Horror

  • Thrilling Chilling Winter Stories, Live!

    This Winter, Thrilling Tales (the Library’s storytime for grownups) has got some great tales of crime and suspense lined up by masterful storytellers of today and yesteryear. We’ll have arctic adventure, unspeakable terror, hitmen, con-men, stick-up artists and librarians! Yes, that’s right – on Monday January 28 we will be having a special storytime dedicated to libraries and librarians, and coinciding with the… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: A chill is in the air

    You have asked for it, dear reader, and you shall have it! Below are three picks for the Halloween reads that will give you the most bang for your buck. Let these ghoulish delights work their black magic on you and enjoy! Continue reading

  • Long May You Run

    If the Solstice Parade and Pride festivities have you all worn out and you’re planning to take it easy next weekend, come on over to the Greenwood Car Show! Take a leisurely stroll down Greenwood Ave N. on Saturday, June 30th, where you’ll be able to drool over 1.5 miles of hot rods, collector cars, antique gems… Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: If you’re feeling sinister

    For no apparent reason, I’ve read quite a few vampire books over the past two weeks. Maybe with the appearance of the sun and the first signs of spring I’ve tried to keep up my goth cred by playing some Bauhaus records and reading some dark vampire lit. I guess we’ll never know. With that… Continue reading

  • A Month of Uncomfortable Cinema: 31 Disturbing Films

    It is the season of good cheer, so why am I posting a list of 31 of the creepiest, most unsettling movies ever made? Well as we tucked into our turkey this Thanksgiving, my mom mentions that she’s been reading my posts here at Shelf Talk. Aw, thanks Mom. “Do you really like all those dark, disturbing books? Don’t you read anything… 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

  • The Reading Dead: A Zombie literary salon.

    AMC’s The Walking Dead has risen again for a second season, but the aisles of your local library are already crowded with zombies, including Robert Kirkman’s original graphic novel series upon which the show is based (and what isn’t based on graphic novels at this point?) and the first season on DVD.   For anyone who thought the zombie craze was so 2009,… Continue reading

  • Keeping you in Suspense: Thrilling Tales for Autumn

    It seems like Summer was hardly here at all, but longer chillier Fall nights are waiting in the wings, and with them a fresh batch of chilling stories for the library’s Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Grownups. Taking place in the Central Library’s Microsoft Auditorium on the first and thirdMonday each month from 12:05 –… Continue reading

  • How about a little horror for your summer?

    Our librarians put together a list of some of their favorite horror novels and short stories from the past couple of years. Most of the books are available now, or have short waitlists. Here are a few to get you started: Horns by Joe Hill After the murder of his girlfriend, Ig Parrish gets drunk… Continue reading

  • Cult Classics: Into the Dark

    Strange things lurk in dark places. Another helping of titles that our readers keep coming back for, year after year. Andrews, V.C. Flowers in the Attic Shocking carnal secrets; torments of the body and the mind; for the Dollangangers, it’s all in the family. After 30 years, this lurid gothic tale is still going strong.… Continue reading

  • Books By People You’ve Probably Never Heard Of, Part II

    It’s hard out there for young writers. The only houses that will house them are small, indie enterprises full of energy but lacking funds, and readers are scared by untested virtue. Be scared no longer sovereign readers! I will test your books for poison. Eat up! The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich There is… Continue reading

  • Seattle Picks: Terror for teens

    Take a look at some of the horror novels recommended by our teen services librarians: Possessed by Kate Cann Rayne takes a job at an old mansion to escape the London projects, and meets a group of rich, hot teens. When she uncovers the mystery of their power it will take all her strength and… Continue reading

  • Catnip for the technophobe: Learn to love e-books

    As a great fan of detective stories, I have learned over the years that the genre includes many forgotten gems, no longer in print or on library shelves.  Part of the pleasure of reading such books is discovery of new authors—the phrase ‘new to me’ describes the work of so many authors it is impossible… Continue reading

  • New Mystery, Suspense and Thrillers, and Horror

    2010 is a great year for mysteries! Several well-known and beloved mystery writers are publishing new series titles: Barbara Cleverly (Joe Sandilands), Frank Tallis (Max Liebermann), Donna Leon (Commissario Guido Brunetti), Jacqueline Winspear (Maisie Dobbs), Elizabeth George (Thomas Lynley) and Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody), to name a few. If you haven’t yet discovered Alan Gordon’s 13th… Continue reading

  • Thrilling Tales for 2010.

    Entering its sixth year, the library’s Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Grownups continues to thrill and delight. Last year’s season was our most popular yet, and this year we’ve got a great slate of tales, many from yesteryear. Thrilling Tales takes place in the Microsoft Auditorium on level one of the Central library, on alternating Mondays from 12:05 –… Continue reading

  • Happy Hallowe’en: A Spooky Story for you.

    After years of sharing thrilling tales with a lunch hour crowd in the Central library, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to share a short and spooky tale for Hallowe’en, on NPR’s All Things Considered. Enjoy! For more such tales, join us at the library for Thrilling Tales: the story time for grownups. Continue reading

  • Reading Challenge: Scare your pants off

    Are you up for a challenge? Because we’ve got one for you. How about reading a horror story in honor of Halloween? Classic horror, gory horror, audio horror, downloaded horror (as in downloaded books) — you name it, and if it’s scary, it counts for this month’s Reading Challenge. But which scary story to read?… Continue reading

  • New Horror to keep you awake at night

    Old-fashioned creepy Victorian horror sneaks up on you in the night, haunts your dreams and harasses you the next day. Recent novels guaranteed to do all three are John Harwood’s The Séance, Sarah Waters’s Little Stranger and John Langan’s Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters.  In Harwood’s tale, a young woman inherits the seedy mansion,… Continue reading