Joyce Carol Oates, Peter Straub, and the New Horror

I must confess I’m not a great fan of horror. But this excellent essay by Terrence Rafferty on a new wave of subtle and ambiguous literary horror does make me want to explore some of the writers here. Joyce Carol Oates is brilliant; I only know Peter Straub’s Ghost Story (from years ago, but I liked it very much); Andrew Michael Hurley’s The Loney seems to highly favoured in Gothicky circles, and he’s from the North West (so I feel some regional loyalty!).