10 Scary Books Halloween 2020

I've included some classics, non-fiction,YA, mystery, and dark fantasy for this year's Halloween Reads Post:)

1.The White People and Other Stories by Arthur Machen

A classic of eerie horror. The title story is told to one man by another, and concerns a green book, the journal of a girl whose nanny had a connection with malevolent spirit folk. That nanny's influence might have sent the girl spiraling into madness. The Great God Pan is another disturbing tale with lovely bits of mythic darkness.

2.The Call by Peadar O'Guilin

This was YA horror? Set in contemporary Ireland, it's a Hunger Games with Very Bad Faery Folk, the type that make living skin suits out of the teenagers they hunt for five minutes in faeryland. If you survive, you win. Very few survive. Death is preferable.

3.The World of Lore: Dreadful Places by Aaron Mahnke

An entertaining collection of urban legends and haunted places examined by Mahnke, whose podcast of the same name is also fascinating. There are two other books in this collection--Wicked Mortals and Monstrous Creatures.

4.Never-Contented Things by Sarah Porter

Ksenia has to save her foster sibling Josh from Prince and his tribe, glamorous creatures disguised as teenagers, who lure young people into a mirror world to feed off of their emotions. Ksenia plays along with these soul-sucking creatures until she can find a way out--and the sacrifice she must make is heartbreaking. Also, the never-contented things are creepy.

5.Coldheart Canyon by Clive Barker

An action star's plastic surgery leaves him disfigured, so he isolates himself by purchasing a mansion once owned by a Romanian actress who may have been a witch. He soon learns she and her disciples never left. The ghosts are disturbing, a crossbreeding of the phantoms of Hollywoood stars and the wraiths of a menagerie of exotic beasts kept by the witch.

6.Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Alex is given a free ride to Yale University because she can see the dead. She becomes an apprentice to Darlington, the young man who teaches her the ways of Lethe House, which polices the Houses of the Veil--the secret societies like Skull and Bones, who actually practice magic. The ghosts are terrifying, as is Alex's stumbling alone through this world when she loses Darlington.

7.HeartBeast by Tanith Lee

A werewolf story. Like all of Lee's writing, it's strange, lyrical, elegant, and brutal. Daniel, a beautiful young adventurer, becomes the victim of a horrific curse while traveling the world in what seems to be the early 19th century. and then he comes home . . . Striking imagery and fascinating characters.

8.A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

A reality show is following a teenager who is soon to be exorcised. The events are told in flashback by her sister, now a writer haunted by what took place. It's a chilling and absolutely disturbing story of what might be a demonic possession or horrific episodes of schizophrenia.

9.In The Woods by Tana French

A pair of Irish detectives investigate the terrible murder of a young girl in the woods--the same woods where one of the detectives, as a child, became lost with two of his friends. He was the only one who returned. His friends were never found. and he has chilling flashbacks of an antlered man. Saturated with bits of what could potentially be supernatural--or not--it's a story of a damaged man determined to find justice for a murdered child.

10.The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan

A contemporary dark fairy tale/ghost story about a young woman named India, who suffers from schizophrenia, and whose relationship with a mysterious hitchhiker--who might be either a werewolf or a mermaid--leads to tragedy for one, and healing for the other

10 Classics That Aren't Boring

 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Poor girl tells off rich gentleman. rich gentleman is brooding and has a dark secret. Jane is fierce. Rochester is a moody playboy. It's a Gothic tale with lovely dialogue that sizzles with innuendo. Jane Eyre herself is a changeling creature, challenging Rochester's dominion.

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

A gorgeous rendering of historical France. It's the swashbuckling tale of young d'Artagnan, who wishes to join the Musketeers, an elite group of guardsmen. The Three Musketeers are noble rogues. The villain is unforgettable--Milady de Winter. Though an aristocrat, Dumas's grandmother was an enslaved woman of African descent, and he served in the military, which lends this tale an interesting history.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

Mary Yellan is sent to live with her aunt. When she arrives at her aunt's inn,she meets her aunt's brutal husband and his young rogue of a brother, Jem. She realizes her uncle is in charge of a gang of wreckers, who deliberately cause shipwrecks to drown and rob the crew. Things get grimly Gothic from there.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Perhaps one of the first horror tales written by a woman. the monster, a reanimated corpse, is described by his creator, Doctor Frankenstein, as beautiful--before the monster escapes into the world to wreak havoc because he's bitter about being rejected by his young creator. Some scenes from the monster's POV are terrifying.

