10 horror writers I want to read more of in 2024

[@Kryten52]

Dan Simmons is an absolute beast. Just finished The Terror and found it astonishing, some great horror and a whole bunch more. Summer of Night also had amazing scenes of horror, great book as well.

[@midge604]

A winter haunting is the sequel to summer of night.

[@daveedmunds1109]

Dan Simmons is the creme de la creme of horror authors!

[@_thepoet68]

I think I need to give Dan Simmons another go. The first novel I read from him was Carrion Comfort and I didn't finish it as I felt like there were a lot of cliches at times and my interest just kinda hit a plateau.

[@midge604]

@@_thepoet68 try summer of nights

[@_thepoet68]

@@midge604 Thanks I will

[@pateris]

Amongst the writer I intend to follow, the number one is Ireland's A.M. Shine. Only two books under his belt, which means there's probably more to come !

[@jenm8357]

A Winter Haunting, the sequel to Summer of Night, is pretty good. David Wong's stuff is fun.

[@CliffsDarkGems]

The Reformatory is high priority for when I eventually complete the challenge. Dan Simmons is an exceptional author, The Terror being my book of the year. I really enjoyed Lost Souls last year and plan to read more by the author. Robert McCammon is fast becoming a favorite author of mine.

[@Jager71]

I love Robert McCammon. The Wolf's Hour and They Thirst are my favourites of his, but I have never read a bad book by him. Going to start his Mathew Corbett series next. Seems really interesting.

[@RominaJones]

I just discovered McCammon this past weekend via The Wolf's Hour audiobook. I really liked it and am looking forward to taking in more of his work.

[@GlasUndMetall]

Dan Simmons is the man, absolutely. I truly appreciate this, I really struggle to discover new horror, always what comes up are King and Straub (love but have read it all from both).

[@daveedmunds1109]

He really is and the King of Sci-fi with Hyperion and Ilium.

[@dwellerofthedark]

Dan Simmons (Hyperion Series), anything by Tanith Lee, Robert McCammon (The Wolf’s Hour), Ramsey Campbell (Ancient Images), and Karl Edward Wagner for starters. And Hell…The Cats of Belle Rouge & Other Screaming Demons by me.

[@KarrasVanHelsing]

I’ve just stocked up on Ronald Malfi after enjoying Come With Me immensely. I think he straddles horror and thriller.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I do need to read him!

[@rainroom16]

I used to really love Poppy Brite/William Martin. I read Lost Souls, Wormwood, Drawing Blood, Exquisite Corpse, and attempted Liquor. I wasn't really into his Kitchen stories, but I really loved Drawing Blood and re-read it every year for a while. He's good. P.S. I think Hurricane Katrina really crippled his writing, being a New Orleans native, and he never really recovered from it. Hence his limited fictional output.

[@TheHammy1987]

One horror author I want to read more from this year is Philip Fracassi. I read Beneath a Pale Sky last year and loved the writing style, the variety and themes of the stories in there and that book has definitely awoken a craving for more of his work! I started The Reformatory at the end of last year but put it away after about 40% - not because I didn't like it but I think it was not the right time for me to read that book. Will hopefully get back to it this year, I really want to read the whole book :D Enjoy your horror, Olly :)

[@pastorytime2683]

Currently reading Brainwyrms! And have the Tananarive Due to read too. Siân ❤

[@klesker]

You should absolutely give Hyperion by Dan Simmons a go. That’s an excellent one.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I've heard great things about it

[@daveedmunds1109]

That could be the best book I've ever read. Without doubt in my top ten.

[@sarahcountryman1776]

I have John Dies at the End on my shelf. Sounds like I should pick it up! I would add F. Paul Wilson to that list and Bari Wood! Can't wait to hear what you think about all of these books!

[@RominaJones]

I just discovered McCammon via the The Wolf's Hour audiobook. I quite liked it so it put him on my radar to seek more of his work. Boy's Life seems to be one that is held in highest esteem but I can not tell if there is horror/ supernatural stuff in it or it is more like a King's Stand By Me, a coming of age tale with only a few quite tame thrills and chills.

