Really scary books please.

[ohyouBadBadkitten]

Pretty much housebound in the short term and last time I asked for book recommendations you lot were fab!

Just finishing up the Shining. read it yonks ago and it is still v. good. So something like that please but not too high brow. Thanks :)

Mark billing ham - sleepyhead etc.

I later discovered this is same mark billingHam that writes for kids tv ( maid Marian and her merry men etc). Which is more scary if anything!

Splendid, another one to look at :)

Mo Hayder
agree that Pig island and Tokyo are scariest

The Birthing House - Christopher Ransome
Anything by Joe Donnelly (may be hard to come by but very scary horror stuff)
Seconding Clive Barker, especially Weaveworld.
I like James Herbert too, though he does frequently deserve the Bad Sex award in his writing.

House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. Really really creepy.

The Birthing House is one of the worst books I have ever tried to read. I gave it up in disgust after enduring about five pages of the main character trying to have a wank iirc. Absolute rubbish. Though yes, scary too I suppose!!! :)

Kitten - have you read 'The Talisman' and 'Black House' by Stephen King and Peter Straub? Straub on his own can't write to save his life but he and King seem to work really well together.

I agree with you, Remus I never said it was good - just scary.

I have read them Remus :)
I decided to try the z war thingy. It's not great tbh. I shall look at the other books suggested here and let you know what I reckon. Thank you :)

Every Dead Thing by John Connolly.

I think I posted on another thread about this a while ago but '20th Century Ghosts' by Joe King ( stay with me ) is a collection of short stories which are nothing short of awesome, and I am very fussy.
I found a copy in the library and was so intrigued by one story in particular - 'Voluntary Commital' - that I couldn't stop thinking about it and got the book out again next time I was in there. When I reread the story I discovered that, at the scariest point in it, someone had ripped out the pages. About five in total.

Maybe it was TOO SCARY FOR THEM ?

See also Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist which I can't get into for the life of me, but which is meant to be wonderous. Also James Herberts the Magic Cottage is great, but not too big on horror.

Ooh yes, 'Let The Right One In' is really rather fun, except for the stupid ending but his other one is crap - have forgotten what it's called. Will google as I don't want anybody to read it thinking it will be good - it is a pile of useless drivel and I only finished reading it because he clearly likes The Smiths!

I didn't like Jo King's novels much but will hunt out the short stories. Oh and is it just me or is Joe King a really daft name? :)

It is called 'Harbour' - it is dreadful.

I found Dark Matter by Michelle Paver gripping and completely terrifying, much more so than The Woman in Black which also scared me a lot. (But I am a total wuss)

Arrrgh. You're right, it is a stupid name hence he has changed it to Joe Hill - sorry, my mistake. Joe Hill, 20th Century Ghosts. I can remember 'Button Boy' being ghastly (in a grim way) and 'Pop Art' being fantastic from that collection to. It really is aces.

I will steer clear of Harbour, then. Im really dragging myself through Let the Right One In, just can't seem to like any of it.

Books of Blood I found rubbish. A bit high brow but 'In a Glass Darkly' by Sheridan LeFanu is great. I loved 'The Shining' too - Jaws by Peter Bentley is another good film/book read.

And some fairly dark stories in Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected 'Kiss Kiss', 'Switch Bitch' being some collections.

Dead Babies by Martin Amis is depraved and bleak and good.

Joe Hill - yes, of course it is! But it seems strange to me that two writers would come up with such a clunky name for their child in the first place.

'Jaws' I think is quite dated as it's v much a product of its time and also the sex stuff gets in the way a lot - rather like in Herbert and many other horror writiers tbh.

'Lullaby' by ChuckPalawhatsit whose name I can never remember/spell (Fight Club man).

Aha! You've reminded me of 'Haunted' also by Chuck Palau Palahui Paluknickyknocy or whatever it is. Tis quite good.

I love James Herbert's sex scenes. I have never witnessed so many 'glistening erections' in my life and I've got around a bit.

God don't - you're reminding me of that teacher (think it's a teacher) at the beginning of, 'The Fog.' Don't the children cut 'it' off with gardening shears or something? Or did my warped imagination just invent that?

Most of Chuck Palahniuk's books make for uncomfortable reading. In a good way. They're unsettling.

I have Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill and Haunted by Chuck Palaniuk. First one I quite enjoyed, second one had quite a few 'eeww' moments in it but neither of them have earned a place on my read again shelf. Have a google if you haven't read them and see what you think. If you want them PM your address and i'll sling them in the post.

Remus BeerTricks Ack. Now I too have remembered that scene. I also recall one which was possibly in The Fog but more likely to have been in The Rats where a care assistant has sex with the elderly man in her care. Or gives him a blow job. Or something.

I recently re-read Needful Things by Stephen King in which Sheriff Pangborn gves a girl an orgasm by putting his hand between her legs and swinging her on his other hand or something. It was bizarre, not to mention confusingly vague.

Are you SURE?! Alan Pangburn is Mr 'I love you Sally and I'm being v gentle with you' isn't he? 'Needful Things' is dreadful though (and I say that as somebody who would gladly read King's toenail clippings. Whereabouts in the book? I have to check that or it will drive me bonkers!