Also, this is making me want to re-read a bunch of books that I know terrify me and keep me awake. I think I'll start with Salem's Lot, because then I can do a write-up of it for the Nocturnal House section of GCS.
Simon: I swear when it's appropriate. Kaylee: Simon, the whole point of swearing is that it ain't appropriate.
'Jaynestown'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Atropa - Aug 11, 2011 4:33:25 pm PDT #15958 of 28293
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
DavidS - Aug 11, 2011 4:34:40 pm PDT #15959 of 28293
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
So here's my problem. There's a lot of stuff that most people would put on a list of horror novels that wouldn't occur to me because I don't find it that scary. Hell, I don't find Dracula or Lost Souls scary, but I know that they're fantastic horror novels.
Some horror is more disquieting than scary, I think.
If it helps your horror list, Something Wicked This Way Comes came out in '62. Is that a horror novel to you?
Amy - Aug 11, 2011 4:35:18 pm PDT #15960 of 28293
Because books.
Heart-Shaped Box was fantastic. Fairly timeless, too. I also adored his short stories in Twentieth Century Ghosts.
I remember you talking about Caitlin R. Kiernan, Jilli. I haven't tried her yet.
Right now I'm stuck trying to figure out which Stephen King I would put on the list. I loved Salem's Lot but it wasn't his scariest or best, for me.
Atropa - Aug 11, 2011 4:38:18 pm PDT #15961 of 28293
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
If it helps your horror list, Something Wicked This Way Comes came out in '62. Is that a horror novel to you?
Strangely, no. I mean, I get that it should be, and probably is to a lot of people. But for me, it's not.
I remember you talking about Caitlin R. Kiernan, Jilli. I haven't tried her yet.
She bristles at the "horror writer" label, and says she's a dark fantasist. Which, fine, whatever makes her happy. I just think that she writes some of the most unsettling, creepy, terrifying fiction I've ever read.
Amy - Aug 11, 2011 4:42:44 pm PDT #15962 of 28293
Because books.
dark fantasist
I have Kelly Link's Magic For Beginners, which I haven't read yet, and I think she's a dark fantasist. Or a fantasist at any rate, if not dark. The line can be pretty blurry -- more than a few of the stories in Joe Hill's book were not strictly horror.
hippocampus - Aug 11, 2011 4:43:29 pm PDT #15963 of 28293
not your mom's socks.
Clive Barker also sits on the dark fantasist bench a lot.
Atropa - Aug 11, 2011 4:44:17 pm PDT #15964 of 28293
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
Clive Barker also sits on the dark fantasist bench a lot.
Clive! Again, an author who should be listed somewhere in a "Best Horror" list, but personally, none of his work ever scared me.
zuisa - Aug 11, 2011 4:45:26 pm PDT #15965 of 28293
call me jacki; zuisa is an internet nick from ancient times =)
Right now I'm stuck trying to figure out which Stephen King I would put on the list. I loved Salem's Lot but it wasn't his scariest or best, for me.
My favorite Stephen King is The Stand but it definitely isn't scariest. I'm not sure which his scariest is! Hmm.
DavidS - Aug 11, 2011 4:46:38 pm PDT #15966 of 28293
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Peter Straub?
Whitley Streiber? (Did anybody read The Hunger? He also wrote The Howling, so he's got as much claim to being King of 70s Horror as anybody, unless you concede the whole decade to Anne Rice for Interview With a Vampire.)
DavidS - Aug 11, 2011 4:47:01 pm PDT #15967 of 28293
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
I'm not sure which his scariest is!
The first half of It?