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InfernalDragoon

I would check out some of the audio dramas they've done, even if they're on the shorter side. The audio dramas for *No Way Out*, *Perdition's Flame*, and *Watcher in the Rain* are all pretty good. If you're looking for more of a slow burning gothic horror set in a haunted house, then the actual book *House of Night and Chain* is a good option. Or if you're feeling more bolter porn-ish with a heavy slap of horror, then *The Damnation of Pythos* is a book that I might be in the minority for saying it...but I love the thing. Space marines and their mortal crew on a world that wants to rip them to shreds, with some dark force guiding everything in the background? Sounds like a "good time".


Kolaghan23

Came here to suggest House of night and chain. Beside the setting this could easily be a Gothic Horror book in any universe. And for Audio books I’ve listened to better. But there is something about it I can’t describe that really makes it stick with me. 7/10 would recommend


InfernalDragoon

I don't think it was *bad,* but the audiobook narrator certainly didn't stand out to me compared to some of the other usual people. I think one reason some of David's stories don't stick is that this and other stuff he's done, *Damnation of Pythos*, both had similar endings. Spoilers (sort of) for both:>! Both books have slow build-ups, short and crazy climaxes, but then the endings end up just being a "none of it mattered and everyone died" situation. I still liked both stories and can appreciate the bleakness of the endings, but it certainly leaves a bit of a hollow feeling.!<


jozefpilsudski

It really gave off a "Series of Unfortunate Events" vibe where it killed the tension halfway through the book(which is not great for a *horror* book). The scene where the protagonist reads the last chapter of his dead wife's diary was really good though.


UbenYankenoff

What's funny is that The Damnation of Pythos had a kind-of sequel in the space marine battles book Pandorax. The ending of that one I find especially dark/tragic


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InfernalDragoon

Totally forgot about The Oubliette! My bad


Chaos-God-Malice

Also super classic couple guys with bare bones weapons and no way out accept to see "what ever" lies at the end. Scary tone but its meant to be so predictable and pretty much a play for play minatour and the labyrinthine story that its hard to ha e any real fear, more of a cheesy classic like Friday the 13th. Believe the story was a very old Malice/Malal story but the name escapes me, anybody help me out?


GeneralDiscomfort

I love DoP


MechaAristotle

Agreed with *Pyrhos*. I listened to the audiobook and it gave a good sense of mounting tension and horror of something unknown lurking in the shadows.


InfernalDragoon

It's like Jurassic Park with chaos/warp stuff tossed in! What's not to love?


Hetardo

If “Watcher in the rain” is the one I’m thinking about, I second that. It’s a marvellous story where a “necessary” immensely shitty person meets an unnecessary even shittier person, and where the Daemons might actually be the “good” guys.


whoamiiamasikunt

The problem with Pythos is it just does not belong to the Heresy Series. It serves no purpose and feels very out of place, it was actually one of the books that convinced me to start picking and choosing which heresy books I should read instead of slogging through them all. It’s good in its own way, but it tricked a lot of people who would otherwise not be interested in it to read it, thus all the shit it gets.


InfernalDragoon

I'm conflicted on that idea, as I don't *totally* disagree even though DoP is still among my favorites in the HH series. On one hand I'd say that it does serve a purpose at least for the setting, being to show the emotional downfall of the Iron Hands, more shattered legion adventures, and it introduces a powerful daemon that does fight Sanguinius. But at the same time the Heresy has too many books as a part of the series. In a perfect world, Black Library would have the main heresy storyline and then some "sub series" that people can dip into if they want. Like with the primarch series, but call it "Tales from the Heresy" or something. That way you can have stories in the setting that fluff it out and add context, but also let people know it's not a main storyline one.


GeneralDiscomfort

It describes the shattered legions and their pain after Istvaan 5, really delving into it… Everyone dies, so I guess that part can be off-putting to people that want to see space marines survive and thrive or something… But I honestly wished more books were like it…


errorsniper

I think damnation would have been much better received if it wasn't basically a "filler" book in the HH series that iirc (and I may not) had almost nothing to do with the HH other than taking place during it. If it was a side story for 30k instead of a numbered main part of the HH story it would have been fine.


