Horror Aficionados discussion

Anyone a fan? He was possibly the first horror author I read,and my first book of his was Moon which I need to re read. I've read most of his books,the only early ones I've yet to read are the Rats series. His last book that I read was the superb '48 which isn't really horror. Other favourites include Magic Cottage, Haunted and The Fog. Couple of years ago I started a Yahoo group on the author but it got no real interest and I don't do yahoo anymore. (I did join a forum on a james herbert website but am still waiting to get authorised-been over a year now and I think the site must be inactive)

Yup. Waaay back, many yonks ago, I’d read an awful lot of Horror short stories (anyone remember the Pan Books of Horror?) and a few YA horror books (none of which I can remember the names of) but James Herbert’s The Fog was the first bona fide Horror novel I ever read. I was around 9 or 10 at the time and quickly read all the Herbert books I could get my hands on.

After James Herbert I found Stephen King and when I read Danse Macabre I went back and read all the classics I could get my hands on at the time, which was basically Lovecraft. I live in Ireland and it was pretty hard to get your hands on Horror books back in the 80’s apart from Herbert, King, Koontz and Dennis Wheatley, anything I could find I’d snap up and read.

James Herbert doesn’t get enough recognition IMO, he’s basically the great granddaddy of Splatterpunk (The Rats was written in 74 and The Fog in 75). If you haven’t read the Rats trilogy you’re in for a treat Larry, they’re so much fun. :)

Personal favs would be; The Fog, The Rats Trilogy, The Dark, The Spear, and I’ll always have a soft spot for Fluke.

I read The Rats and The Fog waaay back. I remember enjoying them but can't recall too much of the plots. And, yes, he is an underrated writer.

I liked his early novels, but his latest work that I read didn't really do it for me.

I grew up on Herbert-hard to believe he's 67!

Mr. H is guest of honour at WHC 2010 in Brighton this year if any of you can make it.

His early novels are the ones that turned me into a complete horror freak. I was nine years old. Fluke was a particularly wonderful story, Phil - read in a single sitting and never forgotten.

Yea Fluke was interesting,a dark fantasy that's quite fun at times.
You know I reckon The Fog could make a good film-tho they might have to change the title!

I've read 1 of his books. You'd have to look at my reading list find out the title.. It was pretty good.. He's so unknown here in the States, I'm really surprised when I come across one of his books....
The other is 'The Ghosts of Sleath' That I found in a Used BookStore..
I really have to get my reading done.

Always, the Ghosts of Sleath is the sequel to Haunted (which was filmed in the 90s)
I hear he was working on a third in the series.

I think it was 'Haunted' I read..

Always wrote: "I think it was 'Haunted' I read.. "
Yea it was, I found it in your profile.

So Fluke; They made that 1 into a movie right? Hope the books is better? Is it.. I see it occasionally at the Used BookStore

Always wrote: "So Fluke; They made that 1 into a movie right? Hope the books is better? Is it.. I see it occasionally at the Used BookStore "
Oh yea the book is great! (They also made Haunted into a movie-that didn't do too well either)

Must admit I really enjoyed his early books , the Rats trilogy I couldn`t get through quick enough , with Sepulchre being one of my favourites , some of his newer books i`ve found a bit of a struggle tbh , although i found "The secret of crickly hall" to be as good as he`s written for a long time.
Can`t believe he`s 67 lets hope he can make a hundred

I know, 67 eh, seems crazy!
I wish theyd make a movie out of The Fog, tho they'd have to give it a different title as that ones taken....

I've read just about everything he ever wrote. There are some clunkers - The Magic Cottage was weak, in my opinion - but most are excellent. The Ghosts of Sleath is a favourite, and he wrote a really starnge one called The Others.

I just read The Rats couple weeks ago and thought it ripping good fun. Just found a nice old copy of Lair. Been over 20 years since I read The Fog, remember being delighted by its outrageousness and lending it out; never got it back!

I got to talkin' 'bout horror books with a coworker. She is a big Herbert fan. I've never read him, but have had The Rats on Mt. Toobie for quite a while. She was excited that I had it and so I lent it to her. She, in turn, lent me Others, which I'm looking forward to reading. I didn't know The Rats was part of a trilogy. Is it the first book?

It is; then Lair, then Domain.

Thanks Will!

I have a review--no spoilers!

http://toomuchhorrorfiction.blogspot....

There's also a fourth Rats book called The City,its a graphic novel,quite hard to find apparently.

James Herbert. I was wondering when I would see his name in a topic on here. He is awesome. I remember I found the Fog as an ebook and read it when I was just starting to go on a rampage to find all of Richard Laymon's novels. It was incredible and is still my favorite Herbert book. I also loved the Rats trilogy, especially Domain. Other favorites of mine are Once, 48, and The Spear. Some of his other books I've read (Haunted, Creed, Sepulchre) are a real struggle to get through for me, but I think it's just because he tries new things all the time with his writing.

