Ignite Your Imagination With These Three Horror Novels
I love reading and writing horror stories, and as my favourite and specialist genre I have devour hundreds of horror stories by some of my favourite horror writers over time. Here are the top three that are so imaginative and so emotive that these books will keep you up at night:
The Taking By Dean Koontz
The Taking is not only my favourite horror novel, but it is also my favourite novel ever. Written by suspense thriller American novelist Dean Knootz, who follows Stephen King closely as one of the best American horror writers in the world, The Taking is as perfect a horror story as you can get.
It's a perfect horror because it incorporates everything from creepy self-multiating talking dolls, to ghosts, to UFO's and aliens, to zombies, to giant bugs, and to creepy dream sequences, and while that may seem like a lot to pack into one novel, Koontz pulls it off with the ultimate end of the world horror vibe.
Focusing on the couple of Molly and Neil Sloan, the duo live in an isolated township that is cut off quickly as terrors begin to surmount all around the world. As they go into surival mode, Molly and Neil find themselves the products of a higher cause as they set out to rescue many children who have been abandoned during the invasion, and hope aligns their quest for survival.
The Taking is so astounding and stayed with me for so long that I cite this novel as my inspiration behind my own novel Cosmic Decay: Contamination, which leads me to the next novel suggestion.
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Cosmic Decay: Contamination by Courtney Carr
Hey, if we're talking about novels and horror stories where would I be without a shameless plug? Written by yours truely, Cosmic Decay: Contamination is the first in a three part series that marries together a unique blend of horror and sci fi by focusing on a battle for the Earth against both zombies and aliens.
The story centres around the married couple Max and Victoria Stone who are riding out the end of the world via zombie apocalypse (known as "the Mindless") with a group of survivors in an apartment building. As they battle against the cannibalistic humans who wander the streets they soon become privy to the arrival of Visitors from another world, who are behind the destruction in a bid to take over the Earth.
As the settlement begins, the group band together to figure out a way to get the Visitors off their planet, and try to reclaim the world against the Mindless and the Visitors.
I wrote this novel with the idea in mind that this take over of the world could happen at any place, at any time, and to anyone, which is what gives the destruction of Earth such a chilling resonance.
Buy your own copy of Cosmic Decay: Contamination here.
IT by Stephen King
It certainly wouldn't be a list of horror novels to read without something by the acclaimed and famous horror writer Stephen King. The master of horror has written hundreds of stories that chill readers to the bone, but none were more tormenting of sleep than IT - the story King wrote about a demonic entity that uses the fears of children - as well as the likeness of an evil clown - to prey on the small town of Derry, Maine.
IT is split into two stories and is as thick as a J.R.R Tolkein or George R. Martin fantasy story. The first part follows a group of children who are haunted by an evil clown that attacks them through the biggest fears. As children of the town are picked off one by one, the kids decided to attack the evil entity and stop the terror, but as the second part of the story shows the children return twenty five years later as adults when the horrifically evil clown resurfaces.
IT is so popular it has been a standout horror favourite for years and with a movie starring Tim Curry, and a recent two part series movie starring Bill Skarsgard it's obvious that this nightmare isn't one that is going to end any time soon.
Photo by WRBZ
