Wednesday, April 15, 2015

McMahon's List of Horror

Today's guest blog post comes from horror author Paul McMahon, who brings us another fine list of frightening fiction...

Paul McMahon's work has appeared in both previous NEHW anthologies EPITAPHS and WICKED SEASONS, and will also be featured in their third anthology: WICKED TALES as well as in the upcoming were-beast anthology FLESH LIKE SMOKE. His work has also appeared in the anthologies THE DARKEST THIRST and DAMNED NATION, as well as a slew of smaller press magazines.

PM: The twenty horror books that have helped shape the person I am. I've arranged this list in roughly the order I discovered them. I've also allowed only one book per author to keep it from consisting solely of Stephen King, Charles Grant, Ramsey Campbell and Kathe Koja.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: 12 Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do On TV (In particular, I've never been able to shake the creep factor in Margaret St. Clair's tale "The Perfectionist.")
The Dark by James Herbert
The Pet by Charles L Grant
The Boys From Brazil by Ira Levin (More than Rosemary's Baby, wondering if the concept behind this story was possible haunted me for years.)
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Misery by Stephen King (Besides King's usual suspects, the idea that something you create could be meaningful enough to drive someone batshit crazy should make any artist worry at least a little.) Dracula by Bram Stoker
Ancient Images by Ramsey Campbell
Winter Wake by Rick Hautala
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
The Cipher by Kathe Koja
Nightlife by Brian Hodge
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons
The Ghost Pirates by William Hope Hodgson
The Off Season by Jack Ketchum (I'm talking about the real-life ending the author intended.)
A Choir of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli
The Caretaker of Lorne Field by Dave Zeltzerman
A Requiem For Dead Flies by Peter N. Dudar (Watch this Dudar guy, he's going places!)

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