Halloween Discussion Forums, Costumes, Horror!

I love to read. Up there with Halloween on my favorite things ever list is curling up with a good book. I usually read five books at a time, and listen to mp3's or books on CD in my car and at work.

So what are you favorite scary or Halloween-ish books?

Right now I'm reading some Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Innsmouth and one of the Anita Blake Vamprire Hunter Series by Laurel K. Hamilton. I just finished Ann Rice's The Witching Hour, and The Tale of the Body Thief. I've got some Barbara Michaels (whom I've never read, does anyone know about her stuff? Love it, hate it?) mysteries, and Henry James' Turn of the Screw.

Any other recommendations?

Well I find it hard to search out specific Halloween books but at the moment I am reading Bite by Richard Laymond. I read alot of books on the undead, vampires and witches sutff like that.... I never get board with it.

Lovecraft! Now you are woman with good taste in horror fiction!

How about Robert Bloch, the guy who wrote the screenplay for Psycho? He's pretty good, especially his short stories.

I like the classics, Edgar Allan Poe is a favorite.

Richard Matheson is another; especially I am Legend.

Okay, clear the decks first..
Richard Matheson...NOW YOU SEE IT...
It's a murder set in a living room. The viewpoint is first person. The writer is paralyzed from the eyes down..(I know, you wonder HOW he got around to writing all of this..wait, wait...) anyway, it turns out that the writer has a son...a married son..and it becomes CLEAR to him that son and daughter in law both regard him now as a piece of furniture, and don't even SEE him there now..it also becomes clear that BOTH are crazier then crack house rats and want to murder the other..and he has to watch and can't SAY or DO anything..it also adds to the merriment that all three are magicians..
Let the games begin.
I suggest you clear the decks first, because you are going to be up all night with this one..
I promise.

oooooooh, me likey!

I love reading Poe and Nathaniel Hawthrone. Some great early American authors that feature a gothic horror sense. "The Masque of the Red Death" is a classic as is "The Cask of Amontillado". Great topic!

I wind up reading THE BODY SNATCHER every year by Stevenson..THE JUDGES HOUSE...and some of those old retro Alfred Hitchcock paperbacks..

Okay, I ordered two Matheson books from Amazon yesterday, and I totally agree with the Hawthorne mention, I'm picking up the House of Seven Gables again today, it's one of my favorites. I've never read any Alfred Hitchcock, only seen the movies, but I love them. "Rebecca" rocks my face off.

for years and years Alfred Hitchcock lent his name to a pretty good litlte magazine that dealt in murder...they would kick out these paperbacks that collected the best from the magazines, and had delightful covers..you're right about Rebecca...great film, especially when Danni wants Mrs. Dewinter to jump...check out the book for interesting differences..

Stephan King as a modern horror novelist is ok too. I don't like everything he does but a few of his books give me the creeps like IT. I do love the early American authors the most though. They were really creepy without being to gory. That's the way I like my scary movies too!

I like King too although I kind of pick him for a "light read". I used to like Dean Koontz until I realized that every single one of his books has the exact same storyline... not quite the same plot, but they all follow the same trajectory.

Any Chelsea Quinn Yarbro fans out there?

I did the same thing with Koontz about ten years ago, but I hear he has a couple that actually aren't bad and don't follow the same tangents his others do. I hear Odd Thomas wasn't bad.

I like Stephen King a LOT, I plan on visiting his house when I go to Maine in November, but I have a hard time with some of his stuff. I love the stories, but he's so darn verbose, I really don't need seventeen pages on why the waitress in the diner that the seventh level subplot characters are eating in, hates her husband. You know? But I read so fast that it's nice to have a book take more than two days to finish, too.

I must say that the Harry Potter series are my favorite books...[b]ever[/b]. I have read them all so many times I can almost recite dialogue from memory. Lord of the Rings is right up there, too. And I love a good murder mystery...Patterson, Sanford, Kellerman, Cornwell are some of my favorite auhtors. I totally agree about Konntz, Celtic Ghoul, although Odd Thomas [i]was [/i]good, geekmidwinter. And though I am not usually a big fan of King, [i]The Shining [/i]is the scariest book I have ever read. Quite literally stayed up all night and finished it.

So much for italics and bold