Anyone who knows me would tell you that I love all things scary and dark. In fact, when it comes to horror, I have generally read it, seen it and in some cases experienced it. (check that out here: Know Your Fire Exits).
Because of my love for horror and all things dark I have often been asked by people for suggestions for books and movies. But this isn’t always as simple as it sounds. Because to me, there are very few things that are scary or even that dark. In the past I have made the mistake of suggesting horror to people without really knowing what they considered scary and the results have been bad. Because of this when it comes to books, I like to just take the safe route and suggest a classic like Dracula or Frankenstein which are two books that I have a great love for. Or even something much safer, like Stephen King; not because his works are not scary to some, but because now he is such a household name that people generally already know what they are in for.
Since most people have seen or read something by Stephen King this usually prompts the question as to which of his works are my favorite. Well, I have read many Stephen King novels over the years and even though I can tell you my favorite with ease, I think instead I will tell you all a secret. One that could get me killed in the circles that I run in: I really don’t like Stephen King that much…
Now I can already hear you fellow horror lovers yelling “What kind of person claims to love horror but doesn’t want to read Stephen King?” Well, there are a few reasons for that and I could go into all of them, and to be honest I think that a lot of you who have read his work would agree with them. But that will have to be a story for another time.
Because this story is not about Stephen King…
At the beginning of 2018 I got an itch to read a good horror novel. So, I started to search the internet for some suggestions with just one stipulation. No Stephen King!
Well, as it turns out, I am not alone. If you search for great horror that is not written by Stephen King, you will find many people who have created blogs, threads and sites dedicated to exactly this. This was a perfect jumping off point to find the kind of horror that I was looking for and I was pretty successful. Although, I did find a list that had Richard Bachman’s: Rage on there. (For those who don’t know, Richard Bachman is Stephen King’s pseudonym) You know there is no escaping the guy when a list dedicated to books not written by Stephen King still had Stephen King on it…
But I digress, after all, this story is not about Stephen King.
So, I found a list that I liked, the author shared my respect for King’s works, but understood that there are other horror authors out there and some real gems waiting to be found. I actually found many books and authors that I had never heard of! A few of them had multiple horror novels and had clearly made writing their life. All told, I found 3 authors and a total of 7 books that I wanted to read.
I figured I would read all the books by one author then move to the next. The first book I picked up was called Heart-Shaped Box and once finished I knew that it was not going to be the top of my list, but it was enjoyable. If not for the fact that it had a pretty weak ending and a fair amount of fluff that could be erased it would have been really good! Incidentally, this is often how I feel about Stephen King. (Don’t worry. This is not about Stephen King, just realization on my part)
Moving on to the next book by this author I felt the exact same way. There was something about these stories that I kind of liked, both of them weren’t scary, but solid horror, weak endings and maybe not the most original but certainly worth the read. So, before leaving this author and moving on to the next I thought that I would look into more of his publications and see what else he had written.
As I was researching, I was surprised to see that I had actually seen a movie that was based off of one of his books. I was pretty interested and thought to myself that I would read a lot more of his works. But then I saw something odd when looking at his personal information, it said: ‘Joe Hill, born in Bangor, Maine.’ I stopped right there and thought to myself “Maine? Who the hell is born in Maine? The only person I have ever even heard of that is from Maine is Stephen Ki…
“Oh no! … No! It can’t be!” I felt the disbelief overwhelm me. “Could Joe Hill also be one of Stephen Kings pseudonym’s? That would explain the writing! The poor endings! The needless fillers! The lack of overall horror! Did I just get dupped?”
I started to frantically scan his bio until I found it: “Joseph Hillstorm King, the Son of author Stephen King”
(sigh)
DAMN YOU, KING’S!!!
I cannot escape them…
I am always looking for some new horror that is not Stephen King. So if you have any suggestions, let me know!
As Random As Random Gets 