Looking For An Author To Read...

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

Hey all, after reading a good four Stephen King books in a row I'm getting a little tired of him for the time being. I was wonderring if there would be any authors that anybody could recommend.

Here's the lowdown of my favorite authors:

Stephen King, obviously. My favorites of his include:The Dark Tower Series, Lisey's Story, IT, and Bag of Bones.

Clive Barker is my favorite, among his best works (imo) are:Imajica, Everville, The Hellbound Heart, The Inhuman Condition, Weaveworld, Thief of Always, and many, many more.

I've read a few books by Neil Gaiaman lately and I've been enjoying him. The two were Neverwhere and Smoke And Mirrors.

So, from that could I get some recommendations? (Please and thankee sai, of course. )

[Reigh Kaufman]

'The Rise and Rise of Platinum Dunes' by Reigh Maker-King.


Or The Exorcist books by William Peter Blatty.

[ZMoney08]

F. Paul Wilson's The Keep is pretty awesome and might be up your alley.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

Thanks, peeps.

I was actually debating over reading the Exorcist, Reigh. That other book you mentionned though sounds TERRIBLE!

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

I went to the little hole in the wall bookshop in my town today. I completely forgot what F. Paul Wilson's The Keep was called so I couldn't get it, but I did pick up The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. I also got The Hungry Moon by Ramsay Campbell, an author that I've been meaning to check out for a while now.

Thanks again for the recommendations, I'll have to seek out the Keep in the near future.

[Homyrrh]

'A Game of Thrones' is the first book in George Martin's series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Peerless across the board.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

Peerless, 'eh? Now you've caught my attention.

[Buck Turgidson]

Originally Posted by g1ng3rsnap9ed

I've read a few books by Neil Gaiaman lately and I've been enjoying him. The two were Neverwhere and Smoke And Mirrors.

If you like Neil, you should also probably check out his novel American Gods.

Ramsey Campbell is a good choice, and you might want to look into Peter Straub. If you want to go a bit old school, Harlan Ellison might be to your liking.

[hrdude]

Hey Gng, I've been readin horror novels since the 80's..my favs are:

John Saul - Suffer The Children
Dean R Kootnz - Phantoms
Graham Masterton - Unspeakable
Richard Layman - Anything he's written
John Connolly - Greatest writer of all time

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

Originally Posted by hrdude

Dean R Kootnz - Phantoms

Koontz' best. I'm very fond of Phantoms.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

I'm (finally) going to start reading The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty today. Thanks for the recommendations, everybody!

[X-Nightcrawler]

Originally Posted by g1ng3rsnap9ed

Koontz' best. I'm very fond of Phantoms.

Read "Watchers" yet?

[Danger^Cart]

I think, "Mr. Murder" is easily the best I've read of Koontz. I'm currently reading, "Velocity." It's alright so far. Competently written, though a bit of an underachiever in the concept department.

If you haven't read Nelson Demille, I highly recommend any and all of his novels. He's one of those authors I wish I could un-read and start again fresh.

If I had to pick one, I'd say "Lion's Game" is a good jumping off point.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

No, I haven't read Watchers yet, I've always been put-off by the talking dog. If it has the X-Seal of Approval I'm going to have to look into that.

I've never read Nelson Demille, but I have similar thoughts of "starting fresh" to Clive Barker's books.

[Danger^Cart]

You know I've never read any of Clive Barker's books, though I'm a big fan of Hellraiser.

Does he strictly write horror?

[X-Nightcrawler]

Originally Posted by Danger^Cart

You know I've never read any of Clive Barker's books, though I'm a big fan of Hellraiser.

Does he strictly write horror?

Definitely not. Stuff like "Galilee" or "Weaveworld" are supernatural, but are definitely not horror. "Imajica" i've pimped before and I still pimp (with the fellow pimping of g1ng3r) as the best motherfucking novel I've read. Read it. It has some crazy shit in it. Really crazy shit. It's a million times better, more complex and more imaginative than "The Hellbound Heart", the novella which inspired "Hellraiser", which I also love.

Originally Posted by g1ng3rsnap9ed

No, I haven't read Watchers yet, I've always been put-off by the talking dog. If it has the X-Seal of Approval I'm going to have to look into that.

I'd say yeah, but I haven't read it in forever. But I definitely remember adoring it when I first finished it. It's the only Koontz book I've really really loved (though I haven't read many from him). And don't worry, it's not a talking dog. It's a super intelligent dog that has ways of communicating (not talking, don't worry; it's more clever than that). It's actually a pretty interesting book. If it's half as good as I remember it, it's definitely worth your 2 days (it's a pretty quick read). Trust me, you'll LOVE Einstein (the golden retriever).

Read it. Tell me what you think.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

Originally Posted by Danger^Cart

You know I've never read any of Clive Barker's books, though I'm a big fan of Hellraiser.

Does he strictly write horror?

Do it.

Clive Barker does not write strictly Horror. Really his only Horror books are the Books of Blood, The Hellbound Heart, and Coldheart Canyon, and even those have a lot of fantasy elements. Barker is my favorite author and is a very talented man, I would definitely recommend him to anybody that enjoyed Hellraiser.

Originally Posted by X-Nightcrawler

Definitely not. Stuff like "Galilee" or "Weaveworld" are supernatural, but are definitely not horror. "Imajica" i've pimped before and I still pimp (with the fellow pimping of g1ng3r) as the best motherfucking novel I've read. Read it. It has some crazy shit in it. Really crazy shit. It's a million times better, more complex and more imaginative than "The Hellbound Heart", the novella which inspired "Hellraiser", which I also love.

