Series
by
Kelsea Yu,
Chandler Morrison,
Tim McGregor
,
R.A. Busby
,
P. L. Watts
,
LP Hernandez
Picked by My Dark Library fans
Here are 9 books that My Dark Library fans have personally recommended once you finish the My Dark Library series.
Book DNA is a community of authors and super-readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
The things that I am most interested in are books that are deliciously fun to read and books that pick you up out of your comfortable chair and drag you across a fantastic landscape. What does that require? Three Ws for starters. Wit: both on the part of the characters and the author—I like smart characters, biting banter, and clever turns of phrase and story. Weird: in the sense of the unusual and mysterious—good world-building coupled with mysteries meant to be unraveled by the reader as much as by the characters. Wild: fast-paced action filled with sudden turns and unexpected drops and conversations that are three parts well-written words and two parts fencing without a blade.
When I read this at 17, I bounced off it, surprising since I'd loved every previous Zelazny. It wasn’t until a reread in my thirties that it finally clicked, becoming a favorite book by a favorite author. In retrospect, I didn’t yet have the depth of experience to see beneath the surface simplicity to the brilliantly conceived complexity visible to the reader with a bit more knowledge and breadth of literary background.
Wit shines on every page, from dialogue to description to an offbeat chapter-a-day structure highlighting each night in a most singular October.
The wild includes plenty of murder and mayhem as a cast of sorcerers that includes Dracula, Rasputin, and Burke & Hare are all colliding in a struggle for the power to shape the world through the once-a-century Lonesome October.
The weird stretches from the story of a most sympathetic serial killer to the way it's told…
"One of Zelazny's most delightful books: Jack the Ripper's dog Snuff narrates a mad game of teams to cause or prevent armageddon." NEIL GAIMAN
All is not what it seems.
In the murky London gloom, a knife-wielding gentleman named Jack prowls the midnight streets with his faithful watchdog Snuff - gathering together the grisly ingredients they will need for an upcoming ancient and unearthly rite. For soon after the death of the moon, black magic will summon the Elder Gods back into the world. And all manner of Players, both human and undead, are preparing to participate.
I’m a Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of horror fiction and have always had an affinity for the autumn season. I grew up in North Carolina and have wonderful memories of the time of year when the summer heat finally ends and the chill returns—the season of long walks in the turning woods, campfires, ghost stories, and, of course, Halloween. There’s something about that time that has always stuck with me and finds its way into my writing even now. My first collection, As Summer’s Mask Slips and Other Disruptions, draws on this period of transition and so I absolutely love sharing those works which have influenced and entertained me.
The “Cthulhu” in the title is a bit of a misnomer, since the big squid doesn’t actually make an appearance, but this anthology does collect some wonderful contemporary authors of Weird fiction exploring the autumn season. I love fiction that hints at the hidden world(s) behind our own, and these stories capture that immense and unsettling feeling of when the world’s disguises rot and fall away. You can open it to any page and find a gem, but my personal favorites include Laird Barron’s invocation of small-town bizarreness in “Andy Kaufman Creeping Through the Trees”; Nadia Bulkin’s election season meets haunted corn maze allegory “There Is a Bear in the Woods”; and Gemma Files’s archaeological horror “Grave Goods.”
H.P. Lovecraft, the American master of horror, understood with horrible clarity that all things must die. After summer is winter, and life inevitably gives way to frozen sterility. In our modern world, we live cushioned existences, and congratulate ourselves on our supposed escape from the old dangers. We think ourselves caught out of nature’s reach by our technological wizardry. Safely cocooned. This foolishness blinds us to the truth that our elder forebears could not avoid. Engulfed by the rhythms of the world, they understood... Autumn means death.
I’ve been a fan of horror—specifically, supernatural horror—for as long as I can remember. Though the topic of life after death is perhaps one of the most long-standing debates in existence, almost every family has a story or two about things that can’t be explained. I’ve turned my lifelong interest in death, the occult, and how the two can coexist, into slow-burn horror stories for people who like a little weird with their fear. Stories that explore the beautiful complexity of queer people. Stories for the strange at heart.
