It was a dark and stormy night.....
Classic scary book opening sentence, right??? Halloween has got me thinking about my favorite horror novels and one of the scariest I ever read would have to be The Shining by Stephen King. I read it way back when I was a teenager and I can still remember the opening line...."Officious little prick." Of course back then I had no idea what that meant and I can still remember my mom's reaction when I used those very words to describe a classmate. Needless to say, this did not go over well....
So, with opening sentences in mind.....your mission for this challenge is to grab the scariest book you have and leave the opening sentence from it in the comments. Be sure and leave the name of the book and the author too!
Winner will be chosen at random from the comments and will get to choose from any of the 3 books I said I wanted to read for the readathon....
1. Nevermore by Kelly Creagh
2. Feed by Mira Grant
3. The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell
2. Feed by Mira Grant
3. The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell
Contest is open to readathon participants only (if you wanna enter, go sign up!)
This contest is international as long as Book Depository ships to wherever you are.
Ends Sunday at midnight.
Good luck and Happy Reading!!
This contest is international as long as Book Depository ships to wherever you are.
Ends Sunday at midnight.
Good luck and Happy Reading!!
23 comments:
Scariest book I've ever read is House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. Lemme go get the book.......ok back lol!
"While enthusiasts and detractors will continue to empty entire dictionaries attempting to describe or deride it, "authenticity" still remains the word most likely to stir a debate."
Seriously, I had to sleep with the light on. Scariest book, EVER.
"During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher." -Poe
I like my classics and have always loved "The Fall of the House of Usher".
Great Challenge!
Thanks,
Courtney
stiletto storytime at gmail dot com
The scariest book I own is probably Tales and Poems of Poe, an anthology of Edgar Allan Poe's best works (I'm a bit of a wimp, so this is the scariest book I have!).
The opening sentence is this
(From the story The Purloined Letter): At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18--, I was enjoying the two-fold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in company with my friend, C. Aguste Dupin, in his little black library, or book-closet, au troisieme, No. 33 Rue Dunot, Faubourg St. Germain.
"The event that came to be known as The Pulse began at 3.03PM, eastern standard time, on the afternoon of October 1. The term was a misnomer, of course, but within ten hours of the even, most of the scientists capable of pointing this out were either dead or insane. The name hardly mattered, in any case. What mattered was the effect."
Gah, I'm not much into horror books (I have to read more - I'll probably get to it in the next couple of months) but Cell by Stephen King is scary (I'm deathly afraid of zombies, but love them. Yeaah, I'm weird).
mika.apostrophe@gmail.com
I don't read a lot of scary books -- I'm kinda fainthearted... But, well, I think it was... Carrie, by Stephen King. The movie, too. A looot of nightmares...! It starts like that:
"News item from the Westover (Me.) weekly Enterprise, August 19, 1966:
RAIN OF STONES REPORTED
It was reliably reported by several persons that a rain of stones fell from a clear blue sky on Carlin Street in the town of Chamberlain on August 17th. The stones fell principally on the home of Mrs. Margaret White, damaging the roof extensively and ruining two gutters and a downspout valued at approximately $25. Mrs. White, a widow, lives with her three-year-old daughter, Carietta.
Mrs. White could not be reached for comment."
iieonegai(at)hotmail(dot)com
Great challenge here is the line from my scariest read:
"every body is a Book Of Blood .Whenever were opened we are Read" that's from Clive Barkers Books Of Blood the scariest set of short fiction Ive ever read
Kai
mailkaicharles@yahoo.com
Out of the scary books I have here, I picked one with 13 horror stories in it. I flipped through the stories and found the creepiest opening line (which also happens to be the longest)
"There was a man of the island of Hawaii, whom I shall call Keawe: for the truth is, he still lives, and his name must be kept secret; but the place of his birth was not far from Hananau, where the bones of Keawe the Great lie hidden in a cave."
from The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson. (1893)
callista83 AT cogeco DOT ca
I actually posted a response to this challenge...Hope that's okay.