I'd say yeah, but I haven't read it in forever. But I definitely remember adoring it when I first finished it. It's the only Koontz book I've really really loved (though I haven't read many from him). And don't worry, it's not a talking dog. It's a super intelligent dog that has ways of communicating (not talking, don't worry; it's more clever than that). It's actually a pretty interesting book. If it's half as good as I remember it, it's definitely worth your 2 days (it's a pretty quick read). Trust me, you'll LOVE Einstein (the golden retriever).

Read it. Tell me what you think.

Galilee is awesome, so is the Hellbound Heart. If you enjoyed those two I would recommend Coldheart Canyon, it has elements of both in it. But yeah, Imajica blows all three of those books the f*ck away. Unparalleled by any written work of fiction in all of the Imajica.

I just bought both Watchers by Dean Koontz and American Gods by Neil Gaiaman. Right now I'm a little over 100 pages into The Stand by Stephen King because I promised myself that I would read it by the end of last summer. I began reading the Exorcist but found the writing rather...mediocre, which is really sad because I love the film (in all honesty I think that I have better written prose. So sorry, William Peter Blatty. ) and really wanted to enjoy the book as well. Sadly things didn't work out.

[Natty]

William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens...seriously.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

The only Shakespeare that I've read was Romeo & Juliet, which imho was style over substance. Given, the style was very nice.

I read Dickens' A Christmas Carol also.

[Natty]

I recommend Hamlet and Great Expectations.

When you say style over substance, if you mean the whole rhyming thing every now and then...that's what all of his plays are like, it just seemed to be a thing in those days.

[John Galt]

I'd say one of the most well written books I've ever read is Tigana by a guy named Guy Gavriel Kay. It's a fantasy novel but not in your D&D sense(though I enjoy those too). This is a much richer story and it is also an epic.

To give you an idea of how awesome this guy is:

After J.R.R. Tolkien died while writing The Silmarillion; his son Christopher Tolkien tried to pick up where his dad left off. But this task proved too daunting and Chris hired a ghost writer to pen the rest of Tolkien's final masterpiece.
His name: Guy Gavriel Kay.

If you don't like this book considering your love of King and all things grand guignol; I'd be really shocked.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

Thanks again for the recommendations, guys.

Picked up another book not too long ago, The Long Hard Road Out of Hell by Marilyn Manson.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

I just started reading Watchers by Dean Koontz, X. I'll share my opinions some time after I finish it.

[Skillgannon]

The second book in a trilogy has just been published.
The first book 'The way of the warrior' came out last year and the second 'The Way of the sword' came out this week.
They are actually aimed at teenagers but as the author is a friend of mine, I felt I should mention him.
A young lad gets shipwrecked in Japan when Samurai were commonplace after his ship was attacked by pirates. He is taken in and is taught what it is to be a Samurai.
There is plenty of fighting, cross cultural firendships and enemies, ninjas and of course Samurai.
Highly recommended

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

That's cool. You should tell him to buy my book, a Clockwork in the Stars by Todd Crawford, if he has a Kindle. (Nobody has these blasted things!! ) I'm not much into "Samari fiction" (if that's even a proper term...doubtfully.), but if I see those in stores, I'll give them a looksie for you and your bud.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

I'm almost done reading American Gods by Neil Gaiaman. I didn't fully comprehend the concept of the "Gods" at first, but I later realized I was looking far too deep into it and their mythology was much more simple than I thought it to be. I'm now enjoying it, aside from the death of one major character, which both shocked and depressed me.

On another note, I have recently self-published my afore-mentioned novel on Lulu.com, and would very much so appreciate some of you to give it a shot. (Even though, yes, I do agree that it is far overpriced, unfortunately.) http://www.lulu.com/content/paperbac...-stars/7493925

Yay for self-promotion!

[Beard_of_Meat]

Originally Posted by g1ng3rsnap9ed

I'm almost done reading American Gods by Neil Gaiaman. I didn't fully comprehend the concept of the "Gods" at first, but I later realized I was looking far too deep into it and their mythology was much more simple than I thought it to be. I'm now enjoying it, aside from the death of one major character, which both shocked and depressed me.

On another note, I have recently self-published my afore-mentioned novel on Lulu.com, and would very much so appreciate some of you to give it a shot. (Even though, yes, I do agree that it is far overpriced, unfortunately.) http://www.lulu.com/content/paperbac...-stars/7493925

Yay for self-promotion!

Damn is that expensive...I read the first page (if the 1st page doesn't grab me I won't read it) and I liked what I read so I will have to wait until the money situation gets a little better here before I buy

[chinton]

read some Robert R. McCammon, a fantastic and still ridiculously underrated author.

[FrancoYesca]

You can never go wrong with Richard Matheson. I believe he is the reason King started writing. Most of his novels include lots of his short stories, which are terrific, and he wrote the classic "I Am Legend". NONE of the adaptations do it any justice.

[TheCanadian]

based on your likes, I'd suggest Terry Prachett. And for a double dose...pick up Good Omens (Gaimen and Pratchett)...

also Douglas Adams never disappoints.


now, in general...Great Expectations may be my favorite book ever.

Kurt Vonnegut is an excellent "to the common-man" writer.


also, if you can...attempt Hunter Thompson...not for everyone, but for those he is...amazing

my 2 pennies.

-james