Choose the creator of the most creepiest classic chillers.

Hard choosing between King and Lovecraft.
King wouldn't write the way he does if it wasn't for Lovecraft's influence, but King also avoids some of the repetitive annoying crap that drags Lovecraft down for me.
Not to say that I don't think Lovecraft is great, I do. But hearing "it was a horror beyond what I can describe" every few pages gets old.

Special mention: Neil Gaiman can write great horror, too. The "24 Hours" issue of Sandman is proof of that.

Can I give an honourable mention to my future dark overlord, Scott Sigler? (Incidentally, I forgot his name and rather than look up his books on my Kindle, I just Googled "Future Dark Overlord.")

I'm a huge fan of Brian Keene. He combines the best of Lovecraft, King and Barker. He has his own mythos and many of the books d deal with end of the world scenarios.

I voted for Poe, because he's my favorite author period.

But as to which author has flat-out white-knuckles frightened me the most with his work, my answer would be Lovecraft. Some of his stories made me want to hide in the closet under a blanket*.

I also humbly suggest that Richard Matheson would be a worthy addition to the list of choices offered.

*Yes, much man am I.

M.R. James is more of a ghost story writer than a horror writer. Which is why I chose him. Can't stand most horror, but I love a good ghost story.

Not very well versed in this genre. I voted for Lovecraft because his style puts it over the top for me.

You've never read Doot's dating thread, I take it.

I'd say that is a horror that CAN be described, and in a single word, even:

DOOM

Still, Linda brings a valid point. The same theme of slowly descending into madness prevalent in Lovecraft's work can be found in Doot's thread, too.

Doot, much like Lovecraft, just really needs a hug.

I voted for Stephen King, but I didn't see Poe up there. I symbolically vote for Poe.

Doot's thread may be about madness. My thread in the WANderground is about despair.

Should horror actually be scary when you read it or should it just be horrible? I've never found Lovecraft to be scary. I voted for Bloch on the spur of the moment based on Psycho but probably should have gone with King for Salem's Lot. I wish Matheson had been a choice because that's who I really think is best.

While he has only written one horror book to the best of my knowledge, I must highly recommend David Wong's John Dies At The End. This book was very much influenced by H.P. Lovecraft, and indeed, this book actually got me started reading Lovecraft in the first place. However, there is one thing about it really unique, and that is the use of humour. There are some really funny scenes in this book that will make you laugh your butt off, but this isn't a "comic horror" novel in the sense that the funny parts take an edge off the scary parts. On the contrary, the funny parts actually make the scary parts MORE scary. It's hard to describe, but to use a baseball analogy, it's how good pitchers will use a change-up pitch to make their fastballs more effective. As soon as you've finished laughing at something, something else happens that makes your blood run cold.

Anyway, here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0312659148/?tag=imwan-20

Definitely Lovecraft, his skill at leaving certain things to my imagination is what I find truly scary.

Close behind would have to be Poe, and REH.

Thomas Ligotti is probably my favorite modern horror author (he also has a flair for suggesting the unimaginable, without actually describing it in lurid detail)


I've read plenty of Stephen King, and while I have enjoyed quite a bit of it, his style and strange phrasings sometimes put me off.

Have you read "The Colour Out of Space"?
That one scared the bejeebus outta me. /shudder

King. The only other author on the list that I've read so far is Barker, and he would be far down the list. Matheson is a good choice, Ramsey Campbell is another favorite, Dan Simmons has written a couple excellent horror novels as well.

Robert E. Howard wrote some of the creepiest stories I've ever read (The Worms Of The Earth is a good example), so I vote for him.

Yes. I've read them all. Your previous post was what made me think of it with all the "horrors beyond description".