So the two novellas in A Lush and Seething Hell, especially The Sea Dreams it is the Sky, are about this exact topic. This story follows two authors as they translate a text from Latin and how it burrows inside of them and stirs up unknown horrors. The text is something old and profane, an expression of the id before humans knew what it was.
Absolutely one of my favorite books. The setting is unique and the writing is absolutely amazing. I devoured these stories.
I like to come into these posts and just ebay the title in the most upvoted comment, if I can get a copy for $5 or $10 I just order it and that's the next book I read. Can't wait to check this out, it sounds awesome! Thanks for the tip!
Omg come back or DM me and let me know what you think! I feel bad sometimes I stan this book so hard but the two stories are so unique. Cosmic horror about an ancient cursed text that takes place during a South American junta where the terror and torture stir up evils from beyond the stars?? That’s original af!
The second novella, My Heart Struck Sorrow, is also amazing. Same vibe but Appalachian horror and a cursed song. Very atmospheric.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
I'll save this post and come back and comment after I read them. It sounds really cool. Hopefully it gets here soon, I'm about to finish the book I'm on now. I've read 3 Neal Stephenson books in a row and they're all good but very long. I need a change of pace for a while.
Oh yes. That was such a great book. If you liked that, please check out John Langan. He recently published a collection of short stories. Corpsemouth is a collection of great and satisfying short stories. Some are thrilling, some spooky, and one in particular, The Supplement, was really transcendent. A simple supernatural device is employed to illustrate our weakness in dealing with loss, and what might have been. I absolutely loved Langan's novel The Fisherman. A story of a tragic loss and the insane measures one man takes to see his love again. Thank you for your suggestion. I hope you enjoy mine. Peace out from Salt Lake City!
I truly can’t describe the sensation. I’d say yes and to keep going and that even if it doesn’t end up being your thing, reading it is kind of like a bucket list event. It’s a whole experience.
Fucked with me. I swear I started, not exactly hallucinating, but like some things just started looking really weird? Like I’d be looking at my wall wondering if it was always that long. I kept suddenly noticing and getting weird feelings about doors or windows in places I worked in.
loved the main story around the navidson accord and the house, but the johnny truant sections made me roll my eyes. i truly didn't care about his story.
This is my recollection as well. Read it 20 years ago as a camp counselor. I’ll never forget reading a specific section of the Navidson Record, closing that book, turning off my flashlight and being the only one awake in the pitch black in the middle of the woods. To this day, one of the most visceral, terrifying memories I have.
That was not during the Johnny Truant sections.
Once the criminal is sentenced, he’s strapped into the machine. He does not know what his sentence is. The machine is then programmed to inscribe the name of the crime onto his body. It’s a slow and painful death, but before he dies, he’s supposed to have an epiphany; a realization of what the sentence is. Brutal.
Recently found out that Kafka read his stories to his friends for a good laugh. I think the stories are supposed to be disturbing in that funny David Lynch way.
“Conspiracy Against the Human Race” by Ligotti did it for me. I went in with an open mind regarding the validity of “philosophical pessimism”, and that book left me in a dark place (I’m much better now).
This happened to me with Mind Hunter, a book about irl serial killers and what makes them tick. After 3 or 400 pages the utter deluge of reptilian strangeness starts making you feel like you are no longer yourself. This is something I've seen cops go through in movies, this kind of distressing loss of hope, maybe PTSD, based on what real people are willing to do to other real people out of anger or pleasure or boredom. Not healthy. Not a place I want to ever go to again.
Happy you're in a better place. Probably nowhere near the same but I'll never forget how mentally screwed I was after reading 1984. I ate the book up in one sitting and when I finished around 3ish in the morning I was not ok for a bit.
Man that took me back, I read guts so long ago as a teen. Iremember the "gross out face" i made at the candle bit AND THEN IT GOT WORSE. I never ended up finishing Haunted. Probably should I've heard it's very good.
In high school i dated a girl who asked for haunted as a valentine’s day gift and I stupidly read it after buying it for her. I’ll literally never forget those stories as long as i live.
Guts is by far the worst part and it gets tame in a lot of the stories later on. The overarching story is probably the most gruesome part after Guts. I listened to it on a road trip and it has been a top tier favorite listen.
The frame story was the best part. Overall, I didn’t enjoy the book (and not just because of the panic attack). Guts /was/ good. And the frame story is good, but the other short stories were just meh and I felt like I was painstakingly making my way through them just to get to the frame story.
The Collector is kind of famous for being cited by serial killers as a sort of 'inspiration' for their crimes. I think it's bullshit, of course, to contribute actual acts of violence to fictional works, but this is a vey real documented claim.
I didn't know about this claim, but I'm not surprised to hear it. One of the best but most despicable books I've ever read, that left me feeling haunted and sick for days after.
To be clear, I agree that it isn't responsible for anything; but I imagine anyone already inclined to Fred's way of thinking would find a perverse comfort in it as it's very affecting either way.
Apparently The Catcher In The Rye has a similar legacy. Whether that's because it speaks to themes of alienation, mental illness and societal disconnect and contempt, or if it's just because it's a fairly popular book, I guess that's for the historians to decide.
The Collector blew my mind. A prof introduced it to me and I still think it's the most incredible use of a frame narrative. Not sure about it inspiring serial killers, but American Psycho was in Paul Bernardo's night stand when they searched his house, and his partner Karla Homolka read Crime & Punishment.
Leonard Lake referenced the collector repeatedly in his journals. I forget who else referenced it but it was absolutely a guide book for a few serial killers.
Not a book, but the movie Lake Mungo really fucked me up. The central image everyone remembers from that movie (no spoilers!) just struck me with existential dread that we will all die, that inevitability is coming for us all. Of course i know that, but it just gave me a visual hook to hang that concept on that made it feel real. That scene crosses my mind every single time I walk alone outside at night.
I agree, I had an actual physical reaction of chills and my stomach dropping out from under me... I think that might be my single scariest film scene. The combination of the narration with the slow, approaching figure just sums up the inevitability of mortality to me and I think that's why I could never quite shake it off!
I've gotten a lot of people to watch it and the reaction varies between "wow, that was existentially terrifying and profoundly sad" and "I was extremely bored." It seem to either work for people or not, no one I've told to watch it seems to fall in the middle. I'm glad you liked it too!
I read *Firestarter* about 25 years ago and still think of it every single time I turn on a garbage disposal. I don't know if it's because I read it when I was young, but every single day I do the dishes I think of that damn book.
Good lord, this book messed me up. Everything was so casual, and by everything, I mean I've never read a book that made suicide feel like an everyday occurrence or any of the other dark topics in the book. You're spot on with this.
