cenobyte answers #6

As part of the Ask cenobyte Experiment, Brille also asked:

I have another but if you don’t get to it that’s all right. What is,..simply..the scariest book you have ever read. Could be a one line answer…which I will then further research.

Hm. Ever? Hm. Well, a lot of it is subjective, right? I mean, when I was eight, I read a novel called “Coma”, which is a terrible book, but the opening scene is horrific. But I was WAY TOO YOUNG to read that book. I read a book whose title I can’t remember now about two sisters, one of whom develops leukemia. THAT was scary, because I read it and assumed that every time I got a nosebleed, I had leukemia. I made the stupid decision to read “It” when I was fourteen. I thought it would cure me of my perfectly healthy and reasonable fear of clowns. It did not.

I couldn’t sleep while reading “The Tommyknockers”.

“The Vanishing Country” by Mel Hurtig scared me, but in an entirely different way.

So did “A Doctor’s Compendium of Childhood Illnesses and Diseases”. Dumb, cenobyte. Real dumb.

Hmmm…is there a book that was/is *so scary* I couldn’t actually finish it? I don’t think so. I’ve been a fan of horror since I was about two, according to my mother. I used to get horror comics (there was one where a brother and sister went to the chocolate easter bunny factory and were eaten by a giant chocolate easter bunny. They went head first. Lots of blood and gore).

On this topic, there are *many* extremely creepy stories in Edge Science Fiction/Fantasy Publishing’s Tesseracts Thirteen. The Tesseracts series are anthologies of Canadian S/F short stories, poems, and even novellas sometimes. In fact, I’m interviewing the editors of Tesseracts Thirteen tonight (Nancy Kilpatrick and David Morrell. You might remember David Morrell as the Canadian author of First Blood, the book that was turned into the movie “Rambo”). Yeah. LOTS of creepy stuff that makes you hear noises in the dark when you’re at home reading them after the kids have gone to bed. Dumb, cenobyte, dumb.

I think Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Telltale Heart” is still one of the best ‘horror’ stories out there. That and “The Cask of Amontillado”. If you haven’t read Poe, go do it. Right now. I’ll wait.

See!? GOLD.

But mostly I’ve only talked about fiction (with the exception of The Vanishing Country). I’ve read some court transcripts that would scare the eggs out of dead chickens. And all the “non-fiction” haunting books are good….but…OH!!!

Mysteries of the Unexplained was an encyclopaedic-style book put out by Reader’s Digest. There are stories in that thing that STILL give me the heebie-jeebies. Particularly the story of Skippy the Wonder Horse who was found eviscerated in a field. *shudder*

Oh. OOOH. Whitney Strieber’s Communion. Hhhhnnnnnnniggggnnnnhhnnnn.


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6 responses to “cenobyte answers #6”

  1. Melistress Avatar
    Melistress

    No horror books have ever really scared me. The only one that came close was “It” and so I concur with that choice. The rest of the books I have just found deliciously horrible but not scary.

    The Telltale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado were awesome.

  2. Smarty Pants Avatar
    Smarty Pants

    Strieber scares the shit outta me. I love it.
    Also, re: chocolate hellbunnies.
    I READ THAT ONE TOOOO!!! AWESOME!!

  3. Silent Winged Coyote Avatar
    Silent Winged Coyote

    Oooooh I read coma when I was like 12 or 13. That was a creepy book.

  4. brielle128 Avatar
    brielle128

    I read alot of books that creeped me out but only one that I could never finish and actually can’t find.
    Its a real account of a real priest who does real exorcisms. Its a rare book, and I forget the name. I started it when I was about 20 but I could never ever find it once I put it down. I think I got to chapter 3 when I just could not go on.
    Read Poe…tradtionally bone chilling. But I finished him.
    It never really scared me, but John Gacy still chills me.

    hummm….I will have to go find that book. and finish it. FOR GOOD!

  5. brielle128 Avatar
    brielle128

    p.s. THANK you for doing a 2nd one for me. If I am filled with anything, its questions.

  6. Brielle128 Avatar
    Brielle128

    I GOT IT!!!
    Is called Hostage to the Devil by Malachai Martin (I think)
    That is the only book I have never finished due to outright terror.

    Of course…Slade is a master. (me being from SK and all)

i make squee noises when you tell me stuff.

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