Soares' List of Horror

For his list, author L.L. Soares told me that he couldn't keep it down to just 20 books; that's why we get five bonus items this time around. He also mentioned that he doesn't necessarily consider this a "best of genre" list, however he does consider it a list of great horror books. And, in his own words: "I didn't include Poe, Lovecraft, or Robert W. Chambers, because I think they're in a class by themselves."

Books of Blood by Clive Barker

Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber 

I am Legend by Richard Matheson 

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum 

Dark Gods by T.E.D. Klein 

By Bizarre Hands by Joe R. Lansdale  

The Dark Country by Dennis Etchison 

The Blackwater Series by Michael McDowell 

Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison

Abomination by Michael C. Norton 

Grimm Memorials by R. Patrick Gates 

The Night Runners by Joe R. Lansdale 

Live Girls by Ray Garton 

The Scream by Skipp & Spector 

The Safety of Unknown Cities by Lucy Taylor 

Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite 

The Stand by Stephen King 

The Cellar by Richard Laymon 

The Kill Riff by David J. Schow 

Tales of Pain and Wonder by Caitlin Kiernan 

The Drive-In by Joe R. Lansdale 

A Choir of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli 

The Bighead by Edward Lee 

Skin by Kathe Koja

L.L. Soares is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the novel Life Rage. His other books include Rock ‘n’ Roll, Hard, the short story collection In Sickness and the novella Green Tsunami (both with Laura Cooney). His fiction has appeared in magazines like Cemetery Dance, Horror Garage, and Bare Bone and anthologies like Insidious Assassins and Living After Midnight (the latter also features a story by some guy named Wilbanks). His new novella called "Nightmare in Greasepaint" (written with G. Daniel Gunn) is coming out soon from Samhain Publishing.

He co-writes the Stoker-nominated horror movie review column Cinema Knife Fight, which can be found at: www.cinemaknifefight.com.

For more about his endeavors, go to www.llsoares.com.

Kronfeld's List of Horror

Who is Kronfeld?, you may ask. Well, I'm married to her and she asked--nay, demanded!--that she have her say here on the blog in regards to favorite horror books. She's a big reader and always has been, so why not? Who am I to say "no" to such a loving, caring, beautiful--well, you get the idea. Take a look!

Stephen King - The Stand
Stephen King - 11/22/63
Stephen King - Carrie
Stephen King - 'Salem's Lot
Stephen King - Pet Sematary
Clive Barker - Coldheart Canyon
Clive Barker - The Books of Blood
Poppy Z. Brite - Lost Souls
Poppy Z. Brite - Exquisite Corpse

Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn - Sharp Objects
Gillian Flynn - Dark Places
Shane Stevens - By Reason of Insanity
Joe Hill - NOS482
Joe Hill - Heart-Shaped Box
Paula Hawkins - The Girl on the Train
Anne Rice - Interview with a Vampire
Bentley Little - The Ignored 
Charlaine Harris - True Blood books
Charlaine Harris - Midnight Crossing 

RozzyKron on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RozzyKron

Langan's List of Horror

Today, I am pleased to welcome horror author John Langan to the blog, with his generous list(s) of top horror books. Take it away, John: 

My Top Twenty, er, Thirty (three) Horror Novels

I’m a champion of the idea that it’s possible to write great horror stories at novel length. So when I sat down to come up with twenty horror books that have meant a lot to me, I thought it would be fun to focus my list on novels. The list I wound up with, however, was (a lot) longer than I’d anticipated: 

