentz I recently read that was incredible non-supernatural horror (well, slightly... it does have a psychic element to it) but I can't remember the title.
 

Haggis

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Different strokes, Effie. Ketchum and McCammon are my two favorite horror writers. Bentley Little and Stephen King would be there too if they consistently wrote better endings.

BTW, we should probably have some King short stories on that list. He's an even better short story writer than he is a novelist in my opinion.
 

EFCollins

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Different strokes, Effie. Ketchum and McCammon are my two favorite horror writers. Bentley Little and Stephen King would be there too if they consistently wrote better endings.

BTW, we should probably have some King short stories on that list. He's an even better short story writer than he is a novelist in my opinion.

I have to agree. I'm a big King fangurl and have been since I was a kid.But short stories are definitely his strong suit.

He still writes a damn good novel. The ending in "Lisey's Story" was all I could ask for. But generally, his short stories are better. I agree with that.

I have to go shopping for more Christmas cheer (vodka and egg nog! YES! Well, and more prezzies too) here shortly, but I'll compile a list of short stories and anthos to put up there too. To be honest, I love horror short stories. It makes me giggle like a school-girl when I get a book full of short stories.
 

brainstorm77

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The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King. This one creeped the heck out of me just by showing what wasn't there if that makes sense.

Salem's Lot by Stephen King
It by Stephen King
 
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FOTSGreg

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I see that The Call of Cthulhu hasn't been mentioned yet. Classic Lovecraftian horror.

There's also Out Of The Deeps and The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham for post-apocalyptic horror/SF crossovers.

Way back when I was a wee lad reading things the librarians thought I shouldn't be there was a novel called Wind whose author I cannot now recall <searching> Nope, it wasn't Scarborough's.

The Edge of Running Water by William Sloane is another one that deserves higher praise.
 

donatos

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What? No Robert McCammon books? No Jack Ketchum books?

Here are two must reads from McCammon: Swan Song and Boy's Life. And from Ketchum, The Girl Next Door is a must read for anyone interested in psychological horror. It's also the only book I ever recommend with a warning. It discusses child abuse in detail, and if that's something you cannot stomach, do not read this book.

Darn, I was just browsing the used book store and found a number of McCammon titles in hardback but couldn't remember which you recommended...Now I see they had both of those there. Have to make another trip, I guess.
 

donatos

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BTW, just thought of another title, Nightwalker by Thomas Tessier.
 
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Debbie

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I loved Midnight Dean K. Glad you brought that up FOTS.

The Bad Place Dean Koontz
That book scared the crap out of me. I brought it to the used book store, couldn't have it in my house.

Awesome thread Effie.