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My daugther has asked if she can read some of my horror books, but the ones I have in the house aren't really suitable (a bit too gruesome or sexual), but my mind had gone blank over what to get for her!
I'm thinking of some James Herbert to start with as these tend to be more ghost stories, but which one? I was thinking Magic Cottage/Ghosts of Sleath. She's read The Woman in Black and enjoyed that.
What would be your suggestions?
Steven King's Carrie?
Neil Gaimen and Clive Barker have young adult titles.
Neil Gaimen, Stephen Kings IT.
I was reading adult horror when I was younger than that.
Coraline - not really horror, but pretty creepy, and aimed at a younger audience.
I vaguely remember James Herbert stuck the occasional sex scene into his novels about getting your face eaten by rats, so you might want to check first. (I've only read his earlier stuff).
Pet Semetary is a great Stephen King book. I think I read it about that age.
Fluke by James Herbert. I'm not sure how to classify it but it's not a horror story!
Charlie Higson's series of books.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enemy_(Higson_novel)
Read a couple myself, very well written.
Try 'odd Thomas' by Dean Koontz
Cracking supernatural spooky thriller ?
Search 'Darren Shan' - books that my son read on the recommendation of his English teacher. He enjoyed them, and there's a good number of them, which is handy!
MR James.
Read them all at that age, never did me any harm.
Still sleep with the light on at 48, but that's normal, innit?
+1 Darren Shan
Mainly vampire and zombie based, but well written, snappy and fun.
I was reading Dennis Wheatley at that age, but I guess he's really old-fashioned now.
I too was devouring anything by M R James and Dennis Wheatley. In the case of James, the tales and style may be tame/old-fashioned but they are utter classics.
How about:
'The Willows' (Algernon Blackwood) - free to read online. Genuinely creepy.
'The Owl Service' - Alan Garner
'The Weirdstone of Brisingamen' /Weirdstone trilogy - Alan Garner
Alan Garner, Algernon Blackwood, HP Lovecraft. Classics, all three writers.
Pan Books used to do a whole series of paperback collections of horror and ghost stories that I read when I was at school, most I can't remember now, but one really stuck in my memory, called [i]The Copper Bowl[/i], which involved a copper bowl full of hot coals with a hungry rat enclosed underneath.
I won't spoil the story with more detail.
There was a collection I read at school, and there was one story that I've tried to find ever since, I think it was called [i]Behind The Yellow Door[/i], all I can remember was a feeling of real unease, but that's it. It may have been by Blackwood, but it's such a long time ago now.
My daugther has asked if she can read some of my horror books, but the ones I have in the house aren't really suitable (a bit too gruesome or sexual)
Dunno, but at that age I think I was reading the horror books published by Point (the teen fiction branch of the publishers who publish the Goosebumps series for younger kids). Some good serial killer, psycho/sociopath, paranormal books in there. But by 14 unless you've kept her in a convent I suspect she probably has more of an idea about sex than a horror novel is going to have in it! One of the point books has a scene in it where the villain seduces the good guy, ties him to his bed, then kills him by forcing a bad batch of cocaine up his nostrils untill he OD's, and those books are aimed at young teenagers!
Thanks all - plenty to have a go at.
The story (when he finally tells it) of how Stoner lost his finger tip?
^ Dark Matter was fun I read it last month. Wife is avid horror/ghost story fan yet thought it 'meh'. Can't please everyone...
Not so much horror, but they can be fairly dark, and that's the Matthew Swift series of books by Kate Griffin, starting with [i]A Madness Of Angels[/i] as Claire North she's also written three excellent novels that again aren't horror, but can have their dark side, especially the most recent one: [i]The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August, Touch[/i], and [i]The Sudden Appearance Of Hope[/i], which gets pretty nasty in places.
I never miss an opportunity to promote Cat*'s books, she's a great British author, and really deserve to get as wide an audience as possible.
She's also a really nice person if you ever get to meet her.
*Her actual name is Catherine Webb, and she wrote eight young adult books by the time she was 22! And the first two Matthew Swift books were written at the same time as the last of her YA books. Her first, [i]Mirror Dreams[/i], she wrote when she was fourteen, during her school holidays, and was published a year later. Worth tracking down all of her Catherine Webb books as well, they're very readable, and the OP's daughter might well find them inspirational.
Used to love James Herbert about that age.
James Herbert is good easy reading horror. Neil Gaiman is probably my favourite author but not necessarily horror. Clive Barker has written a couple for a younger audience and they are a gateway into his wider cannon.
There are a couple that I'd strongly recommend from China Mieville. "Un Lun Dun" is a great read and aimed at teenagers. Another is "King Rat". Awsome read! Very strongly recommend this one.