| Author |
 Topic Search  Topic Options
|
BaldFriede 
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 02 2005
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 10266
|
 Topic: Horror novels
Posted: July 21 2007 at 14:31 |
|
I deliberately left out authors like Stephen King and Dean Koontz, because they fall into a category I name "gore" and not "horror". Also I decided to allow one book per author only. Now go thee ahead, vote and shudder!
All are highly recommended by me, by the way. "Krabat" is supposed to be a book for children; well, I read it when I was 12 and had nightmares for weeks. I think it should better be read by grown-ups.
Edited by BaldFriede - July 21 2007 at 14:35
|
 BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue.
|
 |
stonebeard
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 27 2005
Location: NE Indiana
Status: Offline
Points: 28057
|
Posted: July 21 2007 at 14:39 |
|
Well, not a novel, but The Fall of the House of Usher is my favorite horror piece period.
|
|
|
|
Snow Dog
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 23 2005
Location: Caerdydd
Status: Offline
Points: 32995
|
Posted: July 21 2007 at 15:05 |
Stephen King is horror imo, because his books are not gory in particular, and Koontz is not horror or gore, but mystery.
Besides that..none of the above.
Edited by Snow Dog - July 21 2007 at 15:06
|
|
|
|
R o V e R
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 13 2005
Location: India
Status: Offline
Points: 2747
|
Posted: July 21 2007 at 15:16 |
out of this list,..
I Choose
"The Picture of Dorian Gray"
But my favourite HoRoR writers are
|
|
R o V e R
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 13 2005
Location: India
Status: Offline
Points: 2747
|
Posted: July 21 2007 at 15:19 |
|
What...?
i didnt noticed ..Frankenstein
|
|
BaldFriede
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 02 2005
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 10266
|
Posted: July 21 2007 at 16:15 |
|
I read two novels by King, "Pet Sematary" and "Needful Things". Both started out great and could have been really good and satisfying had King not destroyed everything with a gore feast at the end of both books. Sorry, but that's not my idea of a horror novel. I don't need a graphic description of how a throat is being ripped out. Saying less and leaving it to the imagination of the reader is a lot better. That's why I dislike King. ; he does not know where to stop. Not that I am against violence; the end of "Die andere Seite" is probably more violent than anything King has ever written, at least more violent than those two books I have read of him. But it feels completely different when being read, especially since Kubin comes across with a strange kind of black humour.
Edited by BaldFriede - July 21 2007 at 16:16
|
BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue.
|
|
micky
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: October 02 2005
Location: .
Status: Offline
Points: 46838
|
Posted: July 21 2007 at 16:28 |
casting a vote for my better half who is the educated euro... I'm the barbarian Yankee who spends his days reading ESPN.com  Pictures of Dorian Grey.... nice RPI tie-in as well hahhaha
|
|
The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
|
|
The T
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: October 16 2006
Location: FL, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 17493
|
Posted: July 21 2007 at 21:17 |
 BaldFriede wrote:
I read two novels by King, "Pet Sematary" and "Needful Things". Both started out great and could have been really good and satisfying had King not destroyed everything with a gore feast at the end of both books. Sorry, but that's not my idea of a horror novel. I don't need a graphic description of how a throat is being ripped out. Saying less and leaving it to the imagination of the reader is a lot better. That's why I dislike King. ; he does not know where to stop. Not that I am against violence; the end of "Die andere Seite" is probably more violent than anything King has ever written, at least more violent than those two books I have read of him. But it feels completely different when being read, especially since Kubin comes across with a strange kind of black humour. |
First, a word about King... I've read 7 books by him: pet sematary, IT, Cujo, Salem's Lot, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, the shining, and... well, I guess I've only read 6 then...  ... I suggest you to read The Shining which is terrific, a great psychological analysis of the main character... I think King is underrated... He really does BUILD his characters, one can familiarize with any of them (at times he takes it too far and builds complete chapters out of useless character-development stories, I know)...But he does create great suspense... Salem's Lot is, for me, the best vampire book ever written in SHEER HORROR... the elegance and magic of Dracula will never be surpassed, but the suspense, horror and (let's admit) a little bit of gore (not that much actually) help makle that story, also with the fact that it's so REAL, the best vampire story. (I've yet to read Le fanu's, Polidori's, Hoffman's, Quiroga's, which I just bought ).... IT is fantastic, though a little bit too long... Cujo is good but at times it falls in some "gore-ism" (not to be mistaken with fans of Al Gore  ).... Pet sematary is very good... maybe could've been better....
