Happy Halloween Reading List!

 

(Image: pixabay.com free CC license)

The Reading Lists I share here are always popular, and I've come across so many great books, that I decided to add another short list of 13 Books, Magazines & Anthologies just for Halloween. New, older, and "classic" books. Hope you find something spooky to read!

* See the previous October Reading Lists: Halloween, Fantasy, Mystery Reading List and the Horror, Zombie, Mystery Reading List

Monsters, Werewolves, Ghosts, Oh My!

* For other great recommendations, check out the Books of Horror group on Facebook!

Behind the Shadows II - Twenty-two creepy tales sure to curl your toes! Includes my Twilight-Zoneish story, "Blink!" (* Get e-book options here.)

Bestiary of Blood: Modern Tales & Dark Fables - Spooky, scary tales from 37 writers, including 18 Stoker Award winners! Dark tales, death and life feeding each other in an endless cycle... 

Black Cat Weekly Magazine - Three Halloween issues so far with solve-it-yourself mysteries, short stories, and a novel. (See issues #162-164.)

 

Children of Salem: Love Amid the Witch Trials, Robert W. Walker - Intrigue when Jere Wakely is summoned back to Salem - and the book opens with him being asked to impersonate a person of the cloth during the infamous Salem Witch trials... Suspense, romance, intrigue... (And a whopping 622 pages!)

Dracula Beyond Stoker, Fiction Journal - Journal dedicated to Bram Stoker's Dracula - Unique journal with themed short stories (like Dracula's Brides, etc.) and more. Issue 5 pictured features stories on Arthur, Quincey, and Jack.

Dr. Cushing's Chamber of Horrors, Stephen D. Sullivan - Despite a lifetime of traveling with their father to collect strange artifacts, twins Topaz and Opal Cushing have never fully believed in monsters or the supernatural. Oh, sure, they share an eerie psychic connection, and their tarot card readings often come true, but… Werewolves? Vampires? Living mummies? None of those could be real. Those legends are just for rubes. Right?

 

Ghost Stories, Ron Ripley - (Free at time of posting.) This first collection offers eight spine-chilling tales.

The Bone Shroud, Jean Rabe - Winner of the 2019 Soon To Be Famous Illinois Author Project, adult fiction category. Irem Madigan’s wedding trip to Rome turns into a desperate search for historical relics, and a struggle to stay ahead of a killer. Irem, an archivist at the Chicago Field Museum, flies to Italy to be the “best man” in her brother’s wedding. He’s marrying an archaeologist who lures Irem into a centuries-old mystery. Unfortunately, there are other players in the game, and some of them are playing deadly. Can she survive and uncover the ancient secrets?

The Graveyard Apartment, Mariko Koike - Originally published in 1986 in Japan, the novel is a suspenseful tale of a young couple who believe they found the perfect apartment... But as others move out, they're left... with something in the basement...

 

The Halloween Store and Other Tales of All Hallow's Eve, Ronald Kelly - Seven horrific tales and two essays: When you first enter The Halloween Store, things seem normal. Fun and frightful decorations, ghastly costumes and masks of the season, and bags of candy galore. Then, as you travel farther into its shadowy depths, things begin to change. The air smells of damp autumn leaves and candle-scorched pumpkin. The shelves of All Hallows’ Eve fare grow darker and more disturbing. Strange and unsettling things of Halloweens past and present lurk amid the cobwebs and dust…

The Haunting of Dr. Bowen: A Mystery Set in Lizzie Borden's Fall River, C.A. Verstraete - My novella folllows Lizzie's doctor and neighbor after the horrific murders. Was he haunted by recent events, and the city's history of bad blood dating back to Colonial times? Part mystery, part love story...

The Putnams of Salem:  A Novel of Power and Betrayal During the Salem Witch Trials, Greg Houle -Young girls begin accusing people of being witches. At the center of the maelstrom is one family, headed by the well-respected Thomas Putnam, whose daughter Ann happens to be one of the accusing girls. Survival, betrayal, and the binding ties of a family's darkest secrets converge as we uncover the haunting secrets that bind the Putnams' legacy.

When the Lights Go Out - Inkslingers' Halloween Anthology - (Free at time of posting.) Twenty-five eerie tales ... read with the lights out.... if you dare.

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Read fr*e Horror online - Weird Horror Magazine! (Click Read Box.)

BONUS READS:

* Get Some Gory Horror Giveaways! Ends Oct. 31

* Something Scary for Halloween Reading: Ends. Nov. 1

News! Can't wait to read this! A colossal selection of short stories based on Stephen King's classic apocalyptic book, The Stand, is now up for pre-order. (But it doesn't release until next year, 8/25.)

 The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand,  editors Christopher Golden and Brian Keene, with an introduction by Stephen King. 

The anthology includes 34 stories in four sections. Get all the details, links, and any updates on Brian Keene's website.

Halloween Reading: Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter & Others

 

Want something scary for Halloween reading? 

Several scary books, including Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter, are featured in the Publishers Weekly's Booklife Indie Spotlight for October! 

See my website for details on the book!

The history of Bram Stoker's Dracula

 Welcome to another day of the October Frights Blog Hop! Today I'm talking Dracula; scroll down below.

* Check out the Book Fair!

* See the Horror-Zombie-Halloween Reading List

Sat, Oct.12 - Talking Dracula and a treat! (If you didn't hear it, follow links to the online interview with Dacre Stoker, great-grandnephew of Dracula author Bram Stoker. Very interesting!)

Sun, Oct.13 - Mystery-Crime-Halloween Reading List at the other blog (Candid Canine.)

Here are the October Frights Blogs:

Be Afraid of the Dark

Frighten Me
Reading Fiction Blog - Paula Cappa
GirlZombieAuthors
M'Habla's!
Carmilla Voiez British Horror Author
Minnesota (Horror) Nice
Hawk's Happenings
Rob Read - Author

The classic vampire novel, Dracula, by Bram Stoker, is one of my favorite horror novels. I've read the book, first published in 1897 many times, but I realize that I haven't done that in a few years. (1897 facsimilie version on Amazon.)

Now, after listening to a fascinating and informative online interview with Dacre Stoker, great-grandnephew of the author, I'm ready for another re-read. (Which I just began!)

Stoker offers some interesting background on the writing of the book and the research that went into it, sharing multiple sources and original documents. It really adds a whole new dimension and appreciation to the book. Take the time to follow the links and look at the maps and documents he shares. It really makes the story more real. I'm definitely glad I watched it and may just watch it again.

* See the interview (about 1 1/2 hours long), presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA), here on YouTube.

One of the things I'll have to do is look into getting a nice copy of the book for my collection. Here's a nice paperback, illustrated version on Amazon. But will have to see if it's at B&N when I next go there.

Freebie: 

* You can download the ebook of the original Dracula at Project Gutenberg. See a full page of various formats here. (Image: original 1897 cover, at Project Gutenberg.) 

*Here are the links to the ebook versions.

New Horror, Zombie & Mystery Books!

 I've been seeing a lot of interesting new books, so it's the perfect time to share a new reading list. I know there are a few I'll be looking for, and I bet you will, too!

Funny that I'd heard at one point that short stories were dying but I'm seeing more and more collections and anthologies being published. Happy Reading!

* Check out The October Frights Blog Hop - Oct. 10-15. * See my post list and schedule.

 Don't forget to visit the other participating blogs:

Be Afraid of the Dark

Frighten Me
Reading Fiction Blog - Paula Cappa
GirlZombieAuthors
M'Habla's!
Carmilla Voiez British Horror Author
Minnesota (Horror) Nice
Hawk's Happenings
Rob Read - Author

** Double the reading fun! See the Mystery-Crime-Halloween Reading List at the other blog. Oct. 13.

* Don't forget the October Frights Book Fair!

