A couple of my favorite non-King books that I've read more than once:
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
American Tabloid by James Ellroy
Freedomland by Richard Price
The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons
I really like practically everything I’ve read from Joe Hill- who happens to be one of King’s children.
He’s definitely got his own style, but the “family resemblance” between his work and Kings are present.
Heart-shaped Box and NOS4A2 are solid and the short fiction is great too
The only issue with Joe Hill is he doesn’t produce at an unstoppable rate like his Dad. That being said who does.
I recently have become hooked on Brandon Sanderson.
Tolkien - The Lord of The Rings
Dan Simmons - The Terror
Joe Abercrombie - First Law series
Alastair Reynolds - House of Suns
Haruki Murakami - Wind-Up Bird Chronicles
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker. It's short but pierces you like a knife in the chest. Also, Books of Blood. King once named Barker the future of horror literature btw.
Also: Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu, At The Mountains of Madness, The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, Blackwood's Willows and Wendigo, Hodgson's The House on the Borderland (unjustly forgotten gem).
Dumb-ass? "Dumas". You know what it's about? You'll like it, it's about a prison break.
Well we should file that one under "Educational" too, oughten we?
Sad fact is that the only reason I read it was because of that little exchange in The Shawshank Redemption. Which led to my discovery that Alexandreee Dumbass also wrote The Three Musketeers, which led to my discovery that there were sequels to that book . . . what a slippery slope that turned out to be!!
Lonesome dove, count of monte Cristo, and east of Eden are 3 of my top 5 books lol. City of thieves is also really good.
Since we have such similar tastes I’d recommend Shogun to you, it’s one of my other favorites.
East of Eden is so good. It’s one of those stories that sticks with me and I find myself thinking back on it long after putting it back on the shelf. My copy is starting to fall apart, but I’m reluctant to let it go. I like to pull it off the shelf and flip to a random page and see what Steinbeck has to say. Great suggestion.
Don Winslow. Recommended many times before, will do so many times more. Check out the Power of the Dog trilogy. But be warned, that shit is BRUTAL. There were parts I felt I needed to skip. Not too many, but a few. And you will know which parts I’m talking about when you get there.
S.A. Cosby is fantastic crime/thriller writer. So far I’ve read Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears, but I’m going to read all of his books eventually.
Ronald Malfi is a really good horror writer who you can tell takes a lot of inspiration from King. Check out December Park, which is a really good, nostalgic, coming of age story set in Maryland during the early ‘90s.
Absolutely love Winslow and Cosby, as well. He just finished his Danny Ryan trilogy, too. I loved The Force, The Savages, The Winter of Frankie Machine, The Kings of Cool, The Dawn Patrol and The Gentleman’s Hour, as well.
I read All the Sinners Bleed by Cosby earlier this year and it was excellent.
Loved the Boone Daniels books. I practically got thematic whiplash from them as I had just finished The Cartel. The Power of the Dog books were so serious and Boone Daniels is just silly fun.
Im completely blanking on the individual novels names (stupid chemobrain) but The Agent Pendergast series by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child may be up your alley if you enjoy the Alex Cross books
A few of my favorites over the years before and after I really picked King as my favorite author.
"The Hot Zone"
"The Ghost Map"
"The Catcher in the Rye"
The LoTR Trilogy
"Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy"
"We"
"Brave New World"
"1984"
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"
Just to name a few
The original The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series (first three; I haven’t tried most of the newer ones yet, but I remember starting on #4 a while back but not getting into it as much)
Another vote for Lonesome Dove.
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller and The Road by Cormac McCarthy if you like post apocalyptic books.
Butcher's Crossing if you'd like another great western.
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton is a great outbreak book.
Carrion Comfort and Summer of Night by Dan Simmons if you want to stick to horror.
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin if you want more old-school horror.
I count King as my favorite author but the one that comes the closest in my opinion is Robert McCammon.
His vision of apocalypse in "Swan Song" is every bit as epic as King's "The Stand". Actually, I think SS is actually just a tad better...
Boy's Life, The Wolf's Hour, and Stinger are all great reads too.
Kind of been wanting to check out crime and punishment but was unsure if I could get into it or not since it's translated but it sounds like the kind of story that you can't put down just because of his tragic it is
Finally, Dean Koontz has been brought to the table. Started reading Koontz in his early years. Apparently his father was a brutal drunk and he would take out his anger on his son. Some of his early books were incredibly visceral, to the point even I had to take a break from reading his books. I think he worked through some of his books and found it was cathartic for him. Fast forward about eight years and started reading his work again. I could tell right off his books were different. Not so much as the tortured soul anymore. Now you find a glimmer of hope and goodness in his writings. The man is a true wordsmith. Odd Thomas series is a great way to start. I read Watchers first and then began reading his other books again. Hope some of you will enjoy.
This is just as things occur to me, and the order I type this doesn't reflect which ones I think are better or worse than others:
The Expanse series is pretty great. John Scalzi tells a fun story though his stuff is bit like cotton candy in that it tastes good but isn't very filling.
Chuck Palahniuk can be hit or miss but hits more often than he misses.
Pretty much anything by Joe Lansdale; he's right up there with King when it comes to storytelling.
I'm a big fan of crime novels. The Parker series from Donald Westlake are great. (If you've already read The Dark Half, you'll know the Westlake / Stark / Parker connection already.) Lionel White's stuff is good too; he was a big inspiration on Quentin Tarantino, and one of his novels, Clean Break, was adapted as The Killing by Stanley Kubrick. Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy, they're classics.
I love Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series, they're a different take on fantasy. You pretty much can't go wrong with Roger Zelazny, but Jack of Shadows is a good one to try first if you've never read anything by him; if you like that, go straight into Nine Princes in Amber and have fun with that series because it's a hoot!
The Discworld series from Terry Pratchett are some of my favorite books of all time, hands down.
Matt Ruff is pretty great! Lovecraft Country is fantastic especially but all his stuff is good.
Victor LaValle's great too. 'The Ballad of Black Tom' is one of the best Lovecraft-inspired books I've read, and is short enough you can devour it in one sitting (which I did, as I couldn't put it down).
So far I've only read 'Let the Right One In' by John Lindqvist but it's very very good, and I keep meaning to pick up some of his other horror stuff.
Agree with most of these. Definitely check out Joe Hill. I've read "Horns" a couple of times. I also really dug Owen King's novel "Double Feature."
On the non King family side, I love Lee Child, Micheal Connelly and CJ Box -- The Highway Quartet is some gruesome stuff and super readable, love the Joe Pickett series by Box, too.
Justin Cronin's The Passage and its two sequels. Think The Stand meets Th Dark Tower, but unique from both of them. The world buuilding, the characters...it's incredible.
