The Bride of "What scary book are you reading right now?"

Since the old thread strated to get too long and I know it can be a pain for folks with slower internet connections, I thought I'd restart the thread here.

We just want to know, what scary book are you reading right now? What do you think of it so far (even if you've only read the first chapter)?

This has tended to lead to some great recommendations and sparked some fun conversations.

To start the ball rolling, I've started re-reading The Shining as part of a group read in another group. I'm about 85 pages in and have to say that Stephen King is firing on all cylinders. As familiar as I am with the story the thing is still a page-turner. In one day I read sixty pages and the Torrences have only just arrived at the Overlook.

The Shining is definitely one of the scarier ones! I've started The Terror a time or two, but never finished. I'm planning on reading that one over the next week or so in addition to a couple of others. I need to finish it before I begin The Stand!

When are you planning to start The Stand? Are you doing it as part of the 'SK Flavor of the Month'?

Yes, I am reading The Stand as a part of the "Flavor of the Month." I'm caught up through The Shining, but I haven't had much time to post in the threads. I should have more time to post later this week.

Far as I know we haven't decided on abridged or unabridged. I'd like to read the abridged first and then read the unabridged later.

Which version are you planning on starting?

I wish I was ahead instead of behind!

I'm going to read which ever I have at home or can get at the library. I know I have a copy somewhere but I can't find it for the life of me.

I just finished The Drive-In by Joe R. Lansdale. I enjoyed the beginning but got a bored after bit even though it was a short book. Now Iam reading Coincidence by David Ambrose and its okay so far, though I recall being disappointed with Superstition.

The Ghost Light by Fritz Leiber. One of the absolute masters of weird fiction... There is a very long autobiography with photos at the end, too! I'll have to track down the original Byron Preis hardcover of this one!

I'm two thirds into Duma Key For some reason King has taken to writing about people who has gotten serious injuries in accidents after he got seriously injured by a car. I like the book but feel kind of sad for him too.

I'm reading a mid-90s vampire novel called Kindred by John Gideon. The first part dealing with the backstory in Vietnam was great, the middle portion dealing with the early 90's was painfully long, and I should finish the remaining portion/third of the novel tonight.

I'm about to finish up The Dracula Dossier, but hesitated to put this in the Scary Books thread. It's not. It's supposed to be, but it's not. Reese imagines Bram Stoker and friends dealing with a demon possessed person who commits the Jack the Ripper murders - which serves as the inspiration for Dracula. He tells the story through Stoker's journal and correspondence, which draws out the story and makes for much pseudo-Victorian hand-wringing. Hence the lack of scariness.

I remember really grooving on The Drive-In though I didn't like The Drive-In 2: Not Just One of Them Sequels so much (though I like the title).

#11 - Daddygoth,

Can you talk a little more about Kindred when you finish it? I like the idea of a vampire novel that starts in Vietnam...

#11 - Is that the same Kindred as in the old TV show? I would also like to hear what you think of it after you have finished it.
So now I need a bit of help from y'all. I am stumped as to what book to get my best friend for the Yule. I am trying to find something quick and entertaining, she loves Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Steven King, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, and Poppy Z. Brite. You guys are great with recommendations so please hit me with a couple!

Oh, there's a stumper. Taste is such a subjective thing. Let me mull it over some.

There was a pop-up version ofStephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (check out the touchstone).

She might like Peter Straub's Ghost Story... I'll see if I can come up with some more.

I just finished the book. I don't know if it's related to the TV show or not. The last third of the book was better than the middle, but overall it was just a so-so book.

The first third dealing with Vietnam does a great job of setting up the main character and gives the reader a better understanding of why he feels and acts the way he does in the present. He's basically a poor leader and this leads to a series of bad events occurring to those in his command. He encounters a evil creature (described as a vampire on the book cover, but it's not a traditional vampire) in human form who tries to enlist him in his evil army. His decisions help shape his present day character. This part of the book was great.

The middle part dealt with the character trying to keep himself from the temptations that were presented to him in the past. The character is a gambler and his actions were basically a series of gambles with his life.

In the third part, the character has to deal with modern day decisions, find his true self and decide whether or not to become totally corrupted as the temptation from the past arises again. There's the usual big baddie confrontation and the events of the battle were mentioned prior to the battle, so it wasn't a surprise.

Again, it's a decent book, but not a "must read".

Hey, you ought to tinker with that post a little and turn it into a review. I don't think Kindred has any reviews of yet.

Sounds like I won't seek it out, but if I come across it at Half Price Books I might pick it up.

Speaking of Half Price Books, has anybody read anything by Christopher Pike? I come across his books in the horror section all th time (especially The Cold One) and have been curious about him.

>16 jseger9000::

Pop-up Stephen King? How cool!

I haven't been reading too much horror, will get stuck back into it in the new year, but I do have a copy of Dracula's Guest on my bedside table, which I've been dipping into. Really enjoy old-fashioned short horror stories at this time of year.

>19 jseger9000:

Christopher Pike writes mostly YA stuff, I think. You might find him a bit ... girly for your tastes, but his books are really entertaining. I was obsessed with him when I was around 11 or 12. Never read any of his books for grownups, though....

angelikat,

You might try on a Repairman Jack book by F. Paul Wilson. The first one is The Tomb another possibility is a Dresden Files Book by Jim Butcher or for something lighter ,one of Christopher Moore's comic horror tales like Bloodsucking Fiends or A Dirty Job.

Jseger...I love you!!
I never knew that a pop-up Stephen King book even existed, Lauren will LOVE it! Actually, I kindda think it is cool too, I may have to get myself one.

quartzite, I checked out The Stupidest Angel on Wiki and love the premise, I think I want to get that too, but I noticed that the characters first appeared in other books. Do you know if this is a series or can it work as a stand alone book?

#23 - Wow, I'm blushing! Thanks!

As for Christopher Moore... I dunno. I read his first book (Practical Demonkeeping) and Bloodsucking Fiends. They are pleasant enough and you might crack a grin, but it always feels like Moore is trying too hard to be wacky for it to ever actually be funny. Like a friend who tells you jokes that are funny, but then keeps jabbing you with his elbow, saying 'Get it?'

I still think Moore's best book was Lamb. I cried with laughter. Since then, I've been trying to find one of his books that matches that one for sheer hilarity.

Another oddity that might make for a neat present (though not as cool as pop-up Tom Gordon) is the audio version of The Mist. Instead of a guy sitting in a studio reading you the story, they turned it into a dramatization, like the old time radio shows complete with sound effects and everything.

I second the audio version of The Mist. It's terrific...

I also feel much the same as jseger about Christopher Moore. While he does remind me of Terry Pratchett in a way, he's somehow weirder and not as funny. I don't really know how to explain this, but he's sort of like what Terry Pratchett would be if he grew up Seattle instead of England. He's just a little too earnest, like he's trying too hard. I did like Dirty Job very much, though. Fluke: or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings, not so much. Based on that list of authors, she should at least try Moore, though. (Don't know why it won't give me touchstones.)

I haven't read all of his stuff, so I don't what might have been before The Stupidest Angel

Sorry it's taken so long, but I finally got a chance to sit down and post on Offspring, the sequel to Off Season by Ketchum (wrong touchstones). Anyway, it wasn't bad, but not as good as the first one. It had too much motivation involved, if that makes any sense. Sometimes I don't want to know why people are doing crazy things, I just want to watch them do it. I guess that sounds wrong, but I got the feeling he was trying to justify things in this book and that seemed to deflate it a little.

After a break from reading his books, I just finished Richard Laymon's Night in Lonesome October. You can check out my review, but this wasn't one of my favorites Laymon books. Although the story was fun, the characters were a little too annoying. I'm sure I'll return to read another of his sometime.
Right now, I'm just starting Joe Schreiber's Chasing the Dead which looks really good.

#19: Christopher Pike is still one of my favorite writers, though I haven't read any of his newer stuff. As d2vge mentioned, most of his stuff is geared for the teen crowd; but even so, it doesn't really talk down to the reader. I'd give them a go if you want. I still love Remember Me (my first Christopher Pike book).

#6 - jseger9000 - I missed your question! I'm reading the original version. I read the expanded version when it came out, but I've never read the original.

#10 b nielson - I absolutely loved Duma Key! It is one of my favorite King books.

I'm nearing the halfway point of Fantomas. It's interesting, but the plot is so scattered, both in time and location, that it's making me a little nuts. Good thing I didn't try to read this on the airplane last week . . .

I'm actually between scary books at the moment, but since I'm new to the group, I thought I'd chime in and say Hello! I'm making my way through King's bibliography too and I wish I could join the group read, but I'm going *way* to slow for that (I rotate my readings through several bibliographies at the moment, so I don't make it through a King book a month). Next up for me is The Dark Half.

#34 - Scaifea,

Welcome to the group.

Hey, if you are up to The Dark Half and you are slow about it, maybe the group will catch up with you.

#32 - GeorgiaDawn,

We're reading Night Shift for January, strting The Stand in February. Are you skipping over Night Shift?

jseger9000: You'll probably catch up and pass me, as slow as I've been reading lately! Maybe I'll be a lurker until you do catch up with me, just to see what everyone thinks of the books I've read so far... OK, so where exactly do I find this group read?

Go to this group-http://www.librarything.com/groups/kingsdearconstantrea.

That is where the group read info can be found. Right now we are on The Shining. Here is the thread talking about a tenative 2009 reading schedule.
http://www.librarything.com/topic/50983

Welcome

I'm with scaifea - where is this group read? I might take part.

That's great, Moomin_mama. Join in!

Cal, I'm in! I'll be starting from January, rather than trying to catch up.

#36 jeseger - I will read NightShift. I had sort of forgotten about that one, but I do have it.

We hijacked the thread. I apologize!

To get the thread back on track, I am reading Odd Thomas for the first time. So far it's very good. I also want to read The Terror. I need to pull that one out of the TBR pile.

I liked Odd Thomas but I never got around to reading the rest of the series. Is the rest as good as the first?

Be careful, I think there are some serious Koontz haters in these parts. (HeHeHe)

Just curious, did anyone sign up for the SantaThing this year? It'd be great for like minded readers to pick each others books.

The Stephen King Flavor of the Month is located in the King's Dear Constant Reader group

Be careful, I think there are some serious Koontz haters in these parts. (HeHeHe)

Yeah, I'll just keep quite about that guy...

On the upshot, I've actually encouraged my wife to get back into reading Dean Koontz. She was a fan, but sharing my opinions kinda poisoned that well. I actually feel bad about it, especially since I read the equally indefensible Richard Laymon. It's a sickness, I know.

I like some of Koontz, but not all. So far I'm enjoying Odd.

I did sign up for SantaThing and the person I get to pick for has a library similar to mine. It's going to be fun picking for her!

Be careful, I think there are some serious Koontz haters in these parts. (HeHeHe)

I think we had a thread awhile back. I have to admit, although Koontz is one of those writers I'm never tempted to read (after having read only two of his novels), I did find Odd Thomas pretty entertaining.

I read the second Odd book, Forever Odd. Enjoyed it as much as the first and the third is on my list at the library. I'd stick with 'em if you liked the first one.

I liked the first Odd book, wanted the second one to be more like the first, by the third it was starting to read like the Koontz I don't love and the fourth was exactly like the Koontz I don't love.

Hmmm. That's unfortunate.

I find I either really like his books or am indifferent to them. So far the like has outweighed the indifferent so I try and read one every so often but I don't go out of my way.

Has anyone read The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons? I'm going to the library tomorrow to pick up The Haunting of Hill House and am thinking of picking it up. It has good reviews here.

Those are both great books cal8769, both are very good haunted house stories. They are very different from one another as far as how the hauntings manifest themselves, but they each pack a punch.

I'm excited to read Hill House, I've been waiting for a month for the library to get it back from someone who was overdue. Now I'm excited to read The House, too!

It's the holidays, so I'm giving Santa Steps Out by Robert Devereaux a go, especially after reading a couple reviews about it: http://www.librarything.com/work/95872/reviews/ . XD It just has nice, warm fuzzy feeling written all over it. ;)

I just read The House Next Door and I thought it was very good.

Well, I finished The Shining last night. Very good book, though I suppose that's no surprise.

I've started Monster Nation. I wasn't too impressed with its' predecessor Monster Island (I think it was a three star-er). David Wellington can write well enough, but the last book was a little too outlandish and comic book-y to me. If you are going to write about a zombie apocalypse, you need to try to ground it in reality as much as possible. Maybe he will do that better in this sequel.

Anyway, since I already bought all three books, I figure I owe it to myself to read 'em all.

I'm taking a 75 book challenge for 2009 (I don't really expect to meet it), so I hope I can wrap Monster Nation up by next Wednesday.

I had the same opinion of Monster Island, and I have yet to read the other two in the trilogy. I liked the concept, but something just wasn't right. His vampire series, I think, is excellent. The writing doesn't have that comic book-y feeling to it. I'll probably read the other two zombies novels sometime.

I'm almost done with The Haunting of Hill House and have Night Shift and The House Next Door waiting in the wings.

I am about 100pgs into Banquet For The Damned. The Touch by F. Paul Wilson and Carrie will most likely be the next reads.

Speaking of F. Paul Wilson, I picked up Midnight Mass. Anybody here read that yet?

I've read The Keep a couple of times. I never felt like that book was as good as the ideas behind it. Nazis+Vampires+Spooky Castle (or 'Keep') should = more fun. I think I just didn't groove on the whole 'Adversary Cycle' angle...

Yep, I read Midnight Mass a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. It's true vampires -- the bloodthirsty, violent ones -- not the brooding, eroticized ones. There is a different wrinkle in this one that involves some humans working with them.

Thanks for the info DG. Midnight Mass sounded promising, but the thumbs up from someone in the group is a big plus.

You know, for the longest time I was prejudiced against vampire stories. I realize now that what I really didn't like was the weepy, erotic Anne Rice/Twilight vampires.

I've read Midnight Mass by F. Paul Wilson too and liked it, though it's been too many years to remember what it was all about (other than vampires, obviously). And it's funny you mention not liking the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, because two of her books make the recommendation list for Midnight Mass. Go figure. ;) Anyway, good luck on your 75 book challenge, jseger. I'm doing that one, as well as the paranormal 999 challenge.

I'm reading Peeps I'm about 100 pages into it. So far it's not scary. dispels vampire lore with logic, lots of information on parasites and clever dialog.

Well, Monster Nation started better than Monster Island. Since it was a prequel, I figured it sort of gave David Wellington a chance to start over. At least I probably wouldn't be reading about those dumb mummy 'super zombies'.

The main human characters were at least a little more believable (and therefore more sympathetic), so that's a plus.

He still has to follow a 'smart zombie' (and the method that kept this one smart is so goofy to me it's ludicrous), but the book has more plusses than minuses. Or it did. I just finished part one. The smart zombie just turned invisible and had a psychic connection to that 'master zombie' from the previous book.

Oh well. I like Wellington's writing. It's just that he doesn't seem to understand what ingredients work well together. Or I'm missing his point. That's always a possiblilty too I guess.

reading The Summoning Bentley Little it reads a lot like Kings 'Salem's Lot so far

Oh, The Summoning... I have to reread that one some time.

I read The Summoning a couple of months ago. It was pretty good! I caught a lot of similarities to 'Salem's Lot too - especially in how the monster affects the townspeople - but I thought Little's conception of the vamp was pretty original.

it's fun for me as I grew up in the area, even had dreams about sneaking off and finding the lost dutchman mine, I'm starting to think every kid that lived there had the same plan.

I wrapped up Monster nation last night (I wanted a clean start for my 75 book challenge). It was a better book by all standards than Monster Island though some of his zombie traits still annoy. There were still super powers which I didn't like. But the characters were more believable and some of his worst excesses (super-mummies) never appeared.

I'll be reading Monster Planet since I've come this far, but I'm really looking forward to his 13 Bullets. I think he really is a terrific writer and want to see him do something besides zombies (you have a little more leeway when giving vampires super powers, so if he does that there it won't be so annoying).

I'm also looking forward to picking up his werewolf book Frostbite. I know I can read it online for free, but I'd like to support the guy.

Next book up is Logan's Run though that isn't really horror...

I picked up a copy of Let the Right One In on the recommendation of the same named thread, and I am not disappointed. I am at not quite halfway through the book yet, but it is very addictive. Can't wait to get a free moment to read some more.

I started The Traveling Vampire show

so far it's pretty good, I keep catching flashes of Something wicked this way comes only with a lot more fill.

I've got that one on my TBR stack somewhere. I hear it's Laymon's best book. Of course, that isn't saying a whole lot (that doesn't sound like it should be coming from someone who has every single book of his that Leisure has reissued, does it?).

Tell us whatcha think when you're done.

I have to hurry up and finish The Two Faces of Tomorrow (non-horror) so's I can get cracking on Night Shift for the SK group thingie.

I spent the day reading this, it started out like Something wicked this way comes only not as elegant. The story wandered, had some plot holes, gratuitous sex, with an unbelievable ending - as in, I can't believe he expects me to go along with this.

I guess Uncle Stevie has spoiled horror for me.

not to put anyone off, it kept me entertained.

I'm *so* behind on the SK group, I'm just gonna skip the Shinning (as I've read so many times) and go on to Night Shift

I'm just about to start Joyce Carol Oates' Zombie based on the recommendation of a few folks in the 75 Books Challenge group.

LOL not mine huh?

I'm am interested in what you think.

Well, you *are* in that group, and I didn't specify which *year*'s challenge group...8^}

I'm almost done with Night Bites: Vampire Stories by Women edited by Victoria A. Brownworth. I can't say it's the best vampire anthology I've ever read (not enough "blood and lust" like the front cover would lead you to believe); but I love reading new authors (I hadn't heard of any of them). Worth having a go if anyone's interested in light lesbian/feminist fiction.

I just started Already Dead by Charlie Huston which features a vampire tracking down and killing zombies.

I just finished Zombie Haiku today. It's not exactly scary, but since it's got zombies in it, I thought I'd mention it here. It's a cool little book; funny in some places and disturbing in others. I recommend it for zombie fans.

I've seen that little book at B&N (Zombie Haiku that is) but skipped by it not sure what to think. I'll have to check it out next time I'm there.

Well, I've started Stephen King's Night Shift. I've read a story here and there, but have never read the book cover to cover. Haven't even read some of the more famous stories at all (Children of the Corn, Quitters, Inc., Trucks) so it'll be fun seeing them come up.

Hi everyone. I'm new to the group. I've been a fan of horror since I was in my early teens. I'm trying to get back into reading horror; I'm a freelance book reviewer and oftentimes I'm so busy reading my "review" books that I don't have the opportunity to read books I "want" to read. I'm trying to sneak a few horror books in here and there. I've just started Black Cathedral and Drood.

Oooh, Drood. Is that the new one about Dickens? I hope you write a review of that. I'm curious about it. It's an interesting premise--it could be really good or it could be really stupid. Let us know what you think.

85-
Yes, that's the new one about Dickens. I'm only about 30 pages in, but I'm very optimistic. I will be writing a review--I received it from the publisher for this purpose.

#84/86, I'm interested in your opinion of Black Cathedral, too. I've never heard of the authors, but it looks interesting....

They had two other Leisure books: Shelter and Demon Eyes.

All of them sound interesting, but there isn't a lot of feedback on any of them.

I'm curious of Jens opinion as well.

I should be able to post my review of Black Cathedral by this weekend, and at least a partial review of Drood.

I really don't think there has been a Leisure book that I didn't like.

#89 - I really don't think there has been a Leisure book that I didn't like.

You must not have read Stranger or A Lower Deep then;)

I'm getting through Let the Right One In slower than I'd like.

Damned library and its damned load of graphic novels...

90-HA! No, I haven't read those!

Speaking of Leisure, does anyone have an opinion of Sarah Pinborough? I read an excerpt from Tower Hill and it seemed pretty good, but some of her other books look a little cheesy.

I just finished The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff a couple of days ago. It was pretty pulpy, with a ton of purple prose. I feel like I'm saying this all the time about books, but it reminded me of a teen horror movie. Once I got into it and forced myself to ignore the way she uses the word 'dank' inappropriately every two seconds, I really enjoyed it. I'm picking up her next one at the library this week.

While I haven't read any of Pinborough's work, I've heard excellent things about it. Most of her work is on my overflowing TBR shelf.

I had the same question about Sarah Pinborough last year. You can read that thread here if you're interested: http://www.librarything.com/topic/46302. I've read both The Taken and The Reckoning and enjoyed both and am planning to read Breeding Ground next. Tower Hill does look good. I recommend giving her a shot.

I just finished 13 Bullets and really had fun reading that. I'll certainly read through the other two in the trilogy soon.

Currently reading Bloodstone by Nate Kenyon. I'm about 2/3 of the way through and the author spends some time building up various characters and the town itself. Hopefully the last 1/3 is the payoff I'm anticipating it to be.

#93 - I've read The Hidden by Sarah Pinborough and remember liking it, though my mind blanks on the details. I liked it enough to pick up the rest of her books, which are all on my TBR pile.

#95 - Tell us what you think of Bloodstone. It's slow now, but how do you like the writing? I have that one and The Reach by him., but haven't yet read either

#96 - That's a good idea, because reading my post above gives the impression that I'm getting impatient.
I guess this is where people are coming from when they see influences by Stephen King on Nate Kenyon,s work here. I actually dislike the proliferation of comparisons to King as it is all too common these days. However, one of the reasons I enjoy King so much is that he takes the time and care to develop the setting. Not much happens, but you really get in touch with the characters and towns which enhances what they are going through as the story unfolds.
That is what Kenyon is doing here. And he's doing a pretty good job. He's established enough of an emotional connection that I hope things work out well for some of the characters.

I'm curious to see once you've finished Bloodstone if you would read The Reach.

#95, thanks timdt. I knew someone had asked about her, but for some reason I thought it was way more recently, in this thread. Should have searched a little deeper....

#91 - When you finish let me know what you think of Let the Right One In, I thought it was a great book, I am waiting for Lindqvist's zombie book to be translated. He did such an awesome job with vampires that I can't wait to see what he does with zombies!

LOL! an undead zombie pedophile oozing corpse juice with a permanent hard-on is just nasty, and you want more?

#98 - I'll be sure to follow up. I will say that early indications are that I will be reading The Reach.

#99 - I really liked Sarah Pinborough's writing. Well drawn out characters and good pacing to the story. Maybe it's a British influence, but she creates some really creepy settings.

As far as cheesy goes, the horror genre sure does have it's share of cheesy book covers. I find myself doubting the decision to read new authors, questioning whether the story inside is as bad as the cover indicates it might be or simply to be seen with such a book. I remember laughing after reading a post (I think by jseger) cringing at the thought of whipping out Simon Clark's Vampyrrhic in public. Do others feel the same way?

102-
I read while on business trips. To get my coworkers to stop questioning me about my reading choices, I bought these nifty "book covers" called hardbackers. You put them over your paperback book and esssentially it turns it into a hardback. They are reusable. The site is www.hardbacker.com

#101
I have never read about an undead zombie pedophile oozing corpse juice with a permanent hard-on before, it was at least inventive rather than your stock undead zombie oozing corpse juice. It is the inventiveness that gives it flavor ;)

yeah, now that you mention it I'm kinda curious to see what he does with zombies too. ;)

#101: What the--?! :D That one certainly got my attention. What book is that from?

#103: Oh, I like. Thanks for sharing. :)

I will say that as I read Vampyrrhic

and another one I liked Midsummer

I sorta had to hold the book with my palm covering the cover when coworkers walk by. The funny thing is, sometimes those cheesy covers make me as a fan stop and think: I kinda want to read that book. I had that recently with the already discussed Nate Kenyon's Bloodstone


Just because I say it's cheesy doesn't mean I dislike it.

Saraslibrary,

we're talking about Let the right one in John Ajvide Lindqvist. excellent horror book.

Ah. Thanks, beeg. It would probably help if I paid attention and read previous posts. ;)

107--

I love that Bloodstone cover. Have you actually read the book? Is it as good as it looks?

I am currently reading Vampires by John Steakley. I wasn't too sure about it initially, but it's grown on me as I've been reading. His style takes a couple of chapters to get into. Also, I know this is a horror thread, but has anyone read Armor by Steakley?

#110 - Timdt is currently reading Bloodstone. I haven't read it yet, but want to. I agree on the cover. Pretty cheesy, but that's one of those 'Oh, I have to read that one!' covers.

(I'm sort of cross=posting from another thread now) I also just picked up Infected and Let the Right One In. So many books, so little time.

#111 - I read Armor by Steakley quite a few years ago. You will not be disappointed if you like military scifi. It is gritty and runs a similar vein as STARSHIP TROOPERS.

I've never read anything by John Steakley, but love the John Carpenter film adaptation of Vampire$. Since I also like big robot/powered armor battles, I'm betting I'd enjoy both his books.

Anyone know why the guy wrote two novels, both well regarded and then seemed to disappear? I ought to see if he was a pseudonym or something.

That would be my guess, jseger. Can't think of any other reason.

I found his website. He lives here in Texas and claims to be writing Armor 2. Otherwise, there's not much there. The last post was from 2006. There's a forum, but I didn't bother checking it out. Check it out if you'd like: The Official Unofficial John Steakley Site

I started Dan Simmons' Song of Kali today. This is actually a re-read, though I have to admit after not reading Simmons for several years and then reading The Hollow Man--which was kinda bad--I was worried it might not live up to my recollections.

Well, can't say just yet if it will or not, but I love the opening: Some places are too evil to be allowed to exist. Some cities are too wicked to be suffered.

#110 & 112
The cover of Bloodstone also drew me to want to read the book. That, as well as the reviews and high praise of his books. And it didn't dissapoint. This was one of the better books I've read recently. Very well developed cast of characters, the building suspense of the story and a finish worthy of the praise. I'd recommend this without reservation and will definitely be reading his follow up.

As I've said before, LT is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing being all of the contributions to my ever growing TBR. The curse being all of the contributions to my ever growing TBR. I feel as if I'm eating an elephant and don't know where to start. The latest being Let the Right One In. I can't wait to get my hands on that book. It looks very good.

I just finished World War Z Max Brooks it's the best book I've read in a while.

World War Z, yet another that's been in my TBR forever and a day.

Well, I should be reading The Stand for the Stephen King group, but first I'm going to take a chance on a book from a new author: Marcus Pelegrimas. The book is called Blood Blade and looks to be the first in a series. I don't usually pick up series books, because it feels like the author is just gonna milk it for all he can.

But what the heck. I like to give new horror authors a chance. Especially when their first release is a direct-to-paperback job. And I admit that the super cheesy cover drew me in.

I read the prologue which I liked quite a bit. I'm in the middle of the first chapter (I started it at a doctors office, so had to stop suddenly when I was called in) and the fact that the main guy is a video game designer is kinda corny, but not fatal.

Hey Carlos,

How goes Song of Kali? I have that one myself, but have sort of avoided reading it as I've heard it's pretty brutal. (Touchstone's not working. I'll try to edit my post later.)

jseeger, it is pretty grim. Simmons does a pretty good job of making Calcutta sounds like the most godawful place imaginable. Except for a few passages, the violence is mostly implicit. This is actually the second or third time I've read it, so this time I think I was more disturbed by Simmons' politics than all the violence.

