hallowe’en

  • Listen to these Haunting Tales for Hallowe’en.

    Time to turn down the lights, cuddle up by the fire, and listen to some frightening tales from days gone by. Here are several spooky stories from when we were podcasting our Thrilling Tales: Storytime for Grownups, earlier in the pandemic, and before: The House of the Nightmare, by Edward Lucas White. A lonesome road… Continue reading

  • Lucky Thirteen: Scary Short Stories for Kids

    Lucky Thirteen: Scary Short Stories for Kids

    I have a love of short stories that I only discovered as an adult, which is a shame. I think one of the most satisfying things in the world is a well written short story and I think they’re wonderful if you (or your child) are not a big reader. For me it’s attention span… Continue reading

  • Teen Thrillers, Horror, and Mysteries: October 2022

    October is the month for costumes and candy and scary stories.  While the little children jump at the word “Boo,” older teens are looking for something a little more, shall we say, visceral? Here are some new books for teen readers hungry for the real thing. In Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare, Quinn… Continue reading

  • 13 Tales for 13 Nights of Halloween

    13 Tales for 13 Nights of Halloween

    It’s that time of year again: time to gather round for a bone-chilling storytime. I’m so sad not to be joining you all at Lotties’ Lounge, Tippe & Drague, Floating Bridge, The Palace Theatre, Capitol Cider, The Pine Box, or any of the other wonderful venues where we’ve done ‘Ales from the Crypt over the… Continue reading

  • Vampires, Possession, and … Elk? It’s Horror Season!

    Darkness encroaches! This year’s horror novels bring us several takes on possession, some very creepy homes, vampires, and even a vengeful elk spirit. So make a hot beverage, grab a blanket, and settle in on the couch as you prepare to feel a frisson of fear from an outstanding recent horror novel. The Only Good… Continue reading

  • Spooky Stories, Coming to a Bar Near You!

    Spooky Stories, Coming to a Bar Near You!

    Shadows lengthen, leaves crisp and fall, and a presage of winter’s chill runs down your spine. Its the perfect time to gather for some spooky stories, and we have several opportunities coming up in the weeks ahead, as our Booktoberfest celebration nears its close. First up, two storytimes at the Central Library this coming Monday: Continue reading

  • Spooky Stories in Libraries and Bars, all October!

    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 to the place where your fears like buried. This month we have extra spooky story times for grown ups in store, at the library and coming soon to a pub near… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Halloween Traditions

    ~posted by Selby Tonight is THE night for the dead to crawl out of the underworld and roam the streets. Where are the best places to celebrate both in the US and around the world? In the USA Sleepy Hollow, New York. As home of Washington Irving’s chilling tale about a headless horseman who terrorizes… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Treats, Not Tricks

    ~posted by Kara F.  Baked Occasions by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito While not overly spooky, these two recipes, the milk chocolate malted brownies with chocolate ganache and chocolate cinnamon chipotle sugar cookies, were decadent and divine! I had to give it a shot. Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Halloween History

    ~posted by Meranda T. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. My earliest movie memories have to do with Halloween. Such as Ray Bradbury’s Halloween Tree. Which is both a movie and a book. While I didn’t read the book until recently, the movie truly influenced me. It’s a fun Halloween movie that explores… Continue reading

  • Spooky Stories LIVE, all October long!

    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… Continue reading

  • Scary Covers

    We’ve been writing about Halloween all week, and we want to leave you with some images to haunt you tonight and through the weekend. Here are 25 of the scariest, creepiest, weirdest and most disturbing book, DVD and CD covers we could think of. Continue reading

  • Most sincerely dead: Glorious and gory coroner stories

    by Ann G. I’m sure the first time I heard the word coroner was in The Wizard of Oz:   “As coroner I must aver I thoroughly examined her—and she’s not only merely dead, she’s really most sincerely dead!” Since then, I’ve become an aficionado of murder mysteries, true and fictional, on pages or on-screen.  There… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: horror by hoopla

    Don’t feel like waiting weeks or months in line for your favorite horror film on DVD? Have no fear, your fear is here. You can watch horror on demand on hoopla, the library’s streaming video service, without the wait. Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Halloweird

    I’m not a huge fan of scary movies for one very legitimate reason. They scare me. That can be difficult this time of year as Halloween draws ever closer and seemingly everyone I know is watching the creepiest, ickiest films imaginable. That’s not to say that I’m completely unable to get into the undead spirit… Continue reading

  • Hauntings and Visitations

    Here are a few eerie diversions to creep you out this week!             In Toby Barlow’s Babayaga, an ageless Russian witch, or babyaga, in post-world War II Paris, charms a detective who is mixed up in a CIA plot involving Nazis and, strangely, the babayagas. Barlow weaves folklore, humor and history in an… Continue reading

  • Romantic Wednesdays: Romancing the Ghost

    Tomorrow is Halloween, which makes this the perfect time to talk about the spookier side of romance. Halloween is the perfect time to fall in love with a ghost! Or for your romance to get a little ghostly assistance. Or, sad but oh, so romantic, to get that one last chance to say goodbye, with… Continue reading

  • Fear and Loathing in the Library

    While I do enjoy a good old fashioned Gothic ghost story from time to time, I have to come out of the closet with a deep, dark secret: I like my horror as bloody, gruesome and gory as possible. I like it when bones are broken, heads are severed and every excruciating detail of the… Continue reading