Recommended Reading List

Over the Edge

Madness or insanity, whatever term you use it has the same kind of horrific consequence. Its use representing a fear of the unknown, not of the big mysteries of life, but of the mundane around us. That someone we know and trust could suddenly become a stranger, acting without thought or reason. An alien taking possession of one you know.

These books tackle both that personal kind of insanity as well as the insanity of crowds. What happens when you are the only sane individual in a world gone mad. A world you thought you knew that is suddenly rudderless and without any sense of direction.

There is a frequent parallel in post apocalyptic novels, where uncertainly is brought about by the stress of a massive change that has destroyed the structures of society, but those are stories of inhibitions released from society's constraints whereas these are of people stepping outside their true selves to become something else.

The best of these will question where the boundaries are, ask questions of the nature of insanity. In a world where all are mad is the sane man truly sane. Sometimes the sane man is the one you have to fear.

• Ramsey Campbell - The Count of ElevenA dark, comic and disturbing story about a man who receives a chain letter, and shortly after starts getting bad luck. He sends the chain letter on, thinking that was the cause, and sure enough his luck improves. But then things start going wrong again. This is an excellent novel of paranoia with a man being pushed over the edge, into serial murder as he becomes sure that the people he sent letters to have not sent theirs on. [in print - UK]
• Ramsey Campbell - The House on Nazareth Hill After many years finally Campbell has gotten around to writing a haunted house novel and a brilliant one it is to. Moving at an almost languid pace for the most part, this contemporary story takes place within a modern block of flats built on a hill with a far older history, it revolves around the collapse of a father-daughter relationship, which towards the end reaches disturbing extremes. It begins with an excellent first chapter which has resonances throughout the entire novel, one of Campbell's best. [in print - US]
• James Herbert - The Dark A physical darkness spreads across the land, turning anyone that comes into contact with it into violent debased individuals, unleashing their darkest desires and turning them into an unstoppable hoard. Not a traditional masterpiece but one of Herbert's perfect pieces of schlock horror. Much mimicked by others, during the horror boom in the 80s Herbert did nothing but follow his own path.
• James Herbert - The Fog This is another novel about an external physical force that drives people insane. This time it is a strange fog that leaks out of the ground after the ground splits asunder swallowing a car. There are tragic moments as well as mere revelling in the psychotic, but Herbert pushes things to the limits of bad taste while keeping it an enjoyable ride.
• Brian Lumley - Necroscope : The Lost Years Volume 1Taking place in a period "lost" to Harry Keogh this novel starts with him searching for his lost wife and gradually he is drawn into the conflict between three Wampyrii lords, one of whom has locked himself in amber to try and recover from the Plague. Harry meanwhile is being drawn into a relationship with a budding Wampyrii and his psyche becomes increasingly unravelled as his mind is altered through several layers hypnotism. This novel looks a little further into the origins of the Wampyrii as well as all the events in the modern world. Definitely worth reading if you enjoyed the others. [in print - UK / US]
• Brian Lumley - Necroscope : The Lost Years Volume 2The conclusion of the events beginning in Volume 1, this is another excellent book. Things come to a head with Harry, because of the hypnotism, no longer willing to use his powers and his sanity increasingly pushed to the edge as he tries to put together all the contradictory information he keeps being given. The battle between the Wampyrii intensifies as the Lord Radu, still locked in amber, prepares to awaken. [in print - UK / US]
• Simon Maginn - Sheep A chilling and compelling novel about a couple who after losing one of their children move to a quiet clifftop house. Tensions mount as their relationship is put under a strain by the influence of events which still resonate through the small community. And of course there are the sheep, a source of inspiration and fear, which play an important role all throughout the novel. It builds up slowly to an incredible climax as all the truths are gradually unravelled and doesn't disappoint. This book is superb, and the revelations as impressive as they come; one of the best horrific novels I have read in quite a while. [in print - UK]
• Graham Masterton - The House That Jack Built Masterton's latest novel and an excellent twisted take on the haunted house/possession novel. With a powerful man from the past trying to make his presence felt in the present. Echoes of King's The Shining, but excellent nevertheless, and with enough of a different spin on it to make in interesting. [in print - UK]
• Patrick McGrath - Asylum A beguilingly simple tale told by a not entirely sympathetic narrator, this story of the tragic consequences of a woman's affair with an inmate in an Asylum is both poetic and absorbing. The events are revealed in a constant stream, filtered through the narrator who is himself personally involved, with some important pieces of the puzzle not exposed until the closing moments. [in print - UK / US]
• Patrick McGrath - Dr. Haggard's Disease A very similar style to Asylum, this novel is if anything a little more intense than that later work, another story of an affair, told from the point of view of the man in the relationship. A young trainee surgeon who has an affair with the wife of an older superior. All through the book the spectre of the pending Second World War hovers in the background, and it is only at the very end of the book that its significance to the story being told is really brought home. A very satisfying book that is hard to put down. [in print - UK / US]
• Phil Rickman - The Chalice A skillfully constructed novel taking a contemporary picture of a fragmented Glastonbury, the tensions between the New Agers and the Glastonbury locals, land developers and an ancient evil. The novel is long and complex, though flows smoothly enough to keep the multitude of plot threads from becoming confusing, and even with the ending which promises slightly more than it delivers, it is a thoroughly satisfying read. [in print - UK]
• Robert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr HydeThis oft filmed novel is short and quite brilliant, with the mystery beginning with the death of Dr. Jekyll, and the truth gradually unravelling from that moment on. Never really truly represented on film, this novel is definitely worth reading if only to see what form the story originally took. [in print - UK / US]
• Thomas Tessier - Fogheart A complex and well constructed novel about a pair of grieving couples and their experiences with an apparently genuine medium, it moves from ghost story to psychological thriller as the intricately interconnected narrative is brought towards a close. [in print - UK / US]

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