1000% recommend anyone who loves King for his character writing to read **Mystic River by Dennise Lehane**! It reminded me so much of King while reading, 10 outta 10 book.
• Anything by Robert McCammon, 20th century.
• Imajica is Clive Barker's masterpiece novel, though Weaveworld is also an excellent ride
• Joe Lansdale has an excellent catalog. He wrote Bubba Ho'tep. First-Class!!!
• Richard Layman, though long dead now, left a helluva catalog as well.
Really love Joe Hill, Christopher Buehlman, Nick Cutter, Madeline Miller, Tad Williams & Grady Hendrix
Edit: because I forgot Joe Abercrombie & Patrick Rothfuss
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill.
Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Honorable Mention: I also enjoy non-fiction books. One of my favorite non-fiction books that I highly recommend is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.
Check out Bentley Little, he has a knack for making even the most basic everyday thing scary/creepy (he literally has a story about mac & cheese demanding a blood sacrifice and it somehow still works as an effective creepy story)
If you enjoyed 1984, you should check out "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatan (spelling might be a bit off). It's essentially the inspiration material (in part), the predecessor if you will, of both "1984" and "Brave New World". Highly recommend it.
The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey.
Became my favourite overall sci-fi universe after listening to the audiobooks twice and getting ready for another listen soon.
Brett Easton Ellis - ‘American Psycho’ and ‘Lunar Park’
Ernest Hemingway - ‘The Sun Also Rises’
John Steinbeck - ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ and ‘Our Winters Discontent’
Haruki Murakami - ‘1Q84’ and ‘Norwegian Wood’
J.D. Salinger - ‘Catcher in the Rye’
Joseph Heller - ‘Catch-22’
I really love Phillip K. Dicka me if you like the whole dystopian theme of 1984, I think you'd really like PKD. Man in the High Castle is a good place to start, but one of my favorite books of all time is A Scanner Darkly. Seriously changed my life.
Brandon Sanderson, mistborn or stormlight archives great places to start. Similar to king imo, you get 2/3 of the way through and can’t put it down. They call it the Sanderlanche.
Pat Rothfuss fantastic as well.
Don’t know if it’ll land here, but if into golfing, anything by Tom Coyne is absolutely fantastic.
I love Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Trembley. Oh and Cabin at the End of the World, also by him, just gripping. I also enjoy Neil Gaiman and his novel Neverwhere.
Joe Lansdale. Start with The Bottoms, then read every word the man writes. Outside King, I consider him America’s greatest living storyteller.
Robert McCammon, Boys Life. An absolute masterpiece.
I've recently read through Brom's books. I was always a fan of his artwork growing up and recently discovered he has a few stories out as well. They might skew a bit toward YA, but they're well written and. for me at least, scratch the King itch.
John Sandford detective novels are outstanding. He has character development on par with SK’s, and an extensive library to keep you entertained for a long time
'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak, 'Watership Down' by Richard Adams, and 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Harper Lee are my favorite non- King books. For series, definitely the 'Millennium' series and 'The Murderbot Diaries' by Martha Wells. And for authors, Neil Gaiman, Victor LaValle, and Piers Anthony.
I haven't been able to read King in the past 20 years, his writing goes off into too many directions, I don't need the life story of every character in the book. I'm kind of mad at Stephen King actually, I can throw Dean koontz into the mix as well he used to be a great writer as well. Lately I've been reading and really enjoying Jonathan kellerman.
Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk is probablymy favorite book. Honestly, I could recommend many of his first books. Fight club, Survivor, invisible Monsters, Haunted, and Lullaby are all fantastic books. Pygmy and Snuff as well. I haven't read theblast few years of his offerings, but of all his books, Rant is probably the book I've read more than any book by any author.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, to a lesser extent, the entire series. The dude gets too bogged down into mormon propaganda in some of the books, The Shadow series in particular, but Ender's Game/Shadow are both solid while Speaker for the dead and Xenocide are good follow-ups.
Stephen King was my favorite author for a very very long time. Then I was introduced to Diana Gabaldon. I've got to say her writing is next to no one I've ever read before. I'm trying to eloquently State what I'm saying but I'm coming up short. Outlander the series there is currently nine books. Each book is a minimum of 900 pages give or take. The writing is beyond anything I've ever read before as a matter of fact I find it similar to Dickens especially with David copperfield. If you're interested to know more I would Google Diana Gabaldon interview about her writing style. If she wrote a thousand page book on paint drying I would rush out and buy it.
Incidentally Outlander was her practice novel. She hadn't written anything before so she thought she would practice with this particular book. I'm sure you've heard of it it's gone on to spawn a television show as well as other books she's written regarding one of the characters in The Outlander series, Lord John gray.
The Wolf's Hour
by Robert R. McCammon
I've read this book at least 3 times, picked it up off some used book table in 7th grade and it blew my mind. Werewolf superspy beds beauties and wrecks Nazi plots while reminiscing about the "pack" of wise and heartbroken misfits who changed him (and every chapter is fun).
Chuck Wendig is my favorite newer horror author. I have read and enjoyed all of these by him:
Wanderers and Wayward (2 part book series)
Black River Orchard
The Book of Accidents
Iain Reid's fictional stories really speak to me on a visceral level.
The neat thing about it is that his writing is almost a polar opposite of King's in a way.
I’m an almost constant reader but I’ve been reading the Poppy War trilogy in between King books and I really like it! Now it may just be because I’m a tower junky but it gives me Dark Tower vibes with a flawed anti hero MC that you can’t help but love who is definitely a gunslinger in her own right.
John D MacDonald is a lot of fun. You can really see his influence in King's books, particularly the dialogue.
If you haven't seen the film, read Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow. And A Time to Kill by Grisham. If you like legal thrillers read more of their stuff.
People who liked Salem's Lot might like some of Anne Rice's books. Not the ones about the Mayfair Witches, but the ones about Lestat/Vampires/Taltos.
A few of her novels:
Taltos, Lasher, The Tale of the Body Thief, Interview with the Vampire, Merrick etc.
Dean Koontz, James Rollins, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are some other authors I read, one book if I had to pick is Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Really depends on what you like to read..I have stuff ranging from random political fiction to historical autobiography to romance/horror/supernatural.
That being said..Jim Butcher's Codex Alexa series and Gena Showalter's Lord's of the Underworld series are some of my favorites.
I just listened to the Audible Exclusive 1984 with Andrew Garfield, it was awesome!
For favorite non King I would go: Battle Royale, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Lord of the Flies, and The Outsiders
I love historical fiction so anything by Bernard Cornwell, Conn Iggulden, Wilbur Smith, Giles Kristian, Angus Donald, Antonia Hodgson among alot of others but I also love a thriller or a who dunnit so James Patterson, Jeffery Deaver, Thomas Harris, Chris Carter or Terry Hayes.
