"Will You Step into My Parlor?"
A Guide for Horror Lovers
Although the first horror or gothic novel (characterized by gloomy settings and sinister events) is agreed to be Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto, published in 1765, the writer's fascination with fear and terror can be traced back to the13th century. The year 1765 also saw the arrival of the Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe, perhaps the most popular horror novel until the publication of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in 1818. The following year, one of the first vampire novels appeared, The Vampyre (1819) by John Polidori. Soon the literary world was populated with a new cast of characters including madmen, sadists, vampires, monsters, and werewolves lurking in dark woods, secluded castles, or haunted houses. Matthew Lewis' only novel, The Monk (1796) is described by Stephen King as "a black engine of sex and the supernatural that changed the genre—and the novel itself—forever."
Wondering what horror fiction is all about? This guide will introduce you to the field and describe its major subgenres—both traditional and current.
Read everything by your favorite horror author? We have included lists of Websites and print sources you can use to find Read-Alikes. Since many horror fans enjoy a specific kind of personal terror, we have highlighted five types of horrific characters. You will also find Web and print resources dealing with horror fiction.
Want to try your hand at writing horror fiction? There is advice both on the Web and in print form.
Finally, we'll take a look at award winners: what critics and horror authors consider the cream of the crop.
Traditional Horror Subgenres
Ghost Stories
Why won't the poor soul rest?
Noel Hynd
Noel Hynd was most influenced by his father, Alan, a writer of true crime events. After publishing seven political and espionage thrillers, Hynd turned to horror and increased his readership by 60 percent, mostly female.
Ellen Datlow
Her work as the editor of numerous anthologies of horror short stories has enabled Datlow to keep abreast of trends in all types of horror writing.
Ghost Story Classics
Peter Haining, editor
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Ghost Stories (1998)
This collection of thirty diverse, and sometimes surprising, authors includes a brief history of horror literature with reading suggestions.
Peter Straub
Ghost Story (1998)
In this tale of supernatural revenge, five men accidentally kill a young woman and conceal her death. Eva Galli, the victim, avenges her death in a frightening way.
Elswyth Thane
Tryst (1939)
In Thane's two hanky ghostly romance, death does not end a relationship; it begins one.
Haunted Houses
What is more frightening than a house possessed?
Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson is acknowledged as an inspiration to such writers as Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and Dean Koontz. He has written classic horror (Hell House), science fiction (I Am Legend and The Shrinking Man), and contributed many teleplays to Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone.
Susie Moloney
An in-your-face young writer from Canada shares her life story (with photos), her novels, and her works in progress on her Web site. She invites you to visit The Dwelling - "not your grandmother's haunted house."
Dan Simmons
Simmons' small town midwestern upbringing served as inspiration for his novels Summer of Night and A Winter Haunting. Before becoming a full time writer in 1987, Simmons was in elementary education for eighteen years and was once a finalist for Colorado's "Teacher of the Year."
Haunted House Classics
Peter Haining, editor
The Mammoth Book of Haunted House Stories (2005)
Over forty tales collected by an editor who himself lives in a haunted house.
Henry James
The Turn of the Screw (1897)
Apparitions of evil haunt a nineteenth century governess in this famous haunted house story.
Shirley Jackson
The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
Shy, vulnerable loner Eleanor Vance receives an invitation from Dr. John Montague to a ghost watch at Hill House, a notorious estate in New England.
Anne Rivers Siddons
The House Next Door (1971)
Stephen King described this book as an example of "the new American gothic."
Monsters
Darling, don't you think your makeover is a bit too extreme?
H.P. Lovecraft
Many of Lovecraft's legendary (and weird!) stories, written in a highly distinctive style, feature Cthulhu, whose "pulpy tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings."
Stephen Jones
Jones is the editor of numerous anthologies of horror stories that have showcased the talents of established, as well as new, writers.
Classic Monster Fiction
Daniel Keyes
Flowers for Algernon (1966)
Charlie Gordon, a mentally retarded man, is transformed into a genius through genetic alteration. Then the horror begins!
Mary Wollenscraft Shelley
Frankenstein (1818)
A young Swiss student discovers the secret of animating lifeless matter and, by assembling body parts, creates a monster who vows revenge on his creator after being rejected by society.
Robert Louis Stevenson
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)
This landmark work, based on a dream and written and printed in ten weeks, has inspired at least twenty screen adaptations and several sequels by authors such as Loren D. Estelman, Robert Bloch, and Valerie Martin.
Occult, Supernatural, and Demonic Possession
Hey, Hon, what's got into you?
Ramsey Campbell
One of Britain's most respected horror writers.
John Farris
During his fifty-year writing career Farris has penned novels, short stories, and contributed to anthologies.