A House in the Country by Jose Donoso

The Venturas are a wealthy South American family whose lives are touched with elements of magic realism. The adults are distant. The children are the main characters and exist in a realm of their own, one that disturbingly mirrors that of the adults. they are oppressed by the brutal, cruel servants. It's a political allegory, but also a beautifully written tale, where even dandelion fluff becomes sinister.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

A Gothic romance set on the British moors, a ghost story as well. Heathcliff is fascinating at first, described as a changeling when he's brought to live with young Catherine Earnshaw's family. they grow up together, but Catherine becomes less fey, and more drawn to the real world, as Heathcliff twists into someone monstrous due to mistreatment and bitterness. It's a tale scattered with bits of the supernatural.

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

A surreal fable about Macon Dead, a young man growing up amidst an eccentric cast of characters with fabulous names (First Corinthians, Guitar, Hagar). Macon 'Milkman' searches for identity and his longing to fly is symbolic of his life.

The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea by Yukio Mishima

A disturbing tale with gorgeous prose, the story follows the intelligent, but delinquent teen Noboru in the early 1960s and his obsession with his elegant mother's sailor boyfriend. The themes of honor and glory provoke a downward spiral for the teen protagonist and a grim fate for the sailor.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

With a young hero named Pip attempting to succeed in grim Victorian London, and Estella, a girl raised by a bitter woman left at the altar (a girl raised solely to destroy boys), this is a coming of age fairy tale with a cast of eccentric characters, told from the hero's POV.

One Thousand and One Nights (Various translations)

A lovely collection of Middle Eastern fairy tales (any edition illustrated by Maxfield Parrish is a must-have). The framing device concerns Scheherazade, the bride of a ruler who kills his wives. She's attempting to distract him to hold off her death by telling stories. This is the origin of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad the sailor, among others. It's also a great example of foreshadowing and thematic patterning, a story within a story.

10 Television Fantasy Series Characters You Need to Meet (2020)

Emma Larsimon (Marianne) A horror writer who returns to her hometown which is being haunted by her creation, a malevolent witch. Brave and flawed, Emma is uniquely French, and was once a teen troublemaker. 

Wei Wuxian (Untamed) A rule-breaker in an immaculate society of magical cultivators, he's a trickster on his way to becoming a dark anti-hero.

Rosa Steenwijk (Ares). Shes a biracial young woman with a chip on her shoulder, who might throw away her humanity to be among the wealthy elite in a secret society.

Ava Silva (Warrior Nun) An orphaned girl raised from the dead, she definitely has that Buffy vibe, European style.

Jo Yeong (The King: Eternal Monarch) He's the captain of the king's guard, his unbreakable sword, loyal to a fault, stoic and movie-star glam, a stern demeanor only made more charming when he meets his goofy doppelganger in a mirror world.

Anansi (American Gods) A tempestuous trickster god who speaks with an angry poetry and dresses like a vaudevillian gentleman. He speaks the funniest lines and the harshest truths.

Klaus Hargreeves (The Umbrella Academy) A walking id with a heart of gold, he has a serious power--he can see and speak with the dead. 

The Weeping Monk (Cursed) Brooding and on the wrong side of the narrative, he's a mystery shrouded in a hood and hunting down faery folk.

Mrs. Coulter (His Dark Materials) Her familiar is a golden ape. Despite her sophistication, she has a feral side that is terrifying when she's angry.

Yennifer (the Witcher) A sorceress whose rise to mercenary is brutal but fascinating, the facets of her character both strong and compassionate.

(Images courtesy of Netflix)

ENSEMBLE CASTS

A group of heroes on a quest. A gang of young criminals preparing to pull off a heist. A circle of friends confronted by a horrifying evil. A family discovering secrets either devastating or delightful. A gathering of suspects, one of whom committed a murder.
   For a writer, an ensemble cast is a challenge (and a whole lot of fun). Depending on the genre, the characters can be quick, eccentric sketches or fully developed. Ensembles are no easy feat. You don't want an upstart in the ensemble to usurp the protagonist or the antagonist. They serve as mirrors. A protagonist surrounded by fully realized characters who offer another view of your hero (or villain), actually make primary characters shine, bring out the best (or worst) in them, reflect strengths and weaknesses.

