One of our oldest and strongest emotions as human beings is fear.  Strangely, the mind seems to look for things that are scary; we build haunted houses, spend our hard-earned money on Horror Movies, and read Horror Novels.  It does seem a bit macabre that we as humans tend to frequent this genre.  Life is filled with fearful moments – we fear death, being alone, a lack of money, losing a job, losing a family member, and the list goes on and on.  Yet there is that adrenaline rush that the darkness and the unknown can produce which is like no other to make us feel alive.  So why does horror mystify and almost entrap us?  Maybe it is our unending curiosity or we are attempting to test our courage in an increasingly unpredictable world.  Whatever the reason, it attracts millions of people, especially around this time of year at Halloween.  So here are a list of some of the authors of classic Horror books that evoke the emotions of fear, surprise, and terror to keep you up at night!

Mary Shelley – Frankenstein

Bram Stoker – Dracula

Stephen King –  The Shining, Pet Sematary, Carrie, Salem’s Lot, Cujo, Misery (to name a few)

Edgar Allen Poe – The Fall of the House of Usher, The Black Cat, Murders in the Rue Morgue,

The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death

Clive Barker – The Hellbound Heart,  The Damnation Game, Coldheart Canyon, Cabal,

                           Demons and Deviants

Dean Koontz – Odd Thomas, Phantoms, The Bad Place, The Taking, Dark Fall, Watchers,

                             The Demon Seed

Anne Rice – Interview with the Vampire, The Witching Hour, The Queen of the Damned

Jack Ketchum – The Girl Next Door, Off Season, The Woman, Hide and Seek, Offspring

H.P. Lovecraft – Dreams of Terror and Death, The Road to Madness, Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos,

                               Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre

Peter Straub – The Floating Dragon, A Dark Matter, Ghost Story, Koko

Ray Bradbury – Something Wicked This Way Comes, Dark Carnival, A Memory of Murder

Ramsey Campbell – The Face That Must Die, The Darkest Part of the Woods, Ancient Images

There are, of course, many more authors in this genre that you can check out at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and many other online stores.

Also available on my website is a horror/thriller – “VENGEANCE OF THE WOLF”  

– www.solitaireparke.com

Have a Horror-ific Holiday!

Solitaire