Occult Classics
William Blatty
The Exorcist (1971)
The inspiration for Blatty's best-known work dated to 1949 when Blatty was a student at Georgetown University and read local newspaper accounts of an exorcism involving a fourteen-year-old boy in Mount Rainier, Maryland.
Ira Levin
Rosemary's Baby ( 1967)
Levin's most famous work, in which an apparently average couple find new friends among devil worshippers, was a huge best seller, and the film version starred Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes.
Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Grey (1891)
As a young man Dorian Grey wished that a portrait of him would grow old and ugly, and that he would stay young, innocent, and fresh forever. It almost worked.
Vampires
Sink your teeth into that-AND THAT-AND THAT!!
Elizabeth Kostova
In Kostova's novel The Historian, published in 2005, three generations of scholars follow the trail of Dracula from medieval times to the present.
Anne Rice
Rice has written under own name as well as under two pseudonyms: Anne Rampling and A. N. Roquelaure. Under her own name she has published the Vampire Chronicles series as well as the New Tales of the Vampires series. A native of Louisiana, her Web site shows her long-standing connection with New Orleans.
Vampire Classics
Barbara Hambly
Those Who Hunt The Night (1988) and Traveling With The Dead (1995)
Both of these novels feature Dr. James Asher, a retired member of the British Secret Service. Asher is hired to find the person who is killing the vampires of London while they sleep during the day.
Robert McCammon
They Thirst (1981)
Bent on world domination, Prince Vulkan, master of the vampires, has set his army of vampires on Los Angeles. McCammon's Web site includes information from the author telling how he wrote the novel.
Bram Stoker
Dracula (1897)
Stoker's novel about the infamous Count Dracula has spawned an enormous and long-standing interest in vampires. The Web site of Dr. Elizabeth Miller, an internationally recognized expert on Stoker's novel, contains information on the novel, Stoker's life, and links to other sites of interest to vampire lovers.
Werewolves and Animals Run Rampant
Madam, curb your beast!
Dean Koontz
One of horror's most popular, talented, and prolific writers, Koontz creates grotesque worlds filled with high suspense.
Whitley Strieber
Strieber's inspiration for his 1978 werewolf epic The Wolfen was being shadowed by a pack of dogs at night when he walked to Central Park in New York.
Werewolf and Animal Classics
Michael Cadnum
St. Peter's Wolf (1991)
Psychologist and artifact collector Benjamin Byrd acquires a set of fangs that enables him to change into a wolf-like creature.
Berton Roueche
Feral (1974)
The attacks by the stray cats started out small, but a Long Island family's home quickly became a place of horror.
H.G. Wells
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896)
The survivor of a shipwreck is rescued by the infamous Dr. Moreau, whose island is inhabited by half human and half animal creatures.
Current Horror Subgenres
Detection With Horror: Dark, Baffling Crimes
A detective is sometimes engaged in cases involving the supernatural, with the detection often secondary to the eerie background.
Laurell K. Hamilton
Hamilton is best known for the Anita Blake vampire hunter novels.
F. Paul Wilson
In both his vigilante-for-hire Repairman Jack novels as well as his Adversary Cycle novels, cosmic forces lurk beneath the surface.
Horror by African American Authors: Multicultural Mix
Perspectives on the horror genre from African American writers.
L. A. Banks
Vampire huntress Damali Richards is the main character in Banks's novels.
Tananarive Due
Due's novels combine elements of suspense, horror, and the supernatural.
Brandon Massey
Massey credits his interest in writing horror and supernatural suspense to his childhood fascination with Saturday matinee horror movies.
Medical Horror: Where's My Pancreas?
Doctors, sometimes mad, and hospitals in which unnatural medicine is practiced.
Robin Cook
Since the publication of Coma in 1977, Cook, who is a physician, has been the leading writer of medical horror.
Tess Gerritsen
A retired physician, Gerritsen's inspiration for writing Harvest, her first novel, stemmed from an alleged incident involving missing Russian orphans who were being shipped abroad as organ donors.
Michael Palmer
Palmer's novels center on physicians attempting to get to the bottom of dark, frightening events. His Web site even includes writing tips.
Psychological Horror: Mental Mayhem
A dark atmosphere in which the characters' own thoughts, fears, guilt, and emotional instability take over their physical world.
Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston
Child and Preston have co-authored many books together, and you can learn about the authors, their collaboration, and their books at their Web site.
Richard Laymon
Laymon even includes a list of authors who write like him on his Web site. (They include Bentley Little, Ed Gorman, and Jack Ketchum.)
John Saul
Prolific writer Saul provides autobiographical details and information about his books on his Web site. He also includes information about a computer game based on his series of novels called The Blackstone Chronicles: An Adventure in Terror.
Splatterpunk: Horror's Cutting Edge
Less mainstream and more experimental, with graphic violence, harsh language, and sexual descriptions.
