Oh, the HORROR!!
By Book Moon
By Book Moon
Spooky, scary.
A few classics are listed here but most are "new" and some under-the-radar. Not all are supernatural; some are psychological or horror-of-the-weird. We've got some classic Gothic horror and some Neo-gothic. Some monsters. All the things. What I'm trying to say is, this is not a "Best of Stephen King" book list.
Light some candles and grab a pillow. It's about to get spooky.
The Haunting of Hill House
Shirley Jackson
$17.00 $15.81Here's a great place to start if you want to experience the genius (and horror) of Shirley Jackson. She's also a major source of inspiration for a lot of my favorite authors writing today. Shirley's wit and blunt prose will lull you into a false sense of security until the real horror hits. Some people say this is still the scariest book they've ever read. It's definitely up there.
Annihilation
Jeff VanderMeer
$16.00 $14.88How about some eco-futuristic horror? Yeah? A science expedition gone wrong? Sounds great. Creepy creature in an upside-down tower? Yes please. Sounds scary right? Well, it is.
The Hunger
Alma Katsu
$18.00 $16.74Everyone loves a good dead-pan Donner Party joke, but you won't be laughing after reading this take on the infamous cannibalism tale.
Feed
Mira Grant
$10.99 $10.22Another interesting, unique take on the zombie apocalypse trope. If you liked World War Z, you'll probably like this book too—just add in a little conspiracy and you have "Feed"
Mexican Gothic
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
$28.99 $26.96"Mexican Gothic is a deceptive one. It starts out seeming like it’s going to be something like Crimson Peak. In the back half though it dives into full cosmic and body horror, and becomes super unnerving and hard to put down!"--Mark S. horror-reader extrodinaire.
The Girl with All the Gifts
M. R. Carey
$19.99 $18.59Not your typical zombie story--the concept is clever and the story will eat at your heart (pun intended). And the movie actually wasn't that bad. But, as always, the book is better.
House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski
$29.00 $26.97If Infinite Jest were weirder and more horrifying. "A great novel. A phenomenal debut. Thrillingly alive, sublimely creepy, distressingly scary, breathtakingly intelligent--it renders most other fiction meaningless. One can imagine Thomas Pynchon, J. G. Ballard, Stephen King, and David Foster Wallace bowing at Danielewski's feet, choking with astonishment, surprise, laughter, awe." --Bret Easton Ellis
White Is for Witching
Helen Oyeyemi
$17.00 $15.81My Spooky Ladies Book Club is reading this one next. "If you've been missing Shirley Jackson all these many years . . . here's a writer who seems to be a direct heir to that lamented one's gothic throne." --The Austin Chronicle
Lovecraft Country
Matt Ruff
$16.99 $15.80An imaginative use of Lovecraftian horror but the twist is that the real monster is Jim Crow racism. A horror/sci-fi novel on white supremacy that honestly is not too far off from our real-life horror story happening in our own world. Soon to be an HBO series. Update: the show is reeeeally good too.
Dance on Saturday: Stories
Elwin Cotman
$17.00 $15.81This collection of stories is starting to get some major buzz among speculative fiction fans. The sci-fi and horror genres tend to cross-over and blend with each other 90% of the time, I find. This book is a great example of that blending. It also just received a great review in the NYT: https://nyti.ms/2QuDq3a
The Cipher
Kathe Koja
$17.95 $16.69A new addition on a new classic. Comes out September 15th with a new afterward by Maryse Meijer. "The Cipher" is an experimental horror novel written by Kathe Koja during a time when horror novels were becoming increasingly misogynistic and a real "boys club." Koja's extremely weird and creepy tale placed a new stake in the ground of the horror genre and was awarded the Bram Stoker award for her imaginative story.
Uzumaki (3-In-1 Deluxe Edition) (Deluxe)
Junji Ito
$35.00 $32.55This is a horror manga collected into one omnibus edition. Lynchian creepiness and Jacksonian in its paranoia--this story will give you some chills.
The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story
Susan Hill
$16.00 $14.88Do we consider this a "classic" novel in the style of gothic horror? It's not exactly "new" either....I'm going to go ahead and call it a new classic.
The Twisted Ones
T. Kingfisher
$17.99 $16.73The Blair Witch Project meets The Andy Griffith Show "Stories within stories within stories: It's a conceit that could easily turn into a mess in lesser hands. But Kingfisher pulls off her complicated construction with both ease and charm. There's a wry, Southern-droll sense of humor underpinning The Twisted Ones, especially as Mouse—a book editor by trade—begins to deconstruct Cotgrave's text. It all unspools on the page, and it's a testament to Kingfisher's skill that an entire two chapters of literary examination and annotation are enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. Kingfisher's literary juggling act is more than just a show of effortless virtuosity."--Jason Heller, NPR
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury
$17.99 $16.73An impressive blend of horror and fantasy. Definitely a classic.
Many moons ago, Amanda first worked as a bookseller at Buffalo Street Books Co-Op in Ithaca, NY. She’s thrilled to be back among the books, especially here in Easthampton where she’s lived for two years. Amanda holds a B.M. in Music Composition and a minor in English Lit. from Ithaca College. She enjoys all kinds of books but is especially partial to anything involving science fiction, speculative fiction, feminist/LGBTQ themes, and writers of color. She’s a nerd’s nerd and loves being a part of this amazing community of book lovers. Come talk to her about her strange taste in music (jazz fusion, anyone?), books, artsy films, and the Fermi Paradox.