I haven't read a word from Koontz....
Now to the few books I've read:
Frankenstein: magnificent for a -20 year old victorian girl, with a few flaws (I think the creature turns into a philosopher rather too quickly ) but it's great...Read it twice.
Jekill and Hyde : very good but very short and not truly horror, IMO. Read it twice, the second time I liked it much better than the first time when it seemed overrated for me.
Arthur Gordon Pym: fantastic only-novel by Poe, but I wouldn't say it's horror, but "scary suspense" (whatever that means )... Read it once...
Dorian Grey: A masterpiece but I think the horror factor is not too great... for me the novel is more of a personality analysis and a confession than a horror novel, though when I bought it, it was categorized as horror by the publishing house... (ANAYA)... read it once...
The turning of the screw... In spanish translated as another turn of the screw (if we're talking about the same book), I liked it a lot... phantom stories (ghost stories) are great... but to be honest, I read it once when I was like 13, so I don't remember that much... 
Otranto's Castle: arguably, the first horror novel ever... I loved it. Again, I read it like 15 years ago, so my memory falters...
But, off this list, of course,
DRACULA - the masterpiece of masterpieces of classic horror, it dowsn't hurt the fact that I've read it four times and that I've had since I was a child a special fascination with the Count... but from the introduction (better yet if Dracula's Guest is added as an introduction), from the trip from Harker to Transylvania, the diary structure, the newspaper stories used to tell the story (like the wolf escaped from the zoo or the collision of the Demether), all the aura, the foggy atmosphere, for the dead travel fast, everything is great. I think near the end it gets a little over-the-top when everybody uses exaggeratedly pompous words to talk about everybody else (each time Seward, Van Helsing or Harker write about Mina, it's almost unbearable how they proclaim her the most wonderful creature in the world), or the fact that the Count, supposedly incredibly powerful, gets defeated in a rather brief "fight" ... but at least for the first half, just because of the first half, DRACULA is one of my favorite books and the fiction character I love most.... I've watched more than 10 cinematic versions, and there haven't been one that truly captures the atmosphere of the novel (maybe a mix from Herzog's Nosferatu with Fisher's Horror of Dracula and some touches of Coppola's would make the perfect match...)
|
|
|
|
Dean
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout
Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575
|
Posted: July 21 2007 at 21:42 |
Not a huge horror reader, from the list Bram Stoker was the last one I read and I thought it was surprisingly good. I like some Clive Barker, but not a all. I enjoyed Poppy Z Brite's Lost Souls, Drawing Blood and Exquisite Corpse and Freda Warrington's vampire books. Stephen King, Laurell K. Hamilton and Anne Rice leave me unmoved and on the strength of the Bones tv series I have read one Kathy Reichs book but found it hard work (is that gore or horror?)
My favorite is Muriel Gray - who some of the older UK members may remember as a presenter of The Tube and as a Radio One DJ - she has three superb horror novels - The Trickster, Furnace and The Ancient.
|
|
What?
|
|
BaldFriede
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 02 2005
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 10266
|
Posted: July 21 2007 at 21:47 |
The T wrote:
First, a word about King... I've read 7 books by him: pet sematary, IT, Cujo, Salem's Lot, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, the shining, and... well, I guess I've only read 6 then... ... I suggest you to read The Shining which is terrific, a great psychological analysis of the main character... I think King is underrated... He really does BUILD his characters, one can familiarize with any of them (at times he takes it too far and builds complete chapters out of useless character-development stories, I know)...But he does create great suspense... Salem's Lot is, for me, the best vampire book ever written in SHEER HORROR... the elegance and magic of Dracula will never be surpassed, but the suspense, horror and (let's admit) a little bit of gore (not that much actually) help makle that story, also with the fact that it's so REAL, the best vampire story. (I've yet to read Le fanu's, Polidori's, Hoffman's, Quiroga's, which I just bought ).... IT is fantastic, though a little bit too long... Cujo is good but at times it falls in some "gore-ism" (not to be mistaken with fans of Al Gore ).... Pet sematary is very good... maybe could've been better.... |
Mr T, I totally agree King builds up his characters nicely, and I really enjoyed 90% of both "Needful Things" and "Pet Sematary". But then he goes and ruins a perfect horror novel with a gore feast at the end, which in my opinion totally invalidates the books. What horrific things people could do to each other without all that gore! I highly recommend you read those books you don't know, if you can get them somehow.
