Every October I generally go on a horror binge and buy any movies that haven’t made it into my collection. This year I realized I hadn’t read any scary stories in quite a long time. It was never a conscious decision, but the format somehow slipped from my radar. But a couple weekends ago I picked up Joe Hill’s “Heart Shaped Box,” and when just the summary raised goosebumps all over my body I realized it was time to reunite with my old friend, the horror novel. I asked my fellow ‘bots to join in the discussion, and while there was some talk of including other media (not gonna lie I’ve never made it more than 20 minutes into “Silent Hill” because it makes me panic like I’m at the dentist’s), in the end we kept it to the written (and drawn) word.
So light the candle on your Hand of Glory, find a skull to set next to your monitor, and I don’t know, like, put on an ascot or something ’cause it’s about to get old school scary up in this piece. And beware the mild spoiler.
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‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King – Sure, Stephen King is a master at taking the dark and nasty things that haunt our minds and transplanting them into the familiar backdrops of our everyday lives. Though that’s one of the reasons I love ‘Salem’s Lot, at the end of the day, the book is about how a novelist, a high school English teacher, and a resourceful kid team up to kick an arrogant vampire’s ass. I also can’t think of another setting that came to life as much as the doomed town of Jerusalem’s Lot did for me. I know many of King’s acolytes rabidly cling to It or The Shining as masterpieces in the genre, but for my money, ‘Salem’s Lot has them beat by a long shot.
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The Troop by Nick Cutter – I can’t think of another time that words on a page made me physically ill. In fact, I had a long internal debate over whether or not I hated this book because it made me feel so icky. In the end, I sided with the fact that, though I’m not very likely to read it again, I respect the hell out of it for being so unabashedly messed up without veering into Bret Easton Ellis territory. It’s about a scouting trip to an island off the coast of Newfoundland that gets rudely interrupted by an emaciated man who can’t stop eating. As you begin to discover why he can’t stop stuffing his face, and what it means for the happy campers, it’s already too late. The Troop has you in its slimy fingers and doesn’t let you go.
- Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin – The scariest parts of Rosemary’s Baby don’t come from the arrival of the Antichrist, and that is saying a lot. No, this book is scary because exposes the fact that real evil doesn’t look like men in black hoods sacrificing goats. It can show up anywhere at any time–it can even look like an eccentric elderly couple who are just being “neighborly.” And let’s not forget poor Rosemary. Her plight of becoming Satan’s mother against her knowledge, the toll that a gestating demon takes on her body, and even her inborn sense of matriarchal love towards the newborn–it just makes you feel for all those wives who are forced through the ringer because they’re married to an alpha male dickhead.
- Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow – Sharp Teeth is not technically scary, but it is about werewolves in Los Angeles, so I don’t feel too bad about including it here. At first, I didn’t think I was going to like this book. The whole thing is written in verse, which usually causes me to yell, “What? You think you’re better than me?” as I chuck the book across the room. However, the style really worked for the novel–it was like reading a music video. At its heart, Sharp Teeth is pretty damn Shakespearean. The story revolves around rival packs that are fighting over territory in L.A.–a cool metaphor for gangs and organized crime. Amid all of this turf warfare and throat-ripping-out, a female werewolf falls in love with a dog catcher, who gets thrust into this visceral world out of his love for her. In fact, I’m pretty sure the first draft of Romeo and Juliet involved werewolves. Trust me. I’m an English teacher.
- Preacher by Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon – Quite possibly one of my most cherished of comic book series, Preacher is an existential road trip that boasts a cast of the most deranged and damaged characters that have ever been assembled under one title. The tale kicks off with a disillusioned preacher by the name of Jesse Custer. After the unsanctioned spawn of an angel and a demon chooses to hide behind Custer’s chiseled jaw and don’t-piss-me-off eyes, he dedicates his future to tracking down God and making him answer for all the terror and hardships that He’s visited upon the human race. I can’t think of an avenue that Preacher explores that isn’t scary. Perverts and deviants abound, the horribly disfigured victim of a botched suicide gets a record deal, a diminutive, elderly man finds sexual healing in the arms of a dummy made of beef and poultry, and then there’s the Saint of Killers–a dude so evil that he murdered the Angel of Death. It’s the whole package, really.
