Roberta Writes – Quotes from scary novels: Can you guess the title and/or author?

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Hi everyone

Last weeks post featured book characters who are more famous than their creators. The four books and characters featured were as follows: Pinocchio, Hawkeye from The Last of the Mohicans, Paddington, and Scrooge from A Christmas Carol. Well done to everyone who got some of these titles correct. I didn’t make it easy by giving the most recognised quotes in the books.

Yesterday was Halloween so I decided to do quotes form some horror/scary novels today.

Book 1 – this is my favourite horror novel

“Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men´s eyes, because they know -or think they know- some things which other men have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain.”

“It is a strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and troubles. And yet when King Laugh come, he make them all dance to the tune he play. Bleeding hearts, and dry bones of the churchyard, and tears that burn as they fall, all dance together to the music that he make with that smileless mouth of him. Ah, we men and women are like ropes drawn tight with strain that pull us different ways. Then tears come, and like the rain on the ropes, they brace us up, until perhaps the strain become too great, and we break. But King Laugh he come like the sunshine, and he ease off the strain again, and we bear to go on with our labor, what it may be.”

“Sweet it was in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter underlying the sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood.”

Book 2 – the ending of this book has been criticised

“It’s offense you maybe can’t live with because it opens up a crack inside your thinking, and if you look down into it you see there are evil things down there, and they have little yellow eyes that don’t blink, and there’s a stink down there in that dark and after a while you think maybe there’s a whole other universe where a square moon rises in the sky, and the stars laugh in cold voices, and some of the triangles have four sides, and some have five, and some have five raised to the fifth power of sides. In this universe there might grow roses which sing. Everything leads to everything, he would have told them if he could. Go to your church and listen to your stories about Jesus walking on the water, but if I saw a guy doing that I’d scream and scream and scream. Because it wouldn’t look like a miracle to me. It would look like an offense.”

“The energy you drew on so extravagantly when you were a kid, the energy you thought would never exhaust itself – that slipped away somewhere between eighteen and twenty-four, to be replaced by something much duller, something as bogus as a coke high: purpose, maybe, or goals, or whatever rah-rah Junior Chamber of Commerce word you wanted to use. It was no big deal; it didn’t go all at once, with a bang. And maybe, Richie thought, that’s the scary part. How you didn’t stop being a kid all at once, with a big explosive bang, like one of that clown’s trick balloons. The kid in you just leaked out, like the air of a tire.”

“You pay for what you get, you own what you pay for… and sooner or later whatever you own comes back home to you.”

Short story – this is my favourite short horror story

“And then there stole into my fancy, like a rich musical note, the thought of what sweet rest there must be in the grave.”

“In the deepest slumber-no! In delirium-no! In a swoon-no! In death-no! even in the grave all is not lost.”

“…the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair.”

Book 4 – This book really, really scared me when I read it

“Like so many unhappinesses, this one had begun with silence in the place of honest open talk.”

“Anyone who needs more than one suitcase,” he said as he double-locked their door, “is a tourist, not a traveler.”

“The thing to do was kill it. Obviously.”

A short YouTube reading from my story The Bite

My story, The Bite, is the winning story in Wordcrafter Visions anthology which is now available as an ebook from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Visions-Kaye-Lynne-Booth-ebook/dp/B0BJJDT9GF.

You can listen to a short reading from my story here:

Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

Published

57 thoughts on “Roberta Writes – Quotes from scary novels: Can you guess the title and/or author?”

          1. Haha, I am delighted this quiz interested you enough to Google the quotes. I love Dracula, the use of language is exquisite and van Helsing is an amazing character. I partially based my Father Merton in my book, Through the Nethergate, on him. You should read it. It is not really horror by today’s standards. It is clever and amazing.

            Liked by 2 people

          3. Well, Liz, my honest answer must be that I didn’t like Frankenstein and DNF’d it half way through. It was to slow for my linking. I have intended to go back to it and try again but haven’t yet. I have read Dracula more than once which is very unusual for me because I don’t forget stories. I read it for the language and the ideas which intrigue me.

            Liked by 1 person

        2. 1. Frankenstein
          2. ?
          3.The Pit and the Pendulum or The Premature Burial
          4. The Shining

          I don’t read horror books now and haven’t watched movies in ages. I’m trying to remember high school English class. I know #3 has to be Poe. Your quiz is fun Robbie!

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          Reply

          1. Hi Kay, I am so pleased that people are enjoying this game. You are correct with 3 and it is the first one. That story horrified me and it was my first ‘experience’ of the Spanish Inquisition. There is a King book here, it is 2 though, not 4. 1 is Bram Stokers Dracula.

            Liked by 1 person

  3. The first one is Dracula I think. The offensive bitter smell of blood gives it away.
    I think Richie in the the second one is a King character, but I don’t know whi… OH, the clown! This is It.
    The short story sounds like Poe, but I don’t know which story.
    Is Book 4 The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? Something from that era maybe.
    Off to watch your YouTube reading!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Hi Priscilla, don’t you just love the description of the smell of blood as being offensive. I’ve never forgotten it. Yip, 2 is it (and the spider was disappointing to me), 3 is Poe – The Pit and the Pendulum – eeeekkkkk! So creepy. Book 4 is Rosemary’s Baby – that book and movie freaked me out entirely. Thanks for joining in!

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  6. I cant watch horror let alone read it. I do like these post of yours asking us to guess the book, or the character.

    I love the quote by JK Rowling – it so true. It has taken me a long time to find the books I like to read and become a reader.

    And it is always lovely to read your blog post and how you love books and encourage everyone with your blog post.

    Liked by 3 people

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  7. 1) Dracula by Bram Stoker. I guessed it when you said it was your favourite!!
    2) The second is a more recent book, which is confirmed by the dialogue. Stephen King “It”
    3) I am so glad that you included EA Poe – The Pit and Pendulum. Scared me to pieces.
    4) This is a guess because I am too scared to read it: Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin.

    Loved your reading!!

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  8. I’ve read all four of these books/stories, but recognized only Poe immediately, and did not remember which story. Okay, I read Dracula only once, long ago, and Rosemary’s Baby even longer ago. The excerpt from It sounds strangely old-fashioned; maybe that’s what threw me off.
    Your reading was very well done!

    Liked by 2 people

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  10. I love reading the quotes, even if I can’t guess the source. The book that freaked me out when I was young was Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood”. Truth (even distorted) seems much scarier to me than fiction. (K)

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  12. I’m late to this and stumped,,, I now know the answers(from)comments in my defence its been so long since I read horror I used to love it when much younger and now I don’t so much…Michael made a very good job of the video, Robbie …

    Liked by 1 person

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  13. Those were scary quotes, Robbie. I think what gives me the chills is the deep pov and the distinctive voice of the narrator. I get the feeling that the person is whispering in my ear. It’s super creepy. And I couldn’t guess any of them but scanned the comments for the answers. And I had fun listening to your story. Well done!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hi Diana, maybe that is why I like paranormal and ‘horror’ books so much. The POV’s are often distinctive and chilling. I find this sort of book much easier to write myself than lighter genres like romance. I’m pleased you enjoyed that little extract. Michael did the picture design.

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. I enjoy Stephen King books. I just read a short bio on Edgar Allan Poe – wow, he lived a long time ago, and yet remains famous. In real life, he sounded pretty abrasive. His death and disappearance remain a mystery. I will have to put one of his books on my reading list for sure. Thanks for being my literary guide, Robbie. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

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