LATE LAST year I was sent a batch of books by one of my favourite publishers, Gollancz. As part of the pre-Christmas lead up the company had put together a package of eight classic modern horror novels in all new jackets.
The group consisted of Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z Brite, Fevre Dream by George RR Martin, Darker Than You Think by Jack Williamson, Ghost Story by Peter Straub, The Green Mile by Stephen King, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, Song of Kali by Dan Simmons and The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce.
Since I was in the process of relocating to Singapore at the time, I packed them away and shipped them off. They finally arrived a couple of weeks ago – three months later, but that's a whole other blog.
So far I've managed to get through two of the eight – Exquisite Corpse and Fevre Dream.
Both are classic horror novels but in very different ways. One is a deeply visceral tale of murder, dismemberment, sexual sadism and pornographic descriptions of people's insides; that's Exquisite Corpse. Fevre Dream is a little more traditional, a modern vampire tale set on the Mississippi River in the heyday of the steamboats in the 1800s.
As my colleagues have noticed me avidly reading away during any break, the topic of horror has come up regularly this week. The most interesting question was whether or not I thought 'Eastern' (or Asian) horror stories were scarier than Western ones.
One colleague, a local Singaporean, said he thought that Asians more easily believed in the supernatural and the unknown, leading them to make scarier horror movies; while Western horror seemed quite tame in comparison.
I pondered this and decided that the biggest difference between Eastern and Western horror stories was the basic assumption of belief. Generally – and this is a very subjective assumption, I know – Asian people tend to be more religious and aware of the 'supernatural world'.
Whereas the majority – again, a very subjective assumption – of Westerners are no longer 'believers' in the traditional sense; they are no longer 'religious'.
The majority of traditional Western horror stories are based on religion, specifically the Judeo-Christian belief system. You just have to look at films like The Exorcist and myths of vampires, succubi, witches and the devil to see that.
However in the age of rationalism and science, the belief has disappeared. After all, if you don't believe in God, you're hardly likely to believe in the devil, are you?
What scares modern 'Westerners' are things that they do believe are possible – murder, torture, rape. Again this is being reflected in films like Saw and Hostel and in urban myths about people stealing your kidneys.
Which brings me back to Exquisite Corpse and Fevre Dream. Which was scarier? Definitely Exquisite Corpse.
The central characters of Brite's Exquisite Corpse, the things that make you leave your lights on at night, are not supernatural; they're not 'devils' or ghosts, they're seemingly ordinary men.
Andrew Compton is a British serial killer who has been locked away for torturing 23 boys and young men, dismembering them and keeping their corpses. Jay, on the other side of the world in New Orleans, has managed to amass a grisly collection of the remains of the uncounted boys he's killed. Somehow, the two men meet up and the perfect partnership – made in hell – is created.
Brite's almost lovingly detailed descriptions of Jay and Andrew's tortures, of coils of glistening intestines, the scent and texture of blood, the visceral excitement the two experience when they kill together are awfully beguiling for the reader.
But the scariest part is that people like Andrew and Jay exist in the 'real world'. One just has to pick up a newspaper to read about humans being monstrous – the current trial of the Khmer Rouge torturer Duch is just one of them.
Fevre Dream, on the other hand, is a more traditional horror read. Abner Marsh is a Mississippi River steamboat captain who is in financial trouble and looking for a partner. He meets with Joshua York, a mysterious gentleman with lots of money, some strange habits and the desire to build the best steamboat on the river.
Just about from the start it is obvious that Joshua is a vampire, of a kind. Every author who writes about vampires has their own version of the genre. In Fevre Dream vampires are born, not made and Joshua is a 'good' one – doing his best not to succumb to the 'thirst' and tear people's throats out.
Unfortunately there are others of his kind who aren't as gentle and as they become a part of Joshua and Abner's story, the gore quotient increases dramatically.
George RR Martin is better known for his Fantasy genre books, but he's a sublime horror writer, adding a poetic feel to the psychological horror of Joshua losing control of his life and his boat and Abner's attempts to help him save both.
Fevre Dream is as much about friendship and loyalty as it is about blood and death; lending the story an emotional depth that adds to the plot.
At the end of the day, however, I know what scares me more – the psychotic, death obsessed torturers of Exquisite Corpse; not the vampires of Fevre Dream.
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z Brite and Fevre Dream by George RR Martin are both published by Gollancz and available from good bookstores and online.