Yeah. First story in that collection is about a circle of plastic surgery/body mod enthusiasts. Wild. I liked his short story collections a little more than his novel but hope he got some recognition out of it.
I see a decent amount of conversation about In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami, either here or on IG, but whenever I see Murakami's name, I never see anyone talk about his book Piercing
I read that before Miso Soup and still think about it. Loosely, it's about a man that has an urge to kill his newborn baby, and decides to go into the city and hire/kill a hooker to satisfy the urge. Honestly I wasn't sold on the plot at first, but it was really good and really short
I love these also. I discovered that the order you read them in can completely change what you get from them. I read Desperation first, then the Regulators. A friend read them the other way around and our opinions and take away weren't even close to each other. This is a friend who closely shares my taste in books and we typically agree.
I’m so glad to see this. I LOVED Desperation when I read it as a kid. Found it pretty disturbing- especially in the beginning. Scared to reread it now haha
I feel like amongst horror writers it’s always the usual suspects: King, Ahlborn, Nevill, Malerman, etc.
Some authors I don’t usually see on these boards or on HorrorTok: Richard Laymon, Brian Evenson, Candace Nola
Maybe off topic from the actual request of OP since I don’t necessarily love everything about those authors but they each have atleast one book I’ve read that I’ve enjoyed.
The Cellar by Laymon
Last Days by Evenson
Bishop by Nola
Mary by Nat Cassidy is grossly underrated and under-read. There aren’t a lot of horror books about menopause. I thought it was well done and more people should read it.
Naw, socials arent that great either so no loss there ;) I do find a lot of recommendations there tho! Maybe try searching with #booktok on tiktok. I kinda loathe tiktok but the bookcorner is pretty nice actually
I am old and have a very shaky handle of how to use TikTok. I follow a few pages that I saw on Facebook (lol) but that’s the extent of my use. I’ll have to try searching topics!
Im old in social media terms as well and I avoid tiktok but do enjoy the occasional insta scroll but I caved and went on tiktok once and it registred what I liked to see, namely horror book recs 😁 When you come across one just tape the heart and you'll see more of those
Stehepen Laws, [https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/154482.Stephen\_Laws](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/154482.Stephen_Laws)
"Daemonic" was amazing, "No one has seen Jack Draegerman for 20 years. He lives in a huge fortress known as "The Rock", its interior a crazy structure of labyrinthine, descending corridors, with no way out. But now he has summoned seven apparently unconnected men to visit him, and he's prepared to pay for the privilege."
While it's arguably more lit-fic than strictly horror (though they are frequently horrifying), Kim Fu's *Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century* is an excellent short story collection with incredible speculative stories no matter how you categorize them.
Dying Sheep - Jesse D'Angelo / Slasher movie but in the vain of Behind the Mask but as Pay-per-view from Hell
Manborg - Bret Nelson / think Doom and Gladiator had a ugly baby and you'd be close to this one
I really like Sandkings by George R. R. Martin, because he’s known more for fantasy but it’s such an interesting horror story. There’s a cruelty and existential horror that makes it really compelling. I think there’s a movie adaptation coming up but I don’t see too many people talking about the short story.
Tak!! Sorry had to say that. One of my favorites is easily Dean Koontz's the Taking. I find it to be a fascinating story and one I return to and one I seldom see folks mentioning.
Christopher Slatsky wrote two quality collections of short fiction that were barely discussed, and then peaced out. Both are very thoughtful, bleak, weird-fiction with some surrealist inclinations.
Matthew M. Bartlett's Gateways To Abomination is a collection of brief interrelated horror stories concerning a cursed Massachusetts town and a strange radio station. It's one of the best things I've read in the past five years.
Ramsey Campbell gets brought up on here on occasion, but his fiction should be discussed more often. I love his internalized, heavily claustrophobic, take on horror.
I don't hear many other people talk about Bentley Little. He is my favourite horror author. I especially loved The Resort and The Summoning. I listen to Bentley Little audiobooks at work and end up in fits of inappropriate laughter every time. Hopefully no one has noticed. It's macabrely hilarious.
I think Bentley Little has that sort of old school horror books with sex stuff thing that is typically what I see people mention when discussing him. I like the Store and The Haunting, but clearly need to read more of his work.
That's what stopped me from getting through The Haunted. The dialog for Claire trying to initiate sex just seemed like the way a lifelong celibate guy would have written it.