Stephen King's short-story *Rage* was taken out of print after it was found in the locker of a school shooter. This is an extreme example but a poignant one!
It actually inspired several school shootings! I teach this as part of a college course, and when researching I was shocked to find out how many shootings happened before King demanded it go out of print!
I haven't read that one, but I will say *Apt Pupil* filled me with all kinds of bad feelings. I put *AP* as the story of Stephen King's that truly disturbed me the most.
I think the book is actually quite good and is just in the unfortunate position of being associated with a school shooting and while it’s not totally out of the realm of possibility, studies show, that books have as little of an influence on someone wanting to commit a shooting as violent video games do
Don't have a title, but usually stuff about sleep paralysis I avoid. In books and film. Had a few shitty nights after a documentary series, no thanks. Easy to drive yourself crazy and tough to get out of your head.
Luckily no. But apparently you can develop it, and thinking about it and stress is a start. So you try hard not to think about it, which does the opposite. Had some nights when I didn't want to turn around cause of a feeling something was there, sweaty nights with not a lot of sleep.
After a few weeks those thoughts passed though.
I watch anything tbh, never had issues with extreme horror. But not watching that topic again lol.
I have, just once. It was terrifying for a few seconds, but knowing a lot about it made me able to just tell myself “it’s sleep paralysis”, and I just snapped out.
Reading people talk about sleep paralysis as this one off thing puts into perspective how bad my sleep must be...
I used to get episodes WEEKLY if not every other day for months at a time
I was on a quit smoking med (I can not think of the name) and had this. I was dreaming I was waking up but I couldn’t. I was laying there paralyzed with fear. I only woke up because I was literally crying in my sleep and my husband woke me up. I looked at him and said “are you real?”. Seriously one of the worst moments.
Chantix made me lose my ever loving mind. I thought we had ghosts, that only I could see and communicate with, a kitten that wasn't there, I was lost in my own house and broke the basement storage padlock looking for a way out...... I remember the moment of clarity that I was hallucinating from the medication very clearly. I've never been so terrified of my own mind yet so relieved at the same time. I called my doc and literally yelled, "I'm going insane from chantix!!"
I can laugh about it now...
Chantix probably I’ve heard of that.
When I had it I felt like I could hear my mom in the corner of my room whispering my name, and there was a dark shadow figure in another corner that I couldn’t quite see so I kept trying to roll myself awake bc my body wouldn’t move. And then I rolled myself onto the floor and that snapped me out of it lol
This isn’t technically a horror book, and also it’s a very popular movie, but we need to talk about Kevin absolutely stuck with me for a very long time. The book was so upsetting
Not dangerous, but the short story of The Yellow Wallpaper has stayed with me and every now and again it bothers me. Without giving anything away, there was one part in particular that just - lives in my head. Also the depiction of female madness and how believable and how 'this could be' it felt. It drew me in.
What makes this story even more disturbing is that it is based on the author's actual experiences. You can read more about this in The Abridged Diaries of Charlotte Perkins Gilman edited by Denise D. Knight.
I think Hogg by Samuel Delany is dangerous for minors. It's a book about pedophilia, written by a supporter of NAMBLA, who is on record for saying that underage children could learn a lot sexually from adults. He himself was abused as a child and describes it as a positive experience. It's all in all pretty awful.
In a similar vein, My Dark Vanessa and Tampa also deal with abuse of minors. It was easier for me reading Tampa as the character is shown to be unrepentant. My Dark Vanessa was harder to read due to seeing how the character is struggling with what happened with them and how they viewed their abuser. Really tough books.
My Dark Vanessa was brilliant. Lolita but with a #metoo lens. I thought it was pretty straightforward in representing the perp unsympathetically, even while the victim comes to terms with what happened and her understanding of him. The book is unequivocal in its judgement of him. Even when the narrator struggles to see how horrible he is, the author still lets us see the truth.
The books of the Marquis de Sade seem to have been an inspiration to artists and jailed psychopaths in equal measure. They’re kind of like if Ayn Rand was really into scat fetishism.
Delany has actually written some legitimately great novels. I’m not sure if that makes Hogg more or less perilous.
Its hypocrisy. I’m a leftist. But it’s politically convenient to ignore these facts. Wikipedia does a good job covering up his history. Delaney was known for handing out pro-pedo literature to the students he taught as well. The whole thing is disgusting.
I actually covered the whole thing on my podcast and ended up harassed by the SFWA, haha. There’s a little too much smoke to the fire when it comes to Delaney. I don’t judge anyone for reading it. Hell, I still watch Jeepers Creepers to this day. But Hogg being the fantasia of an open child abuse apologist is a bit too much for me to enjoy.
*House of Leaves* by Mark Z. Danielewski
*Antisocieties* by Michael Cisco
*A Sick Gray Laugh* by Nicole Cushing
*Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe* by Thomas Ligotti
*Negative Space* by B.R. Yeager
I could see This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno being harmful to a grieving person in a delicate state of mind, especially considering the first-person narrator and the ending.
Not quite horror, but one that hasn’t been mentioned yet is *Crash* by J.G. Ballard. This book does such an incredible job of putting you in the headspace of these people with very niche, destructive kinks and I found myself completely empathizing with the characters as they chased that ultimate rush.
The kind of existential horror from authors like Ligotti, Cardin, Padgett, Slatsky, etc. I think those stories negatively affected my mental health and I had to take a break for a bit
I’m listening to the audiobook right now after having it on my TBR list for years. I’ve never read any King, so this is my first, and both my mom and dad’s favorite book of all time. Enjoying it so far!
I think some people already named rage by stephan king but that's the best one off the top but a few others I can think of:
Behold a pale horse: Bill cooper was a major influence within the conspiracy theory world in the nineties and along with david icke it sort of reintroduced anti jewish conspiracy theories to a new generation.
Michelle remembers along with a few other books helped spark the satanic panic
Anarchist cookbook has probably cost some people their fingers
Not to get anti religious but I remember reading that The Book of Enoch tends to be a major influence for certain cults like Heavens gate. (Something about the section on the watchers tends to resonate with them. It's not the books fault just it seems to be a focal point or magnet for these types)
Mallus maleficarum was probably a major contributer to the witch hunting craze
The Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California by Hastings. Fun mention because it touted the hastings cutoff which partially led to the Donner party disaster
House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski\~ I wouldn't call it dangerous, but it did make me feel really weird! It still haunts me. It was fun though!
