October Genre Discussion

[zeldas_lullaby]

Yes! But it's by Stephen King. Interesting discussion point. It reminds me of Boy's Life by Robert R McCammon--he's a horror author, but that book isn't horror. But then we go back to the initial issue that she's cautious about being too scared... hm... HA HA! I can't think of a solution!!

Sorry, @hsimone , but you'll have to read something SCARY.

OH! OK, I've got it. I'll recommend The Langoliers. It's not too long, and it's definitely supernatural, but without being too horrifying.

[gali]

Yes! But it's by Stephen King. Interesting discussion point. It reminds me of Boy's Life by Robert R McCammon--he's a horror author, but that book isn't horror. But then we go back to the initial issue that she's cautious about being too scared... hm... HA HA! I can't think of a solution!!

Sorry, @hsimone , but you'll have to read something SCARY.

OH! OK, I've got it. I'll recommend The Langoliers. It's not too long, and it's definitely supernatural, but without being too horrifying.

I loved the "Boy's Life".

[zeldas_lullaby]

It's one of my favorites of all time.

[Heidi M Simone]

Yes! But it's by Stephen King. Interesting discussion point. It reminds me of Boy's Life by Robert R McCammon--he's a horror author, but that book isn't horror. But then we go back to the initial issue that she's cautious about being too scared... hm... HA HA! I can't think of a solution!!

Sorry, @hsimone , but you'll have to read something SCARY.

OH! OK, I've got it. I'll recommend The Langoliers. It's not too long, and it's definitely supernatural, but without being too horrifying.

Oh no, @zeldas_lullaby! Not something scary!!

Hey, as long as there is no possession of people, then maybe I'll be okay. Cannot not do anything that would remind me of The Exorcist...

What is your official recommendation? Is The Eyes of a Dragon still a contender? Or do you think I should try something else?

[zeldas_lullaby]

Hm... OK, The Eyes of the Dragon is indeed not remotely scary. But if you want more of the supernatural elements and creepiness and the whole aspect of an airplane trip gone desperately wrong, then I'd recommend The Langoliers, or even the recently reviewed book The Last Stonestepper. Now, I can recommend The Last Stonestepper with little hesitation, because it's the only one of the three that I've read in this millenium. (How old am I?) Maybe you should try it. It's got monsters, suspense, intensity, and a killer ending. It's also philosophical in a way that makes you question things. It's not as polished as a Stephen King book, being that it's self-published. But if you understand the minor flaws of self-published books and are willing to overlook them, you could consider that one. I read it in, like, two nights; I could not put it down. And for me, that's a HUGE deal with my focus issues. So for an official recommendation, that would be it, and the official review by Escapeartist is on this forum somewhere!!

-- September 19th, 2015, 11:45 pm --

Oh! Also, I should point out that I've never seen the Exorcist. I actually don't know what it involves.

[rssllue]

Demon possession of a young girl and the efforts of a couple of priests who try to cast out the demon.

[Heidi M Simone]

@zeldas_lullaby, I didn't even think of The Last Stonestepper! I have that on my to-read list. It sounds really good! Alright, I think I'll do that then. Thank you for all your help!

@rssllue, that's a good quick summary of The Exorcist. Scared me so bad when I was a kid!

[kathylapan]

The most frightening book I've ever read was The Monster Beside Me by Anne Rule. It's not horror, it's true crime. Which is more frightening because, it really happened and it could happen to you.

[zeldas_lullaby]

Welcome, Kathy! Your avatar is adorable.

Great, hsimone!! This is exciting!

[kathylapan]

Welcome, Kathy! Your avatar is adorable.

Great, hsimone!! This is exciting!

Thank you! I found it online because my knickname is kitten lol

[zeldas_lullaby]

Oh, how precious!! Well, great job! Cutest kitty ever!! I'm going to change my avatar soon--I like to mix it up.

I made a list of horror authors that people might not consider:

Middle grade authors whose books still keep me entertained:
Mary Downing Hahn
Dan Poblocki
Betty Ren Wright (the Dollhouse Murders is amazing--not only creeptastic, but a real tear-jerker. And it's still in print decades later)

Adult author
AJ Matthews--straightforward horror (ghosts and such), but he overuses foul language. Only complaint.

YA authors
Simon Holt (his Devouring trilogy was so frightening that I had to bail on it! If you want serious YA horror, then you've got to check it out.)
RL Stine has a short story collection called FEAR, which I highly recomment. I only read about half the stories a while back, but they're inventive, horrifying, and freaky. He also has a similar collection from the '90's (he's been around) called Thirteen. (Anyone want to guess how many short stories it contains?) (Probably out of print, but you can find it. )I recommend it too. The stories are less fantastical, but still really good. I'm not a fan of RL Stine, by the way, so it's worth pointing out that each of those sets of short stories features a different well-known YA author per story. RL Stine is merely the editor of the collections.

[kathylapan]

RL Stein was huge when I was a teenager, had a TV show of his stories etc, and I have never thought his writing any good. And they weren't scary, but I read Stephen king at that age so I am perhaps biased.

Speaking of, I thought king's scariest book was needful things.

[Topcho]

Oh, I liked RL Stein as a kid! This year I reread some of the Goosebumps stories, but they didn't have the same effect as before... But they weren't the best anyway, it was just what I picked in the library at random.

I just discovered I have some Clive Barker's Books of Blood (Loved the first one!) and some Lovecraft (I like his style, but I actually prefer the Cthulhu-less stories more ). And I want to finish the Anna dressed in blood duology. Aaaah, so many possible choices for an October read! XD

Btw, I am not a big King fan (hiding away from the fan's anger) but I did like his son's work, Heart-shaped box.

[JohannaSusan]

This is a great choice for October. The book I would suggest would be Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning. The story centers around the modern world of Dublin and the faerie who are trying to take over the earth. It sounds a little frilly when you first hear that the villains are fae, but the story presents some terrifying and compelling characters. The heroine in the novel isn't the typical goodie goodie hero, but instead shows that she has a dark and dangerous side. I found this book to be an interesting read because of the author's prose style and the plot has a good balance of action and character development.

[kio]

I love Karen Marie Moning