findthatbook | Entries tagged with genre: horror

A Zoomer friend of mine was wondering how old this trope was, and I found myself recalling the following comics story, probably from a 1960’s issue of Creepy or Eerie; the writer was almost certainly Archie Goodwin, and the artist may have been Steve Ditko.

As I remember it, a foolhardy wizard manages to broach all the security measures surrounding the ultra-classified This-Is-Not-A-Place-Of-Honor containment chamber for a forbidden spell that he believes will neutralize his rivals’ powers. Turns out that he’s right—because the spell causes magic, period, to self-destruct. Fleeing the Wizards’ Council HQ, he consoles himself with the thought that his rivals are at least powerless against him—except that the populace have gotten wind of the fact that the healing, blessing, and fertility magic is gone (and who’s to blame), and torches and pitchforks still work just fine.

bfavre1

I’ve recently started re-reading Fear Street books, which I used to be obsessed with back in the day. I keep thinking of one part of what I’m about 98% sure is a fear street book but I only remember this one part so am having a hard time locating it. All I can remember is that the main character goes to an indoor swimming pool and is swimming laps and then a person that has been chasing her shows up and is watching her from the roof of the indoor swimming pool which was all glass, she sees him and freaks out and runs out and then I believe he chases her. That’s literally all I can remember. Hopefully someone can help before it actually drives me insane.

tinnybo

I’m looking for a short story in the horror/thriller genre from an anthology, and it may or may not have been included in a sci-fi anthology as well. The story has haunted me since my teens, but I can’t seem to find it. It may have been from the 80’s.
The general story is that a woman (I believe) has killed her male lover out of some sort of rage or calculated manner, and is preparing him for consumption in a way that resembles a highbrow cookbook recipe. In fact, the language used in the short story is of such an elevated and pretentious character that it stands out like a sore thumb.
I think the story is narrated, but I could be wrong.
I do remember that at the conclusion of the story, as this man has been dismembered, marinated, cooked, etc. the murderous cook (chef?) has taken a spoon and collected just a drop of liquid from the man’s penis and thus reflects sadly on the whole affair. Not very appetizing if you ask me, but again, the writing is of such an elevated nature that it doesn’t come across as salacious, just horrifying.
Those are my recollections of the story, there may be some differences.
Any help with the title and author would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you.

halpme

Hey, guys would really appreciate it if you can help me find this book!
*SPOILER ALERT I WILL BE TELLING THE END OF THE STORY IN ORDER TO GIVE MORE DETAILS*
I know it was a picture book for sure and it was a horror book. The drawings kind of had a Dr. Seuss style to it but not exactly. Basically, it follows the story of five (I'm not sure if it was five) people who are in a forest and need a place to stay. They come across a house who is inhabited by an old couple. The old couple will let them stay in exchange for a story.
I only remember three stories and some are not in exact details so here we go.
There was one story about a guy who encountered aliens. I cannot remember anything else but he tells his story and the old couple takes him to his room.
Another one was the story of this blonde girl. She tells the story of her favourite ice cream brand when she was little. One day she gets invited to see the factory and how they make the ice cream (similar to Charlie and the chocolate factory). She has these amazing dreams of what it will look like. When she gets there it turns out to be the complete opposite. They drain the cows of their milk and kill dogs and children to make their ice cream. In the end, the horrified girl goes home and vows to never eat the ice cream again. In the end, she cannot resist her favourite brand and eats it despite knowing the origins of it.
So basically each person tells their story to the old couple and the old couple gives them a room. Soon one guy is left but he does not have a story. So the old couple refuses to give him a room and he leaves. He basically wanders the forest and comes across the most horrifying things ever. Monsters, and all these weird creatures. They all end up chasing him until he ends up back at the old couple's house. There he tells them his story of what happened to him in the forest so they let him stay and I think that's how the story ends.
Please help me find the book, I would very much appreciate it.

iodama

I think I read this short story before 1989 in Asimov's SF Magazine (which started publication in 1971 and I was reading back through old ones in a collection, so it could be any time in the 70s or 80s). It concerned a young adult male protagonist (on Earth, who thinks he's human) who meets an "uncle" who looks a lot like him, from whom he learns that he is not human, but an alien passing among humans, who goes through a maturational process whereby two genetically related individuals fuse into one, and his "uncle" who is looking younger by the day and he are fated to merge into one person.

