I grew up in a small town in Northern Florida. My family’s property was bordered by a stretch of forest which served as an adventure playground for my friends and me during the day. However, after dark, it turned into the foreboding landscape of the unknown. Many backyard camping attempts were abandoned with hysteria because of the noises we heard coming from inside those woods. For me, this led to a lifetime fascination with forests and the mysteries they hold. Though I’ve written fiction on a variety of topics, I was most excited about trying my hand at horror, inspired by my childhood proximity to the woods.
By Lee Anderson
An unknown horror stalks a Florida National Park. Charlie Sparks is a small-town sheriff, his career derailed by rampant scandal and corruption. When faced with solving the gruesome campsite murder of a young family, Sparks suspects two recent escape convicts. He also sees a chance to redeem himself. The sheriff and his search party set out into the woods to find the convicts. What they discover instead is an unthinkable terror, driven by a voracious hunger for human flesh.
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By Stephen King
Of all the Stephen King books I’ve read (and I’ve read over half) this one connects with me the most because the monster is something typically beloved: the family pet. King has this special talent for making something ordinary and loveable seem terrifying. The rabid Saint Bernard dog of the title serves as a metaphor for the existential assault made on the family of an advertising exec
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By Whitley Strieber
This is the first novel I ever read that made me into a lifelong fan of horror fiction. It’s a werewolf story but set in New York City, which no one had ever done before. Not to my knowledge anyway. Here Streib frequently writes from the werewolves’ point of view which makes the book that much more chilling. I admire a book that can take horror tropes and create something fresh and different from them.
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By William Peter Blatty
As monumentally terrifying as the film version is, the novel has some moments which easily rival the creepiness and revulsion of its cinematic counterpart. Actually, since reading a book requires extracting the image from the thought (whereas the film does the opposite), this makes The Exorcist novel just about as disturbing of an experience as can be had from reading.
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By H.G. Wells
The reader is introduced to a collection of monsters, half-man/half-animal, who are abominations of nature created by the titular Dr. Moreau. He’s a demented scientist who wishes to exert his dominance over nature by perverting it. Wells makes us feel empathy for the monsters who suffer greatly at the hands of their creator. The book eventually makes us question who the true monster is—man or beast?
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By Bram Stoker
An unquestionable classic! Stoker’s narrative technique of telling the legendary vampire’s story through the diary and journal entries of its characters creates a realism rarely felt in horror fiction. The reader feels as though they are an investigator learning details of a supernatural phenomenon that can’t be reasonably explained in any other way. It makes for literature gripping enough to spawn decades of imitators.
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