Horror

  • Further down The Road: Dystopian Fiction

    If Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road – or the movie adaptation hitting theaters October 16 – piques your interest in fictional visions of a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world, here are some other books to check out. There’s been a massive flood and only one family, on an ark, has been saved.  Sound familiar?  The Island at the… Continue reading

  • Magic in the Blood – still magic?

    Magic in the Blood is the second book in Devon Monk’s Allie Beckstrom series (after Magic to the Bone). This time around, there are ghosts causing trouble in Portland, OR and Allie keeps running into them as she tries to track down a couple missing girls for the police. Although this second installment in the series isn’t quite… Continue reading

  • Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Adults

    I can remember attending story hour at the Magnolia branch library when I was a kid, just as thousands of children still do each year at libraries all over the city. I’ve never stopped loving stories, but as I grew older they stopped having a storytime for me. So I started one myself, and every other week for the past… Continue reading

  • The Blurb King

    A couple of summers ago, I checked out the novel Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, seduced by the cover and a glowing endorsement from Stephen King. “To say this is a terrific debut novel is really too mild. I haven’t read such a relentlessly creepy family saga since John Farris’s All Heads Turn When the… Continue reading

  • M.T. Anderson at Central Library

    On Thursday at 7 p.m., author M.T. Anderson will be reading from and signing his new book, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Vol. II, The Kingdom on the Waves, in the Central Library’s Microsoft Auditorium. Why should you go? For one thing, this event is hosted by University Bookstore, and they often raffle off… Continue reading

  • Horror Stories

    This is a great time of year to sit around and share ghost stories, as featured in this post from last week, but some readers prefer something a little stronger to properly curdle their blood. The distinction between ghost stories and other horror is nicely drawn in the Modern Library anthology Great Tales of Terror and… Continue reading

  • Ghost Stories

    October is prime time for sharing scary stories, and people who might never think of checking out a horror novel stop by the library to find something to send a chill down their spine. I love chilling and thrilling tales, and read a lot of them as I select stories for the Thrilling Tales Adult Storytime,… Continue reading

  • Scaring me in 2008

    This year proves fertile ground for new kinds of horror — scary books that go beyond the splash-gore of Clive Barker or the pokey-fanged love of Tanya Huff and L.A. Banks. Even Stephen King is up to something new. Frankly, simply by his status as one of the most prolific horror writer in America, I… Continue reading

  • Summer Reads: Beacon Hill and Rainier Beach reader suggestions.

    Beach Reads? Rainy Day Reads? Its anyone’s guess! Welcome to August in Seattle! Beacon Hill and Rainier Beach participants in our popular Adult Summer Reading Program tell us a bit about what good reads they’ve found at the end of the rainbow. Beacon Hill readers suggest: The Devil’s Whisper, by Miyuki Miyabe Layers of mystery: a missing… Continue reading

  • The Vampire List, Part 3: From traditional to modern

    When people hear the words “vampire story” two authors come to mind — Bram Stoker and Anne Rice. These writers pioneered the world of vampire fiction, with Bram Stoker basically creating it and Anne Rice redefining it into what most readers know today. But as we’ve proven in previous lists, Stoker and Rice are not… Continue reading

  • The Vampire List, Part 2: Urban vamps

    If you’re looking for vampires, the best place to find them is in the library. I’m serious. Even the undead like to read. You can also check the bank, the grocery store, the gas station, and, considering current gas prices, probably even catching a ride on a Metro bus. The point is, in the parallel… Continue reading

  • The Vampire List, Part 1: Love Bites

    So you want to read a vampire story. Your interest is understandable — they are compelling. But before you begin this journey, I warn you, once you start on this path, there’s no turning back. There are legends of a cure of course, but really, once a vampire groupie, always a vampire groupie. What’s worse… Continue reading

  • Attack of the Evil Scary Children!

    Quick: what is more frightening than circus clowns? Okay, sure – scary dolls with eyes that follow you across the room are even worse – but what can strike fear into the hearts of even creepy clowns and disconcerting dolls? Children – that’s what! Don’t think children are scary? Here are some books and movies that might just have you thinking otherwise.   The Bad Seed,… Continue reading