Themes:
Week 1 - Local Horror
I live in Sweden, so I think Sweden is an area limited enough. Also, we have John Ajvide Lindqvist who writes about Stockholm, so - that's even closer. I am also interested in Feberflickan by Elisabeth Östnäs, and Syggelsen by Amanda Hellberg.
Week 2 - Movie Horror
Now, some great horror novels movies are based on.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - the movies suck, the book is good, psychological horror. Nothing paranormal really happens, but the terror is thick!
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (don't bother with the Will Smith movie - if you must, watch Omega Man with Charlton Heston, or The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price)
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker (Hellraiser)
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty - movie is better than the book
There is also a sequel to the book, called Legion
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell - a longer version: Frozen Hell (Thing)
Basically anything by Stephen King has been made into a film
Week 3 - Classic Horror
Anything written before 1980. Preferably anything written before 1950. In my mind it should be even older than that :-D
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe, 1794
The Monk by Matthew Lewis, 1796
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 1818
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe 1938
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe, 1839
Good Lady Ducayne by Elizabeth Mary Braddon, 1869
Carmilla by Sheridan le Fanu, 1872
Dracula by Bram Stoker, 1897
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, 1898
Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker, 1911
The Room in the Tower by E.F. Benson, 1912
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H.P.Lovecraft, 1926
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P.Lovecraft 1931
Collected Ghost Stories by M.R.James 1931
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. 1947
Week 4 - Contemporary Horror
Presumably, this would be anything written after 1980. Some of the readers weren't even born then, and then it cannot be contemporary, can it? I was born in 1969, so in my case, it should be anything written since then. But - to me, it's something written in the 2020s :-D
Mary by Nat Cassidy, 2022 - it's apparently a... retelling or something, of Carrie, so I think I want to read Carrie first.
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher, 2022
Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente, 2021
When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen, 2021
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca, 2021
Near the Bone by Christina Henry, 2021
The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon, 2021
Now, we have the GoodReads Choice Awards winner in the Horror category for 2023, Holly by Stephen King, and I want to read all the books with Holly before I read that.
Also, we have the Bram Stoker Awards, and the winner of 2022 best novel winner was Gabino Iglesias, The Devil Takes you Home
Prompts:
These prompts are very freely interpretable - if you think it fits, it fits.
1 - Universal Monsters
I am going with Universal Studios' classic monster flicks, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Phantom of the Opera, The Wolf Man, and The Mummy. Now, the four first ones are based on books, the two last ones are not. There also were Murders in the Rue Morgue and Island of Lost Souls (Island of Doctor Moreau), on the list, and a few of E.A.Poe's short stories and poems, like The Black Cat, and The Raven.
So - any of the originals I have on my horror classics list would do, but also any derivates, like I have Frankenstein in Baghdad and Fables, Vol.1: Legends in Exile, on my TBR list, and then I am somewhat interested in The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl by Theodora Goss, and Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match by Sally Thorne. Theodora Goss' monster girl book would fit this category pretty nicely anyway, as she based her book series on these classic monsters.
We have The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova based on Dracula. I could reread it. I liked it.
Salem's Lot has vampires, Soulless by Gail Carriger has vampires, and Fledgling by Octavia Butler. All those are on my TBR list.
Now, Theodora Goss and Sally Thorne are not horror, neither is Fables, so I don't count them, but others might.
2 - Graphic Novels/Comics/Alternate Media
I have From Hell by Alan Moore, and Uzumaki by Junji Ito
I could read The Red Mother Vol. 2
and I'm interested in Something Is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera
I could read Neil Gaiman's Snow, Glass, Apples, illustrated by Colleen Doran. It is a true horror story that one :-D
3 - Cult Horror
So... is it a horror novel that has got a cult status, or a horror novel about a cult, or a cult like situation?
Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon
Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon - this is my yearly tradition, to watch the miniseries for Lammas.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
The Shining by Stephen King - a true cult classic.
Last Days by Brian Evenson
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
4 - Indie Horror
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca
Kealan Patrick Burke's Sour Candy
The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith
The Coming Thing by Anne Billson
5 - Personal Horror/Phobias
Insects... and other such things. I can't even stand butterflies and ladybugs. They aren't cute, they are terrifying. This scene in The Temple of Doom... sorry, Indy, I can't. Sorry. Ew.
I think Slugs by Shaun Hutson is enough yucky, but Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis might be bad enough :-D
Parasite trilogy by Mira Grants (pandemic of parasitic worms - yök!)
Now, one could understand this prompt as a book about someone else's personal phobias.
