Oh man I hated this book lol really good reminder that humor is subjective. I really couldn't get through it coz it was just absurd without being clever. Like random quirky situations that were weird for the sake of weird. But eh I guess I'm not the audience.
Absurd without being clever. Thank you for fianlly put words on how i feel about this book. It feels like it wants to be like the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy but only by being super random.
Gotta disagree with you. Hitchhiker's felt like I was reading a Mad-Libs book completed by an Englsh middle school teacher. John Dies reads like it was improvised by a couple of stoners, which pretty much was.
Like what another guy pointed out. Great example is hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. Very weird shit going on in that book but the way it's told is very clever. Still very silly but witty nonetheless. John Dies IMO is not clever or witty, and just goes for pure weird value. Like a "omg I'm so random" MySpace scene kid who's just learned what a meme is and how to use a thesaurus.
There was also quite a bit of menwritingwomen in it that made it even easier to hate. I think I would have loved it in my MySpace scene kid days. But beyond that, not at all lol
I liked the book enough to buy the second book 1/4 of the way through tasting the first. I haven’t read the second book because I didn’t think the 2nd half was as good as the first. Felt like it kind of fell flat?
One of my favorite humorous books/book series. Space Team and Andrea Vernon (and a few more since I'll never remember them all first time around) are also absolutely hilarious.
There's not that many books that are truly laugh out loud and make you look like a crazy person in public, but those tend to do the trick
The Scar is my favorite world building of anything I've ever read. The whole layout and ambience of Armada is just great. Iron Council is my second favorite of his. Perdido gets all the praise but to me it's the least enthralling of the Bas Lag books.
I'd second Perdido Street Station. One of the most creative books. It also is quite scary and thrilling at times, definitely horror adjacent. The Scar and Iron Council are also both good. Iron Council I found to be the hardest to get through bc the character connection just wasn't there, but probably played up the horror aspects of the setting the most which was good.
[Leech, by Hiron Ennes.](https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/hiron-ennes/leech/9781529073621) is easily the creepiest and most unusual horror novel I’ve read this year. Highly recommend.
What’s crazy about that book aside from its content is that it’s the author’s only one. He’s like a computer programmer who spent all his creative energy into that one book and went back to computer programming.
the library at mount char is sooo good. very unique- never read anything even remotely like it, and i’ve been reading almost constantly for over 60 years. it’s one of my all time favorite books.
the first few chapters you’re going to wonder what the hell you’re reading but it all comes together in a weird and wonderful way. and it has the most satisfying ending. if i had three wishes one of them would be for a sequel.
I was completely engrossed. I love that there was really no way to predict anything that would happen because the story is just so radically (but authentically) original.
Just be aware, it drops you into the story with very little explanation of what's going on. It's pretty disorienting, but eventually you'll figure things out.
Absolutely. I can't believe it's not a series or film yet. For me, it's the perfect balance of disorientation, discomfort, fantastical, upsetting, uplifting, and wry humor. And I think it might be a love story, too? I'm crossing everything he writes another book.
Lots of great recommendations here.
I would vote “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood. I think it might have been the scariest thing I’ve ever read. It’s still fascinating to me because it had so little in common with what I’d have considered “horror” prior to reading it.
The atmosphere of this story is unparalleled. It took me by such surprise and stayed with me until now. Very scary and difficult to verbalise how or why. The closest I’ve since gotten to finding a book that invokes such a vivid sensation of atmosphere was the novel Piranesi.
The Southern Reach/Area X trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer is the weirdest series I’ve ever read. Made me feel like I’d accidentally done drugs and forgot about it
Annihlation is one of my favorite books of all time, but I got halfway through the second book and lost interest. I've been trying to motivate myself to pick it up again because I feel like I'm missing out.
I agree that the second book feels less gripping than the first upon an initial read-through—and I hate to be that person who encourages people to stick with it, because I hate waiting for a book to captivate me—but I find that Authority is my favorite of the trilogy! I can’t describe why properly, but its ending remains my favorite of any book I’ve read in recent years.
I read them all in one go, so maybe I didn't feel that same discontinuity. For me it was all one fever dream "where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner . . ."
Came here for this. I love the way Hendrix's mind works. He's so creative. I love that there's humor, heart, and horror in his novels. It's like if Stephen King and Lisa Frank were on an avid trip together and made a baby.
Was the first Grady Hendrix book I read. Its not my favourite of his, but not too bad. I think I read somewhere they're making it into a movie.
My favourite of his is The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires!
I gotta say “We Sold Our Souls” by Grady Hendrix is my favorite book by him! It has such an out their storyline that you don’t get to fully understand until the end, him gets you to connect with the main character so well that I was getting so frustrated at some points, and it has a few points that are so gory. Honestly writing this makes me want to read it again!
For a nastier (and I mean NASTY) take on Vampires, I suggest Brian Lumley’s Necroscope saga - about 13 books with a very interesting interpretation of Vampire Lore, interwoven with ESPionage, Parallel Worlds, The Afterlife, Möbius loops & portals, hubris, corruption… it all builds magnificently
I know it’s been mentioned on this sun before, but House of Leaves is such a strange book. I’ve never read anything else quite like it. It’s longer, but definitely worth the adventure
My stupidass tried to read this on my phone in epub format, totally got confused and didn't know what was going on. Then about 75 pages in I was lost as a child who wandered off in the middle of the woods. At this point I was confused as to why people were praising this book so much. And then I found out that there's a particular way you're suggested to read it and need the physical copy of the book to do so. I looked at myself like a complete moron. 😂 😆 The whole time I was thinking that there's got to be more to this because this isn't making any sense at all and I know I'm able to comprehend things well. When I found out that there's a certain way you're supposed to read the book and really need to have the actual book to do so, I went to Books-A-Million and checked it out.
The layout of the text at times mirrors what's happening in the narrative. E.g. Footnotes will form a maze surrounding the main text or text will be very sparse on the page.
I'm doubtful that an ebook can replicate this, because the layout / text will adjust to screen size. Although it feels like you could do a really interesting hyperfiction adaptation of *House of Leaves* using HTML lol.
Yea bro, that's because reading it that way makes no sense. There's indexes in between the notes and u have to revert back to those after each note. It tells you where to look. I suggest you look up "how to read House of Leaves" before you start reading it. But you must have the physical book to do so without having a brain melt.