OH! he's great! i have read almost everything he wrote.they will surely give some goosepimps especially THE GHOSTS OF SLEATH!

http://www.jamesherbert.com/james-her...

New book out October !!!

Ooh must read that when our library gets it! Wonder if I can re read Haunted and Ghosts of Sleath before then...

Adam, what did you think of Once? I read it quite a while ago, and I loved it. One of my professors asked me to borrow it because she loves James Herbert. I was a bit reluctant to give it to her with some of the raw raunchiness of the book. I was her best student at the time, and I didn't want her getting the impression that I was a twisted person. (Although sometimes I wonder :p) But, I gave it to her, and we talked about it for weeks afterward.
I definitely recommend it to any JH fan.

I'm really late on answering the last post but I enjoyed Once quite a lot. I read it over a year and close to 200 books ago so I've forgotten a lot of it, but I do remember the gross middle-of-the-night sperm collecting scenes and all that. I usually hate fantasy but that book had a nice horror take on fantasy.
I've liked most of his books but I really didn't care for Sepulchre or Creed. Those two were hard for me to get through. The Spear was amazing though along with the Rats trilogy and The Fog is in my top five favorite horror novels.

I like the way Creed started!

Anyone read Portent? Its an environment fights back/climate-change consequence kind of novel a la 2012.

I haven't read that one, but now I really want to. I'm obsessed with natural disaster stuff like that.

Adam wrote: "I haven't read that one, but now I really want to. I'm obsessed with natural disaster stuff like that."

Yea I enjoyed it! I remember a scene where hail stones the size of baseballs falling in the street, one penetrating the roof of a car...

I've got to find this book now. It sounds a bit like that movie The Happening. Not the greatest movie but it's cool when nature doesn't do what man thinks it should.

I liked The Happening-subtle horror

I read Haunted a number of years ago & wasn't too impressed, so I've ignored him since. Hearing much about Rats I finished it a couple of days ago & enjoyed it immensely (despite some obvious weaknesses); I've just been googling reviews after posting mine at Casual Debris (saw yours too, Will, & I like your suggestion RE: Donald Pleasance).

My question to the community: Are the sequels worth reading?

I didn't like Haunted as well or Creed or Sepulchre by Herbert. I liked The Rats and Lair but absolutely loved Domain which is the third rats novel. I also thought that The Fog was amazing. I guess Herbert is really hit and miss for me because I'm struggling to get through Nobody True now.

I used to be a big fan of James Herbert, when he was all the rage with The Fog and The Rats. I think The Survivor has to be one of my favourites, along with The Spear. The one book I really didn't like of his was Once. I think he's a little like Stephen King.... he got worse the more he published! It's like they have to churn out all these stories and the quality suffered. I'm a massive Stephen King fan and I think for both of them their early work is their best.

Funny i've liked all James Herbert's book! Best one probably The Dark!

I definitely liked Herbert's early work better too. I enjoyed Once though but I didn't think it was anything special. Portent sounds good though. I wish I could find that one.

My only experience with Herbert so far have been Once, which I thought was too long and bored me and Haunted the movie, 1995 adaptation of his book with young Kate Beckinsale, which was just ok. But I own Moon & Domain at least, so I might give him a shot someday again.

I have read moon and did not really care for it.I know I read a book in the 80's or early 90's called The Fog that was really good but im not sure if it was the one by him or not.I know it was not basied on the movies.

Yea October- The Fog was Herbert's first novel- nothing to do with that film.

Wasn't The Rats his first & The Fog his second?

Yeh it was Rats first then The Fog.

I read Moon years ago and didn't think much of it either, I don't really remember much about it.

Domain is great but it's the third part in the Rats trilogy.

Can Domain be read as a stand alone?

Yeh I guess so, but I'd go pick up the Rats and read it first. The three books are pretty good fun, imo.

Theres actually a 4th Rats book called City- a graphic novel,quite hard to find!
BTW he bas a new book out now, a new David Ash novel called Ash.

I think my least favorite Herbert novel is Sepulchre. I don't remember a thing about it and remember struggling to get through it and I am usually pretty to satisfy when it comes to horror.

I remember really enjoying The Spear when I read it way back when. It was one of the books that turned me on to horror. I've read some others by him (The Fog, Survivor) but that one has to be my favorite of his.

Adam wrote: "I think my least favorite Herbert novel is Sepulchre. I don't remember a thing about it and remember struggling to get through it and I am usually pretty to satisfy when it comes to horror."
For me its The Spear. Struggled with that one

I liked The Spear but I didn't think much of it because I already had read my favorites by Herbert. He seems like a completely different author from book to book. I'm enjoying Nobody True a bit more now that I'm 75% throuigh it but I won't give it anything higher than three stars no mattr how good the ending is. The first half was too much of a struggle to get through for me.
Anyone read the Jonah? I've got that and The Survivor and The Magic Cottage left to read by him. I've heard a lot of good things about Survivor so I might try that next.