The Terror

Be prepared to be truly terrified with this book! If you've never read Dan Simmons before, you have sinned indeed. Simmons is one of the most talented writers on the planet, an author too talented to be contained in any one genre. He's written fiction, horror, science fiction, and fantasy novels -- and every single one of his books is a gosh darn work of art. His science fiction books are particularly good (his Hyperion series I consider some of the best science fiction ever written).My pick for his fantasy contribution is Terror, which is Simmon's mishmash of Edgar Allen Poe, Patrick O'Brien, and Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Basically it's a historical fiction meets horror on the open (or icy) sea.The Terror is a complex novel with a lot going on in and a good deal of scare to it. The story itself begins on a bit of a downer: two ships have been stuck deep in the polar ice for over two years. The crew's food is pretty much finished and there's a mysterious Eskimo woman who can't speak -- or won't speak -- living with the crew, feared as a witch. Add to that a strange creature that's worse than any polar bear imaginable -- it's been clawing to get in the ship and stalking the crew as they hunt for supplies, picking them off one by one by seemingly impossible means.Sound interesting? It is. I'm not going to spend another 30 minutes brainstorming on how to convince you to read it. Just take my word and give it a go. Oh, and turn down the lights and pull up a blanket when you do, it's going to get scccccaaaary!