Bruzas's new novel is To the Bone.
At CrimeReads the author tagged seven favorite literary horror novels, including:
Richard Matheson, I Am LegendRead about the other entries on the list at CrimeReads.
I am Legend by Richard Matheson is ostensibly about vampires, but really it’s a grandfather to zombie horror and the last man on earth trope. Robert Neville is a scientist, alone and surrounded by the infected, vampire-like creatures which Neville hunts in the daytime, killing them in their beds and sometimes experimenting on them to “find a cure” or maybe just out of curiosity. Eventually he encounters a woman, Ruth, and (of course) they fall in love. But, alas, it turns out Ruth is a vampire and Neville is a bigot. The infected have formed a society and Neville, finally captured, is to be executed for his heinous crimes. As he faces the crowds, he reflects that he has become a legend, a horror story that the vampires will pass on to their children, like what vampires once were to humans. I love this book because it flips your expectation on its head, forcing you to consider what makes a monster, and if, under the right circumstances, you would be the horror story.
I Am Legend is among David Koepp's seven essential contagion novels, Jeff Somers's five notable books totally unlike their adaptations, Jonathan Hatfull's ten best vampire novels ever, Jennifer Griffith Delgado's top eleven mind-blowing surprise endings in science fiction and fantasy literature and Kevin Jackson's top ten vampire novels.
--Marshal Zeringue