#122 - this time I think I was more disturbed by Simmons' politics than all the violence.

Oh! Now you've got me wanting to know what exactly that means! Can you tell without it acting as a spoiler to the book?

It's actually pretty subtle, and I might not have been so conscious of it if I hadn't read a different book on India prior to it. It's a pretty one-sided view of India as a barbaric, backwards country. I was on the fence for a while as to whether or not I was being oversensitive or a PC thug.

Since it is a horror novel, there's no reason that Simmons should have to create a balanced impression. Every Indian character is obnoxious, treacherous or both--but if they were all nice, it wouldn't make for much of a horror story. He does go an extra step of staging a conversation about Indian cultural disfunction, which is structured to have the last word be: "India is a barbaric, backwards country."

It's relatively subtle, and now I almost feel bad mentioning it, since it's the kind of thing that I could see dampening someone's enjoyment of the novel.

Just finished Offspring by Jack Ketchum. It turned out to be a lot better than I was expecting based on the cover and description.

#125 - Have you read Off Season? If so, how did the two compare?

I finished reading Black Cathedral this weekend. It was...ok. I think it ended rather abruptly.

Now I'm reading Kitty and the Midnight Hour. I'm doing a blog tour on Vaughns two newest and I'm trying to quickly catch up!

I'm also still reading Drood. It's quite a hefty book, not as easy to carry around as the others I am reading.

By the Sword by F. Paul Wilson which is pretty good so far.

#126 - No I haven't read Off Season, this is the first book of Ketchum's that I've read. I think I'll try some of his other stuff though.

I'm still hacking away at The Most Evil Women in History by Shelley Klein. It's not exactly horror, but I figured it fit in the whole dark vein. Imo, there are probably dozens of more evil women than these--Agrippina the Younger, Aileen Carol Wuornos, Audrey Marie Hilley, Catherine the Great, Elena Ceausescu, Grace Marks, Karla Homolka, Lizzie Borden, Mary Ann Cotton, Marie Noe, Myra Hindley, Queen Ranavalona I, Rosemary West, Tz'u-hsi, Valeria Messalina--but my brain is frazzled. Any nominations for "most evil women in history" (besides family and exes, of course ;)?

#129 - Offspring is a sequel to Off Season. I haven't read it myself, so I can't say how the two compare, but I would highly recommend giving Off Season a spin. If you pick up the reissue Leisure books put out, the novel is followed by another pretty good short story called Winter Child.

Okay, I have railed against Dean Koontz for ages, and I really can't stand his style, but a friend of mine simply forced me to to read Odd Thomas, and I'm about a third of the way through and really enjoying it. Somehow the fact that it's in first person makes Koontz's style easier to stomach--as if the cutesy hard-boiled detective prose is a characteristic of the narrator instead of Koontz himself...

I just started Strange Angels by Kathe Koja. It's been a little tough starting. So many sentence fragments!!!

#132 - On Dean Koontz... well, let's be civil and just say I'm not a fan of his style either. Anhow, my wife used to read his books but got burned out on him. I have picked up Odd Thomas for her though, based on the recommendations from this group.

Koontz doesn't seem to have a lot of fans here, but Odd Thomas seems to have nothing but good stuff said about it.

#133 - Kathe Koja is one of those authors I know I need to try one day. Is Strange Angels the first of her books you've read?

I wanted to try that book she wrote about some guys that find a black hole. The Cipher I think?

#131 Off Season was definitely better than Offspring.

#134--I read Extremities a while back, but I barely remember it. (Except for the one story about the woman with the neighbor carrying on with a demon.)

I read Castaways (Keene, obviously; something weird going on with the touchstones) Wednesday night. Review posted.

Interrupted Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All to read that. Interesting having those going side-by-side.

Currently awaiting a big box of fun from Amazon, which shipped three days before Castaways.

#133: It's been too many years for me to wholly remember Strange Angels, but I gave it 4 stars, so I must have liked it somewhat. :) All I remember is it's more psychological than spooky horror; and the back cover synopsis isn't accurate at all--no angels here.

#132 & 134: Well, I think I'm probably one of the few Koontz fans here--or at least I admit to it. ;) I keep hearing good things about his Odd series as well. In fact, I have a coworker who hates horror, but she really loves the series, so that says something. I just need to find some copies of it. And yes, jseger, you're right--The Cipher is the one about a black hole.

#137: :D Very interesting duo, goydaeh. I got a kick out of the last title; I almost thought it was a really bad zombie novel.

Re: Koontz--I'd add myself to the list of people who don't really care for Koontz but enjoyed Odd Thomas, whose major strength is the main character and his friends. It didn't really tempt me to read the rest of the series; I can see why people like Koontz' work, but I just don't have the same reaction.

I also wanted to mention that I finally wrote up my review to Song of Kali if anyone is interested. I've also written blog post in which I go into a little more detail about the novel's racism, in case anyone is interested in my somewhat digressive thoughts on that.

nice job, now it's moved up to the next slot after I finish Swan Song

To Dream of the Dead by Phil Rickman

I'm 187 pages into Swan Song only 769 left to go. So far it's excellent, not moving fast, but not bogging down.

Finished and reviewed both Let the Right One In and Castaways by Brian Keene. I really enjoyed both but for different reasons. LTROI was bleak and emotional and you were rewarded by the exploration of what it may be like live as an outcast and what you may do to continue to exist, both human and otherwise.

Castaways was just a fun read. Fast and gory.

I'm on to Nate Kenyon's The Reach.

edited. I apologize, but touchstones aren't working well so i took them off.

Just started a book called War Lord by John Shirley. It's a tie-in to the Hellblazer comic series. I really enjoy the comics, so I'm hoping the novel is as good.

I've looked into War Lord and Subterranean, but haven't picked them up yet. I do have the Constantine novelization that John Shirley wrote though. Tell us what you think of the book.

Have you heard of Mike Carey's very Hellblazer-ish Felix Castor novels? I have the first one (The Devil You Know) but haven't read it yet.

Finished off The Girl Next Door last night. Probably starting Jake's Wake next.

#145 - Speaking of the Constantine novelization, I'm reading War Lord and cam across an interesting section. Constantine in the book is describing an alternate universe version of himself that matches up nicely with the movie version played by Keanu. I just thought that it was a clever workaround. The book is decent so far, I'll have to reserve final judgment until I'm finished

#147 - I read about that when I was reading the reviews for War Lord. Both were written by John Shirley, so it seems like he was making a cute in-joke on himself.

After reading your post #144, I went and ordered War Lord and Subterranean. I was able to find 'em both brand new for about $2.50, so no big financial investment. (Well, after shipping I guess I paid nearly cover price.)

I feel bad that all the John Shirley I have is his tie-in stuff (his Aliens book; the Doom novelization, which I honestly liked; his Constantine novelization and now I have those two Hellblazer novels ordered). At some point I'll have to read his original stuff. I've heard good things about his Black Butterflies collection.

Just gotta recommend The Book of Lists: Horror, to everyone. Really fun book. I'm trying to read it slowly 'cos I don't want it to end. How's that for a recommendation?!

page 489 half way through Swan song still good...

#149: Oh, that does look good. Thanks for the recommendation, Pete. I'll have to look for that tomorrow when I'm at work.

Just finished Jake's Wake. Really slow start (almost abandoned it), really good finish. Skim the first 200 pages.

I'm listening to Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, which I'm getting into. Bradbury's style is interesting. At first I found it kind of overwritten, then I started getting into it but started getting this sense of dèjá vu. I finally figured it out, and strange as it sounds, Bradbury's style is very reminiscent of William Faulkner. (Interestingly, both this novel and The Sound and the Fury derive their titles from Macbeth.) I'm about a third of the way through, and it's got a nicely creepy atmosphere going.

I'm listening to Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, which I'm getting into. Bradbury's style is interesting. At first I found it kind of overwritten, then I started getting into it but started getting this sense of dèjá vu. I finally figured it out, and strange as it sounds, Bradbury's style is very reminiscent of William Faulkner. (Interestingly, both this novel and The Sound and the Fury derive their titles from Macbeth.) I'm about a third of the way through, and it's got a nicely creepy atmosphere going.

I remember loving the Disney movie of Something Wicked This Way Comes, but couldn't get in to the book myself. Now that I'm older I probably should give it another go.

Ditto on the movie, jseger. I have the book; I just keep passing it by.

Something wicked This Way Comes with Jason Robards was a Disney movie? Who knew? Am I remebering the same flick? I loved it too but wouldn't have guessed it was Disney.

peoples, the book rocks, the movie is great, do both!

Yeah, I know. I thought the same thing, klarsenmd. And yes, it was a Disney movie. I wonder if they'll ever remake it.

Personally, I'm a little ashamed to say it in this particular forum, but I prefer the movie. I think it's more cohesive and fully realized, and I think Jason Robards actually brings something to the character that's not quite there in the book.

Plus, Jonathan Pryce was never creepier. He could have stood to channel a little Mr. Dark into his James-Bond-villain role...