[@gweaver2090]

Boy's Life was my first McCammon and I think it's a masterpiece. There are supernatural elements, but they are only part of the story. Can't recommend it enough.

[@authenticpoppy]

The Wolf's Hour audiobook was such a fun ride. I'm glad someone told me to go with the audiobook on that one. :)

[@paulaj7860]

Excellent! I've read a lot of Dan Simmons, though not the sequel (or series?) after Summer of Night. I'd like to read the rest of his books. Drood was fantastic. I'm adding all of these authors to my list.

[@sid1gen]

I have not read any of these authors, but I do have the books by Lavalle you mentioned. Regarding languages: I really hate it when authors include a language other than the one the book is mainly written on, without the courtesy of translating those parts. I have encountered this situation in books such as War and Peace (French, usually translated into English by the Russian language translator or the editors), Memoirs of Hecate County (French, always untranslated), The Magic Mountain (French, always untranslated), and Spanish lately, in several books written in English by US-authors of Hispanic origin. I can read some very basic French and I'm fluent in Spanish, but I just detest the lack of translation where there should be one. It's disrespectful. Great video, as usual. I think I will read Lavalle soon, but I'm also going through a Spanish (from Spain) mini-binge right now, so I have been discovering and re-discovering several writers from the Peninsula: too many books and too little time: nothing new. Happy readings, Olly.

[@ellishale2523]

Jason Pargin’s tiktoks are what made me pick up his books again as well! I reread John Dies at the End at the end of last year and I’m reading This Book Is Full of Spiders (as well as the first Zoey Ashe book) now! He’s an extremely compelling guy, especially because I don’t usually go for a strong humor presence in my books, yet I love these. Love your whole list!

[@CriminOllyBlog]

His TikToks are so great. He just seems naturally funny but super smart as well

[@georgebennett1242]

Dan Simmons is ace. I'd be really intrigued to see what you think of Hyperion which is one of my favourite books of all time. It seems like fairly hard sci-fi at the start but sort of isn't really.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I do have that (and I think the next two books)....

[@danhickey5707]

I am a huge fan of the Jason Pargin/ David Wong series that begins with "John Dies at The End". Just an FYI, after "This Book is Full of Spiders", the 3rd book in the series is called "What The Hell Did I Just Read?" The most recent of the series is "If This Book Exists...", which is the 4th and possibly final installment. Cheers!

[@LiterateTexan]

I'm reading This Book Is Full of Spiders right now. It's great. I still owned my bookstore when John Dies at the End came out.

[@tyler2610]

I recently read about The Reformatory on Amazon and want to read it as well. I also want to try some of Robert McGammon and Dan Simmons as well. Unfortunately I only read a book or so per month so my list is really growing but hopefully eventually I’ll get to everything

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Hope you get to them soon!

[@Kritz_Reads]

Just finished the Reformatory, and this might be THE book to top for me this year. So, so good. Great list. Many of these are authors I want to read more from, or for the first time as well.

[@ironjade]

Robert McCammon's "Usher's Passing" is one of the few horror novels which deserves to be called an epic. It's also one of the few horror stories I've reread. Dan Simmons' books are quite mesmerising, so much so that you forget how long they are. I'm currently reading his SF/crime novel "Flashback". "Abominable" is OK but the story takes a rather ludicrous turn. Like "The Terror" it will probably make you want to turn your central heating up a bit.

[@jthutt5042]

McCammon's Boy's Life and The Listener are excellent.

[@RominaJones]

Does Boy's Life have some supernatural horror elements to it or is it more like Stephen King's, Stand By Me, a coming of age tale that has some creepy parts but not much in the way of full on horror?

[@CriminOllyBlog]

It does have full on supernatural stuff

[@juliewashington2253]

The Reformatory is brilliant.

[@MysteryandMayhem-gr7nn]

The first book I read by McCammon years ago (decades 🤔) was Night Boat and loved that. I do have more of his books on my shelf that I must get to, but haven't yet got around to. Time to read them, I think. Good list, Ollie!

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Probably around the same time I read Night Boat!

