See, I think It is still the scariest King book for me, even though even when I got to the afterkill part as a teen I was like "Really? THAT'S how Beverly got the group mojo flowing again? At 11, 12 in the 50's? Huh."
But The Tommyknockers...I didn't like at all, or Dreamcatcher, and I LIKE King. But I found out that those were two books he wrote when he was basically coked out of his head so it makes more sense.
Yellow Wallpaper...horror. Love. Taught.
Ghost Story is the only one of Straub's stories I found really compelling, but I haven't been able to find Julia to see, so...
Caitlin Kiernan -- I loved Silk, but some of the follow-ups left me meh. I think she's got a fascinating brain, but some of her work is a total turn-on and some, NSM.
Poppy Z. Brite -- pretty much out of the writing game, and out of horror for sure. Lost Souls, Drawing Blood and her SS collection Wormwood (Swamp Foetus in the UK) were good, and she edited two collections of vampire erotica that had some damned good stuff in them -- Love in Vein and LiV 2.
even when I got to the afterkill part as a teen I was like "Really? THAT'S how Beverly got the group mojo flowing again? At 11, 12 in the 50's? Huh."
Argh, I know. But the first half or so of It is flat-out terrifying.
I think she's got a fascinating brain
That is
one
way to describe Caitlin, that's for sure.
I am sitting in the kitten room in the basement, which is brightly lit. It's daylight. I am reading bits of 'Salem's Lot for the Nocturnal House post I'm writing, and I am
freaking myself out.
This is ridiculous.
I saw
Lost Souls
in the bookstore today and almost picked it up, but then I decided on King's
Duma Key
instead.
I haven't read
The Yellow Wallpaper
in years, but I did love it.
Totally agree on Harvest Home. I just had a mental image of...stitches yesterday, in re a current discussion. The book made a huge impression and is always at hand for reference. (Non-closure of bone growth plates. Matriarchal society. Lilacs. Stitches. Shudder)
Yellow wallpaper is def horror. I was assigned it to read as a high school drama test, along with a couple characters from Spoon River. Brrr.
House of Leaves just came up somewhere else, so now I must.
and yes, Yellow Wallpaper is horror.
I liked Duma Key, Amy. But I thought Bag of Bones was possibly the best thing he's written. Not the scariest, but the best.
Not on the current topic, but there might be a few Buffistas who need this: [link]
Ghost Story is the only one of Straub's stories I found really compelling, but I haven't been able to find Julia to see, so...
Did you try Shadowland? Because that is both scary as hell and gorgeous on the subject of Magic (as performed by stage magicians vs. as performed by "real" magicians).
While Floating Dragon scared the crap out of me, Shadowland has stayed with me. I think I've read it maybe 3 times, and like Frank said, it'll come back and haunt ya.
I don't think I read
Shadowland.
Maybe I should.
I found it really weird that they had Straub in fiction in the used bookstore, but King in horror (even stuff like
The Green Mile
).