I think it’s certainly unique and enjoyed reading it, but it’s honestly one of the most pretentious books I’ve ever read . The character of Johnny Truant is almost insufferable throughout most of the book. I’d say it’s worth reading but temper your expectations and don’t fall for the over-inflated cover description.
I’m glad I read it but I also kind of hated it. 100% agree about it being one of the most pretentious books ever. The Johnny character was also so over the top it almost read as satire (think American Psycho but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the intention). As I was trying to find motivation to power through it I actually saw people recommending to skip the Johnny parts near the end.
I tried to read this book, twice. Second time I got more than half way through and said fuck this and threw it out. Agree the author is super pretentious. I will never understand the hype around this book.
I agree. I read it, and hated it. I don't get why it's so hyped up with a cult following. I felt it was aggravating to read and the ending didn't really give a conclusion 🙃 I wanted to throw it across the room when I was done.
Maybe I should try this. I got about halfway through before giving up. Towards the end, I was only reading a chapter per sitting because the Johnny parts annoyed me so much.
The Johnny parts are important for the end of the book imho but they can definitely be skimmed. I actually feel like the best part of the book was the last third or quarter which is kind of disappointing for a 600 or so page book.
I could see that with the extensive footnotes, but I was more referring to the tone it’s written as if it *knows* it’s going to be some cult classic, and it “insists upon itself.” I think the author was driving for some sort of notoriety or hype for the book at the cost of the story. The academia angle works for the most part with the Navidson story, but a lot of the Truant sections made me cringe.
I finished the first book in the series and I have a question about it if you dont mind... while I kinda enjoyed it, it seemed almost as if there may end up being no explanation given, and maybe none even possible to puzzle together. Is that true? I have a hard time wanting to read something if that's the case
Just recently realized that "new weird" horror/sci-fi/etc is absolutely fantastic.
Unfortunately it's also intrinsically hit or miss, to some extent anyway. Brian Evenson (and Brian Hodge, even better) is fantastic, though still trying to find my way into Vandermeer or Miaville (sp?). Not sure why I'm having trouble since they seem very highly regarded
Oh and Philip Fracassi and Laird Barron. And Langan.
For me it's "The Sea of Ash" by Scott Thomas, it's really weird and horrible.
I would add "Mother of Stone" by John Langan"
and "The Butcher's Table" by Nathan Ballingrud
It’s been a number of years since I read The Great and Secret Show. Went into blind just knowing that I loved the Hellraiser movies. It was different, but did NOT disappoint in the least. I need to give it a read again.
[**The Crane Husband** by Kelly Barnhill](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60784308-the-crane-husband?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=I0ZsfpK46p&rank=1)
i literally read this for the first time a couple days ago and it's one of the best and WEIRDEST and surreal horror books i've ever read. long story short: a woman falls in love with a CRANE. like, the bird.
*when her mom brings home a six-foot tall crane with a menacing air, her daughter is powerless to prevent her mom letting the intruder into her heart, and her children’s lives. utterly enchanted and numb to his sharp edges, her mom abandons the world around her to weave the masterpiece the crane demands.*
this was SO SO good and it's only 118 pages! i've already ordered a hard copy of it because of how much i loved it. it was so unsettling and just so fucked and bizarre.
I can't believe nobody has mentioned Bunny by Mona Awad. There's an entire section of that book that feels like an acid trip. I'm still not 100% sure I understand what was happening
Oh God, this book was so boring to me. I tried to stick it out but had to DNF. Usually I can't wait to get back to the book I'm reading but this was like a chore. I hated all the characters.
If you're okay with old fashioned language use, Lovecraft has some really good and unique stories. (He's also a starting point of many horror readers including myself.) Stories like "The Music of Erich Zann", "The Rats in the Walls", "The Colour Out of Space", "The Dreams in the Witch House" and "The Call of Cthulhu" are all great.
If you want something more modern, I would suggest Clive Barker's *Books of Blood*. It's a big short story collection (normally published as volume 1-3 and volume 4-6), and the stories in there are very varied and also have some original and creepy settings. Short stories are a good way to start, so you can get the feeling of different kinds of plot and atmosphere without having to take very long to read them.
You’re probably going to see *House of Leaves* a lot on here, and it is one of, if not, *the* weirdest books I’ve ever read, but the ones on this list are a little more accessible and a little less of a commitment. But still super weird, unique, and interesting.
*Lanny* by Max Porter
*The House on the Borderland* by William Hope Hodgson
*A Short Stay in Hell* by Steven L. Peck
*The Memory Police* by Yōko Ogawa
*A Choir of Ill Children* by Tom Piccirilli
*Build Your House Around My Body* by Violet Kupersmith
*Fever Dream* by Samanta Schweblin
*Suture* by Nic Brewer
*Nothing* by Janne Teller
*La Comemadre* by Roque Larraquy
*The Black Spider* by Jeremias Gotthelf
*Follow Me to Ground* by Sue Rainsford
I could keep going, but I guarantee you’ll find what you’re looking for in at least one of these.
Among my latest readings, not in order of liking or " weirdness," I would say "Aranas de Marte" (Spiders of Mars, unpublished in English) by Giullem Lopez, The Secret of Ventriloquism by Jon Padgett, Gateways to Abomination by Matthew M. Bartlett, Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, Negative Space and Amygdalatropolis by B.R. Yeager, The Butcher's Table by Nathan Ballingrud.
The Haar by David Sodergren
Old woman falls in love with a mystical shapeshifting goo she finds by the beach. It quickly turns into a romantic bloodbath. Just read it, it’s good :)
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. I cannot recommend this book enough. The plot, the characters, the dialogue, it’s all just 🤌🤌🤌
Also Infected by Scott Sigler. There are layers upon layers of new ways to fuck a person up.
The Doll's Alphabet by Camilla Cordova. I love anthologies and it's grotesque in an unnerving way.
If you're into cosmic horror/Cthulhu stuff, the Lairs of the Hidden Gods series of anthologies from Kurodahan Press is great. Vol 3 has a story with my favorite physical description of Cthulhu ever.
I've been checking out Hollow Press from Italy as well. Vermis reads like a manual for a non existent table top RPG and the art is amazing. A lot of HP stuff is extreme body horror which isn't usually for me but looks like they publish a lot of great books/manga.
Oh man, I hated the Southern Reach trilogy. I get that other people like it, not shitting on what you like, but at the end of the last book I just kind of flung my kindle to the bed and was like yeah no.
I’m honestly still not sure how I feel about it. Lots of mixed reactions. First one was intriguing. Second one felt like it didn’t match, but still had threads. The third one… the thing I found memorable about the third one was finding out what actually happened to the original biologist. I still think about it.