   A collection of characters shouldn't be a challenge to the reader, but a fabulous discovery. An ensemble is a breeding ground for amusing or heartbreaking conflict, shattering betrayals, astonishing reversals, secrets, love, hate. While the reader must be invested in your main character (so make them interesting, the one who experiences most of the above), an even divide of attention for the cast is acceptable, as long as there aren't too many people. Each cast member should have a story arc that gracefully syncs with the protagonist's.
   Back stories are fun ways to keep characters interesting. Even though you probably won't use half of what you invent for your ensemble, a back story creates a unique person and can even trigger key elements in your plot. I keep a journal for every book I write, and fill it with place names, turns of phrase, sketches, character stories, letters, biographies, etc;
   For fantasy writers, ensembles turn us into ringmasters, because we really need to keep the three-ring acts moving and not let anyone outshine the main character. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is a classic combo of characters, all with grudges against each other and back stories that are legendary because they're all connected to legends. Each of Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows criminal gang has a story that explains how they've been damaged in some fashion at such young ages. And Game of Thrones has kings and queens, upstarts and commoners, all battling one another for one thing.

   Everyone considers themselves the hero of the saga.
   There are other ensemble tropes: A group of friends are confronted by evil, usually in the form of a monster. Stephen King's collection of friends in It, for instance, grow up with psychological trauma caused by the monster and their own childhoods. The Pevensey family from C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia have the horrors of World War II to deal with before they step into a fantasy world where they each follow their own path. The Narnia books can also be considered a family ensemble. This trope plays out in mystery stories and in horror, as well, when a family has to deal with secrets and betrayals that will end them or make them stronger.
   Combining ensemble tropes is popular in fantasy. A murder mystery and a fantasy? Jay Kristoff's NeverNight, set at a school for young assassins, or Seanan Mcguire's Every Heart a Doorway, which takes place at an academy for young people who've been to other worlds, are fantastic examples of mixing ensemble tropes. Horror fantasy? Stephen King's Dark Tower series has horror elements surrounding a fabulous cast on a fantastical quest. And Barbara Hambly's Time of the Dark series has two people finding themselves in a different world, surrounded by a cast of characters at war with one another and Alien-like horrors.

What does an ensemble cast offer?
1) Diverse personalities to bring out unique elements in your main character or antagonist
2) Individual character arcs that help drive plot
3) Complications/help sources for the protagonist
4) More characters to root for. (Or fear).
5) A bounty of secrets, betrayals, love, humor.
6) Other characters who see the protagonist in different ways and help to make the hero more three-dimensional.

Ensembles are a fantastic way to create a complex world for your main character, keeping you from stereotypes and cardboard settings.

10 Favorite Scary Books 2019

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

A horror film director's daughter suicides and a young journalist tries to figure out why, accompanied by 2 quirky proteges. Did something supernatural occur? Or was it just weird reality?

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
What do you get when you cross Buffy the Vampire Slayer with The Babadook? This awesome LGBTQ horror novel with a twist.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
I just reread this and forgot how creepy and beautiful a story it is, with Frankenstein's monster a figure of tragic neglect.

The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy
A scary, contemporary tale about a once popular girl who has undergone a childhood trauma in the woods and a geeky boy who's one of the most likable boy-as-a-friend-becomes-a-romance I've ever read.

The Good Demon by Jimmy Cajoleas
Chilling story of a teen girl's isolation in a southern town. The demon isn't as demonic as what waits at the heart of the woods in this creepy, atmospheric tale.

The House by Christina Lauren
A possessive house raises an orphaned boy. Then a girl comes along and the house gets jealous. And whatever it is, it can effect her even when she's not there.

Alabaster by Caitlin R. Kiernan
A tough, mysterious girl fights disturbing monsters in this anthology by a master of horror.

Reigning Cats and Dogs by Tanith Lee
Steampunk horror, with a romance between two young people trapped in a Victorian life of drudgery, elevated when each becomes possessed by the Egyptian gods Bastet and Anubis.


Casquette Girls by Alys Arden
A unique and entertaining vampire story set in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. The heroine and her friends are likable, the vampires gorgeous and scary.

The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers
Weird and intriguing. Percy Shelley and other poets are persecuted by a terrifying muse who is actually a monster form ancient mythology. Original and astonishing.

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
A lyrical, mythical, and horrifying story of vampires, starring a charming monster. Fascinating characters and historical settings.

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
An anthology of beautifully told, vivid tales of fairy tale horror.

10 TERRIFYING CREATURES FROM CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

While creating some monsters for my latest book, I thought about what terrified me, and most of what did were monsters from childhood stories. Here are some classics that gave me the willies.

