As the nights draw in and the air turns crisp, it’s the perfect time to indulge in stories that send shivers down your spine. This Halloween, we’re celebrating all things spooky with a mix of brand-new horror titles by women and authors of colour, timeless gothic classics, and a curated Reading list and a Box of Broadcasts playlist to set the mood.
Fresh Horrors on the Horizon
We’ve got some incredible new titles on order that showcase diverse voices in horror:
- Full Immersions by Gemma Amor – A traumatised woman with amnesia finds her own dead body and sets out to uncover the truth of her demise in a race against time, sanity, crumbling realities and the ever-present threat of the Silhouette.
- Beneath, by Kristi Demeester – A mysterious library contains the secrets to the universe in a visionary fantasy with elements of dark academia.
- The library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins – A psychological descent into madness and memory, perfect for fans of surreal, unsettling narratives.
- Father of lies by Brian Evenson – A fearless, scathing, and irresistible novel about madness, power, and the hypocrisy of religious institutions.
- Boss in the Valley by Philip Fracassi – The Exorcist meets Lord of the Flies, by way of Midnight Mass, Boys in the Valley is a chilling folk horror set in a remote orphanage in turn of the century Pennsylvania.
- The reformatory by Tannarive Due – Twelve-year-old Robert Stephens Jr., who for a trivial scuffle with a white boy is sent to The Gracetown School for Boys. But the segregated reformatory is a chamber of horrors, haunted by the boys that have died there.
- In That Endlessness, Our End by Gemma Files – This book has fifteen more of the authors most startling recent nightmares-a creepily seductive downward spiral of dark poetry and existential dread, entirely suitable to the slow apocalypse going on all around us.
- The Fisherman by John Langan – ‘Illusory, frightening, and deeply moving, The Fisherman is a modern horror epic. And it’s simply a must read’ Paul Tremblay.
- Brother, by Ania Ahlborn – a terrifying novel that follows a teenager determined to break from his family’s unconventional and deeply disturbing traditions.
- Nothing but blackened teeth by Cassandra Khaw – A gorgeously creepy classic haunted house story based on Japanese folklore, combining The Haunting of Hill House with The Ring.
- Bad Cree by Jessica Johns – In this gripping debut, a young Cree woman’s dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community, and the land they call home.
- Bog People: A working-class anthology of folk horror – Unleash the dark and delirious with this electrifying anthology of folk horror from some of Britain’s most iconic working-class voices
These new books to our collection not only promise to be scary, but bring a new perspective to this genre. Please visit the library to pick up one of these spooky, frightening reads.
Gothic Classics to Revisit
No spooky season is complete without the atmospheric dread of gothic literature. We have pulled a selection from our stacks and have them in our spooky display.
Set the Mood: Box of Broadcasts Playlist and our curated reading list
We’ve curated a reading list with some of our book stock and a fantastic Box of Broadcasts playlist horror titles featuring gothic dramas, horror film adaptations, and spine-tingling documentaries. Perfect for those nights when you want to dim the lights and let the atmosphere take over. Access both via this link.