Here are 68 books that Autumn Cthulhu fans have personally recommended if you like
Autumn Cthulhu.
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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.
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
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 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.
This one is a bit of a fudge because it takes place in mid-August during the Hungry Ghost Festival, but the full moon and cool evening breeze capture that atmosphere of summer sliding into fall.Bound Feet is a modern ghost story centered on a grieving mother whose friend helps her break into Portland’s Chinese Garden and Ghost Museum in order to try to connect with her late daughter. What she finds, though, is a sinister presence from centuries ago and secrets that may upend her world. I love a story haunted by literal ghosts of the past, and this one had me smiling ear to ear as it descends into a nightmare phantasmagoria and twist after delicious twist is revealed. A great, quick read for beginning the season.
On the night of the Hungry Ghost Moon, when spirits can briefly return to the living world, Jodi Wu and her best friend sneak into Portland’s Chinese Garden and Ghost Museum. Kneeling before the pond where Jodi’s toddler drowned one year before, they leave food offerings and burn joss paper—and Jodi prays that Ella’s ghost will return for the night.
To distract Jodi from her grief, the two friends tell each other ghost stories as they explore the museum. They stop at the main display, a centuries-old pair of lotus slippers belonging to a woman whose toes were broken and…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
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’ve been reading and writing horror for more than forty years and am prolific in both aspects. Show me a book with a tentacle and I’ll show you my newest purchase.
Can we even talk about tentacle horror without a mention of the master, Lovecraft? Some of his best work is included in this collection, and it is the base that all other tentacle horror is founded form. Heck, all horror for that matter. You have to start at the beginning in order to move forward. Right?
Let your imagination sink deep into more than a dozen classic tales of dark horror by H. P. Lovecraft.
The stories of H. P. Lovecraft have been a source of fascination for readers since they were published in the early twentieth century, and legions of fans continue to reinvent his dark and fantastical world to this day. This collection of short stories by the master of the macabre contains more than twenty of his most popular works, including "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," and "The Dunwich Horror." Each story will leave the reader feeling unsettled and uncertain,…
I am a rising literary star, crafting captivating narratives that blend classic and contemporary themes. My work, like Tolkien, Lovecraft, and King, delves into the darker side of humanity and explores complex characters in intricate worlds. My unique perspective and deep understanding of storytelling make my book recommendations invaluable. I have apassion for the craft, offering insightful analysis and curating diverse reading lists. By introducing readers to classic works, I foster a deeper appreciation for the art of storytelling.
This is a chilling dive into the depths of cosmic horror. Lovecraft’s masterful storytelling and vivid descriptions transport readers to a world of ancient, otherworldly beings and unspeakable horrors.
What sets Lovecraft’s work apart is its ability to induce a sense of existential dread and cosmic insignificance. His tales explore the darkest corners of the human psyche, revealing the terrifying potential of the unknown. The titular story, The Call of Cthulhu, is a prime example of Lovecraft’s ability to craft a truly unsettling narrative.
If you dare to venture into the realm of the truly bizarre and terrifying, I highly recommend this book. Be warned, however: once you’ve encountered the cosmic horrors that lurk in the shadows, you may never look at the world the same way again.
Part of the Penguin Orange Collection, a limited-run series of twelve influential and beloved American classics in a bold series design offering a modern take on the iconic Penguin paperback
Winner of the 2016 AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books | 50 Covers competition
For the seventieth anniversary of Penguin Classics, the Penguin Orange Collection celebrates the heritage of Penguin's iconic book design with twelve influential American literary classics representing the breadth and diversity of the Penguin Classics library. These collectible editions are dressed in the iconic orange and white tri-band cover design, first created in 1935, while french flaps,…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I’ve been a fan of the Cthulhu Mythos and detective fiction since childhood, cutting my teeth on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammett at an early age. A voracious reader of both horror and mystery, I read and reread these tales and began crafting my own to the point where many years later, as an award-winning writer with over 200 fiction publications under my belt, I feel these genres go together like they were always destined to cross. I write daily, and have a Bachelor’s Degree in Crime Scene Science. You could say crime and horror are always on my mind!
C.J. Henderson is recognized as the father of modern-day occult detective fiction. He wrote his protagonists' encounters with the Cthulhu Mythos in beautifully effective prose. Sadly, C.J. passed away in 2014 and his passing is a great loss to the literary world and fans old and new.
This book was written as a tribute to C.J.’s finest occult detectives, twelve authors being chosen to contribute to this hard-boiled, tentacle-smacking anthology. All earnings from this book go to support C.J.’s family. An added bonus for fans of weird hardboiled fiction is the never-before published novella by C.J. Henderson, The Temporal Deception.
I love this collection for it expands on both the Cthulhu Mythos and C.J.’s own creations.
My Swedish grandmother first introduced me to the horror genre when I was a small boy. Her folktales of trolls and witches really fueled my imagination! Then, when I was in junior high, my father encouraged me to read Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. I didn’t get hooked on things Gothic, however, until I heard the lyrics of Jim Morrison and the Doors in high school. After college, I became a freelance writer. I quickly learned that 80% of my spooky stuff got accepted by magazines while only 10% of my general interest work was published. That said, it’s no wonder I became a horror writer!
The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre showcases some of the weirder stories of the horror genre. “The Rats in the Walls” and “The Thing on the Doorstep” put the “f” in fear! H.P.’s evil space creature, Cthulhu, also makes an appearance in this anthology.
“H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale.”—Stephen King
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”—H.P. Lovecraft
This is the collection that true fans of horror fiction must have: sixteen of H.P. Lovecraft’s most horrifying visions, including:
The Call of Cthulu: The first story in the infamous Cthulhu mythos—a creature spawned in the stars brings a menace of unimaginable evil to threaten all mankind. The Dunwich Horror: An evil man’s desire to perform an unspeakable…
I’ve been reading Lovecraft, and those inspired by him, since I was in high school. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea that there could be a whole world just outside of sight that we never see, and once we do see we can never un-see. After I’d been writing for a few years a friend of mine suggested/demanded I write a story for him inspired by Lovecraft’s world. Mostly I started it to satisfy him but once the jar was open it all spilled out. I wove in real elements from history, including historical figures. This story ended up winning a major award, but there was still so much more to tell.
Okay, so maybe you didn’t exactly miss at least hearing about this novel, but many readers skip over the original Lovecraft stories as being too difficult to read which is a shame.
This is the where the elder god mythos truly began for me, the first of any Lovecraft story I ever read. Split into three sections this book is linked together around nightmares, cults, and a sleeping god.
Call of Cthulhu was where I learned that not every question in a story requires an answer, and that heroes can face overwhelming odds and lose in the end. It is bleak and the perfect introduction to this world.
One of the feature stories of the Cthulhu Mythos, H.P. Lovecraft's 'the Call of Cthulhu' is a harrowing tale of the weakness of the human mind when confronted by powers and intelligences from beyond our world.
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
I’m a Canadian author and artist that loves to write and draw the darker side of fantasy. Ever since I was a child, I have adored mythology, horror, and the creatures and worlds that are present within the fantasy genre. The world of fantasy has unlimited imagination, and its lore and structure grow constantly, which gives endless ideas to us writers to create endless brilliant realms and the creatures that dwell within them.
The Essential Tales of H.P. Lovecraft is a collection of some of Lovecraft’s famous horror stories. "The Call of Cthulhu" is one that I truly enjoyed the most. If you are a fan of horror and otherworldly beings, then I believe that you would love this book as much as I do. The creatures and the ambiance that are present in his stories are fascinating, and just give a wonderful look into the many worlds of horror and the unknown that he created. His works are some of the things that inspired me to become a dark fantasy writer and a gothic-style artist.
Discover the true meaning of fear with these classic horror stories.
The Essential Tales of H.P. Lovecraft collects one of the author's most popular novellas, At the Mountain of Madness, and six of his most famous short stories, including The Call of Cthulhu, The Shadow Out of Time, The Dunwich Horror, The Colour of Space, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and The Whisperer in the Darkness. These hair-raising tales have inspired generations of authors and filmmakers, including Stephen King, Alan Moore, Guillermo del Toro, and Neil Gaiman. This elegantly designed clothbound edition features an elastic closure and a new introduction.
