Spooky Season Reads: Dive into Haunting Stories for Halloween
Halloween is almost upon us so the StoryForge crew wanted to provide you with some options for some spooky reading. When we’re not working to build out our writing and publishing platform, you can oftentimes find us curled up with a good book. Now these aren’t necessarily Halloween-themed books but they are haunting or chilling and just right for getting in the mood for Spooky Season.
First up, we have Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen, and don’t judge it by its cover. It follows a group of women on a Bachelor-style getaway but again, don’t let this fool you either. This book is a sapphic spoof on both the bachelor and classic horror tropes which will have you entertained as much as thrilled.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is a book that you see pop up on a lot of lists of people’s favorites and our team agrees. Either we’ve read it and loved it or have it queued up to read soon. We aren’t going to give anything away on this one outside of saying it is without a doubt a unique reading experience.
If you want a haunting read, Bad Man by Dathan Auerbach is the kind of book that will stick with you. One member of our marketing team says they think of it every time they enter certain kinds of stores. Centered around a boy who goes missing and the brother who won’t stop looking for him, you’ll constantly be questioning what’s real and what’s not.
Don’t think we’ve forgotten about you lovers of Young Adult fiction. The Spook’s Apprentice by Joseph Delaney is what you’re going to want to check out. Thomas Ward is apprenticed to the local spook and inadvertently unleashes madness upon the country. This book was loosely adapted into the movie The Seventh Son but we wouldn’t recommend judging it by your like or dislike of the movie.
Uzumaki by Junji Ito checks in as the only graphic novel on our list. A small town isn’t haunted by a ghost but instead a pattern: uzumaki, the spiral — the hypnotic secret shape of the world. The townsfolk get obsessed with the spiral appearing in nature until they find themselves fearing it as well.
Rounding out our list is The Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert. An author known for his horror writing finds that the murders in his latest book have been replicated perfectly. The twist being that the book hasn’t been released to the public yet. Now a focus of the investigation, he has to figure out what happened and try to keep his own secrets hidden as well.
Happy Halloween reading!
