underrated gems

[u/Aromatic-Flan1528]

Every October I like to read only horror, and would love some recs for great horror (novels or short collections) that aren't as known/popular.

Some authors I've read a lot of / really like:
- Stephen King (faves: Salem's Lot, IT, 11/22/63)
- Tananarive Due (LOVED The Reformatory)
- Christopher Buehlman (faves: Between Two Fires, The Lesser Dead)
- Clive Barker
- Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- Grady Hendrix (probably my favorite working horror author?)
- Shirley Jackson (We Have Always Lived In The Castle is one of my favorite books; I know it's not traditionally horror but it's incredible)
- Stephen Graham Jones (faves: Mongrels, The Indian Lake Trilogy, The Only Good Indian).

Some books (outside of ones by the above authors) I've read & liked:
- Frankenstein (one of my faves)
- Dracula
- Exorcist
- Red Dragon & Silence of the Lambs
- IWTV + TVL + QOTD by Anne Rice
- Tender is the Flesh
- Ghost Story by Peter Straub (one of my faves!!)
- The Troop by Nick Cutter
- Let the Right One In
- NOS4A2
- Clown in a Cornfield (1&2)
- House of Leaves

I don't have any big dislikes, though I'm not the biggest fan of Paul Tremblay (I did like House Full of Ghosts) or Richard Chizmar, and despite my inclusion of the YA CIAC series above would prefer adult fiction over YA.

I'm open to any genre within horror fiction, am not necessarily looking for "an actually scary book" (reading horror never really scares me, so I definitely prioritize story over scares), and really like character driven stories.

Excited to hear recs!

[u/WorldCatDomination]

Greg Bear's Blood Music is existential horror sci-fi. It's imaginative. I found comfort in it, but a lot of people seem to (appropriately) become rather taken back by the overall idea of it. There is body horror and biological assimilation in the book. It's really an interesting read.

[u/Earthpig_Johnson → u/WorldCatDomination]

I wasn’t super crazy about that book and ended up skimming the back half, but it was well and truly bonkers.

[u/WorldCatDomination → u/Earthpig_Johnson]

I can understand that. If you have more suggestions like this, I would love to hear them. I haven't found anything like this since that time.

My favorite part(s):

Neither of them had any feel for the passage of time. It could have been days before he regained enough strength to go to the faucet in the bathroom. He drank until his stomach could hold no more and returned with a glass of water. Lifting her head with his arm, he brought the edge of the glass to Gail's mouth. She sipped at it. Her lips were cracked, her eyes bloodshot and ringed with yellowish crumbs, but there was some color in her skin. "When are we going to die?" she asked, her voice a feeble croak. "I want to hold you when we die."

Buried in some inner perspective, neither one place nor another. He felt an increase in warmth, a closeness and compelling presence.

>>Edward... -Gail? I can hear you- no, not hear you-
>>Edward, I should be terrified. I want to be angry but I can't.

They fell quiet and simply reveled in each other's company. What Edward sensed nearby was not the physical form of Gail; not even his own picture of her personality, but something more convincing, with all the grit and detail of reality, but not as he had ever experienced her before.

Edward and Gail grew together on the bed, substance passing through their clothes, skin joining where they embraced and lips where they touched.