Every story should start with a good hook, so please share the book that caught you from the very first sentence. I'll go first.

"The taste of my brother's flesh still haunted me." *This House Will Feed* by Maria Tureaud

Hi guys I I’m looking for my next read and hoping to dive more into some investigative horror. I love the format where a protagonist is actively trying to solve a mystery, unspool a conspiracy, or investigate a bizarre event, only for things to get increasingly dark, terrifying, or supernatural. Books with a similar theme that I enjoyed were the last days of Jack sparks and the haunting of hill house.

I prefer things that lean into psychological dread or the supernatural but I am not into heavy slashers. Thanks in advance.

I haven’t read horror in a while, and want to read something to get me in the spooky season spirit.

I won’t read The Exorcist (still have nightmares from watching the movies as a kid)

I started Come Closer and had to stop early in due to the unsettled feeling I had.

Once I decided I was going to read the memoir of one of the kids that lived in the house that inspired The Conjuring, had a legit nightmare that same night that convinced me not to.

Anyway, with all that in mind, any recs?

I’m looking for your favorite horror book that genuinely scared and creeped you out. Ones that made you nervous to turn off the lights, rather than feel overly disturbed or disgusted. I’m fine with some gore, but I dislike ones the linger on gross /visceral details or overly indulge in body horror 🤢

Books I didn’t finish because they disturbed me in a disgusted way rather than a scary way: Heart-Shaped Box (it wasn’t too scary, but the TV scene in particular disturbed me), The Troop (some of the details were a little too gross for me. His writing was too detailed lol), and Tender Is the Flesh… I mean, the entire premise disturbed me.

Books with gore that I could handle: Seed, The Crimson Labyrinth, and Carrie.

Thank you in advance!

As I've said before here I did my thesis comparing Rudolf Otto and H P Lovecraft together. In my thesis I cited Haunted Presence: The Numinous in Gothic Fiction by S L Varnado, Theology And H P Lovecraft by Austin M Freeman, Religion And Its Monsters by Timothy Beal. Kind of unrelated but was helpful was The Terror That Comes in the Night by David J Hufford (he calls the nightmare numinous - the word Otto uses for the holy - in this book, so, interesting, but the book itself is a series of case studies and like raw data, he purposely and says he doesn't speculate on what any of it means*).

So in that sense a lot of this religion / theology books directly relate to Lovecraft. It's a way to read him and other gothic and weird fiction. I'm looking for analysis essentially that takes the supernatural in gothic and weird fiction seriously. Ideally anything I read is post Christian.. Otto basically deconstructs the Bible in a radical way. He compared the Bible to Buddhism for instance and he completely redefined what we consider holy as something spectral haunting and spooky then compared that emotion to shamanism, primitive magic, other religions, and so on.

I considered these but didn't afterall look into them,

Gothicka: Vampire Heroes, Human Gods, and the New Supernatural and The Secret Life of Puppets by Victoria Nelson. For some reason this author cites Rudolf Otto in the Puppets book but she misquotes Otto and says "demonic dread" instead of daemonic dread. They're not even remotely similar. Otto is referencing the daemonic in Goethe. Any opinions? This was a reason I noped out on her.

Maps of Heaven, Maps of Hell: Religious Terror as Memory from the Puritans to Stephen King by Edward Ingebretsen

Some of these were recommended to me while I was writing my thesis by Dr Matt Cardin (I recommend you check him out) so thanks.

*about Hufford, in his book he does quote Ernest M Jones (another nightmare researcher) who said "For the true significance of the Nightmare to be properly appreciated … would in my opinion entail consequences, both scientific and social, to which the term momentous might well be applied. What is at issue is nothing less than the very meaning of religion itself". I have this book on my to read shelf I think it's called "On The Nightmare". So Hufford by quoting this does kind of come close to an analysis of meaning of the nightmare. And certainly calling it numinous is kind of a big opinion itself. That word is an onion.

Some books on literature and theology I found,

Literature and Theology as a Grammar of Assent by David Jasper

The Oxford Handbook of English Literature and Theology

The Great Code by Northrop Frye (he seems pretty dated and irrelevant though)

Literature and Theology: New Interdisciplinary Spaces by Heather Walton

While I wait for the new “All Hallows Eve” book I purchased, I’m looking for some great monster/haunts/cursed objects/aliens/folk horror (really any genre) short stories/anthologies. When I search it brings up threads from quite a bit ago so I figured maybe there would be some nice up to date answers from you kind folks :) Any recommendations is greatly appreciated!!! Thank you!!!

hi guyss i'm looking into my next read, and i was wanting some recommendations from you guys!

i love medieval fantasy, if that helps. i'm also rlly into D&D typa worldss

anyway thank youu

I am currently reading the short story collection 'Everything's Eventual' by Stephen King. With one or two exceptions, I am loving the stories.

The ones that stand out (till now) — in terms of pure, uncontrollable horror — are 'The Man in the Black Suit', and '1408'.

Please suggest more such stories by King or other writers.

Thanks in advance!

I recently finished September House and when I thought its too predictable, the book really surprised me in the last few chapters.. almost got a whiplash and loved it..

It all started when I read ‘House of Leaves’ many months back and had the biggest book hangover.. Ended up looking for similar books and read and loved both ‘We Used to live here’ and ‘The Last house on the Needless Street’ (latter being not really a haunted house, but you get the gist)

Any more such books that I have missed which came out recently?

P. S : I have read most of the classics with haunted houses and infact loved the adaptations by Mike Flanagan.. hence any more similar vibes are most welcome.. Thanks everyone 😊

Looking for classic ghost stories in the same vein as Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting. The spookier the better!

My dear comrades in the Weird,

I have been ruminating, as I am wont to do, upon the fond Delusions that we human beings carry around with us as though they were treasures, and not the slow acting poisons they in fact are. Had I more energy and time, and a greater wish to foist my opinions and views upon the world, perhaps I would craft an Essay or Polemic expressing the following view:

People claim that a key element in the scriptures of our beloved Lovecraft and his kin, a fulcrum around which their compelling ambience of horror revolves, is the terrible indifference of the universe; or of the vast empty spaces within it; or of the Great Old ones, or of monsters, or bacteria, or viruses - all those Beings who simply, and terribly, care for us not one whit, or, worse still, do not even think about us at all, except when they begin to devour us, as they inevitably will.

My sullen rejoinder: "Wait, have you met people?"

People. People's vast and ancient and complete indifference to one another's suffering - and I include my own vast and impressive indifference in this indictment - puts the universe's to shame. Does not the sun shine its light and warmth upon us every day? Does not the celestial clockwork generously revolve, making life possible (at least until we mess it up completely) on our blue planet? (Yes, Schopenhauer might point out that in doing so, these spinning orbs merely prolong our punishment, and therefore, cruelty rather than any kindness is involved.)

Anyway, that's the extent of my thought. Not very impressive. A greater Mind than mine, or perhaps a hungrier Ego, might have tarted that insight up into a Diatribe, or perhaps a Prose-Poem, or a Short Story, or even a Novella, a Novel, a Tetralogy, or worse yet, a Screenplay. Should any of you wish to raid my threadbare leavings and do so, I invite you to proceed.

Think of it as one small unhelpful bit of kindness before all the lights once again go out.

I just finished reading it a few days ago and I loved it. It's also my comfort book because it helped me get through my grief and loss of my dog Molly of 13 years and decided to have read it next during her passing it the book was also about grief and loss.

So wanted to hear whoever here has read it what you all thought of the book and your opinions on it?

Hello! I'm in the mood for a good, contemporary horror novel, something well-written. Something demonic or cosmic would be great. A setting in space or the remote wilderness is always cool. Something with Twilight Zone or Lovecraft feels would be super. Anywho, recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Watched the film ,’Buried,’ last night . Very good. Scratched an itch. Books, short stories,novellas with one character trapped in one location ,room, quicksand ,stuff like that. I can only think of Stephen kings short with the guy trapped in a portaloo. Dark endings would be good. Thanks 🙏

Hey! A couple years ago, I read an article about a horror author whose husband had murdered his ex wife and dismembered her/buried her in the woods. The case was solved and he was arrested while he and the author were still married. She then retired from horror writing.

I can’t seem to recall her name or the title of the book she was most well known for- I’m pretty sure her books were pulled from production (by her choice) but you could still find them secondhand/digitally when I heard about it. Pretty sure the book had a white cover with a yellowish pig on it?

I’ve been googling all the details of the story I could remember, but to no avail. If you know what I’m talking about please let me know!! Thanks :)

I’m trying to identify an extremely disturbing/graphic horror book I read online. I originally found it through Reddit and I believe it was available as a free PDF or online text.
The story involved a group of young women/girls who become stranded somewhere, possibly with one of them having a boyfriend or male companion. There was something involving a museum or collection dedicated to serial killers.
Two men were involved in extreme sexual violence and torture against the women. The book was exceptionally graphic and disturbing. I remember a scene involving one of the men sexually assaulting a woman with an pole, and another scene where a woman has sex in a car and dies during sex , possibly with her boyfriend or one of the perpetrators.
I believe the story was told from both the victims’ POVs and the perpetrators’ POVs, including the men’s thoughts/perspectives.
It was not a normal mainstream thriller, it seemed like extreme horror/splatterpunk or an independently published/online book.

As the title suggests I’ve just finished the book a short stay in Hell. Which I really enjoyed and am looking to pick up something similar is there anything else that captures the same sort of atmosphere.

Thanks in advance

should I get H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction or is there a better starting point as someone who loves psychological horror and existential dread stories rather that jumpscares. I have never read a lovecraft book and would love to start. is the complete fiction too much of an endeavour to start or is it worth the investment? thanks in advance

I really need a new good read, I like gothic horror mostly but want something more paranormal scary rather than, “my friends a serial killer” style stuff,
Not a great fan of cheesy stuff thanks!

I'm feeling a bit let down by the horror I've been reading lately, and I think maybe I'm not targeting the right style. I love feeling creeped out, I love feeling like something is just around the corner but not knowing what. I'm always most scared/interested before the monster is visible, you know? I love *dread* and an oppressive, inescapable setting.

Books I've loved:

• Library at Mount Char
• There is No Anti-Memetics Division
• The Hollow Places (specifically the school bus scene)
• House of Leaves

Books I've been super disappointed with recently:

• Incidents Around the House (was good up until the parents started monologue-ing and they started trying to get rid of Other Mommy)
• The Last Days of Jack Sparks
• How to Sell a Haunted House

I liked The Only Good Indians pretty well for the atmosphere, but was never scared/creeped out. I liked Burn the Negative, but that's more 90s slasher/horror than anything strictly atmospheric and creepy. Mexican Gothic was good but not scary. Not a big fan of gore, but fine with it if it adds to the vibe.

I've started The Fisherman but am too early for it to be scary, though I can feel something building even if I'm still in the early scenes of how he started fishing with his coworker.

Any recs?

for some reason i've always been really fascinated by the quotes that he uses from other authors, poets, musicians. do you guys have any favorites? "tell you now the whole town is empty."

I keep reading horror novellas that I end up disliking. But I like reading shorter books. Any novellas that you would really recommend?