Anthologies/Collections:

Horror  

Behind the Shadows II -  In my story "Blink!", Tommy wakes to a new world and wonders why no one else "sees" what is going on but him.  A little weird and even funny at times! * Get the ebook: various outlets - * Paperback, e-[book - Barnes & Noble -* Paperback  - Amazon US ** Check out the beginning of the story here.

Fear of Clowns: A Horror Anthology: Coulrophobia Stories, Kenneth W. Cain, Editor. The title says it all. And who doesn't like a book using that word? All new stories by Graham Masterton & Karolina Mogielska, Aron Beauregard, V. Castro, Adam Cesare, Clay McLeod Chapman, Rachel Harrison, Jonathan Janz, Gwendolyn Kiste, Red Lagoe, Hailey Piper, Duncan Ralston, Hunter Shea, Thomas Tessier, Tim Waggoner, AC Wise, Dex Bryant, S.B. Caves, Douglas Ford, Bitter Karella, Lisa Kroger, Jonathan Lees, Carissa Ann Lynch, Michael Reed, Mel Reynes, Craig E. Sawyer, Em Starr, Bev Vincent and Daniel Willcocks.

Creatures of the Night: Vicious Vampire Tales (Dark Tide Novellas Book 17), Kevin J. Kennedy, Gord Rollo, Simon Clark - Viking vampires, werewolf friends and something awakening in the mine... 

* Get Some Gory Horror Giveaways! Ends Oct. 31

 

The Rack: Stories Inspired by Vintage Horror Paperbacks - Tom Deady, Editor - This looks cool! Twenty throwback stories inspired by the golden years of horror... Includes a Stephen King story, too. 

Weird Horror Magazine - Crowdfunding - donate here - for 2025 issues. Buy print, ebook or read online. 

Wendigo (Kisses and Chaos Book 3), Larry Hoy, Craig Martelle - A couple and their loyal German Shepherd flee to the mountains and find their sanctuary become a nightmare when they're hunted by a supernatural and seemingly invincible Wendigo. (Start the series with book 1, Demon's Kiss.)

Novels: 

* Find some great Horror Books - Sale:  Ends Oct. 30

Ghosts - Horror

 

Draw You In Vol 1. Collector's Item (Draw You in trilogy), Jasper Bark - Can you disappear so completely that only one person remembers you existed? That’s what comics creator Linda Corrigan asks, when her editor, disappears without a trace. Drawn into an FBI investigation by Agent McPherson, Linda and comics historian Richard Ford unearth a chilling link to the forgotten comic artist R. L. Carver, whose work might just hold the key to a series of mysterious disappearances.

Ghostland: Ghost Hunter Edition, Omnibus, Duncan Rolston - Whopping 1,500+ pages. Former best friends reunite at Ghostland, then a computer virus sets the ghosts free...  Box set includes  - The Moving House: A Prequel to Ghostland, Ghostland,  Afterlife: Ghostland 2.0, Ghostland: Infinite

 

Killer Instinct: An FBI Forensic Thriller (Instinct Series Book 1 of 16), Robert W. Walker - The first of the prolific author's most popular series featuring FBI medical examiner Dr. Jessica Coran, who thought she could face anything. Then began the Vampire Killer murders in Wisconsin where the killer drains the victims' blood. And his "love letters" are addressed to the one he wants most.... Coran.

Noncorporeal II - A spooky mix of ghostly stories from near-horror to sci-fi inspired, including he anthology,  featuring my story, "Secrets of the Last Mine." * paperback at Amazon- paperback & e-book: B&N - * Apple, Kobo and other sites; see links here.

* Something Scary for Halloween Reading: Ends. Nov. 1

Zombie

How I Started the Apocalypse, Omibus, Brian Pinkerton -  New omnibus edition contains all three books telling the story of Chaz, a military experiment gone wrong turned zombie and hungry. Includes: How I Started the Apocalypse; The Hunger War; and Zombie Regime.

Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter - C.A. Verstraete - On Aug. 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden took an axe... She was charged with the brutal murders of her father and stepmother, but why? Was it greed? Anger... Or something more horrific.... (More info at www.cverstraete.com.) 

