top horror books
 

hey, i am new to the boards. i haven't been watching horror movies for a very long time but im working on it. i think i want to be a writer and thought maybe the horror genre would be a good place to start. i would like to know what are some good books within the horror genre? thanx alot for your help. i look forward to posting here some more.

I'll just recommend a few of my favorite authors. Robert R. McCammon, Clive Barker, King, John Coyne, and Warner Lee. It couldn't hurt to check out Poe and Lovecraft as well.

Clive Barker's Books of Blood

I think Dracula is still the best straight horror novel ever, though I also have a lot of respect for Lovecraft. As far as the craft of writing is concerned, Barker's prose is probably the best in pop horror.

If you wanna be a writer, you simply have to read Cormac McCarthy. Not horror (not really any genre, for that matter) but his prose is simply the best EVER. No one has such a way with words. He's definitely a words craftsman.

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thanx alot for the advice

The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub made me want to read lots more horror novels, it was so exciting and kick a**.

Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite was so moving and atmospheric it made me want to write a horror novel and now I've actually written two. Although they haven't been published, I'm a legend in my own mind. ;)

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do ya think you could send me a copy of them? ill pay for them if ya want. anything to support and indepant artist

The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, and I like many also reccomend Dracula.

The Green Mile: it may not be a horror book but its a great book by stephen king.
Also a book called termonal man by michael crichton.

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ya, ive been reading Dracula. so far i really enjoy it.

If you're really interested in a thorough grounding in the horror genre, than a great place to start is H.P. Lovecraft's seminal essay, Supernatural Horror in Literature. Here is an online copy of it.

For more recent writers, I would highly recommend Richard Matheson, Thomas Ligotti, T.E.D. Klein, Ramsey Campbell, Joe R. Lansdale, and Robert Aickman.

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The Talisman and Lost Souls are both cheap paperbacks in print. You could still order em through a bookstore or go to half.com and get used for half price or less.

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Oh, i just got that you wanted to read *my* horror books. I was a little dense here. Thank you for offering, but, at this point, I'm much to shy. Thanks again though.

anything by H.P. Lovecraft,Stephen King,Clive Barker,Dean Koontz,Robert R. McCammon,Ramsey Campbell,Bently Little,John Saul,T.E.D. Klein,Douglas Clegg,James Herbet,.. and some great classic horror fiction from Lovercraft.. as well as Ambrose Bierce,Fritz Leiber,Robert Bloch,August Derleth,(who collaborated with as well as published Lovecraft)Algernon Blackwood, Edgar Allen Poe, and others.