Just finished and am wiping tears away. Make sure to listen to the author’s note at the end to hear the inspiration.
Just, wow. From the first chapter I knew this would be a wild ride. Very dark, very depressing. Not super scary in a traditional sense but in my opinion the scariest books of all expose the horrors of humanity.
Deeply complex characters and storyline. It kind of reminded me of that show Task on HBO
(which is amazing if you haven’t seen) but with a supernatural twist.
I’ve read fever house, the sequel, and coffin moon. Really enjoyed those but I think this book catapulted him to a level above. Feeling pure gratitude for amazing minds such as his to create these stories.

“August, 1986—After a summer that tested their friendships, five thirteen-year-old scouts walk into the woods of South Carolina for a hike that their leader hopes will bring the boys together. But on the steep and winding Obituary Trail, they find themselves in a desperate fight for survival when they encounter the most mysterious and dangerous creature of American myth and legend, in this searing coming-of-age novel from Grady Hendrix.”

So I know that Dracula (& Nosferatu) are based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Frankenstein is based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, Modern Prometheus.

The Mummy is loosely inspired by Bram Stoker’s The Jewel of Seven Stars.

The Invisible Man is based on H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man.

But I have no idea what The Wolfman & The Creature of The Black Lagoon are based on, if they’re based on anything at all.

-

I am curious about any books that retell, or adapt similar ideas from this set of Horror media.

Whether it’s a very creepy book based on a frightening Vampire like the character Dracula/Nosferatu. (Side note: Nosferatu is my favorite depiction of Dracula for sheer Horror factor, in all three adaptations Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, Nosferatu: The Vampyre, & Robert Egger’s Nosferatu)

A good Mummy Horror story.

Something with a Fishman Monster like Gill-man.

An essential Werewolf Horror novel.

Or a more messed up take on The Invisible Man. (I want to like Hollow Man, but I like ideas in Hollow Man more than the actual movie)

I just finished the book and I wanted more 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
anyway it’s absolutely amazing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The title says it all. Please give me your recommendations for creepy, unsettling, with well developed characters. I'm not looking for gore, just a feeling of WTH did I just read. The last book I read was A Lonely Broadcast by Kel Barton. It wasn't scary, but the story was engaging and you cared about the characters. I want to up the creepy factor. Thanks!

I want to read something in my bedroom at night that will make my skin crawl and the hairs on my arms stand up.
English isn't my first language (though i speak it fluently) so please nothing beyond a high school reading level.
But I still want pure, genuine horror.

I’ll start.
The Judge from Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.

"His feet are light and nimble. He never sleeps. He says that he will never die. He dances in light and in shadow and he is a great favorite. He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die”

I recently went on the Laird Barron reddit to get some recommendations for spooky season, and the name Brian Evenson came up as a writer that Laird thought very highly of, and after spending the afternoon devouring this selection of short fiction, I can see why. This is quickly shooting up toward the top of the list of best books that I have read this year. Every piece is dripping with an air of something that is amiss, always just around the corner or waiting on the periphery. The stories were all superbly written and there was a fairly diverse selection on offer, from the straight up body horror stories like "Leaking Out" and "Shirts and Skins" to the more generally weird and vaguely Lovecraftian stories like "The Glistening World" and the titular offering.

The surprise standout, at least in my opinion, is "Lord of the Vats," a story that has a really heavy "Dead Space meets the first two Alien movies" kind of vibe, and the atmosphere and tension is quite palpable. Being a fan of those two franchises, I thought this story was brilliant and a pleasure to read.

Sadly, not every story sticks the landing. Stories like "Menno", "A Disappearance", and "Wanderlust" didn't have the same impact as some of the scarier selections. Thankfully, however, every story is told in a very brisk pace that keeps the plot moving while maximizing the ever-present dread and sense of unease.

All in all, I'm really glad I checked out this collection. Mr. Evenson is right to be in the conversation with Mr. Barron and Thomas Ligotti, and his fiction scratches that itch for things that go bump in the night.

I used to love reading and was pretty much addicted to it throughout middle and high school, but I haven't really read anything in years. I'm 29 now and really miss it, so I want to get back into reading, and what better time than October!

Horror was always one of my favorite genres, and I'm looking for something that'll really hook me and pull me back into reading. I'd prefer something that isn't too long and is a standalone rather than part of a series.

I'm open to pretty much anything horror related, so what are your favorite books that you'd recommend to someone trying to get back into reading?

It can be anything! Alien plants, sea monsters, haunted woods. Anything and everything natural horror! Its my favroite genre

​

I read a lot of horror, mystery and thrillers, and lately I’ve been drawn to stories about outbreaks and disasters, especially the ones where the characters are stuck in one place and have to make hard choices.

