Hi, I'm a bit of a newbie at this so bear with me! I totally agree, Matheson is an amazing author. I first read this about 4 years ago and I think I've re-read it 5 times since, its gotta be the best alternative vampire novel ever written... 'cept the Keep. This is gonna sound weird but which movie version of I AM LEGEND did you prefer? Vincent Price or Charlton Heston? I'm a huge Vincent Price fan so you can gues where my vote goes!

Ahhh....We've had this discussion before.

I think the Vincent Price is much truer to the original novel, but I like the atmosphere of the Heston movie better. I don't know if I like either one 'better' than the other; they both have their goods and bads.

While I've only read the first three chapters, Arslan by M.J. Engh already qualifies as a terrifying reading experience. A thoroughly heinous villian combined with distinctly plausibile scenario are giving me a severe case of cramps. I am almost afraid to push forward.

The one book that always gives me the creeps is 'Vamphyrric' by Simon Clark, I tend to read horror/thriller stuff at night for the atmosphere but even when reading this in broad daylight it still make me shiver...
Especially the lift scene in the basement of the hotel.
I urge everyone to read this book! :p
-BD

The one book that always gives me the creeps is 'Vamphyrric' by Simon Clark, I tend to read horror/thriller stuff at night for the atmosphere but even when reading this in broad daylight it still make me shiver...
Especially the lift scene in the basement of the hotel.
I urge everyone to read this book! :p
-BD

Simon Clark? A few months ago, I bought his "Blood Crazy". This book is his first translated novel.... But I haven't read yet. Now I'm reading The daVinci Code. I know, I know,this is not horror stuff, but this is really awesome.

The one book that always gives me the creeps is 'Vamphyrric' by Simon Clark, I tend to read horror/thriller stuff at night for the atmosphere but even when reading this in broad daylight it still make me shiver...
Especially the lift scene in the basement of the hotel.
I urge everyone to read this book! :p
-BD

I have this book on my bookshelf waiting to be read (along with many others). I had been reading A Lower Deep by Tom Piccirilli but couldn't even get through it. I found the writing style to be horrible. I was about halfway through it and had no real concept of what was happening or why. I finally just had to give up.

I just bought a couple used books while on vacation up here in Canada: The Deep by Peter Benchley and The Mummy by Anne Rice - $0.50ea Canadian.

This sentence is from Japanese newspaper.

An 11-year-old girl taken into custody for allegedly killing a female classmate with a box cutter was quoted by police sources Friday as saying she did so because the classmate wrote on an Internet bulletin board that the girl was "prissy."

According to the police, Satomi Mitarai wrote on a bulletin board on her Web site late last month that the girl was prissy. The girl deleted the message, but Mitarai posted a similar one soon later.

To make changes to messages on a Web site, the girl would have needed a password. The girl told investigators that she did not like the messages so she decided to kill Mitarai.

The two girls registered with a service that enables users to create a Web site easily, and they both had their own sites on which each set up a bulletin board.

===

Admirer of 'Battle Royale'


The girl wrote and published on her Web site a story similar to "Battle Royale," a novel by Koshun Takami about middle school students who battle and kill each other.

She launched the Web site in January and started posting in late February sections from her story, which she completed this month.

"Battle Royale" is about 42 middle school students taken to an uninhabited island by the government to battle against each other for their own survival.

The girl's story was titled "Battle Royale--Sasayaki" and is similar to the original, although characters' names are different. The main character is a third-grade middle school student named Maya, who battles with 15 classmates with Japanese swords and machine guns. In the end, Maya wins to become the only student who survives the battle.

On Feb. 24, she announced on her Web site that she was going to write her own version of "Battle Royale." She also asked those who visited her site to post comments on it.

She also posted poems and messages about her classmates.

In one such post, she said she was annoyed with her class and that her classmates were "vulgar, rude, arrogant and selfish losers."

===

Rehabilitation planned


The Nagasaki prefectural child consultation center in Sasebo has requested that the girl be sent to a child rehabilitation facility that can keep her isolated from other children, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Friday.

The center made the request when the girl, who had been held by Nagasaki prefectural police, was referred to Nagasaki Family Court's Sasebo branch, saying being admitted to such a facility would be an "appropriate" action.

