Halloween Reads

Christians are bitching about devil worshippers, stores have sections with pumpkins that talk and more candy than Hershey, PA , one of my dogs has a superhero cape, and there’s suddenly waits for all the creepy movies on NetFlix. Yes, October has finally arrived.

Since I confirmed last month that I really don’t enjoy people scaring the bejesus out of me, I’m embracing a different Halloween tradition: theme reading. I’m going to list some of my favorites and some of my to-reads for this Halloween season. If you have anything to add to the list, I would love to hear about it.

Read It

1) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – Perfect for the younger crowd but I adore it as an adult. After his family was killed, Nobody Owens was raised by ghosts, a vampire, a witch, and a few other characters. Despite all that, he’s not entirely safe.

2) Nocturnes by John Connolly – A collection of short stories that are creepy and well written. I learned the hard way this was not bedtime reading.

3) The Gates by John Connolly – Written for a younger audience, this book has demons, monsters, and the end of the world on Halloween. Who’s going to stop it? A boy and his dog.

4) Anything by H. P. Lovecraft or Edgar Allen Poe – The grandfathers of modern horror. You can’t go wrong with anything they’ve got.

5) The Twilight Zone edited by Carol Serling – One of my favorite anthologies, the stories are incredibly reminiscent of the original show.

Currently Reading

1) Halloween Spirits edited by Maria Alexander – So far I’ve found this to be a fun and easy read. Most of the stories take place on Halloween so it’s an inexpensive way to get in the spirit. (I got it for cheap for Kindle).

To Read

1) Dark Harvest by Norman Patridge – It combines monsters, coming of age, small town ennui, and Halloween. It seemed worth a look.

2) Halloween edited by Sarah Langan – I finally bought this after seeing it in bookstores for ages. The Ray Bradbury story is only in the print edition.

3) The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury – Between the name and writer, I was sold.

4) Deadfall Hotel by Steven Rasnic Tem – It’s a more literary look at horror and what scares us.

5) Deadly Treats edited by Ann Frasier – Another inexpensive Kindle collection. It looked like fun.

6) Monster’s Corner edited by Christopher Golden – All the stories are told from the monster’s point of view.

Current Music: Monster Mash by Bobby “Boris” Pickett