Supernatural Fiction Readers discussion

Didn't really know where to put this. Joined the group because it sounded like a good place to ask this.

I'm in search of a good haunting/ghost read. Something that makes you tingle, sleep with the lights on, can't put down kinda ghost/haunting themed horror novel.

Every time I try to ask about one I get recommendations on the kind of investigator or psychic goes to find out and solve the the haunting. I'm looking for just something to creep me out. Love a good haunting you know?

Any suggestions?

DFF
School's Out 4-Ever
Detour 2 Death

Hell House by Richard Matheson had me sleeping with the lights one night. This was just a few years ago, though I was able to get deep into a book back then.

Werner wrote: "Joanna, you might like Shirley Jackson's classic novel, The Haunting of Hill House, since I see you don't have it on your "read" shelf yet. We did a common read of that one in this gr..."

Thank you. :) I'll look into it. I know the movie. The movie was ok, but I know books tend to be worlds different sometimes compared to their movie makeover.

I'm usually more of a horror movie watcher. Favoring the uber creepy Asian ghost style horror. Or anything involving a haunting. But I want to get back to reading more and I know there are some good ones out there. I just need to find them.

The reason I mentioned the preferring something that doesn't involve detectives and such is not that I don't like them, but because I'm already reading Greywalker and The Dresden Files as well. :) Just looking for creepy now. ^_^

And thanks for the welcome, looking forward to poking around some more in the group.

Becca wrote: "Hell House by Richard Matheson had me sleeping with the lights one night. This was just a few years ago, though I was able to get deep into a book back then."

Thank you. I'll take a look at it! :)

Try "Ghost Story" by Peter Straub.

Werner wrote: "Ghost Story was another book this group picked for a common read (our very first one, in fact), and another I gave five stars to. I was thinking of it, too, when I posted above, and refrained from..."

I'm willing to give it a shot. :) Hmmm. How to define my taste in "haunting" horror. Since my list of horroh books is limited I can describe it in movie form....

1408
Changeling
House on Haunted Hill
The Haunting
Silent Hill
Ringu (which I have in book form but have yet to read)
The Grudge
Orphanage

Are just a small few of my favorite haunting/ghost themed horror movie.
Haunted buildings are a plus but haunted people work too. :) Just so long as it's good and creepy.

Well I guess I need to make a trip to the local book shop. This week. :) (I'm terrible when it comes to libraries. Love to read but not as fast as I would like to.

And no problem. I'm feeling a bit that way about books lately. Sufficient watching of but not enough reading of. Sad thing is my to-read pile is about 4 tall bookshelves long. But hey, they say variety is the spice of life, no?

"Changeling" is a 60's movie with George C. Scott, right? I think I just saw that last year. Pretty good.

Hell House is pretty much a standard, IMO. Great haunting, but it might seem a bit too standard. It's been redone so many times. At least that's the way I felt about it when I re-read it a year or two ago.

Have you read The Shining or Carrie? I'm not much of a King fan any more, but his early books were good. He's too wordy for me now.

Jim wrote: ""Changeling" is a 60's movie with George C. Scott, right? I think I just saw that last year. Pretty good.

Hell House is pretty much a standard, IMO. Great haunting, but it might se..."


Yes I believe it is that one. :) I do like Kings films, but yes, I've found his books a bit too wordy to hold my attention. Tried reading Desperation. Only made it about 1/3 of the way in. But I'll give them a shot. That was a few years ago and I'd like to think my reading had matured a bit. :)

I believe my reading has matured some, as well, Joanna. I still can't find time for King's latest works. He's gotten wordier while my preferences have gone the other way. I don't need full page descriptions of mundane objects & situations.

Jim wrote: "I believe my reading has matured some, as well, Joanna. I still can't find time for King's latest works. He's gotten wordier while my preferences have gone the other way. I don't need full page ..."

Ah I see. Well, if he's gotten even worse I doubt I'll get anything from trying again. :) Thanks for the warning. But you say The Shining and Carrie were before he got TOO wordy?

As I recall, Joanna. It's been a long time since I read either one.

Oh yes, The Shining is an excellent choice. And I am currently reading Heart Shaped Box, by Joe Hill, and it appears as if it will be a pretty good one, too.

Werner--who is the Haunting by--and is that the movie where the walls in the house bleed? I have been looking for that book/movie forever!! Can anyone help me out?

Carole, I think you're asking about The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson which was first published in 1959 & then had a movie made in 1963.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/

Yes? There are a lot of these & so many of both the books & the movies stemmed from this book & Hell House by Richard Matheson that they get really confusing for me. 'Hell House' has so many movies & sequels that I doubt anyone can keep track of them.

Could very well be a version of one of these--just checked out your link to imdb Jim--does one have to pay to watch movies and TV shows on this site? Since there isn't a "watch now" button for this movie--I guess it's not available on this site anyway--but I'm sure it's on the Internet somewhere!! I did find some episodes of "Thriller" on Youtube!!!

