Well, bright and early Friday morning we're off for Vacation. We're taking a week & a half to go chill out at a beach house with some friends in Bar Harbor, Maine...then stop in Connecticut for my wife's baby shower on the way back (little Egbert/Mortimer/Fester is due in October). I'll probably haul a bunch of books with me, but I have no idea what to bring.

Anyone have any suggestions? I've got about 350 books here in my TBR pile, so you can pretty much shout out anything and I might just have it (although I probably won't risk damaging any of my nice limited edition stuff in my suitcase).

Some early contenders are:

The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson (although I didn't realize this was part of the Adversary Cycle and it's not the first book...should I not read this if I haven't read any other Adversary Cycle books?)

The Rising / City of the Dead / Dead Sea by Brian Keene (Is this a trilogy or is Dead Sea a standalone? I might get zombied out if I try reading all three of these.)

Darkness Wakes by Tim Waggoner

Dispatch by Bentley Little (Mark, this is one of his you said was really good, right?)

Night in the Lonesome October by Richard Laymon

But I'm really undecided. I just got Gary Braunbeck's Mr. Hands in from Leisure and that looks good. I can bring the 2nd and 3rd books in Laymon's "Beast House" series. I still never read Salem's Lot.

I don't know. I'm stuck.

Any suggestions?

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Ken

If you haven't read Jeff Strand's "Pressure" pick it up right now!

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Read my blog at .

You don't have to read any other book to fully enjoy The Tomb.

The Laymons are all good, especially Lonesome October.

Dead Sea is a stand alone novel.

I'm halfway through Mr. Hands, and it's moving and horrifying.

I thought Dispatch was excellent, but Little seems to polarize readers.

But forget everything else...read Salem's Lot NOW!

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http://www.markjustice.blogspot.com

Here's a few I liked a great deal (in no particular order):

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons
Incarnate by Ramsey Campbell
The Grin of the Dark by Ramsey Campbell
Night Stone by Rick Huatula (spelling?)
Apparitions by Raven Bower
A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons
Night Things by Michael Talbot
Alone with the Horrors (this is an anthology but it is super awesome) by Ramsey Campbell
House Haunted by Al Sarrantonio

I loved all of these and highly recomend them.

Wow, thanks for the feedback, everyone! Unfortunately, I don't have Pressure, but that's about at the top of my "must acquire" list. I'll probably pick that up with my next Shocklines wholesale housecleaning bonanza.

Mark - All good info, but I think you made it harder for me to narrow things down. Mr. Hands sounds awesome, though, so I think I'll be carting that one with me.

Nanci - I wouldn't have considered Morbid Curiosity, but I have it sitting here, so I might try that one, too. As far as Bloodstained Oz, I thought that book sounded absolutely wonderful. I put off buying it, though, and it quickly sold out everywhere. I'll have to hunt down a copy somewhere.

Matt - Strangely enough, I don't have any of the books on your list, although I liked what you had to say about House Haunted, so I might try to hunt that down at some point. I had a suspicion you'd suggest some Ramsey Campbell. I don't have any of his novels, but I do have a couple of his short story collections (Strange Things and Stranger Places and Ghosts & Grisly Things), so I might bring one of those, too.

I think it's safe to say I'll be bringing way more books than I'll be able to read over the week, but at least I'll have a good selection with me to choose from.

Thanks again, everyone (Cesar, too). I'll be thinking of you all while I'm hanging out with the moose up in Maine.

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Ken