Your favorite mainstream horror books?

[miguel1984]

I loved some of Stephen King's work in the past, some of his anthologies and some novels. Clive Barker's Books of Blood are great.

I'd recommend Dolores Claiborne, The Green Mile, Bag of Bones, Lisey's Story, Duma Key, The Colorado Kid and Joyland from King. As I kid I read Roadwork (under the Richard Bachman alias) and enjoyed it a lot. Some of his novellas and short stories are great too, like The Mist and The Man in the Black Suit.

I always wanted to read The Dark Tower books, but I never got around to it yet.

I agree with Silence of the Lambs as a great horror story; Red Dragon too. But I hated Hannibal with a passion; it was utterly disgusting.

[Michael]

Gotta go with Peter Straub's "Ghost Story" and Stephen King's "The Shining." Shining has, of course, one of the best uses of symmetry of inner and outer turmoil which was captured best in the Kubrick film.
Other one has to be Harry Potter. Books get super dark towards the end.

I wish I were old enough to have been invited to a country house Halloween party with Dennis Wheatley and Sir Charles Birkin.

Mark S.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

It seems that Clive Barker has been planning a follow-up to Hellbound Heart for many years and is nearly ready to release it.

[DoktorH]

Bret Easton Ellis - not thought of as a horror writer for some reason, but American Psycho and Lunar Park were all kinds of murderous fun.

Chuck Palahniuk - Invisible Monsters has a former model missing half her face going on misadventures with pre-op transexuals and assorted criminals, Survivor has human trafficking suicide cult, Haunted has ghosts/werewolves/bunch of people locked in a building trying to scare and kill each other, Rant has zombies.

Joe Hill. I never cared for the Locke and Key comics, but Nos4a2 is one of my favorite modern vampire stories Heart Shaped Box is a great haunting story.

There's a some good horror going on in comic books as well. My current favorites
American Vampire/American Vampire Second Cycle. Stephen King wrote the first couple issues some years ago, but Scott Snyder has done some great things with the Second Cycle.

Wytches. Scott Snyder's writing this too. not witches like nature-worshipping hippie people, but flesh eating monsters that can grant wishes for a price.

Hack/Slash. created by Tim Seeley. young lady with slasher-movie monsters on the family tree hunts monsters to prevent herself frm becoming one. plus cults, conspiracies, aliens, crossovers with other comics/horror franchises from time to time (Archie, Child's Play, and Evil Ernie that i know of).

[Justin Isis]

I think the future will take Clive a lot more seriously than he's currently taken. Actually I would rate Clive equal to and in most cases "above" almost everyone usually discussed on this forum (if "above" can be taken seriously in the subjective world of views...but let's take it seriously for the sake of argument and hopefully an entertaining discussion).

Things I think are good about Clive but that are probably preventing him from getting his props:

1. He's all over the place and doesn't fit into a clear category or genre...he starts out like a horror writer but then transitions into fantasy and finally metaphysical/unrecognizable.

2. His works include strong sexual (often homosexual) themes with no  obfuscation.

3. He's not only a writer but also a painter, dramatist and filmmaker.

4. In spite of 1-3, he's put out tons of bestsellers.

Honestly think these four points are too much for most people to handle. It seems like for a lot of people, the way to get cred is to do the exact opposite of the above, i.e.:

1. Just have one or two ideas and then repeat them. Over and over again. They don't even have to be your ideas: just take them from someone already well-known and respected. That way you can be seen as "carrying on a tradition."

2. No graphic sex!!!!!!! Just allude to that s.hit and keep it mysterious. 

3. Don't do anything other than writing! Maybe a volume of poetry but don't have a parallel career in dance. If you are actually getting taken seriously for dancing then you're done.

4. Keep it real by being underground! Making too much money means you are a sellout and less deserving of respect. You want to be underground enough for more successful people to be able to get props themselves for mentioning you as an influence.

Let's look at this forum, there is a thread called "TED Klein" and it has 4 pages, but the Clive Barker thread is four years old and doesn't even have 4 posts - and those 4 are just pictures of his art, not discussion of his writing.

TED...dude has TWO BOOKS...they're good but Clive has about 20 and at least 5 can stand up against anything. Not to mention the art and film careers.

We can imagine Clive being pressure to tone it down and include more H.P. Lovecraft and Arthur Machen references. In an interview he mentioned his editor trying to change the main character in Sacrament from a gay character to a straight character...this was in 1996!!!!

Can imagine him regularly getting notes and letters like

"Stop including this kind of material Clive...just write a Victorian ghost story or something...no more penises and original ideas."

Clive has influenced our culture...Hellraiser is sort of like Mickey Mouse, an instantly recognizable character. Not many people manage to create something like that.

Most books like Stephen King try to reaffirm the status quo but Clive's books usually end with radical, sustained change (often involving spirituality and gender). 

"Some of his books are bad," yeah but again think historically, even if you take his five or six best books they dwarf most other writers' accomplishments. Leave aside everything else he's ever accomplished in his life and take only the following:

A book of his best short stories and novellas (including The Hellbound Heart, Cabal and stories from Books of Blood)
The Damnation Game
Weaveworld
Imajica

[Hideous Name]

Here´s my list:

*"It", "The shining" & "Nightshift" by Stephen King. I used to read a lot of Stephen king's books back then when i was younger.

*"The hellbound heart"&"Books of blood vol 1" by Clive Barker.

*"The exorcist" by William Blatty.

*"The silence of the lambs" by Thomas Harris.

[DoktorH]

Quote Originally Posted by Justin Isis

Clive has about 20 and at least 5 can stand up against anything. Not to mention the art and film careers.

this is probably why I didn't even think of clive barker when thinking of mainstream horror authors. I think of him in the same category as Neil Gaiman, prolific fantasy comic/novel/art guy that visits horror every once in a while.

Quote

Clive has influenced our culture...Hellraiser is sort of like Mickey Mouse, an instantly recognizable character. Not many people manage to create something like that.

This reminded me of one of my favorite HEllraiser mashup images...
The pot of honey. you opened it. we came.

Quote

"Some of his books are bad," yeah but again think historically, even if you take his five or six best books they dwarf most other writers' accomplishments. Leave aside everything else he's ever accomplished in his life and take only the following: A book of his best short stories and novellas (including The Hellbound Heart, Cabal and stories from Books of Blood) The Damnation Game Weaveworld Imajica

I think "some of the books are bad" can be said of any prolific author. George R.R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and William Gibson off the top of my head, Ligotti has enough slighty-different reprints to count as well.

[symbolique]

nil

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

In case any of you didn't know, Barker's director cut of Nightbreed is finally released now.
A lot of people thought it would never be found again, so it seemed like a holy grail to many.
The version that has existed for a long time was considered a butcher job by Barker and the few who seen the director's cut before it was re-cut by the studio. I think I remember reading Stephen Jones saying the director's cut was amazing then being dismayed by the version that actually got released.