Here are 64 books that Ring fans have personally recommended if you like
Ring.
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I’ve long been fascinated by tales of the paranormal. Legends of ghosts, ogres, and demons stretch back to prehistory, and as H.P. Lovecraft wrote, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” Advances in science and technology are often seen as a remedy against fearing things that go bump in the night. But in the realm of speculative fiction, what if such technology becomes the opposite: a means for the supernatural to make its presence known? This fearful juxtaposition is skillfully depicted in the five books I describe below. I hope you enjoy them.
Supernatural horror meets the industrial-age love affair with the automobile—a combination I found irresistible. The novel’s protagonist, a social outcast, finds purpose and connection in his purchase of a piece of modern technology—a 1958 Plymouth Fury—which then proves to be his undoing via supernatural agency: the car is cursed, a receptacle for evil influences.
This also lends the novel an element of pathos without being saccharine or emotionally manipulative. I found this book to be a darkly captivating read.
Stephen King’s ultimate evil vehicle of terror, Christine: the frightening story of a nerdy teenager who falls in love with his vintage Plymouth Fury. It’s love at first sight, but this car is no lady.
Evil is alive in Libertyville. It inhabits a custom-painted red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine and young Arnold Cunningham, who buys it.
Along with Arnold’s girlfriend, Leigh Cabot, Dennis Guilder attempts to find out the real truth behind Christine and finds more than he bargained for: from murder to suicide, there’s a peculiar feeling that surrounds Christine—she gets revenge on anyone standing in…
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
I am an Anglo-Irish writer who has lived in Japan for eighteen years. During that time, my interest in the Japanese supernatural has deepened to the point where it is now the main focus of my writing. In my free time, I enjoy traveling around Japan collecting local ghost stories and folk tales. This, along with my extensive reading of both fiction and non-fiction on the topic, has provided a rich source of inspiration for my writing. I am also a keen observer of people, daily life, and the environment in which I live, which helps me to colour and add realism to my stories.
I came across Ugetsu Monogatari in a used bookshop at a time when I was voraciously reading everything I could lay my hands on about the Japanese supernatural. First published in 1776, it is rightly regarded as one of the most important collections of Japanese ghostly fiction. Ugetsu Monogatari gave me a greater and deeper insight into this fascinating world. Almost as Interesting as the book itself is the life story of the author. The son of a prostitute and an unknown father Ueda Akinari was born in a period when the Japanese were deeply interested in yokai and yurei. He himself was a firm believer in the supernatural. It is that belief and the influence of the period which makes this book such an essential read for anyone interested in the subject. It is a book that I often return to.
First published in 1776, the nine gothic tales in this collection are Japan's finest and most celebrated examples of the literature of the occult. They subtly merge the world of reason with the realm of the uncanny and exemplify the period's fascination with the strange and the grotesque. They were also the inspiration for Mizoguchi Kenji's brilliant 1953 film Ugetsu. The title Ugetsu monogatari (literally "rain-moon tales") alludes to the belief that mysterious beings appear on cloudy, rainy nights and in mornings with a lingering moon. In "Shiramine," the vengeful ghost of the former emperor Sutoku reassumes the role of…
I’ve always been a fan of dark stories and unsolved mysteries. As I grew older, this led me to read true crime, historical mysteries, horror stories, and mystery detective fiction. I also have a preference for classic stories from decades gone by, as I have a strong interest in how genre-defining stories that appear at a certain time can have great influence over a generation of writers. So, it’s fitting to say that all my recommendations tend to be great stories from long ago. Much like the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, people still read these stories today and probably will in the future since great stories are timeless.
Edogawa Rampo is the father of Japanese detective fiction, and this macabre short story collection is a perfect introduction to his work. While not detective stories per se (he’s written some that are), these stories showcase a series of works that are fascinating, varied, dark, and very fun to read.
Borrowing from elements from Western Silver Age detective fiction but adding elements of the grotesque and twisted, he is very distinct from all the Western mystery fiction I’ve read from a similar era. Since detective fiction formally started with Edgar Allen Poe and his C. Auguste Dupin in macabre stories, this seems a throwback to that storied history for me.
This collection of mystery and horror stories is regarded as Japan's answer to Edgar Allan Poe.
Japanese Tales of Mystery & Imagination, the first volume of its kind translated into English, is written with the quick tempo of the West but rich with the fantasy of the East. These nine bloodcurdling, chilling tales present a genre of literature largely unknown to readers outside Japan, including the strange story of a quadruple amputee and his perverse wife; the record of a man who creates a mysterious chamber of mirrors and discovers hidden pleasures within; the morbid confession of a maniac who…
The Guardian of the Palace is the first novel in a modern fantasy series set in a New York City where magic is real—but hidden, suppressed, and dangerous when exposed.
