Turn down the lights. Get yourself a drink and gather round, while we take you on a little trip down a dark and twisted road. This month we have extra spooky story times for grown ups in store, at the library and coming soon to a pub near you as a part of our celebration of Booktoberfest. Each October, our regular twice-monthly Thrilling Tales: Story Time for Grown Ups (Mondays at 12:05 at the Central Library: lunches welcome) turns to weekly Chilling Tales. Here’s what’s in store:
- October 5: Berenice, by Edgar Allan Poe, a classic tale of gothic horror and almost certainly the creepiest tale of dentistry ever written. Also, The Thing in the Cellar, by David H. Keller.
- October 12: A Moth: Genus Unknown, by H.G. Wells. The lifelong hatred between two rival entomologists takes wing after undergoing a strange metamorphosis. Also House, by Frederic Brown.
- October 19: Mr. Gray’s Folly, by John Connolly. The house’s new occupants find that odd brick temple at the foot of the garden ugly. Wait ‘til they see what lurks beneath.
- October 26: The Jar, by Ray Bradbury. Nobody knew just what it was floating in that jar at the carnival sideshow, but once you saw it you’d never be the same. Also The Sheep Child, by James Dickey – a profoundly unsettling poem about yet another sideshow jar floater!
- Suspenseful stories continue after October with Patricia Highsmith’s The Baby Spoon on November 2, The Words of Guru by C.M. Kornbluth on November 16, Thirteen At Table by Lord Dunsany on November 30, and In Our Darkened House by Inger Frimansson on December 14.
But that’s not all. On October 22 at 8:05 p.m. at the Capitol Hill branch as a part of LitCrawl Seattle, we’ll be hosting Late Night at the Library: Spooky Stories in the Stacks, featuring some fun short and spooky tales read for you live from the dark heart of the library, after-hours. And then, as Hallowe’en creeps closer, you’ll find us grabbing the mic in neighborhood bars for ‘Ales from the Crypt: Spooky Stories and Suds, a series of Booktoberfest readings about the terrors that await drinkers who aren’t careful. After a macabre aperitif of Marmalade Wine (by Joan Aiken), readers will chug-a-lug some ghastly Gray Matter, a shivery Stephen King story about what can happen when you drink beer that just don’t taste right. Catch readings of these stories on October 24 at Tippe & Drague Alehouse on Beacon Hill, on October 27 at The Pine Box and at Capitol Cider, both on Capitol Hill, and on Hallowe’en at Brouwer’s Cafe in Fremont: join these events on Facebook, and invite your friends.
Come on out and let us send a shiver down your spine. Audiobooks are great, but there’s nothing quite like the fun of coming together with others to hear a tale over lunch or a pint. Can’t make it to a live reading? We’ll be podcasting a couple of our Thrilling Tales events later this month. Until then, here are some past podcasts of classic Chilling Tales to get you in the mood:
- The Bus Conductor by E.F. Benson.
- Confession, by Algernon Blackwood.
- The Adventure of the German Student by Washington Irving.
- The Voice in the Night, by William Hope Hodgson.
- In the Dark, by E. Nesbit.
- Jean-Ah Poquelin, by George Washington Cable
- The Ghost Child, by Bernard Capes.
- The Magic Shop, by H.G. Wells.
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