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Good recent(ish) horror books?

El Spatula

By El Spatula
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El Spatula

El Spatula

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I used to be a massive horror fan and as such have read most of the classics, but after going on a recent Stephen King fest I kinda want to read some newer stuff.

I have liked HP Lovecraft, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Peter Straub etc., but there has to be SOMEONE decent still writing what seems to be a dying genre.

Can anyone recommend any?

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FishyFish

FishyFish

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I read Joe Hills Heart Shaped Box recently and was totally hooked by it, I think I finished it in 2 sessions. It’s the story of an aging rockstar who’s haunted by a ghost he’s tricked into buying on the internet.

Some really good characters and a great ‘American’ feel to it. Pretty scary too.

Heart Shaped Box is on my "to read" list, if only to see if Hill carries the family pedigree.

As for other horror writers, I'd heartily recommend Robert R McCammon's stuff, although he's not written any horror for a while now (since having a spat with his publisher). His non-horror / fantasy stuff is also highly recommended, especially Boy's Life.

Ramsay Campbell also does some good, very psychological, horror stuff.

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rumblecat

rumblecat

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Yeah, 'Heart Shaped Box' was the one I came in here to mention. Thought it lost it a bit towards the end, but it had some genuinely creepy and nasty moments in there. Didn't realise he was King's son either till you brought it up there- sort of it fits, it did remind me a lot of King's work.

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El Spatula

El Spatula

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I have Let The Right One In. It's really good, in an obviously translated kinda way.

Also picked up Heart Shaped Box, really enjoying it so far.

Oh and Ghost Story by Peter Straub as I thought I would read that again as it's brilliant.

I read too fast :unsure:

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fatoy.japa

fatoy.japa

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I don't know that he's active at the moment, but if you're in the mood for short stories you could do a lot worse than a Thomas Ligotti collection. They veer all over the place - from Clive Barker-esque, teenage psychosexual brooding to more straight ghost stories via some Lovecraftian moments - but what I have read has been mostly very good.

EDIT: There are a few authorised tasters here. See if they're to your taste.

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Talvalin

Talvalin

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Not exactly recent but I read Clive Barker's The Damnation Game last month and thought it was an excellent horror book, imaginative, dark and skin-crawlingly nasty at times. I'm now getting to grips with Imajica which is out and out fantasy and rather good too.

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FishyFish

FishyFish

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Most of Clive Barkers stuff is great. I would highly recommend Weaveworld as well. It's another fantasy jobby. Oh and the Great and Secret Show.

I'm reading Barker's Abarat at the moment, which is also very good. I was a huge fan of Barker's back in the 80s but my interest waned a little when it seemed that every new book he released was part one of a series. Now I can get back into them and read the series' as whole.

The Books of Blood though... Possibly the best horror short story collections ever published.

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  • 4 months later...
Vimster

Vimster

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Clive Barker seems much more fantasy these days, but back in the 80s he was unstoppable. I used to have the two big volumes of Books Of Blood and cannot find them :). Excellent stories, a few of them made into films, but you can't beat the original stories.

I loved horror novels when I was 17, but now find I'm not interested at all. How much have they changed since the days of James Herbert, Shaun Hutson and other writers parodied so well by Garth Marenghi?

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sofasurfer

sofasurfer

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I'm currently obsessed with Conrad Williams at the moment. His One book was the first I read when on holiday and really couldn't put it down. I have managed to track all his other books down which seeing as some of them were 500 copy limited runs was pretty nice.

One is a great post-apocalypse story which I don't want to ruin too much of the story but is well worth a read. I have just finished The Unblemished and am now onto Head Injuries (his first novel).

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cassidy

cassidy

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If you are amenable to a healthy slice of sci-fi and literature mixed into your ration of horror you should read the Hyperion books by Dan Simmons - an amazing sequence of 4 novels which include many really downright scary / creepy moments.

Think I'm gonna have to give these a go, they keep getting highly recommended.

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  • 1 year later...
SM47

SM47

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I'm a couple of chapters into Dan Simmons' recent(ish) horror novel 'The Terror', which is based on the real life Franklin Expedition of the 1840s. Two Royal Navy ships become stuck in the arctic ice and their crews spend a grim two years desperately trying to survive as their supplies dwindle. Simmons also adds a monster into the mix, stalking the sailors and picking them off one by one. It's a good strong read.

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sofasurfer

sofasurfer

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Yeah the Terror is amazing. I can't believe how well it tells the story of the expedition whilst also adding the horror stuff without it seeming out of place or silly.

Had this book for ages and must get around to reading it.

I'm still pretty obsessed with Conrad Williams and am in the middle of reading his latest 'Loss of Separation'. Very creepy and know that soon within the book the shit will hit the proverbial fan.

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idespair

idespair

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I'd recommend Feed, by Mira Grant. It's a post apocalypse zombie novel with a heavy political focus, looking at what kind of America might spring up in the wake of an outbreak without using the typical dictatorship or anarchy angles - rather it assumes that zombie movies and the internet were what kept people alive. One of the best things I've read, and the first part of a planned trilogy, with the next novel due in May.

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