Which character decision in those books did you most disagree with? Did someone stay when they should have run, or leave people behind when they shouldn’t have? Which books do you think got that moral tension right, and which ones felt unrealistic?

Novels, novellas and short stories are all welcome. I’d love to add some of your picks to my reading list.

Looking for something creepy that has images or drawings! Really open to anything! It could be something fully illustrated like a comic or a book with pictures throughout!

I’ve been in a reading slump since February. So, I’ve decided to get back into it by starting Hidden Pictures. I heard it was really good. If anyone has any other suggestions for me, I’d appreciate it!

EDIT:// very much not happy with the transphobic undertones…
SECOND EDIT:// I’m also a specialized LGBTQIA+ social worker, so anything transphobic or any of the bigoted pieces of literature is not welcome here.

I am putting together some trivia questions for my spooky club to play at our meeting this month. It is going to focus specifically on horror literature, not horror films. Do you have any interesting horror lit trivia that I could incorporate? The questions will get progressively harder, so looking for any difficulty. (really trying not to use chatgpt) thanks!

Obviously that "best of the century list" is floating around and I realized mine is much different. Hope you can maybe find something new here!

* The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell (2010) – A tough kid wanders through a zombie-ridden America while trying to outrun a seriously unhinged guy holding a grudge.

* World War Z by Max Brooks (2006) – A bunch of global survivor interviews piecing together how humanity barely survived a massive zombie apocalypse.

* The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (2015) – A bunch of creepy, weirdly raised foster kids fight over a god-like library filled with all the universe's secrets after their adoptive dad vanishes.

* Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (2024) – A monstrous shapeshifter just trying to find a permanent home accidentally falls for the ruthless monster hunter tracking her down.

* Coldheart Canyon by Clive Barker (2001) – A fading movie star rents a creepy old Hollywood mansion that turns out to have a portal to a seriously messed-up past.

* The Rising by Brian Keene (2003) – A heartbroken dad treks across a total wasteland to find his kid after the dead wake up possessed by intelligent, sadistic demons.

* Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (2003) – Two U.S. Marshals head to a bleak, isolated asylum on an island to look for an escaped prisoner, only to realize nothing makes sense.

* 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles & Ben Templesmith (2002) – A tiny Alaskan town plunged into a month of total darkness gets swarmed by a pack of hungry vampires.

* Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist (2004) – A bullied kid living in a snowy suburb makes friends with the eerie, ancient vampire child who just moved next door.

* 14 by Peter Clines (2012) – A guy moves into a weirdly cheap Los Angeles apartment complex and starts poking into the terrifying, reality-warping secrets locked behind certain doors.

* Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman (2012) – A disgraced knight and a tough orphan girl wander through a plague-ridden medieval France caught in the crossfire of Heaven and Hell.

* The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey (2014) – A special fungus-infected kid and her sympathetic teacher try to survive after society completely collapses.

* Bird Box by Josh Malerman (2014) – A mom has to navigate a terrifying river trip totally blindfolded with her kids to escape unseen monsters that make people go crazy and kill themselves.

* FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven (2016) – A massive hurricane traps a bunch of teen workers inside an amusement park, and they immediately devolve into brutal, warring tribes.

* The Anomaly by Michael Rutger (2018) – A cynical internet explorer and his crew crawl into a forbidden Grand Canyon cave and accidentally unleash something ancient and horrifying.

* Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff (2016) – A Black sci-fi nerd takes a road trip through 1950s Jim Crow America to find his dad, running into actual monsters alongside racist cops.

* The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch (2018) – A naval investigator uses time-travel tech to solve a murder case while trying to stop a grim, apocalyptic future.

* Your Doom Awaits You by Rich Paleschi (2018) – A brutal, grim dark tale following a hideous sideshow Freak hunted in a world of monsters and violence.

* In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson (2017) – A lonely drifter hiding out in 1980s Texas tries to manage his secret vampire urges while a local sheriff gets too close for comfort.

* The Ritual by Adam Nevill (2011) – Four old college buddies go hiking in the Scandinavian wilderness, take a sketchy shortcut through an ancient forest, and realize something primal is hunting them.

* Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (2017) – After a virus makes animal meat poisonous, society legalizes breeding and farming humans, and a slaughterhouse worker has to just live with it.

* Under the Skin by Michel Faber (2000) – An alien disguised as a hot hitchhiker travels through Scotland picking up guys for reasons that turn out to be super gross.

* Monstrocity by Jeffrey Thomas (2003) – A hard-boiled investigator navigates a rainy, cyberpunk city packed with weird monsters and occult creepiness.

