So last night I finished Stephen King's "Duma Key" and it was really great. That's not really what I expected, but it was. After reading "Bag of Bones" earlier in the year and finding it exceptional as well, I was willing to give King a second chance.

I don't read a lot of genre fiction, as I usually find it to be a bit trying... but these two books were really great escapes, and was wondering if anyone could offer some other suggestions along this line. I like the creepy stuff, but it needs to have some meat to make it interesting.

I'm not too interested in a lot of King's early stuff, and I am slowly making my way through the Dark Tower series... but other authors and any other books you'd suggest, I'd be interested in hearing.

Thanks!

I read the first 2 Dark Tower books and The Stand as a teenager. I liked The Stand but not Dark Tower. Haven't tried any of his other books.

Not sure if this falls into the style of book you're seeking, but check out "Fear Nothing" and "Seize the Night" by Dean Koontz. Personally, I love the audio versions with Keith Szarabajka reading. I really want Koontz to finish the third book he's reportedly been writing for almost the past decade.

Dreamer

The Tor freebie, Four and Twenty, was spooky in a non-threatening sort of way. Gave me little goosebumps, but I wasn't afraid to walk thru my house with the light off afterward. Plus, it's set in some interesting locations that I've enjoyed: Chattannooga, Macon GA, and the Florida Everglades.

Yes, I know I misspelled Chatin... Chattan... That Tennessee town near Atlanta. And I'll misspell it again next time also. I love the town despite its having an impossible spelling.

I am at loss at what to suggest to you because I have not read Dome Key but I did read Bag of Bones. Well I tried. I got 1/2 through and stopped. The worst book by King I have ever picked up.

So....I liked It, The Stand, The Dark Tower, Misery, Insomnia...

Koontz has never done anything for me... most horror writers haven't, really. (Though I read a few things by Clive Barker that I liked.)

Maybe I'm really just not a good "horror" type... I thought Bag of Bones was one of the best pieces of genre fiction I'd ever read (I actually listened to half of it... King does remarkably well reading his own novels!) But dang if I don't love a good ghost story.

I'm looking into Lisey's Story... I do want to read the Stand at some point, but I'm kind of working up to it. IT scared the bejesus out of me as a kid... no real desire to read it.:Grins:

I don't read a lot of genre fiction, as I usually find it to be a bit trying...
just a question, does "genre (whatever)" always mean horror ? or maybe a specific kind of horror ? or something else entirely ? is it used as a sort of euphemism left over perhaps from a (purely hypothetical) time when horror films were so scary (or so disreputable ?) that you couldn't actually mention this genre by name ?

i ask, because i see you used it that way, and recently i heard a radio interview about "films du genre" ("genre films") which appeared to be about horror films as well, and i'm a bit perplexed... "genre" to me just means a kind or sort, like horror can be one genre but mystery can also be a genre or romance or science fiction or whathaveyou...

sorry for the slight thread hijack ! i thought people in this thread would probably know the answer....

"Genre fiction" and "Literary fiction" are terms that are used sometimes to distinguish "serious" literature from "popular".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre_fiction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_fiction

thanks igorsk !

One of my favorites in the genre is "Weaveworld" from Clive Barker.

If your interested in King's work, he also wrote some interesting stories (imho) under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. They are not horror stories but good nonetheless.

Igor nailed it... specifically genre fiction refers to fiction that has a genre.. Fantasy, SciFi, Mystery, etc. Usually it is formulaic and may deviate here or there, but will follow a certain pattern so with fantasy you may have hero's journey, or the hard boiled detective in mystery, etc. This is in contrast with literary fiction which doesn't necessarily follow any set pattern, may cross many genre lines, and is usually much more metaphorical. If they were movies, "Iron Man" would be a genre film, and "There Will Be Blood" would be literary fiction.

I don't use "genre fiction" as a knock, either. They're different things, and do different things.

I mainly read nonfiction (no time for fun books!) and when I read fiction I tend to read literary stuff, but lately the old fiction itch has been going nuts and I just don't want any Dostoevsky.

Igor nailed it... specifically genre fiction refers to fiction that has a genre.. Fantasy, SciFi, Mystery, etc. Usually it is formulaic and may deviate here or there, but will follow a certain pattern so with fantasy you may have hero's journey, or the hard boiled detective in mystery, etc. This is in contrast with literary fiction which doesn't necessarily follow any set pattern, may cross many genre lines, and is usually much more metaphorical.


Fantasy and science fiction do not really follow these patterns. You could also argue that literary fiction is a genre.

Although he's more well known for his science fiction, Dan Simmons has written some good horror novels. I found "Song of Kali" particularly harrowing, and "Summer of Night" amd "Children of the Night" were also good.

Actually, scifi and fantasy are some of the biggest culprits. Check out that wiki article Igor linked to, it described the difference well. That being said... a lot of authors in those genre try very hard to not be, and sometimes they succeed. (And for the record, my favorite genre fiction IS scifi/fantasy.)