[@lesliepowell-mccarty7067]

I just finished Summer of Night last weekend. I couldn't put it down and read it in 2 days. Loved it! I definitely need to read more Dan Simmons.

[@ellagoreyshorrorstories7524]

Gabino Iglesias is great. If you cant figure out the Spanish in context, you can just dump the Spanish into Google translate. It has the effect of making you feel like an outsider in the world he creates, so it's very effective. In honour of the passing of Brian Lumley, I'll probably read some of Lumley's stuff this year. I'm also going to read more "pink" horror, since it seems to be a thing. By women, about the horrors women face.

[@arockinsamsara]

I really enjoyed both "Brainwyrms" and "The Changeling." The first is unapologetic, confrontational, and challenging, I loved it. The latter is actually really challenging as well, though in entirely different ways, but forcing a spotlight on ideas around family and inheritance (which, I suppose, "Lone Women" does as well). "The Reformatory" is high on my TBR, right under a half dozen ARCs I want to get through first. (I always feel super guilty when given ARCs and they always go to the top of my TBR pile... is that just me?). The only thing I have read by Poppy Z. Brite is "Drawing Blood," and I enjoyed it but wasn't blown away by it. I am keen on reading some of his other work since, though. Dan Simmons is another one I have only touched on but am definitely planning on reading more of this year. Always interested to hear how you get on with all the above! I think you have talked about reading some Stephen Graham Jones before, but I would definitely add him to someone worth catching up on this year if you haven't gone deep. The final book in his Indian Lake trilogy comes out this year (his homage to slasher films that started with "My Heart is a Chainsaw,") and he really hits it out of the park with the finale (I finished an ARC last December). But even apart from those three, and his "The Only Good Indians," which is well-lauded, he has a pretty deep catalog and it's generally a lot of fun.

[@joemountains1539]

Due & Jones are both brilliant.

[@anotherbooktubechannel]

I also need to reread David Wong's John Dies series. I remember liking This Book is Full of Spiders the most of the trilogy. The third book is actually called "What the Hell Did I Just Read", and the fourth book which came out recently was "If This Book Exists. You're in the Wrong Universe". That 4th one is the only I haven't read, but it's been so long since I read the first 3 I might as well start over.

[@jjcrazi]

I’ve got that on my TBR pile!

[@fairyfairy6090]

Trying to get on with Ramsey Campbell, I will get back into reading now the children are back at university and one is back into shifts at hospital. Not had much time so far this month for myself lol. I did get to the cinema this weekend and got to see One Life the story of Nicholas Winton which was phenomenal, I cried all though the film. I hope you have had a good weekend. I think my nerves have calmed down from driving through storm Isha yesterday oh my goodness that was terrifying 😂

[@ahem88]

Was looking into this one: Nestlings by Nat Cassidy, if you read it and call it good, I will read it also.

[@jamiebbooks]

I'm used to books that at least put translations for any non-English bits in footnotes or parentheses. I read one last year set in Mali that had a ton of non-English in at least one language I have never even learned the numbers in, and it was very frustrating.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Yeah it can be off putting I think

[@amyschmelzer6445]

I love when writers insert bits in another language. My current read has a polish woman and a spanish speaking woman. I don’t know polish but the author does a good job conveying the meaning when she uses it. I know enough french to recognize the spanish curse word being tossed at the polish woman with disgust.

[@LivingDeadEnby]

I'm reading the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons at the moment. He's such a good writer that he keeps me interested despite of many things in his work that put me off (too much politics, military, poetry, in the first book also too much hetero sex 😄). I want to read The Terror and also The Abominable sometime.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I need to try the Hyperion books, I have most of them I think

[@M-J]

I have a translation guide for the Gambino - it came with the BOTM book. The USA cover for BrainWyrms tops the UK. 😉

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Ah handy!

[@M-J]

Let’s buddy read it! 👏🏻👏🏻 I’ll share my language Cliff Notes.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

@@M-J perfect!

[@M-J]

@@CriminOllyBlog do you have cliff notes over there?

