Fiction (books and audiobooks)
Unhallowed Ground by Heather Graham - When Sarah McKinley is finally able to buy and restore the historic Florida mansion that she has always loved, she dismisses the horror stories of past residents vanishing and a long-dead housekeeper who practiced black magic. Then, in the midst of renovations, she makes a grim discovery. Hidden within the walls of Sarah's dream house are the remains of dozens of bodies and some dating back over a century.
The Ghost of Greenwich Village: A Novel by Lorna Graham - A young woman
moves to Manhattan in search of romance and excitement—only to find that
her apartment is haunted by the ghost of a cantankerous Beat Generation
writer in need of a rather huge favor.
20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill - A collection of short stories by Joe Hill including "Better Than Home" and "Abraham's Boys."
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - This supernatural thriller follows four people who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House searching for evidence of a haunting. Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.
Turn of the Screw by Henry James - This is a classic tale of terror that begins in an old house on Christmas Eve. It is the
story of a Governess who comes to live with and take care of two young
children. She loves her new position in charge of the young
children, however she is soon disturbed when she begins to see ghosts.
Carrie by Stephen King - Before you see the movie, read the book about a misfit high-school girl, Carrie White, who gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers.
The Shining by Stephen King - A young boy and his family are isolated in a hotel for the winter and some of the hotel's guests have never left. (And so many other titles by King are available).
Phoebe and the Ghost of Chagall by Jill Koenigsdorf - Marc Chagall appeared exactly twenty-five years after his death, in the twenty-first century, in Phoebe's kitchen in Sonoma, California. Want to know more? Check it out at the library.
Tick Tock by Dean Koontz (as well as several others) - Tommy Phan is a successful detective novelist living the American Dream in southern California and comes home to find a strange rag doll on his doorstep. The doll comes to life and leaves this chilling warning on his computer screen: The deadline is dawn. Tick Tock.
The Unburied by Charles Palliser - A historical murder mystery that takes place in the late Victorian era. Admirers of Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and John Fowles won't want to miss this one.
The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl - The public, the press,
and even Edgar Allan Poe’s own family and friends accept the conclusion that Poe was
a second-rate writer who met a disgraceful end as a drunkard in 1849. Everyone,
in fact, seems to believe this except a young Baltimore lawyer named
Quentin Clark, an ardent admirer who puts his own career and reputation
at risk in a passionate crusade to salvage Poe’s. As Quentin
explores the puzzling circumstances of Poe’s demise, he discovers that
the writer’s last days are riddled with unanswered questions the police
are possibly willfully ignoring.
The Raven and Other Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe - No Halloween would be complete without reading Poe's famous poem the Raven or his classic tales including The Fall of the House of Usher and the Masque of the Red Death.
A Stranger in Olondria : Being the Complete Memoirs of the Mystic, Jevick of Tyom by Sofia Samatar - A debut fantasy novel where Jevick, the pepper merchant's son, has been raised on stories of Olondria, a distant land where books are as common as they are rare in his home. When his father dies and Jevick takes his place on the yearly selling trip to Olondria, he is pulled drastically off course and becomes haunted by the ghost of an illiterate young girl. He seeks help and quickly becomes a pawn in the struggle between the empire's two most powerful cults. As the country is on the brink of war, he must face his ghost and learn her story before he has any chance of becoming free by setting her free: an ordeal that challenges his understanding of art and life, home and exile, and the limits of that seductive necromancy, reading.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - A Gothic thriller, passionate romance and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, this is the classic story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein who assembles a human being
from stolen body parts but, after bringing it to life, he recoils in
horror at the creature's hideousness. Tormented by isolation and
loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a
campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein. An important ancestor of both the horror and
science fiction genres, Frankenstein not only tells a terrifying story, but also
raises profound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life such as: How far can we go in
tampering with Nature?
Dracula by Bram Stoker - Another classic, supernatural and chilling tale. Jonathan Harker, a young lawyer from England, travels to the Eastern European country of Transylvania to help a rich nobleman, Count Dracula, conclude a property deal. But soon after his arrival, Harker becomes a prisoner in his castle and he must try to escape and battle the evil Dracula not only for his own life, but that of his sweetheart. Not the first vampire novel, but the most widely known, Stoker's novel has been the inspiration for numerous movies and literary adaptations.
Fiction E-Books
And if you just can't wait to haunt the library for some spooktacular reading, the Warren Township Library has several great e-book choices:
Four Past Midnight by Stephen King - A horror quartet by King including the short stories The Langoliers (survivors of a plane crash awake in a nightmare), Secret Window (a writer finds himself at the end of an accusing finger), The Library Policeman (a businessman struggles to uncover the evil driving him mad) and The Sun Dog (a ravenous dog inhabits a camera).
Darkfall by Dean Koontz - A suspenseful story about a blizzard that brings a city to a standstill and ushers in an evil that defies imagination (but apparently not that of Koontz).
Half-Minute Horrors by Susan Rich - Pressed for time? Then see how scared you can get in 30 seconds with this collection of creepy short stories. Authors include Lemony Snicket, James Patterson, Neil
Gaiman, R.L.Stine, Faye Kellerman, Holly Black, Melissa Marr, Margaret
Atwood, Jon Scieszka, Brett Helquist, and many moreAsylum by Madeleine Roux - When sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford arrives at the New Hampshire College Prep dorm for the summer, he learns that it used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane. As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried. Roux's teen debut features found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums.
Nocturnal by Scott Sigler - In this paranormal thriller, homicide detective Bryan Clauser is having dreams that are exactly like serial murders taking place all over San Francisco. Things get even stranger as he and his partner discover that all the victims are enemies of a seemingly ordinary young boy - a boy gripped by the same dreams that haunt Bryan. And as Bryan learns the truth about his own intimate connections to the killings, he discovers that those who matter most to him are in mortal danger…and that he may be the only man gifted—or cursed—with the power to do battle with the nocturnals.
Dracula by Bram Stoker - Not the first vampire novel, but the most widely known, Stoker's novel has been the inspiration for numerous movies and literary adaptations.
If after reading all these books, you're not too scared to leave the house, visit the library for some great Halloween events. You also won't want to miss our list of true stories of hauntings and more. And there are some great Halloween books for kids of all ages.
