This year’s Halloween Horror Book List took a lot longer to create than I expected. I wanted more than a mere update of last year’s titles. I wanted to mix in some new authors — perhaps several you’ve never heard of before. As usual, space limitations forced me to leave off many deserving authors and titles.
So, I want to throw this out: Don’t see someone you think deserves to be on this list? Tell us. That’s what the comment section below is for. Add their name and book title for our consideration. Are you the author of a horror book that got left off the list? Throw it in there. Together we can take a good list and make it better.
I’m dying to see who you’d add to this years’ list.
And I do mean dying . . .
Main Course Horror:
Four Course Helpings of Horror
Bloodstone by Nate Kenyon
Coffin County by Gary A. Braunbeck
Covenant by John Everson
Shapeshifter by J. F. Gonzalez
Duma Key: A Novel by Stephen King
Eat the Dark: A Novel by Joe Schreiber
Fires Rising by Michael Laimo
Found You by Mary SanGiovanni
Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
Ghost Walk by Brian Keene
The Missing by Sarah Langan
Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory
The Price: A Novel by Alexandra Sokoloff
The Vanishing by Bentley Little
Water Witch by Deborah Leblanc
Classic Halloween Dishes:
Seasonal Specials for the Holiday
Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
The Haunted Forest Tour by James A. Moore and Jeff Strand
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
- The Pine Deep Trilogy by Jonathan Maberry
- Ghost Road Blues
- Dead Man’s Song
- Bad Moon Rising
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Hot and Spicey Horror:
Hard Core Horror not for Weak Stomachs
The Freakshow by Bryan Smith
Hide and Seek by Jack Ketchum
Kill Whitey by Brian Keene
Orgy of Souls
Prodigal Blues by Gary A. Braunbeck
Queen of Blood by Bryan Smith
Ravenous by Ray Garton
Succulent Prey
The Woods Are Dark by Richard Laymon
Horrific Appetizers:
Horror With a Slice of Humor and Satire
Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry
Installing Linux on a Dead Badger by Lucy A. Snyder
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz
Meta-Fiction Deserts:
Literate and Tricky — makes you think or gives you a headache
Demon Theory by Stephen Graham Jones
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker
Sides Dishes of Short Stories:
Short Story Collections:
20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
5 Stories by Peter Straub
Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe
Mama’s Boy and Other Dark Tales
The October Country by Ray Bradbury
Proverbs For Monsters
Richard Matheson: Collected Stories, Vol. 1, 2 and 3
Anthologies:
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 19 edited by Stephen Jones
Inferno: New Tales of Terror and the Supernatural edited by Ellen Datlow
Dark Delicacies: Original Tales of Terror and the Macabre by the World’s Greatest Horror Writers edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb
Dark Delicacies II: Fear; More Original Tales of Terror and the Macabre by the World’s Greatest Horror Writers edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb
Five Strokes to Midnight
Horror: The Best of the Year, 2008 Edition edited by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz
The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: 21st Annual Collection edited by Kelly Link, Gavin Grant, and Ellen Datlow
International Cuisine:
See How Other Countries Take Their Horror
Frankenstein’s Bride by Hilary Bailey (England — Trade reprint also includes Frankenstein by Mary Shelley another British author)
Ghost Radio: A Novel by Leopoldo Gout (Born in Mexico City, Mexico)
The Grin of the Dark by Ramsey Campbell (England)
Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist — translated by Ebba Segerberg (Sweden)
Lucifer’s Ark by Simon Clark
Metropole by Ferenc Karinthy — translated by George Szirtes (Hungary)
Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert (South Africa)
The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia (Born in Russia)
Tower Hill by Sarah Pinborough (England)
- The Watch Trilogy by Sergei Lukyanenko — translated by Andrew Bromfield (Russia)
- The Night Watch
- The Day Watch
- The Twilight Watch
in my other website
(This Booklist is a slightly altered version of the one that appeared on my blog about horror books called Horror Books with the Undead Rat.)
Hey,
I’ll start off the comments with a book I forgot to add to the list. It is Demon: A Memoir by Tosca Lee. It is Christian horror and it tells the creation story from the point of view of a fallen angel. I found it smart and engaging. It did get a tad preachy at a couple of points but most of it fell comfortable within the complex character of the Demon. I would have put it in the Main Course Menu.
–Greg “The Undead Rat” Fisher
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