Book picks similar to
The Scream by John Skipp
horror
splatterpunk
paperbacks-from-hell
fiction
The Amulet
Michael McDowell - 1979
After long and tedious days on the assembly line, she returns home to care for her corpse-like husband while enduring her loathsome and hateful mother-in-law, Jo. Jo blames the entire town for her son’s mishap, and when she gives a strange piece of jewelry to the man she believes most responsible, a series of gruesome deaths is set in motion. Sarah believes the amulet has something to do with the rising body count, but no one will believe her. As the inexplicable murders continue, Sarah and her friend Becca Blair have no choice but to track down the amulet themselves, before it’s too late.
The Reaping
Bernard Taylor - 1980
But from the moment of his arrival at the secluded country mansion strange and inexplicable events begin to transpire. Soon he is drawn into an impenetrable maze of horror, and by the time he discovers the role he is intended to play in a diabolical design, it will already be too late. For the seeds of evil have been sown, and the time to reap their wicked harvest is nigh!
Rapture
Thomas Tessier - 1987
Jeff has loved Georgianne since they were kids and he doesn't think there's room in Georgianne's life for anyone else but him. Now he's ready to kill everyone in her life. Original.
Burnt Offerings
Robert Marasco - 1973
They find a beautiful old country mansion on Long Island -- restful, secluded, with pool and private beach -- perfect, for the right people. But their "perfect" summer home hides terrors beyond their wildest imaginings. During that long summer the house becomes a nightmare from which there seems to be no escape.
Night Train
Thomas F. Monteleone - 1984
Now the final nightmare must explode. Now the killing frenzy must begin...
Harvest Home
Thomas Tryon - 1973
The quiet, peaceful place was straight out of a bygone era, with well-cared-for Colonial houses, a white-steepled church fronting a broad Common. Ned and Beth Constantine chanced upon the hamlet and immediately fell in love with it. This was exactly the haven they dream of. Or so they thought.For Ned and his family, Cornwall Coombe was to become a place of ultimate horror.
Vampire Junction
S.P. Somtow - 1984
. . It's about rock music, about mass hysteria, about vampires, about horror . . . one comes out knowing, and caring, about a panoply of new friends and acquaintances, living and dead, and unalive".--Theodore Sturgeon, The Washington Post.
Seed
Ania Ahlborn - 2011
His childhood is his darkest secret, but after a near fatal accident along a deserted road, the darkness he was sure he’d escaped rears its ugly head… and smiles.But this time, he isn’t the only one who sees the soulless eyes of his past. This time, his six-year-old daughter Charlie leans into his ear and whispers: Daddy, I saw it too.And then she begins to change.Faced with reliving the nightmares of his childhood, Jack watches his daughter spiral into the shadows that had nearly consumed him twenty years before. But Charlie isn’t the only one who’s changing. Jack never outran the darkness. It’s been with him all along. And it’s hungrier than ever. A new breed of dark fiction: the subtlety of Seed will haunt you, and the end will wickedly satisfy.
I Am Dracula
C. Dean Andersson - 1993
Learn how he struggled with Satan and how he terrorized in blood and evil for five centuries ... and up to the present day.Told over a series of long winter nights to master horror author C. Dean Andersson, this is the shocking, mesmerizing account of Dracula's history that renders all other versions anemic by comparison. Now is the time of revelation. I AM DRACULA. I bid you welcome to my world...
Shadows
John Saul - 1992
A secluded, cliff-top mansion overlooking the rugged Pacific coast. A school for children gifted -- or cursed -- with extraordinary minds. Children soon to come under the influence of an intelligence even more brilliant than their own -- and unspeakably evil. For within this mind a dark plan is taking form. A plan so horrifying, no one will believe it. No one but the children. And for them it is already too late. Too late, unless one young student can resist the seductive invitation that will lead... into the Shadows.
Catmagic
Whitley Strieber - 1986
— Set in the world of modern American witches, Catmagic is full of action, terror, and wonder, enormously entertaining and profoundly human. — Takes place in Maywell, New Jersey, a sleepy little town, the forces around it quite, until in a laboratory George Walker completes his first experiment in reanimation: He kills an animinal and brings it back to life.Human subjects are next.
Ghost Story
Peter Straub - 1979
Now they are about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past -- and get away with murder.
The Resort
Bentley Little - 2004
Please ignore the strange employees and that unspeakable thing in the pool. And when guests start disappearing, pretend it isn't happening. Enjoy your stay, and relax. Oh...and lock yourself in after dark.
The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All
Laird Barron - 2013
Melding supernatural horror with hardboiled noir, espionage, and a scientific backbone, Barron’s stories have garnered critical acclaim and have been reprinted in numerous year’s best anthologies and nominated for multiple awards, including the Crawford, International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy awards.Barron returns with his third collection, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All. Collecting interlinking tales of sublime cosmic horror, including “Blackwood’s Baby”, “The Carrion Gods in Their Heaven”, and “The Men from Porlock”, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All delivers enough spine-chilling horror to satisfy even the most jaded reader.