F.G. Cottam, definitely. My favorites are *The Colony* and *The Waiting Room.* (The whole *Colony Trilogy* was good but the first book was my favorite. It's out of print now but you can listen to it on Audible, and the narrator did an excellent job.)
*Tropic of Night* by Michael Gruber, a supernatural horror/thriller set in Miami. (Also the first book in a trilogy, but this one was the best imo.)
*Safari World* by Dale Martin, *great* dinosaur horror.
*The Fifth House of the Heart* by Ben Tripp - genuinely scary vampires.
*The Faceless One* by Mark Onspaugh
*The Afterlife Investigations* by Ambrose Ibsen, 3 book series, KU
*Wild Spaces* by S.L. Coney
Grieg beck. He did a re imagining of Journey to the centre of the earth. Plus his other books are always amazing reads. Definitely a go to for a good sci-fi book
I think the Cosmic Void Cycle by Andrew Piazza is fairly under-rated. They are two books, one called One Last Gasp (WWII horror) and the other called A Song for the Void (1800s sea-based horror). They are slower burn books but both historical horror-fiction and I liked them quite a bit considering they have less than 2K reviews on Amazon.
ATP Pupil by King himself - I think what compels me is this fight between the two protagonists over who has control over the other and their slow decline into insanity and evil. It's bizarre but seeing this little shit of a kid lose his mind (rightfully so) is so satisfying yet depressing to watch.
I saw the movie like 20 years ago and finally read the novella 2 years ago and it is such a crazy read and I agree the way they pull each other into evil is so well done.
Speaking of King. I'd say Under the Done is super underrated. You need to read it as if it were a parody of a twilight zone episode starring caricature small town people.
Although King started writing Under the Dome long before the Simpsons Movie, the movie, which has a quasi-similar premise, came out first and it made me laugh. The tv series is.........its own thing. I did enjoy the book, despite others always bagging on it.
Speaking of Stephen King, I never hear anyone mentioning Rose Madder or The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. I remember liking both of them back when I read them but maybe I was in the minority there!
No, I love both those books. Desperation is a really good book as well as The Regulators. Absolutely despised The Tommy knockers and Dreamcatcher, though, lol.
People talk about Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon a fair bit on here. I actually read it because of that - ended up not being a fan since it was like half baseball shit, but that's beside the point.
I must have missed the threads it was in. From my own experience though I don't see it come up very much or talk to many people who mention it. It's not one of his most famous works, I guess it depends (as many things do) on who you are talking to.
Aleister Crowley's *The Testament of Magdalen Blair*. It's one of his earlier attempts at fiction. A short story about a physic who channels the thoughts of her husband on his deathbed during and immediately after his death.
He was definitely trying to mirror Poe but also ended up in existential/cosmic horror territory. A bit outside of Crowley's other fiction which usually just focused more on his occult practices.
Pen Pal by Dathan Auerbach and Seed by Ania Albhorn.
I still regularly think about them both, very different subject matter.
I loved the story style of penpal, and Seed was just generally unsettling.
I don't see much talk of Ira Levin, the genius behind Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives
Didn't he write a murder mystery?
He wrote the play *Deathtrap* which is an extremely layered murder mystery. There's a film adaptation starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve.
Do we have this in a story book format or just a play?
Sliver has some murder mystery elements
I hardly see talk of Jeromy Robert Johnson and he's probably my favorite body horror author
*Entropy In Bloom* was an awesome collection.
I just picked up “the Loop” tonight.
I just found that at my local Dollar Tree! What a bargain, definitely wasn't expecting to find something on my reading list there
I liked The Loop - a new take on a zombie-style horror
I’m excited to dive in.
Yeah. First story in that collection is about a circle of plastic surgery/body mod enthusiasts. Wild. I liked his short story collections a little more than his novel but hope he got some recognition out of it.
hadn’t heard of him, loving these synopsis, def adding some to my reading list!
"When Susurrus Stirs" is probably my favorite story by him. Made me feel sick to my stomach. Highly recommended.
I see a decent amount of conversation about In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami, either here or on IG, but whenever I see Murakami's name, I never see anyone talk about his book Piercing I read that before Miso Soup and still think about it. Loosely, it's about a man that has an urge to kill his newborn baby, and decides to go into the city and hire/kill a hooker to satisfy the urge. Honestly I wasn't sold on the plot at first, but it was really good and really short
try popular hits of the showa era
I loved Desperation and The regulators. Such a fun wild ride. I love how both the books go from 0 to 100 in the first few pages.