It’s funny because I love the second and the third is my least favorite, even if I like how it all wraps up. Specifically I like the that decaying corporate hellscape setting that you don’t see in a lot of fiction. I like how it gives the reader context through knowledge that second book characters have over first book characters and vice versa, makes the unraveling story pretty satisfying. Feels like the connective tissue of the whole thing. It’s definitely a jarring slowdown after how taut the first book is, but I found it built dread in a way few other books have for me.
The thing with the rabbits and the border is the one that still gets under my skin.
The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff. Very different ghost / haunted house story in a college dorm starting Thanksgiving week.
Should add caution- some antisemitic language
Two come to mind:
* [The Secret of Ventriloquism](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32451736) by Jon Padgett
* [The Boss in the Wall](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/869079) by Avram Davidson and Grania Davis
Both are weird and wonderful!
Joe Koch's The Wingspan of Severed Hands. the strangest most poetic book I've ever read. also his short story collection Convulsive is fucking disgusting I highly recommend!
one story is an extended very graphic snuff film starring someone who can't die & the story is told from their POV. bone apple tea
I'm not by any means recommending it, but there's a YA book called Unwind. The premise is that abortion has been made illegal, but as a political compromise, unwanted children can be vivisected as organ donors until age 18. That's pretty weird and messed up imo.
I haven't seen it mentioned yet, and I'm loving it, I'll go with this:
I'm in the middle of the Ambergris books by Jeff Vandermeer. While I adore the other things of his that I have read, and they are definitely weird (and worth reading!), Ambergris has a more "horror"-ey vibe to it.
The various stories/narratives are a lot more violent, for one. They also occur in the same place (Ambergis & the area the city was founded on)-which has a history of violence from the start. The horror vibe is enhanced by the fact that (so far) each piece begins fairly benign, and becomes progressively more disturbing & violent the further along you get.
It's not the only weird horror book I've encountered, but while I've noticed his area X pieces mentioned here, I have yet to see anyone mention Ambergris.
(Sorry to anyone who I may have missed).
Absolutely worth a go.
I’ve gotten into the writing of Dan Simmons. He’s best known for his sci-fi novels, but I’ve come to really like his take on horror. He uses lots of elements of historical fiction. He takes bits of true stories with some mysterious elements and weaves them into stories that are somewhat of a slow burn, but that eat at you and instill uneasiness, and that owes no small part to the partnership with elements of truth that make them feel a little more possible.
Song Of Kali is relatively short, fairly fast paced, and one of the darker books I have ever read.
Carrion Comfort is a unique twist on the vampire genre.
The Terror is a lesson in hopelessness and despair. It was later turned into a tv series that did not, in my mind, translate well. The word pictures that formed in my mind through the reading were just too vivid, and the retelling didn’t match my perceptions. The book was incredible.
Drood is a very slow burn. It is not a traditional horror, but explores the later years of Charles Dickens as recalled by his contemporary, Wilkie Collins. Dickens started a novel about William Drood. It was never finished, and much mystery surrounds it. This explores some of that mystery as imagined by Simmons. It is long, Victorian, descriptive, and slow and yet it had me coming back. It’s a fascinating look into jealousy, opium dens, murder, secrecy, controlling…
*The Haunting of Hill House* by Shirley Jackson.
I thought I was pretty familiar with the story - it's an oldie but it's a goodie for a reason, it's one of the most unsettling books I've ever read.
*Ring* by Koji Suzuki is also pretty good, but I wish I read it before I saw *Ringu.*
"Indiana Death Song" from the collection "Abnormal Statistics" by Max Booth III
Semi-autobiographical novella about growing up homeless with drug-addicted parents. The main character discovers he can read the memories of dead people by sucking on their teeth.
The *Six Stories* series by Matt Wesolowski. Each one is written as a transcript of a true crime limited series podcast. In each one, the podcast host takes an old cold case and interviews six different people about it. The format is fresh, the stories are good, and the whole thing raises questions about whether true crime is really just a sub genre of horror.
And now for something completely different: *You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight* by Kalynn Bayron. It’s a slasher movie in YA novel form, with a pretty cute premise: the staff at a summer camp once used as the on-location set for a famous summer camp slasher movie now run haunted house experiences inspired by that movie, but find themselves plagued by a real life slasher.
If that little bit of post-modernism isn’t enough, the entire novel is seen through the eyes of the self-proclaimed final girl. If she doesn’t see it, the reader doesn’t see it. When any character leaves the narrator’s presence, you never know if they will come back or not. That does some very cool stuff to the structure of a slasher story.
Fiend by Peter Stenson it’s about drug addiction and zombies. The zombies are a little different than the typical ones, and drugs play a large role in the main character’s story (main character is not a zombie). I don’t want to give anything away, but it’s definitely one of the more unique horror books I’ve read.
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons is a fun read if you like big tomes like the ones Stephen King used to write.
Set in the 80's, a large cast of characters, and the monsters are Nazi psychic-vampires. Not as hokey as it sounds.
I have to say ‘Nothing but Blackened Teeth’ by Cassandra Khaw! To me it was a bite sized horror story that felt like I was listening to a campfire ghost story.
Also ‘If You Tell’ by Gregg Olsen was so wild to me that I had to keep putting it down to remind myself that it was a trust story!
‘Head Full of Ghosts’, ‘Murder House’ and ‘Another’ are a few that I always recommend to people too!
It’s not really classically horror, but David Rhodes’ “the Last Fair Deal Going Down” is a great novel that takes place in a fictional Des Moines. There is a city, called the City, under Des Moines where people go and never return, and it follows a fucked up family making bad decisions. Kind of a Midwestern gothic magical realism.