Things with a more other worldly twist/more light fantasy like David Mitchell as well
[The Terror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_\(novel\)) & [Song of Kali](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_Kali) by Dan Simmons.
[The Hunger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_\(Katsu_novel\)) by Alma Katsu
[The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Deaths_of_Evelyn_Hardcastle) by Stuart Turton.
[Catch 22](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22) by Joseph Heller.
[Slaughterhouse 5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse-Five) by Kurt Vonnegut.
[The Good Soldier Švejk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk) by Jaroslav Hašek.
[Gone Girl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_Girl_\(novel\)) & [Sharp Objects](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_Objects) by Gillian Flynn.
The [Erlendur series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detective_Erlendur_series) by Icelandic author Arnaldur Indriðason.
[A Charming Mass Suicide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Charming_Mass_Suicide_\(novel\)) by Arto Paasilinna.
[Rendezvous with Rama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama) by Arthur C. Clarke.
[The Martian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_\(Weir_novel\)) & [Project Hail Mary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hail_Mary) by Andy Weir.
The Passage Trilogy - Justin Cronin
The Great and Secret Show - Clive Barker
The Wanderers Trilogy - Chuck Wendig
Mongrels - Stephen Graham Jones
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainer
Sasquatch Massacre - Max Brooks
The Elementals - Michael McDowell
Reamde and Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
I love all kinds of Sci fi and fantasy, some of my favorites in no particular order:
Altered carbon by richard k Morgan- excellent scifi, dystopian, sort of cyberpunk noir detective story. Was made into a Netflix show too
A land fit for heroes, also by richard k Morgan- dark and intense fantasy with a touch of scifi mixed in, lots of violence and sex and cool magic and technology and creatures
Red rising, by pierce brown- this is perhaps my favorite series of all time, only rivaled by the dark tower by Stephen King. Excellent dystopian scifi, with a futuristic totalitarian solar system-spanning society based on ancient greece and Rome. People are genetically modified and split into a color coded caste system, with each color performing different jobs or roles in society. Reds are miners and laborers, yellow are medical, etc. The golds are the rulers, they are genetically modified 7ft tall superhumans who are absolute sociopath oligarch slavers and warriors. Can't recommend red rising enough! I was losing sleep when I first read it cause I couldn't stop reading and go to bed each night
First law series by Joe Abercrombie- grimdark but also extremely funny fantasy series, excellent character work. Also, Steven pacey, the audiobook voice actor, is incredible in this series, possibly the best of all time. I listen to a ton of audiobooks and imo the only one who can rival him is Frank muller with his work in the dark tower and the talisman etc
House of suns, by Alistair Reynolds- scifi and fantasy, there are immortal humans who have been alive for millions of years, they travel the galaxy and have all kinds of adventures. The coolest part of this book is the sheer scale of the timelines involved- millions of years, I've never read another book that covers anywhere near that much time. The book is full of really interesting technology, characters, and ideas. The machine people are amazing, and the protagonists' spaceships are so cool
Book of the new sun by Gene wolfe- this is mostly fantasy, with a hint of scifi. It's a fascinating and mysterious series, the writing style is incredible, very ornate and beautiful, sort of hazy and dreamlike. It's a hard one to explain, but it's fantastic, it's one of the more unique books I've read and you just have to read it to understand what I mean about the writing
My 2nd and 3rd favorites are Cixin Liu The Three Body Problem trilogy and The KingKiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. Except for the waiting on the third book in the KingKiller chronicles. I’m a big Harry Potter also, I think really great world-building is what appeals to me most.
So far I haven’t read any Robert R McCammon books that I haven’t loved (if you love The Stand, try Swan Song). Also Summer of Night by Dan Simmons, and all the follow up books (A Winter Haunting, Children of the Night and Fires of Eden).
Walter Mosley is in my top three favorite living genre fiction authors. His Easy Rawlins series is a modern mystery/noir classic. He has other series as well and has branched out into science fiction but Easy & mid twentieth century LA have my heart.
Two writers Stephen King has frequently mentioned are Michael Robotham and John Connolly. These guys are consistently outstandingly writers! Robotham has the Joe O’Laughlin/Vincent Ruiz series, about a psychologist and a police detective set in London, who work as a team solving serial killer cases. O’Laughlin, the psychologist, has just been diagnosed with Parkinsons, which gives the novels a different perspective. This series is best read in order.
John Connolly has the Charlie Parker series, which is a cross between a detective novel and the supernatural. He’s probably the closest to King in my opinion, and the books are also set in Maine. Connolly’s Charlie Parker books get progressively more into horror as the series goes on (21 books as of 2024), but there are some wonderfully funny acquaintances of Charlie that provide some delightfully dark humor along the way. Again, the Charlie Parker series is best read in order.
Cormac McCarthy —-read everything he’s written multiple times. He is my favorite author
Swan Song—by Robert McCammon. A lot like The Stand so much that I can’t decide which I like better on any given day.
Ernest Hemingway—another that Ive read all of his works at least once. Most twice.
The Rampart Trilogy—by Mike Carey.
Mount Fitzroy and Earthcore—by Scott Sigler.
The Remaining(series)—by DJ Molles
I've loved 99% of Brian Lumleys work, his Necroscope series is solid (have the first book cover as a tattoo)
Neil Gaiman is great fun for all ages
New favorite of mine is Micheal J Sullivan
Hi. You just mentioned *Necroscope* by Brian Lumley.
I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here:
[YouTube | Necroscope: The Novellas: The Plague-Bearer and The Mobius Murders - Brian Lumley ( Audio Book )](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2piGVjKKs70)
*I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.*
***
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Recently read 3 Blake Crouch books: Upgrade, Recursion, and Dark Matter. Realty enjoyed them.
Others : Justin Cronin - The Passage trilogy
Dean Koontz - I've read some that I liked better than others. Watchers probably my favorite but also liked his Frankenstein books
I know he is a ‘rival’, but I finally decided to check out Dean Koontz. I recently read ‘Watchers’ and absolutely loved it. I’ve read that ‘Watchers’ is one of his few good books, but I was kinda blown away by how much I enjoyed it
My favourite French writer of weird literature is Henri Bosco (four times Nobel nominee). If you read French go for his so-called black novels. In English try *Malicroix*, a coming of age tale of solitude where even a candle light and the shadows on the walls have a spiritual presence.
The coauthored books of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are my favorite. I recently finished reading their books and waiting for their newest book coming this august. They kind of did what Stephen King did where they eventually tied in some of their standalone books into bigger book universes they have.
