"I am Legend" by Richard Matheson.

Reading this, you can see how inspirational it has been to other horror writers, and - even though this is a book about vampires of a sort, it has inspired many of the great zombie movies too. Watch Night of the Living Dead after reading this, for instance. Stephen King, I believe, sights it as an inspirational book in his writing.

bjlangley, I have I Am Legend, and it is indeed a very remarkable book. Richard Matheson is quite the inspiring author. The original Italian film adaptation of I Am Legend, "The Last Man On Earth", starring Vincent Price, was the film George A. Romero mirrored for "Night Of The Living Dead". The other film adaptation of Legend, "The Omega Man", is also good fun.

Richard Matheson's stories usually involve one person thrown into a horrible situation. Many of his wicked short stories have been turned into films, such as Duel. Where a man driving across country is pursued by a stranger in a tanker truck. He wrote 14 episodes of The Twilight Zone, the most famous being "Nightmare At 20,000 Feet", where a passenger becomes convinced there is something evil on the wing of the plane. An absolute classic.

I'm going to buy two of Matheson's short story anthologies, that feature his best work. The books are published by an American company but amazon.co.uk is selling them. Probably take weeks to arrice, but the wait will be worth it. I'm really looking forward to reading them, being scared, and getting plenty of inspiration. Oh, he also wrote the original novel that "The Incredible Shrinking Man", is based on. Another cult classic film.

One of his most recent horror books, "Hunted Past Reason", sounds suitably terrifying.

Steven

Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce

Three I would recomend

Stephen King's: IT
Peter Straub's: If you could see me now.
Richard Laymons's: Body Rides.


Three very different books, but I can't see how anyone would be dissapointed with either one. Amazing thing, personal taste.

Darryl

It's good to know someone else has read 'The Descent', IB. It was a good read, but maybe a little too long (I thought).

Clive Barker's 'Cold Heart Canyon' was rather good, as a recommendation.

As far as I know Robert Aickman only wrote short stories, not novels, but his work is extraordinary. Also some, but not all, of Ramsey Campbell.
Have fun,
Becca.

James, had a look at Tooth Fairy on amazon, and it sounds very strange. One to put on a list and check out a later date. Cheers for that.

Darryl, IT is a HUGE book, it's a 1000 pages or something? I remember the mini-series was very scary. That's one of King's books that I haven'tread yet, but I will have to. Is Straub any good on his own? I've never read his work, yet. Richard Laymon, IS the master of horror in my opinion. His books are extremely scary, his writing sytle is unique. I have a few of his books, will definitely be checking out Body Rides!

IB, Waxy, will have to check out The Descent now, it's weaving itself into my mind as I speak. The story has me intrigued to see where it goes.
Waxy, I've read a lot of Cliver Barker, but Cold Heart Canyon is one I haven't read yet. It's set in Hollywood isn't it? Barker's own version of hell lol

Becca, Robert Aickman, the name sounds familiar. Is he an older writer whose work used to appear in anthologies and stuff, I'm sure I must have read something by him. I'll do some digging and take a look. Thanks for mentioning him. And I'm amazed no one else has mentioned Ramsey Campbell!
I've got a lot of his older books, but all his work is hard to find, for whatever reason. He's one of the most consistent horror authors in the UK. The Doll Who Ate His Mother had me suitably horrified! I must get around to reading The Hungry Moon. Thanks.

Cheers everyone, I'm getting a right list now, keep 'em coming, this is great fun!
Steven

Yeah, it's a strange little story, but I found his use of character and images to be totally on form. I wasn't a big fan of Galilee, as I found it a bit gushy and up itself for Barker, but CHC is well worth a read.

J x

Steven,

I actually prefer Straub & King when they do their own stuff. I think it may be me, but I just seem to struggle with the idea of people collaberating on novels

Darryl

Oh but 'The Talisman' (Straub/King) was a wonderful story! OK, so the sequel didn't seem much cop, but the original rocked. Probably one of the best collaborations I've read.

<Added>

'Floating Dragon' by Straub is also pretty chilly.

Hi Steven,

Did you find the horror book you were looking for? Being a fan of the master of horror I have always found that when I wanted to get 'back in to my reading head' Salems Lot always did it. Not sure why. Maybe 'cos I have read it so much!

The others of his I love are It, The Dark Half, and the Stand. Christine is also excellent as I can usually picture how it would look in a film, not that I tend to watch the films to his books as I have always found them disappointing.

Oh, if you can find it (I got a copy of ebay) The Storm of the Century, which I did actually see as a TV miniseries, is excellent. It has been written as the script.

Can't think of any other horror except SK - sorry.

Sue

I liked 'the Descent', even though I did find it a bit long winded towards the end. Stephen King is generally good, if you ignore some of the crappy ones. If you want something strange, I rather enjoyed 'Coldheart Canyon' by Clive Barker.

JB