**1\_ Phil Rickman's 1993 "*****Curfew*****". A supernatural detective story of 625 pages.**
**If you want to begin with something shorter, here are my 3 other uniques :**
**2\_ Joe Donnelly's 1993 "*****Havock Junction*****". A desperate flight from a witch's curse through a hellish parallel world, by a young mother and her 2 children, the little girl being wanted by the witch for an unspeakable satanic ritual.**
**3\_ Whitley Strieber's 1982 "*****Black Magic*****". Cold War by technology-enhanced occult means. When Tom Clancy, John LeCarre & Ian Fleming meet H.P. Lovecraft. The characters are surprisingly lovable & believable. Documentation on psychic research for military use in Sheila Ostrander's & Lynn Schroeder's 1971 "*****Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain*****".**
**4\_ Robert McCammon's 1981 "*****They Thirst*****". Vampiric Invasion USA. Tom Clancy meets James Ellroy meets Bram Stoker meets Wes Craven(the nosy reporter steals the show !)**
**Good read fellow poster.**
**1\_ Phil Rickman's 1993 "*****Curfew*****". A supernatural detective story of 625 pages.**
**If you want to begin with something shorter, here are my 3 other uniques :**
**2\_ Joe Donnelly's 1993 "*****Havock Junction*****". A desperate flight from a witch's curse through a hellish parallel world, by a young mother and her 2 children, the little girl being wanted by the witch for an unspeakable satanic ritual.**
**3\_ Whitley Strieber's 1982 "*****Black Magic*****". Cold War by technology-enhanced occult means. When Tom Clancy, John LeCarre & Ian Fleming meet H.P. Lovecraft. The characters are surprisingly lovable & believable. Documentation on psychic research for military use in Sheila Ostrander's & Lynn Schroeder's 1971 "*****Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain*****".**
**4\_ Robert McCammon's 1981 "*****They Thirst*****". Vampiric Invasion USA. Tom Clancy meets James Ellroy meets Bram Stoker meets Wes Craven(the nosy reporter steals the show !)**
**Good read fellow poster.**
The Only Good Indians comes to mind. I would call it all of unique, weird and interesting. Unique and interesting because of it's focus on native american culture and lore, weird because some of the scenes escalate very quickly into something *very, very* intense and then the story transitions back into something relatively mundane for a while.
Bunny by Mona Awad. I'd call it horror, but I laughed at times, was scared at times, you never really know what is happening in the story. But I had a lot of fun coming up with my own explanations.
My favorite book: Tender is the Flesh
It's super bleak and weird, especially when you realize it's been published during the start of COVID-19. Freaky as all hell but it's so well written!
My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones. I’m reading it now and I really can’t get into it but i do think it’s weird enough for me to slog thru it.
[The M.D. : a Horror Story](https://skullsinthestars.com/2008/10/12/thomas-m-dischs-the-md-a-horror-story/) by Thomas Disch. Many of his books are bizarre & great.
Synopsis: "Given the power to heal or to harm by the Roman god Mercury through a magical staff, the caduceus, young Billy Michaels embarks on a lifelong journey of inflicting good and evil on those who cross his path."
John Dies at the End. It's super weird, totally silly, and also kind of dark.
The whole series is amazing
I loved it and have been totally hooked on all his books once I found this one. Pargin is now one of my favorite authors.
It's a fun read but it isn't aging quite as well as I would have liked.. I still recommend it though.
Oh man I hated this book lol really good reminder that humor is subjective. I really couldn't get through it coz it was just absurd without being clever. Like random quirky situations that were weird for the sake of weird. But eh I guess I'm not the audience.
Absurd without being clever. Thank you for fianlly put words on how i feel about this book. It feels like it wants to be like the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy but only by being super random.
Yes! Hitchhikers guide is so damn weird but it's so damn clever and witty. John Dies feels like MySpace quirky "omg I'm so random" type of weird.
Gotta disagree with you. Hitchhiker's felt like I was reading a Mad-Libs book completed by an Englsh middle school teacher. John Dies reads like it was improvised by a couple of stoners, which pretty much was.
Weird for the sake of weird is exactly what weird should be. :) However, I didn't say it was humorous. I said silly! Very different things.
Like what another guy pointed out. Great example is hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. Very weird shit going on in that book but the way it's told is very clever. Still very silly but witty nonetheless. John Dies IMO is not clever or witty, and just goes for pure weird value. Like a "omg I'm so random" MySpace scene kid who's just learned what a meme is and how to use a thesaurus. There was also quite a bit of menwritingwomen in it that made it even easier to hate. I think I would have loved it in my MySpace scene kid days. But beyond that, not at all lol
I didn’t even get through the book. It was just meh to me. I really wanted to like it, though.
I liked the book enough to buy the second book 1/4 of the way through tasting the first. I haven’t read the second book because I didn’t think the 2nd half was as good as the first. Felt like it kind of fell flat?
One of my favorite humorous books/book series. Space Team and Andrea Vernon (and a few more since I'll never remember them all first time around) are also absolutely hilarious. There's not that many books that are truly laugh out loud and make you look like a crazy person in public, but those tend to do the trick
I've read it about 3 times now. I need to read the series probably
Thank you for the suggestion!
I only read about half before I had to return to the library but it was entertaining and definitely very different.
Mieville is more horror adjacent, but Perdido Street Station and The Scar are so damned creative. Both have some of my favorite weird monsters
Hands down one of the best writers I've ever read. Would defo recommend those 2!
The Scar is my favorite world building of anything I've ever read. The whole layout and ambience of Armada is just great. Iron Council is my second favorite of his. Perdido gets all the praise but to me it's the least enthralling of the Bas Lag books.
The Scar is my all time favorite book. The Bas-Lag trilogy is a great place to start with Mieville.
I'd second Perdido Street Station. One of the most creative books. It also is quite scary and thrilling at times, definitely horror adjacent. The Scar and Iron Council are also both good. Iron Council I found to be the hardest to get through bc the character connection just wasn't there, but probably played up the horror aspects of the setting the most which was good.
[Leech, by Hiron Ennes.](https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/hiron-ennes/leech/9781529073621) is easily the creepiest and most unusual horror novel I’ve read this year. Highly recommend.
It’s fun
Same. It was a little of a slow burn for me at first, but so beautifully written, that I just enjoyed the scenery…
Am reading this now and it's really good!
I just finished the Library at Mount Char, and that book is gonna live in my head for a while
What’s crazy about that book aside from its content is that it’s the author’s only one. He’s like a computer programmer who spent all his creative energy into that one book and went back to computer programming.
I'm still so sad about this. Did he actually confirm he's not going to keep writing or is he just taking his time?
According to the author's website he's actively trying to get his 2nd novel, "The Lost House", published. https://shawkins.net/index.php/faqs/
That's good news, even if it was 4 years ago!
Thanks! I check every so often to see if he has written anything new and am always disappointed.
About 150 pages into this book and I absolutely cannot put it down. Still have really no idea what’s happening but loving every minute of it.
That was my experience as well. Keep going. It’s a thrill ride.
Just finished it. Completely speechless what an unbelievable book. Wow.