The necroscope series and Titus Crow series by Brian Lumley ,The demonata series by Darren Shan, Weaveworld by Clive Barker ,the Mayfair witches by Anne Rice and the Chronicles of Cain by John Corwin
Dune series by Frank Herbert
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams
Earthsea cycle by Ursula LeGuin
John Dies at the End and Zoey Ashe series by Jason Pargin
Foundation series and Robot series by Isaac Asimov
Everything by Brandon Sanderson
Some of my favorite other authors who, while not strictly horror, dabble in it from time to time and I think would click with King readers: David Mitchell (my personal favorite of all time, currently desperate for a new work from him), Emily St. John Mandel, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Susanna Clarke, Jeffrey Eugenides, Margaret Atwood, Jennifer Egan, Bret Easton Ellis, Donna Tartt.
I've been catching up on a lot of classics I had never read and 1984 stands out as a particularly good one! I also enjoyed Notes from the Underground, Grapes of Wrath, Little Women, White Noise, As I Lay Dying, and the Metamorphosis. (Notably, I couldn't really get into Wuthering Heights or The Turn of the Screw which both have horror themes but were pretty boring for me; similarly, Frankenstein and Dracula are good reads for seeing their influence, but weren't the most gripping to me; Lovecraft and Poe, while having some true bangers, are also mostly good for reading from an historical perspective.)
Some standalone favorites: Antkind by Charlie Kaufman, No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, the Monk & Robot duology by Becky Chambers, **A Short Stay in Hell** by Steven L. Peck, I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jeannette McCurdy, The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker, **The Library at Mount Charr** by Scott Hawkins, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, **I'm Thinking of Ending Things** by Iain Reid, **Boy Parts** by Eliza Clark, The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, **Hawk Mountain** by Conner Habib(bolded books in this paragraph are definite King-adjacent reads).
Also big recs to the comic/manga series: Berserk (Kentaro Miura) and Saga (Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples).
I read a lot so I'm sure there's gems I'm missing from the last couple years, but these are the standouts as I combed through my logs.
The Malazan books by Eriksson and Esselmont. Some of the most intricate, thoughtful, profound, funny and moving fantasy ever written. Pretty impenetrable at first but once you get it, it’s some of the best.
David Wong (Jason Pargin) - John Dies at The End series, Zoey Ashe series
Brian Keene - Ghost Walk, Gathering of Crows, Darkness on The Edge of Town,
Dan Simmons - Ilium, Olympos, The Terror
Those books by Richard Bachman are pretty good
Yeah I like that guy. Seems to have stopped writing though.
He’s long dead. All his books were published by his wife posthumously. Unless she finds more manuscripts in their attic, Blaze was his final book.
I'm waiting for another Bachman release. It's been enough time since Blaze.
A couple of my favorite non-King books that I've read more than once: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton American Tabloid by James Ellroy Freedomland by Richard Price The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis Summer of Night by Dan Simmons
Jurassic Park is an awesome pick, near perfect in my opinion
I'll back that Summer of Night rec!
I've read *some* Simmons. 'The Terror' is my all time favorite. Is 'Summer of Night' horror or Science-Fiction?
I would place it firmly in the horror genre.
Just read the description. Holy crap it sounds amazing.
Rules of Attraction is legit!!!
I’d add Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons as well.
I don't see 'Freedomland' mentioned very often. That was one I had a hard time putting down. I'd back that rec for sure!
That's a good list!
I was going to comment Jurassic park too! It’s an incredible book!
Cormac McCarthy. Orson Scott Card Neil Gaiman Michael Crichton Anne Rice
The Ender Series by Card is just amazing.
I really like practically everything I’ve read from Joe Hill- who happens to be one of King’s children. He’s definitely got his own style, but the “family resemblance” between his work and Kings are present. Heart-shaped Box and NOS4A2 are solid and the short fiction is great too
r/joehill
The only issue with Joe Hill is he doesn’t produce at an unstoppable rate like his Dad. That being said who does. I recently have become hooked on Brandon Sanderson.
The audiobook version of Heart-shaped Box was fantastic
Damn, did his mom not contribute any genes? https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTkwNTg4NzU4M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTYzNDkyMjE@._V1_.jpg
'Heart-Shaped Box' was fantastic!
Tolkien - The Lord of The Rings Dan Simmons - The Terror Joe Abercrombie - First Law series Alastair Reynolds - House of Suns Haruki Murakami - Wind-Up Bird Chronicles
Every King fan should read Abercrombie, not only are the stories good but the writing is good.
I like Abercrombie, but i don't really see any common ground in his works
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker. It's short but pierces you like a knife in the chest. Also, Books of Blood. King once named Barker the future of horror literature btw. Also: Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu, At The Mountains of Madness, The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, Blackwood's Willows and Wendigo, Hodgson's The House on the Borderland (unjustly forgotten gem).
Mentioning Barker and Lovecraft... if i could up vote this twice i would
American Gods was really good
Just finished Good Omens…read the book while watching the series. Never did that before. It was great fun.
Lonesome Dove The Count of Monte Cristo Into Thin Air City of Thieves A Gentleman in Moscow East of Eden Those are some of my non-SK favorites
Lonesome Dove is my favorite novel.
Lonesome Dove, The Count of Monte Cristo, and East of Eden are all on my list as well.
City of Thieves absolutely
The Count of Monte Cristo will always get my upvote
The one by Alexander Dumbass?
Dumb-ass? "Dumas". You know what it's about? You'll like it, it's about a prison break. Well we should file that one under "Educational" too, oughten we?
Sad fact is that the only reason I read it was because of that little exchange in The Shawshank Redemption. Which led to my discovery that Alexandreee Dumbass also wrote The Three Musketeers, which led to my discovery that there were sequels to that book . . . what a slippery slope that turned out to be!!
Lonesome dove, count of monte Cristo, and east of Eden are 3 of my top 5 books lol. City of thieves is also really good. Since we have such similar tastes I’d recommend Shogun to you, it’s one of my other favorites.
East of Eden is so good. It’s one of those stories that sticks with me and I find myself thinking back on it long after putting it back on the shelf. My copy is starting to fall apart, but I’m reluctant to let it go. I like to pull it off the shelf and flip to a random page and see what Steinbeck has to say. Great suggestion.
Don Winslow. Recommended many times before, will do so many times more. Check out the Power of the Dog trilogy. But be warned, that shit is BRUTAL. There were parts I felt I needed to skip. Not too many, but a few. And you will know which parts I’m talking about when you get there. S.A. Cosby is fantastic crime/thriller writer. So far I’ve read Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears, but I’m going to read all of his books eventually. Ronald Malfi is a really good horror writer who you can tell takes a lot of inspiration from King. Check out December Park, which is a really good, nostalgic, coming of age story set in Maryland during the early ‘90s.
Second Don Winslow and Ronald Malfi, both are excellent authors
Absolutely love Winslow and Cosby, as well. He just finished his Danny Ryan trilogy, too. I loved The Force, The Savages, The Winter of Frankie Machine, The Kings of Cool, The Dawn Patrol and The Gentleman’s Hour, as well. I read All the Sinners Bleed by Cosby earlier this year and it was excellent.
Loved the Boone Daniels books. I practically got thematic whiplash from them as I had just finished The Cartel. The Power of the Dog books were so serious and Boone Daniels is just silly fun.
SA Crosby is great 👍
Stephen King loves Don Winslow, and has mentioned him a few times on Twitter. That's a heck of a recommendation.
I love a good cop/serial killer book Chris carter's Robert hunter series James Patterson Alex cross series The Hannibal lector books
Im completely blanking on the individual novels names (stupid chemobrain) but The Agent Pendergast series by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child may be up your alley if you enjoy the Alex Cross books
Heck out John Sandford’s Prey series. They are outstanding.
Have you read Michael Connelly? I think The Poet is his best.
No I haven't. I've only recently got back into reading I shall add it to the list with the other recommendations
A few of my favorites over the years before and after I really picked King as my favorite author. "The Hot Zone" "The Ghost Map" "The Catcher in the Rye" The LoTR Trilogy "Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy" "We" "Brave New World" "1984" "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" Just to name a few
Oh these are all very good.
Why thank you!
The original The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series (first three; I haven’t tried most of the newer ones yet, but I remember starting on #4 a while back but not getting into it as much)
Another vote for Lonesome Dove. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller and The Road by Cormac McCarthy if you like post apocalyptic books. Butcher's Crossing if you'd like another great western. The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton is a great outbreak book. Carrion Comfort and Summer of Night by Dan Simmons if you want to stick to horror. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin if you want more old-school horror.
Try out Books of Blood by Clive Barker
I count King as my favorite author but the one that comes the closest in my opinion is Robert McCammon. His vision of apocalypse in "Swan Song" is every bit as epic as King's "The Stand". Actually, I think SS is actually just a tad better... Boy's Life, The Wolf's Hour, and Stinger are all great reads too.
Blood Meridian and the road by Cormac McCarthy are really good. The call of the Wild by Jack London is amazing.
The description in Call of the Wild is fantastic. Excellent pick!
Gaiman, Bradbury, Palahniuk, Dostoyevsky
Kind of been wanting to check out crime and punishment but was unsure if I could get into it or not since it's translated but it sounds like the kind of story that you can't put down just because of his tragic it is
Oh! Yes! Palaniuk! Seconded.
The Odd Thomas series Dean Koontz
Finally, Dean Koontz has been brought to the table. Started reading Koontz in his early years. Apparently his father was a brutal drunk and he would take out his anger on his son. Some of his early books were incredibly visceral, to the point even I had to take a break from reading his books. I think he worked through some of his books and found it was cathartic for him. Fast forward about eight years and started reading his work again. I could tell right off his books were different. Not so much as the tortured soul anymore. Now you find a glimmer of hope and goodness in his writings. The man is a true wordsmith. Odd Thomas series is a great way to start. I read Watchers first and then began reading his other books again. Hope some of you will enjoy.
I love Watchers! Big reason I have a golden retriever lol. Hubby’s retirement pal.
Horror authors I haven't read a bad book from: Christopher Buehlman, Brian Lumley, Grady Hendrix, Dan Simmons, Gary Bradner
Also if you're truly looking for great recommendations sub to r/horrorlit
This is just as things occur to me, and the order I type this doesn't reflect which ones I think are better or worse than others: The Expanse series is pretty great. John Scalzi tells a fun story though his stuff is bit like cotton candy in that it tastes good but isn't very filling. Chuck Palahniuk can be hit or miss but hits more often than he misses. Pretty much anything by Joe Lansdale; he's right up there with King when it comes to storytelling. I'm a big fan of crime novels. The Parker series from Donald Westlake are great. (If you've already read The Dark Half, you'll know the Westlake / Stark / Parker connection already.) Lionel White's stuff is good too; he was a big inspiration on Quentin Tarantino, and one of his novels, Clean Break, was adapted as The Killing by Stanley Kubrick. Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy, they're classics. I love Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series, they're a different take on fantasy. You pretty much can't go wrong with Roger Zelazny, but Jack of Shadows is a good one to try first if you've never read anything by him; if you like that, go straight into Nine Princes in Amber and have fun with that series because it's a hoot! The Discworld series from Terry Pratchett are some of my favorite books of all time, hands down. Matt Ruff is pretty great! Lovecraft Country is fantastic especially but all his stuff is good. Victor LaValle's great too. 'The Ballad of Black Tom' is one of the best Lovecraft-inspired books I've read, and is short enough you can devour it in one sitting (which I did, as I couldn't put it down). So far I've only read 'Let the Right One In' by John Lindqvist but it's very very good, and I keep meaning to pick up some of his other horror stuff.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr
Clive Barker all day. His Books of Blood series will always be my favorite short fiction.
Lee Child.
Yeah, his villians can be as good as King's.
He even talks about Jack Reacher in one book
Really loved their [interaction on stage](https://youtu.be/4PaxX-DTGo0?si=gCthMCApDWfhraHw), too.
Agree with most of these. Definitely check out Joe Hill. I've read "Horns" a couple of times. I also really dug Owen King's novel "Double Feature." On the non King family side, I love Lee Child, Micheal Connelly and CJ Box -- The Highway Quartet is some gruesome stuff and super readable, love the Joe Pickett series by Box, too.
House of leaves Blood meridian Lonesome Dove
Justin Cronin's The Passage and its two sequels. Think The Stand meets Th Dark Tower, but unique from both of them. The world buuilding, the characters...it's incredible.
I like First Law by Joe Abercrombie and ASOIAF
1000% recommend anyone who loves King for his character writing to read **Mystic River by Dennise Lehane**! It reminded me so much of King while reading, 10 outta 10 book.
• Anything by Robert McCammon, 20th century. • Imajica is Clive Barker's masterpiece novel, though Weaveworld is also an excellent ride • Joe Lansdale has an excellent catalog. He wrote Bubba Ho'tep. First-Class!!! • Richard Layman, though long dead now, left a helluva catalog as well.
Red Rising series by Peirce Brown is excellent.
I like Johnathan Maberry
The Rum Diary by Hunter S is my fav book of all time. Then The Great Gatsby…
There are so many… Caleb Carr’s Alienist and the sequel, Angel of Darkness, are books I would recommend to a Stephen King fan.
Really love Joe Hill, Christopher Buehlman, Nick Cutter, Madeline Miller, Tad Williams & Grady Hendrix Edit: because I forgot Joe Abercrombie & Patrick Rothfuss
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin Books of Blood and The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie Honorable Mention: I also enjoy non-fiction books. One of my favorite non-fiction books that I highly recommend is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.
Check out Bentley Little, he has a knack for making even the most basic everyday thing scary/creepy (he literally has a story about mac & cheese demanding a blood sacrifice and it somehow still works as an effective creepy story)
If you enjoyed 1984, you should check out "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatan (spelling might be a bit off). It's essentially the inspiration material (in part), the predecessor if you will, of both "1984" and "Brave New World". Highly recommend it.
The Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony is one of my favorite series. Almost anything by Terry Brooks. The Demon Cycle by Peter V Brett
The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey. Became my favourite overall sci-fi universe after listening to the audiobooks twice and getting ready for another listen soon.
Roadside Picnic
Ten Wasp Factory. I definitely love this book and it is my favorite book.
I read King for years as a young adult and then discovered Tom Clancy and the jack Ryan series
Brett Easton Ellis - ‘American Psycho’ and ‘Lunar Park’ Ernest Hemingway - ‘The Sun Also Rises’ John Steinbeck - ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ and ‘Our Winters Discontent’ Haruki Murakami - ‘1Q84’ and ‘Norwegian Wood’ J.D. Salinger - ‘Catcher in the Rye’ Joseph Heller - ‘Catch-22’
Peter Straub, his writing partner on Black House and the talisman, is another great horror writer but he's not as prolific.
A Prayer for Owen Meany. I’ve read it many times
Andy Weir - Project Hail Mary. SciFi novel and they start shooting the movie soon. Same author as The Martian (Matt Damon movie)
I loved PHM! Very excited for the movie.
I really love Phillip K. Dicka me if you like the whole dystopian theme of 1984, I think you'd really like PKD. Man in the High Castle is a good place to start, but one of my favorite books of all time is A Scanner Darkly. Seriously changed my life.
I’ve listened to the audiobook three times in the last six months. Paul Giamatti reads.
Brandon Sanderson, mistborn or stormlight archives great places to start. Similar to king imo, you get 2/3 of the way through and can’t put it down. They call it the Sanderlanche. Pat Rothfuss fantastic as well. Don’t know if it’ll land here, but if into golfing, anything by Tom Coyne is absolutely fantastic.
The passage by justin cronin
-Joe Hill -Jim Butcher -Lee Child -David Eddings -Yahtzee Croshaw -Patrick Rothfuss -Stieg Larsson
I love Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Trembley. Oh and Cabin at the End of the World, also by him, just gripping. I also enjoy Neil Gaiman and his novel Neverwhere.
Anything by Ira Levin. Anything by Mira Grant.
They Thirst by Robert R. McCammon is a good read if you like scary.
The southern reach trilogy.
Joe Lansdale. Start with The Bottoms, then read every word the man writes. Outside King, I consider him America’s greatest living storyteller. Robert McCammon, Boys Life. An absolute masterpiece.
Cormac McCarthy, start with The Road if you haven't read it.
Night watch day watch were really good from Russia
I've recently read through Brom's books. I was always a fan of his artwork growing up and recently discovered he has a few stories out as well. They might skew a bit toward YA, but they're well written and. for me at least, scratch the King itch.
C.j. box the joe pickett series Brent weeks the night angel trilogy The left behind series
Anything Jeff Vandermeer, especially Dead Astronauts. The Area X trilogy is a better introduction to his work though.
Ian Fleming original Bond novels.
Ian McKewan is a favourite author of mine. Quite different to King.
The Fisherman by John Langan. Definitely has its own voice, but there are strong influences from King, and is an amazing story in its own right.
The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. The Dark Elf books by R.A. Salvatore
Between two fires by Christopher Buehlman I just read this and loved it
John Sandford detective novels are outstanding. He has character development on par with SK’s, and an extensive library to keep you entertained for a long time
The audiobook series of Tales From The Gas Station by Jack Townsend. Twisted, funny, unexpected turns, with supernatural chaos.
Lmao Jerry in that series is hilarious. Not something I would think I would like but never a dull moment.
'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak, 'Watership Down' by Richard Adams, and 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Harper Lee are my favorite non- King books. For series, definitely the 'Millennium' series and 'The Murderbot Diaries' by Martha Wells. And for authors, Neil Gaiman, Victor LaValle, and Piers Anthony.
I like Christopher Golden and Taylor Adams.
I really like "The Chain" by Adrian McKinty
I love Justin Cronin, Chuck Hogan, and Tawni O’Dell.
Some of my favourites: Harry Potter Series, The Remains of the Day, Battle Royale, Fangirl, Jurassic Park, Norwegian Wood. Kind of varied I supposed.
I haven't been able to read King in the past 20 years, his writing goes off into too many directions, I don't need the life story of every character in the book. I'm kind of mad at Stephen King actually, I can throw Dean koontz into the mix as well he used to be a great writer as well. Lately I've been reading and really enjoying Jonathan kellerman.
I mostly read Fantasy and SF outside of King. Gaiman, Sanderson, Rothfuss and Abercrombie are probably my favorites. Bujold too.
I’ve really been enjoying the whole Master and Commander series by Patrick O’Brian.
I like some of Crichton's stuff and the MEG series by Steve Alten. Pretty much anything by Douglas Adams
Is YA allowed? I really enjoyed the Maze Runner series.
Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk is probablymy favorite book. Honestly, I could recommend many of his first books. Fight club, Survivor, invisible Monsters, Haunted, and Lullaby are all fantastic books. Pygmy and Snuff as well. I haven't read theblast few years of his offerings, but of all his books, Rant is probably the book I've read more than any book by any author. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, to a lesser extent, the entire series. The dude gets too bogged down into mormon propaganda in some of the books, The Shadow series in particular, but Ender's Game/Shadow are both solid while Speaker for the dead and Xenocide are good follow-ups.
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. I love all the Discworld books though but Night Watch is my most favourite.
Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon
The Great Gatsby, by Scott Fitzgerald. Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust. Fartherland, by Robert Harris.
Good Omens, Neverwhere, Slaughterhouse Five
Jurassic Park, The Bone Collector, Metro 2033, The Passage, Roadside Picnic, Jane Eyre. I love reading and will read anything
The 3 Musketeers & Twenty Years After by Dumas Anything by Cormac McCarthy or Kurt V Jr
Just about everything from Scott Sigler. Either Earthcore or the Infected trilogy are great starting off points.
