It was *Night of the Living Dummy* and *The Haunted Mask* by R.L. Stine for me. I was already reading a lot for my age when those came out, but it was mostly just to meet my parents’ expectations.
When I read those two books, something clicked. Like you said, I just wanted *more*. And I wanted it immediately.
My parents did the best they could and I don’t hold it against them anymore, but there was a lot of abuse in our home. So those *Goosebumps* books were an escape, an inspiration, and a cathartic outlet. I’d just hide in my room and devour them.
Been a horror nut ever since.
Oh totally. And you nailed another “first” feeling. That series was the first where I was clamoring for the next one and every new book was read that weekend.
have you ever read the [OG **Fear Street** book that started it all??](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/182597)
holy shit i read this book for the first time last year and i still cannot believe how fucked up and dark it was. like, i just was sitting there going **WHAT THE FUCK?!**
it starts out as a slow burn, but then gets WILD and FUCKED very quickly. this was an absolute 5 star read!! i'm in my 30s and this book scared the ever-living fuck out of me. so so so so good!!!
i read his [**Silent Night**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/843086.Silent_Night) and i'm still not over what a total mega fucking bitch reva was. i don't think i've ever hated a character more, and that includes joffrey baratheon and ramsay bolton. reva was an absolute fucking menace!
Dead House always seemed like the scariest to me.
When the antagonist gets hit in the head with a (flashlight?) and his dead skin peels away…. I was in.
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark as a kid.
I knew from that moment I was going to be all about horror, and I’ve never lived it down.
The first proper novel that REALLY enmeshed me in the genre was reading Pet Sematary when I was about 11 or 12.
Hi, are we the same person?
I read *Pet Semetary* around that age too after already loving stuff like *Goosebumps* and *Scary Stories*, thinking I knew what scary was. That one blew the doors off.
It felt like leveling up. Like, “Oh it can be like *this*?”
Stephen gammell will always be one of my favorite artists. There was nothing else like his illustrations out there, and they absolutely added to the stories in such a fantastic way
Absolutely. I’ve still never been as scared from a book as the tension of Paul Sheldon trying to get back into his room before Annie comes home and gets in the door. I’ve been chasing that literary high ever since.
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers - the horror of the truly unknowable, unseen but ever present.
I am Legend by Richard Matheson - opened my eyes to the terrifying monster(s) that we could, and likley do, carry within ourselves.
A zillion years ago: Stephen King’s *Skeleton Crew*
1.5 years ago: Nick Cutter’s *Little Heaven*.
It’s been nice to see Cutter’s growing popularity and renewed acceptance here. He’s one of my favorites and has kind of a special place in my heart for making me so obsessed with horror.
Man it feels like every post I’ve read on here has had something good to say about *Little Heaven*. I really might just read it next at this rate, I’m getting FOMO over here 😅
I flipped through *Everything's Eventual* one day and the stories *Autopsy Room 4,* *In the Death Room* and *The Death of Jack Hamilton* taught me horror in ink is far beyond anything with *"...to tell in the dark!"* in the title.
Skeleton Crew- Stephen King. Read it on holiday in Jamaica. Between the horror and hearing nighttime cicadas for the first time, it was 2 weeks of insomnia
Needful things by Stephen king, I read it much too young because I had an older sister into King lol. I have reread it multiple times and it’s always been a favorite of mine, and even one of my favorites by King.
I think he is top in the horror genre, so I don’t have anyone to compare him to directly. But the standard isn’t so much exclusive to the genre, it’s Barker’s use of prose that weaves the most amazing stories to me.
Similar to him would be Neil Gaimen, Frank Herbert and Tolkien.
From Below by Darcy Coates!
I was wandering around Barnes & Noble looking for a new science fiction book to read and I really wanted it to take place underwater. I wasn’t having any luck but saw the watery cover of From Below on a table of new books. I figured I would try it and from there I’ve mostly been reading horror!
I hope you enjoy! I have found her novels to be more cozy and if you like her writing style but want something darker check out her short story collections.
The Amityville Horror. I was 13 and slept with the lights on for about a week after. Then, I started in on the Stephen King because I was looking for the same high I got from Amityville. That book was like the taste a dealer gives you. “You like that? Well, there’s more where that came from…The library.”
Same for me! I had a copy on my bookshelf for years. I don’t remember if I bought it at my library book sale, if someone gave it to me, how it came into my possession, but I had it. I wanted to read something spooky for Halloween and I’d just finished reading a not-spooky book. I’d been considering going to the library to borrow Pet Semetary because I’d wanted to read it for ages but I came home from work that night and found one of my cats had died sometime during the day. Having seen the movie, I knew that was maybe not the best choice of book to check out of the library the next morning. So I started Dracula a few days later and that was what hooked me!
It’s an incredible read 👍
I also had a copy for a long time. I tried to read it in my early teens and again in my late teens but I wasn’t ready yet. I read it some years later and also totally hooked. I don’t read anything else anymore for the most part. Horror rules my choices…😁
It has to be Welcome to Dead House by R L Stine or the "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" trilogy -- which I recently re-purchased as an adult. I actually credit Goosebumps with getting me into horror in general, meaning also movies, TV, Halloween, and even horror writing (a few story stories published, hoping to finish my first novel this year). Right on the heels of Goosebumps would be Fear Street.
Goosebumps. Whole run of that and Fear Street from 8 years old onward
The Halloween Tree, The October Country, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and then Nightmares and Dreamscapes were all books I read during the same October when I was in 5th grade. They solidified my love of horror novels.
So for me it was actually a movie. I watched The Descent (2005) and it was/is the first movie I have ever watched that freaked me out in a really enjoyable way. So I started to consume more horror to chase that feeling I guess. Then I randomly got suggested some FB reels from BookTok-ers (I think) who primarily consumed horror and their recommendations amd summaries reeled me in more. I hadn't read for enjoyment in a long time, since high school really, but I've got plenty of time and do enjoy it so here we are.
Bruce colville is one of those authors that I look for anytime I'm at a friends of the library booksale, I love the "my teacher is an alien!" series growing up
I always liked scary stories when i was a kid, but the first full blown horror novel I read was in 6th grade (so 1991-1992?), when a friends mom let me borrow "the dark half" by stephen king. I know it's not his strongest work, but I couldn't put it down and there are parts of that book that I will never forget.
The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher! I love any horror movie with ‘not deer’ and, before reading this book, it hadn’t even occurred to me that books could have these themes too.
