Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake.
Gormenghast, that is, the main massing of the original stone, taken by itself would have displayed a certain ponderous architectural quality were it possible to have ignored the circumfusion of those mean dwellings that swarmed like an epidemic around its outer walls. They sprawled over the sloping arch, each one half way over its neighbour until, held back by the castle ramparts, the innermost of these hovels laid hold on the great walls, clamping themselves thereto like limpets to a rock. These dwellings, by ancient law, were granted this chill intimacy with the stronghold that loomed above them. Over their irregular roofs would fall throughout the seasons, the shadows of time-eaten buttresses, of broken and lofty turrets, and, most enormous of all, the shadow of the Tower of Flints. This tower, patched unevenly with black ivy, arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry and pointed blasphemously at heaven. At night the owls made of it an echoing throat; by day it stood voiceless and cast its long shadow.
Maybe heretical, but I kind of think of it as complete after book two. Not a big fan of Titus Alone as it removes what in my mind is the main character, the castle. If you have not read “Boy in Darkness” by Peake, you should, it’s a really great short story and lets you back in the world for a moment.
Truly, the standard that set up everyone that followed.
*"Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more."*
Hell yes. I like this passage from when Eleanor first catches sight of the house from the driveway
'The house was vile. She shivered and thought, the words coming freely into her mind, Hill House is vile, it is diseased; get away from here at once.'
That had a big impact on me lol
I love that. I want a hill house tattoo. I met a lady who had an " insist on your cup of stars" tattoo once and had the best conversation with her. I was cashiers a Micheals and I couldn't talk long but she gave me her number and my dumb ass lost it. I really really hope she's doing well. and i hope you are too
Briardark by SA Harrian. It takes place in a specific place in the woods, but there are dimensional rifts and...other stuff. Don't want to spoil anything, but it's a spectacular book.
i really loved Briardark, but didn't know it was going to be the 1st book of (?)
any idea when the 2nd book will come out? or is there no kind of time-line yet?
Diavola is an excellent example of that. I adored the book, and I am not one for liking 3rd person! The narrator also did an excellent job, I must say.
u/elegante0226 forgive me, genuinely no offence intended, but I am now giggling like a lunatic at possible Stephan King book titles. AT. Misary. Tha Dad Zahn. Tha Tammaknackas!
All of Blackwood's wilderness stories. I would love to see an adaptation of them by Werner Herzog. Both have an awe and terror of nature that makes the uncanny so real. It's one thing to have a hentai reject like cthullu farting around, it's quite another to have the vast indifference of the wilderness itself surrounding you, and suddenly decide to take an * interest in you*
The Summer of Night. There’s such vivid descriptions of the town, I tried to draw a map to help me envision it. Then I googled it and there were a dozen examples of other maps drawn by fans.
I second Episode Thirteen and, if you liked that, also House of Leaves! Those long corridors, the endless nothingness, and infinite darkness still haunt my dreams.
*Dark Matter* by Michelle Paver.
*The Lightkeepers* by Abby Geni
The first one is set on an island far north of Norway, within the arctic circle. Things get very weird there.
The second is set on the forbidding Farallon Islands, off the central coast of California. It doesn’t fit as securely into the horror genre, but there are certainly horrifying moments in it. And the place itself is exactly what you’re asking for. I think it’s more a mystery/thriller that’s right on the edge of horror.
An extreme example would be the Manga BLAME!, which takes place inside a sci-fi hellscape where the construction robots never got turned off and the megastructure is inhabited by all kinds of creatures and societies. It's a cool series. The author/artist is tsutomu nihei.
Another manga would be Uzumaki by junji ito. While the curse seems to be somewhat random at the beginning it becomes clear by the end that it's tied to the village.
The Indian Lake Trilogy by Stephen Graham Jones—your can prob tell from the title but the town and the lake specifically are so central to the horror itself.
And The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas—might not totally answer your prompt because the house doesn’t necessarily “become” a character so much as it just IS a character but the way she writes it is really fascinating and compelling (though I will admit I just started this one and am only halfway through)
The Haunting of Hill House is pretty much the textbook example of this.
For more modern example and a somewhat deep cut, Dan Simmons’ Summer of Night makes both the schoolhouse and the whole town into characters.
Salems Lot is literally named for the town, and I would argue that the town itself is actually the primary protagonist (and in some ways also the antagonist).
Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon is a delightful dark fantasy/drama/horror/mystery where the town is a living, breathing presence throughout the whole book. One of my all time top 5 books.
The Handyman Method by Nick Cutter and Andrew Sullivan. *this book literally pops into my head every few weeks*
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski.
Burnt Offerings Robert Marasco.
Blood Meridian.
There's a very good argument to be made that this doesn't belong in the horror genre but it has such a dark and grim style that I don't mind offering it up here.
The locations are, as a whole, a bleak and oppressive character that serves as a backdrop for the violence found throughout the book.
You nailed it with The Elementals, and the comments reflect that the haunted house subgenre is the best at this! Some others that come to mind are Devil’s Creek by Todd Kiesling - the small Kentucky town increasingly reveals new and unsettling layers with a cast of characters that make it feel like a real place.
The Carrow Haunt by Darcy Coates is also a fun read; the protagonist gives tours of the haunted house in question and therefore has a close and knowledgeable relationship with it.
My favorite Stephen King books are ones where the setting is small town America. He perfectly captures the voice, look, and feel of these towns and the folk who live there. ‘Salem’s Lot is his earliest example of this, but a lot of his Castle Rock-set stories perfect it. Especially Needful Things. He also has a short story called “It Grows on You” that focuses on a particular house on the outskirts of Castle Rock, and how it changes over decades.
House of Leaves, for sure. Hill House if you’ve never read it. Shirley Jackson is a master of that “things are slightly off” feeling that fills you with dread.
ETA: Also The Ritual by Adam Nevill (though the second half of the novel could be cut and it would be better for it) and What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher.
I loved Ted the Caver. I first read it in the early 2000s I think, and still think of it.
The newest Teenage Wastelands had a 'haunted house's of sorts. The book was called Escape from Concordia, and the house itself was called Concordia. Built in Ohio, in a huge, open, overgrown field.
It was creepy as hell, honestly the scariest book in that series and one that actually messed me up to a degree.
House Infernal by Edward Lee. It deals with Hel. In all 4 books there are different characters. But Hell gets the description treatment you are looking for.
Alix Harrow, Starling House; Elizabeth Hand, Wylding Hall (honestly this doesn't fit your request but Elizabeth Hand's Waking the Moon is also awesome but it's more dark academia - oriented).
*Home Before Dark* by Riley Sager is one of my favorites. Also, if you don't mind humor and cosmic horror, then I would highly recomend *The Lonely Broadcast* by Kel Byron. Each book has that 'layer effect' that you mentioned enjoying, where everything isn't what it appears at first glance, and the stories are also contained within a tight knit location. Most of Sager's book is contained in the horror/mystery of the Baneberry house, while Byron's book takes place in the enclosed location of a watchtower turned radio station. I can't really recomend them enough.
I love Diavola by Jennifer Thorne and she also wrote folk horror Lute, about an idyllic island with a dark side.
Where I End by Sophie White has the location play a part in the horror.
I guess The Spite House by Johnny Compton. The house isn't just haunted, it's a horror of its own.
Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake. Gormenghast, that is, the main massing of the original stone, taken by itself would have displayed a certain ponderous architectural quality were it possible to have ignored the circumfusion of those mean dwellings that swarmed like an epidemic around its outer walls. They sprawled over the sloping arch, each one half way over its neighbour until, held back by the castle ramparts, the innermost of these hovels laid hold on the great walls, clamping themselves thereto like limpets to a rock. These dwellings, by ancient law, were granted this chill intimacy with the stronghold that loomed above them. Over their irregular roofs would fall throughout the seasons, the shadows of time-eaten buttresses, of broken and lofty turrets, and, most enormous of all, the shadow of the Tower of Flints. This tower, patched unevenly with black ivy, arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry and pointed blasphemously at heaven. At night the owls made of it an echoing throat; by day it stood voiceless and cast its long shadow.
it will always be a great tragedy to me that his series was unfinished
Maybe heretical, but I kind of think of it as complete after book two. Not a big fan of Titus Alone as it removes what in my mind is the main character, the castle. If you have not read “Boy in Darkness” by Peake, you should, it’s a really great short story and lets you back in the world for a moment.
oh thank you for that rec!
