What scary books can you recommend for Halloween?
How about The Dead Zone, by Stephen King? Or something by Edgar Allan Poe? Or, ooh — Shirley Jackson?
*Self-pimpery alert* I can also suggest China Lake and The Dirty Secrets Club, two novels that feature Halloween-related crime and terror. *End self-pimpery*
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You can’t go wrong with Uncle Steve. And, I know, Vampires are being done to death (or un-death?)…but in my opinion, there are only 2: Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot.
I first read Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” when I was a just a kid. I remember the book scaring me so bad that I had to leave the quiet solitude of my room to finish it. I went to the kitchen to read the the last few chapters….where there was light…and people.
“Whatever walked there, walked alone…” (Brrr!)
Yeah, I read The Haunting of Hill House as in impressionable young teen while babysitting. Brrrrrrrr. Silly me. Still can’t forget how the two women held hands in the dark in the night….. except one of them didn’t.
And then, babysitting at the same house, The Haunting (of Hill House) just happened to be on TV one night. Do I ever learn?
For all the (justified) talk about the movie, The Exorcist is one sphinter-loosener of a book. However, there is one book that, in my humble opinion is more frightening than Exorcist, and that’s The Amityville Horror. That book left a chill in my gut that I have never forgotten, even after 30+ years.
Right now, I’m listening to the audio of The House With A Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs — a YA book–for Halloween. I’m sure I would have liked it better as a kid.
For a real scare, I would say Salem’s Lot. That was truly the only book that has ever scared me in the spooky sense.
“The Autopsy,” by Michael Shea – for that matter just get the collection of superb short horror fiction which that appears in: The Dark Descent, edited by David Hartwell. And another one edited by Hartwell, the title of which I forget – but it includes “Sand Kings,” by George R. R. Martin. That’s another first rate story you won’t forget.
Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber – Leiber has a talent for seeming like he’s too kind to really want to hurt you: Don’t believe it!
I agree that Salem’s Lot is one of King’s best: one scene in particular never – and I mean never – fails to creep me out: When the undertaker keeps getting distracted while trying to bury the vampire kid. (I was reminded of that scene while reading the part in The Memory Collector where someone (I forget the character’s name) can’t remember what he was supposed to remember about the pool…
And, yes, I’m at that point in my life where I obviously “forget” a lot…!
I agree with Amityville Horror and Haunting of Hill House. But I also have to vote for Pet Semetary, and my all-time favorite from Uncle Stevie, Bag of Bones. I particularly recommend listening to Bag of Bones on CD, as read by the author himself!
I totally agree, Monita. “Bag of Bones” is the definitive ghost story.
I’ll add It to the list (although I agree with Monita about Pet Semetary. It really freaked me out when I read it many years ago).
“IT” is one of my absolute favorite novels. The book is magical. I’ll put that one up there with “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “Huck Finn” and other classics. “IT” is one of the 2 or 3 novels that I read once a year. Incredible.
Hallowe’en is all about Mr King, be it Pet Semetary, Needful Things, It or Salem’s Lot, although the classics have a lot to offer. Poems: I’m all about “The Listeners” at this time of year, and of course, “Goblin Market” and “La Belle Dame sans Merci.” Classic Ann Radcliffe with “The Mysteries of Udolpho” and “The Italian”, or how about “The Monk” by Matthew Lewis? Not so scary, but a good modern gothic, “The Wasp Factory” by Iain Banks is a great, gruesome retelling of the Frankenstein classic. Once read, no-one can forget the boy with maggots eating his brain.
I think I’m digging out a classic gothic novel and going to sit in front of a raging fire with a large mug of hot chocolate tonight!
This is way off topic – I apologize – but, in a recent Entertainment Weekly article, Stephen King mentioned a song and accompanying youtube video. Ever since clicking on it the other day, I can’t seem to get the song out of my head. I thought I would pass along the madness…
Thanks for straying, Dan! I have just shared this on my Facebook page.
Glad you liked it, Ron. Here’s the link to Mr. King’s article at EW.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20428523,00.html
I’m also reading Crimes by Moonlight — short stories by various authors and edited by Charlaine Harris. There are some really good stories so far — i’m about halfway through.
The back calls these “All news stories from the dark side.” THere is paranormal happenings in these stories.