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plz recommend horror stories like"casting the runes"by mr james,"the horla"by guy de maupassant,"the body snatcher by robert louis stevenson?
on the flip side, please recommend horror novels like "rosemary's baby" by ira levin, "coma" by robin cook, "wolfen" by whitley streiber, "thinner" and "pet sematary" by stephen king... these horror novels are all that comes to mind for the moment
1 Answer
- Zac ZLv 710 months ago
M. R. James wrote a good many ghost stories, "Casting the Runes" being one of the most famous ones. These stories have been collected in four collections*; there's also a huge collection called (not surprisingly) "The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James".
If you liked "Runes" you might want to check these out. I guess they might be available at Project Gutenberg at this point.
I'm not super familiar with horror stories that old but you might give the following writers a try: Algernon Blackwood, William Hope Hodgson, Ambrose Bierce, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert W. Chambers. Just like James's, their work should be in the public domain and potentially be available at Project Gutenberg.
As for the novels, I don't quite understand what you're looking for. I've read three of the five books you mention, "Rosemary's Baby" and the two by Stephen King; I don't think they have much in common, not even the two King novels. So I wouldn't know what you mean by "horror novels like" these. Are you just looking for any good horror novels?
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* see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._R._James#Ghost_st...
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ETA: Ah, OK, I understand better now. I liked all three books but didn't think they were scary, but then I'm rarely scared by books (don't know what's wrong with me...). Well, and it's debatable of course what is well written; I read primarily for plot so I'm quite tolerant unless the book is written really badly.
Given all that I'm not sure how useful my recommendations will be for you. I'll toss some out anyway and you can do with them how you please! ;-)
- Stephen King: Probably you'll be familiar with his work but if you haven't read "Misery" yet, you should do so, it's amazing! And you really really don' want to be in the main character's position! Also "Gerald's Game", I don't see that one mentioned too often but I think the premise is kind of scary. Since we're talking about King I'll also recommend "The Long Walk", one of his Bachman novels. Not exactly horror but one of my favorite Kings!
Oh, and the first part of "The Stand", you know the part where a pandemic wipes out almost the entire population, might hit particularly close to home for some seeing what's been happening this year.
- Jeff Long's "The Descent" (no connection with the movie of the same name): this one has one of the most powerful opening chapters I've ever read. I've seen mixed reviews for this novel, seems to be one of those that you either love or hate but it's worth seeking out for the first chapter alone!
- Joe Hill's "Heart-Shaped Box": Hill is King's son as you probably know and he might have inherited the gift to tell compelling stories. That one is about a ghost that someone buys with Ebay. Sounds silly but is actually quite good.
- Dan Simmons' "Carrion Comfort": This is a massive horror novel but it felt only half as long because it's a true page turner (at least I felt that way). It's about a nasty group of folks with a special gift constituting a kind of secret society pulling the strings in the background. This description doesn't quite do justice to the story but I don't want to spoil too much. (I hate spoilers myself so what I'm telling about the books here is what you'll find out in the first chapter or so.)
- Clive Barker's "Books of Blood": These are six collections of horror stories. I suspect that you might not like them too much as they are often rough and bloody and seem to prefer a different kind of horror judging from the examples you've listed. But one never knows and these ones should be scary!