This book is fast and punchy. It’s filled with twists and a high level of unnerving emotions. Set during autumn harvest, this is an absolutely perfect Halloween read. It is rather short, which means a fast reader or someone with some time could devour it in a day or two. There’s also an upcoming film adaptation.
It is Halloween, 1963. They call him the October Boy, or Ol' Hacksaw Face, or Sawtooth Jack. Whatever the name, everybody in this small Midwestern town knows who he is. How he rises from the cornfields every Halloween, a butcher knife in his hand, and makes his way toward town, where gangs of teenage boys eagerly await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare. Both the hunter and the hunted, the October Boy is the prize in an annual rite of life and death. Pete McCormick knows that killing the October Boy is his one chance to escape a dead-end…
I'm passionate about ghost stories, classic gothic literature, and horror comics, and I have always felt that October is too short to contain the atmospheric chills and versatility of horror stories. I am also passionate about graphic novels and have worked as a professional illustrator, comic artist, and colorist for 7 years. I love the camp, the fun, and the macabre invoked by Summerween. Now that I have written and published my own cozy, spooky graphic novel, which made both the American Book Association's Indies Introduce List for Summer 2024 and People Magazine's Summerween 2024 Book List, I want to shine the spotlight on other comics with the feeling of October.
A hauntingly beautiful anthology of five twisted fairytales that, to me, felt like stepping into a pastoral Twilight Zone and stayed in my mind for days after the final page. Carroll’s artwork is eerie and subtle, and the limited color palette turns scenes of the mundane into a visual nightmare.
The stories are well-paced and spooky, and in my opinion, best read during a dark summer thunderstorm.
As a fan and repeat viewer of classic horror films, I sometimes let my imagination wander into scenarios about what might have happened to certain characters before or after the events depicted onscreen. In this way, I developed my earlier novel, In theShadow of the Skull, an islander’s version of King Kong, and now Innocent, a sequel to The Turn of the Screw infused with Jack Clayton’s The Innocents. I’m fascinated by how other authors are equally inspired to retell classic horror stories or create prequels and sequels to fill in narrative gaps. These books are among the most creative examples.
At first, Martin’s novel appears to be an account of a Victorian housemaid’s daily life, but after a couple of chapters, her employer’s name—Dr. Jekyll!—is revealed, and a third of the way in, his friend Mr. Hyde is mentioned, and by then, the true nature of the story is unmistakable.
I loved how Martin subtly incorporated familiar details from Stevenson’s novella but filtered them through Mary’s innocent, unwitting perspective. Always, the story remains firmly Mary’s; I welcomed her moral sense and opinions as a counterweight to Jekyll’s arrogance.
From the acclaimed author of the bestselling Italian Fever and award-winning Property, comes a fresh twist on the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, a novel told from the perspective of Dr. Jekyll's dutiful and intelligent housemaid.
"Part psychological novel, part social history, part eerie horror tale ... dark and moving and powerful." —The Washington Post
Faithfully weaving in details from Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, Martin introduces an original and captivating character: Mary is a survivor—scarred but still strong—familiar with evil, yet brimming with devotion and love. As a bond grows between Mary and her tortured employer, she is sent on…
As a fan and repeat viewer of classic horror films, I sometimes let my imagination wander into scenarios about what might have happened to certain characters before or after the events depicted onscreen. In this way, I developed my earlier novel, In theShadow of the Skull, an islander’s version of King Kong, and now Innocent, a sequel to The Turn of the Screw infused with Jack Clayton’s The Innocents. I’m fascinated by how other authors are equally inspired to retell classic horror stories or create prequels and sequels to fill in narrative gaps. These books are among the most creative examples.
Of all the books on this list, Quint stays truest to its source material.
I admired how Lautner recreated Quint’s distinct voice for the narrative and molded the details of this prequel to fit references the character shared in the film Jaws.
Lautner tells the story of how Quint came to Amity Island, blending a Hemingway-esque action sequence with flashbacks to his days and nights in the shark-infested ocean following the Indianapolis sinking. The Indianapolis sequences are inspired by actual survivors’ testimony, adding a harrowing realism to the novel that impressed and captivated me.