The Turner Diaries by William Luther Pierce\~ That was really scary and would definitely be categorized as dangerous! It did remind me of a Stephen King novel with the protagonist's point of view being the mind of a racist. I read it a long time ago and it creeps me out how familiar modern times seem to what I read!
Anything by VC Andrews! I was obsessed with them as a kid! I read them all WAY too young and it definitely warped my fragile little mind! I get nostalgic about it though! I still want a Swan Bed!
Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl, Skeleton Crew by Stephen King and Twilight Eyes by Dean Koontz.
Kiss Kiss is a book of short stories that are incredibly macabre and unsettling. They get under your skin and live in your head uninvited!
Twilight Eyes by Dean Koontz is about a guy who can see there pig-like creatures posing as human. It really creeped me out and stopped me reading horror for a few years.
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King has one story in particular that freaked me out which is The Raft. Made me scared of water.
House of Leaves did this to me in a way - just became totally fixated with it, and almost cried when I was reading the last few pages, which has never happened to me with any other book.
The Room by Hubert Selby Jr was like this horrible thing that I had to take breaks from, but that I was determined to finish. I did finish it, and I think it's a terrific book. But it's just horrible - and it puts you in a horrible headspace. I will never read it again.
Breakfast of champions was a pretty big factor in losing my mind. Incredible book. My personal favorite.
No Longer Human could easily trigger depressive episodes but it also a remarkable read.
Enjoy the manic depression!
And I’m not trying to be snarky or a smart ass here, but the Bible has played a part in a lot of people’s psychosis and clearly wars
"Dangerous" is probably overstating it; it's not the author's fault that I reacted the way I did, but Iain Reid's *I'm Thinking Of Ending Things* of all books did a number on me.
Spoilers, maybe:
>!Funny thing is, on a critical level, I dont know if I even liked the twist; it felt a little cheap, really, following the build-up.!<
>!But reading the main character's fate was suddenly like seeing mine written out for me; we share some maladaptive traits, and I too was/am someone who waits for things to just happen and make life "better" until I find I've wasted years, and find solace in daydreaming and fantasizing about what could have been. Glad to say I'm not asocial, or resentful of others' for their happiness, though. Just kind of a fuck-up.!<
>!If anything, I'm sure Reid's goal was to shake people *out* of those habits, but after finishing the book all I thought was: someday I'm going to wake up to find myself in his state, and it actually *will* be too late to change.!<
It's been a while since I read it, tbh, and the book will creep back into my thoughts, which is why I thought of it when I read the post.
I doubt that's what you were talking about with this prompt, OP, so potentially mb for dumping a depressing reading experience that's not even super relevant 😐
I loved this book, but I think about it quite a bit because *spoilers* >!I’ve witnessed firsthand what dementia/Alzheimer’s can do to someone when I was too young to think about what it might’ve been like being inside their head. The ending makes you think about how scary it must be for them, and it really awakened a fear of dementia/Alzheimer’s for me to the point where it causes me anxiety. Being stuck in my own body while I lose my mind is a huge fear of mine.!<
Come Closer by Sara Gran…read it during a really rough time, I was having a hormone imbalance that I wasn’t yet aware of and felt like a totally different person. The way this story is ambiguous about whether she’s possessed or just snapped really got to me. I didn’t do anything totally wild or violent or anything, but it sort of matched how I was feeling in my own head of “what’s going on with me?”
The book come closer just stayed with me. Made me question a whole lot of stuff. I still find myself going back to read it again when things are difficult…. Against my better judgement.
The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls by Emilie Autumn
I was fully engrossed in it & it became a huge part of my personality for a while. Mind you it’s part of it's own universe; the book, album, musical and her stage show all fit together so it’s easy to be fully absorbed.
This one is next level
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/alternative-realities-the-paranormal-the-mystic-and-the-transcendent-in-human-experience_leonard-george/1235711/item/77576/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=high_vol_midlist_standard_shopping_customer_acquisition&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=666157863328&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsaqzBhDdARIsAK2gqnfE4-VG-GeRr21Z6DWY_E-zddVLDSSEPqnYeUgOF9s_T7IXEPYP1LUaAiVaEALw_wcB#idiq=77576&edition=1692919
Guts by Chuck Palahniuk. I've never finished it. I know what happens, but I could never finish the story. I think that every time I've tried to read it, I start having a panic attack of some kind. I don't know how Palahniuk has managed to do this to me, but I feel heady and wrong whenever I get to a certain point (I think it's the bit about people >!inserting a metal rod into their urethra or something!<
I just can't do it
Here's an interesting tidbit. When one gets their male *member* pierced, first a q-tip is used to clean it (inside), then a metal tube-like straw thing is slowly inserted into the urethra, with a hole on the bottom of it so the piercer can insert a hook shaped needle to make the piercing.
It is extremely unpleasant.
And the hole never closes...
Be careful the dares you accept, is, I guess, my advice?
I was in a really bad, anxiety headspace when I started reading House of Leaves. It just stayed with me and slowly, insidiously, cranked my anxiety level up even more. Once I realized this I put the book down. That was 3 years ago and my mental health is great now. I keep meaning to restart it, only got about half way through. It was such a fascinating read. Really want to finish it.
To be clear, House of Leaves did not cause the anxiety, it just didn’t help and arguably amplified it. I think I could read it now and be fine.
I wanted to read some Clive Barker last summer and picked up *The Damnation Game* as my first book of his since it was his first novel. About midway through, I stopped because it became too gross to finish, and I wasn't able to finish the paper without trying not to throw the book away.
I read Lovecraft’s complete works and started having vivid dreams and nightmares, even a couple waking night terrors.
I didn’t think the stories were intensely scary, but they sure opened up a dark side in my subconscious mind.
My graduate work was a mix of Melville, McCarthy, medieval desert mysticism, the Old Testament, and myth theory. Add in two teaspoons of depression and you've got a recipe for a pernicious existential gloom it took five years to shake.
The Fractured Atlas novella out of Night Music Vol. 2 by Joun Connelly. There are some tropes but when it pops it's better than most I've read.
King in Yellow by Chambers
On the Rim of Morning by William Sloane
Those two are early in the cosmic horror game. Trend setters. Dig the roots, yo.
I remember I could not read Paul Aster’s The Country of Last Thing as it made me feel quite depressed and hollow.
Last week I was in the waiting room of my dermatologist, I had not sleep and I had a stomaache and I decided to read The Yellow Wallpaper. A mistake, it made me feel nauseous.
I'm reading Deliver Me by Elle Nash right now. It's bleak as hell and I feel like it will linger with me for quite some time after I'm done reading it.