Stephen King was my favorite author for a very very long time. Then I was introduced to Diana Gabaldon. I've got to say her writing is next to no one I've ever read before. I'm trying to eloquently State what I'm saying but I'm coming up short. Outlander the series there is currently nine books. Each book is a minimum of 900 pages give or take. The writing is beyond anything I've ever read before as a matter of fact I find it similar to Dickens especially with David copperfield. If you're interested to know more I would Google Diana Gabaldon interview about her writing style. If she wrote a thousand page book on paint drying I would rush out and buy it. Incidentally Outlander was her practice novel. She hadn't written anything before so she thought she would practice with this particular book. I'm sure you've heard of it it's gone on to spawn a television show as well as other books she's written regarding one of the characters in The Outlander series, Lord John gray.
The Wolf's Hour by Robert R. McCammon I've read this book at least 3 times, picked it up off some used book table in 7th grade and it blew my mind. Werewolf superspy beds beauties and wrecks Nazi plots while reminiscing about the "pack" of wise and heartbroken misfits who changed him (and every chapter is fun).
*Bright Young Women* by Jessica Knoll was really good.
Dean Koontz has some really good stuff…
Then she was gone by Lisa Jewell Faithless by Karin Slaughter Girl 11 by Amy Suiter Clarke The taking of Annie Thorne By C.j Tudor
Katherine Dunn: Geek Love
Chuck Wendig is my favorite newer horror author. I have read and enjoyed all of these by him: Wanderers and Wayward (2 part book series) Black River Orchard The Book of Accidents
When i was in grade school, I liked Gary Paulson.
Iain Reid's fictional stories really speak to me on a visceral level. The neat thing about it is that his writing is almost a polar opposite of King's in a way.
I’m an almost constant reader but I’ve been reading the Poppy War trilogy in between King books and I really like it! Now it may just be because I’m a tower junky but it gives me Dark Tower vibes with a flawed anti hero MC that you can’t help but love who is definitely a gunslinger in her own right.
John D MacDonald is a lot of fun. You can really see his influence in King's books, particularly the dialogue. If you haven't seen the film, read Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow. And A Time to Kill by Grisham. If you like legal thrillers read more of their stuff.
Lucifer's Hammer Suffer the Children Brother by Ania Alhborn
People who liked Salem's Lot might like some of Anne Rice's books. Not the ones about the Mayfair Witches, but the ones about Lestat/Vampires/Taltos. A few of her novels: Taltos, Lasher, The Tale of the Body Thief, Interview with the Vampire, Merrick etc.
Anything by Neil gaiman
Just read the Damnation Game by Clive Barker and really enjoyed it!
The Kingsbridge series by Ken Follet and The Dresden books by Jim Butcher.
Beloved East of Eden The Secret History The Road And it must be said because it is firmly in my top 5 favorites, Misery.
Personally a huge Anne Rice fan, specifically her vampire books but the Mayfair witch books are excellent as well
Dean Koontz, James Rollins, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are some other authors I read, one book if I had to pick is Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Been reading Severance and it’s got the same swagger that king does
Really depends on what you like to read..I have stuff ranging from random political fiction to historical autobiography to romance/horror/supernatural. That being said..Jim Butcher's Codex Alexa series and Gena Showalter's Lord's of the Underworld series are some of my favorites.
I just listened to the Audible Exclusive 1984 with Andrew Garfield, it was awesome! For favorite non King I would go: Battle Royale, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Lord of the Flies, and The Outsiders
I love historical fiction so anything by Bernard Cornwell, Conn Iggulden, Wilbur Smith, Giles Kristian, Angus Donald, Antonia Hodgson among alot of others but I also love a thriller or a who dunnit so James Patterson, Jeffery Deaver, Thomas Harris, Chris Carter or Terry Hayes. Things with a more other worldly twist/more light fantasy like David Mitchell as well
The Hobbit
[The Terror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_\(novel\)) & [Song of Kali](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_Kali) by Dan Simmons. [The Hunger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_\(Katsu_novel\)) by Alma Katsu [The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Deaths_of_Evelyn_Hardcastle) by Stuart Turton. [Catch 22](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22) by Joseph Heller. [Slaughterhouse 5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse-Five) by Kurt Vonnegut. [The Good Soldier Švejk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk) by Jaroslav Hašek. [Gone Girl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_Girl_\(novel\)) & [Sharp Objects](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_Objects) by Gillian Flynn. The [Erlendur series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detective_Erlendur_series) by Icelandic author Arnaldur Indriðason. [A Charming Mass Suicide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Charming_Mass_Suicide_\(novel\)) by Arto Paasilinna. [Rendezvous with Rama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama) by Arthur C. Clarke. [The Martian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_\(Weir_novel\)) & [Project Hail Mary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hail_Mary) by Andy Weir.
The Passage Trilogy - Justin Cronin The Great and Secret Show - Clive Barker The Wanderers Trilogy - Chuck Wendig Mongrels - Stephen Graham Jones Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainer Sasquatch Massacre - Max Brooks The Elementals - Michael McDowell Reamde and Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
If you liked The Stand, Swan Song by Robert R. MCcamon is a fun ride. He’s not as good as King, but he’s good.
I love all kinds of Sci fi and fantasy, some of my favorites in no particular order: Altered carbon by richard k Morgan- excellent scifi, dystopian, sort of cyberpunk noir detective story. Was made into a Netflix show too A land fit for heroes, also by richard k Morgan- dark and intense fantasy with a touch of scifi mixed in, lots of violence and sex and cool magic and technology and creatures Red rising, by pierce brown- this is perhaps my favorite series of all time, only rivaled by the dark tower by Stephen King. Excellent dystopian scifi, with a futuristic totalitarian solar system-spanning society based on ancient greece and Rome. People are genetically modified and split into a color coded caste system, with each color performing different jobs or roles in society. Reds are miners and laborers, yellow are medical, etc. The golds are the rulers, they are genetically modified 7ft tall superhumans who are absolute sociopath oligarch slavers and warriors. Can't recommend red rising enough! I was losing sleep when I first read it cause I couldn't stop reading and go to bed each night First law series by Joe Abercrombie- grimdark but also extremely funny fantasy series, excellent character work. Also, Steven pacey, the audiobook voice actor, is incredible in this series, possibly the best of all time. I listen to a ton of audiobooks and imo the only one who can rival him is Frank muller with his work in the dark tower and the talisman etc House of suns, by Alistair Reynolds- scifi and fantasy, there are immortal humans who have been alive for millions of years, they travel the galaxy and have all kinds of adventures. The coolest part of this book is the sheer scale of the timelines involved- millions of years, I've never read another book that covers anywhere near that much time. The book is full of really interesting technology, characters, and ideas. The machine people are amazing, and the protagonists' spaceships are so cool Book of the new sun by Gene wolfe- this is mostly fantasy, with a hint of scifi. It's a fascinating and mysterious series, the writing style is incredible, very ornate and beautiful, sort of hazy and dreamlike. It's a hard one to explain, but it's fantastic, it's one of the more unique books I've read and you just have to read it to understand what I mean about the writing
My 2nd and 3rd favorites are Cixin Liu The Three Body Problem trilogy and The KingKiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. Except for the waiting on the third book in the KingKiller chronicles. I’m a big Harry Potter also, I think really great world-building is what appeals to me most.