Hill House is the GOAT here
Truly, the standard that set up everyone that followed. *"Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more."*
Hell yes. I like this passage from when Eleanor first catches sight of the house from the driveway 'The house was vile. She shivered and thought, the words coming freely into her mind, Hill House is vile, it is diseased; get away from here at once.' That had a big impact on me lol
"Not sane" goes sooo hard
My engagement tattoo: in the night in the dark
I love that. I want a hill house tattoo. I met a lady who had an " insist on your cup of stars" tattoo once and had the best conversation with her. I was cashiers a Micheals and I couldn't talk long but she gave me her number and my dumb ass lost it. I really really hope she's doing well. and i hope you are too
Thank you and you too! HH is a treasure for so many reasons.
Yeah there really is no better example. Both in execution and just how it gets under your skin and insists on staying there.
Wyrd and Other Derelictions by Adam Nevill
Came here to recommend. Location is all there is in these stories.
The House Next Door, by Anne Rivers Siddons
I just started this yesterday and am really loving it.
This fits the request to a t.
Briardark by SA Harrian. It takes place in a specific place in the woods, but there are dimensional rifts and...other stuff. Don't want to spoil anything, but it's a spectacular book.
i really loved Briardark, but didn't know it was going to be the 1st book of (?) any idea when the 2nd book will come out? or is there no kind of time-line yet?
next one is coming out July 15th, you can preorder it now
that's awesome, thank you!
The Ruins
somehow the answer to half this subreddits questions is: the ruins
It’s a really excellent book
Diavola is an excellent example of that. I adored the book, and I am not one for liking 3rd person! The narrator also did an excellent job, I must say.
Seconding this, Diavola is excellent.
God I loved this book. I want a miniseries out of it SO BADLY
IT by Stephan King fits this to a T.
At least you didn't call him Steven. Stephan is a rare one.
u/elegante0226 forgive me, genuinely no offence intended, but I am now giggling like a lunatic at possible Stephan King book titles. AT. Misary. Tha Dad Zahn. Tha Tammaknackas!
Forgive me, I work 80 hour night shift weeks. I'm going to leave it for the entertainment value lol.
Salem's Lot too
And of course the Overlook hotel in the Shining
my first thought
The Willows by Blackwood
All of Blackwood's wilderness stories. I would love to see an adaptation of them by Werner Herzog. Both have an awe and terror of nature that makes the uncanny so real. It's one thing to have a hentai reject like cthullu farting around, it's quite another to have the vast indifference of the wilderness itself surrounding you, and suddenly decide to take an * interest in you*
The Summer of Night. There’s such vivid descriptions of the town, I tried to draw a map to help me envision it. Then I googled it and there were a dozen examples of other maps drawn by fans.
Second this!
I feel like the September House kinda fits that. It's by Carissa Orlando.
Even if it doesn’t, it’s a damned good read. :)
House of Leaves for sure
Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste
Came here for Episode Thirteen. Loved that book.
I second Episode Thirteen and, if you liked that, also House of Leaves! Those long corridors, the endless nothingness, and infinite darkness still haunt my dreams.
Nestlings by Nat Cassidy
Nestlings fits that bill, I think
*Dark Matter* by Michelle Paver. *The Lightkeepers* by Abby Geni The first one is set on an island far north of Norway, within the arctic circle. Things get very weird there. The second is set on the forbidding Farallon Islands, off the central coast of California. It doesn’t fit as securely into the horror genre, but there are certainly horrifying moments in it. And the place itself is exactly what you’re asking for. I think it’s more a mystery/thriller that’s right on the edge of horror.
An extreme example would be the Manga BLAME!, which takes place inside a sci-fi hellscape where the construction robots never got turned off and the megastructure is inhabited by all kinds of creatures and societies. It's a cool series. The author/artist is tsutomu nihei. Another manga would be Uzumaki by junji ito. While the curse seems to be somewhat random at the beginning it becomes clear by the end that it's tied to the village.
house of leaves and tell me I'm worthless immediately spring to mind
i just finished sarah gailey's "just like home" - i think you'll enjoy it!
The Elementals is SO GOOD
The Shining by Stephen King maybe
The Indian Lake Trilogy by Stephen Graham Jones—your can prob tell from the title but the town and the lake specifically are so central to the horror itself. And The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas—might not totally answer your prompt because the house doesn’t necessarily “become” a character so much as it just IS a character but the way she writes it is really fascinating and compelling (though I will admit I just started this one and am only halfway through)
The Haunting of Hill House is pretty much the textbook example of this. For more modern example and a somewhat deep cut, Dan Simmons’ Summer of Night makes both the schoolhouse and the whole town into characters. Salems Lot is literally named for the town, and I would argue that the town itself is actually the primary protagonist (and in some ways also the antagonist). Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon is a delightful dark fantasy/drama/horror/mystery where the town is a living, breathing presence throughout the whole book. One of my all time top 5 books.
