I finally started reading books fairly reguraly. I finished A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck and it was the most amazing thing I ever read. I’m currently reading Come Closer by Sara Gran and i’m enjoying it as well. I need suggestions from my favorite Lemmy librophiles. Thank you!
I have two:
- The Song of Kali x Dan Simmons I low-key dislike how much I enjoyed this book due to its controversial author and his perceived racism. The friend who shared the book with me gave a mild disclaimer beforehand and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t feel uncomfortable at times. Just type in “song of Kali Dan Simmons reddit” into google to see range of discourse on this matter.
On the flip side, the sense of dread I had while reading this story was like nothing I had experience from a book.
- Fever Dream x Samata Schweblin Another book that invoked that anxiety that only horror does. Great writing, the slow build, the reveal… it was originally written in Spanish but I enjoyed the translation.
‘Blindsight’ though it’s more philosophical horror.
The most horrific aspect of blindsight will be how obtuse the writing style is lol I’m somewhat joking, I did really enjoy blindsight and echopraxia but I dont think Watts is very good at making his writing readable
I fucking loved it, but I think part of the writing of the first book is that the main character is not entirely a person. The fact he’s maybe the most human person there and his perspective is still so weird is part of it. ‘Blindsight’ is a masterpiece.
The second one is admittedly not as strong, but part of the difficulty is that most of the plot happens off screen–because that’s sort of what it’s about, and that’s much harder to execute well.
Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky. The horror is a planned murder, the psychological part is how the murderer goes slowly crazy once the guilt sets in.
I’ll do you one better and recommend Dostoevsky’s The Double. Way more sinister and eerie, as it deals with schizophrenia.
I’ll give that a shot. Thanks!
I you like psychological horror/thrillers then Sebastian Fitzek will keep you busy (and maybe awake at night)
I read Carmilla this year and it was very good horror!
By Le Fanu? I read a short story collection from him with Carmilla. It was really good. Le Fanu deserves more modern attention, I think.
The very one.
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I’m Thinking of Ending Things - Ian Reid
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The Staircase in the Woods - Chuck Wendig
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Mind of Winter - Laura Kasischke
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Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo
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The Echo Wife - Sarah Gailey
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The Hollow Places - T Kingfisher
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Echo - Thomas Olde Heuvelt
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Sundial - Catriona Ward
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The Last One - Alexandra Oliva
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I really like Bret Easton Ellis’s books, and a lot of them are horror. I’ll recommend his newest book, The Shards. Other great ones from him are Less Than Zero and American Psycho.
I also enjoyed Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. Possibly better known for it’s filmizations, the book is a really good psychological horror story.
I also enjoyed Red Dragon by Thomas Harris.
The whole Hannibal trilogy is one of my favorite series of books. (Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal; respectively.)
There’s a fourth book, Hannibal Rising, that serves as a prequel/origin story for Hannibal Lecter. But it was written under duress by the author.
Thomas Harris didn’t want to explain Hannibal’s origin, as it removed the mystery surrounding his character. But Hannibal had become globally famous through the films, and Harris was basically told by the film producer, Dino De Laurentiis, that if he didn’t write an origin story, someone else would. So in order to maintain some control over his own character, he begrudgingly wrote Hannibal Rising.
And it shows. The writing style of that book is very different from the other three. Unlike the trilogy, which has a way of weaving an intricate and mesmerizing story, Hannibal Rising just feels mechanical and methodical, like it’s just checking boxes and getting to the point as quickly and efficiently as it can. It told a basic story, which was immediately pumped out as a low-budget B movie 2 months later.
If you get into the Hannibal books, I highly recommend skipping Hannibal Rising. It’s poorly written and removes the mystique behind Hannibal Lecter.
Yeah, I’ve seen the film and it is properly terrible.
I don’t know if it technically classifies as psychological horror, but Wuthering Heights has surely some (light) horror elements. Great book, btw.
I don’t usually like horror, but a while ago I got sucked into Jason “David Wong” Pargin’s John dies at the end series.
The film adaptation had to leave out so much. The books really got me in the gizzard.
[off topic]
“A Night In the Lonesome October” by Roger Zelazny.
Thirty one chapters, starting on October 1. The narrator is a talking dog whose master has come to a small English village to play a Game. Other particiapnts include witches, grave robbers, vampires, mad scientists, and A Great Detective.