I just finished reading Drood. Great book. Don't let the size overwhelm you! I'm giving away a copy on my blog: http://jennsbookshelf.blogspot.com/.

I just finished it a couple days ago as well. It was a pretty quick read for me, especially given the page count. Well worth the time!

It's funny. I remember seeing the previews for the movie quite a bit and being really intrigued, but somehow I never got around to watching it. I may have to hunt it down now that I'm reading the book.

And to Disney's credit, they did come up with the favorite genre picture of my childhood: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, which I will say, without qualms, is better than the book.

I'm still churning through the (earlier, 'edited' version of) The Stand for the Stephen King group.

I just finished the first book: 'Captain Trips' which I remember being my favorite part of the novel the last time I read it.

I'm enjoying the book more than I was expecting to. (I remembered not liking it so much on my first read through some time in high school.) I still prefer a straight-up horror story to this 'dark fantasy' stuff, but The Stand is better than most dark fantasy I've read.

Last Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, I wonder if it really will be the last

Just finished Pet Sematary by Stephen King. I thought it was great. I cannot believe I had never read this book before. It is a little masterpiece of horror.

#165 - Have you already read the other three Night Watch books? If so, how'd you like them? I haven't read any of them, but did see the first movie. It was beautifully done, but left me cold in the end.

#166 - I think Pet Sematary is one of King's absolute best...

I've read all of them and enjoy them, though I don't consider them horror exactly, but more what call, to myself anyway, "supernatural law enforcement", they have nice wheels-within-wheels types of plots.

I'm reading After Twilight-Walking with the Dead by Travis Adkins (touchstones not working).

#161 & 162: Yeah, I keep hearing good reviews of Drood, but I have no clue what it's about. I'll have to have a look-see.

#170 - All those indie-zombie novels (mostly from Permuted Press) grab my interest. But I'm nervous about investing the $$$ on what seems like a self published book.

Have you already read After Twilight's prequel: Twilight of the Dead? If so, how was it? If not, I'd like to hear your opinion of After Twilight.

172-
No, I didn't read the prequel..didn't realize there was one until I was halfway through the book. After Twilight is good...nice and gory in some parts, but not too gory.

ok now I'm confused, which one should I read first?

Twilight of the Dead will explain the story from the beginning, so I would suggest you read that one first. I would have, had I known it existed. However, you can get away with reading After Twilight without reading its prequel.

thanks! that's *exactly* what I wanted to know.

#175 - I thought you got the After Twilight touchstone working! (Until I clicked on the link...)

Well, I finally finished Something Wicked This Way Comes. I thought it was pretty good, in part because I just have a fondness for Bradbury's somewhat loopy use of language. However, it's not particularly horrific, more of a kid's book I would say--YA as they call it nowadays. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

#178 - That's pretty much exactly how I felt about it. It was much more "YA" than I was expecting.

I just read Lost Echoes and enjoyed it a lot. Is there a sequel?

Reading The Terror by Dan Simmons and it's not scary at all so far. It's an interesting read though - I think it would appeal to people who enjoyed Moby Dick ( like myself). However it's way more modern in tone and fast paced. 'm finding that I quite like it.

181-
I'm about 3/4 of the way through Terror...the scary parts come, but not nearly as scary as I was expecting. I'm listening to the audiobook version..good stuff!

I read Locke and Key last night. It's interesting and quick with very creepy artwork. I've never been a comic book or magna fan, but because it was Joe Hill I picked it up. certainly this wouldn't appeal to everyone, but it was fun and different.

#183: I liked the story but hated the artwork. Why does the teenage son look like a college football player?

Just started The Atrocity Archives, and it's good so far. It's listed as science fiction, but it's definitely in the horror, "weird fiction" tradition.

I just started Vampyrrhic like only 11 pages ago.

Atrocity Archives looks pretty good.

beeg, it's been a while, but I remember really liking Vampyrrhic. But the cover was sooooooo cheesy (naturally, that is what cause me to pick it up).

um yes the cover has high cheese factor

I am reading a Japanese horror story writer named Rampo. His story "The Chair" is truly frightening. A man becomes obsessed with a woman who gives him the cold shoulder. So he creates a chair, quite carefully, in which he can hide himself, and arranges to have the chair sold to the woman. He is then able to observe her, feel her, all without her knowledge. The very idea is chilling. That's Rampo.

I read that. Disturbing!

Just finished writing my review for After Twilight:Walking With the Dead. Very good! A must read for zombie fans!

#191 - jenlaw,

I couldn't find your review for After Twilight. Have you not posted it yet?

ditto

Doh! Wrote it but didn't post it...doing it now :)

That book sounds like a lot of fun. Seems more like a comic book than a horror story though. I think I'll order the first book.

One of the neat things about it are the newspaper clippings and reports that are added between each of the chapters. It's a very good book!

I am reading Bloodstone by Nate Kenyon-the writing is pretty good but the plot seems cheesy.

I have Bloodstone floating around here somewhere and wanted to add it to my Paranormal 999 Challenge, but I'm not sure if it contains ghosts, psychics, etc (those are some of my categories for the challenge). Anyone?

And I would share my current reading list, except it's mainly chic horror (aka paranormal romances) and I just know how much everyone loves that here. ;) (Still curious? They're on my profile page.)

saraslibrary - I don't want to give too much away, but Bloodstone is more of an ancient evil taking possession type of thing. I enjoyed it very much.

I'm currently reading Ravenous by Ray Garton. He puts his own spin on the werewolf and I'm enjoying it despite the cover art.

I just finished Headstone City by Tom Piccirilli. I really like his lyrical style of writing, but I've not read a book by him that really draws me to read more of his books. He's more of a noir, crime fiction, myster/thriller writer with some supernatural elements. Has anyone hear read any of his books? Maybe I should try some of his southern gothic books like November Mourns or A Choir of Ill Children. I really do like his style of writing.

@199

Hereby theorizing that the quality of a horror novel is inversely proportional to the quality of the cover art.

Finished Ravenous. I enjoyed most of it and really got into some of the characters and story, but then was left unsatisfied at the end. I know there is a sequel coming out called Bestial, but I'm not certain I'll follow this story.
I do want to read some of Ray Garton's Live Girls and The New Neighbor but had to settle on Ravenous as those others were not available at the time.
BTW, the cover art was simply a picture of a wolf. An angry wolf, but still just a wolf. I would have liked for it to be something more ominous, depicting the supernatural creature itself instead of a picture of wildlife.

Just finished the The Atrocity Archives. Going to start The Wolf's Hour by Robert R. McCammon next.

I've heard so much good stuff about The Wolf's Hour and have liked the stuff I've read by McCammon (The Night Boat and Baal), but for some reason I just think that book won't be my thing.

it's been years since I've read it, dunno if it holds up but it was my favorite - love the premise.

#199: Thanks for the description of Bloodstone. I don't think it'll fit into any of my Paranormal categories, but I'll still add it to my 2009 TBR pile.

I've never read any of Tom Piccirilli's novels (though I have The Deceased; another TBR book), but I've read a couple of his short stories in 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories and just recently in Stranger by Night (that one is definitely memorable with such a sick, twisted ending).

I tried A Lower Deep by Tom Piccarilli.

The premise was promising and I liked the black magic/sorcery vibe it had quite a bit. (I'd like to find more black magic stories. It feels like we're all to PC about witch craft any more. I understand the wiccans and all, but man it makes for some good scary stuff.)

But I remember it felt like the sequel to some book that he just hadn't published. I also remember that something about the writing was a turn-off, but don't remember what it was. Maybe I'll try it again some time.

#201 - I liked the cover of Ravenous (the only Ray Garton book I own. Like you I'd like to try Live Girls but just haven’t picked it up yet).

I see what you mean about wishing they had tried to depict a werewolf, but since Leisure tends to use photo-collage for their covers we probably would have wound up with a cheesy cover something like the one on Wolf's Trap.

#206: I never really thought about that (less black magic novels with more awareness of religions like Wicca). I guess writers just have to do their homework and realize that being a witch isn't necessarily a bad thing (though there are wackjobs in every religion, imho). I never really got into black magic/sorcery stories, probably because I kept reading all the really bad ones. ;) Witch Spell by Guy N. Smith pops into my head (he's kind of a guilty pleasure writer of mine), as well as Shadow People by Helen DesErmia (which is really for more devout Christians than anyone else).

#207: Ha! What is it with you guys and finding some of the worst covers? I remember some really bad ones from the 80s. I just wish more LTers would scan 'em so I could point them out. Wolf's Trap pretty cheese-worthy, but so is the clown book you mentioned in a previous message: A Lower Deep. Clowns just don't do it for me, I guess. :)

#208 - Wolf's Trap pretty cheese-worthy, but so is the clown book you mentioned in a previous message: A Lower Deep. Clowns just don't do it for me, I guess. :)

Yeah, that cover was pretty bad. I never read far enough into the book to figure out what (if any) connection it had to the story.

Just so you know, I scan every cringe inducing cover I have if there isn't already a good example of it in LT's database. Try looking up.... Oh! I'm blanking on the name.... I'll edit the post in a sec.

Okay, give a gander to Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. (Can't touchstone it. Probably because I'm the only moron who owns a copy. You'll have to search my library for it.) Anyway, the book seems terrible, but I saw that gaudy cover and knew it MUST BE MINE! I even made as high a quality scan as I could so others could revel in it.