( Key scene description )

Anybody recognize this story?

ragothlham

Hi all,

I saw a horror short today that sparked a memory of a book I read as a kid in the early 90's, but can't place for the life of me. What I remember was that it read as sort of a dark Goosebumps-type book, had a young, maybe teenage, girl as the protagonist, and the plot centered around a Christmas tree. I believe that it perhaps ate one of the family pets, but the climax revolved around it being a portal to another dimension that was accessed by going through its impossibly deep branches, or trying to reach the 'back' of the tree that always retreated? I think the parents, or at least the mom, was eaten and rescued by the end? IIRC, the tree was kind of sentient and could maybe hypnotize people?

If anyone has any ideas, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

full_metal_ox

(Crossposted to

whatwasthatbook.)

I recall having read this one in the Seventies, most likely as part of an Alfred Hitchcock anthology. The setting is somewhere in the Amazon region; a native girl performs a dance that her culture uses as a passionate declaration of true love and eternal fidelity, and some boorish Yankee tourist (I don't remember whether he was the intended recipient) insults her by flinging silver dollars at her feet--as if she were doing no more than busking.

We later learn that a visiting American has been staked out and devoured alive by army ants; turns out that he wasn't the offender, but he happened to pay his bar tab in American silver dollars...

(This story made such an impression that--something like four decades later--I always ask street performers, "Are you accepting donations?" if there isn't a hat or similar receptacle in evidence.)

ETA:

mildred_of_midgard has ID'd the story as "Pieces of Silver" by Brett Halliday, from Alfred Hitchcock Presents Stories for Late at Night(1961), ed. Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Arthur (reprinted by permission of the author; copyright, 1938, by David Dresser.)

thiscrb4

   Long story short , one was left behind during a move and the other was accidently put in with some donated books .


The first I'm looking for was a horror or thriller novel from either ( I'm guessing ) the eighties or nineties about a man murdered by being burned to death . He returns as a ' monster ' and his wife has bad dreams each night about him .
Things I remember most about this book - the wife wears her husband's clothing after his murder . ( His shirts over her leggings )
   The people who killed him are part of a Devil worshipping / Satanic cult who later kidnap the wife for a sacrifice .
   The two main villians are an older woman who is maybe a case worker ( ?? ) who tortures other women for fun , and her sidekick , a younger man who might have been a gang member ( ?? ) They have a mother and son type of relationship .
   There is a scene I clearly remember where a young woman gets tied up in the caseworker's kitchen and is tortured with ice cubes falling on her .

   The second and possibly easier to find is a romance novel about a woman who lives ....... I'm thinking in Texas and a man ( divorced , I guess ? ) and his young son .
   What I remember from the book -
   The woman is more like a tomboy and she saves another woman from being raped / assaulted by knocking the guy out , throwing a baseball right at his head . The two women become friends and go shopping and get makeovers together .
   The little boy hates living in Texas ( or wherever it is , somewhere warm ) and he spends lots of time climbing and sitting in trees .
    His drunk nanny or babysitter locks him in a closet or pantry and the female main character rescues him .

    Any help and / or info is appreciated !   I'd like to find the names , titles , authors ......... anything so I can replace those with other copies .

