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Truly scary novels


Lordwalker28

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King has several of these excellent collections. There is Night Shift as well, and then I really liked his recent collection, Full Dark, No Stars.

I read a truly scary book recently called Those Across the River that scared me to death. It was a great read

Interesting. This author has a new book coming out in October about war between Angels and Demons playing out in medieval Europe, and it looks really good. The book you mentioned has also been nominated for this year's World Fantasy Award. It's about werewolves isn't it?

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Interesting. This author has a new book coming out in October about war between Angels and Demons playing out in medieval Europe, and it looks really good. The book you mentioned has also been nominated for this year's World Fantasy Award. It's about werewolves isn't it?

It is about werewolves, yes. I believe it was his first novel. The ending was a bit weak, but there are some truly terrifying moments in the book. I loved it.

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Salem's Lot is a great book to start with. Seriously.

I can't advise King's short stories enough. Also, just saying, some of those old anthologies that Hitchcock did intro's for have some really good short short stories in them. I just found the collection that freaked me out as a kid, and, yup, those stories are still scarey.

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Salem's Lot is a great book to start with. Seriously.

I can't advise King's short stories enough. Also, just saying, some of those old anthologies that Hitchcock did intro's for have some really good short short stories in them. I just found the collection that freaked me out as a kid, and, yup, those stories are still scarey.

I have two of those A Hitchcock books that belonged to my grandmother. I read them as a kid and they scared me...there was a story called "For All the Rude People" where the POV tells you he's watching you reading the book RIGHT NOW...I was maybe, eight or nine years old and that would scare me so badly I would be a nervous wreck, but I loved it. :)

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Khal Pono - I consider IT to be SK's best work (though his most recent book about JFK was also very good, and The Stand was also fantastic aside from the ending - a common SK complaint), but it's very long. That's why I suggested Shining to start, it's much shorter. Pet Sematery is also good but not at the same level.

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I collect those, ES, so many little gems in them.

How many were printed? I used to go to my grandmother's house after school, while she was at work, so I was in the house by myself reading these creepy books. It was awesome. :)

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The Descent - Jeff Long...all Jeff Long is good but this one is his best.

The Keeper - Sarah Langan...if you like this one then follow it with The Missing, which is basically unrelated but does follow the events of The Keeper and takes place in the same area.

The Vanishing - Bentley Little...Little is not one of my favorite writers and I have to say I disliked the majority of the books by him that I have read. However, The Vanishing got to me for some reason. Maybe it has the right mix of the absurd and the creepy that appeals to me.

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That damn simmons book again! It's stalking me!

Gene Wolfe has a few short stories that are really creepy. I want to say it's called Seven American Nights, but I'd have to go look, and I'm lazy and tired at the moment. The middles part of Fifth Head of Cerberus freaked me out too.

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It is about werewolves, yes. I believe it was his first novel. The ending was a bit weak, but there are some truly terrifying moments in the book. I loved it.

That's like the flippin' bat-signal for this guy... it's been added to my wishlist.

Khal Pono - I consider IT to be SK's best work (though his most recent book about JFK was also very good, and The Stand was also fantastic aside from the ending - a common SK complaint), but it's very long. That's why I suggested Shining to start, it's much shorter. Pet Sematery is also good but not at the same level.

That's my problem with Horror as a genre, the endings never live up to the initial promise (not literally never, I am Legend's ending vastly surpassed my expectations).

Tom Fletcher's The Leaping is one of the few books I've read recently that had actual scary moments and ended well. Coincidentally it's also a werewolf novel :P

I literally just finished this, and wow did it ever blow away my expectations. Once the birthday party started I could not put it down. I went in expecting a standard werewolf book, but it is truly a horror book with werewolves as the creature. Very creepy, and very enjoyable.

The other was this:

I'll add my latest read to the list as well - Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs. It's set in Memphis and Arkansas in 1951 when Bull Ingram is sent by a local R&B producer to track down a missing person, a new blues man that has a powerful voice, and a pirate radio station. It's very Lovecraftian, and Bull is also very reminiscent of a Charlie Huston protagonist. The prose is very readable and it was nearly impossible to put it down for the last 125+ pages.

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Salem's Lot is a great book to start with. Seriously.

I can't advise King's short stories enough. Also, just saying, some of those old anthologies that Hitchcock did intro's for have some really good short short stories in them. I just found the collection that freaked me out as a kid, and, yup, those stories are still scarey.

I second Salem's Lot. The slow building of fear to the inevitable tipping point.

I remember a short story sequel by King that was pretty effective as well.

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