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Pet Semetary by Stephen King – To me, the measure of an impactful story is the lasting imprint it makes on you. This can take the form of signature scenes, quotes, characters, what have you. It just has to truly stick with you over the years. And being one of the older bots in this neck of the wood, I think I can truly say this is one book that delivers on the scare front long after you put the novel down. King’s reputation as a horror novelist of note has taken a hit over the years, but back in the 1970s and 1980s, when he was young punk, writing while battling an alcohol addiction, Stephen King was a god. And Pet Semetary is one of his best. Louis and Rachel Creed move to Ludlow, Maine, with their two young children. An oldtimer named Jud is their neighbor and he drops by to let the newcomers know about the dangers of letting their pets and children run loose on the property. A highway used by lead-footed truckers passes in front of their yard. When one of the pets falls victim to said road, ol’ Jud lets Louis, a doctor who is haunted by the death of a former student, know that there is a nearby pet cemetery. Only this cemetery, which has links to Native Americans, has a unique feature … whatever you bury in it returns to life. Only, it’s not quite the same when it comes back. When the unthinkable happens, Louis is forced to decide whether he can accept a series of tragic losses or risk all that he loves and treasures by trying to cheat death. It’s a novel where you are left pondering the signature line of this great piece of horror fiction: Sometimes dead is better.
- It by Stephen King – In the small town of Derry, Maine, It examines the friendship of six children who combat a terrifying creature living in the sewers, Pennywise the Clown. The kids give themselves the nickname The Losers Club. They are bullied and find comfort and strength in one another. After thinking they have defeated Pennywise, the group is called back to Derry as adults in the 1980s, where they must once again summon their courage and do battle with the creepy clown who calls to them from beneath the storm drains. Not only is this book a great scare, it has more heart contained in its 1,138 pages than just about any novel I can ever recall reading. Published in 1986, I was 16 when it came out. The book spoke to my geek heart and my own demons at being a bit of an odd kid with issues. There are not many books that I have read over the years that scared me, inspired me and made me actually shed tears, but It did all that. Incredibly powerful characters, beautifully written and with images that truly stick with you long after the back cover is snapped shut for the final time.
- Carrie by Stephen King – OK, the movie in theatres currently looks awesome, but back in the 1970s, King shook the world with his teenage protagonist, who is picked upon and humiliated all for the amusement of a bunch of small town d-bags. But Carrie is not your typical teen. She possesses a rather special ability and when she finally has enough and brings her wrath down upon those who have tormented her for no reason other than being different … well, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, as they say. And Carrie raises hell in a way that sticks with you.
- Horns by Joe Hill – Given the fact I think Stephen King is a master of the genre, it’s no surprise the apple didn’t fall far from the tree with one of his children. Joe Hill is the son of Stephen and Tabitha King and Horns displays the knack he seems to have inherited from his pop of crafting character-driven stories that resonate. Ig Perrish wakes up one day to discover he has horns growing out of his forehead. And these horns have a unique ability … they give Ig the ability to make people do things. They also cause people around him to reveal their innermost, darkest secrets to him … the things they think about him that they would never say to another person. Suffering the loss of his girlfriend, whom the townsfolk and even his family believe he murdered, Ig pursues the truth and justice after learning who is truly behind the death of his one and only. Horns is a great pulp read and has some brilliant character work and dialogue. It’s being made into a feature film that will star Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe.
- 30 Days of Night – This was one of the books that brought be back into comics. A touching love story is wrapped in a brutal story about vampires in Barrow, Alaska. The movie based off of the comic is a relatively good retelling. The premise is that vampires, without daylight rings or sparkly skin, show up to Barrow Alaska during the winter when the sun does not rise for 30 days. The town sheriff, Eben Olemaun, manages to help hide some of the townsfolk during the bloody rampage of the vampires. In order to save the woman he loves, and the town he has sworn to protect, he must become the villain. The final sequence when he and his wife embrace is touching and haunting, all at the same time. That scene still gets me to this day, and that’s how I know the book is one of my favorites.
- American Vampire – I usually don’t have a thing for vampires. I’m not a huge fan of Dracula by Bram Stoker, but a good story is a good story. American Vampire, which isn’t even complete, is one of those good stories. In fact, it’s a great story. Raphael Albuquerque and Scott Snyder come together in a tour de force that won an Eisner. To better illustrate the caliber of horror going on in this comic, it’s my duty to tell you that the first book had a story by Snyder and another by Stephen King! Albuquerque was the artist on both and set the tone for a book that is bloody and brutal and shocking. American Vampire is a historical look at the evolution of the American Vampire species itself. It didn’t hurt the idea of Survival of The Fittest when that first American Vampire, Skinner Sweet, was a serial killing outlaw from the Old West. As of right now the book is on hiatus, but Snyder has announced that he is fully committed to finishing his story with Raphael, and that more American Vampire is on the way for 2014.
- Swamp Thing Vol 1: Saga of Swamp Thing – What more can I add to what others have said about Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing? The tale is tragic, triumphant, unsettling and sublime. This book is another one of the reasons we have books like 30 Days of Night and American Vampire. Those two books seem trite when compared to the conversations that Swamp Thing has brought up. It was Moore’s commentary on the environment and politics all wrapped into one. If I could have chosen another story to be along side this one it would have been Grant Morrison’s run on Animal Man. I can’t say that story was a horror, but it’s another one of those books like Swamp Thing that made comic books a medium to be respected as legitimate literature. After this book, Moore would go on to write Watchmen, a book many consider to be in the top 100 pieces of literature from last century.
- Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus – I don’t read just comic books, even though that’s what I mostly read now days. Before I was reading as many comics as I did though, I liked to read the classics. What’s funny though, is that I’m not really a big horror fan. The reason I read this book is that I watched an episode of the 90’s TV Show The Highlander where a quickening after an immortal battle to the death inspired Mary Shelly to write Frankenstein. Suffice it to say, the book was much better than that episode. Maybe it was because I was a teen at the time, but the book resonated with me. I felt like the monster sometimes and I would escape away to meditate and to think to myself. I very much wanted to flee to the North and be left alone. I never really understood the doctor until I was a bit older. The drive for perfection and for recognition – the fear of losing everything you’ve worked for. Frankenstein is a horror book that is frightening on both a primal and intellectual level, and for that will most likely always be in my top 5.
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- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson – I’m constantly amazed by the number of people I meet who have never heard of Shirley Jackson. She’s an influence for some of the most popular authors of our time for good reason. You probably read “The Lottery” in school and were quietly disturbed by it, but since her name was likely never brought up in another classroom, she slipped from your brain. Shirley Jackson is arguably the Queen of Horror, and the brilliance of “The Haunting of Hill House” lies in its complete lack of gore, tricks, tropes, or dated style. It’s a simple haunted house story, and even though we’ve seen and heard the story countless times in the 59 years since this novel’s release, this tale remains purely terrifying.
- House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski – The horror in this novel sneaks up on you. The novel itself is… complicated. It begins with Johnny Truant discovering a manuscript by a man known as Zampano, and plays out as exerpts from the manuscript mingling with autobiographical exerpts from Johnny Truant and “real life.” There are copious amounts of footnotes, abstract print, meta references to our own reality, and I realize by now you’ve probably skipped to my next title but I cannot stress to you how deeply creepy this book is. The manuscipt is an analysis of a documentary short and feature – “The Five and a Half Minute Hallway” and “The Navidson Record,” which are records of a house that sports a doorway to a cavernous system that grows and growls and changes and devours and when you’re about 100 pages in and you don’t know why you’ve been continuing you realize your boredom has given way to discomfort so you plod on. And then the discomfort grows and surpasses unease and you realize you need to open a window and take a shower and maybe watch “Mister Rogers.” Yeah. It’s that good. Fun fact: recording artist Poe is Danielewski’s sister, and much of her “Haunted” LP, especially the single of the same name, relates to the novel.
- The Stand by Stephen King – In my early twenties I became embarrassed of my love for Stephen King. Man that was stupid. He is amazing, and of all the zombies and clowns and telekinetics and gypsies and hotels that have populated his stories, it’s this one – the one that’s “real” – that terrifies me the most. I have a confession: I am terrified of plague. Twenty years after reading this novel, I am still convinced that this is how it’s all going to go down. The Stand tells the story of the release and aftermath of the Captain Trips virus, and while the latter portion of the book gets a smidge preachy, the premise is frightening in its all too real ability to become reality. King describes what it’s like to run into the only person left in your town, creeping through a freeway tunnel piled with corpses, and a government that creates this death and accidentally releases it on its own population. Twenty years later, I still squirm when someone coughs behind me in a movie theater.
- Kaleidoscope by Ray Bradbury – “Kaleidoscope” is not horror, if anything it’s science fiction. It’s also the reason I panic when watching anything in space or underwater, and the reason I had fingernail marks in my palm and had to quietly sit for a few moments and NOT pass out after watching “Gravity.” It recounts the conversation of four astronauts after their ship has exploded and they plummet, unfettered by any force of gravity or resistance, in separate directions. This story created in me a life long association of an unending expanse with claustrophobic dread.
- Gramma by Stephen King – another short story. You know what, just go read “The Lottery,” too. I think that had I read this story as an adult it wouldn’t hold near the weight it does, but when I was probably way too young to be reading Stephen King, before I had been to a funeral or experienced death in any way, this story scared the bejeezus out of me. A young boy is left at home with his ill grandma while his mother runs an errand. During that short span, when absolutely nothing eventful should have time to happen, Gramma dies. That in itself is terrifying, to know what it would be like to not only be left alone with the gift of responsibility and your grandma ups and dies, but also to be that young and home alone with a corpse when you know nothing of death but fear and ignorance. Yes, that is terrifying, but what happens after Gramma dies is far, far worse. You guys I’m totally gonna read this one right now.
What do you think, friends and neighbors? Did we pick well? Are there any titles here you’re now excited to read? Share what piqued your interest as well as your favorite scary stories below in the comments, and don’t forget to like our Facebook page and hit up the ‘bots on twitter!