For me, as much as I loved Salem's Lot and found it scary (it helped that I grew up next to the town that was the model for it and knew the house that the Marsten (?) House was based on), The Shining was the scariest for me. And it's probably the book I've re-read most ever, to the point where if I was going to be a book in Farenheit 451, I've always said I'd be The Shining.

As for Straub, I also love Floating Dragon, but it was Ghost Scary that scared me the most. Shadowland is my favorite of his, though (note to self: reread Shadowland & The Talisman, and finally get around reading the second collabortation of those two).

The Haunting of Hill House is another favorite, though We Have Always Lived in the Castle is right up there. For Jackson though, if you ever see a copy of The Sundial, grab it. It's one strange-ass book. More fantasy than horror, though.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is just one of my favorite books ever, horror or not. I put The Haunting of Hill House in horror, though, and I also love it.

reread Shadowland & The Talisman, and finally get around reading the second collabortation of those two

Yes! I never finished The Talisman, actually.

Richard Matheson's Hell House held up pretty well, and was surprisingly scary in a really disturbing way, too.

I considered "Yellow Wall Paper" horror.

Richard Matheson's Hell House held up pretty well, and was surprisingly scary in a really disturbing way, too.

Ooh, yeah. Another formative horror experience for me.

Now is not the time for moderation, Jilli. Own your crazy! Teppy and ita did.

Dude, when do I NOT own my crazy? I fully admit that JilliLand only shares a border with reality.

But be aware it is heavy on mother-issues so... you might not want to give it a try right now.

Oh. Yeah, then I'm going to wait on it. Thank you for letting me know.

Richard Matheson's Hell House held up pretty well, and was surprisingly scary in a really disturbing way, too.

Oooh, I need to re-read that. But first, Salem's Lot!

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.

I LOVE Kelly Link! Amy, have you read anything else by her? I have a hard time putting her into any one category, possibly because she's often considered a major writer in the slipstream genre, which is the context in which I first heard of her. ("Slipstream" seems to be a fairly catchall term for fiction with sf/f leanings that embraces strangeness and surreality and blurs the line between realism and fantasy, as well as other genres: mystery, horror, fairy tale, etc.) I've never loved the term, but I do find it useful, since I like a lot of what I've encountered in the genre.

Dear Stephen King, please write an updated version of Danse Macabre. The horror genre needs a new overview.

OMG, yes. I used DM as the basis for a 7th grade paper I wrote on King (back in 1979--early days for his career), along with The Stand and Carrie.

And "The Yellow Wallpaper" is most definitely horror.

I haven't, Kate! I forget where I saw her recommended, but it was someone I really admired, so I picked up the short stories. It's on the huge TBR pile now ...

I re-read Danse Macabre last year and one of the strange things about it is that he wrote it before the video era really became common. So he talks about certain cult horror movies as if nobody would have seen them. He specifically cites the original edit of Freaks as a lost movie (it's been since restored), and refers to Tourneur's Cat People as something more legendary than actually seen. I think he also cites Eyes Without a Face as something only a hardcore horror fan would be familiar with.