The Headless Corpse, A Heyward and Andersen Mystery (Heyward and Andersen Consulting Detectives Book 3) - A.F. Stewart - Mysteries and headless corpses, quite a combination! The dead are rising and walking away from mortuaries…before returning without their heads. Tasked with investigating, dogged detectives Elspeth Heyward and Lars Andersen must uncover the sinister culprit reanimating the newly deceased and locate the still missing bodies.

Infected, A Dark,Post-Apocalyptic Romance, Jessica Gomez -  In this shattered world, trust is a luxury I can't afford. People are as treacherous as the Infected, and I've learned to steer clear of both. Then I met him. Ian, a man from a time when trust meant something, before the world plunged into chaos. Our connection was fleeting, born from desperation, and dissolved with the morning light. I thought that was the end of it. Until I discovered I was carrying his child.

The Rising: More Selected Scenes from the End of the World, Brian Keene - (Releases Dec. 3) World Horror Grandmaster Keene returns to the world of his classic novel, The Rising, (see below) with a set of new, horrific zombie stories and some reprints.

The Rising: Author's Preferred Edition, Brian Keene - First published in 2003, this uncut edition follows Jim Thurmond, a father battling his way across a post-apocalyptic zombie landscape to find his young son.

-- C.A. Verstraete - www.cverstraete.com 

Welcome to the October Frights Blog Hop

  Welcome to the annual October Frights Blog Hop. 

This will be a shortened version here this year, just enough to whet your appetite. ha! For more info, see host AF Stewart's blog.

See the participants list below. Check out their blogs and see what they have to offer, maybe even some giveaways!

* Check out the Book Fair!

Here's my schedule: 

Oct. 10 (today) Welcome-  see participating blogs below

Fri, Oct. 11 - Horror-Zombie-Halloween Reading List

Sat, Oct.12 - Talking Dracula and a treat! (If you didn't hear it, follow links to the online interview with Dacre Stoker, great-grandnephew of Dracula author Bram Stoker. Very interesting!)

Sun, Oct.13 - Mystery-Crime-Halloween Reading List at the other blog (Candid Canine.)

Here are the October Frights Blogs:

Be Afraid of the Dark

Frighten Me
Reading Fiction Blog - Paula Cappa
GirlZombieAuthors
M'Habla's!
Carmilla Voiez British Horror Author
Minnesota (Horror) Nice
Hawk's Happenings
Rob Read - Author

Halloween Horror: Behind the Shadows II!

 

Happy Friday the 13th! 

Today is release day for the anthology, Behind the Shadows II, containing my eerie, Twilight-Zone-ish story, "Blink!"

 In "Blink!", Tommy wakes to a new world and wonders why no one else "sees" what is going on but him.  A little weird and even funny at times!

* Get the ebook: various outlets

* Paperback, ebook - Barnes & Noble

* Paperback  - Amazon US

Happy Birthday Lizzie Borden!

 Lizzie Borden was born today in 1860.

One month and thirty-two years later she became an infamous legend after being arrested for allegedly killing her father and stepmother with an axe, and then being acquitted of the heinous crime.

Remember this rhyme?

Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother 40 whacks....

Well, the count is wrong but... what really happened that day in August 1892?

Was she guilty? If so, why?

Find out in  Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter:

Here's an excerpt: 

Chapter One - Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter by C.A. Verstraete

Q. You saw his face covered with blood?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Did you see his eyeball hanging out?

A. No, sir.

Q. Did you see the gashes where his face was laid open?

A. No, sir.

—Lizzie Borden at inquest, August 9-11, 1892

 

August 4, 1892

   Lizzie Borden drained the rest of her tea, set down her cup, and listened to the sound of furniture moving upstairs. My, my, for only ten o’clock in the morning my stepmother is certainly energetic. Housecleaning, already?

   THUMP.