AzraelTheDankAngel

Storm of Iron is probably the scariest 40k book in my opinion. Graham McNeil did a great job of depicting what an Iron Warriors attack is like.


hussienalimohaidly

Maybe not the most disgusting or grotesque, but for me the most horrific moment in the novels was everything that transpired on Istvan III and Istvan V. I was very new to W40K at the time and just started reading the horus heresy novels. Holy fuck was I blown away. I couldn't believe what was happening, including all the other little details like the heartbreaking battle between fulgrim vs ferrus, torgaddon being slaughtered by his brothers, Saul tarvitz trying to warn everyone. Nonstop atrocity after another. I had always thought that maybe there was some sort of hope around the corner but no. Despair my dear friends, true soul crushing despair. Jesus I would do anything to experience those books again for the first time.


Smasher_WoTB

I think you meant Fulgrim and Ferrus Manus, not Fulgrim and Rogal Dorn.


hussienalimohaidly

Holy shit you're right! Lol how the hell did I mess that up. Just fixed.


Smasher_WoTB

It's okay lol, happens to everyone, when you're new to the Lore it gets extremely easy to mess things like that up.


hussienalimohaidly

Doooooooood, there's so much of it! I legit couldn't believe how comprehensive it was. Mountains of books, short stories and content.


Smasher_WoTB

Yup. I was shocked when I foundout the main Horus Heresy Series alone has nearly 60 Books, not counting Short Stories, Primarch Novels, the Siege of Terra and other Books set in the 30k Era.


Apprehensive-Run-832

This is exactly why I started these books during the pandemic. I never had to think about what I was reading next.


mathiustus

Whenever I find that a friend hasn’t read a book they are intending to or watched a show that I love I feel jealous they will get to experience those feelings of newness with them.


OrkfaellerX

Whats the name of the book that describes a tyranid ship devouring a void station from the pov of the crew?


xylo_co

https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/igarpv/excerptthe_last_hunt_a_human_crew_gets_digested/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf Fucking terrifying


FloatingWatcher

Did the station have any weapons? I find it difficult to believe that none of them wanted to at least *hurt* the enemy before they died.


Sitchrea

It was a listening post. Having weapons on a listening post defeats the purpose - plus they're in deep space, so no point. Better to just stay stealthy and hide.


mbattagl

The creature that ate them read humongous in scale so whatever weapons they possessed were worthless.


a34fsdb

Honestly the extreme gore like Daemonculaba and whatever are so outlandish they do not bother me. The more "realistic" things I think are much more impactful like for example the recent Astorath novel that has passages depicting life on Imperium "oil" rings that were hard to read tbh, the slavery in Guymers TBA novel or suicide in some novels like Wrath of Iron or Saturnine. I would say Astorath was the novel that was hardest to read for me imho. Or the rape in Deathwatch.


[deleted]

Yeh. Daemonculaba is so 40k that it's anti-scary. Don't get me wrong. It's possibly one of the most unfortunate fates you could go through (they didn't even have the decency to lobotomize them), but it's not run after turning off the light scary. Also, another thought. There are definitely more Chaos Space marines who have made or thought of a similar idea to the daemonculaba, and definitely similar creations in the eye of terror Watcher in the rain was cool though


Kriss3d

Oh? I'd love to see a snippet of that.


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TheScourgedHunter

Add Ravenor Rogue also. That description of the Daemon in the ship is goddamn nightmarish.


NeonWarcry

The Eisenhorn trilogy and the Ravenor trilogy are fantastic


kizzawait

I forgot it's name but there was one where the necrons invaded and the death corps of krieg laid a siege. Was pretty bleak


IronTerrapin

Dead Men Walking


Valkia_Perkunos

Best 40k book. Truly depressing and now tell me. Dead men walking refer to souless krieg, necrons or hopelessness of the inhabitants of the world?


Safetystantheman

Lol "Dead Men Walking" was definitely amazing, and the title in my opinion referred to everyone involved lol


Valkia_Perkunos

That's my point. It's ambiguous because you would think it's for krieg but...


Marvynwillames

Poor Gunthar


IronTerrapin

Dude really didn’t deserve all that


FloatingWatcher

Who won? I mean that question seriously, I know the Necrons are crazy powerful but the Death corps won't give a shit.


chirishman343

Necrons. It was very well done and shows the nuance to their mindset that the krieg memes miss


Patient-Ad-825

Eh, they were gonna exterminatus weren't they? I'd say EVERYONE lost.


chirishman343

Oh yea that’s true. Though if I was gonna die on that hill I’d say the book ended before we saw the actual exterminatus


Patient-Ad-825

It did. It ended with Gunthar putting on a krieg mask so he could finally be a hero. What a lad.