The Wolf's Hour doesn't seem to really be horror, more of a spy/war story with fantastic elements. So far it's been a nice one to read back-to-back with The Atrocity Archives. Both are stories dealing with the British government's clandestine dealings with the supernatural. Good stuff.

#'s 206 - 209 - The cover art for A Lower Deep is what Leisure used for a while in that cardboard insert of every book. That's one Piccirilli I'm not very interested in though. For some reason his books draw me to keep trying more.

I'll take the Ravenous cover over Wolf's Trap. Ewww. That's not cheesy, that just not...good.

I found Live Girls in a used paperback store here in Jacksonville, so I'll be reading that soon.

Right now I'm reading Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry and I have to say 100 pages in and I'm hooked. I really enjoyed his Pind Deep Trilogy, so I have high expectations.

LOL! Omg, this one, jseger?



Yeah, it's all you. ;) Thanks for scanning it! That is truly . . . something else. :D Now I'll have to dig around in my awful collection and find some ugly covers, too.

#212 - Ha! That's the one! It's hard for me to believe I'm the only member with that 'winner' in my library.

#211 - I'm wanting to pick up Patient Zero, but hoping Pinnicle will publish it as a mass market paperback. Do you think the three Pine Deep novels were it as far as his contract with them went?

I don't know, jseger; it's not too hard for me to believe that. Maybe no one wants to admit they own it. ;) A few of my favorite bad book covers in my library are Black Death by R. Karl Largent (probably because half the cover is a tagline: "Fear the Flesh-eating Bacteria" and it goes on), The Foundling by Frank Lauria, Freak Show by F. Paul Wilson, basically anything by Guy N. Smith, and Spook Night by David Robbins (sorry, but pumpkins are not scary). And I always get a kick out of kids' horror books (like the Goosebumps/Fear Street series by R. L. Stine, as well as Deadtime Stories by A. G. Cascone). Sometimes the worse the cover, the more I want to read it, because I can't stop giggling.

Aside from really bad covers, I love some of the dumbass titles of the romance novels we have donated to our library. My favorite so far is The Virgin Bride Said, "Wow!".

P.S. Here are some really bad--and hilarious!--romance covers/titles. How do they get away with printing that stuff?? XD

Man, thanks for the laugh! It took me a while to figure out at least some of the titles and taglines had been fiddled with. I wasn't sure until Okay, You're Taller Than Me... Happy, Now?

There's actually a blog dedicated to bad covers: Judge a Book by its Cover

Can I tell you I wish The Virgin Bride Said, "Wow!" had at least ONE review?

No problem. :) Yeah, I was a little s-l-o in realizing that too. I probably should've mentioned most of them were altered.

I love that Judge a Book by its Cover site! Thanks for mentioning it. I'm now a "loyal minion".

If you're really, really, really dying to read a review of The Virgin Bridge Said, "Wow!", I found one at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Virgin-Lockharts-Harlequin-American-Romance/dp/0373168705/... . Apparently, Cathy Gillen Thacker has a whole slew of bad "The Bride Said . . ." titles.

Oh, and another bad cover from my library:



Ah, gotta love it. Werewolves and Satanists? Who knows. I haven't read it yet.

#213 - I'm not sure about his Pinnicle contract. I do know that I was disappointed when I saw that Patient Zero was not published as mass market paperback. I had kind of assumed it would be. I had been looking forward to it for so long that I bought it anyway.

So weird. I went book shopping today and found a copy of A Lower Deep by Tom Piccirilli (mentioned above), so I'll flip through it when I can. My TBR pile is a nightmare right now.

I wasn't sure about posting this here, because I'm not really sure if I'd classify it as horror, but I'm reading a fun book called Demon Download by Jack Yeovil (aka: Kim Newman). It's total 'cult fiction' (for lack of a better term), sort of cyberpunk meets horror via The Road Warrior.

An undercover secret agent/nun is out to stop a demonic computer virus that is attempting to take over the internet. All this in a world where religious biker cults roam the Southwest, a group of (Satanic? Worshipers of Cthulhu?) 'Mormons' run Utah (now dubbed 'Deseret') and former president Charlton Heston(!) has reformed the cavalry.

It's all silly fun, but after a shaky start the book is living up to its promise.

Kim Newman wrote four books in this series and in the fourth (Comeback Tour) Elvis is a bounty hunter.

LMAO! Santanic Mormons?? Omg, good stuff. Thanks for sharing. :D

(I think I have a Jack Yeovil book. Somewhere. Now I want to go have a look-see at it.)

Haven't read a whole Yeovil book, but I thought "Big Fish" (featured in Shadows Over Innsmouth) is a brilliant mash-up of Lovecraft and Raymond Chandler.

Well finished The Terror. I must say after a good beginning, I'm seriously underwhelmed. Oh well, hopefully Drood will be better, if it ever finally arrives from bloody Amazon.com.

222-I thought Drood was much better than Terror.

Both Drood and The Terror are near the top of my tbr pile. I think I'll read The Terror and listen to Drood. We'll see.

Right now I'm reading London under Midnight by Simon Clark. I've never read anything by him before and started this one after I read a good review of Vengeance Child. My library doesn't have Vengeance Child yet, so I went with what it did have - the vampire story. I'm really not in to vampires and I didn't realize that was what London under Midnight was until I started reading. Oh, well. It's only around 200 pages, so I'll go ahead and finish it.

#223 jenlaw77 - That's encouraging to know. So far I've been sipping Drood a little at a time (it's so huge and intimidating looking). I've liked what I've read so far.

I have Secret Story by Ramsey Campbell lined up next.

I'm anxious to hear what you think of Secret Story. I read one book by Ramsey Campbell. The Face That Must DIe BBBRRRRR

I'm 75 pages into The town that forgot how to breath Kenneth J. Harvey

Holy cats it's creepy, in a nice slow where is this going kinda way....

Oh man, I've had The Town That Forgot How to Breathe on my bedside table forever. I just couldn't decide if I should dip into it or not. I hope you whip up a review of that one when you finish it!

227 & 228-Sounds like a good one! Just mooched it...yet another book to add to my TBR pile! :)

Wow, everyone should read it just for the cover alone. Creepy!

*tosses on the TBR pile*

>230 cal8769::
Is that the one with what looks like a doll's head on it, black and white? Yep, on my tbr pile too (recently mooched).

Page 227, still creepy, still no idea where it's going and I'm worried there's going to be a big let down at the end, I have no idea how he can keep this up. The writing is excellent, I'm trying hard not to read it too fast, but I have a feeling I'll be ignoring everything else until I finish this book.

>231 Moomin_Mama: Yep, that's it!

>232 beeg: We are cheering you on. We need to know what you think of it. Maybe you should call in sick tomorrow.

heh, good thing I'm the boss :)

I knew I'd talked about The Town That Forgot How to Breathe on here before. There's a dormant thread on here with that as the title.

The thread sort of got derailed as we started talking about the proper order of the Ring series for some reason, but there's a nice longish post where d2vge gives his (her?) opinion on The Town That Forgot How to Breathe.

I just started Afraid by Jack Kilborn.

jseger

yup, I remember that thread it's where I got the book from.

I just finished it, I'll try to review it but I'm not making any promises. I can tell you it's very good, worth the time, and I totally enjoyed it. It's not Stephen King, more Straub if I had to make a comparison. Excellent writing, I'm going to look up what else he's written. I would also classify it as horror.

I just started The Dead Zone. I like it quite a bit so far, but then it's Stephen King so that's kind of a given.

I'm looking forward to the next few months of the SK Flavor of the Month 'club' because although I've read most of his books, I've never read The Dead Zone, Cujo (I started it once on a flight, but just couldn't get into it) and Firestarter. It's funny, all three of those books fall in a row (actually I think Danse Macabre falls between Cujo and Firestarter, but close enough).

>238 jseger9000::
Same for me - never read The Dead Zone before, nor Firestarter (nor Christine for that matter), and although I read Cujo once (on holiday, but not on the flight!) I didn't enjoy it, didn't get into it at all.

I thought Christine and Cujo were excellent reads, with special consideration for Christine. I have not read Firestarter yet.

I was lucky enough to read Christine right around when I got my first car at 16, and it certainly made an impression on me.

The Dead Zone I have read twice and I couldn't quite get into it both times. It seemed a little dry to me and too much blah-blah. It is probably one of my least favorite of his, along with The Tommyknockers

I remember loving The Tommyknockers when I read it. But it gets so much bad press from the fans. I wonder what I'll make of it when we read it.

I agree. I read The Tommyknockers years ago and really liked it. Granted I was probably 15 at the time, but I still can't wait until it rolls around on the SK reading group.

#240, 241 & 242 - This one seems to be on many lists as one of the least liked King books. It's been 20 plus years since I read The Tommyknockers and I remember really enjoying it for about half the book. I can't recall why but the rest of the book was a chore and now I consider this to be one of Stephen Kings books that I least like. But since I cannot remember why that is, I should read it again.

Pottering along with Drood. As with The Terror, it's not very scary at all. It is interesting though.

So I finally finished Afraid by Jack Kilborn. Highly recommended. It's got gore, suspense...all the things I like in a horror novel.

You shoulda touchstoned Afraid. Sounds good, so I'm gonna go look it up (if I can handle the whole extra click required). (Okay, I tried touchstoning it myself. Looks like it isn't one of the choices available. A thousand apologies.)

I'm wrapping up The Dead Zone today or tommorrow. The writing is excellent (as I expect from Stephen King), but the structure of the book is off somewhere. It sort of feels like maybe it was a short story that was expanded by introducing a serial killer to the middle. Good book still, but I can see why it doesn't rank with the top percentage of his books.

Afraid sounds pretty good. My local Borders has a copy in stock and I have $15.00 in credit there. jenlaw, you recommendation sealed the deal!

Hey, I was reading up on it and Jack Kilborn is a pseudonym for J. A. Konrath. Looks like the Konrath books are detective stories though.

246-You are forgiven..I touchstone when I can :)

Just starting Boneman's Daughters by Ted Dekker. I've heard AMAZING things about this book. I participated in a blog-talk radio show with the author on Monday. He's an author that has a real passion about writing. He doesn't just do it for the money.

Started Wilding by Melanie Tem the other day, and I'm really liking it. Great atmosphere and worth a peek if you're into werewolves. (I've only read her short stories, so this is my first novel by her. Probably won't be my last.)

I just finished the incredibly creepy We Have Always Lived in the Castle. There were some passages where I really felt like, man, Shirley Jackson must have had ice water running through her veins. The horror is mostly psychological but brilliantly done.

I've also got Duma Key on audiobook. I've only gotten to chapter five, so I'm hoping something interesting happens soon.

Carlos,

you might like The sister Poppy Adams it's not really like we have always lived in the Castle, but there are some parallels. From what I remember the story was decent, and same amount of ice water running through the writers veins.

Man, Carlos has just finished reading Shirley Jackson and I'm here to report that I've started Operation: Roswell - science fiction/horror based around the Roswell 'crash'. I really oughta raise my standards.

Just finished Night in the Lonesome October. Not bad, a little too long for what it is. It's really hard to take Laymon seriously when you have the mandatory sex scene every 25 pages, no matter how terribly inopportune it is.

It's really hard to take Laymon seriously when you have the mandatory sex scene every 25 pages, no matter how terribly inopportune it is.

I just finished reading a western like that!

It's been a while since I've read a Laymon book. I ought to give another one a crack. (Though I guess Night in the Lonesome October may not be the place to go.)

#254 and 255 - I've been having an urge to read another Laymon book lately myself. I really enjoy most of his that I've read, I just need to space them apart. Night in the Lonesome October wasn't one of my favorite Laymon books. The thing about Night in the Lonesome October was the over the top sophomoric logic and actions of the characters. That's true for most of his books, but especially true of this one. It drove me crazy. But it was a fun read.

I'm finishing up The Backwoods by Edward Lee. I've read he is considered one of the extreme, hardcore horror writers. He certainly has some extreme scenes of violence and sex (rape) but I'm finding the book a bit slow.

I've been off of horror books lately and read a few of Joe R. Lansdale's more maintream books. Leather Maiden was very good. Lost Echoes wasn't quite as good.

My next book is one I found here called Breathers: A Zombie's Lament. Sort of a zombie love story. Sounds interesting.

Ed Lee is hit or miss with me. I didn't think too much of The Backwoods, thought Slither was average, but really enjoyed Flesh Gothic. I think I'm in the minority on the last one however. I really liked his story from Triage, although many view that as the weakest of the three stories. Brides of the Impaler was so-so, but felt more like a short story stretched into novel length.

The Backwoods is the only Edward Lee book I've read so far (wrote up a review on it too). I agree that it was a slow and troubled book, but I found the writing so many levels above most modern horror writers (basically, the Leisure stable of writers) that I picked up a bunch of his other books.

It was definitely a case of style over substance for me.

I'll probably try another of Edward Lee's books sometime. I agree with you, jseger, the writing wasn't the issue. I think I expected more extreme, hardcore material. I should be careful what I ask for. I understand The Bighead and some of his other books are not for the squeamish.

I've just started reading the galley of The Unseen by Alexandra Sokoloff (sorrry, no touchstone). It's being released on May 26th..I'll let you all know what I think of it.

>260 jennsbookshelves:, I look forward to finding out your opinion. I just read her first two books (The Harrowing and The Price) earlier this year and found them really entertaining.

ETA: Okay, so I just noticed that I already mentioned that earlier in this thread, but, anyway....

I'm just barely into Spiral Koji Suzuki unfortunately it's translated by the same guy but so far it's not bugging me as bad as Ring

I'm starting lost boy lost girl by Peter Straub

Oh! Let me know how that goes! I haven't read Peter Straub in a while (though I have that book and love his writing).

262:
Just finished Ring and wasn't impressed - I'm assuming that was down to the translation?

#265 - That's a shame about bad translation. That's (I think) why I couldn't get into the much lauded Battle Royale.

BTW: I am HATING Operation Roswell. The writing is terrible. I have less than a hundred pages to go and just wanted to quit the book. (I have fifty pages left and om gonna force myself to churn through them tonight). I already have my review written for it. I just started remarking on all the stuff that annoyed me about the book. (I think I'm forcing myself to finish because I wouldn't feel right posting a review of a book I didn't finish.)

I just finished the final book in Jonathan Maberry's Pine Deep Trilogy (Ghost Road Blues, Dead Man's Song, Bad Moon Rising). A great trilogy and one I'd highly recommend. Set aside a little time as they are all long (500+ pages each), but well worth it. His latest novel, Patient Zero, is also a great read.

Finished lost boy.lost girl and while I would say it was good, I also thought it was not really Straub's usual style. It was shorter, and less something, less lush I guess, almost monochromatic.

#268- Will you be reading the follow-up, In the Night Room? That's a case where the sequel sounds more interesting than the original.

I didn't read lost boy. lost girl but I liked In the Night Room a lot.

A book that I thought was terribly scary was called, Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: A dairy of Hattie Campbell.

It is a tragic diary of a girl traveling the Oregon Trail.

Please read this book. :-)

I'm not sure yet whether to read In the Night Room, but I suspect I will get around to it some day.

I made it 60 pages into Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It seems to consist mostly of randomly inserting "unmentionables" or "deadly arts" into Pride and Prejudice, two or three times per paragraph.

That's too bad. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies sounded fun...

#273: I heard the author* interviewed today. Sounds like a nice enough guy, but the gimmicky idea just leaves me cold. I'm afraid even to touch the book...

*Before anyone can make the joke: Not Jane Austen. Goofballs!

#275: :D Call me slow; I wasn't even thinking Jane Austen.

#274: I'm with you on that one, jseger--it does sound fun. Maybe they'll make a movie out of it . . . :P

#276

Ask and ye shall receive:

http://io9.com/5150296/

Oh *@!$, and I was joking too. :D

(Keira Knightley'd be my choice for a zombie. I'd like to see her actually eat something, even if it is someone's forehead.)

@277

Hopefully it will go head to head with:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/feb/17/pride-and-predator-to-give-jane-auste...

@275

Well, why not?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRZTPvWUNYE

Right now I'm reading Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. It has moved from spooky to gruesome as I'm nearing the end. I'd say it is a good read. The writing is eloquent, the story thought-provoking. I wouldn't rave about it but I'd definitely recommend it - especially if you like vampire stories of the darker variety.

Yep, I read it about a month ago - it's one of my faves this year!

Reading Sacrifice by John Everson.

Finished Eat the Dark by Joe Schreiber. It was short on character development but a heck of a story. You get a real feel for being trapped in an old abandoned hospital.

Currently reading Louis Maistros' debut The Sound of Building Coffins, a very atmospheric novel set in turn of the century New Orleans. You can almost smell the muddy Mississippi swamps seeping from the pages. So far I'm loving it.

I'm reading Firestarter for the 'SK Flavor of the Month' One of his few books I haven't yet read. I like it quite a bit so far.

#282 - I didn't realize that Sacrifice was a sequel to Covenant (can't touchstone that one) until I read the one LT review of it.

#284 - I'm still holding out hope that Eat the Dark will be released as a mass maket paperback. Has anyone here heard that the author Joe Schreiber is doing a Star Wars horror novel of all things? I'll be picking up (the paperback version of) Death Troopers just to see how he handles the challenge.

The Sound of Building Coffins sounds terrific.

The Sounds of Building Coffins is on my list as well. I'm a sucker for books on NO just to see if I can recognized they places they write about.

I have one story to go in M. R. James excellent collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. They're great examples of late 19th - early 20th century horror stories.

Started Drood today. So far it's promising.

I'm reading Crota the writing style is lacking some polish, but the story is starting to get interesting,

I've been off of purely horror lately but I have finished The Sound of Building Coffins that has a supernatural element to the story. I absolutely loved it.

I also read Greg F Gifune's Saying Uncle which is more dark fiction than horror and also very good. His books are harder to come by in paperback or my library system. I wish Leisure or somebody would pick him up and start publishing his works. I really want to read The Bleeding Season and may just go ahead and order it online.

I think I'm going to try Tom Piccirilli's westerns Grave Men and Coffin Blues next. Good ol' Leisure publications.