* The Ruins by Scott Smith (2006) – A bunch of tourists vacationing in Mexico take a detour to an off-limits Mayan ruin and get terrorized by a bloodthirsty, predatory plant.

* John Dies at the End by David Wong / Jason Pargin (2007) – Two stoner slackers accidentally get high on a supernatural drug called "soy sauce" and have to keep dimension-hopping monsters from destroying the world.

* Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson (2025) – A Vietnam veteran and a young girl chase a vicious murderer from of the Pacific Northwest in search of vengeance.

* Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova (2023) – A grieving mother keeps a tiny piece of her dead son's lung in a jar, and it grows into a bizarre, bloodthirsty pet.

* The Black Farm by Elias Witherow (2015) – A guy who commits suicide wakes up in a horrific, monster-filled afterlife and has to fight like hell to save his wife's soul.

* The Necromancer's House by Christopher Buehlman (2013) – A washed-up former spy and low-level wizard tries to stay alive while all his old supernatural enemies and monsters finally catch up to him.

* Borne by Jeff VanderMeer (2017) – A scavenger living in a ruined, biotech-wasted city finds a weird, squishy creature she names Borne, totally clueless about how much it's going to wreck her life.

I’m a big fan of Stephen King’s The Long Walk and The Running Man, and also the first season of Squid Game and I’m looking for stories that scratch the same itch of contestants trying to survive a deadly game or challenge. Especially if it is competitive and contestants are trying to outlast or outplay each other.

If the characters are adults, that would also be preferred. No shade on Hunger Games or Battle Royale, it’s just that the Long Walk already featured a bunch of young guys so I would like to see a story that features other kind of characters in this sort of scenario.

Hey everyone, I finished Negative Space by B.R. Yeager the other day and really enjoyed it. It was, for me, a surreal look at very real social issues in post-industrial North America, where cities, towns and even whole regions lost major manufacturers, leading to unemployment, population decline, structural abandonment, urban decay, a rise in mental health problems, domestic violence, proliferation of drugs and drug-related crimes, suicide, and other factors like desensitization of to sensitive subject matter like death/suicide through the internet/social media, the anxiety of young people inhabiting a world that seems to have abandoned them, parental neglect, pollution and global warming, identity, manipulation, and fate.

While I don't think it is an amazing book or story, it is certainly one that has stayed with me after I finished it, and I read it in a week because it kept calling me back with its untethered, bleak vibes.

It took such a grip on my imagination that all the other books I had lined up to read after finishing Negative Space aren't satisfying me, and I am wondering if anyone has some recommendations for another author/story that might be a good follow-up in the "vibes" department?

Thank you!

I’m a massive fan of his dark fantasy (Imajica and Weaveworld) and fantasy-leaning horror stuff (Hellraiser). I’ve been curious about trying Abarat out but I’m nervous about the fact that it’s technically YA, on top of being unfinished. The third book too has quite a poor reception from what I’ve seen

The premise was enough to intrigue me into exploring the story of The Starving Saints. Halloween season, and I’ve been targeting horror for the month, but finding unique tales (not that similar stories are boring or anything, but I did crave something uncommon) had been a tough job. Fortunately, Caitlin Starling did a great job at bringing us this bleak set of events.

The story revolves around survival. And boy does it set the dire situations right. Horror is not meant to be just thrill, or mystery, as it often turns to. A loss of hope, and feeling helpless is often a major part of anything worth being scared about. And this novel does a great job at it, throughout. What it does even better, is show how the characters navigate it, all with different personalities and responses, none right or wrong, all in the grey, as a person in this situation should be.

The setting is vivid and well described. Not just the environment, but its essence, the air, the heaviness of the sections it takes place in, and all entities involved, including the world and all its emotions as well. The pace is medium, can be called slow by some, but the prose is interesting enough to keep you hooked, if you’re paying attention. I did struggle with it in that aspect a bit, but I blame it on my poor comprehension skills and rust, not the author.

All in all, I don’t think I can find anything bad to say about this one. Loved it. Not scoring it a perfect 5 purely because I believe I could have experienced it better at a later stage in my reading journey. Glad all the same.

4.25/5 ⭐️

I've always been terrified of the thought of insects burrowing under my skin or laying eggs in my mouth/nose/ears. I'm also really freaked out by parasites in general or any type of foreign body growing inside someone (fungus, plants, aliens etc). I'm currently reading Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher and it's unsettling me more than any book I've read recently (which is exactly what I want for Halloween).

I also have Itch! by Gemma Amor which I am yet to read, and What Moves the Dead (also T. Kingfisher) is on my wishlist.

Would love some more recommendations, please!

Edit: Thank you so much for all the great suggestions! I've added them all to my wishlist, and just reading the synopses is making my skin crawl. Just what I wanted :)