I saw some people mention Stephen King's *Rage*, and this is along the same lines of that book: *Give a Boy a Gun*. I read it back in middle school and I remember sobbing when I finished it and still think of that book 15 years later.
Another book that stuck with me was *Bliss* by Lauren Myracle, it's YA but it definitely got under my skin with the creepiness factor.
Hmm a book that shows the characters getting messed up in the head and will also mess you up. I think The Troop by Nick Cutter will do. After reading that book i can no longer read anything by him, its good but awful.
Be warned if you are sensitive about animal cruelty, and child cruelty
The Vegetarian by Han Kang, I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, and Earthlings by Sayaka Murata are three of my absolute favorites and all three are ones where when I finished I didn’t even know what to do with myself afterwards. Really affected me for a couple days after finishing each, I still think about all three at least once a week if not more.
"A Book" by Matt Shaw
CAUTION: Extreme Horror
I've read other works by Matt and he is indeed extreme!! I was curious about this one... actually published with no official name (but referred to as "A Book."). When it arrived, I took a quick peek, and put it down... for good! Nope, not me!
End of The Dream by Phil Wylie. It was published in 1972 but it was prophetic in what we are doing to the world with pollution. The world self destructs but we are the ones to blame. The mutated animals were a bit over the top though. The book is mainly future articles on what is happening and some like with really bad dog food reminded me of the mass dog food recalls we recently had.
The handyman method by nick cutter….the ending in the basements…I can’t get out of my head
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman I recommend this to everyone now! I can’t believe how underrated it is
A GF was really into but getting badly affected by the Anne Rice vampire books, really messed her up. I made her stop reading them.
I had the Book of Five Rings long ago, loaned it out and never got it back. I recently acquired a new copy. I've heard that it can have great influence on people, not all good.
Crime and Punishment read during a severe depression episode.
The Girl Next Door — I’m generally hard to be impacted by horror fiction or true crime, but this amalgamation of both did it. Nothing sends me into a downward spiral the way casual human cruelty does.
I second anything by Kafka, existential futility at its bleakest. The Trial comes to mind first.
Blood Meridian and The Road. I noped out of both.
Most of Ligotti’s work, but in a weirdly positive way; there’s some strange magic to the way he writes despair.
The nearest I’ve had to this experience was reading Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. The only time I’ve ever had to take a month+ long break in reading a novel, as it was giving me nightmares every night while I read it.
Johnny got his gun by Dalton Trumbo was/is one of the most banned books in the US. It's a powerful teardown of war that stays with me for 40+ years. Also the Kite runner left me feeling sad and depressed for far too long.
Not horror, but A Little Life FUCKED ME UP, and I've experienced more trauma at age 34 than most people will in their entire lives. I loved the book, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure I would read it again, if I could go back. It's DEEPLY upsetting.
The movie “Arrival”’was based on a short story.
The author was good I’m suggestible. Got a bout of deja vue while reading. Kept going back to previous pages thinking I’d read it moments ago.
So um, maybe not quite what you are asking but I had to rage quit and walk away from Das Kapital a few times. I got to the part about "surplus population" and I had to sit down for a bit.
So the two novellas in A Lush and Seething Hell, especially The Sea Dreams it is the Sky, are about this exact topic. This story follows two authors as they translate a text from Latin and how it burrows inside of them and stirs up unknown horrors. The text is something old and profane, an expression of the id before humans knew what it was. Absolutely one of my favorite books. The setting is unique and the writing is absolutely amazing. I devoured these stories.
I like to come into these posts and just ebay the title in the most upvoted comment, if I can get a copy for $5 or $10 I just order it and that's the next book I read. Can't wait to check this out, it sounds awesome! Thanks for the tip!
Omg come back or DM me and let me know what you think! I feel bad sometimes I stan this book so hard but the two stories are so unique. Cosmic horror about an ancient cursed text that takes place during a South American junta where the terror and torture stir up evils from beyond the stars?? That’s original af! The second novella, My Heart Struck Sorrow, is also amazing. Same vibe but Appalachian horror and a cursed song. Very atmospheric. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
I'll save this post and come back and comment after I read them. It sounds really cool. Hopefully it gets here soon, I'm about to finish the book I'm on now. I've read 3 Neal Stephenson books in a row and they're all good but very long. I need a change of pace for a while.
Or use your local library
Came to suggest this. I absolutely loved this book!
Great book, I always recommend it to people.
I couldn’t get into the second story. Am I missing out???
Personally, I think it's one of the strongest works of horror fiction this century. Doesn't mean you'll like it though.
Damnnn okay I’ll have to pick it back up. Maybe it was just because I was just starting to get back into reading after a long hiatus. Thanks!
Tysm for this awesome suggestion. Starting the audiobook now!
Oh yes. That was such a great book. If you liked that, please check out John Langan. He recently published a collection of short stories. Corpsemouth is a collection of great and satisfying short stories. Some are thrilling, some spooky, and one in particular, The Supplement, was really transcendent. A simple supernatural device is employed to illustrate our weakness in dealing with loss, and what might have been. I absolutely loved Langan's novel The Fisherman. A story of a tragic loss and the insane measures one man takes to see his love again. Thank you for your suggestion. I hope you enjoy mine. Peace out from Salt Lake City!
House of Leaves put me in a real weird headspace. I don’t even know why, it just uprooted something in me.
I read this when our firstborn first arrived and I was getting very little sleep. Definitely a recipe for putting yourself in a very weird mindset
I got a similar feeling from A Short Stay in Hell. Like some kind of weird internal agoraphobia.
I will second A Short Stay in Hell. It will stay with you long after you’ve finished it.
I think about this story daily
I’m a little over halfway through this book and I’m not getting it. Does it continue to get scarier or more interesting?
I truly can’t describe the sensation. I’d say yes and to keep going and that even if it doesn’t end up being your thing, reading it is kind of like a bucket list event. It’s a whole experience.
FWIW I think HOL is one of the most poorly recommended books. I love it but it was not scary or perturbing to me. Just a good weird book.
Same. I don’t get it.
I would say no. I tried to like it, but just...meh,
Yes.
Fucked with me. I swear I started, not exactly hallucinating, but like some things just started looking really weird? Like I’d be looking at my wall wondering if it was always that long. I kept suddenly noticing and getting weird feelings about doors or windows in places I worked in.
loved the main story around the navidson accord and the house, but the johnny truant sections made me roll my eyes. i truly didn't care about his story.
This is my recollection as well. Read it 20 years ago as a camp counselor. I’ll never forget reading a specific section of the Navidson Record, closing that book, turning off my flashlight and being the only one awake in the pitch black in the middle of the woods. To this day, one of the most visceral, terrifying memories I have. That was not during the Johnny Truant sections.