Oh, almost forgot. I'm finishing up Shadow of a Broken Man by George C. Chesbro. It's the first in a crime drama series about a private detective who happens to be a former circus acrobat with a genius IQ, knows karate and is a dwarf. It sounds more interesting than it is. The story is not bad, but I thought the characters would be more interesting.

My edit screwed up the touchstones of Grave Men so I removed it.

#290 - Tim,

I've started reading westerns lately. I don't mean classy westerns like Shane or Lonesome Dove (though I've read and enjoyed both of 'em), but the fun, schlocky pulp stuff.

I was interested in Grave Men and Coffin Blues, but I really didn't like my brushes with Tom Piccirilli's horror (A Lower Deep and The Night Class), so haven't tried anything else by him. Maybe send me a message when you've read Grave Men, tell me what you thought.

BTW: Has anyone tried Tom's book Hexes? I'm tempted to give him another shot, but once bitten, twice shy...

Though he tends to write humor into his books, I am reading A Dirty Job: A Novel by Christopher Moore. I am also reading Cry Sanctuary though I am not 100% sure it is "scary" enough to be classified as horror.

jseger9000,

Which pulp westerns are you reading? I used to read a lot of the series westerns like Longarm, Spur, Lonestar, Edge, and a bunch of others. I remember enjoying them at the time. Not sure how they would hold up now.

#293 - I left a comment on your profile so as not to knock the thread off track.

#292 - I've read Bloodsucking Fiends and Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore. I liked his ideas, but I felt like he was trying too hard to be wacky.

Still, I keep hearing good things about him. I'll probably give him another go.

I'm reading Darkfall by Stephen Laws-so far its better average.

Oh! I've had Darkfall on my TBR list forever.

I've been wanting to read that (and Wyrm). I had started a different Stephen Laws book (Ghost Train) a while back and just didn't get into it. That may have just been me though. I would try it again.

#292: Meh, don't worry about it, texasheartland. I read paranormal romances once in awhile, too. They seem to be the only books with vampires in them anymore.

Christopher Moore--I have a few of his, but haven't read them yet. I guess I love his titles more than anything else (eg, The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror).

Btw, I just started Cold Kiss by Roxanne Longstreet yesterday and am liking it so far. (Go ahead and laugh at the cover; I did.) I just realized it's the second book in a two-part series. Does anyone know if I need to read the first book?

I just finished The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye (v. 1) and The Walking Dead Volume 2: Miles Behind Us, the first two collections from the Walking Dead comic series by Robert Kirkman. If you like zombie stories and haven't checked out this series I highly recommend it. Great stories and excellent characters, along with some pretty gruesome zombie attacks to sweeten the whole deal.

Started The Cold Calling by Will Kingdom who is actually Phil Rickman.

Hope you enjoy it! Love Phil Rickman ever since Crybbe and have just finished reading To Dream of the Dead. He has written 2 books as Will Kingdom - Cold Calling and Mean Spirit. Good Stuff!!!!!!!!

Am just about to start The Clock Strikes Twelve by H.R Wakefield.
He was a disciple of M.R James, and wrote most of his tales in the '40's and '50s.

Just finished Hater by David Moody. It wasn't bad, but was definitely the beginning of a trilogy. It was most interesting when focused on the main characters unfulfilling life and the emotions and reactions to a world falling apart. The problem is the author was unable to bring any real connection to the main character. I actually didn't like him at all and don't care if he lives or dies. So I have no real desire to continue the story.

Kudos to the author though. He published the book for free online and then was able to sale the rights to a movie and get published. I like seeing people do well at what they like to do.

Guillermo del Torro is to produce the film so hopefully it will be a better movie than book.

Wow, I just went to check out The Clock Strikes Twelve at Amazon. It sounds interesting. All I can say is Take care of your copy!. That book is price-y!

Really?? I bought my copy from a church bazaar about 15 years ago, for a few pence -.What luck! I know some of the original hardbacks are very expensive but Ashtree Press in Canada has produced some facsimile copies for a reasonable price.

Try going to Amazon (the U.S. site anyway) and look up "H.R. Wakefield" or "Wakefield Clock Strikes" I think you will be surprised.

Cheers!

I just wanted to say that my award to the best horror novel of 2009 lies with THE RESURRECTIONIST By James Wrath White. Ignore the cheesy cover, because what is inside, is a horror fan's dream come true.

Lol, his middle name is Wrath.

Sorry.

It's on my TBR pile. Cover didn't really bother me. I guess I've built up sufficient bad-cover antibodies.

#308 - Cover didn't really bother me. I guess I've built up sufficient bad-cover antibodies.

I think any horror reader eventually grows an appreciation for cheesy covers. You have to learn to love them or they will drive you crazy.

Hey, HHF, I hope you knock out a review for The Resurrectionist.

#307: LOL...Actually, I think I screwed up. His first name is Wrath, Wrath James White. I am not exactly sure, but the name might come his other job as a professional kickboxer. He looks like one tough dude and writes like one too.

#308: I think I will jseger9000. I just have to let it settle for a bit and then write something up. I am off to bed to start on No Doors. No Windows by Joe Schreiber

Sorry HHF but the touchstones aren't working, I had to go round the houses a bit to have a look at the book!

Managed to find the right one - it's No Doors, No Windows: A Novel. Looks interesting, it does :)

That's the one. I just edited my touchstone as well in my original post. It is mighty fine so far, but I am not that far into it yet.

Wrath James White - boy, his parents must have *really* been unhappy about that pregnancy...8^}

Two things:

1. Has anyone seen that Joe Schreiber has written the first 'R-rated' Star Wars novel? A Star Wars horror novel at that? It's called Death Troopers and once it comes out in paperback I'll pick it up.

2. When you ride The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland (and the other Disney parks I guess), you get locked in a chamber and a ghostly announcer comes on and says "And consider this
dismaying observation: this chamber has no windows, and no doors!" So whenever I see Joe's book, that's what I think of.

FYI, we're back in the old topic.

New(er) one: http://www.librarything.com/topic/66484

I've been meaning to point that out. We should be using The Son of... thread as threads take too long to load somewhere around 300 posts.

hey there...
am kinda new to this club
but am a hardcore fan of pike
man that guys a legend

I'm reading Small Hand by Susan Hill. Lovely little sit-by-the-fire ghost story that Hill does so well and I *love* the cover, even if it is a hardback. Makes me think of those slim little Victorian volumes seen in period films. Lovely dark muted colour and embossed on the front - perfect!

#317: Hey, jessie, welcome! I love Christopher Pike too (at least I hope that's the Pike you were referring to).

#318: I'm loving the cover, too. :)

#318 Bought Susan Hills Small Hand the other day, but haven´t gotten round to reading it yet. What do you make of it? Compared to her other stuff?

I read Crawl Space: Volume 1: XXXombies by Rick Remender tonight (or "Boogie Nights of the Living Night", as the back cover calls it ;). Perfect if you're into zombies and graphic novels.

#320 Petine Just finished it and I loved it. Again it's not so much the story - it's almost like a 'by-the-way' tale that anyone could tell in a couple of minutes in passing, but true to her other books, it's the picture and creepy atmosphere she creates. I just love her ghosty books - especially at this time of year :o)

Sorry - not sure if I should be writing in son of, shadow of, bride of...not been on for a while and it doesn't take much to confuse me!

#322: Not to worry, bibliobeck! :) I'm doing the same thing, posting to whatever thread is currently active. I figure as long as people are talking, it really shouldn't matter which thread it's on.

#322
Sounds good. I´m right in the middle of Oliver Onions short story collection "The Dead of Night", but as soon as I´m through that (and it´s great read by the way, ghost stories with a large dose of insanity thrown in for good measure) The Small Hand will be next in line. Thanks bibliobeck.

#322 - Oh! I just picked up that Oliver Onions collection from Half Price Books. I hope when you are done you will whip up a review for the book.

I am currently reading Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. It is suppose to be one of the scariest horror books ever, according to some I have talked to. I an on chapter 4 and so far it is not so scary. It is gross but not scary. Has anyone else read it and have an opinion?

Nope, I haven't read Carrion Comfort or Breaking Dawn yet, but I've heard really good things about Dan Simmons's books, so hopefully that one's not all gore. Breaking Dawn I'll probably read sometime this year before the movie comes out so I'll know what to expect.

HHHMMMM, I guess I will just have to keep reading. Perhaps it takes a few chapters to get scary.

I read Carrion Comfort recently. The concept is scary, but I wouldn't say it is a scary novel. I have to say though that, although I love the horror genre, I haven't been scared by a book or movie in a long, long time.

I do however, recommend the book. Everything I've read by Dan Simmons is good.

Well, that's good to hear. I was looking for horror but as long as it is good. Have you tried reading The Pet Semetary by Stephen King? That is a very scary one!

Yes, Pet Semetary was very scary. At least when I read it when it first came out. For another scary Stephen King book, try Salem's Lot. Most of what I read today isn't really scary to me, but that was a very spooky book.

This is an older thread. The current thread begins Out of the Stygian Darkness.

I have not read many of SK's books just saw the movies but I was told the books are much scarier!

I don't see that thread.

Thanks!