Horror - long nights, good frights

[RedEyedGhost]

Looks like I never got around to upgrading my horror thread last year so it ended up getting archived.

Last year I read:

• The Vessel by Adam Nevill - not my favorite of Nevill's books, but still very good.
• The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson - not a bad book, but not the most memorable either.
• Daphne by Josh Malerman - liked this one much more than I thought I would, definitely would recommend it.
• Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones - SGJ is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors in this genre (after this and Only the Good Indians which I read in 2021)
• American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett

Mongrels was probably my favorite from last year, but American Elsewhere and Daphne were right there too.  

This year my plans are:

• My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
• The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay
• The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias
• All the Murmuring Bones by AG Slater

and probably one or two more to be decided later depending on how much time I have from the following Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman, They Thirst by Robert McCammon, A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson, Devolution by Max Brooks (I bounced hard off of World War Z, but this one does sound very good), Someone Like Me by MR Carey, or The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle.

 

Anybody looking into reading Horror and wanting to start with more modern authors I'd recommend pretty much anything from the following (with these books in particular):  Christopher Buehlman (The Lesser Dead probably my favorite book that I've ever read in the past decade of reading horror during Sept-Nov), Adam Nevill (Banquet for the Damned), Paul Tremblay (A Head Full of Ghosts), Robert Jackson Bennett (The Troupe), or Stephen Graham Jones (Mongrels).

[RedEyedGhost]

Geez, I thought this thread was going to break my computer...  As I kept adding links it got hotter and hotter and slower and slower, but I was able to switch tabs and post quick links in the Amazing Deals thread (as I found them for this thread) without any problems.  And now after having posted it it's all back to normal.  Very strange that the forum software can't handle that not so extensive post.

[unJon]

Just bought three of the books in here. Thanks!

[JGP]

Not a big horror buff myself, but just going to pipe up regarding Buehlman whose writings are one of my more favorite discoveries in the last few years.

Between Two Fires is a surreal creepfest and, though not topical, his foray into Fantasy with The Blacktongue Thief displayed enviable versatility alongside being very funny.

Edited October 2, 2023 by JGP

[Liffguard]

I've read two outright horror books this year so far; Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle and The Ghost Woods by CJ Cooke.

Camp Damascus was like a really good teen slasher movie in book form. It was full of these really well-invoked cinematic moments that formed crystal-clear scense in my head while I was reading. The first half or so has a very creepy atmoshpere that really stuck with me. On the other hand, I think the central mystery gets resolved a bit too quickly and while the second half of the book is nicely paced and very gripping, I think it loses some of the earlier atmosphere. That said, the ending is great; the main villains' comeuppance is suitably horrifying and actually stuck with me for days.

Also, I suspect that this book will hit a lot harder for someone with a direct experience of growing up in extreme evangelical american christianity.

I'm still mulling over my thoughts on The Ghost Woods.

Edited October 2, 2023 by Liffguard

[Peadar]

10 hours ago, JGP said:

Not a big horror buff myself, but just going to pipe up regarding Buehlman whose writings are one of my more favorite discoveries in the last few years.

Between Two Fires is a surreal creepfest and, though not topical, his foray into Fantasy with The Blacktongue Thief displayed enviable versatility alongside being very funny.

All of this. Between Two Fires is highly recommended.

[snowleo]

 I'm adding the Buelhman books to my list, hope to thank you all later. I'm surprised "All The Murmuring Bones" counts as horror--I really liked it--but to me it felt similar in atmosphere to Naomi Novik's excellent "Spinning Silver."  Or maybe that one also falls into a horror category?

I cannot recommend strongly enough "Leech"  by Hiron Ennes. It checks like 10 different horror sub-genres while featuring lovely writing and a plot device that I'd never encountered before (until last month in "A Desolation Called Peace" lol). 

Another excellent read was "Fever Dream" by Samanta Schweblin. Deeply unsettling literary horror. So good.

 

 

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II]

I don’t read much horror these days but the last series that really touched me which I read way back in 2016, was The Passage Trilogy by Justin Cronin, very emotional horror. 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Ser Rodrigo Belmonte II

[RedEyedGhost]

Halfway through My Heart is a Chainsaw, and am really enjoying it.  Definitely a love letter to Slasher films.

On 10/1/2023 at 7:19 PM, unJon said:

Just bought three of the books in here. Thanks!

I hope you enjoy them!

On 10/2/2023 at 7:45 AM, Peadar said:

All of this. Between Two Fires is highly recommended.

Sounds like this will be book number five for me this year.

2 hours ago, snowleo said:

I'm surprised "All The Murmuring Bones" counts as horror--I really liked it--but to me it felt similar in atmosphere to Naomi Novik's excellent "Spinning Silver."  Or maybe that one also falls into a horror category?

It was nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award, so there must be some horror in it.  I always like to read some books that aren't just what you would expect when thinking about the horror genre.  I used to try and get in a book that had a circus/carnival feel to it every year, but I feel like I've read all the best of those - this came from Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes which was the first book that got me into my annual tradition of reading horror in late Sept - Nov.

[RedEyedGhost]

My Heart is a Chainsaw was so good, being book one of a trilogy, it will definitely spur me to read the rest of it before this time rolls around again next year.  It also got me to rewatch Scream which I don't think I'd seen since it was in the theater, and that was a lot better than I remembered it being as well.  Oh my, and I see the second book is set around Christmas, so I'll definitely be reading that next month.

The Devil Takes You Home was pretty incredible as well.  Very interesting supernatural horror elements, and often fairly subtle, but just some wildly intense real world horror.  Very deserving of all the accolades it has received.

All the Murmuring Bones really worked well for me, and was a nice shift from the in your face brutality of The Devil Takes You Home.  It also really hit a lot more of the seasonal tropes than I was expecting - a traveling troupe, witches, and even a brief werewolf cameo.

I'm 70% of the way through Between Two Fires and it is just phenomenal.  Cannot wait to see how it's going to finish.  Such interesting monsters.  There's just so many little moments in it that hit you in the feels in such perfect little ways.

The most pleasant side effect of limiting my horror reading to this one time of year is that I'm able to have such a high rate of exceptional reads.  The downside is knowing that there's many that I'm missing out on as well...  Really wish I could live life like Bill Nighy in About Time.

[beniowa]

My Heart is a Chainsaw was okay, but of SGJ's work, I much prefer The Only Good Indian and Mongrels. 

Earlier this year I read Lone Women by Victor LaValle.  Kind of a historical fiction western horror and it was really good.  So was The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due.

I need to get around to catching up on Slatter.  I've also heard good things about Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez.