lol   

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Whiteout by Ken Follett is a good thriller, I think...

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I'd be interested in some good horror recommendations myself because you're right, the horror market out there is grossly lacking at the moment...there HAS to be some gem that we're not aware of.

I've always said that King shot his final wad in the mid-90's and it's been downhill from there, except for his occasional anthologies. He's fantastic in the short-story format. Perhaps he should focus more on that now than on full-length novels? Dunno. It's sad either way. I always loved reading his stuff as a kid.

Anne Rice embarrasses me, as do her fans. She's a ridiculous twit of a writer and the fans hold her up as some sort of final authority on All Things Vampiric. Ugh. While the girly-girl deep inside me does enjoy the whole romanticism of vampires every now and then (see: LJ Smith's Vampire Diaries and Night World series), mostly I prefer the evil bastards who view humans as nothing more than a food source rather than a hot f**k. It's more entertaining that way. Doesn't anyone recall the good old days of monsters actually being monsters? Le *sigh*

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

It just baffles me. 

Stroll into any horror section in any bookstore and there is a hundred SK books and then a 100 wannabe SK's (all the books have The Next Stephen King! proclamations) that all suck.  I've tried Richard Laymon, Bentley Little, and others that just don't do it for me.

Horror must be the hardest genre to write because there is not a wealth of talent.

This didn't just happen either.  It's been like this for years.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Have you gone back and explored some older horror novels? I remember reading The Amityville Horror when I was eight and it scared the everloving SHIT out of me. I had nightmares for several weeks. I reread it like ten years ago and it gave me the creeps but didn't really scare me. But there's an option for you. :)

Someone once told me they read Whitley Streiber's Communion and it scared them to death as a grown adult. So I was like "Wahey! I'm SO there!" I ended up being rather disappointed. I had a couple of other people tell me it scared them too though, so maybe I've steeped myself so thoroughly in horror novels and films that they just don't scare me anymore? I must admit I've not been scared by a horror film since I saw Poltergeist when I was seven (and the only thing that scared me there was the clown...I hated clowns), and the last book to scare me was technically Stephen King's Dreamcatcher but in my defense, I was camping in a remote area of wilderness up near Mt Lassen with a couple of friends, one of whom is an avid UFO/alien conspiracy theorist and kept telling us that this was the perfect place to be abducted from because nobody would see it happen, and I read the book at night and let my imagination run away with me. So. Yeah. But. Anyway. Hi. :D

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

I was a big King fan until I think it was Tommyknockers (stupid spell check, what do you know anyway?) at which point I said 'huh?'.  Then I read the authors preferred version of The Stand and with 300+ added pages I found one thing I didn't remember from the original.  I picked up Cell a while back since I liked the concept and really enjoyed it for the first third or so then he threw this curve in that made me say 'what the fuck?'

Rice I never got into more than about seven pages.  Worked a signing she did at The Worlds Greatest Bookstore (tm) back in '95 and talk about a freak show! (I don't mean this in a deragotory sense as some of my best friends and indeed my favorite selves are freaks but feel free to take offense if you wish.) The two things she absolutely had to have; chocolate and Tab (that's the soda, not LSD.)

But, to stay on topic, sorry no good horror except the Shadows over Baker Street mentioned in the Lovecraft thread.  Prety much given up on the genere.

rb

"It's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind." - D. Cooper

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." - P. Atreides

"Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe" - L. tzu

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

 Sir in that assessment you would not be too far from the truth.  If I ever make to the fest and work up the energy to enter the costume contest the Major would be the logical choice for me.  I still have my dress jacket from when I was in the Air Farce although I'd have to score some bronze oak clusters and other hardware to make it more authentic.  It would also require that I shave off my beard which is universally acknowledged to be a bad idea.  My hair however is well on the way.

Yah, if you like D & L you may enjoy Shadows..., check it out.  Sorry, no copies here at the moment.

rb

"It's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind." - D. Cooper

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." - P. Atreides

"Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe" - L. tzu

Reading NightWatch by Sergei Lukyanenko, the Russian novel that got turned into, iirc, a Russian movie that seemed to get good buzz but left me feeling confused. Perhaps I had taken the wrong kind of drugs for a movie with subtitles

I'm doing better with the book after 50 or so pages, seems like a pretty good read although it might tend more towards fantasy than pure horror.  The idea of both good/light and bad/dark having organizations that enforce a balance (in the twilight?) is fairly intriguing to me even if the association or good with light and bad (evil) with dark is a little tired to me.

Anyway looks to be a good book. 

"It's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind." - D. Cooper

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." - P. Atreides

"Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe" - L. tzu

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper