What Are Some Dark Fantasy / Horror Novels?

[Ponswick]

So I just started a new campaign with a brand new DM (who did a kick-ass job.) His world is a dark forest where about five years prior to the campaign darkness consumed the forest. The forest since has been cut off from the outside world. The only light in the forest comes from the two moons, that usually give off low-light. Most of the residents of the forest died when the darkness came. The only town is a ramshackle outpost called Brightwind Village. Creepy demons, and like undead, and all this other hair-standing up on the back of your skin reminiscent of the moon from majora's mask are filled in the forest...

So I'm super pumped for this setting and want to dive into books out there similar to this setting. Are any good horror/fantasy books set in like a creepy forest setting out there?

[Numerian]

The White People by Arthur Machen

[Werthead]

I don't think you're going to get anything quite so specifically the same as that but in the same ballpark might be:

DARK EDEN by Chris Beckett
A small tribe of people live in a secluded valley. Venturing beyond the valley results in death due to the impenetrable cold. The tribespeople survive by hunting and harvesting fruit, but their numbers are dropping and inbreeding is a problem. One member of the tribe wants to risk a journey beyond the edge of the valley, which splinters the tribe.

MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock
This book starts off in our world, with a farmhouse located adjacent to a woodland. Odd things go on in the woods and eventually the protagonist ventures inside, to find what is essentially another world inhabited by severe dangers. There's a lot of complex, mindblowing sequels.

THE DEMON CYCLE by Peter V. Brett
People are trapped in their homes after sunset by demons which rise from the ground and rule the night. One man discovers the ability to use ward-magic, which protects homes from invasion, as an offensive ability and tries to unite humanity against the demons. I really recommend the first book, but the series does get progressively worse as it goes along.

[SmiloDan]

I think there is a post-zombie apocalypse book called "The Forest of Hands and Teeth" by Carrie Ryan that has a secluded town by a dangerous forest. I haven't read it though.

CJ Cherryh's "Goblin Mirror" is also about a secluded town and mysterious forest.

[SnowJade]

CS Friedman's latest trilogy, starting with A Feast of Souls. Not only is it brilliant, but the implications are enough to make every hackle on your body stand right straight up.

Julie Czerneda's A Turn of Light is her first stab at fantasy, and it's more of her outstanding work. It does take place in a small, secluded village; the protagonist is a young woman who cannot leave the area, or a disaster of an unspecified nature will occur.

[Lord Snow]

Also, I would recommend to check out Paizo's own "Nightglass". It's a Pathfinder Tales novel set in the shadowed nation Nidal, where Zon Kuthon is worshiped. It's a good book, I think, considerably better than the standard Pathfinder Tales (which are themselves better than most game related books).

[SnowJade]

C.J. Cherryh's Faerie in Shadow is intensely spooky.