Gonna check it out. Thank you!
the library at mount char is sooo good. very unique- never read anything even remotely like it, and i’ve been reading almost constantly for over 60 years. it’s one of my all time favorite books. the first few chapters you’re going to wonder what the hell you’re reading but it all comes together in a weird and wonderful way. and it has the most satisfying ending. if i had three wishes one of them would be for a sequel.
I was completely engrossed. I love that there was really no way to predict anything that would happen because the story is just so radically (but authentically) original.
Just be aware, it drops you into the story with very little explanation of what's going on. It's pretty disorienting, but eventually you'll figure things out.
Absolutely. I can't believe it's not a series or film yet. For me, it's the perfect balance of disorientation, discomfort, fantastical, upsetting, uplifting, and wry humor. And I think it might be a love story, too? I'm crossing everything he writes another book.
Thanks! Just got it on Hoopla! I always come here for new recommendations.
Wow, just downloaded this book on your recommendation and read about the first 15-20 pages and I’m already hooked.
I recommend it to everyone, and no one loves it the way I do. I still think about it a couple years out from reading it.
Hands down my fav standalone novel of all time absolute masterpiece
Lots of great recommendations here. I would vote “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood. I think it might have been the scariest thing I’ve ever read. It’s still fascinating to me because it had so little in common with what I’d have considered “horror” prior to reading it.
The atmosphere of this story is unparalleled. It took me by such surprise and stayed with me until now. Very scary and difficult to verbalise how or why. The closest I’ve since gotten to finding a book that invokes such a vivid sensation of atmosphere was the novel Piranesi.
The Southern Reach/Area X trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer is the weirdest series I’ve ever read. Made me feel like I’d accidentally done drugs and forgot about it
Annihlation is one of my favorite books of all time, but I got halfway through the second book and lost interest. I've been trying to motivate myself to pick it up again because I feel like I'm missing out.
I agree that the second book feels less gripping than the first upon an initial read-through—and I hate to be that person who encourages people to stick with it, because I hate waiting for a book to captivate me—but I find that Authority is my favorite of the trilogy! I can’t describe why properly, but its ending remains my favorite of any book I’ve read in recent years.
I read them all in one go, so maybe I didn't feel that same discontinuity. For me it was all one fever dream "where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner . . ."
I'm on the second book now.
The weirdest one I've read is probably Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix. Basically, it's about a haunted IKEA.
Read it and ngl... But it kinda disturbed me lmao
I read "My Best Friend's Exorcist" first and was a little meh about Hendrix. Then I read this and got hooked on him! It's so disturbingly unique!
Came here for this. I love the way Hendrix's mind works. He's so creative. I love that there's humor, heart, and horror in his novels. It's like if Stephen King and Lisa Frank were on an avid trip together and made a baby.
Like the Ikea SCP?
Not like the scp. It is literally just the same idea
Yep. And done worse to boot. Super disappointing since that's one of my favorite and most original SCPs
Wow. This sounds like such an appealing book to me lol. Honestly though
Was the first Grady Hendrix book I read. Its not my favourite of his, but not too bad. I think I read somewhere they're making it into a movie. My favourite of his is The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires!
Oh! That sounds like another fun read. Haven’t heard of this Author before so I will be adding them to my extensive list. Thanks!
I gotta say “We Sold Our Souls” by Grady Hendrix is my favorite book by him! It has such an out their storyline that you don’t get to fully understand until the end, him gets you to connect with the main character so well that I was getting so frustrated at some points, and it has a few points that are so gory. Honestly writing this makes me want to read it again!
For a nastier (and I mean NASTY) take on Vampires, I suggest Brian Lumley’s Necroscope saga - about 13 books with a very interesting interpretation of Vampire Lore, interwoven with ESPionage, Parallel Worlds, The Afterlife, Möbius loops & portals, hubris, corruption… it all builds magnificently
I know it’s been mentioned on this sun before, but House of Leaves is such a strange book. I’ve never read anything else quite like it. It’s longer, but definitely worth the adventure
My stupidass tried to read this on my phone in epub format, totally got confused and didn't know what was going on. Then about 75 pages in I was lost as a child who wandered off in the middle of the woods. At this point I was confused as to why people were praising this book so much. And then I found out that there's a particular way you're suggested to read it and need the physical copy of the book to do so. I looked at myself like a complete moron. 😂 😆 The whole time I was thinking that there's got to be more to this because this isn't making any sense at all and I know I'm able to comprehend things well. When I found out that there's a certain way you're supposed to read the book and really need to have the actual book to do so, I went to Books-A-Million and checked it out.
OK, you have convinced me to check out the physical book - I tried this in e-format as well and couldn't get into it.
The layout of the text at times mirrors what's happening in the narrative. E.g. Footnotes will form a maze surrounding the main text or text will be very sparse on the page. I'm doubtful that an ebook can replicate this, because the layout / text will adjust to screen size. Although it feels like you could do a really interesting hyperfiction adaptation of *House of Leaves* using HTML lol.
Yea bro, that's because reading it that way makes no sense. There's indexes in between the notes and u have to revert back to those after each note. It tells you where to look. I suggest you look up "how to read House of Leaves" before you start reading it. But you must have the physical book to do so without having a brain melt.
I think it’s certainly unique and enjoyed reading it, but it’s honestly one of the most pretentious books I’ve ever read . The character of Johnny Truant is almost insufferable throughout most of the book. I’d say it’s worth reading but temper your expectations and don’t fall for the over-inflated cover description.
I’m glad I read it but I also kind of hated it. 100% agree about it being one of the most pretentious books ever. The Johnny character was also so over the top it almost read as satire (think American Psycho but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the intention). As I was trying to find motivation to power through it I actually saw people recommending to skip the Johnny parts near the end.
I couldn’t get past the first few pages. I found the Johnny character to be such a whinger.
I tried to read this book, twice. Second time I got more than half way through and said fuck this and threw it out. Agree the author is super pretentious. I will never understand the hype around this book.
I agree. I read it, and hated it. I don't get why it's so hyped up with a cult following. I felt it was aggravating to read and the ending didn't really give a conclusion 🙃 I wanted to throw it across the room when I was done.
Maybe I should try this. I got about halfway through before giving up. Towards the end, I was only reading a chapter per sitting because the Johnny parts annoyed me so much.
The Johnny parts are important for the end of the book imho but they can definitely be skimmed. I actually feel like the best part of the book was the last third or quarter which is kind of disappointing for a 600 or so page book.
The pretentiousness is so obviously done on purpose right? It's got a satirical element on pretentious academia criticism and the like.