|
BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue.
|
|
The T
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: October 16 2006
Location: FL, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 17493
|
Posted: July 21 2007 at 22:19 |
BaldFriede wrote:
The T wrote:
First, a word about King... I've read 7 books by him: pet sematary, IT, Cujo, Salem's Lot, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, the shining, and... well, I guess I've only read 6 then... ... I suggest you to read The Shining which is terrific, a great psychological analysis of the main character... I think King is underrated... He really does BUILD his characters, one can familiarize with any of them (at times he takes it too far and builds complete chapters out of useless character-development stories, I know)...But he does create great suspense... Salem's Lot is, for me, the best vampire book ever written in SHEER HORROR... the elegance and magic of Dracula will never be surpassed, but the suspense, horror and (let's admit) a little bit of gore (not that much actually) help makle that story, also with the fact that it's so REAL, the best vampire story. (I've yet to read Le fanu's, Polidori's, Hoffman's, Quiroga's, which I just bought ).... IT is fantastic, though a little bit too long... Cujo is good but at times it falls in some "gore-ism" (not to be mistaken with fans of Al Gore ).... Pet sematary is very good... maybe could've been better.... |
Mr T, I totally agree King builds up his characters nicely, and I really enjoyed 90% of both "Needful Things" and "Pet Sematary". But then he goes and ruins a perfect horror novel with a gore feast at the end, which in my opinion totally invalidates the books. What horrific things people could do to each other without all that gore!
I highly recommend you read those books you don't know, if you can get them somehow.
|
I can see your point. At least when the gore comes in a book, the author has to use words to describe the horrendous scene, so at least there's some merit, unlike in movies where gore for gore's sake it's just a show of lack of any creativity (gone are the days when horror movies were good fantastic tales... now all we see are gorefests where the director that can put more blood and organs in a scene is the most praised  )
On the other hand, for sure I'll try to read all of the other books... I'm a horror/suspense lover since I was a child.  And this great thread has reminded me of that...
|
|
|
|
BaldFriede
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 02 2005
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 10266
|
Posted: July 21 2007 at 23:48 |
BaldFriede wrote:
The T wrote:
First, a word about King... I've read 7 books by him: pet sematary, IT, Cujo, Salem's Lot, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, the shining, and... well, I guess I've only read 6 then... ... I suggest you to read The Shining which is terrific, a great psychological analysis of the main character... I think King is underrated... He really does BUILD his characters, one can familiarize with any of them (at times he takes it too far and builds complete chapters out of useless character-development stories, I know)...But he does create great suspense... Salem's Lot is, for me, the best vampire book ever written in SHEER HORROR... the elegance and magic of Dracula will never be surpassed, but the suspense, horror and (let's admit) a little bit of gore (not that much actually) help makle that story, also with the fact that it's so REAL, the best vampire story. (I've yet to read Le fanu's, Polidori's, Hoffman's, Quiroga's, which I just bought ).... IT is fantastic, though a little bit too long... Cujo is good but at times it falls in some "gore-ism" (not to be mistaken with fans of Al Gore ).... Pet sematary is very good... maybe could've been better.... |
Mr T, I totally agree King builds up his characters nicely, and I really enjoyed 90% of both "Needful Things" and "Pet Sematary". But then he goes and ruins a perfect horror novel with a gore feast at the end, which in my opinion totally invalidates the books. What horrific things people could do to each other without all that gore!
