Figured from the Stephen King thread that there were people who also read other horror writers. Who are your favorites? I personally enjoy King, Clive Barker, and Bentley Little. Bentley Little has a ton of awesome books. I like "The Collection" and "The Summoning" the most.

Speaking of those three authors, they have collections of short stories. Can anybody else here tell me about other good short horror story collections?

Lovecraft is the obvious answer.

But this probably should go in the general literature thread.

This is a short story but The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is classic.

the 2 you really need to look into are Ramsay Campbell and Thomas Ligotti. The 2 best living horror writers I think.

I enjoyed the Edward Lee novel City Infernal that i bought a few years ago. No idea how good he's supposed to me though.

I read a great many horror short pieces, but not many novels that would fit snugly within the genre. I guess I feel that the formm generally can't maintain a disquieting mood or atmosphere through the length of an entire novel.

"The Color of Evil" is a very good horror anthology. I can't recall the editors presently, but it includes tales by Lovecraft, Manly Wade Wellman, Harlan Ellison,, Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Robert Bloch, Robert Aickman (genius!), Michael Shea, and many others.

Anyone familiar with Robert Aickman? He's one hell of a writer. I recommend his tale "The Hospice". Every time I read it I get more unsettled, which is a contrast to most stories, whose effectiveness wears off over time.

I've read the orrigenal novels for Jaws, Jurassic Park and Congo, all where pretty good but very different.

William Hope Hodgson's "The House on the Borderland" is one novel that maintains the horror atmosphere throughout. I think it is very powerful and full of subtle implications that commentators like Terry Pratchett consistently miss or just don't want to talk about. It was certainly an influence on H. P. Lovecraft, and includes a metaphysical sort of time travel, a house on a border between realities or dimensions and explorations of both heaven and hell. Those swine creatures will stick in your mind for a very long time.

Fritz Leiber's "Our Lady of Darkness" is another favourite of mine. I think a few people here know how much I adore Fritz Leiber and his writing. "Our Lady..." is inspired by the writings of Thomas DeQuincey as well as Leiber's own experiences as a struggling writer in San Francisco in the thrall of severe alcoholism after the death of his wife. The protagonist in the book mirrors Leiber himself in a lot of ways, and becomes the victim of a curse cast a hundred years before by a strange, malevolent sort of urbann wizard.. A cool thing to note for Weird Tales fans is that the curse was originally cast on Clark Ashton Smith, who is actually an accessory character in the novel by way of his diary!! The book posits a sort of black science called megapolisomancy, which involves the negative energy stored up by all the conduits in huge, sprawling urban environments being used to further the ends of those who know how to make use of the formulae that govern the energy and the entities that embody it. I believe Leiber developed this notion a little more in his book "Horrible Imaginings",, but I haven't got that one.

i know that darren shan's stuff is slightly more 'teenagey' than stuff like lovecraft but shan's stuff is just great especially the vampire books.

Also his newest book features stuff like vomiting into demons mouths, then using magic to turn the vomit into acid to kill the demon. Lovely.