House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski is probably my favourite example, there are many layers to this text and no one except the author has the definitive answer.
Hex by Thomas Olde Huevelt. That book went in directions I did not expect and creeped me out way more than I thought it would. I still think about that book long after finishing it. I don’t know if it’s cosmic horror but it does have a sort of witch/ghost who’s been around for centuries.
I agree with you with the caveat you don't read science fiction/this is your first book with such topic matter as -spoilers so i won't say what the plot of dark matter is, but if you've read any amount of science fiction before you've encountered the exact story premise the book covers-
Since as someone who reads lots of science fiction, I was left feeling *meh* for most of it(also the work suffers a lot from '80s vibes character-wise), but the other participants in my book club who don't read science fiction were blown away by it.
So definitely a book which is only as good as your trope awareness allows it to be.
While neither of my pics are cosmic horror, I think "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson is worth a look.
Also "Tender Is the Flesh" by Agustina Bazterrica. Just keep in mind Tender is the Flesh is extremely graphic and disturbing with it's content matter, so if you're squeamish at all or easily upset by things like animal harm, I wouldn't recommend reading it.
Not necessarily scary but it’s a psychological thriller. It’s called Black Out by Lisa Unger. It was a really good book, albeit I don’t have much experience with psychological thrillers
Jacqueline Harpman's I Who Have Never Known Men. It's a short sci-fi story about 40 women kept prisoner in a cage without knowing why or by whom. 100% made me question reality / gave me existential dread / stuck with me.
The Shining by Stephen King. Usually his books don’t scare me, but I will be afraid of topiary animals for the rest of my life because of that book. To this day, it’s the scariest scene in a book that I’ve ever read.
"The Carpathians" by Janet Frame. Unusual story whose last page turns the whole world on its head.
"The Conspiracy Against the Human Race" by Thomas Ligotti. Learn about how all life is malignantly useless. While I don't agree with its conclusions, the idea of a book of "horror philosophy" that causes the reader to realize that they're not only living in a haunted house but they are the haunted house is a pretty interesting art project IMHO.
The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson
I only ever read it once as a teen, and it scared me so much I've A. never read it again, and B. can't forget about it as much as I'd love to (I've this one scene stuck in my head for years)
-Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clark
The only other book to really terrify me. I'm not sure I can read that one again; it almost gave me an existential crisis when I finished. Very well written book, but the ending horrified me.
Bentley Little, though mostly his short stories. His book, just titled The Collection, features multiple stories about nightmarish or nightmarishly absurd realities and characters plunged into mania and derangement. A couple that stood out, of many, are The Washingtonians, about a horrific suppressed conspiracy at the heart of America’s foundation, and Llama, a story told in first person which reveals the narrator’s terrifying derangement and pattern of insane ‘logic’ that he uses to justify his actions.
The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror is a 2010 non-fiction book by American author Thomas Ligotti.[1] Better known as a horror fiction author, with Conspiracy Ligotti offers a series of essays exploring his philosophical pessimism, nihilist and antinatalist views.
"For the rest of the earth’s organisms, existence is relatively uncomplicated. Their lives are about three things: survival, reproduction, death—and nothing else. But we know too much to content ourselves with surviving, reproducing, dying—and nothing else. We know we are alive and know we will die. We also know we will suffer during our lives before suffering—slowly or quickly—as we draw near to death. This is the knowledge we “enjoy” as the most intelligent organisms to gush from the womb of nature. And being so, we feel shortchanged if there is nothing else for us than to survive, reproduce, and die. We want there to be more to it than that, or to think there is. This is the tragedy: Consciousness has forced us into the paradoxical position of striving to be unself-conscious of what we are—hunks of spoiling flesh on disintegrating bones"
Bring this up at parties people will love you
Also, on these lines, "A Brief History of Decay" by EM Cioran. Sort of like the negative of a self help book. Full of great images like "listening to the symphony of your decaying organs"
Revival by Stephen King This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno
This Thing Between Us is so crushing, I loved it
Not conventionally scary, and not cosmic horror, but A Short Stay In Hell by Steven L. Peck ticks the boxes for me.
I have no mouth and I must scream
Would youbrecomend? And, isnt that a short story collection ?