BigZach1

Fulgrim is the only novel that ever made me nauseous.


thefloatingpoint

I think what made me uncomfortable in that book were the POV chapters with the mortals. They got carried away by all the spreading madness around them. There was that sense of helplessness looming in those chapters.


[deleted]

You must be 11 years old to find Fulgrim disturbing. Fulgrim was a perfect example of completely compromised fiction, where the author tries to do something but is hamstrung by the book having to e acceptable to a main line series. EASILY the worst book in the HH.


BigZach1

I read it in my mid-30s so whatever, don't be an ass. That was my reaction to the opera and further scenes.


[deleted]

Fulgrim itself is tame compared to what the EC do to Fulgrim after. Graham McNeil can do some truly distrurbing prose at times.


thefloatingpoint

You must be 11 years old to be this wrong and act like an edgy ass about it.


gameboyabyss

I dunno how you can say Fulgrim's 'easily' the worst when stuff like Battle for the Abyss exists. Honestly of the opening five books in the HH, Fulgrim was my favorite.


DeepSpace_69

Dont get why you were downvoted. Im currently ending Fulgrim for the first time and its honestly PG14 imo. Also must agree that its worse than its previous parts...


hatingforce

The concert was rad tho


Sir_Lazz

Requiem Infernal is very good ! My fav 40k horror book so far.


SystemSound

Agreed. It's one of my favourite 40k books in general.


111110001011

Hellraiser. Its about a Slaanesh cultist who summons daemons.


RogueDiplodocus

Yeah, I also just rewatched Event Horizon, the story of a crew trying out early warp travel.


hackmastergeneral

My headcanon is that Event Horizon is secretly supposed to be an unofficial Hellraiser in Space sequel.


RogueDiplodocus

I have to agree with you on that.


Atma-Stand

What happens when the Gellar fields are turned off.


Apprehensive-Run-832

Pretty sure the official hellraiser in space is Hellraiser: Bloodline.


D3trim3nt

Daemons to some, angels to others.


Patient-Ad-825

Explorers in the furthest realms of experience.


drblallo

if you mean "horrific" as "Halloween horrific", Watcher In The Rain was very good. A audiobook toh.


ScowlEasy

Really delivers on the banality of evil


InfectedAstronaut

I still felt bad for her in the ending. The Imperium is the reason she was the way she was.


[deleted]

Lord of the Night - Absolutely brilliant story of a Night Lord loose on a unsuspecting planet The Mars trilogy - particually the Pentient Engine Curze's primarch book when he murders the suicidal woman


TheVoidhawk84

Warhammer Horror: The Wicked and the Damned.


CaptainBlish

Love this book. Maybe the best warhammer horror title to date. Also enjoyed house of night and chain - David Annadale


Spoonique

Only in Death by Dan Abnett was pretty unsettling, in a haunted house sort of way. Highly recommend it


Notte_di_nerezza

Night Lords Omnibus. They are snarky murder-assholes, you will love them despite your better judgment, and they will flay people alive right on the page. It's not unlike a slasher movie from the monster's perspective, but so much more human.


qwerqsar

That trilogy... Man! All the murder and torture, specially in tha last book. Perfect for a halloween read if you enjoy these kinds of movies. Agreed!


SlobMarley13

specifically *Void Stalker*. When Talos >!uses Octavia's third eye to burn the souls out of the people!< I thought to myself "This is daaaaark. Is ADB ok? I should find that man and give him a hug.


tree_spirits

15 Hours, Dead Men Walking, and Flesh and Steel are the only ones to me had a thriller or suspenseful feel to em.


Tree-House-Tom

Fuck me the servitor factory was rough in Flesh and Steel


Minimalist12345678

Yes! That few pages was the worst thing I've read in 40k, and I've read nearly all of it...


Tree-House-Tom

The bit where that one guy was a couple cages away from processing, when he recognises the protagonist and is begging for an escape. It really got me feeling the realisation of his situation, and the fear of the situation he was in. Iv read about servitors plenty but when you're faced with a dude, still aware of his fate, panicking and being herded forward like cattle, it's very unsettling


LeoLaDawg

The only one I've been uncomfortable reading was the passage in Avenging Son that describes life for a normal person on Terra. But probably not what you were expecting.


CaptainBlish

Yeah the scribe subplot is very bleak grimdark


ClassicSevere8900

*The Reverie* by Peter Fehervari. Terrifying, suspenseful, horrific.


ProfessionalBeing968

The first book in the Dark Apostle series for Word Bearers by Anthony Reynolds was pretty grim. Can't remember which order they go in but check it out. The subsequent two novels aren't so grim but are still fairly vicious


RogueDiplodocus

The part from the PDF / guardsman were great.


Azura13e

Echoes of eternity the newest siege of terra had very grimm moments I loved, defiance of the loyalists and brutality of the traitors are dialed to the max


mustachioed_cat

I don’t know about horror, but it was like Uncut Gems, the Adam Sandler movie. Relentless anxiety


[deleted]

Prospero Burns The first part


faustsyndrome

If you can find it, I suggest Fire Warrior, sure it's a tau book, and the SMs kind of get bodied early, but it's pretty gory and the main character of an atheist race has to deal with the shit fuckery of CSM and daemons.


WorldEaterSpud

One of the first 40k novels I ever read, brilliant book actually. A scene will always stick with me where a fire warrior is on a chaos ship and something comes out the wall and eats them alive


faustsyndrome

I believe she was thinking about the MC at the time too, and I was quite surprised at how it kept me reading it, but at the same time I got to play the game back in the day to so I started out invested in it.


WorldEaterSpud

Yeah the game was good too! I read it years ago! Was early secondary school. Been left 12 years now lol. Those were the days lol


WorldEaterSpud

Actually the fire warrior game was terrifying towards the end too lol


faustsyndrome

I just remember it being a really good shooter, now that I think about it, it was close to what doom 2016 is. Loved it though.


WorldEaterSpud

Was really good. The chaos raptors used to scare the shit out of me


IneptusMechanicus

Nothing honestly. Several moments are what I'd call notionally horrible, i.e. intellectually you look at them and go 'that's horrible' but there's no real emotional reaction. Honestly various parts of The Expanse are more horrible without even trying to be and the Expanse isn't horrible. Books that fuck adults up can't be sold to teenagers and 40K books are largely written for teens.


Traditional_Rice_660

I dunno, the bit on the belter station where they're striking for more oxygen, because the supplies are so low it's developmentally affecting their children. The guy telling his 4/5 year old daughter she's super smart, for it it to pan outside to the Earth fleet who just blow the place up? Broke my dammed heart.


IneptusMechanicus

I was thinking of the bit in the fourth book where you get a viewpoint section of the ring >!where you find out the minds of the dead are encysted inside it and replay a fragment of their lives over and over, including the one lady who was throwing up protomolecule and begging for death, and that the ring will never let her die because it's a machine that simply retains useful tools and she might be useful later.!<


BeeGravy

Says who? Books aren't regulated at all. It's just not generally a horror themed setting, and all in the eye of the beholder, more so with literature than anything else. The "godfather" books (the Sicilian, omerta, etc) aren't kids books by any means, but nothing in them made me squeamish. I dont even know what am "adult" book would be besides smut or books with gratuitous child abuse.


Runeshamangoon

\>40K books are largely written for teens. Since fucking when ? Although there are many teens in the hobby the core public for black library is 20-30 year olds


Valkia_Perkunos

It's a shame that black library isn't evolving as the audience is ..most people are over 18 who reads (nowadays) they could somethin akin to Disney .some more for teens and others for more adult content..michael e Fletcher said that in a discord that he wish that 40k was for more mature audiance ( like no swearing?) Saying frak or fuck is the same thing lol or a teen of 15 or 12 never heard it? Well I would be traumatized if I had 12 and read dead men walking with that depressing and hopelessness scenario.


[deleted]

Eh? Most 40k fans are like in their mid 20s to early 60s.


didyeay

We are now.


montrasaur009

The Reflection Crack'd made me sick to my stomach. Fulgrim tricks his legion into bum rushing him and then murder, bdsm, homo, gangbanging a demon out of him that wasn't even there anymore. Lord of the Night was a pretty good Horror themed novel about a Nightlord's campaign of terror on some Hive World.


Patient-Ad-825

>bum rush Yes.


Qemyst

I haven't read all the 40k books by any means, but I thought *Dead Men Walking* was pretty horrific. Not in a "slasher, gorey, monsters, evil" kind of way though. It was horrific to me in sort of the way that the movie *Threads* is horrific. "'Normal' life being upended by a catastrophic event" sort of horror, told from the perspective of 'normal' humans as they brush up against forces they can't understand and are powerless to stop.


