Scary Stories Part II
Picking up from where we left off last week, here is a selection of books for the spookiest season of the year:
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The shadow of Hill House looms large over all the other haunted buildings in the genre. This eerie 1959 ghost story is the psychologically fraught tale of a group of paranormal investigators who decide to spend a summer at the titular house. (What did you do during your summer vacation?) If you’re looking for something extra spooky and Gothic after seeing Crimson Peak, check out John Harwood’s unsettling Victorian tales!
A woman experiences a strange pregnancy in this 1967 novel, and begins to suspect her husband and neighbours of conspiring against her.
Considered by many to be the king of contemporary horror, the prolific author produced an impressive list of iconic works which have led to countless adaptations. His first published novel, concerning a teenage girl with telekinetic powers who has the worst prom ever, inspired four movies and even a Broadway musical.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
1976 was a good year for horror. Film versions of Carrie and The Omen hit the screens, and Rice’s first novel was published, unleashing the vampire Lestat upon the world.
The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
The 1986 novella from which the Hellraiser film franchise sprung is a bloody and brutal tale about the dark desires of the human heart.
And now for some of my personal favourites from this decade! The Passage by Justin Cronin starts slowly, taking its time to sink its teeth into the dark parts of your imagination. Government experiments with a bat virus were supposed to lead to the creation of super soldiers, but alas, the human trials go terribly wrong. The first part of the book has a dread-building intensity, followed by a time jump into a post-apocalyptic future where human survivors live in colonies — disorienting at first, but gripping once you get into the world-building aspects. This is the first book of a trilogy; the second one I confess I didn’t enjoy as much, but I’m still looking forward to the last book, which is expected to be published next year.
Stephen King blurbed The Troop by Nick Cutter, saying it scared the hell out of him. I feel you, Stephen King! A troop of boy scouts go on a camping trip to a remote uninhabited island, because that’s going to end well, and sure enough, a stranger shows up one night, looking rather sickly and wasting away… The combination of body horror and literary style could be described as Alien meets Lord of the Flies, with a dash of The Ruins and 28 Days Later. Trigger warnings for animal abuse and self-mutilation, and that doesn't even cover a scene that still makes me feel slightly ill when I think about it, and I read it more than a year ago. Nick Cutter apparently knows exactly how to tap into and then fuse all my fears (in The Deep, bees and nightmare clown faces show up at the bottom of the ocean) so I would not be surprised if his next book contains more invertebrates plus an antique doll collection thrown in for good measure.
While we're on the subject, I would also recommend The Library at Mount Char, which I rave about in this post, and The Girl with All the Gifts, which my fellow librarian raves about here.
What are you reading this Halloween?
Related posts:
20 Best Horror Films on DVD
Beyond Honey Boo Boo: Scary Little Monsters in Fiction
Hallowe’en: Fun and Scary
Spooky Stuff: Ghosts and Haunted Houses in Fiction
Vampire Fiction for the Shortest Day of the Year
Z is for Zombie
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