[@CriminOllyBlog]

@@M-J yep

[@jeffpowanda8821]

You'll love Gabino Iglesias, a talented writer. Regarding the Spanish passages, no worries. You'll understand most of it from the context. On Kindle devices, you can easily translate the Spanish passages to English, a very nice feature. Regarding Dan Simmons, several of his books are outstanding, but due to his bigoted online persona I no longer read his stuff. Life's too short.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

That’s a reasonable reason to give up on a writer, too many to read who aren’t bigots

[@Barryislarge]

I'm currently reading Paul Tremblay's "head full of ghosts" and it's incredible. An actual scary book, and he's phenonenal at writing children. Grady Hendrix is also great fun!

[@jjcrazi]

Hendrix Grady is fantastic! Can’t get into Tremblay but I haven’t tried Head full of Ghosts though

[@Barryislarge]

@jjcrazi how to sell a haunted house was so fun!!! Cant wait to read horrorstor. Head full of ghosts is mainly written from the perspective of an 8 year old girl, and its really believable! She describes an older man at one point as "he smelled like powder". Really charming and cute, juxtaposed with her teen sister being possessed and tormenting her. So good!

[@jjcrazi]

@@Barryislarge horrostör was perhaps one of his only books I didn’t enjoy quite so much. Loved The Southern girls guide..l (always get that title wrong), for a male author he really nails the female character perfectly! He’s got a new book coming out this year which I”ll def read.

[@ralphmarrone3130]

Head Full of Ghosts was fantastic!

[@geoffdenham5063]

For Ramsay cambell his two very early books “the face that must die” and “the doll that ate his mother” are cult gems

[@nunyabidness4220]

Loved Brite's Lost Souls back when it came out. I need to re-read it and see what I think now. But he's always been great, definitely worth your attention. I love Ramsey Campbell, although mostly his short stories. His novels are a mixed bag. I recently read The Hungry Moon and it was almost torture... I HATED it. Also hated The Nameless and didn't like The Parasite much. But The Grin of the Dark is excellent, and Ancient Images is also really good. Short-story wise I like almost all of Campbell's stuff and he's got at least half a dozen that rank high in the list of best-horror-short-stories-ever for me. Short stories are definitely his strong point. Dan Simmons can be great and I mean to re-read Summer of Night. He's kind of a jerk of a person which off-puts me a bit, but some of his stuff is great (Song of Kali especially). I need to go back and re-read Robert McCammon... I also petered out on him for some reason, but I need to re-visit him. He did some amazing things and they deserve a re-read, I think. I re-visited some Dean Koontz (another guy I used to like but faded away from) and liked 'em, so I need to give him another chance, I think. I know he's formula and went a little nuts, but some of his older stuff is still pretty great.

[@parazatico9030]

I've had the same experience with Ramsey Campbell. I must admit I haven't enjoyed any of his novels, apart from a very early one, The Face that must Die. I found The Deepest* part of the Woods quite painful to get through, inasmuch as I had to read many sentences a couple of times to understand them, for some odd reason. His short stories are mostly excellent, though. I haven't read 'Grin', but I might give it a go now. *Should be 'Darkest', sorry!

[@nunyabidness4220]

@@parazatico9030 Yep, Face That Must Die is another of his novels that's really good. He does have a few, but I'm always a little gun-shy going into one of his novels, because when they're bad, they're torment. His short stories are almost always great, though. When he has to be economical with his words, he writes much better.

[@milkcatdog394]

I’m currently reading This Book is Full of Spiders by David Wong, it’s pretty good! A lot of the silly absurdism of the first book is dropped here for a more serious tone, but it still retains some slapstick humor, just toned down. I think I enjoy this more than John Dies at the End since it was pretty cringey at times with its 2000s references and borderline offensiveness.

[@krisprepolec5616]

My husband was absolutely shocked how much he loved The Devil Takes You Home. He doesn’t speak Spanish, but still thought it was one of the best things he read last year.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Ah that's good to hear!