Clive Barker
Learn about Barker's latest book projects, view a gallery of the multi-talented author's artwork, and make contact with his fan club at his Web site.
Poppy Brite
In addition to biographical information and information about her books, Brite's cats make an appearance on her Web site!
John Shirley
Read interviews with John Shirley, reviews of his novels, and hear audio downloads of Blue Oyster Cult songs with lyrics by Shirley at his Web site.
Stephen King: Mr. Horror
Stephen King
King's first novel, Carrie, was published in 1974, and he quickly became the modern defining name in the horror genre. This prolific writer's popular novels have been frequent bestsellers, and many have been made into movies and TV mini-series.
Vampires: Twenty-First Century Style
Christine Feehan
Her Dark series is romantic suspense featuring vampires.
Charlaine Harris
In her southern vampire mysteries telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse solves mysteries involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures.
Finding Horror Read-Alikes
So you've got a favorite horror writer, but you've read everything they've written? You love medical horror but can't find another title that fits your reading tastes? These sources can help you find a horror book that you will enjoy.
Web Resources for Horror Read-Alikes
Booklists from the Fiction Department
Take a look at the booklist section of the Enoch Pratt Free Library Fiction Department's Web page for ideas of horror writers to read.
Library Booklists--Horror and Gothic Literature
This lengthy list of library-created booklists has sub-sections for general horror as well as for vampires, ghosts, and werewolves.
Print Resources for Horror Read-Alikes
The following print sources can be found in the Fiction Department, Central Library/State Library Resource Center.
Barron, Neil and others. What Do I Read Next? A Reader's Guide to Current Genre Fiction. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. XZ1003 .W53Q
What Do I Read Next? Covers a number of different genres including horror, and is published each year.
Herald, Diana Tixier. Genreflecting: A Guide to Reading Interests in Genre Fiction. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. XPS374 .P63H47 2006Q
In Genreflecting you will find information about a wide variety of types of fiction, including horror.
Horror in Series
Daniel Hecht
In Hecht's Cree Black novels, Lucretia, known as Cree, is a parapsychologist, widow, and a ghostbuster.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
A gentle, sympathetic vampire named St. Germain wends his way through history. Yarbro has written more than fifteen novels in which St. Germain appears as the principal character at various times in history.
Resources for Horror Readers
Web Resources for Horror Readers
DarkEcho Horror
Author interviews, articles, and essays.
The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore
Information about Poe's works, his life in Baltimore, and The Poe Society.
Horror Web
New horror book, movie, game, and music reviews.
Horror World
Information about a host of horror writers. It includes author and publisher message boards as well.
HorrorFind
"The directory and search engine dead-icated to horror, Halloween, supernatural, and spooky subjects." Includes a substantial section on horror fiction.
Necroscopy: the Review of Horror Fiction
Reviews of recent horror fiction and films.
Print Resources for Horror Readers
The following print sources can be found in the Fiction Department.
Horror: the Best of the Year. Editors John Gregory Betancourt, Sean Wallace. Rockville, MD.: Prime Books, 2006. (shelved under title)
Seventeen outstanding horror stories of 2005.
Spratford, Becky Siegel. The Horror Readers' Advisory: The Librarian's Guide to Vampires, Killer Tomatoes, and Haunted Houses. Chicago: American Library Association. XZ711.5 .S68 2004
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. New York: St. Martin's Press.
(shelved under title)
This annual short story collection covers horror fiction published in the previous year, and also includes an essay on the current state of horror in print, as well as in television and the movies.
Resources for Aspiring Horror Writers
You're a big fan of horror, and after reading so many horror novels you've started to think that you can write one yourself? These resources can help you with the writing. You'll also find advice on how to proceed once you've written your book, such as how to compose a query letter and how to pick the right agent.
DarkEcho Horror Writers’ Workshop
Articles on agents, copyright, rights, horror sub-genres, word counting, and more.
Horror Writers Association
Articles on horror writing, and links to writing-related sites.
Writers Write
Excellent source of information for writers of all genres.
Horror Award Winners
What are the top honors a horror novel can get? Is your favorite author an award winner? Take a look at these Web sites and find out.
The International Horror Guild Awards
Based on public recommendations, these annual juried awards recognize outstanding achievements in the field of horror and dark fantasy for a given year. They include such categories as first novel, anthology, and short fiction.
The Bram Stoker Awards
These annual non-juried awards are presented in eight categories by the Horror Writers Association based on the recommendations of its members. Lifetime Achievement Stokers are occasionally presented to individuals whose entire body of work has substantially influenced horror.
Contact Us
If you would like to know more about horror fiction, e-mail us through our Ask-A-Librarian service, call us at (410) 396-5484, or mail your questions to:
Fiction Department
Enoch Pratt Free Library
State Library Resource Center
400 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