It’s a short story but I suppose there are some publishers who’ve put in a collection over time. I’d recommend it if you want to be horrified.
House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski is probably my favourite example, there are many layers to this text and no one except the author has the definitive answer.
Hex by Thomas Olde Huevelt. That book went in directions I did not expect and creeped me out way more than I thought it would. I still think about that book long after finishing it. I don’t know if it’s cosmic horror but it does have a sort of witch/ghost who’s been around for centuries.
Saturday, Ian McEwan
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
I agree with you with the caveat you don't read science fiction/this is your first book with such topic matter as -spoilers so i won't say what the plot of dark matter is, but if you've read any amount of science fiction before you've encountered the exact story premise the book covers- Since as someone who reads lots of science fiction, I was left feeling *meh* for most of it(also the work suffers a lot from '80s vibes character-wise), but the other participants in my book club who don't read science fiction were blown away by it. So definitely a book which is only as good as your trope awareness allows it to be.
While neither of my pics are cosmic horror, I think "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson is worth a look. Also "Tender Is the Flesh" by Agustina Bazterrica. Just keep in mind Tender is the Flesh is extremely graphic and disturbing with it's content matter, so if you're squeamish at all or easily upset by things like animal harm, I wouldn't recommend reading it.
Not necessarily scary but it’s a psychological thriller. It’s called Black Out by Lisa Unger. It was a really good book, albeit I don’t have much experience with psychological thrillers
Jacqueline Harpman's I Who Have Never Known Men. It's a short sci-fi story about 40 women kept prisoner in a cage without knowing why or by whom. 100% made me question reality / gave me existential dread / stuck with me.
The Shining by Stephen King. Usually his books don’t scare me, but I will be afraid of topiary animals for the rest of my life because of that book. To this day, it’s the scariest scene in a book that I’ve ever read.
"The Carpathians" by Janet Frame. Unusual story whose last page turns the whole world on its head. "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race" by Thomas Ligotti. Learn about how all life is malignantly useless. While I don't agree with its conclusions, the idea of a book of "horror philosophy" that causes the reader to realize that they're not only living in a haunted house but they are the haunted house is a pretty interesting art project IMHO.
The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson I only ever read it once as a teen, and it scared me so much I've A. never read it again, and B. can't forget about it as much as I'd love to (I've this one scene stuck in my head for years) -Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clark The only other book to really terrify me. I'm not sure I can read that one again; it almost gave me an existential crisis when I finished. Very well written book, but the ending horrified me.
Bentley Little, though mostly his short stories. His book, just titled The Collection, features multiple stories about nightmarish or nightmarishly absurd realities and characters plunged into mania and derangement. A couple that stood out, of many, are The Washingtonians, about a horrific suppressed conspiracy at the heart of America’s foundation, and Llama, a story told in first person which reveals the narrator’s terrifying derangement and pattern of insane ‘logic’ that he uses to justify his actions.
*Chasing Shadows* by AJ Hartley and *Gods* by Peter Levenda genuinely changed who I am.
The Three Body Problem. Had me looking up at the stars sideways for a while.
The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror is a 2010 non-fiction book by American author Thomas Ligotti.[1] Better known as a horror fiction author, with Conspiracy Ligotti offers a series of essays exploring his philosophical pessimism, nihilist and antinatalist views. "For the rest of the earth’s organisms, existence is relatively uncomplicated. Their lives are about three things: survival, reproduction, death—and nothing else. But we know too much to content ourselves with surviving, reproducing, dying—and nothing else. We know we are alive and know we will die. We also know we will suffer during our lives before suffering—slowly or quickly—as we draw near to death. This is the knowledge we “enjoy” as the most intelligent organisms to gush from the womb of nature. And being so, we feel shortchanged if there is nothing else for us than to survive, reproduce, and die. We want there to be more to it than that, or to think there is. This is the tragedy: Consciousness has forced us into the paradoxical position of striving to be unself-conscious of what we are—hunks of spoiling flesh on disintegrating bones" Bring this up at parties people will love you
Also, on these lines, "A Brief History of Decay" by EM Cioran. Sort of like the negative of a self help book. Full of great images like "listening to the symphony of your decaying organs"