[@gweaver2090]

I couldn't get on with the Iglesias book and DNF'd it halfway through. Partially because of the bilingual thing - I don't speak Spanish - but I might have been willing to push through, even break out Google Translate, if I had been enjoying it a bit more, but I thought it was mediocre and didn't get all the glowing reviews. Only discovered Robert McCammon a few years ago, but have loved everything he's written. A Boy's Life is a masterpiece. Unfortunately a lot of his back catalogue is out of print and expensive to pick up. I've just this morning finished the latest of his Matthew Corbett novels, horror adjacent crime/adventure novels set at the beginning of the 1700s. Pure pulp entertainment, beautifully written and highly recommended.

[@eriebeverly]

The split between newer and older was interesting. My Spanish is mediocre at best and I completely misunderstood parts of The Devil Takes You Home to the point I had to break out Google Lens on my phone to translate it.

[@GBru-hx6rx]

I am in the middle of "What the Hell Did I Just Read?", which is the 3rd book in the John Dies at the End series, This Book is Full Of Spiders has been my favorite in the series so far.

[@janeyeatts3819]

Try STINGER by McCammon, I really enjoyed it

[@ryanand154]

The Haunting of Vivienne by Robert Muscat is insanely horrifying.

[@ryanand154]

You should check out The Venal Disclosures of Thomas Trapwell by Sir Christopher Litchfield. It’s an obscure Victorian novella about a vampire who drinks their own blood.

[@ryanand154]

Sounds woozy. I’ve taken to my fainting couch.

[@emilymosley3184]

Have you read either of Nat Cassidy’s books? Both very innovative horror.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I’ve read Mary and loved it. Sadly his books aren’t published over here for some stupid reason

[@nc9726]

The Devil Takes You Home was my favorite novel of 2022.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Great to hear!

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

My favorite Victor LaValle is The Devil In Silver. I wasn’t too impressed with Tell Me I’m Worthless.

[@jennisrandom42]

As far as Poppy Z Brite is concerned I feel like Drawing Blood gets unfairly overlooked. It’s my personal favorite of Brite’s horror novels. I had the opposite reaction to you with Lost Souls. I really loved it in my 20s and the older I get the more annoying I find the teenage protagonist. Steve and Ghost are all time favorite characters though. The Liquor novels are also some of my favorite books and I’m planning a reread this year. They all have some kind of crime/mystery element to them (as side plots) despite being mainly about restaurant life in New Orleans.

[@littlemiss131]

Reading prison Alexander Gordon's series thnx to you!! Didn't expect to like it as much as i do. Can't put them down...love that they are soo fast pace..any other recommendations that are this fast paced? My ADD doesn't allow me to read just anything 🙃

[@ralphmarrone3130]

Have you read anything by Kathe Koja? I recently read her novel Bad Brains. It was excellent.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Only The Cypher, which I loved, definitely do need to try more

[@ctcumins2805]

hello, nice to have so many new books to read but for the life of me i cannot understand the title of the book by evenson about the boogyman could you sent me the title thanks and thanks for all your suggestions

[@jo-anneheger8711]

I finally finished The Abominable a couple of weeks ago (3rd attempt) and it was very good but not horror and nowehere near as exciting as The Terror.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Ah interesting! Glad you liked it though

[@authenticpoppy]

I didn't make it. Simmons is so detailed with his subjects, and mountain climbing is no different. You are a better reader than I if you got through it after the third attempt.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

@@authenticpoppy that was one aspect of The Terror that I enjoyed, so fingers crossed!

[@authenticpoppy]

@@CriminOllyBlog I loved The Terror. But, I hate mountain climbing. It made me sad. And bored. YMMV. :)

[@GentleReader01]

Tananarive Due has actually been publishing horror since the 1990s. She did have a period of lower visibility in the ‘10s, but she’s no newcomer. (And at 57, she’s a bit older than you, so behave. :) )

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Ha ha I did not know that! Thanks for correcting me!

[@anangryscorpion5838]

The Abominable is dreadfully boring, made it three hundred pages in and had to drop it, I just couldn't do it anymore, extremely disappointed after having adored The Terror.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Yeah a lot of people seem to have a similar reaction to The Abominable