Here's the link: http://derapsreads.blogspot.com/2010/10/halloween-read-thon-mini-challenge.html
Thanks!
I've been thinking about scary books and I've gotta say that I haven't reallly read a scary *book*. The scariest STORY I ever read/heard was a short story - the Tailypo story. It kept me up at night and had me closing my eyes VERY TIGHTLY after I shut off the lamp and telling myself there was absolutely not a thing sitting in my doorway or in the dark corner of my room but no way in hades was I looking to check.
The first sentence is this:
'The trials and tribulations of living in today's modern society can tend to wear on your nerves.'
Tailypo by Paul Galdone
I've never read a scary book before! But I used to read my sister The Spooky Old Tree by the Berenstain Bears when she was little and it used to scare her. It starts "Three little bears." LOL
Cassay C
My favourite scary book isn't with me right now so instead I like to pint out that all of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories start of pretty creepily....especially the Oval Portrait!
callmeghostgirl@yahoo.com.au
Scariest book I have read is The Ruins by Scott Smith. Here is the opening sentence:
"They met Mathias on a day trip to Cozumel."
Not that scary, but this book freaked me out!
swordsforfighting at yahoo dot com
I've just finished a really scary (brilliantly written) book: The Faithful by Jonathan Weyer. It is spooky because it is so realistic!
Here is the very first sentence "I don't know if I believe in God anymore." Did I pique your interest? It is well worth reading, and pefrect for Halloween :-)
Thanks for the great giveaway (and I love your blog name! :-D)
stella.exlibris (at) gmail (dot) com
Ok, mine is in spanish but ill tryu to translate
El terror, que no terminaría por otros veintiocho años –si es que terminó alguna vez–, comenzó, hasta donde sé o puedo contar, con un barco de papel que flotaba a lo largo del arroyo de una calle anegada de lluvia.
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The horror, that wont finish in another 25 years- if it ever finished- started, as long as i can tell, with a paper boat floating donwstreet on the rainwater
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ok, im not good translating books, xD this is the oppening line from Stephen King´s IT... it chilled me out TOTALLY xD
reisei.no.mizumi@gmail.com
I don't read a lot of scary books, but this book I read recently really did give me the heeby-jeebies.
Here's the first line:
"I was not the first girl she saw, nor the second, and as to why she chose me, I know that now: it was because she did not like me."
-The House of Dead Maids, by Clare B. Dunkle
Thanks!
dragonzgoil at gmail dot com
The scariest book I probably have is Stephen King's The Stand.
"Sally."
Definitely not a scary way to open a book!
chellie83 at gmail
Well, I wanted to enter the first sentence to Henry James A Turn of the Screw, but I don't actually own the book and can't find it, so here is another:
Although it was often part of his job, Jeff Stewart hadn't been expecting to find a body today.
~ Ghost Trap by Rick Hautala
The scariest book I remember reading was Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. The opening line is: "It is so appropriate to color hope yellow, like the sun we seldom saw."
I think the scariest book that I own is probably Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" . The first sentance is: "First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys."
jlynettes @ hotmail . com
This book creeped me out. PEEPS by Scott Westerfeld.
After a year of hunting I finally caught up with Sarah.
Thanks for the challenge
chaarmedone1512@aol.com
I recently read Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin and loved it. It is pretty scary too. Here is the opening line...
I was covered in blood when the police found me. Head to toe: in my hair, on my eyelashes, in the skin between my toes. Dried so deep into my clothes they were taken away and I never saw them again.
Thanks for the fun giveaway
truthbetold004 at gmail dot com
I already used Richard Matheson's Hell House in Jami's mini-challenge so I'm going to use his other scary book, I Am Legend. Here's the first line:
"On those cloudy days, Robert Neville was never sure when sunset came, and sometimes they were in the streets before he could get back."
YIKES!
Thanks for the fun!
truebookaddictATgmailDOTcom
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