Horror Aficionados discussion

We haven't created a list like this in way too many years.

The idea is simple. Just suggest the book you believe should be read by any horror fanatic. It can be a classic, recently released, or simply an all-time favorite. We should end up with a list to help new members choose books to get started on their horror journey or a list to add many a volume of forgotten lore to a seasoned Aficionados' tbr. Ravens are optional. ;)

When our list is filled at 101 books, it will be set up on GoodReads' Listopia for everyone to vote on and rank. A link will be provided here.

Please DO NOT suggest 101 books all on your own.
I know how tempting it can be when you've read many books and enjoyed them but give some thought to what you want added to the list.
Limit your ideas to just a few books.

Include the full book title and the author's name.

Have at it, HA! Let's create a great list.

I'm recommending two extremes: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It is horror, but also literary fiction, so not for light reading at the beach (unless you never read light stuff :)

And then there's I, Zombie by Hugh Howey, (author of the Wool Omnibus made into the TV series Silo). Fairly quick read, but not for the faint of heart. Very gory, and told from the POV of the zombies. My personal favorite zombie book.

Well, I guess I will follow with my two books:

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
The Stand by Stephen King

I can't stick to only two 🫣 I refined my list and ended up with seven. Besides, it's highly unlikely that some of my classics end on the final list so I'm mentioning them just because they're MY classics 😁 (alphabetical order)

- Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Novelization by Jeff Strand
- The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
- The Haunted Vagina by Carlton Mellick III
- Hell House by Richard Matheson
- It by Stephen King
- John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin aka David Wong
- Uzumaki byJunji Ito

I don't read a lot of horror novels, but rather disturbing books. Nevertheless, here's my little list:

- The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
- Hell House by Richard Matheson
- Misery by Stephen King
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
- Uzumaki by Junji Ito
- Welcome to Dead House

Yes, I'm Seb's wife. We tend to read the same things... Well, kinda... Sort of... Not really 😄

So far we have:

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
I, Zombie by Hugh Howey
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
The Stand by Stephen King
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Novelization by Jeff Strand
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
The Haunted Vagina by Carlton Mellick III
Hell House by Richard Matheson
It by Stephen King
John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin aka David Wong
Misery by Stephen King
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
Uzumaki by Junji Ito

Feel free to remove anything that seems too out there 😉 I don't think my suggestions will meet HA standards 🫣

World War Z by Max Brooks
The Shining by Stephen King

Seb wrote: "Feel free to remove anything that seems too out there 😉 I don't think my suggestions will meet HA standards 🫣"

The Haunted Vagina is definitely not on my top 101 😅

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
The Fisherman by John Langan
Come With Me by Ronald Malfi
Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Seb wrote: "Feel free to remove anything that seems too out there 😉 I don't think my suggestions will meet HA standards 🫣"

It's good to have a list with variety. My fear was everyone picking only Stephen King books. Don't get me wrong. He's written some amazing books that everyone interested in horror should read but... there are also equally amazing authors and books to check out too.
And if this list works out well, HA may do this each year. The main idea is to give some attention to all the great books out there and maybe find a new-to-you author or story.

Two books I'll add are:

Dead of Night by Jonathan Maberry
The Delicate Dependency by Michael Talbot

Zombies and vampires, how can you go wrong?

The Worm and His Kings.

That was a typo I cannot edit on my phone.

I have two suggestions;

The Ceremonies by T.E.D. Klein

and a book recently published; The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

Netanella wrote: "Seb wrote: "Feel free to remove anything that seems too out there 😉 I don't think my suggestions will meet HA standards 🫣"

The Haunted Vagina is definitely not on my top 101 😅"


I couldn't leave CM3 off a horror 101 book list 🤣 The Haunted Vagina isn't my favorite (far from it) but it's a classic ^^

Seb wrote: "Feel free to remove anything that seems too out there 😉 I don't think my suggestions will meet HA standards 🫣"

Something just hit me about this...
Since when has HA had standards? LOL Love it! 😉🤣

Frankenstein: The 1818 Text by Mary Shelley
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Wendigo or The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
The Color Out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
The Elementals by Michael McDowell
Dark Matter: A Ghost Story by Michelle Paver

WendyB wrote: "Seb wrote: "Feel free to remove anything that seems too out there 😉 I don't think my suggestions will meet HA standards 🫣"

Something just hit me about this...
Since when has HA had standards? LOL..."

Yeah that was adorable.

I'd add The Haar by David Sodergren, this really sticks with you after you read it.

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (a supporting vote)
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez
Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke
The Dark Tower Series: Books 1-7 by Stephen King (obligatory King recommendation)

and if I can include a graphic novel, I'll add Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann

This is what we have so far:

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
I, Zombie by Hugh Howey
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
The Stand by Stephen King
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Novelization by Jeff Strand
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
The Haunted Vagina by Carlton Mellick III
Hell House by Richard Matheson
It by Stephen King
John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin aka David Wong
Misery by Stephen King
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
Uzumaki by Junji Ito
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text by Mary Shelley
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Wendigo or The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
The Color Out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
The Elementals by Michael McDowell
Dark Matter: A Ghost Story by Michelle Paver
Dead of Night by Jonathan Maberry
The Delicate Dependency by Michael Talbot
The Haar by David Sodergren
The Ceremonies by T.E.D. Klein
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez
Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke
The Dark Tower Series: Books 1-7 by Stephen King

I will suggest two. :)

The Exorcist's House by Nick Roberts

and

Kill Creek by Scott Thomas

The Keep by F. Paul Wilson
Necropscope by Brian Lumley

I'll go for several more, since the nominations have slowed down:

Last Days by Brian Evenson
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez
The Undead Situation by Eloise J. Knapp

I'll suggest a few that I really loved..