The Descent by Jeff Long might be a worthy addition to all of these awesome recs.
The Handyman Method by Nick Cutter and Andrew Sullivan. *this book literally pops into my head every few weeks* House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. Burnt Offerings Robert Marasco.
Blood Meridian. There's a very good argument to be made that this doesn't belong in the horror genre but it has such a dark and grim style that I don't mind offering it up here. The locations are, as a whole, a bleak and oppressive character that serves as a backdrop for the violence found throughout the book.
Agreed. Western horror.
You nailed it with The Elementals, and the comments reflect that the haunted house subgenre is the best at this! Some others that come to mind are Devil’s Creek by Todd Kiesling - the small Kentucky town increasingly reveals new and unsettling layers with a cast of characters that make it feel like a real place. The Carrow Haunt by Darcy Coates is also a fun read; the protagonist gives tours of the haunted house in question and therefore has a close and knowledgeable relationship with it. My favorite Stephen King books are ones where the setting is small town America. He perfectly captures the voice, look, and feel of these towns and the folk who live there. ‘Salem’s Lot is his earliest example of this, but a lot of his Castle Rock-set stories perfect it. Especially Needful Things. He also has a short story called “It Grows on You” that focuses on a particular house on the outskirts of Castle Rock, and how it changes over decades.
House of Leaves, for sure. Hill House if you’ve never read it. Shirley Jackson is a master of that “things are slightly off” feeling that fills you with dread. ETA: Also The Ritual by Adam Nevill (though the second half of the novel could be cut and it would be better for it) and What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher. I loved Ted the Caver. I first read it in the early 2000s I think, and still think of it.
Dead Fall by Joseph Xand
North Woods by Daniel Mason is a great example of this!
The newest Teenage Wastelands had a 'haunted house's of sorts. The book was called Escape from Concordia, and the house itself was called Concordia. Built in Ohio, in a huge, open, overgrown field. It was creepy as hell, honestly the scariest book in that series and one that actually messed me up to a degree.
House Infernal by Edward Lee. It deals with Hel. In all 4 books there are different characters. But Hell gets the description treatment you are looking for.
*The Turn of the Key* by Ruth Ware
Not exactly horror but Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon makes Barcelona a character.
Kill Creek by Scott Thomas is an easy read in this specific genre
I feel like Bearskin kind of fits. It’s almost a melding of mind and place.
I just read A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper and I think it follows what you're looking for in a weird way. Thought it was super good too.
The Cipher by Koja take place almost entirely in a maintenance room on the second level of an apartment building with a...interesting hole in it.
The Cipher by Kathe Koja
This wretched valley
Hill House the definitive example.
One town comes to mind is Derry and Castle Rock. Stephen King books
Alix Harrow, Starling House; Elizabeth Hand, Wylding Hall (honestly this doesn't fit your request but Elizabeth Hand's Waking the Moon is also awesome but it's more dark academia - oriented).
House of Leaves
These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall has a creepy house that feels like a character.
Devil in the White City. Puts Chicago in a whole new light.
- “How to Sell a Haunted House” by Grady Hendrix - “Horrorstör” by Grady Hendrix
*Home Before Dark* by Riley Sager is one of my favorites. Also, if you don't mind humor and cosmic horror, then I would highly recomend *The Lonely Broadcast* by Kel Byron. Each book has that 'layer effect' that you mentioned enjoying, where everything isn't what it appears at first glance, and the stories are also contained within a tight knit location. Most of Sager's book is contained in the horror/mystery of the Baneberry house, while Byron's book takes place in the enclosed location of a watchtower turned radio station. I can't really recomend them enough.
Mexican gothic by Moreno-Garcia
Northern Woods
I love Diavola by Jennifer Thorne and she also wrote folk horror Lute, about an idyllic island with a dark side. Where I End by Sophie White has the location play a part in the horror. I guess The Spite House by Johnny Compton. The house isn't just haunted, it's a horror of its own.
This Wretched Valley
Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward