Horror Fiction

Looking for some books to get your heart pumping with fear? The front display for the beginning of the month is "Dare You to Read These!" There is also a bibliography of Horror Fiction to be found on those shelves and online on the "Book Lists for Adults." Don't say we didn't warn you and enjoy!



Something Wicked This Way Comes also on audio and DVD
Ray Bradbury
SF BRADBURY

The Dark Carnival is coming to town and two boys sneak out to see its arrival. Once the carnival is set up, though, the boys see that there are evils lurking in the carnival.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Max Brooks

SF BROOKS

After the Zombie War is over, Max Brooks goes around the world talking to people about their experiences during the war and with the undead.

The Passage Series
Justin Cronin
FIC CRONIN

The Passage    also in Large Print
The Twelve coming soon

A failed experiment to create a super-soldier releases a virus that creates "vampiric revenants" that wipe out most of the population. The Colony is set up to protect the remaining people, but the defenses will soon fail. Then a girl is found outside the colony that could be the hope of saving what is left of mankind.



House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski
FIC DANIELEW

A family moves into a house, but they never noticed that the house was bigger on the inside than the outside, until it was too late. The couples children disappear into the house, and a creature is in there searching.

James Asher Series

Barbara Hambly

FIC HAMBLY

Those Who Hunt the Night

Traveling With the Dead

Blood Maidens

Magistrates of Hell 

James Asher, a professor of psychology at Oxford (and an former spy of His Majesty's Secret Service), and his wife, a doctor of medicine, are forced to look into a series of vampire serial killings. The vampire who coercises the couple, Don Simon Ysidro, continues to use the threat to keep Jay in his service. The two (Asher and Ysidro) continue their adventures as partners leading into World War I.

Hannibal Lecter Series
Thomas Harris
FIC HARRIS

Red Dragon
The Silence of the Lambs also on DVD
Hannibal 
Hannibal Rising also on audio and DVD

(Red Dragon) Profiler Will Graham must turn to the serial killer (Hannibal Lecter) he fought so hard to capture, in order to get some help with catching another serial killer. (Silence of the Lambs) Clarice Starling (a trainee in the FBI Academy) is asked by the chief of the Behavioral Science section to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter on his insight about a killer known as Buffalo Bill. (Hannibal) Seven years after Silence of the Lambs, Clarice is still looking for Hannibal Lecter, but is she the only one? (Hannibal Rising) This is Hannibal's story of his childhood and what led him to become the monster that he is in the earlier stories.

The Woman in Black also on audio and DVD

Susan Hill

FIC HILL

Arthur Kipps, a young solicitor, has come north to settle the estate of Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. What he doesn't count on is the weird things that start happening in the house, or the woman in black that he keeps seeing.

FIC KING
Stephen King
 
It
Pet Sematary also on DVD
The Shining also on audio and DVD

Stephen King is known for his horror stories, and I am just going to go over a few. (It) Seven people made a promise twenty-eight years ago after battling an evil creature to save the children of the city. The seven agreed that they would come back to fight it again, if it ever came back. Now, children are being murdered again. Will the seven be able to stop it again? (If you are not already scared of clowns, this might be what does it). (Pet Sematary) The Creeds move into a beautiful house in rural Maine, not knowing the secret of the nearby woods (or what people would do to hold on to the ones they love). (The Shining) The inspiration for this book was King's stay at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Danny's family is going to stay and take care of the hotel while it is closed for the winter (and so his father can write), but as the snow starts to close the family off from the outside, what will protect them from what is inside the hotel?


Vampire Earth Series
E.E. Knight
SF KNIGHT

The Way of the Wolf
Choice of the Cat
Tale of the Thunderbolt
Valentine’s Rising
Valentine’s Exile
Valentine’s Resolve
Fall of Honor
Winter Duty
March in Country also on audio

The Reapers (the vampiric Kurians) have come to Earth and have established a New Order (for over forty years), in order to harvest the souls of humans. Lieutenant David Valentine, however, is on a mission to take back Earth as part of the Resistance.



Odd Thomas Series
Dean Koontz
FIC KOONTZ

Odd Thomas   also in Large Print and audio
Forever Odd    also in Large Print and audio
Brother Odd   also in Large Print and audio
Odd Hours   also in Large Print and audio
Odd Apocalypse    also in Large Print and audio

Graphic Novels:
In Odd We Trust
Odd is On Our Side
House of Odd 

Odd Thomas can see the dead, but they cannot talk to him. Usually, he can use what they show him to help solve a crime or prevent one. Does this ability mean that Odd is in for some up and down times with plenty of scares? Very much so.



Berserk
Tim Lebbon
FIC LEBBON

Tom Roberts was told that his son died during a science experiment, but he never got to see the body. Then he overhears a conversation about "monsters" being kept at the base. Tom wants the truth about his son's death, and he is willing to do as much digging (literally in this case) as it takes.



FIC LOVECRAF
H.P. Lovecraft

At the Mountains of Madness
The Dunwich Horror and Others
The Watchers Out of Time   (under SF LOVECRAF)

The Lovecraft Anthology, Volume 1: A Graphic Collection of H.P. Lovecraft’s Short Stories



FIC MATHESON
Richard Matheson
I Am Legend also on audio and DVD

Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth. Everyone else has become a vampire, and they are all out for blood. During the day, he goes hunting the vampires. At night, he barricades himself inside, and he hopes that they won't find a way in. Just how long can he last like this?




The Flame Alphabet
Ben Marcus
FIC MARCUS

A new epidemic has struck, where the voices of children are lethal to adults. Adults all over are abandoning their children and going into hiding. Sam and Claire's daughter, Esther, thinks this is funny, but it won't be very long until she is an adult and susceptible. Sam and Claire still find it very hard to leave the daughter they love, though, and Sam is determined to find a cure.




FIC POE
Edgar Allan Poe

The Cask of Amontillado
The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings




The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales of Terror
Robert Louis Stevens
FIC STEVENSO



FIC STRAUB
Peter Straub

Ghost Story
Mr. X
A Special Place: The Heart of a Dark Matter

Peter Straub is another voice of horror, and I am also going to go over just a few of his works. (Ghost Story) An act that was carried out when they were young has come back to "haunt" four older men, and they will find that you really can't get away with murder. (Mr. X) Every year on his birthday, Ned Dunstan has a seizure. During the seizure, he witnesses Mr. X carry out a slaughter. Ned's birthday is coming up soon... (A Special Place) Keith Hayward is drawn to a fascination with taking a life. Keith's Uncle Till sees this in his nephew, and he decides to become his nephew's tutor on not getting caught.




The Strain Trilogy
Guillermo del Toro
FIC TORO

The Strain also on audio
The Fall
The Night Eternal   also in Large Print and audio

An airplane lands at JFK with no communication, the windows are all covered, and the lights are out. The CDC is called in, and what Dr. Ephraim "Eph" Goodweather finds disturbs him. There is a vampiric virus spreading through the streets that must be stopped. Will they be able to stop it, or will it keep spreading over the whole world?