6 - Haunted House
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirely Jackson
The Good House by Tananarive Due
White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco
7 - Possession
No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill
The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp
Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell
Hell House by Richard Matheson
The Case Against Satan by Ray Russell
Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
The Shining by Stephen King
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons
Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory
No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
8 - Religious Horror
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky
Last Days by Brian Evenson
The Case Against Satan by Ray Russell
Bunny by Mona Awad
No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill
They Thirst by Robert McCammon
The Library of the Unwritten by A.J.Hackwith
Inferno by Dante Alighieri
Carrie by Stephen King
The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen
The Wicker Man by Robin Hardy and Anthony Shaffer
King David and the Spiders from Mars
Charles Robert Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer and
Sarah Perry's Melmoth
9 - Body Horror
Books of Blood by Clive Barker
Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist
The Complete Works of H.P.Lovecraft
It by Stephen King
The Troop by Nick Cutter
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
The Cipher by Kathe Koja
10 - Slasher
Psycho by Robert Bloch
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
The Shining by Stephen King
Ring by Kōji Suzuki
11 - Killer Animals
The Rats by James Herbert
Slugs by Hutson
12 - Horror Adjacent (SciFi, Romantic, Etc.)
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
13 - Translated Horror
Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Out by Natsuo Kirino
14 - Diverse Authors
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire)
Feed by Mira Grant
Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite (Billy Martin)
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca
15 - Kidnappings
The Beetle by Richard Marsh
Misery by Stephen King
16 - Psychological Horror
Misery by Stephen King
The Shining by Stephen King
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
American Psycho by Breat Easton Ellis
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
It by Stephen King
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon
17 - Extreme Horror
Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Come Closer by Sara Gran
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Let's Go Play at the Adams' by Mendal W. Johnson
One Rainy Night by Richard Laymon
18 - <3 One for Pax <3
Pax Panic was a YouTuber, who passed away a couple of months ago. F Cancer.
Either a green cover or one of her five-star reviews:
Tinfoil Butterfly by Rachel Eve Moulton
Uzumaki by Junji Ito
The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon
Cackle by Rachel Harrison
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll
Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite
19 - Cozy Horror
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Cackle by Rachel Harrison
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
Bunny by Mona Awad
The October Country by Ray Bradbury
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
20 - Non-Fiction/Based on a True Story
Night Mother: A Personal and Cultural History of The Exorcist by Marlena Williams
Danse Macabre by Stephen King
Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson
The Hunger by Alma Katsu
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
21 - Cannibalism
22 - Apocalyptic/Post-Apocalyptic
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
I Am Legend by Richard Matherson
The Stand by Stephen King
Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Malorie by Josh Malerman
The Passage by Justin Cronin
23 - Elemental/Environment
eco-horror or elemental horror, horror caused by water, air, earth, fire...
The Terror by Arthur Machen
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Drowned World
The Crystal World
The Wind from Nowhere by J.G.Ballard
Fever Dream by Samantha Schweblin (translated)
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
We Need to Do Something by Max Booth III
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley
Slugs by Shaun Hutson
Thin Air by Michelle Paver
The Hollow Places by T.Kingfisher
The Elementals by Michael McDowell
24 - Folk Horror
Rawhead Rex by Clive Barker in Books of Blood Vol 3
25 - Ghost
Dark Matter: A Ghost Story by Michelle Paver
26 - Witches
Cackle by Rachel Harrison
Well Witched by Frances Hardinge
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
The House Witch by Delemhach
Old Virginia by Laird Baron (in the anthology The Imago Sequence)
The Croning
HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
27 - Cryptids
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (mermaids)
Devolution by Max Brooks (bigfoot)
28 - Cosmic Horror
"The Colour out of Space by HP Lovecraft if you want what is perhaps the best and most cosmic cosmic horror out there IMO."
Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers (and only that short story)
The Cipher by Kathe Koja
A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons
29 - Home Invasions
Intensity by Dean R. Koontz
30 - Aliens
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell - a longer version: Frozen Hell
Peter Watts' Blindsight
Bird Box
31 - Curses
The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
The Cipher by Kathe Koja.
Ring and Spiral by Kôji Suzuki
Adam Nevill's No One Gets Out Alive
Horrorstör
The King in Yellow
32 - Dolls
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
Dolly by Susan Hill
The Doll Collection edited by Ellen Datlow
33 - Clowns
It by Stephen King
The God of Dark Laughter by Michael Chabon
34 - Holiday Horror
The Shining by Stephen King
NOS4R2 by Joe Hill
Hell House by Richard Matheson
Ghost Story by Peter Straub
Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco
35 - Evil Children
Fever Dream by Samantha Schweblin
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke
The Wasp Factory by Iain Reid
Let's Go Play at the Adams' by Mendal W. Johnson
The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Bad Seed by William March
The Other by Thomas Tryon
the Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
The Troop by Nick Cutter
36 - Technological Horror
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft,
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
Clay's Ark by Octavia Butler
John Dies at the End
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
I Am Legend Richard Matheson
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