ManWithAPlan

Every once in a while I really have the urge to read a good book, and I can never just find one...

Can someone recommend me a good fantasy or mystery book to read? Perhaps something a bit scary, or rather scary?

I remember I enjoyed House of Leaves, and American Gods is probably still my favorite book ever.

__________________
In the end we are but wisps

Plan9

House of Leaves is great.

I've never read a scary book... but I highly recommend "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson and "The Regulators" by Richard Bachman.

__________________
"The days go on and on... they don't end. All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people."

Formerly username "Crompsin."

fresnelly

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman.

It's a collection of his short stories. Some of them are definitely unsettling and one of them is a novella featuring Shadow from American Gods. He's a tourist in Scotland and stumbles into something ancient and both a bit and rather scary.

__________________
...or as I like to affectionally call it: a "Mouth Hug". - Ron White

PulpMind

When I read your subject of "fantasy/horror/mystery" House of Leaves immediately came to mind... but it looks like you've already read that one. Sorry I'm no help! ha..

levite

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
Smoke and Mirrors, by Neil Gaiman

The Greywalker novels by Kat Richardson
The Dresden series by Jim Butcher
Anything by HP Lovecraft

__________________
Dull sublunary lovers love,
Whose soul is sense, cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
That thing which elemented it.

(From "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne)

Frosstbyte

If you haven't read Lovecraft, find a good collection and have at it. I would also second Levite's recommendation of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, even if I have to concede that it gets very strange and intense by the end.

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is an excellent horror/fantasy hybrid if you're looking for something to take up a lot of time.

And, even if it can't strictly be called horror either, I'd be remiss if I didn't in a fantasy thread recommend the Realm of the Elderling books by Robin Hobb (3 trilogies, make sure you read them in order) and, of course, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin.

__________________
I'm making a note here-
Huge success.
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

powerclown

I will agree with the previous members' recommendations for H.P. Lovecraft and Matheson's "I Am Legend", and would add "Living History" by Hilary Clinton for pure, unadulerated horror.

cellophanedeity

If you like speculative fiction, Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake is a good read.

Also, if you like Gaiman's novels, make sure you've read the Sandman series of comics. They're probably the best thing out there.

__________________
who am I to refuse the universe?
-Leonard Cohen, Beautiful Losers

guy44

The best book I've read which fits that exact description is The Prestige by Christopher Priest. Great, great, book - and a great movie as well. As a bonus, the book and movie are different enough that they're totally different experiences.

__________________
"You have reached Ritual Sacrifice. For goats press one, or say 'goats.'"

jewels

My first thought: Weaveworld by Clive Barker.

__________________
We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.
Mark Twain

ManWithAPlan

Wow guys, lots of responses. Thanks so much

I've read Fragile Things. Enjoyed it quite a bit. Can't decide what I think about the one with Shadow though... Kind of felt "off" to me, hehe.

I'm going to takes this list and look through it. Thanks again !

__________________
In the end we are but wisps

thirdsun

Try the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake . It's a fantasy, gothic, mystery, Dickensonian tale of darkness spun out by a master story-teller. The character depth and style of writing are right up there with the best of the genre. Illustrated by the author. If you saw the BBC movie version, don't judge the book by the movie....

__________________
Answers are a perilous grip on the universe. They can appear sensible, yet explain nothing. --The Zensunni Whip

"Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness." James Thurber

m0rpheus

Try World War Z by Max Brooks. It's an oral history of the zombie war. It is the BEST Zombie book out there. It's a collection of interconnected short stories that tell the story of the zombie war from the point of view of the survivors.

__________________
"it never got weird enough for me." - Hunter S. Thompson

Vaultboy

I'm busy reading Drood, by Dan Simmons. Excellent mystery with a tinge of horror. But I'm a total Simmons fanboy.

__________________
I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow is not looking good either.

Duskwynd

Not scary, but a FANTASTIC read with "adult" philosophical concepts is "The Chronicles of Hawklan" by Roger Taylor. The books in the initial series are:

"The Call of the Sword"
"The Fall of Fyorlund"
"The Waking of Orthlund"
"Into Narsindal"

I was really, really surprised when I first read these and now read them again at least once a year.

Scary fantasy: "Mulengro" by Charles de Lint. He is one of my favourite Speculative Fantasy authors and most of his books have a kind of scary element to them as well.

Hope this helps

Blessings!
Duskwynd

__________________
"A true master makes a life not a living."
~ Unknown

ratbastid

I'm just finishing up Drood by Dan Simmons. It's SPECTACULAR. Magical gothic horror at its finest, circling around Charles Dickens and his family and literary peers. Based heavily on the true history of Dickens' last years. I completely recommend it.

Duskwynd

This is on my list of books that I'm thinking about getting. I'm going to bump it up to my 'books to get' list. Thanks for your recommendation

Blessings!
Duskwynd

__________________
"A true master makes a life not a living."
~ Unknown

Spiritsoar

If you liked American Gods, have you read Anansi Boys? Neverwhere is very good too. Well, come to think of it, I don't think I've read anything by Gaiman I didn't like yet.

__________________
Veritas Vos Liberabit

Duskwynd

I've read "American Gods", which I totally adored. I've also just finished "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, which I also highly recommend. Anansi Boys is in my 'to read' pile (which just keeps on getting bigger and bigger *sigh*).

Blessings!
Duskwynd

__________________
"A true master makes a life not a living."
~ Unknown

docbungle

As for scary: have you read The Descent(no relation to the movie), by Jeff Long? Pretty creepy stuff.

__________________
Bad Luck City