Scary Monsters
 

Hi all. I've just recently started reading horror novels and have been searching the internet for a good, scary one that is focused on just plain old scary monsters and the like. It's really just a mood thing right now. I'm just not in the mood for stuff on vampires, werewolves, ghosts, or psychological thrillers ect. I guess if it helps, I really liked Stephen Kings novella "The Mist". So if anyone knows of anything similar, or anything else monster related, I'd love some reccomendations! Thanks!

Prey by Graham Masterton is a great "monster" book. However, it does work within the Lovecraftian mold, so if that's not your bag, then it may not do it for you.

maybe ... The Relic by Lincoln Child, Douglas J. Preston

anything written by h.p. lovecraft is usually monster focused. Pick up a collection of his short stories.

Agreed on Lovecraft,.as well as "The Mist"!. 1 of my favorite short stories (still waiting on the movie..lol)..One of my favorite "monster" stories.,is Dean Koontz's 'Midnight"..some of creatures that the residents of the town become are really bizarre and imaginative..I'd also say try Robert R.McCammons "Stinger" as well as some of Clive Barkers stories in the "Books of Blood"! (Skins of the Father, for example..)

Thanks for the reccomendations all! I bought a nice little Lovecraft story collection and found that my local library has almost all of the titles you mentioned. Also, I recently heard that Clive Barker was a good horror novelist but for some reason I always thought he was a fantasy writer. Does anyone know of a good horror piece of his that I could start with?

Thanks again for the picks guys. Looks like I'll be busy, and sleepless for awhile

Ive never actually read any of his work, but the Books of Blood are commonly recomended.

If we're just talking about one single story, then I would recommend Barker's "Human Remains", although the Books of Blood are entirely excellent. Avoid anything he wrote after this period though.

i am about halfway through "coldheart canyon" by barker. it is the first barker novel i have tried and while it is not the best novel i have ever read, i am enjoying it quite a bit.

although i do enjoy his work .. i do find that lovecraft does one incredibly annoying thing - a lot ..

he will describe a creature as a thing of 'undescribable horror !!'
something that is so horrible to behold that it renders the viewer mad and uncomprehensible (in otherwords - too far gone to describe what he saw)

i can understand how he's attempting to build terror but after the second time it started to seem like a cop out - as if the octopus/whatever just didnt sound scary enough -and he knew it - so better just describe the terror of the person who saw it VS the thing itself..