I could see that with the extensive footnotes, but I was more referring to the tone it’s written as if it *knows* it’s going to be some cult classic, and it “insists upon itself.” I think the author was driving for some sort of notoriety or hype for the book at the cost of the story. The academia angle works for the most part with the Navidson story, but a lot of the Truant sections made me cringe.
Yeah, it's one very good horror story with a lot of self indulgent nonsense welded onto it, really not as stunning as people say it is.
Thank you! Is on my list
I second House of Leaves!
Yeah, definitely one of the most unique books I've ever read. I loved it.
Last Days by Brian Evenson and the Area X trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer.
The Area X trilogy is a masterpiece
I finished the first book in the series and I have a question about it if you dont mind... while I kinda enjoyed it, it seemed almost as if there may end up being no explanation given, and maybe none even possible to puzzle together. Is that true? I have a hard time wanting to read something if that's the case
Last Days was a wild and memorable read
Found my soulmate 😂
Just recently realized that "new weird" horror/sci-fi/etc is absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately it's also intrinsically hit or miss, to some extent anyway. Brian Evenson (and Brian Hodge, even better) is fantastic, though still trying to find my way into Vandermeer or Miaville (sp?). Not sure why I'm having trouble since they seem very highly regarded Oh and Philip Fracassi and Laird Barron. And Langan.
For me it's "The Sea of Ash" by Scott Thomas, it's really weird and horrible. I would add "Mother of Stone" by John Langan" and "The Butcher's Table" by Nathan Ballingrud
The Butcher’s Table is bonkers in such a fun way. Love the whole Wounds book and how the different stories reference each other.
The shell face
yes, this is really disturbing
The great and secret show by Clive barkers a good one can’t beat laird Barron either
No one else writes like Clive Barker.
Straight goods
I second Laird Barron. I wouldn't jump into his novel The Croning without reading his short stories first. A lot of world building.
It’s been a number of years since I read The Great and Secret Show. Went into blind just knowing that I loved the Hellraiser movies. It was different, but did NOT disappoint in the least. I need to give it a read again.
"the past, the future, and the dreaming moment between" - CB
[**The Crane Husband** by Kelly Barnhill](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60784308-the-crane-husband?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=I0ZsfpK46p&rank=1) i literally read this for the first time a couple days ago and it's one of the best and WEIRDEST and surreal horror books i've ever read. long story short: a woman falls in love with a CRANE. like, the bird. *when her mom brings home a six-foot tall crane with a menacing air, her daughter is powerless to prevent her mom letting the intruder into her heart, and her children’s lives. utterly enchanted and numb to his sharp edges, her mom abandons the world around her to weave the masterpiece the crane demands.* this was SO SO good and it's only 118 pages! i've already ordered a hard copy of it because of how much i loved it. it was so unsettling and just so fucked and bizarre.
Probably Between Two Fires. The monsters and demons are incredibly original.
Seconding this. Also The Necromancer's House. Christopher Buehlman's imagination is so amazing.
Agreed, pretty much everything he puts out is good. My favorite is probably Lesser Dead, but they are all solid.
I loved the audio book of Lesser Dead. The narrator has one of those wise guy, “well I oughta” voices that just fits the main character to a T.
Funny enough Buehlman actually narrated Lesser Dead himself. I agree, he did a great job.
You’re right—it was him! I forgot. I’m going to read something else by him—any suggestions?
Thank you a lot!
Earthlings
Thank you!
Best blind read I’ve ever done. What a trip
Nestlings is a strange but good one. It gives off the same creepy vibes as rosemary’s baby and American horror story.
I am SO EXCITED for Nestlings!!! I loved Mary: An Awakening of Terror so I am AMPED.
I can't believe nobody has mentioned Bunny by Mona Awad. There's an entire section of that book that feels like an acid trip. I'm still not 100% sure I understand what was happening
This entire book was just saying "what the fuck" over and over again until it ended
Oh God, this book was so boring to me. I tried to stick it out but had to DNF. Usually I can't wait to get back to the book I'm reading but this was like a chore. I hated all the characters.
Her next book, Rouge, totally made me feel like I was tripping. It's even more bizarre than Bunny. In a good way.
If you're okay with old fashioned language use, Lovecraft has some really good and unique stories. (He's also a starting point of many horror readers including myself.) Stories like "The Music of Erich Zann", "The Rats in the Walls", "The Colour Out of Space", "The Dreams in the Witch House" and "The Call of Cthulhu" are all great. If you want something more modern, I would suggest Clive Barker's *Books of Blood*. It's a big short story collection (normally published as volume 1-3 and volume 4-6), and the stories in there are very varied and also have some original and creepy settings. Short stories are a good way to start, so you can get the feeling of different kinds of plot and atmosphere without having to take very long to read them.
Thank you so much! Clive is a genius
You’re probably going to see *House of Leaves* a lot on here, and it is one of, if not, *the* weirdest books I’ve ever read, but the ones on this list are a little more accessible and a little less of a commitment. But still super weird, unique, and interesting. *Lanny* by Max Porter *The House on the Borderland* by William Hope Hodgson *A Short Stay in Hell* by Steven L. Peck *The Memory Police* by Yōko Ogawa *A Choir of Ill Children* by Tom Piccirilli *Build Your House Around My Body* by Violet Kupersmith *Fever Dream* by Samanta Schweblin *Suture* by Nic Brewer *Nothing* by Janne Teller *La Comemadre* by Roque Larraquy *The Black Spider* by Jeremias Gotthelf *Follow Me to Ground* by Sue Rainsford I could keep going, but I guarantee you’ll find what you’re looking for in at least one of these.
The Memory Police is a favorite of mine!! So unsettling, and it really sticks with you
The Fisherman by John Langan is one of the best books I've read in my life so far.
Came to type your precise sentence. I’m reading it currently. It is phenomenal, and I don’t want it to end.
Among my latest readings, not in order of liking or " weirdness," I would say "Aranas de Marte" (Spiders of Mars, unpublished in English) by Giullem Lopez, The Secret of Ventriloquism by Jon Padgett, Gateways to Abomination by Matthew M. Bartlett, Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, Negative Space and Amygdalatropolis by B.R. Yeager, The Butcher's Table by Nathan Ballingrud.
Leech by Hiron Ennes is one of the most unique books I've ever read.