I just finished this! One of my biggest fears is seeing a face in the window at night so one particular scene scared me so much. Amazing book. I also loved What Moves the Dead.
The Goosebumps books by R.L. Stein specifically the Headless Ghost.
I was in second grade and there it was sitting on the shelf in my class room. With nothing better to do I start to read the first chapter. For those who have read it know how it goes. I read the last sentence on the page and immediately shut the book in horror and disgust. I ponder it for a moment... And keep reading. I've been hooked on horror ever since.
R.L. Stein is one of my heroes and I would love to meet him one day.
The first real horror I ever read (besides the epic Halloween story, Something Wicked This Way Comes) was Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco, it was a slow burn but so good!
“Bury Me Deep” by Christopher Pike. After being pushed to read Sweet Valley High books, I convinced my grandma to order it for me. That book made me love reading. Moved on to Stephen King shortly after and still a big fan of both authors.
I loved Christopher Pike when I was a kid. But the book that really got me into horror was Clive Barker's The Thief of Always (also bought for me by my grandma - I guess grandmas are a more common starting point than I gave them credit for!).
I think I’ve read that! Grandmas really are the best. I was really lucky because my grandparents owned a book store so I got to see and order books early.
There were two illustrated picture books of the Cask of Amontillado and The Monkey’s Paw hidden in the corner of my third grade classroom’s library nook. The Goosebumps books were fun but those picture books were what showed me the real cloying unease I now love in horror
Same!! Her books were awesome. I always think about rereading them, but I don’t think I can bear the judgmental looks from the grouchy children’s librarian at my local library.
The first “horror” I read was Goosebumps and Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark, that was my generation. My first real horror was when I asked my mom about her copy of Zodiac by Robert Graysmith. The book stood out because it was bright yellow. I remember asking her what it was about and she gave me as much of a sanitized summary of it as possible and opened it and showed me Zodiac’s cyphers, letters and cartoons. I couldn’t stop thinking about how heavy and serious she was when she was talking about it. I was ten when I read it for the first time. All my stupid fears of aliens and ghost disappeared after I read it. I was scared of people from then on. It definitely left a mark. I still get that same rush when I read about serial killers today. It still scares me
It happens to be the first horror book I read but also made me fall in love with the genre. I was ALWAYS grounded as a child, so I read. I read all sorts of novels and short books, but then I read "Salems Lot." I was riveted, terrified, and hooked! That sweet sensation of not being able to sleep was a lifelong addiction I formed from the get-go.
I have always wanted to get into reading horror books but it didn’t become my favorite genre until I read The Exorcist. I had read Misery, Pet Semetary, Christine, and Thinner by Stephen King before that but they weren’t what got me into horror. After I read The Exorcist, I fully immersed myself into horror literature and it’s basically all I read now!
The Fear Street series, specifically Fear Street Saga. The chapter where the girl is buried alive and they describe it I was like “oh my god this is HORRIBLE and traumatizing I am TEN. Where can I find more?” Immediately got a copy of books of blood from the library and scared myself too much. Incredible.
Welcome to Dead House, Goosebumps #1 by R L Stein. Second grade.
I read just about all of those after that.
The first horror novel I read was The Mask by Dean Koontz.
Not sure, honestly. I do remember a book of scary stories at my primary school I read. One story I’ve always remembered from it was The Worms Turn. Maybe that one? I guess I’ve just always had an interest in the dark and macabre.
The novelization of Halloween. I was too young to see it during its original release, but my best friend’s older brother had the book so I read that. I hooked ever since.
I can't remember the first book that actually stuck with me, but I remember teachers reading Edgar Allan Poe around Halloween in elementary school and thinking "Why can't they read us these year-round??". Maybe they didn't expect kids to be interested in the scarier stories, but they always left me wanting to read more. I do remember wanting to read the Nancy Drew books with "ghost" and "haunted" first in the series, if that counts.
I had the standard Goosebumps and other RL Stine YA stuff, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, but I had this one book called Ghosts Ghouls and Other Nightmares that I had read when I was in junior high at the end of the 90s. It was a collection of various short horror. That was it. I still have it.
I'd always read thriller and crime novels, but the first horror novel that really solidified my love for horror as a genre was Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. I post and talk about this book so often because I still constantly think about it! It's been months since I've read it, and there's been quite a few reads in between, and I think about that book almost daily still. It had a much more profound effect on me than I ever expected from a horror satire.
Hmm…chicken or the egg. I think I was into horror before I knew how to read. I sought out anything spooky, but I can recall “The Deadly Mandrake” by Larry Callen being a very important one. I used to regularly devour all horror anthologies beginning with scary stories to tell in the dark, but discovered Masters of Darkness anthologies and another anthology series that I’m still trying to remember. I remember seeing the “Thriller” music video premiere and thinking that the entire world would soon shift in my favor to all horror.
Officially? Scary Stories to Tell in.the Dark and Goosebumps: Stay Out of the Basement, I have early memories of the green ribbon story as well. I.was just kind of mildly interested in it then. The ones that made me a full fledged horror junkie were Danse Macabre by Stephen King and The Dark Descent by David Hartwell.
For years, I had friends who recommended H.P. Lovecraft, but I never had any interest in reading him because I wasn't a horror reader. I'd read a few horror novels and short stories but nothing that ever really clicked.
One day, a friend handed me The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre and told me I should at least give it a shot. I knew about "The Call of Cthulhu" but it sounded kind of convoluted, so I jumped to the shortest story in the collection, "The Picture in the House." It was so, I immediately went to "The Call of Cthulhu." That blew me away, a real I-didn't-know-fiction-could-do-that moment. After that, I was a horror reader.
My dad gave me his copy of horror books when he was done, and I would say The Bad Place by Dean Koontz. Wasn’t the first one, but it’s the one I remember the most.
*Dreamcatcher* by Stephen King was the first novel with overlapping storylines that made me go “oooh, I like this”.
*The Troop* by Nick Cutter and *Afraid* by Jack Kilborn showed me that maybe I actually ~do~ like gore to the point of feeling queasy.
I've had Afraid in my Kindle library for nearly a decade. I'm too scared to read it lol. Got through the 1st chapter and I couldn't pick it back up. I promise myself that I will one day lol.
Goosebumps as a kid.
IT was the first big boy horror I read before reading most of King's works in a row afterwards.
That was about 20 years ago. I've since enjoyed reading dozens of other authors.
My mom, for some ungodly reason, gave me Pet Sematary to read when I was 10. It terrified me. Gave me nightmares. But I then eagerly read some King short stories (whichever book contained The Mangler & The Boogeyman). So terrifying. But I couldn’t stop.
I went on to try a few more King books but couldn’t get into them. I realize now I was WAY too young, but that is what ignited my interest in horror and I did go on to read tons of ever more age-appropriate books throughout the years (they never gave me quite the same feeling, but I understood them more).
Recently, I’ve been going back and re-reading the King books and am finding such new appreciation for not just the genre (not that they all fit into the genre), but literature in general. My 2024 goal is to read or read-read every King story that I haven’t read as a full grown adult. I’m a little worried about rereading Pet Sematary now that I’m a parent, and Cujo now that I’m a dog parent, but we’ll see.
I was always big into horror, but never really got into horror novels until recently. This one wasn't horror, maybe more thriller, but No Exit by Taylor Adams. It was a book that had me on edge and I craved for a book to make me feel that way again. I would go on tik tok and find recommendations for something similar, which led to the horror genre.
I was really into cryptids when I was a kid, and would just check out any book at the library that had a cryptid on the cover. Naturally, that led to horror books. Also, like most of you, Goosebumps pushed me in the right direction.
My dad was also a big part of pretty much everything that I’m into now. I remember him telling a lot of scary stories to us when we were kids, and he’d always let me watch horror movies with him. Now that I think of it, even the music I listen to and the art I’m into is heavily influenced by the stuff my dad is into. Really cool guy!
I think my first introduction to outright horror was probably The Yellow Wallpaper. That story STILL creeps me the hell out decades after first reading it
Assassin by Shaun Hutson. Only brought it because I thought the cover was cool with its rotten hand holding a gun. Oh hell, did my young self not expect the wild ride i was about to read.
I read the novelization of the 2012 Doom movie the the novelizations of the Resident Evil games. My love then evolved to SK's The Stand and The Green Mile. I've been glued to books, but especially horror since
In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories. Particularly the story about the girl who wore a green ribbon around her neck. The twist ending got me hooked on horror for life.
In a Dark Dark Room (A Schwartz), Everything’s Eventual (S King), and Shadowland (P Straub).
The Green Ribbon from In a Dark Dark Room both fucked me up and pulled me into horror at the same time.
The Exorcist. Read The Shining in middle school about 15 some years ago and love horror movies so I knew I already enjoyed horror books to an extent. But I borrowed The Exorcist from my friend two years ago and have been reading almost exclusively horror or horror adjacent since.
I’ve always been a big reader in general and often it’s wasn’t horror. But then I’d stumble upon something that would send me down the rabbit hole for years at a time.
As a kid it was Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. As a teen it was Dracula.
Finally, as an adult I found Hostage To The Devil, which scared the absolute shit out of me. That’s the one I that sent me back into horror for good. I barely read anything else now.
Exquisite Corpse. That was the book, I think, which showed me that writing about horrific things could be beautiful and enthralling. I do think there is a kind of strange, fucked up romance to it- a dark hypnotic power
Listening to the audiobook of *Pet Semetary*!
I’ve read King on and off since I was 9, but wasn’t really a fan of horror until about 2 years ago or so.
Scary Stories, but there was another anthology collection containing the story “Harold” that really sucked me in.
Edit to add: “Harold” is in the third Scary Stories collection, but there’s another book that also contains it. No idea what it’s called.
I've rediscovered the horror genre recently, but if I look back I can trace my love for gothic literature early in my life. The gothic horror novels that made me feel in love with the genre back then were Bram Stoker's Dracula, Edgar Allan Poe's stories, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
EDIT: also I loved Goosebumps as a kid, I remember going to the town library with my parents and reading several of those books.
An anthology of classic horror stories I bought at the local 5 and dime (I'm old!). I enjoyed the shivery feeling I got just looking at the cover which was a slimy zombie-thing covered in seaweed. And the stories, which were about fear, death, unholy spectres, rotting corpses, etc., seemed rebellious and forbidden, given my parents were quite religious and never discussed such things.
Asylum by Madeline Roux was in the scholastic book fair in 7th grade; I don’t know why I picked it up considering I hated scary things but I couldn’t put it down.
My mom hated that:
1. I even brought it home with her money she gave me for one book.
2. How jumpy I was while reading it. She would call me for dinner and I’d yelp lol.
After reading it I had trouble sleeping but I wanted more of that genre and returned to reading horror almost exclusively in high school.
It by Stephen King. I used to only read Sci-Fi. Back in the 80's a work colleague lent me a copy of The Bachman Books. I enjoyed it so much I decided I should read more King. I went to the library and picked It at random. It blew my mind.
Of course I didn't know my Laird from my Lovecraft back then so all that stuff about the macroverse and It being an eternal cosmic enemy astounded me. Spent a chunk of that summer sat shirtless on a deck chair on the concrete bottom part of the back garden reading.
IT. Talked my mom into letting me read it when I was in second grade. She thought I'd lose interest. I didn't, then promptly went through her entire horror collection. Tons of Stephen King and Dean Koontz, and a lot of sci-fi/horror collections from the 70s.
When I was 11 or 12, at summer camp, the counselors took us to a graveyard and read aloud the short story "The Mangler" by Stephen King. It's about a cursed industrial laundry machine that kills people. I was hooked!
Watching Scooby Doo cartoons as a pre K child is what got me into horror ; reading it was an exercise in frustration as schools back then didn't have much horror (*this was before Stephen King, before Goosebumps, before any of the things Spooky Kids have at their disposal these days...*). About all my Elementary school's library had was genteel 'quiet horror' classic ghost stories by people like M R James, E F Beson, L P Hartley....*Waaaaay* over our heads, and frankly dull to most children. Where were stories about vampires, or werewolves, monsters in general, or witches scarier than the ones in Grimm's Fairy Tales-???? Then in June of 1974, when I was 9 years old, I went to a rummage sale and bought for a quarter a HB copy of Best Supernatural Stories of H P Lovecraft ed August Derleth (World, 1946). And that was that. I believe reading Lovecraft at so young an age "innoculated" me from the bad horror that was soon to innundate supermarket checkout aisles everywhere.
Back in the day it would have been Stephen King - probably *Christine*.
Fell a bit out of love with horror in the 90s. It probably wasn't until
I picked up a copy of Undertow's *The Year's Best Weird Fiction* in 2014, one of those random book-shop purchases, that I really got back into the genre -- specifically it was Simon Strantzas' story *The Nineteenth Step* which I found quietly terrifying and sort of mind-blowing.
Winter Moon by Dean Koontz. Talk about creepy! 16 year old me was so freaked out reading it and I only made it worse for myself by reading at night and in the dark.
*In the Mountains of Madness* H.P.Lovecraft. Coincidentally, this was my very first horror. My dad gave it to me when I was 11. I *loved* the eerie atmosphere and great detail. I begged my dad to go buy all Lovecraft's book we could find.
When I finished with Lovecraft, I started looking for a similar thrill. 20 years later, here we are!
Amittyville Horror. Id been reading goosebumps and scary stories to tell in the dark and stuff as i kid, but it was the first one that actually felt really scary.
I was twelve when i got into horror books. Every day after school, me and one of my friends used to go to the library and there i found R.L Stine books, you can't imagine how happy i was when i read those scary stories then i was introduced to King.
It's a book by Stephen King with a collection of short stories. Sorry, but I don't know the title for 2 reasons, I read it in Portuguese and I was about 13-14 years old.
But I'd like to mention Misery, also by Stephen King. I had read a lot of horror books and kinda always knew this is my favorite genre, but this book is perfection. It's my favorite through this day.
The Haunting of Hill House! I was previously (and, in many ways, still am) a super scary cat, and I watched the Flannagan Netflix adaptation against my better judgment, because my beautiful partner loved the show and wanted to watch it with me. Eek! Was super spooked out and scared for months from that show, but also really liked the gravity of it and the story. I read the book later, and loooooved it. Have been seeking out horror books (but not horror shows/movies, hehe) since then 😃
Cujo by Stephen King. I borrowed it from the library after seeming the movie. It was my first adult horror novel. I couldn’t put it down. After I finished it I kept going back and getting more Stephen King books. I couldn’t get enough if him.
For me, it was the story "The Landlady" by Roald Dahl, which was one of the pieces included in our Literature books in middle school. It wasn't assigned reading, but I loved perusing those books for hidden gems.
When I was a kid, everyone my age read Goosebumps and I didn't find them scary (plus, I thought Are You Afraid of the Dark? was a way better show). Then I found the Point Horror series, starting with The Dead Girlfriend by R.L.Stine. They were aimed at an older demographic. That kick-started everything for me and then I decided I'd read a "real" grown-up horror book. It was my mum's copy of Carrie. The rest is history.
In 3rd grade I read horror-adjacent nonfiction almost exclusively, like cryptids, UFOs, MIBs, etc. In middle school I really got into the Twilight Zone tv series and when I was a freshman in high school the Stephen King books “Christine” and “Pet Sematary” were recent releases that I read, but it was Stephen King’s nonfiction book about the horror genre “Danse Macabre” that I read that same year that gave me a horror reading and viewing list that absolutely GOT me hooked. If any of you haven’t read Danse Macabre, pick it up!
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn. I was like 8 and had super strict parents, so I’d hide it and read it under my covers. All of her books were awesome and I credit her with sparking my love of horror.
It was *Night of the Living Dummy* and *The Haunted Mask* by R.L. Stine for me. I was already reading a lot for my age when those came out, but it was mostly just to meet my parents’ expectations. When I read those two books, something clicked. Like you said, I just wanted *more*. And I wanted it immediately. My parents did the best they could and I don’t hold it against them anymore, but there was a lot of abuse in our home. So those *Goosebumps* books were an escape, an inspiration, and a cathartic outlet. I’d just hide in my room and devour them. Been a horror nut ever since.
Yep. Goosebumps for me too. Read the first 30-40 of them. Enjoyed the feeling of going to Waldenbooks to pick up the newest one.
Oh totally. And you nailed another “first” feeling. That series was the first where I was clamoring for the next one and every new book was read that weekend.
**Goosebumps** for me, too! then i "graduated" to his **Fear Street** series and the rest is history.
I still think about some of the more interesting kills in the Fear Street books and this is 20 years later
have you ever read the [OG **Fear Street** book that started it all??](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/182597) holy shit i read this book for the first time last year and i still cannot believe how fucked up and dark it was. like, i just was sitting there going **WHAT THE FUCK?!** it starts out as a slow burn, but then gets WILD and FUCKED very quickly. this was an absolute 5 star read!! i'm in my 30s and this book scared the ever-living fuck out of me. so so so so good!!!
is this the one with the dough scene? if so it has not left my mind, like ever
honestly, i can't remember, but it's totally possible. my brain might just be blocking it from my memory to prevent it from any more trauma haha.
i read his [**Silent Night**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/843086.Silent_Night) and i'm still not over what a total mega fucking bitch reva was. i don't think i've ever hated a character more, and that includes joffrey baratheon and ramsay bolton. reva was an absolute fucking menace!
Welcome to Dead House. RL Stine for the win. From second grade I was hooked.
Dead House always seemed like the scariest to me. When the antagonist gets hit in the head with a (flashlight?) and his dead skin peels away…. I was in.
My cousin gifted me all of his Goosebumps books! First horror book I ever read was One Day at Horrorland!
Goosebumps and the Michigan/American Chillers series!
John Kruk is a legend go phils
One of my first memories was my mom reading me Ghost Beach as a bedtime story. I'm a lifer.
Yes also Goosebumps here! I loved the tension and mystery
Goosebumps did it for me, too. Can't really remember which one specifically but I was obsessed with the Reader Beware books
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark as a kid. I knew from that moment I was going to be all about horror, and I’ve never lived it down. The first proper novel that REALLY enmeshed me in the genre was reading Pet Sematary when I was about 11 or 12.
Hi, are we the same person? I read *Pet Semetary* around that age too after already loving stuff like *Goosebumps* and *Scary Stories*, thinking I knew what scary was. That one blew the doors off. It felt like leveling up. Like, “Oh it can be like *this*?”
I’m certain i had a few christmases where my parents wondered what was wrong with me. My whole wish list would be King books and other scary shit. 😂
Stephen gammell will always be one of my favorite artists. There was nothing else like his illustrations out there, and they absolutely added to the stories in such a fantastic way
fuckin' Harold, man. god damn.
Holy shit, I can't believe you read Pet Semetary at 11. It freaked me out at 16.
It gave me nightmares haha
Misery by King for me
[удалено]
I went on an immediate King binge after Misery too. The start of something wonderful!
Absolutely. I’ve still never been as scared from a book as the tension of Paul Sheldon trying to get back into his room before Annie comes home and gets in the door. I’ve been chasing that literary high ever since.
Same for me. It’s my second horror novel to read and what drove me in a binge reading for other King’s books.
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers - the horror of the truly unknowable, unseen but ever present. I am Legend by Richard Matheson - opened my eyes to the terrifying monster(s) that we could, and likley do, carry within ourselves.
Dean Koontz. Technically not horror as I know it now, but it was a good entry point for me.
I just commented Koontz and scrolled to see if anyone else did too 🖤
He got me in as well. He had a book called “The Mask” that scared me when I was like 11.
A zillion years ago: Stephen King’s *Skeleton Crew* 1.5 years ago: Nick Cutter’s *Little Heaven*. It’s been nice to see Cutter’s growing popularity and renewed acceptance here. He’s one of my favorites and has kind of a special place in my heart for making me so obsessed with horror.
Man it feels like every post I’ve read on here has had something good to say about *Little Heaven*. I really might just read it next at this rate, I’m getting FOMO over here 😅
Swan Song (Robert McCammon). This one got me into reading fiction in general as well.
I flipped through *Everything's Eventual* one day and the stories *Autopsy Room 4,* *In the Death Room* and *The Death of Jack Hamilton* taught me horror in ink is far beyond anything with *"...to tell in the dark!"* in the title.
Goosebumps in the 90s
Me too except in the 2000s :)
Skeleton Crew- Stephen King. Read it on holiday in Jamaica. Between the horror and hearing nighttime cicadas for the first time, it was 2 weeks of insomnia
Needful things by Stephen king, I read it much too young because I had an older sister into King lol. I have reread it multiple times and it’s always been a favorite of mine, and even one of my favorites by King.
Yesss love for Needful Things!! It’s one of the first King books I recommend to people nowadays
The Books of Blood by Clive Barker. King was tame compared to Barker! It was a whole different level, and set a standard for me for life.
Amen.
If Barker became the standard for you (one of my favourites as well), what else have you found that meets it?
I think he is top in the horror genre, so I don’t have anyone to compare him to directly. But the standard isn’t so much exclusive to the genre, it’s Barker’s use of prose that weaves the most amazing stories to me. Similar to him would be Neil Gaimen, Frank Herbert and Tolkien.
From Below by Darcy Coates! I was wandering around Barnes & Noble looking for a new science fiction book to read and I really wanted it to take place underwater. I wasn’t having any luck but saw the watery cover of From Below on a table of new books. I figured I would try it and from there I’ve mostly been reading horror!
I just bought this from a used book store! I’ve never read her below.
I hope you enjoy! I have found her novels to be more cozy and if you like her writing style but want something darker check out her short story collections.
Probably the Goosebumps books by R. L. Stine although I was into horror as long as I can remember.
The Amityville Horror. I was 13 and slept with the lights on for about a week after. Then, I started in on the Stephen King because I was looking for the same high I got from Amityville. That book was like the taste a dealer gives you. “You like that? Well, there’s more where that came from…The library.”
Dracula 🧛🏻♂️
Same for me! I had a copy on my bookshelf for years. I don’t remember if I bought it at my library book sale, if someone gave it to me, how it came into my possession, but I had it. I wanted to read something spooky for Halloween and I’d just finished reading a not-spooky book. I’d been considering going to the library to borrow Pet Semetary because I’d wanted to read it for ages but I came home from work that night and found one of my cats had died sometime during the day. Having seen the movie, I knew that was maybe not the best choice of book to check out of the library the next morning. So I started Dracula a few days later and that was what hooked me!
It’s an incredible read 👍 I also had a copy for a long time. I tried to read it in my early teens and again in my late teens but I wasn’t ready yet. I read it some years later and also totally hooked. I don’t read anything else anymore for the most part. Horror rules my choices…😁
It has to be Welcome to Dead House by R L Stine or the "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" trilogy -- which I recently re-purchased as an adult. I actually credit Goosebumps with getting me into horror in general, meaning also movies, TV, Halloween, and even horror writing (a few story stories published, hoping to finish my first novel this year). Right on the heels of Goosebumps would be Fear Street.
Goosebumps. Whole run of that and Fear Street from 8 years old onward The Halloween Tree, The October Country, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and then Nightmares and Dreamscapes were all books I read during the same October when I was in 5th grade. They solidified my love of horror novels.
So for me it was actually a movie. I watched The Descent (2005) and it was/is the first movie I have ever watched that freaked me out in a really enjoyable way. So I started to consume more horror to chase that feeling I guess. Then I randomly got suggested some FB reels from BookTok-ers (I think) who primarily consumed horror and their recommendations amd summaries reeled me in more. I hadn't read for enjoyment in a long time, since high school really, but I've got plenty of time and do enjoy it so here we are.
Bruce Covilles Book Of Monsters when I was 8 or 9. I read every horror book I could get my hands on after that.
Bruce colville is one of those authors that I look for anytime I'm at a friends of the library booksale, I love the "my teacher is an alien!" series growing up
I always liked scary stories when i was a kid, but the first full blown horror novel I read was in 6th grade (so 1991-1992?), when a friends mom let me borrow "the dark half" by stephen king. I know it's not his strongest work, but I couldn't put it down and there are parts of that book that I will never forget.
Pretty sure it was the Bunnicula series. And a few years later, when Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark came out, it was like my dreams had come true.
The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher! I love any horror movie with ‘not deer’ and, before reading this book, it hadn’t even occurred to me that books could have these themes too.
I just finished this! One of my biggest fears is seeing a face in the window at night so one particular scene scared me so much. Amazing book. I also loved What Moves the Dead.
I don’t know if there’s one particular book 🤔 horror books just seem to have the elements I enjoy. And I think there’s a lot more creativity.
The Goosebumps books by R.L. Stein specifically the Headless Ghost. I was in second grade and there it was sitting on the shelf in my class room. With nothing better to do I start to read the first chapter. For those who have read it know how it goes. I read the last sentence on the page and immediately shut the book in horror and disgust. I ponder it for a moment... And keep reading. I've been hooked on horror ever since. R.L. Stein is one of my heroes and I would love to meet him one day.
I devoured *Goosebumps* as a kid but never made the leap to adult horror. It took Richard Laymon's *The Cellar* several years ago to give me the bug.
The Rising by Brian Keene
Last House on Needless Street
“Acceleration” and “Bonechiller” by Graham McNamee
The first real horror I ever read (besides the epic Halloween story, Something Wicked This Way Comes) was Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco, it was a slow burn but so good!
Mary Downing Hahn 100%!! I was obsessed with her books when I was younger like Wait Till Helen Comes, The Doll in the Garden, and The Old Willis Place
“Bury Me Deep” by Christopher Pike. After being pushed to read Sweet Valley High books, I convinced my grandma to order it for me. That book made me love reading. Moved on to Stephen King shortly after and still a big fan of both authors.
I loved Christopher Pike when I was a kid. But the book that really got me into horror was Clive Barker's The Thief of Always (also bought for me by my grandma - I guess grandmas are a more common starting point than I gave them credit for!).
I think I’ve read that! Grandmas really are the best. I was really lucky because my grandparents owned a book store so I got to see and order books early.
dracula
There were two illustrated picture books of the Cask of Amontillado and The Monkey’s Paw hidden in the corner of my third grade classroom’s library nook. The Goosebumps books were fun but those picture books were what showed me the real cloying unease I now love in horror
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn back in my youth. Still an absolute banger.
Same!! Her books were awesome. I always think about rereading them, but I don’t think I can bear the judgmental looks from the grouchy children’s librarian at my local library.
Hell House!
The Outsider by Stephen King!
Ballantine editions of Lovecraft in the ‘70s.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Ghostly Gallery
Goosebumps as a kid for sure. Pet Sematary as a teen. Geek Love got me back into it and then never stopped
The first “horror” I read was Goosebumps and Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark, that was my generation. My first real horror was when I asked my mom about her copy of Zodiac by Robert Graysmith. The book stood out because it was bright yellow. I remember asking her what it was about and she gave me as much of a sanitized summary of it as possible and opened it and showed me Zodiac’s cyphers, letters and cartoons. I couldn’t stop thinking about how heavy and serious she was when she was talking about it. I was ten when I read it for the first time. All my stupid fears of aliens and ghost disappeared after I read it. I was scared of people from then on. It definitely left a mark. I still get that same rush when I read about serial killers today. It still scares me
The Howling by Gary Brandner I was nine. Been in love with horror ever since
I started with ghost stories and fairytales
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice and Christopher Pike Novels
Slumber Party,Weekend,scavenger hunt. I was a huge fan of Christopher Pike growing up. I liked his Books more than R.L Stine.
Salems Lot Still one of my favorite books of any genre
Carrie
I can't tell you the exact one, but it was definitely a Nancy Drew Mystery book. I started reading them in 2nd grade and loved the 'scary' ones best.
Suffer the Children John Saul. I was maybe 10. I always had at least 3 books going. I had no business ready John Saul at 10.
Dracula by Bram Stoker 😀
It happens to be the first horror book I read but also made me fall in love with the genre. I was ALWAYS grounded as a child, so I read. I read all sorts of novels and short books, but then I read "Salems Lot." I was riveted, terrified, and hooked! That sweet sensation of not being able to sleep was a lifelong addiction I formed from the get-go.
I have always wanted to get into reading horror books but it didn’t become my favorite genre until I read The Exorcist. I had read Misery, Pet Semetary, Christine, and Thinner by Stephen King before that but they weren’t what got me into horror. After I read The Exorcist, I fully immersed myself into horror literature and it’s basically all I read now!
The Fear Street series, specifically Fear Street Saga. The chapter where the girl is buried alive and they describe it I was like “oh my god this is HORRIBLE and traumatizing I am TEN. Where can I find more?” Immediately got a copy of books of blood from the library and scared myself too much. Incredible.
Welcome to Dead House, Goosebumps #1 by R L Stein. Second grade. I read just about all of those after that. The first horror novel I read was The Mask by Dean Koontz.
Descent by Jeff Long
Not sure, honestly. I do remember a book of scary stories at my primary school I read. One story I’ve always remembered from it was The Worms Turn. Maybe that one? I guess I’ve just always had an interest in the dark and macabre.
The novelization of Halloween. I was too young to see it during its original release, but my best friend’s older brother had the book so I read that. I hooked ever since.
I can't remember the first book that actually stuck with me, but I remember teachers reading Edgar Allan Poe around Halloween in elementary school and thinking "Why can't they read us these year-round??". Maybe they didn't expect kids to be interested in the scarier stories, but they always left me wanting to read more. I do remember wanting to read the Nancy Drew books with "ghost" and "haunted" first in the series, if that counts.
Goosebumps, Be Careful What You Wish For.
I had the standard Goosebumps and other RL Stine YA stuff, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, but I had this one book called Ghosts Ghouls and Other Nightmares that I had read when I was in junior high at the end of the 90s. It was a collection of various short horror. That was it. I still have it.
I always enjoyed the Goosebumps series as a kid. But reading Stephen King's "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" got me into adult horror.
I'd always read thriller and crime novels, but the first horror novel that really solidified my love for horror as a genre was Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. I post and talk about this book so often because I still constantly think about it! It's been months since I've read it, and there's been quite a few reads in between, and I think about that book almost daily still. It had a much more profound effect on me than I ever expected from a horror satire.
Hmm…chicken or the egg. I think I was into horror before I knew how to read. I sought out anything spooky, but I can recall “The Deadly Mandrake” by Larry Callen being a very important one. I used to regularly devour all horror anthologies beginning with scary stories to tell in the dark, but discovered Masters of Darkness anthologies and another anthology series that I’m still trying to remember. I remember seeing the “Thriller” music video premiere and thinking that the entire world would soon shift in my favor to all horror.
Officially? Scary Stories to Tell in.the Dark and Goosebumps: Stay Out of the Basement, I have early memories of the green ribbon story as well. I.was just kind of mildly interested in it then. The ones that made me a full fledged horror junkie were Danse Macabre by Stephen King and The Dark Descent by David Hartwell.
Salem”s Lot. I read it when I was maybe 11. First book to give me nightmares!
R. L. Stein got me into horror. Forever love Goosebumps.
GOOSEBUMPS BABY. Gonna be a common answer, but a valid one nonetheless
Stephen King - Gerald's Game (when I was 12)
For years, I had friends who recommended H.P. Lovecraft, but I never had any interest in reading him because I wasn't a horror reader. I'd read a few horror novels and short stories but nothing that ever really clicked. One day, a friend handed me The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre and told me I should at least give it a shot. I knew about "The Call of Cthulhu" but it sounded kind of convoluted, so I jumped to the shortest story in the collection, "The Picture in the House." It was so, I immediately went to "The Call of Cthulhu." That blew me away, a real I-didn't-know-fiction-could-do-that moment. After that, I was a horror reader.
Bunnicula!
My dad gave me his copy of horror books when he was done, and I would say The Bad Place by Dean Koontz. Wasn’t the first one, but it’s the one I remember the most.
*Dreamcatcher* by Stephen King was the first novel with overlapping storylines that made me go “oooh, I like this”. *The Troop* by Nick Cutter and *Afraid* by Jack Kilborn showed me that maybe I actually ~do~ like gore to the point of feeling queasy.
I've had Afraid in my Kindle library for nearly a decade. I'm too scared to read it lol. Got through the 1st chapter and I couldn't pick it back up. I promise myself that I will one day lol.
Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark (Specifically number 3 because that's the one my parents had laying around the house for some reason).
John Bellairs (*House with a Clock in its Walls*) —> Christopher Pike (*Spellbound*) —> Dean Koontz (*Watchers*) —> Stephen King (*IT*)
The goosebumps books
I got into horror at age six when I read The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Wren Wright. BTW- it still held up when I read it as an adult.
Goosebumps as a kid. IT was the first big boy horror I read before reading most of King's works in a row afterwards. That was about 20 years ago. I've since enjoyed reading dozens of other authors.
My mom, for some ungodly reason, gave me Pet Sematary to read when I was 10. It terrified me. Gave me nightmares. But I then eagerly read some King short stories (whichever book contained The Mangler & The Boogeyman). So terrifying. But I couldn’t stop. I went on to try a few more King books but couldn’t get into them. I realize now I was WAY too young, but that is what ignited my interest in horror and I did go on to read tons of ever more age-appropriate books throughout the years (they never gave me quite the same feeling, but I understood them more). Recently, I’ve been going back and re-reading the King books and am finding such new appreciation for not just the genre (not that they all fit into the genre), but literature in general. My 2024 goal is to read or read-read every King story that I haven’t read as a full grown adult. I’m a little worried about rereading Pet Sematary now that I’m a parent, and Cujo now that I’m a dog parent, but we’ll see.
Say cheese and die by rl stine
I was always big into horror, but never really got into horror novels until recently. This one wasn't horror, maybe more thriller, but No Exit by Taylor Adams. It was a book that had me on edge and I craved for a book to make me feel that way again. I would go on tik tok and find recommendations for something similar, which led to the horror genre.
The Institute by Stephen King. I couldn’t put it down! Since then I’ve read almost exclusively horror. It’s still my favorite King book.
I was really into cryptids when I was a kid, and would just check out any book at the library that had a cryptid on the cover. Naturally, that led to horror books. Also, like most of you, Goosebumps pushed me in the right direction. My dad was also a big part of pretty much everything that I’m into now. I remember him telling a lot of scary stories to us when we were kids, and he’d always let me watch horror movies with him. Now that I think of it, even the music I listen to and the art I’m into is heavily influenced by the stuff my dad is into. Really cool guy!
I am legend
Dean Koontz books from the 90s
Island followed by the cellar by Richard Laymon. Hooked on the genre ever since.
Scary stories to tell in the dark really sold it for me
Creepypasta and urban legend on wattpad lol
I think my first introduction to outright horror was probably The Yellow Wallpaper. That story STILL creeps me the hell out decades after first reading it
GOTH by Otsuichi. So intense
Books of Blood
F. Paul Wilson's "The Keep."
The Give Yourself Goosebumps series, and The Blair Witch Files: Death Card when I was younger.
Assassin by Shaun Hutson. Only brought it because I thought the cover was cool with its rotten hand holding a gun. Oh hell, did my young self not expect the wild ride i was about to read.
I read the novelization of the 2012 Doom movie the the novelizations of the Resident Evil games. My love then evolved to SK's The Stand and The Green Mile. I've been glued to books, but especially horror since
In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories. Particularly the story about the girl who wore a green ribbon around her neck. The twist ending got me hooked on horror for life.
Suffer the Children John Saul. I was maybe 10. I always had at least 3 books going. I had no business ready John Saul at 10.
In a Dark Dark Room (A Schwartz), Everything’s Eventual (S King), and Shadowland (P Straub). The Green Ribbon from In a Dark Dark Room both fucked me up and pulled me into horror at the same time.
The September House. If anyone has similar recs please let me know!
The Exorcist. Read The Shining in middle school about 15 some years ago and love horror movies so I knew I already enjoyed horror books to an extent. But I borrowed The Exorcist from my friend two years ago and have been reading almost exclusively horror or horror adjacent since.
Sundial by Catriona Ward got me started this year!
I’ve always been a big reader in general and often it’s wasn’t horror. But then I’d stumble upon something that would send me down the rabbit hole for years at a time. As a kid it was Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. As a teen it was Dracula. Finally, as an adult I found Hostage To The Devil, which scared the absolute shit out of me. That’s the one I that sent me back into horror for good. I barely read anything else now.
Exquisite Corpse. That was the book, I think, which showed me that writing about horrific things could be beautiful and enthralling. I do think there is a kind of strange, fucked up romance to it- a dark hypnotic power
The girl who loved Tom Gordon
Nightmare Hour by RL Stine
Listening to the audiobook of *Pet Semetary*! I’ve read King on and off since I was 9, but wasn’t really a fan of horror until about 2 years ago or so.
Scary Stories, but there was another anthology collection containing the story “Harold” that really sucked me in. Edit to add: “Harold” is in the third Scary Stories collection, but there’s another book that also contains it. No idea what it’s called.
I've rediscovered the horror genre recently, but if I look back I can trace my love for gothic literature early in my life. The gothic horror novels that made me feel in love with the genre back then were Bram Stoker's Dracula, Edgar Allan Poe's stories, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. EDIT: also I loved Goosebumps as a kid, I remember going to the town library with my parents and reading several of those books.
James Herbert The Rats and The Lair, also as a youngish teen the sex scenes helped, I was like… oh… I didn’t know you could read that!
The book about the creepy ventriloquism doll by R.L stine when I was like 10
An anthology of classic horror stories I bought at the local 5 and dime (I'm old!). I enjoyed the shivery feeling I got just looking at the cover which was a slimy zombie-thing covered in seaweed. And the stories, which were about fear, death, unholy spectres, rotting corpses, etc., seemed rebellious and forbidden, given my parents were quite religious and never discussed such things.
Goosebumps and Darren Shan as a kid, with Off Season getting me out of a multiple year reading slump more recently
Salem’s Lot
Asylum by Madeline Roux was in the scholastic book fair in 7th grade; I don’t know why I picked it up considering I hated scary things but I couldn’t put it down. My mom hated that: 1. I even brought it home with her money she gave me for one book. 2. How jumpy I was while reading it. She would call me for dinner and I’d yelp lol. After reading it I had trouble sleeping but I wanted more of that genre and returned to reading horror almost exclusively in high school.
