Your Horror "Must Read" List For Fall

By Chris Jorgensen

I love Autumn. The Fall season is perhaps my favorite time of the year. Pretty colors, hoodie weather, soft wind, and gentle rain. It is a mixture of holidays that are simply the best of all the holidays, comfortable temperatures that are good in the day, and just cold enough to wrap a blanket around you while you are inside for the night. Yes, Autumn is where it’s at. What I enjoy most about this time of year, though, is the reading. Nothing says good reading like a blanket and a warm drink. And of course, during this time of the year, I love reading my horror and chilling stories. There’s just something about those books in particular during this time of year that really makes them have the best atmosphere for that sort of reading. So today, we have quite an extensive article. So extensive in fact that I have divided them into sections for you all. I’m just the best, right? So, to get this thing going, I want to talk about:

Horror Authors Worth Reading

Let’s get the ball rolling with the always number one pick off of any horror list you will see when it comes to literature. Stephen King is regarded as the master of horror in literature, and while he has some very impressive accomplishments under his belt, I don’t always place him at number one. Oh sure, he will always be top 5 for me, some of his classics are very much worth a read, and he is a wonderful writer, despite a couple of flaws. But today I’m gonna get him out of the way and say that I love his works, but his work is not for everyone. I want to take a second to talk about the volumes I recommend to read from King.

First, I think it has to be said to read Carrie. Carrie was his first, and in my opinion, one of his best novels released. Carrie is a very dark and haunting sort of story that encapsulates you in the character and makes you feel for Carrie at several points while keeping the dark mystical feel throughout the latter half of the book. The story is rich with metaphor, symbolism, and fabulous writing. Very much worth a read for anyone wanting a good horror story, or wanting to get introduced to King as an author.

Next, we have to talk about The Shining. Let’s start with the movie, which King himself very much disliked. King had issues mostly with the fact that it didn’t portray Jack’s descent into madness quite like how he imagined it or how he wrote it in the book, to which I agree.

Nevertheless, the movie is a marvelous piece of film, if not for the adaptation aspect, but for the cinematography and directing skills that you see. It is used in film classes for a reason, after all.

Now, for the book. I loved this book almost on equal with IT for the haunting feeling you get as you watch this character slowly descend into the madness that is infesting the hotel. The fear and dread come from the always wondering if the hotel is really haunted or if it is all just the madness. There is an answer to that, but you will have to read the novel to get your answer. The character development and its haunting chill you always got when reading it is also spot on, and another reason why I love it. Check this one out if you are a fan of the movie, or want to read one of his better ghost story type novels.

H.P. Lovecraft was an active writer between 1917-1937, but sadly never found fame or prominence during his lifetime. He was only published in magazines and never in full novel form before he died in poverty in 1937. However, he has since been praised and regarded as one of the most significant horror and weird writers of the 20th century. So similarly as last time, I want to talk about a few notable stories that have had the most prominence. Still, unlike last time where I listed them as my favorites, today, I want to list them so that new readers should read them to get the most acquainted with Lovecraft’s writing.

First, the most prominent of the stories that Lovecraft is known for, The Call of Cthulhu. The short story has four chapters that follow the narrator’s recount of his encounter with a cult and a creature all involved with a strange idol found that describes and puts an image to Cthulhu. The story takes great depth of inner description and thought that still amazes me for its brilliant writing. Much of his writing describes fear as things that are so cosmological and massive that it goes beyond human comprehension.

Next, we have a story that doesn’t take on this sense of the cosmic like the previous two. The Rats in the Walls is a story about a man who discovers a family secret after he returns to a long-dead estate following the death of his son. What he finds there drives him to his own madness and eventually leaves him in an asylum where he is plagued by the sounds of rats in the walls. This story is another one of my favorites because it’s not cosmic or alien horror; rather, it’s about people and the madness of evil. The story is shorter than the previous two as well, and thus lends a great favor with me due to the amount of story that is given with such space. This is a must-read for anyone who loves the thrill or horror of people rather than monsters.

So now that we have talked about two giants in the genre and the stories to check out of each one. Now, I’m going to look at an author who probably many haven’t heard of before now. Introducing new authors is always a thrill, and chances are that this one will be new to many, so let’s get right into:

Ramsey Campbell is a very well versed writer in the horror genre from 1960 onward. He sites H. P. Lovecraft as his earliest influence into the writing scene, and fell in love with Lovecraft’s horror at a very early age, and started writing seriously in the early 60’s. He wrote several tales that expanded parts of the Cthulhu mythos, and several short stories that help start a time-period that many used to build upon the mythos. Even Stephen King has acknowledged the writing prowess of Campbell in his book Danse Macabre.

First, I want to talk about The Hungry Moon, which was one of my favorites from Campbell. The story takes place in a northern England town that continues with its druidic rituals and worship to keep the town alive. Slowly the place descends further when the creature that has been worshiped for centuries starts to extend its control over the town. The story is well developed and blends wonderful language and prose to help bring the story to life. This one was one of my favorites, perhaps because I can see so much influence from Lovecraft and only expands on the detail and story.

Next, Ancient Images is another that I enjoyed, though it has some moments of very dull spaces. The story itself was perhaps so unique in its portrayal that I fell for it on that basis, but the story is still wonderful despite the long pauses of action in the story. The story revolves around a man whose colleague has died violently over a stolen copy of an unreleased Karloff/Lugosi film. Tragedy and misfortune surrounded the production of the film, and slowly the curse or forces preventing the secrets from being revealed start to haunt our main character to keep it suppressed. The story is a fun read, especially if you have an appreciation for the old Karloff horror films.

Well, there we have it, a fancy little list to help us all curl up into a warm spot on the couch and enjoy the season. Hopefully, this series helped you find new works to explore, or at the very least, a new book to try out. We also got to talk a little bit about some fun classics, and some history while we were about it. Hopefully, you all found something to enjoy! Until next time.