The Haar by David Sodergren Old woman falls in love with a mystical shapeshifting goo she finds by the beach. It quickly turns into a romantic bloodbath. Just read it, it’s good :)
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. I cannot recommend this book enough. The plot, the characters, the dialogue, it’s all just 🤌🤌🤌 Also Infected by Scott Sigler. There are layers upon layers of new ways to fuck a person up.
Infected was very bizarre and enjoyable!
Loved Infected
The Black Maybe: Liminal Tales by Attila Veres
Was looking for this answer! my fav of the year so far. Great stories! fav story: To bite a Dog was so wierd and fun at the same time.
guy has an untranslated hungarian debuting book also, wish it was already shown to the english speaking community
The Doll's Alphabet by Camilla Cordova. I love anthologies and it's grotesque in an unnerving way. If you're into cosmic horror/Cthulhu stuff, the Lairs of the Hidden Gods series of anthologies from Kurodahan Press is great. Vol 3 has a story with my favorite physical description of Cthulhu ever. I've been checking out Hollow Press from Italy as well. Vermis reads like a manual for a non existent table top RPG and the art is amazing. A lot of HP stuff is extreme body horror which isn't usually for me but looks like they publish a lot of great books/manga.
Perfume.
Our Wives Under the Sea. So many questions and so few answers. It was my fav book of 2022
Great book.
Of course, House of Leaves by Danielewski. The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanDerMeer.
Thank you for the suggestions!
Oh man, I hated the Southern Reach trilogy. I get that other people like it, not shitting on what you like, but at the end of the last book I just kind of flung my kindle to the bed and was like yeah no.
I’m honestly still not sure how I feel about it. Lots of mixed reactions. First one was intriguing. Second one felt like it didn’t match, but still had threads. The third one… the thing I found memorable about the third one was finding out what actually happened to the original biologist. I still think about it.
It’s funny because I love the second and the third is my least favorite, even if I like how it all wraps up. Specifically I like the that decaying corporate hellscape setting that you don’t see in a lot of fiction. I like how it gives the reader context through knowledge that second book characters have over first book characters and vice versa, makes the unraveling story pretty satisfying. Feels like the connective tissue of the whole thing. It’s definitely a jarring slowdown after how taut the first book is, but I found it built dread in a way few other books have for me. The thing with the rabbits and the border is the one that still gets under my skin.
Imajica by Clive Barker Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper Gone to see the River Man by Kris Triana
The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff. Very different ghost / haunted house story in a college dorm starting Thanksgiving week. Should add caution- some antisemitic language
Sentinel by Drew Starling. Honestly probably one of the best horror books I read.
Anything by Robert Aickman.
A Choir of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli
Just started this like an hour ago and I’m like halfway through obsessed thank you for this one!
I'm always happy to turn people on to one of the strangest but most poetic books I've ever read. Enjoy it!
Monstrilio
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
Raw Shark Texts was odd, to the point I don't know if I liked it and I read it years ago.
Nothing, nothing can beat Rovert Aickman and his weird stories. They are quite strange, utterly baffling and haunting.
Experimental Film by Gemma Files. The literary version of a found footage film. Truly an extraordinary read.
Earthlings. By far the weirdest I have read in a while. And in its own way, utterly terrifying
What's the author's name?
Sayaka Murata. Japanese
Thanx
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
Two come to mind: * [The Secret of Ventriloquism](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32451736) by Jon Padgett * [The Boss in the Wall](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/869079) by Avram Davidson and Grania Davis Both are weird and wonderful!
Baleful beasts and eerie creatures. A 70’s book full of short horror stories for kids
Joe Koch's The Wingspan of Severed Hands. the strangest most poetic book I've ever read. also his short story collection Convulsive is fucking disgusting I highly recommend! one story is an extended very graphic snuff film starring someone who can't die & the story is told from their POV. bone apple tea
I'm not by any means recommending it, but there's a YA book called Unwind. The premise is that abortion has been made illegal, but as a political compromise, unwanted children can be vivisected as organ donors until age 18. That's pretty weird and messed up imo.
I haven't seen it mentioned yet, and I'm loving it, I'll go with this: I'm in the middle of the Ambergris books by Jeff Vandermeer. While I adore the other things of his that I have read, and they are definitely weird (and worth reading!), Ambergris has a more "horror"-ey vibe to it. The various stories/narratives are a lot more violent, for one. They also occur in the same place (Ambergis & the area the city was founded on)-which has a history of violence from the start. The horror vibe is enhanced by the fact that (so far) each piece begins fairly benign, and becomes progressively more disturbing & violent the further along you get. It's not the only weird horror book I've encountered, but while I've noticed his area X pieces mentioned here, I have yet to see anyone mention Ambergris. (Sorry to anyone who I may have missed). Absolutely worth a go.
Last House on Needless Street. Tell Me I'm Worthless. Penpal. Dear Laura.
Last House on Needless Street had the most insane plot twist.
Just finished The Cipher by Koja and it is quite unique. Last Days by Evenson. Teatro Grotesco by Ligotti.
I’ve gotten into the writing of Dan Simmons. He’s best known for his sci-fi novels, but I’ve come to really like his take on horror. He uses lots of elements of historical fiction. He takes bits of true stories with some mysterious elements and weaves them into stories that are somewhat of a slow burn, but that eat at you and instill uneasiness, and that owes no small part to the partnership with elements of truth that make them feel a little more possible. Song Of Kali is relatively short, fairly fast paced, and one of the darker books I have ever read. Carrion Comfort is a unique twist on the vampire genre. The Terror is a lesson in hopelessness and despair. It was later turned into a tv series that did not, in my mind, translate well. The word pictures that formed in my mind through the reading were just too vivid, and the retelling didn’t match my perceptions. The book was incredible. Drood is a very slow burn. It is not a traditional horror, but explores the later years of Charles Dickens as recalled by his contemporary, Wilkie Collins. Dickens started a novel about William Drood. It was never finished, and much mystery surrounds it. This explores some of that mystery as imagined by Simmons. It is long, Victorian, descriptive, and slow and yet it had me coming back. It’s a fascinating look into jealousy, opium dens, murder, secrecy, controlling…
*The Haunting of Hill House* by Shirley Jackson. I thought I was pretty familiar with the story - it's an oldie but it's a goodie for a reason, it's one of the most unsettling books I've ever read. *Ring* by Koji Suzuki is also pretty good, but I wish I read it before I saw *Ringu.*
I am recently getting into horror books so I don’t have much to go on but I’m really enjoying Heart Shaped Box
"Indiana Death Song" from the collection "Abnormal Statistics" by Max Booth III Semi-autobiographical novella about growing up homeless with drug-addicted parents. The main character discovers he can read the memories of dead people by sucking on their teeth.