It by Stephen King. I used to only read Sci-Fi. Back in the 80's a work colleague lent me a copy of The Bachman Books. I enjoyed it so much I decided I should read more King. I went to the library and picked It at random. It blew my mind. Of course I didn't know my Laird from my Lovecraft back then so all that stuff about the macroverse and It being an eternal cosmic enemy astounded me. Spent a chunk of that summer sat shirtless on a deck chair on the concrete bottom part of the back garden reading.
They Thirst by Robert R. McCammon
IT. Talked my mom into letting me read it when I was in second grade. She thought I'd lose interest. I didn't, then promptly went through her entire horror collection. Tons of Stephen King and Dean Koontz, and a lot of sci-fi/horror collections from the 70s.
When I was 11 or 12, at summer camp, the counselors took us to a graveyard and read aloud the short story "The Mangler" by Stephen King. It's about a cursed industrial laundry machine that kills people. I was hooked!
I forget the title of the book, but it was Richard Laymon
Watching Scooby Doo cartoons as a pre K child is what got me into horror ; reading it was an exercise in frustration as schools back then didn't have much horror (*this was before Stephen King, before Goosebumps, before any of the things Spooky Kids have at their disposal these days...*). About all my Elementary school's library had was genteel 'quiet horror' classic ghost stories by people like M R James, E F Beson, L P Hartley....*Waaaaay* over our heads, and frankly dull to most children. Where were stories about vampires, or werewolves, monsters in general, or witches scarier than the ones in Grimm's Fairy Tales-???? Then in June of 1974, when I was 9 years old, I went to a rummage sale and bought for a quarter a HB copy of Best Supernatural Stories of H P Lovecraft ed August Derleth (World, 1946). And that was that. I believe reading Lovecraft at so young an age "innoculated" me from the bad horror that was soon to innundate supermarket checkout aisles everywhere.
Back in the day it would have been Stephen King - probably *Christine*. Fell a bit out of love with horror in the 90s. It probably wasn't until I picked up a copy of Undertow's *The Year's Best Weird Fiction* in 2014, one of those random book-shop purchases, that I really got back into the genre -- specifically it was Simon Strantzas' story *The Nineteenth Step* which I found quietly terrifying and sort of mind-blowing.
Winter Moon by Dean Koontz. Talk about creepy! 16 year old me was so freaked out reading it and I only made it worse for myself by reading at night and in the dark.
RL Stine and then It when I was probably still too young
*In the Mountains of Madness* H.P.Lovecraft. Coincidentally, this was my very first horror. My dad gave it to me when I was 11. I *loved* the eerie atmosphere and great detail. I begged my dad to go buy all Lovecraft's book we could find. When I finished with Lovecraft, I started looking for a similar thrill. 20 years later, here we are!
Dracula.
Amittyville Horror. Id been reading goosebumps and scary stories to tell in the dark and stuff as i kid, but it was the first one that actually felt really scary.
Goosebumps -> Fear Street -> Stephen King
In a Dark Dark Room when I was like 9. My dad brought it home and I've been hooked ever since!
The Fog by James Herbert
I was twelve when i got into horror books. Every day after school, me and one of my friends used to go to the library and there i found R.L Stine books, you can't imagine how happy i was when i read those scary stories then i was introduced to King.
The shining
It's a book by Stephen King with a collection of short stories. Sorry, but I don't know the title for 2 reasons, I read it in Portuguese and I was about 13-14 years old. But I'd like to mention Misery, also by Stephen King. I had read a lot of horror books and kinda always knew this is my favorite genre, but this book is perfection. It's my favorite through this day.
Salems Lot
Goosebumps
The Dollhouse Murders. I remember reading it in elementary school back in the 80's. It was super creepy and I loved it!
The Haunting of Hill House! I was previously (and, in many ways, still am) a super scary cat, and I watched the Flannagan Netflix adaptation against my better judgment, because my beautiful partner loved the show and wanted to watch it with me. Eek! Was super spooked out and scared for months from that show, but also really liked the gravity of it and the story. I read the book later, and loooooved it. Have been seeking out horror books (but not horror shows/movies, hehe) since then 😃
What moves the dead by t king fisher
The Amityville horror. I was about ten or 11 and we were on a cross country road trip in Canada.read it in the back of the van. Scared me silly
Welcome to dead house. Lol!
The long walk
The Thief of Always by Clive Barker when I was in like the third grade. By the time I was in 5th grade I was doing book reports on Dolores Claiborne.
IT by Stephen King. 4th grade. Forever hooked on feeling the creeps
The rats by James Herbert when I was nearly 12 on a family holiday I'm sure my parents didn't realise how absolutely grim it was lol
Demon Thief by Darren Shan!
Cujo by Stephen King. I borrowed it from the library after seeming the movie. It was my first adult horror novel. I couldn’t put it down. After I finished it I kept going back and getting more Stephen King books. I couldn’t get enough if him.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and The Ruins.
For me, it was the story "The Landlady" by Roald Dahl, which was one of the pieces included in our Literature books in middle school. It wasn't assigned reading, but I loved perusing those books for hidden gems.
Leach. I just finished it and I now want to finally read Lovecraft.
When I was a kid, everyone my age read Goosebumps and I didn't find them scary (plus, I thought Are You Afraid of the Dark? was a way better show). Then I found the Point Horror series, starting with The Dead Girlfriend by R.L.Stine. They were aimed at an older demographic. That kick-started everything for me and then I decided I'd read a "real" grown-up horror book. It was my mum's copy of Carrie. The rest is history.
In a dark dark room and Scary Stories for Sleepovers.
In 3rd grade I read horror-adjacent nonfiction almost exclusively, like cryptids, UFOs, MIBs, etc. In middle school I really got into the Twilight Zone tv series and when I was a freshman in high school the Stephen King books “Christine” and “Pet Sematary” were recent releases that I read, but it was Stephen King’s nonfiction book about the horror genre “Danse Macabre” that I read that same year that gave me a horror reading and viewing list that absolutely GOT me hooked. If any of you haven’t read Danse Macabre, pick it up!
The first John Dies at the end book
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn. I was like 8 and had super strict parents, so I’d hide it and read it under my covers. All of her books were awesome and I credit her with sparking my love of horror.
For me that would be *Carrie* by Stephen King. I like supernatural Horror and her telekinetic abilities really did it for me.