Again, I don't mean the term pejoratively and don't have any interest in getting into a "what is art," "what is literature," etc. argument. But there's a big difference between "The Kite Runner" and "Demian" versus Harry Potter or the latest Robert Jordan.

Although he's more well known for his science fiction, Dan Simmons has written some good horror novels. I found "Song of Kali" particularly harrowing, and "Summer of Night" amd "Children of the Night" were also good.

Thanks, I'll look into it!

Again, I don't mean the term pejoratively and don't have any interest in getting into a "what is art," "what is literature," etc. argument. But there's a big difference between "The Kite Runner" and "Demian" versus Harry Potter or the latest Robert Jordan.

Ha! :) If you don't have any interest in getting into the argument, why did you make such such a statment? What sort of comparison are you making "literature versus something else", "good versus bad" , "popular versus not"? I'm just curious, I don't want to get into that discussion either.

I just wanted to quickly illustrate the difference in hopes of making it clear rather than arguing it, hoping the issue arose from confusion of what was being said rather than a "No, Robert Jordan is as artistic/etc. as James Joyce..." line of thinking. Someone either "gets" this sort of thing or they don't. But I really don't have it in me to get into - I got out of the English Lit. department for a reason!

Actually, scifi and fantasy are some of the biggest culprits. Check out that wiki article Igor linked to, it described the difference well. That being said... a lot of authors in those genre try very hard to not be, and sometimes they succeed. (And for the record, my favorite genre fiction IS scifi/fantasy.)

Again, I don't mean the term pejoratively and don't have any interest in getting into a "what is art," "what is literature," etc. argument. But there's a big difference between "The Kite Runner" and "Demian" versus Harry Potter or the latest Robert Jordan.

I was referring to the following from the wikipedia article about genre fiction:

The term "genre fiction" is sometimes used as a pejorative antonym of literary fiction, which is presumed to have greater artistic merit and higher cultural value. In this view, by comparison with literary fiction, genre fiction is thought to be formulaic, commercial, sensational, melodramatic, and sentimental. By extension, the readers of genre fiction—the mass audience—are supposed to have less educated taste in literature than readers of literary fiction. Genre fiction is then, essentially, thought to be the literature that appeals to the mass market.

But from another point of view, literary fiction itself is simply another category or genre. That is, it can be thought of as having conventions of its own, such as use of an elevated, poetic, or idiosyncratic prose style; or defying readers' plot expectations; or making use of particular theoretical or philosophical ideas as well as having a niche audience, "generic" packaging and "superstar" authors. The publishing industry itself treats literary fiction as one category among others.

In addition, it can be argued that all novels, no matter how "literary", also fall within the bounds of one or more genres. Thus Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is a romance; Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is a psychological thriller; and James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a coming-of-age story. These novels would usually be stocked in the general or possibly the classics section of a bookstore. Indeed, many works now regarded as literary classics were originally written as genre novels.

So last night I finished Stephen King's "Duma Key" and it was really great. That's not really what I expected, but it was. After reading "Bag of Bones" earlier in the year and finding it exceptional as well, I was willing to give King a second chance.


Here are whatshouldireadnext.com suggestions:

20th Century Ghosts - Joe Hill See Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061147974/wsirn-21/) | US (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061147974/wsirn-20/) Brotherhood of War 01: The Lieutenants - W. E. B. Griffin See Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0515084247/wsirn-21/) | US (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0515084247/wsirn-20/) Songs for the Missing: A Novel - Stewart O'Nan See Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/067002032X/wsirn-21/) | US (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/067002032X/wsirn-20/) Bryson City Tales: Stories of a Doctor's First Year of Practice in the Smoky Mountains - MD, Walt Larimore See Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310256704/wsirn-21/) | US (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310256704/wsirn-20/) Dr. Death: An Alex Delaware Novel - Jonathan Kellerman See Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345508521/wsirn-21/) | US (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345508521/wsirn-20/) Deep Time: How Humanity Communicates Across Millennia - Gregory Benford See Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0380793466/wsirn-21/) | US (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0380793466/wsirn-20/) Chasing Darkness: An Elvis Cole Novel - Robert Crais See Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743281640/wsirn-21/) | US (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743281640/wsirn-20/) Code Sixty-One: A Novel - Donald Harstad See Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385501188/wsirn-21/) | US (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385501188/wsirn-20/) Lightning Bug - Donald Harington See Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1592641024/wsirn-21/) | US (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1592641024/wsirn-20/) By the Sword: A Repairman Jack Novel - F. Paul Wilson See Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0765317079/wsirn-21/) | US (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0765317079/wsirn-20/)

Walter De La Mare-believe me,"All Hallows","Out of the deep" and "ABO" are all things wroth more then just a litle notice.

I've enjoyed the horror novels of Jonathan Aycliffe.

(It's the same writer who publishes thrillers as Daniel Easterman.)