* Penpal - Dathan Auerbach
* The Black Farm - Elias Witherow
* Gone to See the River Man - Kristopher Triana
* Chasing the Boogeyman - Richard Chismar

I'll add a few more, since the list is a bit thin so far:

Suffer the Children, one of my favorites from the HA list. And The Lesser Dead.

And kind of sci-fi/horror, Under the Skin. You may have seen the film starring Scarlet Johansson. The book is much different, and really creepy. I still think of it, and I read it more than 3 years ago!

NOS4A2, Mexican Gothic, House of Leaves, Blood Harvest, Horrorstör, Heart-Shaped Box Pet Sematary, ’Salem’s Lot. I Was a Teenage Slasher, Night's Edgewould be a few I'd like to see on the list!

The list continued:

The Exorcist's House by Nick Roberts
Kill Creek by Scott Thomas
The Keep by F. Paul Wilson
Necroscope by Brian Lumley
Last Days by Brian Evenson
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez
The Undead Situation by Eloise J. Knapp
Penpal - Dathan Auerbach
The Black Farm - Elias Witherow
Gone to See the River Man - Kristopher Triana
Chasing the Boogeyman - Richard Chismar
Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie
The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman
Under the Skin by Michel Faber
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Blood Harvest by Sharon J. Bolton
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
Night's Edge by Liz Kerin


(54)

WendyB wrote: "The list continued:

The Exorcist's House by Nick Roberts
Kill Creek by Scott Thomas
The Keep by F. Paul Wilson
Necroscope by Brian Lumley
Last Days by Brian Evenson
Between Two Fires by Christophe..."

FYI...

NOS4A2 is by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son)

Just a suggestion... As much as I enjoy King's books, I can easily see him taking over this list. Should there maybe be a limit on his books to allow space for others? Maybe allow all submissions, then at the end we could vote for the top (x) number to be on the final list?

Or perhaps 1 book per author? If the idea is to increase exposure, that would help. For example, I found The Lesser Dead because I had read Between Two Fires. Both books are 5 star reads, imho. But having one exemplar book would allow for more authors to be featured.

Yes, NOS4A2 is by Joe Hill. I was getting a bit King happy typing in the author's names and went overboard... but at least it was all in the family. :)

The list is for members so if you want it limited to one book per author I'm ok with that. Let me know what books you want to remove. I expected King's books would come up frequently and I agree they are good but it's also nice to give some attention to other well-deserving authors too.

Voting on the list will be done on Listopia when we have 101 books.

And if you all like this, HA will make it an annual event. I know I like seeing the books members come up with.

Honestly, I think leaving them is fine, since the voting will be on Listopia.

Netanella wrote: "I found The Lesser Dead because I had read Between Two Fires." . For me it was the opposite :) I like the idea of one author because once I find a good one, I tend to read all or most of their stuff.

Jim wrote: "Netanella wrote: "I found The Lesser Dead because I had read Between Two Fires." . For me it was the opposite :) I like the idea of one author because once I find a good one, I tend to read all or ..."

Yay! Exactly!

Older books:
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Other by Thomas Tryon
The Grin of the Dark by Ramsey Campbell
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural by Phyllis Fraser and Herbert A. Wise
The Dark Descent by The Dark Descent

(About those last two, like most genre fiction much of the development came via the short story. To include some pretty big fish in the horror pond, namely Poe and Lovecraft, you have to go with collections.)

More recent books:
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia


If you narrow down to one book per poster, I'd go with the Jackson.

What number are we up to now Wendy?

I can add a handful more as it looks to have slowed down on here.

Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Maberry

Bone White by Ronald Malfi

Creature by Hunter Shea

Vampire on the Orient Express by Shane Carrow

Ghostland by Duncan Ralston

I better quit before I really get out of control and place my whole freaking reading list on here! LOL 😂😂😂😂

Ooooh... a lot of great new suggestions!

I'll look through the last posts and update the list tomorrow.

I have a few that really influenced my current tastes!

Necroscope by Brian Lumley
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Swan Song by Robert McCammon

I need to stop there or this post will encompass far too many, but these have stayed with me the most

A few other suggestions:

Comic horror
My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Fury From the Tomb by Steven Sidor (not as well-known as maybe it should be, it has an Indiana Jones vibe combined with a bigger dose of 1930s horror movie)

Psychological horror
My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones (could be argued to be a slasher, but the effect of the events on the protagonist, I think, makes this categorization reasonable)

Cosmic horror
The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan (an author too often overlooked by horror fans, I think; her novella Agents of Dreamland would also be a good choice, and an interesting read in tandem with Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic)

S.F./horror
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells (after Frankenstein and, maybe, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, probably the most influential s.f. novel on the horror story)

A Monster Calls. Not sure why this is calling to me, but it does.

The Other by Thomas Tryon
The Grin of the Dark by Ramsey Campbell
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural by Phyllis Fraser and Herbert A. Wise
The Dark Descent by The Dark Descent
Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Maberry
Bone White by Ronald Malfi
Creature by Hunter Shea
Vampire on the Orient Express by Shane Carrow
Ghostland by Duncan Ralston
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
Fury From the Tomb by Steven Sidor
The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

By my count, we're up to 70 books.
Keep 'em coming, Aficionados.

Geez! I'm slipping.

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

Don't know how I could have missed that one.