Mary Shelley Frankenstein (1818/1832)
James Hogg The Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824)
Robert Louis Stevenson Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)
Arthur Machen The Great God Pan (1894)
Henry James The Turn of the Screw (1898)
H.P. Lovecraft The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (1927/1943)
Fritz Leiber Conjure Wife (1943)
Shirley Jackson The Sundial (1958)
--The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
Ray Bradbury Something Wicked This Way Comes (1963)
Philip K. Dick The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1964)
Anne Rice Interview with the Vampire (1976)
Stephen King The Shining (1977)
--Pet Sematary (1983)
Peter Straub Ghost Story (1979)
--Shadowland (1980)
Thomas Tessier The Nightwalker (1979)
Ramsey Campbell Incarnate (1983)
--The Darkest Part of the Woods (2002)
Ian Banks The Wasp Factory (1984)
Clive Barker The Damnation Game (1985)
--Cabal (1988)
John Skipp & Craig Spector The Light at the End (1986)
Jonathan Carroll A Child Across the Sky (1989)
Michael Cisco The Divinity Student (1999)
Jack Cady The Hauntings of Hood Canal (2001)
Sara Gran Come Closer (2003)
Lucius Shepard Floater (2003)
Steve and Melanie Tem The Man on the Ceiling (2008)
Sarah Langan Audrey’s Door (2009)
Colson Whitehead Zone One (2011)
Laird Barron The Croning (2012)
Paul Tremblay A Head Full of Ghosts (2015)

So much for arguments against the horror novel. I also realized that there was another list I should give alongside this one, and that’s of novels I keep meaning to get to but haven’t yet:

Jeremias Gotthelf The Black Spider (1842)
E.H. Visiak Medusa (1929)
Jack Williamson Darker than You Think (1940)
Ray Russell The Case Against Satan (1962)
Roland Torpor The Tenant (1966)
Fred Chappell Dagon (1968)
Ramsey Campbell The Face That Must Die (1979)
--The Grin of the Dark (2007)
Anne Rivers Siddons The House Next Door (1978)
Michael Bishop Who Made Stevie Cry? (1984)
Thomas Tessier Finishing Touches (1987)
Mark Danielewski House of Leaves (2000)
Bennett Sims A Questionable Shape (2013)

Mea culpa. Finally, I felt I should give a few titles that, while not horror novels in the strictest sense of the term, seemed at least cousins of those I’d already listed.

Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre (1847)
Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights (1847)
Charles Dickens Dombey and Son (1848)
--Great Expectations (1861)
Henry James The American (1877)
--The Portrait of a Lady (1881)
Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness (1899)
Nathanael West Miss Lonelyhearts (1933)
William Faulkner Absalom, Absalom (1936)
William Golding Lord of the Flies (1954)
Cormac McCarthy Blood Meridian (1985)
Toni Morrison Beloved (1987)
Ian McEwan Black Dogs (1992)

John Langan

John Langan is the author of two collections, The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies (Hippocampus 2013) and Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters (Prime 2008), and a novel, House of Windows (Night Shade 2009). With Paul Tremblay, he has co-edited Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters (Prime 2011). He lives in upstate New York with his wife, younger son, and many, many animals.

John Langan keeps an irregular blog at https://johnpaullangan.wordpress.com/

Fryer's List of Horror

I haven't posted a horror book list on this blog in a while, so I'm glad that my old friend, writer Matt Fryer, finally found some time to send me his. Like a lot of my friends, Matt knows a lot about the horror genre, and he has come up with a great list. Check it out!

Matthew Lewis - The Monk (1796)
The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allen Poe (1827- 1849)
Bram Stoker – Dracula (1897)
Richard Matheson – I Am Legend (1954)
Shirley Jackson – The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
Susan Hill – I’m the King of the Castle (1970)
Stephen King - The Shining (1977)
Stephen King – Different Seasons (1982)
James Herbert - Domain (1983)
Iain Banks – The Wasp Factory (1984)

Clive Barker – Books of Blood (1984/1985)
Cormac McCarthy – Blood Meridian (1985)
Clive Barker – Weaveworld (1987)
Jack Ketchum – The Girl Next Door (1989)
The Starry Wisdom – A Tribute to HP Lovecraft (1995)
Stephen Laws – Daemonic (1996)
Poppy Z Brite – Exquisite Corpse (1996)
Ramsey Campbell – House on Nazareth Hill (1997)
Mehitobel Wilson – Dangerous Red (2003) 