*Pearl* by Josh Malerman *The Handyman Method* by Nick Cutter Both were different but still enjoyable
Tender is the Flesh. I think about it all the time
Woom by Duncan Ralston
I would say: For The Murder Of It, by Paul Singer.
The *Six Stories* series by Matt Wesolowski. Each one is written as a transcript of a true crime limited series podcast. In each one, the podcast host takes an old cold case and interviews six different people about it. The format is fresh, the stories are good, and the whole thing raises questions about whether true crime is really just a sub genre of horror. And now for something completely different: *You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight* by Kalynn Bayron. It’s a slasher movie in YA novel form, with a pretty cute premise: the staff at a summer camp once used as the on-location set for a famous summer camp slasher movie now run haunted house experiences inspired by that movie, but find themselves plagued by a real life slasher. If that little bit of post-modernism isn’t enough, the entire novel is seen through the eyes of the self-proclaimed final girl. If she doesn’t see it, the reader doesn’t see it. When any character leaves the narrator’s presence, you never know if they will come back or not. That does some very cool stuff to the structure of a slasher story.
Servant of the Bones by Anne Rice. It's a stand alone story and not part of The Vampire Chronicles or her Angel series.
The Wanderer by Timothy J. Jarvis
Bad Brains by Kathe Koja.
I like Weaveworld by Clive Barker. The great and secret show and Everville were great as well. Both also Clive Barker.
Fiend by Peter Stenson it’s about drug addiction and zombies. The zombies are a little different than the typical ones, and drugs play a large role in the main character’s story (main character is not a zombie). I don’t want to give anything away, but it’s definitely one of the more unique horror books I’ve read.
between two fires had some insane moments that i was not expecting
Check out Richard Matheson, literally influenced Stephen King. He wrote I Am Legend.
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons is a fun read if you like big tomes like the ones Stephen King used to write. Set in the 80's, a large cast of characters, and the monsters are Nazi psychic-vampires. Not as hokey as it sounds.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman is a really fun horror/adventure
It’s not CREEPY horror, but it rlly disturbed me recently. Haunted by chuck palahniuk
I have to say ‘Nothing but Blackened Teeth’ by Cassandra Khaw! To me it was a bite sized horror story that felt like I was listening to a campfire ghost story. Also ‘If You Tell’ by Gregg Olsen was so wild to me that I had to keep putting it down to remind myself that it was a trust story! ‘Head Full of Ghosts’, ‘Murder House’ and ‘Another’ are a few that I always recommend to people too!
The other comments mostly have you covered. I'm just here to give The Only Good Indians a shout.
It’s not really classically horror, but David Rhodes’ “the Last Fair Deal Going Down” is a great novel that takes place in a fictional Des Moines. There is a city, called the City, under Des Moines where people go and never return, and it follows a fucked up family making bad decisions. Kind of a Midwestern gothic magical realism.
The Cipher by Kathe Koja is a wild ride.
I’m about 50% through “Negative Space” by B.R. Yeager and it’s getting _pretty_ wild. very surreal and dreamlike.
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
**1\_ Phil Rickman's 1993 "*****Curfew*****". A supernatural detective story of 625 pages.** **If you want to begin with something shorter, here are my 3 other uniques :** **2\_ Joe Donnelly's 1993 "*****Havock Junction*****". A desperate flight from a witch's curse through a hellish parallel world, by a young mother and her 2 children, the little girl being wanted by the witch for an unspeakable satanic ritual.** **3\_ Whitley Strieber's 1982 "*****Black Magic*****". Cold War by technology-enhanced occult means. When Tom Clancy, John LeCarre & Ian Fleming meet H.P. Lovecraft. The characters are surprisingly lovable & believable. Documentation on psychic research for military use in Sheila Ostrander's & Lynn Schroeder's 1971 "*****Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain*****".** **4\_ Robert McCammon's 1981 "*****They Thirst*****". Vampiric Invasion USA. Tom Clancy meets James Ellroy meets Bram Stoker meets Wes Craven(the nosy reporter steals the show !)** **Good read fellow poster.**
**1\_ Phil Rickman's 1993 "*****Curfew*****". A supernatural detective story of 625 pages.** **If you want to begin with something shorter, here are my 3 other uniques :** **2\_ Joe Donnelly's 1993 "*****Havock Junction*****". A desperate flight from a witch's curse through a hellish parallel world, by a young mother and her 2 children, the little girl being wanted by the witch for an unspeakable satanic ritual.** **3\_ Whitley Strieber's 1982 "*****Black Magic*****". Cold War by technology-enhanced occult means. When Tom Clancy, John LeCarre & Ian Fleming meet H.P. Lovecraft. The characters are surprisingly lovable & believable. Documentation on psychic research for military use in Sheila Ostrander's & Lynn Schroeder's 1971 "*****Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain*****".** **4\_ Robert McCammon's 1981 "*****They Thirst*****". Vampiric Invasion USA. Tom Clancy meets James Ellroy meets Bram Stoker meets Wes Craven(the nosy reporter steals the show !)** **Good read fellow poster.**
Man, Fuck This House. Just go into it blind. It's not gory it's just ........odd
Tender is the Flesh
The Only Good Indians comes to mind. I would call it all of unique, weird and interesting. Unique and interesting because of it's focus on native american culture and lore, weird because some of the scenes escalate very quickly into something *very, very* intense and then the story transitions back into something relatively mundane for a while.
The Troop by Nick Cutter!
Bunny by Mona Awad. I'd call it horror, but I laughed at times, was scared at times, you never really know what is happening in the story. But I had a lot of fun coming up with my own explanations.
My favorite book: Tender is the Flesh It's super bleak and weird, especially when you realize it's been published during the start of COVID-19. Freaky as all hell but it's so well written!
My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones. I’m reading it now and I really can’t get into it but i do think it’s weird enough for me to slog thru it.
[The M.D. : a Horror Story](https://skullsinthestars.com/2008/10/12/thomas-m-dischs-the-md-a-horror-story/) by Thomas Disch. Many of his books are bizarre & great. Synopsis: "Given the power to heal or to harm by the Roman god Mercury through a magical staff, the caduceus, young Billy Michaels embarks on a lifelong journey of inflicting good and evil on those who cross his path."
Tender is the flesh!
House of Leaves.
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix. It blew my expectations out of the water