   For a moment, Lizzie forgot her plans to go shopping downtown. THUMP. There it went again. It sounded like her stepmother was rearranging the whole room. She paused at the bottom stair, her concern growing, when she heard another thump and then, the oddest of sounds—a moan. Uh-oh. What was that? Did she hurt herself?

   “Mrs. Borden?” Lizzie called. “Are you all right?”

   No answer.

   She wondered if her stepmother had taken ill, yet the shuffling, moving, and other unusual noises continued. Lizzie hurried up the stairs and paused outside the partially opened door. The strange moans coming from the room sent a shiver up her back.

   When she pushed the door open wider, all she could do was stare. Mrs. Abby Durfee Borden stood in front of the bureau mirror clawing at her reflected image. And what a horrid image it was! The sixty-seven-year-old woman’s hair looked like it had never been combed and stuck out like porcupine quills. Her usually spotless housedress appeared wrinkled and torn. Yet, that wasn’t the worst. Dark red spots—blood, Lizzie’s mind whispered—dotted the floor and streaked the sides, of the older woman’s dress and sleeves.

   Lizzie gazed about the room in alarm. The tips of Father’s slippers peeking out from beneath the bed also glistened with the same viscous red liquid. All that blood! What happened here? What happened?

   She gasped, which got the attention of Mrs. Borden, who jerked her head and growled. Lizzie choked back a cry of alarm. Abby’s square, plain face now appeared twisted and ashen gray. Her eyes, once bright with interest, stared from under a milky covering as if she had cataracts. She resembled a female version of The Portrait of Dorian Gray. Another growl and a moan, and the older woman lunged, arms rigid, her stubby hands held out like claws.

   “Mrs. Borden, Abby!” Lizzie yelled and stumbled backward as fast as she could. “Abby, do you hear me?”

   Her stepmother shuffled forward, her steps slow but steady. She showed no emotion or sense of recognition. The only utterances she made were those strange low moans.

   Lizzie moved back even further, trying to keep out of reach of Mrs. Borden’s grasping fingers. Then her foot hit something. Lizzie quickly glanced down at the silver hairbrush that had fallen to the floor. Too late, she realized her error.

   “No!” Lizzie shivered at the feel of her stepmother’s clammy, cold hand around her wrist. “Abby, what happened? What’s wrong with you?”

 * Get more details at https://www.cverstraete.com/lizzie-borden-zombie-hunter.html

 Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter & Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter 2: The Axe Will Fall.

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Behind the Shadows II Kickstarter Begins!

 

 * Get in on the BEHIND THE SHADOWS II Kickstarter beginning JULY 3 for special perks, daily posts, and who's who's in the horror lite anthology. Also check the Facebook page for updates.

Includes my eerie, creepy Twilight-Zoneish story, "Blink!" 

I loved writing this story! Tommy wakes to a new world and wonders why no one else "sees" what is going on but him!  A little weird and even funny at times!

It's that time! Summer of #Zombie!

If you like reading about zombies, then July is for you!

Summer of Zombie is now underway all month on Facebook with 12 authors of some fantastic zombie books! (Be sure to join the group to get in on daily posts and more!) And there's a fantastic giveaway at the end of the month. Sign up at Rafflecopter, also in the Summer of Zombie group at the link above.

Event authors include: (See their links for more info.)

Armand Rosamilia Dying Days

Courtney Konstantin Babysitter of the Apocalypse Book 1

Scott Baker Nurse Alissa vs. the Zombies

Adam Best Iron Bones: Infection

Jessica Gomez Immune

Allen Gamboa Operation Zulu: Last Mission

Baileigh Higgins Last Another Day

JM. Anderson 70 Miles Out

R Jade Lazlow Viral Dawn

Alexander Bailey Fall of River City Book 1

Alathia Paris Morgan Moms Against Zombies

A.M. Geever Undead Impact

 

 * My book, Lizzie Borden, Zombie Hunter was in the Winter of Zombie Facebook event. 

Here is the Day 6  post. See Day 21 for a view of the crime from Lizzie's perspective.