"Appropriate quote."

Edwin Voskamp's Horror Recommended Reading

My long-standing favourite in the horror genre is H.P. Lovecraft. I'd almost written 'of course', since he stands so far above the others in evoking a sense of horror, of pure, unadulterated revulstion that the others seems to write scary books, instead of horror. The only book in recent memory that gave me that kind of chills is Song of Kali, by Dan Simmons. All his books are worth reading, although they shift across genres, fading in and out of fantasy, science fiction and horror. Carrion comfort is pure horror, where Children of the night is his vampire book, in a contemporary setting and a twist. The Hyperion books have won so many awards, they're hard to miss, but just in case, I strongly recommend them.

I like Stephen King's old books, with a strong preference for the parapsychological ones. Books like Carrie, Christine, The Dead Zone, Firestarter, Salem's Lot and The Shining. Chrisine is my all-time favourite of Stephen King's. Like many books currently published, his suffer from too little editing. Since any Stephen King book sells by the millions, they are just shoved out on the unsuspecting public.

My other favourite in this genre is Dean R. Koontz, whose fine insight into the human mind and ability to turn semmingly-simple situations into hairrising events entertains me. Books like Chase, The Face of Fear and Shattered are amongst the ones I like best.

Of Peter Straub I've only read Ghost story, but it is a good piece of work, well worth reading. It's also a thicker book that doesn't feel like it should have every other page ripped out.

There are some other authors whose horror writings I like, but who are listed under Fantasy or Science Fiction, most notably Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker, and Edgar Allan Poe ended up in the Mystery department.