Carole wrote: "Could very well be a version of one of these--just checked out your link to imdb Jim--does one have to pay to watch movies and TV shows on this site? Since there isn't a "watch now" button for thi..."

IMDB.com is mostly information, not videos as far as I know. I've never joined it on a subscription basis so I don't know what extras you get. I know a couple of more recent movies where the walls bleed.

If the movie is out of copyright, you might find it on archive.org. I got "Attack of the Giant Leeches" from there as well as some awesome audio books, radio recordings, texts & other stuff. Great site.

Great idea Jim--is this site free? And Marc--which recent movies are you thinking about? Thanks for taking an interest guys!!

Archive.org is free. Take a look. I checked & didn't find the Haunting of Hill House, but I did find "The Last Man on Earth" which is the 60's version of Matheson's
I am Legend & most true to the actual story. It stars Vincent Price. Excellent!

http://www.archive.org/details/the-la...

Carole wrote: "Great idea Jim--is this site free? And Marc--which recent movies are you thinking about? Thanks for taking an interest guys!!"

I didn't say they were good! 1408 has bleeding walls, as does The Messengers. In the Messengers it was a blood spot that reappeared every time it was cleaned.

If anyone is interested in high end horror books, Centipede Press is a good place to keep an eye on.
http://www.centipedepress.com/

They're not cheap, but they have some wonderful collections. I just ordered 2 copies of the complete horror stories of Karl Edward Wagner. It's a 2 book set, so it cost close to $200, but next Xmas is now taken of for Marg & Brandon. (Marg can give me one set, we'll give the other to Brandon. Getting older makes buying me a present tough, but on the positive side, if I hand Marg the books when they come in, I'll have forgotten about them by December.)
;-)

Anyway, there's a sale going on right now that might interest everyone:

LOW STOCK
Autopsy
Karl Edward Wagner volume 1 and 2
The Complete Slayers

UNSIGNED AND SCRATCH AND DENT SALE

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
unsigned copies $100 each
These are in new condition

Carrie
Studies in the Horror Film
signed hardcover
scratch and dent $65

The Exorcist
Studies in the Horror Film
signed hardcover
scratch and dent $95

or take both for $150

Dramas from the Depths
scratch and dent $100

The Sheep Look Up
scratch and dent $65

Child of Rage
scratch and dent $35

Koko by Peter Straub
scratch and dent $75

The Fog by James Herbert
scratch and dent $40

Artists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft
scratch and dent $175

Artists Inspired by Stephen King
scratch and dent $95

New but unsigned copies of The Complete Slayers
$40

There is a review of this which just appeared in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal.


IN ADDITION, there are the following items for sale from my own collection.

Gunter Grass
The Danzig Trilogy
hardcover
$25

Karl Edward Wagner
Exorcisms and Ecstacies
trade hardcover $40

The Essays of E.B. White
hardcover, no dustjacket $10

Scott Sigler, Ancestor, new, $15

Dark Winds by Graham Watkins
ARC, $10

Wildwood by John Farris
ARC, $10

Iberia by James Michener
hardcover in dustjacket
$10

Sebald by Austerlitz
first edition hardcover in dustjacket, $10

Shakespeare a Biography by Quennell
hardcover in dustjacket, $5

Patrs of a World: Wallace Stevens remembered
hardcover, no dustjacket, $5

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thank you all for your support!



---------------------------------------
Jerad Walters
Centipede Press
2565 Teller Court
Lakewood, Colorado 80214

jerad@centipedepress.com
www.centipedepress.com

I'm coming in wayyyy late, but Ghost Story by Peter Straub is damn scary! I wish they would make it available as an e book.

Hi Charlene, I haven't read Ghost Story yet (though it's on my tbr list), but I just picked up In the Night Room by Peter Straub. Have you read that one?

I've read everything by Straub, though some I can't remember, like Julia. : (

I did and thought it was ok. My favorite though is Ghost Story, followed by Shadowland and then probably Koko.

Though I absolutely LOVED the two Straub/King collaborations The Talisman and Black House.

My library doesn't have Ghost Story, but it does have Shadowland, Talisman and Black House. So, I'd better get busy reading!

My fave ghost novels so far would be Beloved (Morrison), Haunting of Hill House (Jackson), The Face (Koontz), and The Lovely Bones (Sebold). The Thirteenth Tale was quite nice, too.

We have three different threads in this group, all of them posted by different people at different times, and each one of them asking for recommendations of "scary" books. Obviously, it would make far more sense to have just one thread, so that readers looking for such recommendations would only have to check out one place, and those who want to make suggestions wouldn't have to post them in three different places. I'd suggest using copy-and-paste to move your comments from this thread to this one: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... , and then deleting them here. Once that's done, we'll be able to delete this thread. Thanks for your help!