Current Mood: curious

grimshire

I'm trying to remember the name of this horror book my brother had in the 90's, i can vaguely remember the plot and the cover and nothing else. I specifically remember the cover had a red boarder, with hand drawn art with a blue demon kid with horns in a hoodie holding a kife/dagger behind his back while looking sinister at the reader while sitting on a log or branch and it had another boy i think they were at a campfire, one plot point i remember was the boy fell off a structure and was impaled with a spike or poll sticking from the ground and i remember it saying something about his internal organs falling out, but i also recall the boy had a friend who was a girl. I don't know why i'm thinking font in the title was like goosebumps but this was from what i remember it was way to dark and graphic for that series. Because my brother passed away in the 90's with leukemia i always wanted to read that book but i was too young at the time and wasn't allowed but i remember having a sneak peak at it.

Current Location: UK

thornsilver

It was a fairly thick paperback about 15 years ago. The title had something to do with oceans, maybe? The conceit was that something in the oceans had enough of human mistreatment and was taking revenge.

One of the things I remember, was a couple riding away on a motorcycle from a way of crabs on the beach. They escape, but then it turns out that they died because the crabs were somehow poisoned/allergy causing? There was a little bit where the book listed all the people who died from eating/coming in contact with these crabs.

One of the characters was as woman who was very obsessed with exercising, because it made her feel less depressed. There is a scene where she is running on the deck of the carrier, because there doesn't seem to be a place to excercise in the middle of the ocean.

Found: "The Swarm" by Frank Schatzing.

cjmcnally

I’m searching for a novella/short story I last read in primary school (late 1990s/early 2000s). It was one of a series of short spooky stories by the same publisher - another was about teen vampires, I think there may have been an alien one too.

This book was from the perspective of a teen girl whose best friend has recently died (I think from suicide), and is now haunting her. The friend (I think her name is Fern) taps on the girl’s window and shows her a pendant or necklace, which I think is a fish or fish tail. The girl works out that Fern has left her letters or a journal inside an old tree that they used to hide letters to each in as young children. These tell the story of why Fern died.

Fern became obsessed with a new, young teacher who started at the girl’s school, to the point where she would start predicting the colour of his ties or clothes. I don’t remember if the teacher might have an interest in Fern too, but I think she gets rebuffed. Either as a result of this, or for some other reason, when she sees the teacher get into trouble in the ocean, she doesn’t do anything to help and he drowns. She then kills herself a short time later.

I think this fish or fish tail necklace or pendant also plays a role (maybe given to Fern by the teacher?) and might feature on the book cover art, or be in the title in some way.

I might have a few details slightly off, but if this storyline sounds familiar or you can help identify the series of short scary stories it could be part of, it would be so appreciated!

silent69

This one had to be late 70's early eighties.
Couple out hiking on vacation in another country.
finds a stone that looks to have a cameo type carving on one side.
they take it home and mysterious things start happening, they discover the rock turns into a small whitish dinosaur creature at night. at first it's cute they seem to want to hide and protect it, seems to really take to the wife's mothering, and there ok, till the deaths occur.
the creature retaliates for them..? anyway the soon find out it's best not to upset it.
I believe,The husband makes a decision to attempt to escape the house.
I remember the scene where he makes it to the car,and it steps in front, but he turns on the headlights and it immediately falls to the ground, having transformed back to the stone. foolishly he believes he's in the clear, drives forward,over the stone and the creatures clawed arm comes through the floor getting him. it was so sad because, although she's heard her husband die, the creature comes back into the house and lays it's head in her lap, she rubs it's head, while silently crying because she can't show any fear.
I believe it auto returned to you, and i also believe she wound up keeping a light trained on it 24/7.
the cover had the picture of a white oval stone, with some type of semi-vague carving of a face?
I use to read a lot of physiological horror, so as to have a story to convey to my nieces and nephews when they came to visit back then.
i really loved this one, because it was also compassionate.

thornsilver

I have paged through this book a couple of times in Barnes & Nobles. Might have been as long as 20 years ago.

It was a trade paperback horror title. The protagonist is in an underwater module (lab?) when poisonous rain falls on the surface. He comes out to a scene of death, horror and destruction.

Other things of note:

This is a conquest by alien species.

They seem to be using human women to produce half-breed monsters that they then eat? There is a really visceral scene of woman bound in barbed wire trying to to kill herself before she gives birth to such a monstrosity.

