i feel like reading some horror genre, non-YA, non-paranormal, non-cozy.  just some hardcore horrors.  anybody with suggestions? 

I just finished Off Season by Jack Ketchum and I would classify it as hardcore. It's grisly and graphic and definitely leaves you with a bit of an ick feeling. I liked it.

is that a sci-fi, Heather?

No it's definitely hardcore horror.

What are you looking for in a horror story?

edward lee or wrath james white

i don't know.  just want a change. been reading mystery after mystery after mystery...i miss traditional horror like stephen king.

I started a Bentley Little today that I'm really enjoying.

thanks Shaun. any titles in particular?

is it the Disappearance??  they have Off Season in the library. will pick it up later. :)

The Association, but I also picked up The Store and The Walking. 

I'm currently on a big horror kick too. I'm burned out on Urban Fantasy and I needed something with more....just more LOL. I have a huge list of zombie books I'm working my way through too, but that's a thing all on it's own :)

It sounds like we might be thinking of different things Olivia.  If you "miss traditional horror like stephen king", then you are not looking for "hardcore horror".  Hardcore Horror is a term used for very graphic horror stories, with extreme amounts of gore, sex, and perversions that really push boundaries.  As mentioned above, Off Season by Ketchum, as well as the works of Wrath and Ed Lee (especially his small press stuff) fall under the banner of "Hardcore".  If you mean that you want horror that you used to enjoy, such as when you read Stephen King, You might want to Try Bentley Little, Richard Laymon, Dean Koontz, Jonathan Maberry, and James Moore.  It just seems from the posts that you are using the term "hardcore horror" not knowing it can actually be used to describe a specific subgenre.

Wrath James White, hands down! 

sounds good Steven.  Yeah I guess I was using the term loosely (hardcore as supposed to cozy). :) 

thanks Sandy! will try.

A few weeks ago I read Afraid by Jack Kilborn and really liked it.  No supernatural elements, but lots of tension and horror and graphic descriptions of gore/torture.  The author also writes as JA Konrath of the Jack Daniels mystery series.

I loved afraid too.  Also Jack ketchum, wrath, jf gonzales, brian smith.  But these are defintely the hard core meaning gore, perverted.

More traditional would be old dean koontz- phantoms, watchers, house of thunder.  His newer stuff I find pretty boring.  If you like survival type stories- the road, one second after, and right now I am reading black monday.  It is really good.  About a microbe that eats oil.  It is amazing how quickly things are falling apart with no oil/gas.

Zombies would be brian keene, Anthony Giangregorio,David Wellington

Anything by Richard Laymon or Edward Lee.

Richard Matheson - Hell House and I am Legend

Herman Raucher - Maynards House

Peter Straub - Shadowland and Ghost Story

Peter Straub is quite dark.  have you read A Special Place: the heart of the dark matter, Jerry?

I haven't read that specific Peter Straub:  A Special Place - is it a new one?

I did read most of his other works, one of the most disturbing was KOKO.  There is a scene in there , that haunts me to this day, where a young beautiful women is beaten to death in a private underground club for the 'ultimate kick'.

I will never get over it, also he wrote some other very disturbing stuff about some lost boys.

Did you also find that when he wrote together with Stephen King( The Talisman and The Black House), it was even more creepy than just Stephen KIng alone.

try tim curran, the devil next door

If your into vampires check out Brian Lumley. The Necroscope series is very good!

Jerry, that is a prequel (a very short one) to A Dark Matter.

I haven't got to KOKO yet and I have talisman and the black house on my TBR.

wow i'm not familiar with a lot of these authors here.  Will have to them all out!  thanks for all the recommendations!

Dont be fool by the title Snow by Ronald Malfi one of the better horror books to come along in a while waiting for Floating Staircase by him was suppose to have been out by now dont know whats happing with it.Also any by Brian Keene and Bryan Smith worth the time to read them.Robin

Eric Enck --  Snuff

Nothing like Clive Barker of Bently Little for good ole fashioned horror!

I got Snuff by Eric Enck a few weeks ago.  Read it, posted it and glad to be shed of it.  Talk about violence for the sake of violence!  With all the good reviews I'd read, I expected a well-written, well-conceived novel, but I was sorely disappointed.  The "surprise" ending was laughable and if the reader doesn't see it coming a mile away then someone isn't paying attention.  All gore, no substance.  I love hardcore horror, but this book was a major fail for me.

On the other hand, I also picked up a copy of Brain Cheese Buffet by Edward Lee and really enjoyed that one.  Twisted and perverted on several levels; great read.  Also posted that one, so I'm doing my part to get some seldom printed horror into the system.