Book Blogger Hop: The Horror!

It's Saturday, so that means Book Blogger Hop. It's operated by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. Each week (on Friday), a new book related question is posed to participating bloggers.

This Week's Question: 

Who is your favorite horror/suspense author and why?

Ah...now I have to see this as two separate questions. For me, horror and suspense are two very different categories. Horror has more of a ghoulish type application...a kind of supernatural influence. Suspense, meanwhile, is a bit of an offshoot of mystery. Maybe I'm just special...or overly picky. Probably both, let's be honest.

Either way, I'm totally splitting this question apart and using that as an excuse to give you two different authors as my answer. I know, total cheat move. I'm not ashamed.

First, let's talk horror...

hor·ror

/ˈhôrər/

noun. 

1. An intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust.

2. A genre of fiction which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle its readers by inducing feelings of horror and terror.

I'll be honest...I don't read much horror. It's just not my thing. That wasn't always the case though. I went through a phase of huge fascination in horror reads during my early teenage years. Between grades eight and ten I read quite a few horror novels with gusto. They may not be my first pick for a good read now, but I absolutely see good reading value in them and wouldn't be completely averse to giving one a shot now and then.

That being said, there are two great choices for me here. And I'll be honest, they'll probably be the two most talked about authors for modern day horror choices. I'm speaking of Stephen King and Anne Rice. They both just have a supreme touch for the macabre. However, I've already cheated once in this post, so I'll just pick one of the two. Realistically, it's not that hard for me to pick which one I would choose as my favorite, though I do really (or at least did at one point really) enjoy the writing of both.

          

Stephen King is, most simply, the king of all things horror. His writing is fantastic and his sense of creativity and humor are just the right amount of warped. There are still plenty of his books that I haven't read and, though I don't read horror often, there are still books on my TBR from his vault.

Any true reader of horror has at least one of King's books in their library and has read a few of his works. There are few readers I have encountered, be they fans or foes of the genre, who don't appreciate King's mastery of his craft.

I'll be honest, regardless of the genre, King is difficult to top. But...we have one more category and one more awesome author left for me to share. On to suspense...

sus·pense

/səˈspens/

noun.

1. A state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen.

2. A genre of fiction made up of stories that stimulate pleasurable fascination and excitement, mixed with apprehension. The lack of predictability keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.

Suspense is a bit more my speed, but still not the highest on my reading genre list. Again, I think I read a lot of suspense back in my teen years...perhaps a natural progression from the horror reads? Who knows. I do find them fairly entertaining (if that can be used as the correct word) and there are a few authors out there who really know how to set the hooks and write a book with so many twists and turns you never know what's coming. 

Again, there are some magnificent authors on the list and I could share a small handful. But...I'll narrow it down to one. The sad part here is that the reading options are limited because this author has sadly passed away. But his writing is not to be missed.

  

Stieg Larsson. Whoa. Seriously. An amazingly gifted author. His Millennium series is just fantastic. It's one of those where you'd better have all three books on hand because you're going to want to roll right into the next one.

I haven't yet read the continuation of the series by author David Lagercrantz, but I will tell you that Larsson's works are just phenomenal. The second in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire, won my Book of the Year for 2011. I cannot give these books high enough praise.

Larsson's characters are realistic and rough around the edges. His narrative is crisp, but gritty. And, oh boy, does it ever fill the category of suspense. If you're a nail chewer, you'd better be prepared. These books will have you down to the nubs in no time.


See? Isn't it good that I don't like to follow the rules? Two great authors for the price of one.

Do you agree with me that these are two different genres? Who are your picks for the best authors in these categories? Who should I venture out and read?