'Puts some of the balls back into serious English fiction' GILES COREN, THE TIMES
'Whisky-soaked, guttural, stinking and funny' EVIE WYLD, OBSERVER
'Thrilling, brutal, poetic, literary and irresistible, one of the 21st century's first great 20th-century American novels' LOUISA YOUNG
Before there was Jaws, there was... QUINT
You already know the end of his story: now find out where it all began.
Quint: the taciturn and grizzled sea captain who survived the shark-ridden sinking of the USS Indianapolis, only to meet his maker in the maw of a Great White at the end of JAWS. So much…
As a fan and repeat viewer of classic horror films, I sometimes let my imagination wander into scenarios about what might have happened to certain characters before or after the events depicted onscreen. In this way, I developed my earlier novel, In theShadow of the Skull, an islander’s version of King Kong, and now Innocent, a sequel to The Turn of the Screw infused with Jack Clayton’s The Innocents. I’m fascinated by how other authors are equally inspired to retell classic horror stories or create prequels and sequels to fill in narrative gaps. These books are among the most creative examples.
This book about an isolated woman who gets caught up in Frankenstein’s quest to build a bride for his creation is actually more horrifying before Victor shows up.
The description of the Orkney Islands is stark and moody, infusing the story with atmosphere. The details of an 18th century woman’s life and its hazards are devastating. I sympathized with Agnes in her frustration, despair, and betrayal, and I celebrated her striving for autonomy.
Mostly, I appreciated how McGregor brought to life a narrow section of Shelley’s original story.
ORKNEY ISLANDS, 1797 - Agnes Tulloch feels a little cheated. This windswept place is not the island paradise her husband promised it to be when they wed. Now with four young children, she struggles to provide for her family while her husband grows increasingly distant.
When a stranger comes ashore to rent an abandoned cottage, Agnes and the other islanders are abuzz with curiosity. Who is this wealthy foreigner and why on earth would he come to Eynhallow? Her curiosity is soon replaced with vexation when her husband hires her out as cook and washerwoman, leaving Agnes with no say…
As a fan and repeat viewer of classic horror films, I sometimes let my imagination wander into scenarios about what might have happened to certain characters before or after the events depicted onscreen. In this way, I developed my earlier novel, In theShadow of the Skull, an islander’s version of King Kong, and now Innocent, a sequel to The Turn of the Screw infused with Jack Clayton’s The Innocents. I’m fascinated by how other authors are equally inspired to retell classic horror stories or create prequels and sequels to fill in narrative gaps. These books are among the most creative examples.
Using Poe’s short story as a springboard, McCammon places the modern-day Usher family—armaments magnates plagued by both hereditary illness and a monster prowling the woods surrounding the family estate—into a creepy Southern Gothic that mixes familial backbiting with mystery, magic, and genuinely shocking horror.
I particularly loved the epistolary chapters revealing the Ushers’ historical evil deeds. I read this at Halloween and it created the ideal spooky tone for the season.
Usher’s Passing is about descendants of the Usher family from Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
The house of usher is built on death itself—and now it has a new master…
For generations the House of Usher has grown wealthier and more powerful on the invention and sale of murderous military weapons. But another evil has lived and grown within the House of Usher—a legacy of depravity of bloodshed that goes back generations, and stains the hallways of the family mansion.
One young heir, Rix Usher, is reluctant to return home. But…
As a fan and repeat viewer of classic horror films, I sometimes let my imagination wander into scenarios about what might have happened to certain characters before or after the events depicted onscreen. In this way, I developed my earlier novel, In theShadow of the Skull, an islander’s version of King Kong, and now Innocent, a sequel to The Turn of the Screw infused with Jack Clayton’s The Innocents. I’m fascinated by how other authors are equally inspired to retell classic horror stories or create prequels and sequels to fill in narrative gaps. These books are among the most creative examples.
Before Anne Rice's vampire gave an interview, Saberhagen’s Dracula told his own side of Stoker’s story, gently poking at plot holes and purple prose.
From the moment I first learned this book existed, I knew I had to read it. When I finally tracked down a copy, it gave me new insights into the count’s character, and it made me laugh. I enjoyed The Dracula Tape’s lighter take on the classic material.
Presents the complete transcript of a tape in which the inimitable count presents his side of the story about a series of ghastly incidents which occurred during his visit to England in 1891