I highly recommend you read those books you don't know, if you can get them somehow.
|
The_T, a REALLY good author can describe the final horrors WITHOUT using all this gore. In "Das grüne Gesicht", "The Green Face", another horror novel I didn't mention because Meyrink already appears on the list with "The Golem", Gustav Meyrink manages to describe a scene where a man entertains the audience in a theatre by getting an erection on stage without ever mentioning the sexual organ at all (the novel is from 1914, and mentioning a penis in a novel at that time would have caused an incredible scandal). Now that's what I call good writing!
Edited by BaldFriede - July 21 2007 at 23:53
|
BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue.
|
|
Viajero Astral
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 16 2006
Location: Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 3118
|
Posted: July 22 2007 at 02:49 |
|
H.P. Lovecraft: The Call of Cthulhu
|
|
|
|
asimplemistake
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 13 2007
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 840
|
Posted: July 22 2007 at 03:16 |
|
Oops, I voted before reading that you didn't count gore. I voted other for "American Psycho" by Bret Easton Ellis, although I did also love "Lunar Park" which was also by him, but not a gore novel. I especially liked Lunar Park because PT's "Fear of a Blank Planet" was heavily based off of themes from Lunar Park.
|
|
Snow Dog
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 23 2005
Location: Caerdydd
Status: Offline
Points: 32995
|
Posted: July 22 2007 at 05:00 |
BaldFriede wrote:
I deliberately left out authors like Stephen King and Dean Koontz, because they fall into a category I name "gore" and not "horror". Also I decided to allow one book per author only. Now go thee ahead, vote and shudder!
All are highly recommended by me, by the way. "Krabat" is supposed to be a book for children; well, I read it when I was 12 and had nightmares for weeks. I think it should better be read by grown-ups.
|
I just find it irritating, that the man, wkdely known as "The Master Of Modern Horror" has to be recategorised by you!
Is there a genre caled "Gore" anyway?
|
|
|
|
Atavachron
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: September 30 2006
Location: Pearland
Status: Offline
Points: 65505
|
Posted: July 22 2007 at 05:09 |
|
Wollstonecraft (Shelley)
|
|
Australian
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 13 2006
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Points: 3278
|
Posted: July 22 2007 at 06:32 |
If Dracula weren’t so focused around those damn letters then it would probably get my vote…
I liked the novel version of The Shining personally
|
|
|
|
paolo.beenees
Forum Senior Member
Joined: March 30 2007
Location: Italy
Status: Offline
Points: 1136
|
Posted: July 22 2007 at 06:55 |
|
Poe's "Arthur Gordon Pym" is a terrific novel - even if you couldn't define it as a horror one. The same goes with Lovecraft's "At The Mountain of Madness", which is more a distopic novel with some horror hints at the beginning and the end. The real horror novel by H.P. Lovecraft is "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", which would surely get my vote.
|
|
|
|
BaldFriede
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 02 2005
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 10266
|
Posted: July 22 2007 at 09:54 |
|
SnowDog, you should al least have read what I wrote. I read "Pet Sematary" and "Needful Things" and really enjoyed the first 200-300 pages. And then I came to the last 20 pages and was severely disappointed. All this excellent writing leading to nothing but a bloodbath, described in detail? That was a severe letdown.
I personally believe it is not the fault of King though; I am pretty sure he knows better than that. But I can imagine a publisher's letter in reply to the manuscript of the first ever novel of King:
"Dear Mister King!
We read your manuscript with great interest and sadly have to say we can not imagine publishing the novel the way it is. However, if you rewrite the last 30 pages of your manuscript and put in a bit more blood, we see a market for it.
There is a $5000 check attached to this letter; please take it as an advance payment and be assured there will be more of this if you follow our suggestions.
Regards
(some undecipherable squiggle)"
That is most probably the way it was. I myself am very certain King himself would have liked to stay less descriptive, but he got used to that kind of writing and after a while didn't think about it anymore; it had become second nature for him to put in all this gore.
|
BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue.
|
|
BaldFriede
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 02 2005
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Points: 10266
|
Posted: July 22 2007 at 13:25 |
|
I just noticed I left out one very important horror novel: Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin. This novel should definitely be on the list.
|
BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue.
|
|
/PAlogo_v2.gif "Progarchives.com Homepage")
Horror novels