Somewhere towards the end of the story the protagonist is trapped in a pit with a zombie tiger.

indefinite_forest97

I have been looking for this short story for years and still haven't had much luck. It was part of an anthology of other horror stories that I think came out in the 80's, but I am by no means sure of that.

It stars off with the main character (don't remember if it was a man or woman) being rudely awakened by a call in the early hours of the morning. They are asked to investigate a crime scene in the woods where a woman had been brutally attacked by what they assume was a pack of wolves. The main character goes to the scene and pokes around the woods for a bit before somehow stumbling across a cabin and a man who seems not quite right mentally but clearly knows more about the woman's death than he's letting on. The main character follows him into the cabin and begins to ask questions. This is where my memory goes fuzzy on me. At some point, the man ends up showing the main character several magical (or maybe alien?) artifacts. Main character, very weirded out by this point, tries to leave but the man won't let them. I think a fight/ chase scene occurs as main character tries to force their way out of this mess, although ultimately they are killed by the man, and it is heavily implies that he was the one that killed the woman. The story ends with the main character waking up in their bed, phone ringing, and being asked to investigate a possible murder scene in the woods.

It was an amazing story but I was too young when I read it to fully appreciate it, and I would love to read it again to pick up on things I probably missed! Please, PLEASE help if you can.

ayeshakhtar

Hi! I read this book when I was quite young and I think I remember its name but I can't find it anywhere online.

From what I can remember it was called the Shattered Mirror. The story was of a rich guy who got handicapped in an accident. He hires a female caretaker who starts living in his house. They begin to fall in love all the while she notices some supernatural activity. Later on, she finds out the house is haunted by the guy's dead fiance who moves through mirrors and tries to kill the girl.

nalkarj

If no one minds, here’s another one that I’ve been completely unable to find over the last few months; this one particularly annoys me because I thought it would have been an easy question! :)

Here’s what I wrote:

“I'm sure this is an easy one, but I don't exactly have many leads, so…

“I remember reading (at Borders!--how I miss those stores) a Goosebumps-like book—possibly also by R.L. Stine—in which a young boy, the narrator, is transported to an alternate universe that is exactly like ours except for a few minor alterations (e.g., he takes karate lessons in the alternate world--I'm fairly sure I remember that), so he doesn't realize that it's an alternate world at first.

“At the end, he has to confront his own alternate-universe counterpart, and (here's the requisite Goosebumps-style twist) he finds out that he can't actually leave the universe, or something like that. Cue horror for the narrator. I know for a fact it's not Stine's Don't Go to Sleep!, which also involves alternate universes, and I don't think it's a Goosebumps book, merely something similar.

“Thanks!”

Now, for all I know, it could have been a Goosebumps book and I was just misremembering, as I’ve been utterly unable to find it. Thank you all very much.

littlestclouds

I first read this book when I was in middle or high school, so it probably would have come out in the '80s or '90s (my money's on the '90's). One of the stories I remember involved evil statues that come to life, possibly because they were struck by lightning? And another story in the book involved a bus stop/bus, iirc. I think it would have been along the same vein as R.L. Stine and was aimed at middle-grade readers.

x-posted to a few other places

Current Mood: hopeful

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Find That Book

Find That Book

Entries tagged with genre: horror

60’s black-and-white Warren comic story where someone destroys all magic?

Please help!

Looking for a horror short story...

help me find this book

Short story: aliens that merge into one

YA Christmas horror book

Horror short story involving army ants and silver dollars?

Hi ! New here and trying to find the names of 2 books .

Struggling to remember a horror book my brother had in the 90's

SF/Horror novel.

Lost book - horror novella/short story - teen obsessed with teacher haunts friend

stone/relic/ specimen turns into creature* it auto returns to you

(no subject)

Can't Remeber Author or Title

A book from a Horror/Thriller series

Goosebumps-like Teen Alternate Universe Story

looking for a kids' horror anthology

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