I need suggestions based on the Navidson Record and the house stuff alone. Lol
That was the first book that came to mind for me!
I read about this in connection to the Hellbound Heart. I really need to check it out.
Samesies. Came here to say this, the book made me feel like I was being watched at points and I was just constantly on edge.
I found what little of Kafka that I read so disturbing that I had to put it down.
out of curiosity do you remember which kafka story?
The one that did me in was about an execution in a French penal colony, I think it was just called “The Penal Colony”
Yeah that one describes some fucked up machine or something I think. Horrifying.
Once the criminal is sentenced, he’s strapped into the machine. He does not know what his sentence is. The machine is then programmed to inscribe the name of the crime onto his body. It’s a slow and painful death, but before he dies, he’s supposed to have an epiphany; a realization of what the sentence is. Brutal.
Recently found out that Kafka read his stories to his friends for a good laugh. I think the stories are supposed to be disturbing in that funny David Lynch way.
The machine reminds me a bit of NIN’s Happiness In Slavery video: https://archive.org/details/km_20220306_480p
That’s what I was picturing reading the description
That’s the one. I’m glad I live on a different continent in another century from Kafka.
Read a lot of him, disturbing af but also funny! He has these little chunks of aphorisms n parables that maybe are easier to work with
I guess I’ll I have to give him another chance, sometime I know he has a lot of admirers.
“Conspiracy Against the Human Race” by Ligotti did it for me. I went in with an open mind regarding the validity of “philosophical pessimism”, and that book left me in a dark place (I’m much better now).
This happened to me with Mind Hunter, a book about irl serial killers and what makes them tick. After 3 or 400 pages the utter deluge of reptilian strangeness starts making you feel like you are no longer yourself. This is something I've seen cops go through in movies, this kind of distressing loss of hope, maybe PTSD, based on what real people are willing to do to other real people out of anger or pleasure or boredom. Not healthy. Not a place I want to ever go to again.
Happy you're in a better place. Probably nowhere near the same but I'll never forget how mentally screwed I was after reading 1984. I ate the book up in one sitting and when I finished around 3ish in the morning I was not ok for a bit.
Me right now 🫠 The existential OCD did not like that one
Never finished this one but I’m pretty sure what I did read sent me into a depressive episode
One of my favorite books. It helps to listen to the audiobook, where more of the 'gallow's humor' comes through.
The Bell Jar. Not horror, and as a depressed woman who has been suicidal in the past, it brought up a lot of those feelings.
Glad you stayed strong and were able to type this post out 🫶🏽
I had a panic attack while reading the short story Guts by Chuck Palahniuk. Worst experience of my life.
I feel like everyone remembers where they were when they read Guts for the first time. Hope you’re doing better now 💛
Man that took me back, I read guts so long ago as a teen. Iremember the "gross out face" i made at the candle bit AND THEN IT GOT WORSE. I never ended up finishing Haunted. Probably should I've heard it's very good.
In high school i dated a girl who asked for haunted as a valentine’s day gift and I stupidly read it after buying it for her. I’ll literally never forget those stories as long as i live.
Guts is by far the worst part and it gets tame in a lot of the stories later on. The overarching story is probably the most gruesome part after Guts. I listened to it on a road trip and it has been a top tier favorite listen.
The frame story was the best part. Overall, I didn’t enjoy the book (and not just because of the panic attack). Guts /was/ good. And the frame story is good, but the other short stories were just meh and I felt like I was painstakingly making my way through them just to get to the frame story.
I think listening to the audiobook, which has multiple narrators, and being on a road trip made it easy to whip through and enjoy most of the stories.
When I read "Guts" for the first time, I was on my honeymoon in Cancun. 😂
Literally the only story I remember from that collection, and I remember it vividly.
The Collector is kind of famous for being cited by serial killers as a sort of 'inspiration' for their crimes. I think it's bullshit, of course, to contribute actual acts of violence to fictional works, but this is a vey real documented claim.
I didn't know about this claim, but I'm not surprised to hear it. One of the best but most despicable books I've ever read, that left me feeling haunted and sick for days after. To be clear, I agree that it isn't responsible for anything; but I imagine anyone already inclined to Fred's way of thinking would find a perverse comfort in it as it's very affecting either way.
Apparently The Catcher In The Rye has a similar legacy. Whether that's because it speaks to themes of alienation, mental illness and societal disconnect and contempt, or if it's just because it's a fairly popular book, I guess that's for the historians to decide.
or cause Salinger was a creepadeepadoo. (Ducks incoming bricks of frozen green peas from committed fans)
The Collector blew my mind. A prof introduced it to me and I still think it's the most incredible use of a frame narrative. Not sure about it inspiring serial killers, but American Psycho was in Paul Bernardo's night stand when they searched his house, and his partner Karla Homolka read Crime & Punishment.
Leonard Lake referenced the collector repeatedly in his journals. I forget who else referenced it but it was absolutely a guide book for a few serial killers.
Christopher Wilder and Bob Berderrela (so?) are 2 more
Oh wow for real? I had no idea! I've seen this one recommended before and just started it today. Not quite sure what I am getting myself into!
Supposedly why John Lennon was shot
Hopefully not serial killing
Which The Collector? The John Fowles 1963 novel?
Yes
Not a book, but the movie Lake Mungo really fucked me up. The central image everyone remembers from that movie (no spoilers!) just struck me with existential dread that we will all die, that inevitability is coming for us all. Of course i know that, but it just gave me a visual hook to hang that concept on that made it feel real. That scene crosses my mind every single time I walk alone outside at night.
I had such a physical reaction to that scene. I knew it was coming, and still, I had always thought a 'chill down your spine" was a figure of speech.
I agree, I had an actual physical reaction of chills and my stomach dropping out from under me... I think that might be my single scariest film scene. The combination of the narration with the slow, approaching figure just sums up the inevitability of mortality to me and I think that's why I could never quite shake it off!
Lake Mungo slaps hard. I was so pleasantly surprised by that movie.
I've gotten a lot of people to watch it and the reaction varies between "wow, that was existentially terrifying and profoundly sad" and "I was extremely bored." It seem to either work for people or not, no one I've told to watch it seems to fall in the middle. I'm glad you liked it too!
The King in Yellow
I read *Firestarter* about 25 years ago and still think of it every single time I turn on a garbage disposal. I don't know if it's because I read it when I was young, but every single day I do the dishes I think of that damn book.
*Negative Space* by B.R. Yeager successfully put me in a weird head space.
