Looking for good horror author suggestions.

Thanks

Stephen King, for both horror and non-horror.

Yeah him and Brian Lumley.

John Connolly – short story collections and the Charlie Parker series.

Mo Hayder – Birdman.

Deeply disturbing, psychological, police horror.

Clive Barker is very good,Weaveworld (although possibly more fantasy than horror) is one of my favourite books

Not an author but a book
The black house by S King and P Straub

Not usually fond of collaborations but this was great and even my other half read it and he is not usually a reader

Stephen King / Richard Bachman

Dean Koontz

James Herbert

Michelle Paver’s “Dark Matter”, “Thin Air”, and to an ever so slightly lesser extent, “Wakenhyrst” are all good.

If you fancy some of the classics then M.R James has some very creepy short stories.

I’ve enjoyed a few of Joe Hill’s book (Stephen King’s son) and really enjoyed them.

I’m a fan of King but never found any of his books particularly scary. Some of Koontz early stuff was great for ratcheting up the tension. Before he became utterly obsessed with golden retrievers.

James Herbert has some classics. Really struggling to think of anybody else so will be watching this thread with interest. Glen Duncan’s The Last Werewolf trilogy is worth a read. Pretty graphic, not scary as such but well written

I’ve not read it, but I found the film disturbing enough to never want to watch it again, Guillermo Del Toro’s book ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ might be worth checking out.

Shaun Hutson is worth a look (or read) – missed this in my post above.

John Connolly
Mo Hayder
Dean Koontz

Richard Layman.

Was Really good horror author, some very weird stories but I suppose that was a bit of the charm

Shaun Hutson is shocking – he repeats adjectives constantly throughout his books. And guaranteed 1/3rd in and 2/3rds though some sexy sexy lovey bonky.

Agree with the others though.

Before he became utterly obsessed with golden retrievers.

But it was a good dog.

Yeah. He did get a bit predictable. +1 for James Herbert.

H P Lovecraft

Max Brooks

Shaun Hutson is shocking – he repeats adjectives constantly throughout his books. And guaranteed 1/3rd in and 2/3rds though some sexy sexy lovey bonky

Same formula as Graham Masterton! Masterton’s OK as these things go, better than Hutson at any rate.

Clive Barker. Some seriously disturbing stuff. “The Damnation Game” and “The Scarlet Gospels” spring to mind.

Hutson I really enjoy.

Barker less so

Laymon is great too.

This wasn’t bad.

I’ll watch this with interest. As a teen I immersed myself in horror (film, novels and literature) and thrilled pretty much everything from gothic to contemporary, from ‘creepy’ sci-fi to the Golden Age of Ghost Stories and loads of those Pan Book Of Horror Stories (short story compilations), many of which were very enjoyable.

Of the authors that I remember most were of the more traditional supernatural of the ‘horror’ spectrum with a few contemporary authors:

Stephen King
Dean Koontz
Clive Barker
Anne Rice
Bradbury
Lovecraft
Mary Shelley
M R James
Algernon Blackwood

The latter five have mostly lasted as personal favourites yet the others seemed less interesting as I aged past my twenties. I wish there were some more ‘grown up’ horror writers in a way? Maybe there are, but have yet to track any down?

I did try Paver’s ‘Dark Matter’ recently, on recommendation. It wasn’t a bad yarn IMO, very much in the style of Blackwood and to a degree MR James.

The short story ‘The Willows’ by Blackwood is a firm favourite and gives me the creeps even now.

As for outright gore-fest crime/horror..? Not my thing so couldn’t recommend. Much prefer the experience of creeping psychological/supernatural horror.

Barker’s ‘Weaveworld’ stuck in my mind for a while, which was a surprise. A very imaginative book.

Also ‘At the Mountains Of Madness’ by Lovecraft. Beyond weird. Stuff of nightmares. Again, no doubt a component of the inspiration for ‘Dark Matter’

All of these arctic/antarctic chills must hark back to Frankenstein. Another favourite.

There was one short story(in one of those compendiums) that I read, about a young male lodger/tenant who had to make love to his unnattractive, toothless octagenarian landlady because she’d put him in a double-bind in her will. It was redolent of Poe’s ‘Telltale Heart’ yet much more horrific. *shudder*

Jeffrey Archer – an absolute horror!

IGMC …

Dean Koontz has written some of the best. He’s also written some right shockers (and not in a good way). Midnight I particularly enjoyed. I like his Odd Thomas series too, though they’re not really horror.

Richard Layman.

I was enjoying him as one of those ‘best authors no-one’s ever heard of’ until it dawned on me: he’s obsessed with breasts. Every book I read, he’d shoehorn in some gratuitous reference to boobage or nipples. I couldn’t read any more after that, it just bugged me.

And, er, sorry, everyone else.

(Laymon, isn’t it?)

Not all of James Herbert’s stuff is proper horror.

The Others, Ghosts of Sleath and The Dark and maybe Moon stick in my mind at the more horror end of the spectrum, Once was a strange mix of fantasy and horror.

Susan Hill – The Woman In Black. Not read the book but the film was excellent and her other novels are great

Chris Simms’ brilliant short story Sing Me To Sleep

Stephen King’s earlier novels are his more horror based stuff, my mum put Pet Semetary down half way through it and refused to read another of his books.

Mo Hayder was mentioned above, Birdman was ok but Pig Island was quite disturbing

James Oswald does police novels with a touch of the supernatural, in a different vein to John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series but equally as good