Hi folks,
Unfortunately I fell off the reading wagon after hitting a serious burnout period of several years, I went from binging four/five books a week to scrolling mindlessly on NoSleep for hours at best.
Thankfully my brain power is slowly returning and I'm in need of some creature comforts to break me back in. I essentially love most things horror-orientated, but creature features, big monsters, and beasties of the deep will forever have my heart.
*Sidenote – Submechanophobia, Thalassophobia, and Arachnophobia for the win.*
My hard limits are anything that focuses on kids being harmed, splatterpunk or the likes of "Playground", and anything that glorifies or focuses heavily on SA of any kind.
Unfortunately I don't have many authors to offer, as my introduction to the horror genre were the usual suspects; James Herbert, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King. I'm open to any suggestions, and will be eternally grateful to anyone who has been kind enough to read my ramblings and share their wisdom.
Thank you in advance!
by Archosaur-
10 Comments
*Into the Drowning Deep* by Mira Grant for some man-eating mermaids.
I read and really liked T. Kingfisher’s Snake Eater recently. The horror is kinda psychological and kinda based on creatures from folklore, and the overall story is a middle-aged woman moving to a new place (where she encounters the Horrors) to get away from a bad relationship, if that would affect your enjoyment at all.
If you like Stephen King, check out Joe Hill (his son). “Horns” and “NOS4a2” are my favorites.
Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
I think most of Dean Koontz from the 80s checks this box: Twilight Eyes, Phantoms, Watchers, Whispers, The Funhouse. . .
HP Lovecraft is the OG of creature features. The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow Over Innsmouth. . .
And of course, the Peter Benchley classics, Jaws, Beast, The Island. . .
Devolution and World War Z by Max Brooks are creature features for sure. Also I am not a vampire person usually, but Christopher Buehlman’s The Lesser Dead is dynamite. Adam Nevill’s The Ritual features a creature, and his books Last Days and The House of Small Shadows are chilling.
The Fisherman by John Langan – slow but creepy
The Shadow over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft
Revelator by Daryl Gregory.
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
Steve Alten The Loch or the Meg books
I really enjoyed Pay the Piper by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus. It’s more of a supernatural horror, but I think still fits what you’re looking for.