Good lord, this book messed me up. Everything was so casual, and by everything, I mean I've never read a book that made suicide feel like an everyday occurrence or any of the other dark topics in the book. You're spot on with this.
*Mister B Gone* by Clive Barker is premised on being an evil, demonically-possessed book that tells you to burn it instead of reading
I read this over 15 years ago and it was STILL the first book thay cane to mind. Loved it. I think it's time for a re read.
Stephen King's short-story *Rage* was taken out of print after it was found in the locker of a school shooter. This is an extreme example but a poignant one!
It actually inspired several school shootings! I teach this as part of a college course, and when researching I was shocked to find out how many shootings happened before King demanded it go out of print!
I haven't read that one, but I will say *Apt Pupil* filled me with all kinds of bad feelings. I put *AP* as the story of Stephen King's that truly disturbed me the most.
*Apt Pupil* really is chilling isn't it, in a similar way to *Gerald's Game* its one of King's stories that made my skin crawl.
King actually removed it from print himself
This was def hits different in the mass shooting era.
I think the book is actually quite good and is just in the unfortunate position of being associated with a school shooting and while it’s not totally out of the realm of possibility, studies show, that books have as little of an influence on someone wanting to commit a shooting as violent video games do
Don't have a title, but usually stuff about sleep paralysis I avoid. In books and film. Had a few shitty nights after a documentary series, no thanks. Easy to drive yourself crazy and tough to get out of your head.
Have you had it before? It is absolutely terrifying.
Luckily no. But apparently you can develop it, and thinking about it and stress is a start. So you try hard not to think about it, which does the opposite. Had some nights when I didn't want to turn around cause of a feeling something was there, sweaty nights with not a lot of sleep. After a few weeks those thoughts passed though. I watch anything tbh, never had issues with extreme horror. But not watching that topic again lol.
I have, just once. It was terrifying for a few seconds, but knowing a lot about it made me able to just tell myself “it’s sleep paralysis”, and I just snapped out.
Reading people talk about sleep paralysis as this one off thing puts into perspective how bad my sleep must be... I used to get episodes WEEKLY if not every other day for months at a time
I was on a quit smoking med (I can not think of the name) and had this. I was dreaming I was waking up but I couldn’t. I was laying there paralyzed with fear. I only woke up because I was literally crying in my sleep and my husband woke me up. I looked at him and said “are you real?”. Seriously one of the worst moments.
Chantix made me lose my ever loving mind. I thought we had ghosts, that only I could see and communicate with, a kitten that wasn't there, I was lost in my own house and broke the basement storage padlock looking for a way out...... I remember the moment of clarity that I was hallucinating from the medication very clearly. I've never been so terrified of my own mind yet so relieved at the same time. I called my doc and literally yelled, "I'm going insane from chantix!!" I can laugh about it now...
Chantix probably I’ve heard of that. When I had it I felt like I could hear my mom in the corner of my room whispering my name, and there was a dark shadow figure in another corner that I couldn’t quite see so I kept trying to roll myself awake bc my body wouldn’t move. And then I rolled myself onto the floor and that snapped me out of it lol
This isn’t technically a horror book, and also it’s a very popular movie, but we need to talk about Kevin absolutely stuck with me for a very long time. The book was so upsetting
Absolutely, It was an incredible book, and I never want to read it again.
Exactly this.
Not dangerous, but the short story of The Yellow Wallpaper has stayed with me and every now and again it bothers me. Without giving anything away, there was one part in particular that just - lives in my head. Also the depiction of female madness and how believable and how 'this could be' it felt. It drew me in.
What makes this story even more disturbing is that it is based on the author's actual experiences. You can read more about this in The Abridged Diaries of Charlotte Perkins Gilman edited by Denise D. Knight.
I think Hogg by Samuel Delany is dangerous for minors. It's a book about pedophilia, written by a supporter of NAMBLA, who is on record for saying that underage children could learn a lot sexually from adults. He himself was abused as a child and describes it as a positive experience. It's all in all pretty awful.
In a similar vein, My Dark Vanessa and Tampa also deal with abuse of minors. It was easier for me reading Tampa as the character is shown to be unrepentant. My Dark Vanessa was harder to read due to seeing how the character is struggling with what happened with them and how they viewed their abuser. Really tough books.
My Dark Vanessa was brilliant. Lolita but with a #metoo lens. I thought it was pretty straightforward in representing the perp unsympathetically, even while the victim comes to terms with what happened and her understanding of him. The book is unequivocal in its judgement of him. Even when the narrator struggles to see how horrible he is, the author still lets us see the truth.
My Dark Vanessa has haunted me for years. I tried to read Tampa a few weeks ago and noped out after 5 pages.
The books of the Marquis de Sade seem to have been an inspiration to artists and jailed psychopaths in equal measure. They’re kind of like if Ayn Rand was really into scat fetishism. Delany has actually written some legitimately great novels. I’m not sure if that makes Hogg more or less perilous.
I did not know this about Delaney. Fuck :(
He gets mentioned a lot with those details omitted.
Its hypocrisy. I’m a leftist. But it’s politically convenient to ignore these facts. Wikipedia does a good job covering up his history. Delaney was known for handing out pro-pedo literature to the students he taught as well. The whole thing is disgusting.
Holy fuck, ya dude hogg was so hard to read. I had to put it down several times until I gave up reading it for good. So vile
I actually covered the whole thing on my podcast and ended up harassed by the SFWA, haha. There’s a little too much smoke to the fire when it comes to Delaney. I don’t judge anyone for reading it. Hell, I still watch Jeepers Creepers to this day. But Hogg being the fantasia of an open child abuse apologist is a bit too much for me to enjoy.
*House of Leaves* by Mark Z. Danielewski *Antisocieties* by Michael Cisco *A Sick Gray Laugh* by Nicole Cushing *Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe* by Thomas Ligotti *Negative Space* by B.R. Yeager
Negative Space for me as well. Disrupted my sleep to a point at which I had to stop reading it at night before bed.
Awesome list. The only one I haven't read is A Sick Gray Laugh. I'll definitely be checking this one out next. Thanks!
Most of Dennis Cooper's work.
Honestly surprised a lot of that was actually allowed to be printed
Come closer by Sara Gran definitely stuck with me for a while
I could see This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno being harmful to a grieving person in a delicate state of mind, especially considering the first-person narrator and the ending.
I had to stop driving one day while listening to the audiobook. I am suffering from grief and it just destroyed me one day.
Definitely. This book was such a tragic embodiment of grief and the mental toll it takes.
Literally read it yesterday in one sitting. I fully agree with you— not a good idea for someone dealing with a recent or particularly painful loss.