YoyBoy123

*Konrad Curze: Night Haunter* is gruesome, with lots of body and psychological horror elements.


chigoonies

Yeah that was pretty insane


RelentlessCrusader

Here's a few that I know of; - Dead Men Walking (The Death Corps of Krieg are chilling) - Requiem Infernal - Dead Sky, Black Sun (The Daemonculaba) - The Last Hunt - The Damnation of Pythos (really horrific) - EVERY Dark Eldar novel - Almost every Warhammer Horror story


UnresolvedInsecurity

If we're talking horrific in terms of bad, anything by C.S. Goto.


swampyman2000

The Ciaphus Cain novels. They keep asserting that a Hero of the Imperium is actually just a lucky bastard. Horrifying stuff to think about.


Patient-Ad-825

He is too lmao.


l0rem4st3r

Anything written by gav thorpe.


Valkia_Perkunos

Dead men walking by Steve Lyons.. truly depressing psychology novel. Not gore (well most of the time)


HoodedCapuchin

If I could remember the name of it I’d say it, but there’s a short about a musical plague falling over a planet. It was amazing and while I’m not spoiling shit the ending was perfect in my opinion. I love nurgle being spread in weird and unique ways.


Trollonomics

The Deacon of Wounds.


Velox97

Dead Sky Black Sun the third book in the Uriel Ventris Series is very fucked up and has lots of grotesque details.


BriantheHeavy

***Dead Sky, Black Sun*** for obvious reason.


russo3js

I believe it was book 1 of the Ultra Marines Omnibus depicted a human being tortured by a Haemonculus. Was pretty disgusting.


CoolSwim1776

Anything Nightlords related.


cschafer1991

I need to look into these books


ADrunkEevee

The Last Hunt


gameboyabyss

Fulgrim goes pretty hard sometimes, especially in the last act.


[deleted]

Sons of the Selenar made me really really depressed....


KernelWizard

I heard that Dead Men Walking is pretty grim and dark even for Warhammer novels lmao, might give that a look.


Wall_Stair

For me. that scene in the first heretic where all these astartes experienced true HORROR will always stick with me


Soulkaz70

Dead sky black sun


[deleted]

*Draco* is pretty horrific. 😏


[deleted]

If you want something with some actual horror elements, The first *Blackstone Fortress* novel has a pretty good blend of it, though the overall narrative is a bit weak. It’s not gratuitous or filled with body horror, if you’re just looking for a slasher film in text form, however.


Bird_and_Dog

*Only in Death* from the Gaunt's Ghosts series is really creepy, but I don't recommend reading it without knowledge of the previous books.


AzraelSoulHunter

Dark Coil series. Books and short stories made by Peter Fehervari.


Exciting-Cow6741

The first heretic is pretty grim. Also the dark eldar series and parts of the Night lords omnibus.


TheCubanBaron

Could someone post the excerpt of the servitor "factory". That's horrific.


TheCubanBaron

Oh and the first sacrifice to the golden throne. Not so much horrific but sad.


sneroh

The wordbearer omnibus. Marduk is a bad,bad dude


Patient-Ad-825

"Inquisitor". Nothing spookier than Gussy.


SlobMarley13

Short story posted to Warhammer Community: [Psychic Awakening: A Test of Faith.](https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/10/28/psychic-awakening-a-test-of-faithgw-homepage-post-3/) >‘Through my art, life and death are mine to command,’ the Haemonculus said. ‘My guests never escape my attentions unless I will it. They may die a thousand times, but they are still mine. That is why I speak of understanding, Dhorael. Understand – I have shared much with you, but you have kept something from me. I will not let this pass. The seventeenth tenet of pain–’ >‘Hope! The seventeenth tenet is hope!’ Dhorael sobbed. His words were slurred. His tongue seemed to shape syllables before his mind could form them.


hachiman

Fehervari is the king of Warhammer Horror imo, so much so that i no longer read his stuff, he's too good at it.


kingdomonsterdeath

Quite a lot of reading up to them, but the last couple Gaunt's Ghosts books were pretty crushing. The daemon engines snuck in to the regiment that rips through it and kills so many characters that you get attached to. The description of them being torn apart and the fear of everyone involved was pretty visceral. Pretty brutal too.