The child consultation center in Nagasaki received a report Tuesday from prefectural police containing details of the case and convened a meeting Wednesday to discuss what rehabilitation the girl should receive.

Based on the police report and talks with the girl and her parents, the center decided to refer the case to the Sasebo branch. If it is decided in family court that she should be sent to a facility, the center will choose the facility.

"Bearing in mind the seriousness of this case, we decided that she needed individual attention rather than social interaction at this point," said Masanori Nakamura, head of the center.

There are 58 so-called self-reliance facilities for children nationwide. Two of the state-run facilities are equipped with secured private rooms, but the only one that accommodates girls is located in Ujiiemachi, Tochigi Prefecture.

A Nagasaki child consultation center requested similar treatment when it referred a 12-year-old boy who abducted and killed a 4-year-old child in Nagasaki in July to the family court.

===

Ministry establishes project team

Education, Science and Technology Minister Takeo Kawamura announced Friday that the ministry had set up a project team to investigate the problematic behavior of young students.

The team will analyze the details and possible causes behind the Sasebo case and draw up a series of measures by the beginning of the school summer holidays to prevent similar incidents from occurring.

The team is expected to discuss how to educate children on the preciousness of human life, create a secure school environment and teach morals and manners in the information society, among other measures.

Early next week, the team will dispatch officials to Sasebo to gather information on the case.

"Primary school students are surrounded by so many influences, including the Internet and movies," Kawamura said at a press conference Friday. "We must ensure that children understand at a more profound level the importance of human life."

Thanks, Kenji. I didn't think much could surprise me anymore. I was wrong.

Most of these have already been listed, but here are the scariest books I've read (in no particular order):

The Exorcist
'Salem's Lot
I am Legend (and all of Matheson's shorter work)

I think alot of books were scary when I was younger (It for instance), but re-reading them later in life, I've found them to be less than terrifying. The three above however, are as scary to me today, as when I first read them.

What I have been able to digest of Lovecraft's work has not been as terrifying as it is unsettling. I have the strangest dreams after reading Lovecraft, as if his work is trying to burrow into my soul and take over, so to that extent I guess it's scary, but still hard to get through...

Anne Rice is not at all scary (unless you're looking at a picture of her, that is) and I think she has been mis-categorized as horror when she should be in the romance isle. Whenever I see a clip from the film version of Interview with a Vampire where one of Rice's Fabio like Vampire says "I haven't been human for a thousand years..." I think of Dr. Smith from that old Lost in Space show (Ohhhhhh...the pain). Since when are vampires so winey and petulant?

What I have been able to digest of Lovecraft's work has not been as terrifying as it is unsettling. I have the strangest dreams after reading Lovecraft, as if his work is trying to burrow into my soul and take over, so to that extent I guess it's scary, but still hard to get through...

Anne Rice is not at all scary (unless you're looking at a picture of her, that is) and I think she has been mis-categorized as horror when she should be in the romance isle. Whenever I see a clip from the film version of Interview with a Vampire where one of Rice's Fabio like Vampire says "I haven't been human for a thousand years..." I think of Dr. Smith from that old Lost in Space show (Ohhhhhh...the pain). Since when are vampires so winey and petulant?

I really need to read some HPL. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Speaking of Anne Rice, I just picked up a used copy of The Mummy for about $0.40. Has anyone read this/Is it any good? I read and was very disappointed in Interview with the Vampire, but I figured I would pick up th Mummy merely because of the cost. I also got Peter Benchley's The Deep.

I really need to read some HPL. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Speaking of Anne Rice, I just picked up a used copy of The Mummy for about $0.40. Has anyone read this/Is it any good? I read and was very disappointed in Interview with the Vampire, but I figured I would pick up th Mummy merely because of the cost. I also got Peter Benchley's The Deep.

Sorry, haven't read the Mummy. I somehow got through Interview and half way through The Vampire Lestat before I realized that I would rather piss a stream of barbed wire than read another word Anne Rice put to paper.

40 cents is a good buy, though...

The scariest book I've ever read is Desperation by Stephen King. It came out in 1996, so it is fairly new. I truly enjoyed it not only because it was scary - which I think it was - but I found this to be among his books so well written that I can actually visualize the settings and the characters.