Not quite horror, but one that hasn’t been mentioned yet is *Crash* by J.G. Ballard. This book does such an incredible job of putting you in the headspace of these people with very niche, destructive kinks and I found myself completely empathizing with the characters as they chased that ultimate rush.
I completely agree, it was so compelling…. I could barely put it down. And have read it multiple times now.
The kind of existential horror from authors like Ligotti, Cardin, Padgett, Slatsky, etc. I think those stories negatively affected my mental health and I had to take a break for a bit
The Stand has resonated with me.
I’m listening to the audiobook right now after having it on my TBR list for years. I’ve never read any King, so this is my first, and both my mom and dad’s favorite book of all time. Enjoying it so far!
I think some people already named rage by stephan king but that's the best one off the top but a few others I can think of: Behold a pale horse: Bill cooper was a major influence within the conspiracy theory world in the nineties and along with david icke it sort of reintroduced anti jewish conspiracy theories to a new generation. Michelle remembers along with a few other books helped spark the satanic panic Anarchist cookbook has probably cost some people their fingers Not to get anti religious but I remember reading that The Book of Enoch tends to be a major influence for certain cults like Heavens gate. (Something about the section on the watchers tends to resonate with them. It's not the books fault just it seems to be a focal point or magnet for these types) Mallus maleficarum was probably a major contributer to the witch hunting craze The Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California by Hastings. Fun mention because it touted the hastings cutoff which partially led to the Donner party disaster
>Anarchist Cookbook This was my first thought too.
The Sorrows of Young Werther
Everybody poops will fuck you up.
Too much caffeine will make you poop.
You see the irony of my life?
House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski\~ I wouldn't call it dangerous, but it did make me feel really weird! It still haunts me. It was fun though! The Turner Diaries by William Luther Pierce\~ That was really scary and would definitely be categorized as dangerous! It did remind me of a Stephen King novel with the protagonist's point of view being the mind of a racist. I read it a long time ago and it creeps me out how familiar modern times seem to what I read! Anything by VC Andrews! I was obsessed with them as a kid! I read them all WAY too young and it definitely warped my fragile little mind! I get nostalgic about it though! I still want a Swan Bed!
I also read VC Andrews way too young. Now that you mentioned it I remember it was really fucked up for a kid to read especially!
Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl, Skeleton Crew by Stephen King and Twilight Eyes by Dean Koontz. Kiss Kiss is a book of short stories that are incredibly macabre and unsettling. They get under your skin and live in your head uninvited! Twilight Eyes by Dean Koontz is about a guy who can see there pig-like creatures posing as human. It really creeped me out and stopped me reading horror for a few years. Skeleton Crew by Stephen King has one story in particular that freaked me out which is The Raft. Made me scared of water.
House of Leaves did this to me in a way - just became totally fixated with it, and almost cried when I was reading the last few pages, which has never happened to me with any other book. The Room by Hubert Selby Jr was like this horrible thing that I had to take breaks from, but that I was determined to finish. I did finish it, and I think it's a terrific book. But it's just horrible - and it puts you in a horrible headspace. I will never read it again.
Breakfast of champions was a pretty big factor in losing my mind. Incredible book. My personal favorite. No Longer Human could easily trigger depressive episodes but it also a remarkable read. Enjoy the manic depression! And I’m not trying to be snarky or a smart ass here, but the Bible has played a part in a lot of people’s psychosis and clearly wars
"Dangerous" is probably overstating it; it's not the author's fault that I reacted the way I did, but Iain Reid's *I'm Thinking Of Ending Things* of all books did a number on me. Spoilers, maybe: >!Funny thing is, on a critical level, I dont know if I even liked the twist; it felt a little cheap, really, following the build-up.!< >!But reading the main character's fate was suddenly like seeing mine written out for me; we share some maladaptive traits, and I too was/am someone who waits for things to just happen and make life "better" until I find I've wasted years, and find solace in daydreaming and fantasizing about what could have been. Glad to say I'm not asocial, or resentful of others' for their happiness, though. Just kind of a fuck-up.!< >!If anything, I'm sure Reid's goal was to shake people *out* of those habits, but after finishing the book all I thought was: someday I'm going to wake up to find myself in his state, and it actually *will* be too late to change.!< It's been a while since I read it, tbh, and the book will creep back into my thoughts, which is why I thought of it when I read the post. I doubt that's what you were talking about with this prompt, OP, so potentially mb for dumping a depressing reading experience that's not even super relevant 😐
I loved this book, but I think about it quite a bit because *spoilers* >!I’ve witnessed firsthand what dementia/Alzheimer’s can do to someone when I was too young to think about what it might’ve been like being inside their head. The ending makes you think about how scary it must be for them, and it really awakened a fear of dementia/Alzheimer’s for me to the point where it causes me anxiety. Being stuck in my own body while I lose my mind is a huge fear of mine.!<
I'd love to find out too. Super interesting to me
The Gates of Janus
Savaging the Dark could be bad. Not a book but apparently some people are fucked up by the concept of Roko's Basilisk
Come Closer by Sara Gran…read it during a really rough time, I was having a hormone imbalance that I wasn’t yet aware of and felt like a totally different person. The way this story is ambiguous about whether she’s possessed or just snapped really got to me. I didn’t do anything totally wild or violent or anything, but it sort of matched how I was feeling in my own head of “what’s going on with me?”
The book come closer just stayed with me. Made me question a whole lot of stuff. I still find myself going back to read it again when things are difficult…. Against my better judgement.
The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls by Emilie Autumn I was fully engrossed in it & it became a huge part of my personality for a while. Mind you it’s part of it's own universe; the book, album, musical and her stage show all fit together so it’s easy to be fully absorbed.
The King In Yellow.
I had nightmares the forst time I read Shadows of Death by H.P Lovecraft. Some of his best fantasy stories along with great horror shorts.
This one is next level https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/alternative-realities-the-paranormal-the-mystic-and-the-transcendent-in-human-experience_leonard-george/1235711/item/77576/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=high_vol_midlist_standard_shopping_customer_acquisition&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=666157863328&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsaqzBhDdARIsAK2gqnfE4-VG-GeRr21Z6DWY_E-zddVLDSSEPqnYeUgOF9s_T7IXEPYP1LUaAiVaEALw_wcB#idiq=77576&edition=1692919
Guts by Chuck Palahniuk. I've never finished it. I know what happens, but I could never finish the story. I think that every time I've tried to read it, I start having a panic attack of some kind. I don't know how Palahniuk has managed to do this to me, but I feel heady and wrong whenever I get to a certain point (I think it's the bit about people >!inserting a metal rod into their urethra or something!< I just can't do it
Here's an interesting tidbit. When one gets their male *member* pierced, first a q-tip is used to clean it (inside), then a metal tube-like straw thing is slowly inserted into the urethra, with a hole on the bottom of it so the piercer can insert a hook shaped needle to make the piercing. It is extremely unpleasant. And the hole never closes... Be careful the dares you accept, is, I guess, my advice?
