Amidst spine-chilling terror and cold fear that grips our hearts, horror still remains one of the much sought after genres for those who seek thrills while reading.
Let’s take a look at some of the prominent writers who made horror a popular choice amongst readers.
The originator of Frankenstein, also known as The Modern Prometheus, Mary Shelly completed writing this book at the age of 19. The novel, which is a wonderful amalgamation of Gothic horror and science fiction, has been adapted into numerous stage plays and movies.
Having credited with offering a new dimension to the genre of horror, Allen Poe’s works featured depth and intricacies of the human psychology laced with macabre and dark mystery. He was also known as Father of Detective Stories partly because his works on horror had a huge impact on the subject of mystery and also due to the imbibed essence of deduced reasoning in them.
Creator of one of the most famous characters of all-time, the Gothic novel – Dracula by Bram Stoker in the year 1897 brought him tremendous fame and acclaim. Regarded as an epistolary work, it is a prominent one amongst his many illustrious works. His writings are mainly featured under Gothic fiction and horror fiction categories along with many others.
Virtually almost unknown, Lovecraft achieved posthumous fame after his works were limited mainly to pulp magazines during his lifetime. Later, he was recognized amongst the significant 20th century authors in the horror genre. He wrote mainly on themes like dark fantasy and Gothic horror. Some of his noteworthy novellas include The Call of Cthulhu, At The Mountains of Madness, etc.
Praised by critics and garnering widespread recognition for her works in mystery and horror, Shirley Jackson is most remembered for The Haunting of Hill House, still regarded as one of the best ghost stories of all-time. It was later adapted twice into movies which proved to be highly successful. Her short story, The Lottery remained the most popular choice among publishers for many years.
An accomplished writer of short stories that are laced with psychological twists, Robert Bloch will always be remembered as the writer of Psycho, one of the most acclaimed and loved movies by the thriller enthusiasts. One can see the play of pun in the titles of his story collections. Closely associated with H.P Lovecraft, his works have been made into numerous television shows, comics and audio books.
Matheson mainly wrote in the genres of fantasy, horror and science fictions. Well-known for I Am Legend, a science fiction vampire novel that was made into movies on four occasions. He gained much more prominence when six of his short stories or novels were made into movies. He also worked as the writer for some episodes of The Twilight Zone.
Writing under multiple pseudonyms, Dean Koontz was a successful author of suspense thrillers with an essence of spine-chilling horror. His works have sold over 450 million copies worldwide. 14 hardcovers and 14 paperbacks featuring Koontz’s works reached number one position which was a record. Many of his books went on to be made into movies which received critical and public acclaim.
Amongst many genres that have brought credit to Stephen King, it is perhaps his works in horror which made him a master storyteller. Some noteworthy works include Carrie and The Shining, which were made into famous movies. He also wrote several books in the genre under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, published from 1977 to 1984.
Kevin Christopher McFadden, better known by his pseudonym, is a known author in the genre of thriller, young adult and science fiction, alongside horror. He wrote numerous horror story collections like The Last Vampire series, Thirst series and Spooksville – a series of 24 books for children. He also authored horror anthologies and short story collections.
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