October is a big time for horror media. Theaters are full of scary movies and all the streamers have a spooky show or two stashed away for the season. October is also the perfect time to cozy up with a scary novel and a steaming cup of tea on a dark and ominous night.
For readers who want a big, sprawling horror epic, I’d recommend King Sorrow by Joe Hill, which tells the story of a group of college students who unwittingly summon a vengeful dragon that demands they name one sacrifice every year or else one of them will be killed. The novel spans decades as the characters try to live fruitful lives despite the cruel dragon who marks every year with violence and death.
For a quicker hit of horror, there’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid, a psychological thriller about a couple driving out to meet the woman’s parents on their farm. You may recognize the title from the Netflix adaptation, but I’d say I vastly prefer the original novel to the film adaptation. It’s full of scares simply because it’s so ominous and tense.
Michael Rutger’s book The Anomaly tells the story of a TV crew filming an archeology webseries that gets trapped in a mysterious, baffling, and terrifying cave. Perfect for fans of the movie As Above So Below, The Anomaly is full of claustrophobia and survivalist horror.
Of course, if you’re looking for a classic, there are plenty of those. Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, and Stephen King’s Pet Sematary have been scaring readers for decades, and all of them are worth staying up with all night burning through the pages in terror.
Leave a Reply