When an ancient magic begins to leak into the world, a small group of unlikely allies is forced to act…
I am an Anglo-Irish writer who has lived in Japan for eighteen years. During that time, my interest in the Japanese supernatural has deepened to the point where it is now the main focus of my writing. In my free time, I enjoy traveling around Japan collecting local ghost stories and folk tales. This, along with my extensive reading of both fiction and non-fiction on the topic, has provided a rich source of inspiration for my writing. I am also a keen observer of people, daily life, and the environment in which I live, which helps me to colour and add realism to my stories.
This is the first in a three-volume set which I regard as one book. All are a total joy as they offer the reader the chance to read stories mostly not previously available in English. Having read the available famous stories of yurei and yokai to death, I felt like a little kid at Christmas when presented with the whole set (actually at Christmas!). Because the stories were written in many styles from the 1700s to the 2000s, and cover the whole range of Japanese ghost stories, I got a genuine insight into how tales of the Japanese supernatural have developed through the centuries and how the past influences the present. It was also interesting to see how contemporary events, such as World War II, influenced the stories. Just writing this makes me want to dive back into the stories.
Japan has a long history of weird and supernatural literature, but it has been introduced into English only haphazardly until now. The first volume of a 3-volume anthology covering over two centuries of kaiki literature, including both short stories and manga, from Ueda Akinari's "Ugetsu Monogatari" of 1776 to Kyogoku Natsuhiko's modern interpretations of popular tales. Selected and with commentary by Higashi Masao, a recognized researcher and author in the field, the series systemizes and introduces the scope of the field and helps establish it as a genre of its own. This first volume presents a variety of work focusing…
I’ve been enjoying Japanese stories from the moment I first found them, a direct result of living, studying, and working in Japan for five years, from Imari City (in Kyushu Island) to Tokyo (on Honshu). The pacing of Japanese novels—starting out slowly and deliberately, then speeding up like a tsunami out of nowhere—totally appeals to me, and feels infinitely more connected to exploring the subtleties, complexity, and beauty of relationships. This is especially true when compared to Western novels, which seem overly obsessed with splashing grand, dramatic action and injury on every other page. I just love revisiting Japan through reading.
Whether a fan of anime and video games, or an admirer of ancient Noh drama and Kabuki dances, one can’t really know the heart of Japan without reading Lafcadio Hearn’s translations of ghostly tales, all contained in this amazing volume. There are demons and goblins that exist way-y-y beyond the average Westerner’s mind. There are legends that send chills up and down the spine, creatures without faces, a man who marries the love of his life only to lose her after just five years because she is really the soul of a tree… Enjoy these stories of the bewitched and karmically affected characters.
A blind musician with amazing talent is called upon to perform for the dead. Faceless creatures haunt an unwary traveler. A beautiful woman — the personification of winter at its cruelest — ruthlessly kills unsuspecting mortals. These and seventeen other chilling supernatural tales — based on legends, myths, and beliefs of ancient Japan — represent the very best of Lafcadio Hearn's literary style. They are also a culmination of his lifelong interest in the endlessly fascinating customs and tales of the country where he spent the last fourteen years of his life, translating into English the atmospheric stories he so…
I’ve long been fascinated by tales of the paranormal. Legends of ghosts, ogres, and demons stretch back to prehistory, and as H.P. Lovecraft wrote, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” Advances in science and technology are often seen as a remedy against fearing things that go bump in the night. But in the realm of speculative fiction, what if such technology becomes the opposite: a means for the supernatural to make its presence known? This fearful juxtaposition is skillfully depicted in the five books I describe below. I hope you enjoy them.
I am deeply interested in the heyday of spiritualism in Europe and America in the 19th and 20th centuries, so I wanted to read this book as soon as I saw the synopsis. I wasn’t disappointed.
Set in Belfast in 1914, the novel is based upon the real-life attempts of engineering professor William Jackson Crawford to prove the existence of spirits by the use of technology. The intensity of this story, of Crawford’s unrelenting obsession to prove himself, grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I took the book with me on the train every morning and found it hard to put down when I reached my stop. This is an amazing novel.
'A fiendishly clever tale of ambition, deception, and power' DERREN BROWN
Belfast, 1914. Two years after the sinking of the Titanic, high society has become obsessed with spiritualism, attending seances in the hope they might reach their departed loved ones.
William Jackson Crawford is a man of science and a sceptic, but one night with everyone sitting around the circle, voices come to him - seemingly from beyond the veil - placing doubt in his heart and a seed of obsession in his mind. Could the spirits truly be communicating with him or is this one of Kathleen's parlour tricks…
Aury and Scott travel to the Finger Lakes in New York’s wine country to get to the bottom of the mysterious happenings at the Songscape Winery. Disturbed furniture and curious noises are one thing, but when a customer winds up dead, it’s time to dig into the details and see…
I’ve long been fascinated by tales of the paranormal. Legends of ghosts, ogres, and demons stretch back to prehistory, and as H.P. Lovecraft wrote, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” Advances in science and technology are often seen as a remedy against fearing things that go bump in the night. But in the realm of speculative fiction, what if such technology becomes the opposite: a means for the supernatural to make its presence known? This fearful juxtaposition is skillfully depicted in the five books I describe below. I hope you enjoy them.