Stephen Volk – Whitstable (2013)

Matthew Fryer lives with his wife in Sheffield, England, and works in the windowless basement of his local hospital. As well as reading, reviewing and writing dark fiction, he's addicted to loud music, chillies and Rollercoaster Tycoon 3. Visit his website - The Hellforge - at www.matthewfryer.com

Favorite Pieces of Fantasy Fiction

Short Q & A with me at the Horror Delve:

http://horrordelve.com/2015/02/16/david-t-wilbanks-what-are-some-of-your-favorite-pieces-of-fantasy-fiction/

Hard and Heavy 2014

When I'm not reading or writing, I'm usually listening to tons of music, and a good amount of that music for the past decade or so has been hard rock and metal--with special attention given to the latest releases. Of course no one can hear all of it--although some brave souls certainly do seem to try--but I hear a good amount, enough to arrive at a "best of" list for 2014. (Yes another list--I have a thing for them, I reckon.) Now, when I say "metal" I usually mean heavy metal (you know, the stuff that Judas Priest and Black Sabbath invented) but I do enjoy other types as well so some of the more extreme bands do sneak through when they're of what I consider to be outstanding quality. Below, I list the bands in alphabetical order along with album title and genre. Links are provided as well. Enjoy! And let me know your thoughts, or if you have any questions.

Accept - Blind Rage (heavy metal)
Ambush - Firestorm (heavy metal)
Black Magic - Wizard's Spell (heavy metal)
Cloven Hoof - Resist or Serve (heavy metal)
The Dagger - The Dagger (hard rock)
*Elvenking - The Pagan Manifesto (folk/power metal)

Falconer - Black Moon Rising (power metal)
Grand Magus - Triumph and Power (heavy metal)
Lonewolf - Cult of Steel (power/heavy metal)
Noble Beast - Noble Beast (power metal)
*The Oath - The Oath (heavy/doom metal)

Opium Warlords - Taste My Sword of Understanding (doom metal)
Portrait - Crossroads - (heavy metal)
Queen - Live at the Rainbow '74 (hard rock)
The Skull - For Those Which Are Asleep (doom metal)
Slough Feg - Digital Resistance (heavy metal)
Slugdge - Gastronomicon (death metal)
Stallion - Rise and Ride (heavy metal)
Triptykon - Melana Chasmata (doom metal)
Viathyn - Cynosure (power metal)

* image included

Rios' List of Horror

We all win because I have so many friends who know so much about horror! Here's a little information about my writer buddy Chuck, followed by his top 20 horror fiction list, including notes by the author.

Chuck Rios is lover of all things dark, strange and twisted. A diehard metalhead since he was a kid, he knew straightaway that horror and heavy metal went hand in hand, all of which has had a huge impact on his work. He is a Southern Californian for life, a musician and a beer enthusiast. In his spare time he writes music for his band, Decimation. Follow him on twitter @chuckrios.

The Hellbound Heart, by Clive Barker
Beware, by Richard Laymon (Actually, anything from him. I’m a huge fan.)
I am Legend, by Richard Matheson
Pet Sematary, by Stephen King
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly
City Infernal, by Edward Lee
The Rising, by Brian Keene
Ancient Images, by Ramsey Campbell
The White Room, by Rick Hautala
Dread in the Beast, by Charlee Jacob 

Fear, by Ronald Kelly 

The Hour of the Oxrun Dead, by Charles L. Grant
The Complete Fiction, by H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe (I list this as one entry because Lovecraft and Poe primarily wrote short stories. Among my most treasured of these stories are "Cool Air" and "The Tell-Tale Heart," respectively.)
Ghost Story, by Peter Straub
Swan Song, by Robert R. McCammon
Mirror, by Graham Masterton
The Collected Ghost Stories of M.R. James, by M.R. James (Read ‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’ late at night with a flashlight, I dare ya.)
Off Season, by Jack Ketchum
The Nightrunners, By Joe R. Lansdale
Live Girls, by Ray Garton

http://chuckrios.com/