Picked by The Scapegracers fans

Here are 4 books that The Scapegracers fans have personally recommended once you finish the The Scapegracers series. Book DNA is a community of authors and super-readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

Book cover of House of Slaughter

Xan van Rooyen Author Of My Name Is Magic

From my list on LGBT+ reads for spooky season.

Why am I passionate about this?

While I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a fan of horror, I have recently found myself drawn to darker books—especially at this time of the year with Halloween just around the corner. As a bisexual non-binary person, I love finding books with diverse LGBT+ rep in them, so these are just a few of the spookier LGBT+ books I think would make for great autumnal reading. Plus, my own book—My Name is Magic—features all kinds of mythological werebeasties and a race to save the day before the traditional Finnish Kekri festival, an equivalent of Halloween, although it involves less candy and more fire.

Xan's book list on LGBT+ reads for spooky season

Xan van Rooyen Why Xan loves this book

Despite being a spin-off of the equally gruesome but less queer Something is Killing the Children, this graphic novels stands all on its own and deserves a spot on the list. Although, please consider yourself warned, as this is not a story for the faint of heart. This graphic novel is very much the origin story of a character who is mostly portrayed as more of a villain in the main series. This installment, however, is just as harrowing, and terrifying as the original, with gorgeous, vibrant panels that somehow manages to turn gore into fine art. 

By James Tynion IV , Tate Brombal , Chris Shehan (illustrator)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked House of Slaughter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A BRAND NEW SERIES IN THE WORLD OF SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN!

Discover the inner workings of the House of Slaughter in this new horror series exploring the secret history of the Order that forged Erica Slaughter into the monster hunter she is today.

You know Aaron Slaughter as Erica's handler and rival. But before he donned the black mask, Aaron was a teenager training within the House of Slaughter. Surviving within the school is tough enough, but it gets even more complicated when Aaron falls for a mysterious boy destined to be his competition.

Dive deeper into the…


Book cover of Summer Sons

Xan van Rooyen Author Of My Name Is Magic

From my list on LGBT+ reads for spooky season.

Why am I passionate about this?

While I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a fan of horror, I have recently found myself drawn to darker books—especially at this time of the year with Halloween just around the corner. As a bisexual non-binary person, I love finding books with diverse LGBT+ rep in them, so these are just a few of the spookier LGBT+ books I think would make for great autumnal reading. Plus, my own book—My Name is Magic—features all kinds of mythological werebeasties and a race to save the day before the traditional Finnish Kekri festival, an equivalent of Halloween, although it involves less candy and more fire.

Xan's book list on LGBT+ reads for spooky season

Xan van Rooyen Why Xan loves this book

To be honest, I was a little nervous of the blurb given the emphasis on fast cars and hard drugs, but this book ended up being the sweaty, sultry, sexy, Gothic horror book I didn't know I needed, way more dark academia than drag-racing drug-gang. I particularly appreciated the messy and authentic way in which the main character was allowed to grapple with his identity while processing his grief. I quite liked that no explicit labels were ever applied and that there was a more fluid approach to identity and sexuality in this book. So, if you're into slow-burn southern Gothic horror with lush and vivid prose and don’t mind a gruesome ghost or two, this book is for you!

By Lee Mandelo ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Summer Sons as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Lee Mandelo's debut Summer Sons is a sweltering, queer Southern Gothic that crosses Appalachian street racing with academic intrigue, all haunted by a hungry ghost.

Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn’t know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom that hungers for him.

As Andrew searches for the truth of…


Book cover of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Iqbal Hussain Author Of Northern Boy: A big Bollywood dream. A small-town chance.

From my list on take you back in time and lose you there.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always loved the idea of time travel. I was born in a Northern mill town where King Cotton ruled. By the time I was a teenager, all the mills had shut, leaving behind empty hulks. I desperately wanted to experience the town in its heyday. I devoured the Blackburn-set memoir The Road to Nab End, by William Woodruff: I could hear the clogs strike the cobbles, picture the waves of workers, smell the belching chimneys. While I couldn’t travel back in time for real, I could in my imagination. My debut children’s novel, out in Spring 2026, is about a time-travelling seventh son. 

Iqbal's book list on take you back in time and lose you there

Iqbal Hussain Why Iqbal loves this book

This book shares a similar theme to How to Stop Time in that the main character lives through time without aging, from 18th-century France to present-day Manhattan. Addie has made a pact with the devil–immortality, but the price is she’ll be forgotten by everyone she meets. That concept really struck me–what does it mean to be remembered? What does it mean to be forgotten?

I always wanted to be a writer, and part of the reason was that I’d be remembered at some level. There’s a lot of sadness in the book but also hope. In the end, Addie comes across a book with a name she recognizes. Inside is the following inscription: “I remember you.” My heart melted.

By V. E. Schwab ,

Why should I read it?

25 authors picked The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"For someone damned to be forgettable, Addie LaRue is a most delightfully unforgettable character, and her story is the most joyous evocation of unlikely immortality." -Neil Gaiman

A Sunday Times-bestselling, award-nominated genre-defying tour-de-force of Faustian bargains, for fans of The Time Traveler's Wife and Life After Life, and The Sudden Appearance of Hope.

When Addie La Rue makes a pact with the devil, she is convinced she's found a loophole-immortality in exchange for her soul. But the devil takes away her place in the world, cursing her to be forgotten by everyone.

Addie flees her tiny home town in 18th-Century…


Book cover of Elatsoe

Xan van Rooyen Author Of My Name Is Magic

From my list on LGBT+ reads for spooky season.

Why am I passionate about this?

While I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a fan of horror, I have recently found myself drawn to darker books—especially at this time of the year with Halloween just around the corner. As a bisexual non-binary person, I love finding books with diverse LGBT+ rep in them, so these are just a few of the spookier LGBT+ books I think would make for great autumnal reading. Plus, my own book—My Name is Magic—features all kinds of mythological werebeasties and a race to save the day before the traditional Finnish Kekri festival, an equivalent of Halloween, although it involves less candy and more fire.

Xan's book list on LGBT+ reads for spooky season

Xan van Rooyen Why Xan loves this book

This YA novel is unquestionably one of my all time favourite reads. It’s about an asexual Apache girl with her ghost-dog sidekick in a world full of magic including faeries and vampires. The prose, the plot, the characters, the narrative structure—it was all brilliant and brought to life the story of a girl who can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill from her Lipan Apache family. A story that could’ve remained delightfully cute and sweet takes a decidedly darker turn when Elatsoe’s cousin is the picture-perfect town of Willowbee. As Elatsoe begins to investigate, she uncovers some seriously gruesome secrets in an alternate version of small-town America shaped by magic and monsters.

By Darcie Little Badger , Rovina Cai (illustrator) ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Elatsoe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

Imagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream.

There are some differences. This America been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly everyday, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day.

Elatsoe lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down…