I was fascinated, disturbed, captivated, and repelled. If you use this Polaroid camera, the picture shows not what you tried to photograph but something else: a vicious dog that is coming closer and closer with each shot taken. And it is coming to get you.
Don’t use the camera, then? Yes, of course, but…there’s a compulsion to use it regardless. I was hooked by this use of an ordinary-looking camera as the portal to another world.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King’s novella The Sun Dog, published in his award-winning 1990 story collection Four Past Midnight, now available for the first time as a standalone publication.
The dog is loose again. It is not sleeping. It is not lazy. It’s coming for you.
Kevin Delavan wants only one thing for his fifteenth birthday: a Polaroid Sun 660. There’s something wrong with his gift, though. No matter where Kevin Delevan aims the camera, it produces a photograph of an enormous, vicious dog. In each successive picture, the menacing creature draws nearer to the flat surface…
I’ve long been fascinated by tales of the paranormal. Legends of ghosts, ogres, and demons stretch back to prehistory, and as H.P. Lovecraft wrote, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” Advances in science and technology are often seen as a remedy against fearing things that go bump in the night. But in the realm of speculative fiction, what if such technology becomes the opposite: a means for the supernatural to make its presence known? This fearful juxtaposition is skillfully depicted in the five books I describe below. I hope you enjoy them.
I’m a history buff, and I’ve long been interested in the purported “spirit photographs” that began proliferating almost as soon as photography became widespread in the 19th century and which were a key element of the spiritualist movement.
The author ties this trend into a beautifully written work of historical fiction, depicting spirit photography in the context of the social and political conditions of post-Civil War America.
Boston, 1870. Photographer Edward Moody runs a booming business capturing the images of the spirits of the departed in his portraits. He lures grieving widows and mourning mothers into his studio with promises of catching the ghosts of their deceased loved ones with his camera. Despite the whispers around town that Moody is a fraud of the basest kind, no one has been able to expose him, and word of his gift has spread, earning him money, fame, and a growing list of illustrious clients.
One day, while developing the negative from a sitting to capture the spirit of the…
I have a PhD in sociology but know almost as much about anthropology. I am a comparative sociologist specializing in the study of the entire range of human societies. This gives me an advantage in knowing which social practices are universal, which are only common, and which are uncommon or not found at all. This is critical in being able to assess the basic features of human nature. For over thirty years I have been studying the literature on Darwinian approaches to human behavior, especially sociobiology and evolutionary psychology. I am one of the leading sociologists in the world today studying the biological basis of social behavior.
This husband-wife team uses Darwinian natural selectionist thinking to account for the most important features of homicide throughout the world. A basic principle of Darwinian theory is known as kin selection, which means that people favor kin over nonkin and close kin over distant kin. In this regard, the authors show, for example, that people are much more likely to kill unrelated acquaintances and strangers than genetic kin, and that child homicide is perpetrated much more often by stepparents than by natural parents. The authors also show that there is a huge sex difference in rates of killing. Throughout the world the vast majority of killing is done by men. This is because men are competing with other men for the status and resources needed to secure mates for reproduction.
The human race spends a disproportionate amount of attention, money, and expertise in solving, trying, and reporting homicides, as compared to other social problems. The public avidly consumes accounts of real-life homicide cases, and murder fiction is more popular still. Nevertheless, we have only the most rudimentary scientific understanding of who is likely to kill whom and why. Martin Daly and Margo Wilson apply contemporary evolutionary theory to analysis of human motives and perceptions of self-interest, considering where and why individual interests conflict, using well-documented murder cases. This book attempts to understand normal social motives in murder as products of…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
I have always been fascinated by the dark side of human nature and the socio-psychological aspects of criminal behavior, especially those of serial killers, and my legal training and experience afforded me apt tools for exploring and writing about true crime. I have been interviewed and appeared on a wide range of podcasts, radio, and TV shows about true crime for nearly a decade.
Written by one of the founding fathers of the FBI’s vaunted Behavioral Sciences Unit, this book covers an amazing array of cases that he worked, including those of Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Edmund Kemper, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Richard Trenton Chase (and even the lesser-known John Crutchley). Full of great details from the perspective of a veteran serial killer expert, this book belongs on any serious true crime aficionado’s bookshelf.
The author of this book played a major part in the FBI's development of psychological profiles for serial killers, he even invented the term "serial killer". Whilst Thomas Harris made Ressler's work famous in fiction, Ressler did it for real. His work in the Behavioural Science Unit led him to meet some of the most notorious criminals of the 20th century - Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy and many more. In this book, Ressler describes the process of catching these men.