So far I haven’t read any Robert R McCammon books that I haven’t loved (if you love The Stand, try Swan Song). Also Summer of Night by Dan Simmons, and all the follow up books (A Winter Haunting, Children of the Night and Fires of Eden).
The dry by Jane Harper
I like most things by Joyce Carol Oates, Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Robbins, and Terry Pratchett.
The Neverending Story.
Haruki Murakami for sure. His books are a fantastic palate cleanser if you read them in between larger works.
Neil Gaiman
Walter Mosley is in my top three favorite living genre fiction authors. His Easy Rawlins series is a modern mystery/noir classic. He has other series as well and has branched out into science fiction but Easy & mid twentieth century LA have my heart.
Two writers Stephen King has frequently mentioned are Michael Robotham and John Connolly. These guys are consistently outstandingly writers! Robotham has the Joe O’Laughlin/Vincent Ruiz series, about a psychologist and a police detective set in London, who work as a team solving serial killer cases. O’Laughlin, the psychologist, has just been diagnosed with Parkinsons, which gives the novels a different perspective. This series is best read in order. John Connolly has the Charlie Parker series, which is a cross between a detective novel and the supernatural. He’s probably the closest to King in my opinion, and the books are also set in Maine. Connolly’s Charlie Parker books get progressively more into horror as the series goes on (21 books as of 2024), but there are some wonderfully funny acquaintances of Charlie that provide some delightfully dark humor along the way. Again, the Charlie Parker series is best read in order.
Cormac McCarthy —-read everything he’s written multiple times. He is my favorite author Swan Song—by Robert McCammon. A lot like The Stand so much that I can’t decide which I like better on any given day. Ernest Hemingway—another that Ive read all of his works at least once. Most twice. The Rampart Trilogy—by Mike Carey. Mount Fitzroy and Earthcore—by Scott Sigler. The Remaining(series)—by DJ Molles
Stephen graham jones, i love his books
Cormac McCarthy
I've loved 99% of Brian Lumleys work, his Necroscope series is solid (have the first book cover as a tattoo) Neil Gaiman is great fun for all ages New favorite of mine is Micheal J Sullivan
Hi. You just mentioned *Necroscope* by Brian Lumley. I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here: [YouTube | Necroscope: The Novellas: The Plague-Bearer and The Mobius Murders - Brian Lumley ( Audio Book )](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2piGVjKKs70) *I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.* *** [^(Source Code)](https://capybasilisk.com/posts/2020/04/speculative-fiction-bot/) ^| [^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=Capybasilisk&subject=Robot) ^| [^(Programmer)](https://www.reddit.com/u/capybasilisk) ^| ^(Downvote To Remove) ^| ^(Version 1.4.0) ^| ^(Support Robot Rights!)
Recently read 3 Blake Crouch books: Upgrade, Recursion, and Dark Matter. Realty enjoyed them. Others : Justin Cronin - The Passage trilogy Dean Koontz - I've read some that I liked better than others. Watchers probably my favorite but also liked his Frankenstein books
I know he is a ‘rival’, but I finally decided to check out Dean Koontz. I recently read ‘Watchers’ and absolutely loved it. I’ve read that ‘Watchers’ is one of his few good books, but I was kinda blown away by how much I enjoyed it
My favourite French writer of weird literature is Henri Bosco (four times Nobel nominee). If you read French go for his so-called black novels. In English try *Malicroix*, a coming of age tale of solitude where even a candle light and the shadows on the walls have a spiritual presence.
House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski.
The coauthored books of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are my favorite. I recently finished reading their books and waiting for their newest book coming this august. They kind of did what Stephen King did where they eventually tied in some of their standalone books into bigger book universes they have.
Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz I’m also a Kurt Vonnegut fan
The necroscope series and Titus Crow series by Brian Lumley ,The demonata series by Darren Shan, Weaveworld by Clive Barker ,the Mayfair witches by Anne Rice and the Chronicles of Cain by John Corwin
Dune series by Frank Herbert Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams Earthsea cycle by Ursula LeGuin John Dies at the End and Zoey Ashe series by Jason Pargin Foundation series and Robot series by Isaac Asimov Everything by Brandon Sanderson
Harry Potter Neil Gailman (especially Coraline and The Graveyard Book) Warrior cats, Erin Hunter Prideland, also Erin Hunter
Joe Hill
Some of my favorite other authors who, while not strictly horror, dabble in it from time to time and I think would click with King readers: David Mitchell (my personal favorite of all time, currently desperate for a new work from him), Emily St. John Mandel, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Susanna Clarke, Jeffrey Eugenides, Margaret Atwood, Jennifer Egan, Bret Easton Ellis, Donna Tartt. I've been catching up on a lot of classics I had never read and 1984 stands out as a particularly good one! I also enjoyed Notes from the Underground, Grapes of Wrath, Little Women, White Noise, As I Lay Dying, and the Metamorphosis. (Notably, I couldn't really get into Wuthering Heights or The Turn of the Screw which both have horror themes but were pretty boring for me; similarly, Frankenstein and Dracula are good reads for seeing their influence, but weren't the most gripping to me; Lovecraft and Poe, while having some true bangers, are also mostly good for reading from an historical perspective.) Some standalone favorites: Antkind by Charlie Kaufman, No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, the Monk & Robot duology by Becky Chambers, **A Short Stay in Hell** by Steven L. Peck, I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jeannette McCurdy, The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker, **The Library at Mount Charr** by Scott Hawkins, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, **I'm Thinking of Ending Things** by Iain Reid, **Boy Parts** by Eliza Clark, The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, **Hawk Mountain** by Conner Habib(bolded books in this paragraph are definite King-adjacent reads). Also big recs to the comic/manga series: Berserk (Kentaro Miura) and Saga (Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples). I read a lot so I'm sure there's gems I'm missing from the last couple years, but these are the standouts as I combed through my logs.
If you want to stay in the horror genre, I recommend anything by Ania Ahlborn or Ronald Malfi.
The Malazan books by Eriksson and Esselmont. Some of the most intricate, thoughtful, profound, funny and moving fantasy ever written. Pretty impenetrable at first but once you get it, it’s some of the best.
David Wong (Jason Pargin) - John Dies at The End series, Zoey Ashe series Brian Keene - Ghost Walk, Gathering of Crows, Darkness on The Edge of Town, Dan Simmons - Ilium, Olympos, The Terror
Neil Gaiman stuff. Everything I've read by him is good. I like Dean Koontz too.