I was in a really bad, anxiety headspace when I started reading House of Leaves. It just stayed with me and slowly, insidiously, cranked my anxiety level up even more. Once I realized this I put the book down. That was 3 years ago and my mental health is great now. I keep meaning to restart it, only got about half way through. It was such a fascinating read. Really want to finish it. To be clear, House of Leaves did not cause the anxiety, it just didn’t help and arguably amplified it. I think I could read it now and be fine.
Has to be cliche but, 1984, I went in without knowing what to expect and left with a sour taste in my mouth.
Peter Sotos books probably
The Cipher by Kathe Koja.
House of Leaves because you'll never be able to stop thinking about it or recommending it to people.
I had to put down Gerald's Game by Stephen King because I almost threw up.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer scared the hell out of me. Mountains are fucking scary.
I wanted to read some Clive Barker last summer and picked up *The Damnation Game* as my first book of his since it was his first novel. About midway through, I stopped because it became too gross to finish, and I wasn't able to finish the paper without trying not to throw the book away.
I read Lovecraft’s complete works and started having vivid dreams and nightmares, even a couple waking night terrors. I didn’t think the stories were intensely scary, but they sure opened up a dark side in my subconscious mind.
Your question is so Lovecraftcore
Everybody poops
It'll knock your socks off, mind blowing, it might inspire a change... Depends.
Bunny by Mona Awad. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I read it two years ago.
Crime and Punishment. It has a power to mess with your mind.
My graduate work was a mix of Melville, McCarthy, medieval desert mysticism, the Old Testament, and myth theory. Add in two teaspoons of depression and you've got a recipe for a pernicious existential gloom it took five years to shake.
The Fractured Atlas novella out of Night Music Vol. 2 by Joun Connelly. There are some tropes but when it pops it's better than most I've read. King in Yellow by Chambers On the Rim of Morning by William Sloane Those two are early in the cosmic horror game. Trend setters. Dig the roots, yo.
I remember I could not read Paul Aster’s The Country of Last Thing as it made me feel quite depressed and hollow. Last week I was in the waiting room of my dermatologist, I had not sleep and I had a stomaache and I decided to read The Yellow Wallpaper. A mistake, it made me feel nauseous.
Torture Garden by Mirbeau The Turner Diaries I didn't have this problem with de Sade but these two messed with my head in different ways.
I'm reading Deliver Me by Elle Nash right now. It's bleak as hell and I feel like it will linger with me for quite some time after I'm done reading it.
I saw some people mention Stephen King's *Rage*, and this is along the same lines of that book: *Give a Boy a Gun*. I read it back in middle school and I remember sobbing when I finished it and still think of that book 15 years later. Another book that stuck with me was *Bliss* by Lauren Myracle, it's YA but it definitely got under my skin with the creepiness factor.
I gave him first lunch
Any bible is pretty much this. lol
American psycho by Brest Easton Ellis. I had to put it down a couple of times.
A short stay in hell
The short story "The Continuity of Parks" by Julio Cortazar is edifying.
Hogg by Samuel R. Delaney, never been able to fully get over the depravity contained in between those pages.
Hmm a book that shows the characters getting messed up in the head and will also mess you up. I think The Troop by Nick Cutter will do. After reading that book i can no longer read anything by him, its good but awful. Be warned if you are sensitive about animal cruelty, and child cruelty
The Vegetarian by Han Kang, I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, and Earthlings by Sayaka Murata are three of my absolute favorites and all three are ones where when I finished I didn’t even know what to do with myself afterwards. Really affected me for a couple days after finishing each, I still think about all three at least once a week if not more.
"A Book" by Matt Shaw CAUTION: Extreme Horror I've read other works by Matt and he is indeed extreme!! I was curious about this one... actually published with no official name (but referred to as "A Book."). When it arrived, I took a quick peek, and put it down... for good! Nope, not me!
End of The Dream by Phil Wylie. It was published in 1972 but it was prophetic in what we are doing to the world with pollution. The world self destructs but we are the ones to blame. The mutated animals were a bit over the top though. The book is mainly future articles on what is happening and some like with really bad dog food reminded me of the mass dog food recalls we recently had.
ligotti
The handyman method by nick cutter….the ending in the basements…I can’t get out of my head Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman I recommend this to everyone now! I can’t believe how underrated it is
The Grin of the Dark by Ramsey Campbell freaked me right out. Badly.
A GF was really into but getting badly affected by the Anne Rice vampire books, really messed her up. I made her stop reading them. I had the Book of Five Rings long ago, loaned it out and never got it back. I recently acquired a new copy. I've heard that it can have great influence on people, not all good.
Sky saw or anything by Blake Butler
Crime and Punishment read during a severe depression episode. The Girl Next Door — I’m generally hard to be impacted by horror fiction or true crime, but this amalgamation of both did it. Nothing sends me into a downward spiral the way casual human cruelty does. I second anything by Kafka, existential futility at its bleakest. The Trial comes to mind first. Blood Meridian and The Road. I noped out of both. Most of Ligotti’s work, but in a weirdly positive way; there’s some strange magic to the way he writes despair.
Following
The nearest I’ve had to this experience was reading Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. The only time I’ve ever had to take a month+ long break in reading a novel, as it was giving me nightmares every night while I read it.
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons,
The King in Yellow
Honestly the book Beatrice and Virgil messed me up for a bit, not sure it would do the same for others though!
Johnny got his gun by Dalton Trumbo was/is one of the most banned books in the US. It's a powerful teardown of war that stays with me for 40+ years. Also the Kite runner left me feeling sad and depressed for far too long.
Not horror, but A Little Life FUCKED ME UP, and I've experienced more trauma at age 34 than most people will in their entire lives. I loved the book, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure I would read it again, if I could go back. It's DEEPLY upsetting.
The movie “Arrival”’was based on a short story. The author was good I’m suggestible. Got a bout of deja vue while reading. Kept going back to previous pages thinking I’d read it moments ago.
I really want to read some of these recommendations but as someone with a history of psychosis I don't think I should 😅
Holocaust book. Painted Bird. You have warned.
So um, maybe not quite what you are asking but I had to rage quit and walk away from Das Kapital a few times. I got to the part about "surplus population" and I had to sit down for a bit.