General Horror Books
Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and monsters - these are the stories of the things that go bump in the night. The general horror books found here feature nightmares of all shapes and sizes to give you the shivers, from classic scary tales by authors like Bram Stoker, Edgar Allen Poe, and Richard Matheson to modern mind-benders from Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Anne Rice. Many of the horror fiction books here are signed first editions that are as collectible as they are compelling.
We can trace the origins of horror all the way back to the beginning of storytelling, with myths and legends stemming from fear of the dead and the unknown. The panic of witchcraft spiked during the Inquisition and lasted for centuries. Stories like Dante’s Inferno and John Milton's Paradise Lost fed this genre, eventually giving way to ghost stories like Shakespeare's haunting Hamlet and then tales of science gone awry like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Being afraid of the unknown has evolved over the ensuing centuries, but modern horror authors still draw on these fears for their own works. Fans of Stephen King often consider him the master of modern horror, and you can find his works well-represented here. Visit the enigmatic world in Mark Z. Danielewski’s unsettling debut novel, House of Leaves. Uncover the mysteries of Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse series, or revisit the creepy antagonist Hannibal Lector in The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. Many of these horror fiction books have been the basis for movies or television shows, but nothing can beat the page-turning chills of reading the original source material.
If you're looking for more vintage general horror books, you can stock up on paperback books and collections of horror stories from decades past. These selections are sometimes spooky, sometimes campy, but always worth a read. Contemporary or classic, buy general horror books and enjoy them on a dark and stormy night.