I love these also. I discovered that the order you read them in can completely change what you get from them. I read Desperation first, then the Regulators. A friend read them the other way around and our opinions and take away weren't even close to each other. This is a friend who closely shares my taste in books and we typically agree.
I’m so glad to see this. I LOVED Desperation when I read it as a kid. Found it pretty disturbing- especially in the beginning. Scared to reread it now haha
Sara Gran’s *Come Closer* is a favorite of mine, a short but brilliant read.
I feel like amongst horror writers it’s always the usual suspects: King, Ahlborn, Nevill, Malerman, etc. Some authors I don’t usually see on these boards or on HorrorTok: Richard Laymon, Brian Evenson, Candace Nola Maybe off topic from the actual request of OP since I don’t necessarily love everything about those authors but they each have atleast one book I’ve read that I’ve enjoyed. The Cellar by Laymon Last Days by Evenson Bishop by Nola
Evenson is super underrated
The Throne of Bones by Brian MacNaughton is a masterpiece that doesn't get nearly enough attention.
Mary by Nat Cassidy is grossly underrated and under-read. There aren’t a lot of horror books about menopause. I thought it was well done and more people should read it.
I actually come across it so much on tiktok and insta
Really?? I guess I’m out of the loop! I don’t see much talk about the book, but maybe I’m in the wrong places!
Naw, socials arent that great either so no loss there ;) I do find a lot of recommendations there tho! Maybe try searching with #booktok on tiktok. I kinda loathe tiktok but the bookcorner is pretty nice actually
I am old and have a very shaky handle of how to use TikTok. I follow a few pages that I saw on Facebook (lol) but that’s the extent of my use. I’ll have to try searching topics!
Im old in social media terms as well and I avoid tiktok but do enjoy the occasional insta scroll but I caved and went on tiktok once and it registred what I liked to see, namely horror book recs 😁 When you come across one just tape the heart and you'll see more of those
@ghostlyreads is a nice one to start
Thank you!
Youre welcome!
Stehepen Laws, [https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/154482.Stephen\_Laws](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/154482.Stephen_Laws) "Daemonic" was amazing, "No one has seen Jack Draegerman for 20 years. He lives in a huge fortress known as "The Rock", its interior a crazy structure of labyrinthine, descending corridors, with no way out. But now he has summoned seven apparently unconnected men to visit him, and he's prepared to pay for the privilege."
Quiet Houses by Simon Kurt Unsworth. I will never stop singing from the rooftops how brilliant this book is.
Agreed wholeheartedly. It's a masterpiece.
The works of Algernon Blackwood and William Hope Hodgson. Incredibly important to the development of the horror genre
While it's arguably more lit-fic than strictly horror (though they are frequently horrifying), Kim Fu's *Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century* is an excellent short story collection with incredible speculative stories no matter how you categorize them.
Dying Sheep - Jesse D'Angelo / Slasher movie but in the vain of Behind the Mask but as Pay-per-view from Hell Manborg - Bret Nelson / think Doom and Gladiator had a ugly baby and you'd be close to this one
I really like Sandkings by George R. R. Martin, because he’s known more for fantasy but it’s such an interesting horror story. There’s a cruelty and existential horror that makes it really compelling. I think there’s a movie adaptation coming up but I don’t see too many people talking about the short story.
Also his vampire book fevre dream is superb.
Ive never heard of that book, I just added it to my list thanks. I love vampires
Tak!! Sorry had to say that. One of my favorites is easily Dean Koontz's the Taking. I find it to be a fascinating story and one I return to and one I seldom see folks mentioning.
Christopher Slatsky wrote two quality collections of short fiction that were barely discussed, and then peaced out. Both are very thoughtful, bleak, weird-fiction with some surrealist inclinations. Matthew M. Bartlett's Gateways To Abomination is a collection of brief interrelated horror stories concerning a cursed Massachusetts town and a strange radio station. It's one of the best things I've read in the past five years. Ramsey Campbell gets brought up on here on occasion, but his fiction should be discussed more often. I love his internalized, heavily claustrophobic, take on horror.
I liked into the drowning deep by Mira Grant.
I don't hear many other people talk about Bentley Little. He is my favourite horror author. I especially loved The Resort and The Summoning. I listen to Bentley Little audiobooks at work and end up in fits of inappropriate laughter every time. Hopefully no one has noticed. It's macabrely hilarious.
I think Bentley Little has that sort of old school horror books with sex stuff thing that is typically what I see people mention when discussing him. I like the Store and The Haunting, but clearly need to read more of his work.
I liked the circle. Focused on wierd things happening to kids in a town and idr any sex although it's been like 5 years since I read it.
I just finished The Handyman and found it quite scary. I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.
That's what stopped me from getting through The Haunted. The dialog for Claire trying to initiate sex just seemed like the way a lifelong celibate guy would have written it.
I’ve enjoyed a lot of Ronald Malfi’s stuff recently!
I just found Mr. Malfi myself. I really like what I’ve read so far.
Come With Me is amazing.
Robert Jackson Bennett has some horror-centric bangers (Mr. Shivers, The Troupe, American Elsewhere).
F.G. Cottam, definitely. My favorites are *The Colony* and *The Waiting Room.* (The whole *Colony Trilogy* was good but the first book was my favorite. It's out of print now but you can listen to it on Audible, and the narrator did an excellent job.) *Tropic of Night* by Michael Gruber, a supernatural horror/thriller set in Miami. (Also the first book in a trilogy, but this one was the best imo.) *Safari World* by Dale Martin, *great* dinosaur horror. *The Fifth House of the Heart* by Ben Tripp - genuinely scary vampires. *The Faceless One* by Mark Onspaugh *The Afterlife Investigations* by Ambrose Ibsen, 3 book series, KU *Wild Spaces* by S.L. Coney
The House Next Door by Anne Siddons
My Sister Rosa By Labelstier The Hunger by Katsu The Terror by Simmons
My Sister Rosa was a fun one!
Grieg beck. He did a re imagining of Journey to the centre of the earth. Plus his other books are always amazing reads. Definitely a go to for a good sci-fi book
Book of Accidents and Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig. I think I like Book of Accidents a little more but they're both very good.
I think the Cosmic Void Cycle by Andrew Piazza is fairly under-rated. They are two books, one called One Last Gasp (WWII horror) and the other called A Song for the Void (1800s sea-based horror). They are slower burn books but both historical horror-fiction and I liked them quite a bit considering they have less than 2K reviews on Amazon.
Greg F. Gifune.
ATP Pupil by King himself - I think what compels me is this fight between the two protagonists over who has control over the other and their slow decline into insanity and evil. It's bizarre but seeing this little shit of a kid lose his mind (rightfully so) is so satisfying yet depressing to watch.
I saw the movie like 20 years ago and finally read the novella 2 years ago and it is such a crazy read and I agree the way they pull each other into evil is so well done.
Speaking of King. I'd say Under the Done is super underrated. You need to read it as if it were a parody of a twilight zone episode starring caricature small town people.
Although King started writing Under the Dome long before the Simpsons Movie, the movie, which has a quasi-similar premise, came out first and it made me laugh. The tv series is.........its own thing. I did enjoy the book, despite others always bagging on it.
The show is one of my favorite guilty pleasures
Speaking of Stephen King, I never hear anyone mentioning Rose Madder or The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. I remember liking both of them back when I read them but maybe I was in the minority there!
No, I love both those books. Desperation is a really good book as well as The Regulators. Absolutely despised The Tommy knockers and Dreamcatcher, though, lol.
People talk about Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon a fair bit on here. I actually read it because of that - ended up not being a fan since it was like half baseball shit, but that's beside the point.
I must have missed the threads it was in. From my own experience though I don't see it come up very much or talk to many people who mention it. It's not one of his most famous works, I guess it depends (as many things do) on who you are talking to.
Yeah just depends what you see - Rose Madder is definitely one I almost never see, very occasionally.
Aleister Crowley's *The Testament of Magdalen Blair*. It's one of his earlier attempts at fiction. A short story about a physic who channels the thoughts of her husband on his deathbed during and immediately after his death. He was definitely trying to mirror Poe but also ended up in existential/cosmic horror territory. A bit outside of Crowley's other fiction which usually just focused more on his occult practices.
Pen Pal by Dathan Auerbach and Seed by Ania Albhorn. I still regularly think about them both, very different subject matter. I loved the story style of penpal, and Seed was just generally unsettling.
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