I looked at reviews for this series at Amazon and it is right up my alley, so far I've gotten a big stack of books for reading from all of everyone's suggestions. This forum is awesome. Keep em coming.

My favorite monster book is Stinger by Robert McCammon. I've read it twice, and if I hadn't given mine away, I'd read it again. The monster isn't fully explained, but that doesn't matter.

I don't know how old you are, but if you remember horror movies from the 50's and 60's, with critters taking over a town, teenagers trying to convince the authorities something's going on, and nobody listens -- it's kinda like that.

I also liked The Mist and The Raft by Stephen King.

There are tons of books about werewolves, vampires, zombies, etc., but not too many "monster" books. They are to be treasured. :)

They Thirst by Robert McCammon - about the undead in L.A. Read this years ago and it gave me chills. Later read Swan Song which remains one of my favs by McCammon.

Try anything by the recently deceased Richard Laymon. Douglas Cleeg is also quite good.

You might enjoy Steven Harriman's book SLEEPER. I know it's hard to find on the bookshelves, but you can always order a copy from Amazon.com. I've read it. I'm not a huge fan of monster books, but I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

Thanks for that one. It is now another on my list.

I have to second all of the recommendations for Robert McCammon. I've loved everything of his I've read so far... Swan Song (life-in-the-new-wasteland-after-nuclear-devastation story), The Wolf's Hour (Nazi hunter working for the Allies in WWII... who just so happens to be a werewolf), Stinger (just a damned good hoot of a Texas tall tale), They Thirst (very convincing, and damned spooky vampire tale), Blue World (a wonderful collection of intriguing short stories).

And finally, Speaks the Nightbird, his latest novel which is more historical fiction than horror, but is such a damned good read you don't mind that there are no vampires or werewolves. It takes place in colonial America, and deals with a witch trial. The writing is just top notch, and the characters are so fleshed out that you hate to finish the book and be done with them. Fortunately, McCammon is working on a sequel, and has plans for a series.

Aside from McCammon, I would suggest 'Falling Angel' by William Hjortsberg (may be out of print, but should be available on eBay for cheap enough in paperback. This was filmed as Angel Heart, and is really a smokin' good read.)

Clive Barker's first three 'Books of Blood' are simply, without a doubt, killer reads, as well as his 'Hellbound Heart', filmed as Hellraiser.

Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' really is terrific.

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchetts' 'Good Omens' is a fun little read about the anti-christ. It really is humor, but if you're at all into devilish fiction, this is really good for some comic relief. I also like Neil's 'Neverwhere', but that's more dark fantasy than hard horror, although it does get pretty juicy at times.

Other authors I'd say you'd really do no wrong no matter what you pick up; Edgar Allan Poe (duh!), Ambrose Bierce (probably my favorite author after Poe), Sheridan le Fanu, Clark Ashton Smith, Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson, Whitley Strieber (his early horror stuff, not the alien stuff) Michael Cadnum, Ray Garton, Joe Lansdale, Thomas Harris, Shaun Hutson (if you can get it... he's not published in the states very much, you'll have to try eBay or Amazon.uk).

Hope I didn't overload anyone with all those, but I really do stand behind everything listed. These are several of my most favorite authors/books. Hope you give some of them a try, and enjoy them as much as I have. :)

By the way, Brian Keene's book "The Rising" is going to be reprinted and released this summer. :up:

It's a great "living dead/zombie" book.

Sessa17 these are some of the best books ever, I love them, I am just finishing up the Bloodwars trilogy.

Read the whole Necroscope series (1-5)

Just browsing through my book collection to see what I have that would classify as "monster" stories:

Clive Barker: maybe his more "fantastical" stories such as "Weaveworld", "Imajica", "Great and Secret Show", "Cabal". Not classic monster stories, but no shortage of weird creatures.

John Farris: "Wildwood" and "Fiends". He's an uneven writer (IMO) but these 2 older novels are great and original creature/monster stories. I slightly prefer "Wildwood" for its originality, though "Fiends" really fits the classic "monster" story to a tee (and is great too). Truly an original monster creation.

Jeff Long: "The Descent". I love the premise -- a team of scientists descend into the Earth to discover that demons, the devil, and hell are real (with a scientific explanation). Fast-paced, exciting reading.

Dean Koontz: A number of his things are "monster" stories. Best examples include "Watchers", "Twilight Eyes", "Shadowfires", and "Phantoms".

Brian Lumley: I'll give a recommedation to the "Necroscope" books as well. I got tired of the series after a while, but it starts out great. I particularly like the books set in the "vampire" world (like "The Source" and the Blood Brothers trilogy).

Robert McCammon: He's also been mentioned here -- he wrote some great monster books in the 80s: "Wolf's Hour", "Stinger", "They Thirst" among others.

Larry Niven (and others): "Legacy of Heorot" -- Aliens-style horror/sci-fi by one of sci-fi's greats.

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: "The Relic" and "Reliquary" -- don't be put off by the mediocre movie. The books are great, and pure old-school sci-fi/horror monster fun.

Tim Powers: "The Anubis Gates", "On Stranger Tides", "The Stress of her Regard". I LOVE these books. For a while, Powers was one of my favorite writers (he lost me with his more recent books, which seemed to get bogged down under their own mythology). Wildly original and almost impossible to describe mixtures of fantasy, horror, sci-fi, adventure, history. You want monsters? You've got werewolves, vampires, zombies, demons, ghosts, and much more. A great writer who seems largely unknown.

F. Paul Wilson: "The Tomb" is a great monster story, and the first featuring the popular Repairman Jack character. "The Keep" is another case of "don't be fooled by the crappy movie". Outside of those 2, I wasn't as impressed with the "Adversary" series (the first 2 I mentioned stand alone -- only later books formed a series that had to be read in order). Though the "Nightworld" finale was pretty spectacular.

China Mieville: "Perdido Street Station" and "The Scar" are some my favorite novels of the last few years. Wildly inventive mix of fantasy/horror/sci-fi -- they're big, and require attention to get going, but worth all the effort. And they are (especially PSS) "monster" stories.

Silly question for justgoofin...

Have you read Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN? I think you said you did in your original post but if you haven't I highly recommened it.

The book is -NOTHING- like the "pop-culture" version of Frankenstein's Monster that everyone is familiar with. In fact, although the classic movie from the 30's is fantastic, I must admit that after reading Shelley's book even that classic seems to fall shor to f the tragic and touching story of the Shelley's "Monster" and the man that created him. The "monster" in the book isn't the slow lumbering seemingly primitve creature of the classic movie.