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This may be a smidge off topic, but I'd still like to say it. This book I had to read over the summer, "How to Read Literature Like a Professor", had a chapter on Vampire novels. Some of the things it said were a bit far fetched, but one of them really got me thinking. He said that Vampires in literature, in the beginning, were a sex metaphor since it was taboo to write about actual sex. So instead an older man creeping in at night and stealing the purity, usefulness and marriageability (I don't think Vampires would have been thought of as good brides back then) of a young woman by drinking her blood was introduced. I don't know, I'm probably a dork, but I found that fascinating.

I should add Poppy Z. Brite to my list. Though her work suffers from too much superfluous adjectives a la Anne Rice, and her "cutesy hot goth guy" thing gets old, she can indeed write some fine horror. I found "Missing" in Wormwood to be all-out creepy and more than a little sad.

I love Edgar Allen Poe, but thats too obvious. Hmmm... I'm going to go with whoever wrote the short story "Smee". It gave me nightmares man.

When I saw the title to this thread I thought "Lovecraft!" I'm in complete agreement, with Poe coming in at second I should say.

I would have to agree with this guy on best horror writer.Edgar Allen Poe was thought to be more of a gothic-romance writer when he was still alive, but now, his writtings are thought to be more horror than gothic-romance...The only time I ever stayed up all night because of something I read was after finishing one of Poe's poems...it was about a man who had killed somebody and put their heart underneath a floorboard in his house.A few hours later, he heard police sirens coming down the street, carrying the men who would try to solve the murder.While they were investigating the victims home,the murderer heard a thumping noise from where he stashed the heart. The police showed up at his door,asking if he knew anything about the murder, and he was afraid they would here the heart beating. After they left,he got paranoyed about the beating,tried to get rid of the heart,wound up eating it,and then he died. The police figured out he was the killer,came back to arrest him,and found him dead on his floor. They could hear two heart beats coming from inside him,and suddenly they knew how he had died.

I know it doesn't seem like that would happen in real life,but it still scared me to death(no pun intended).Anyway,it was the only poem/short story I've ever read that scared me!!! eek
Long story,but PLEASE read it...although it was gory,it was good.
Dragon_Writer ninja

I'm a major Dean Koontz fan.
Usually I think when it comes down to horror... I'm into the tales of psychotic murderers running around slowly torturing their victims.
I love many of the characters that Koontz has come up with.
The way in which he describes the darker characters in his novels send chills down my spine. My favorite novel by him would be either The Voice of The Night or The Husband.