What horror Gothic books do you recommend?

[Monique Devereaux]

1. Julian's House by Judith Hawkes
2. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
3. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
4. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
5. Blackwater by Michael McDowell

[Penfeather]

What horror Gothic books do you recommend? Can you say what they are about?

While these aren't books, the short stories of Algernon Blackwood (1869 - 1951) have Gothic elements (as well as, often, supernatural subject matter). Blackwood was a master of atmosphere and many of his stories really do seem to cast a strange spell over the reader. From Wikipedia: " . . . his most typical work seeks less to frighten than to induce a sense of awe." I recommend "The Pikestaffe Case" as a good introduction to Blackwood for any who have not read him.

Again, Blackwood's stories can't really qualify as "Gothic novels" but I mention them because readers of Gothics may enjoy them.

[romanticdress]

Carmilla (1872) by (Joseph) Sheridan LeFanu features authentic vampire folklore and Gothic setting.
Clarimonde by Theophile Gauthier is another richly atmospheric vampire classic from 19th century.
Vampire tales (1992), edited by Richard Dalby and Dracula in London edited by P.N.Elrod are entertaining vampire tale collections.

[simpleviolet]

Stokoes 'COWS' is being sold on ebay, but its bloody expensive! "$80 buy it now" !wtf! its a f***ing paperback. I think its being kept out of print to create a hype: Only a few people bought the few copys sold, all get grossed out, tell everyone to get the book thats now sold out, prices go up, start to get a crazy notoriety me thinks. anyone know when/if its being reprinted?

[coramunroe]

4. Curfew (or Crybbe) by Phil Rickman. I've read this book twice and just love it. It's steeped in atmosphere and history. It takes place in modern day Britain, in a small village that suffers from a curse in which a bell must be rung every night to ward off the spell of an evil sorcerer. I really enjoyed the writing. Not only is the book and plot interesting, but the writer does a great job of characterization and finding humor. You really care about the people in the book and their relationships.

Hmmm, sounds like the story in the first season of Lost - must type that number into the computer before time runs out or else ..... Wonder if the writers read this one?

[romanticdress]

Did I forget Dracula (1897)?

---

Can't recommend it as I've not yet read it, but I did find and purchase this novel last week:

The Black Dog by Georgena Goff

It's touted as "A Gothic novel of the psychic occult."

Every time the big black dog appeared -- someone died. Lottie feared she would be next.

Legend whispered that Mr. Holme appeared every 25 years accompanied by the black dog who guarded his mother's grave. Holme and his black dog spelled death and disaster...

It's a Belmont Blue Ribbon Gothic published May 1971.

***

As an aside, I've just recently read about black dogs having difficulty being adopted out of animal shelters because of "bad press." AS workers are tying big colorful ribbons onto their necks to enhance attention, and working hard to warm up the public to adopting these animals. So I was a bit reluctant to buy the book, as it panders to an unfortunate stereotype which is harming dog adoption. But I decided to read the story anyway, for its own sake.

I love black dogs and black cats! Animal lover here.

--back on topic--

How sad! I love cats and dogs, too... and although vampire movies have "evil" bats connection and I like vampire stories , I don´t think bats are evil. And they are so ugly they are cute.

[Bellatrix Lestrange]

I would reccomend
"The Phantom of the Opera" its slower than the movie, but still brilliant.
Frankenstein - not to be missed

for the modern fans - A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing, can't remember the authers name, but if you look it up online it'll be there.

Dracula, of course

Dracula - the Undead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. For anyone who wanted to know what happend to Dracula, Mina, and Quincey Harker 20 odd years later. Also involves the historical (real) countess Elizabeth Bathory who was a Hungarian noblewoman known as Lady Dracula. i loved it.

The Picture of Dorian Grey - by Oscar Wilde - brilliantly written, about what happens to a man who has no concience....or thinks he doesn't......

[Penfeather]

I should also mention Wieland (or The Transformation) by Charles Brockden Brown. Brown was a Regency-era novelist and historian who set the stage for Edgar Poe and Wm. Hope Hodgson. Brown was definitely classified as a "Gothic" writer in his own time, though his plotlines don't necessarily conform to the modern formula. His prose has a florid otherworldliness of style that puts the reader in a kind of lucid trance.

I read Wieland while staying alone in a cabin on a lake in the middle of the woods, and it made me sleep with the light on. Even then I did not sleep very well.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/792

[Bellatrix Lestrange]

Does Anne Rice count as well? i know she's not necessarily classically gothic, but her vampire characters are really well developed. Also, i just finished "Red Dragon", "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal" by Thomas Harris, later made into films starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster which were brilliant.

Is Northanger Abbey any good? I've heard its a spoof on clasic gothic but im not sure.

[Jojo Lapin X]

I should also mention Wieland (or The Transformation) by Charles Brockden Brown. Brown was a Regency-era novelist and historian who set the stage for Edgar Poe and Wm. Hope Hodgson. Brown was definitely classified as a "Gothic" writer in his own time, though his plotlines don't necessarily conform to the modern formula. His prose has a florid otherworldliness of style that puts the reader in a kind of lucid trance.

I read Wieland while staying alone in a cabin on a lake in the middle of the woods, and it made me sleep with the light on. Even then I did not sleep very well.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/792

But it is not really very good, now is it? While it has creepy elements, the utter preposterousness of the basic premise (SPOILER based on a misconception of what ventriloquism can actually achieve) was widely noted already in the author's own time. As this is often referred to as The First American Novel, one has to wonder what the competition was like.