King of Horror - Who Is He?

[Alex E Art]

Let's discuss who is King of Horror... Stephen King, H P Lovecraft, or somebody else? Your opinion.

Now I'm reading Stephen's Pet Sematary - very interesting and thrilling.
I heard Pet Sematary is very best Stephens's book.

[Xamonas Chegwe]

There are three kings (as is traditional) Edgar, Allen & Poe. They started it all.

Without Poe there would be no King (as in Stephen - not monarch).

There are a number of Stephen King books that I prefer to Pet Sem: It, The Stand and The Dark Tower series all take precedence for me (although the latter is not really horror, except in places).

Honourable mentions must go to Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, R L Stevenson (for Jekyll & Hyde), John Whyndham, MR James, Henry James (for Turn of the Screw) & H P Lovecraft, and to Peter Straub, Clive Barker & Anne Rice (along with King) in the modern era.

But Poe did it first and as well as anyone.

[Countess]

The answer is obvious: Poe.

[PeterL]

I pretty much agree with X.C., but I would give more credit to Lovecraft, who started the horror sub-genre as a separate thing. Lovecraft also was a very good writer who has not received the credit that he deserves.

[Sami]

Can someone clarify the difference between horror and science fiction? I have not read many of the authors mentioned here except Poe and Mary Shelley. I would’ve said that "Frankenstein" is a work of science fiction rather than horror, but then realized that I am not at all sure how to decide the difference between the two genres. Can anyone explain?

[Xamonas Chegwe]

Can someone clarify the difference between horror and science fiction? I have not read many of the authors mentioned here except Poe and Mary Shelley. I would’ve said that "Frankenstein" is a work of science fiction rather than horror, but then realized that I am not at all sure how to decide the difference between the two genres. Can anyone explain?

No. No-one can (won't stop 'em trying mind you!) The 2 genres overlap and the edges blur so much that trying to distinguish between them is pointless. Add the thriller & fantasy genres to the mix and things get really confusing.

Any definition of either horror or science fiction would apply to books that are considered to belong in the 'other' category. There are horror books that aren't scary. There are sci-fi books that contain no science.

Personally, I find Kafka's, "In the Penal Colony" to be as frightening and disturbing as any 'horror' story I've ever read. Whereas "Frankenstein", grteat though it is, didn't scare me in the slightest.

[Zippy]

Talking about blurring the edges between horror and sci-fi - has anyone read Richard Matheson's I am Legend? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031286504X/qid=1137158064/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-4606193-1900801?s=books&v=glance&n=283155 It certainly blurs the edges and apparently was the inspiration for King's Salem's Lot, my personal SK favourite.

[beer good]

Love, love, love "I Am Legend". I'm pretty sure it was also a pretty big influence on the whole zombie movie genre - Matheson's vampires certainly have more in common with Romero than with Stoker.

I'd say the difference between horror and sci-fi (and fantasy) is more in tone and purpose than in content. Simply put, if the story is supposed to scare the reader (or explore what happens when people are scared), it's horror, no matter how many laser guns you put in there. ("Alien" is horror. "Aliens" is sci-fi/action.) I suppose you could mix in Freud as well - sci-fi goes after the super-ego, horror after the id - but that's a way too deep discussion for me to give a serious thought right now... In any case, there are obviously a lot of stories that are both.

[Sami]

There are sci-fi books that contain no science.

Wouldn’t these books qualify as fantasy instead?

I agree with you that slapping genre labels onto books is pretty pointless because of blurry edges. But I am interested since when I saw this thread I realized that I’ve never felt drawn to reading horror, or for that matter sci-fi or fantasy, so I’m trying to figure out why I seem to have a prejudice against these types of work. Even if we cannot draw a solid line between them, they might share some qualities?

[Alex E Art]

Now writers don't "obey the genre purity".

For example, T. Pratchett is Fantasy+Humour+Detectives+...

[Xamonas Chegwe]

Talking about blurring the edges between horror and sci-fi - has anyone read Richard Matheson's I am Legend? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031286504X/qid=1137158064/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-4606193-1900801?s=books&v=glance&n=283155 It certainly blurs the edges and apparently was the inspiration for King's Salem's Lot, my personal SK favourite.

"I Am Legend" was also the basis for one of my favourite horror / sci fi films, "The Omega Man" with Charlton Heston. Matheson co-wrote but the story is changed quite a bit. Omega Man (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067525/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9b21lZ2 EgbWFufGZ0PTF8bXg9MjB8bG09NTAwfGNvPTF8aHRtbD0xfG5t PTE_;fc=1;ft=22)

PS Zippy - Love the avatar - Respect.

[PeterL]

I think that the subdivisions within the fiction genre are silly. All fiction is fantasy. Frequently there are traces of several types of fiction in a single work.