The Wheelers (Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum)
Half man, half bicycle, these nightmares make the flying monkeys look downright adorable in comparison. Watch the film Return to Oz if you have any desire to see these horrors in the flesh.

Princess Langwidere (Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum)
Yet another Oz creature, memorable because of her vain and psychotic desire to collect the heads of young girls to use as her own, a sort of mix-and-match. She kept the heads on shelves in her walk-in-closet. Like hats.


The Scissor Man (German nursery rhyme)
This vicious tailor is portrayed in some illustrated editions as an elongated, grinning fiend with scissor for hands. Beware, all thumbsuckers, Edward Scissorhands he is not.

Jadis, The White Witch (The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis)
Seductive and icy (and played to perfection in the film by Tilda Swinton), this power-hungry witch is portrayed in one chilling illustration with a knife in one hand, preparing to stab Aslan the lion, bound and beaten and tied to a slab. I was nine when I opened this book for the first time to that illustration and hastily returned this book to the library shelf.

Tinkerbell (Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie)
This tiny, pretty fairy terrifying? She was a murderous, treacherous bit of jealousy who tries to get the lost boys to kill Wendy and almost betrays Peter Pan. I always imagined her with sharp teeth.

Jabberwocky (Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll)
A nonsense poem about a monster read by Alice. John Tenniel's nightmarish illustration of this thing has it looking like a cross between a giant catfish and a frog, with big teeth and sharp claws. And it's wearing a vest.

It (A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle)
Okay, not the clown. Described as a giant, muscular brain, It is an intellect that only wants to rule and, if you've read the story, I'm sure you still fell a bit of unease whenever you see an anatomical model of a brain.

The Sea Witch (The Little Mermaid by Hands Christian Andersen)
slimy polypi, grass snakes,toads, and large, swampy breasts are the terms used to describe this hideous witch of the sea, who cruelly fools a little mermaid into giving up her voice and eventually her life.

Shlamoofs (The Neverending Story by Michael Ende)
Butterfly clowns. Yes. Butterfly clowns. comical, yet terrifying, as is the case with most clowns, and adding butterfly wings doesn't making them any less skincrawly.

Gollum (The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien)
Grotesque, vicious, pathetic, insane, he is the creep in the dark.



And that's it, boy sand girls. what do you remember as terrifying in your storybooks?

Quiet Heroines

   Among the ranks of kick-ass heroines armed with martial arts, swords, and revolvers are the women and girls who are descendants of Jane Austen's female protagonists and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Like Nancy Drew, they use smarts, and, like Alice in Wonderland, they use curiosity to negotiate their stories.
   Here are some of my favorite bookish heroines:

Ariane in Moonwise by Greer Ilene Gilman 
Set in the contemporary British Isles, this lyrical tale is about Ariane, a gawky girl who must navigate a faery-haunted woods nearby to rescue her best friend. Language is the primary weapon here, and it is used beautifully.

Kate in The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
In this Elizabethan fantasy, Kate, a handmaiden to the the exiled Princess Elizabeth, must use her wits to solve the mystery of a child's disappearance and rescue an arrogant boy she's reluctantly grown fond of from the faeries.

Eddi in War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
In contemporary Minneapolis, Eddi, a young musician, can see what she shouldn't. Like Kate, she must outwit the queen of an ancient race to save those she cares about.

Jenny Waynest in Dragonbane by Barbara Hambly
This woman and mother is a half-taught mage and a female version of those wizards in fantasy novels. She is the center of the story, not her be-spectacled dragonslaying husband. Jenny finds another way to defeat a dragon.

Jane in The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee
In the future, sheltered Jane falls in love with a beautiful boy who happens to be an automaton. She must wage a futile battle against the establishment with a little help from her friends.

Wendy in Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand
In yet another future, Wendy, struggling with mental illness, makes her way across a broken chemical-damaged landscape, seeking her possessed twin brother. Her only weapon is her intellect and the poison within her.

Blue in The Raven Boys series by Maggie Stiefvater
Young Blue is a thoughtful, introverted girl raised by witchy women. Her friends are a group of unique boys. It is Blue who holds them together so none of them face some truly nasty characters alone.

While the quiet heroine might sometimes use magic or other special abilities, she rarely takes up arms. She uses her wits. Despite having a touch of the introvert, she establishes loyal friendships due to her curiosity and compassion for others. And, although it sometimes seems as if she'd rather curl up with a good book and a cup of tea, she will forge onward, against dragons, faery queens, and corrupt governments, fearless.