Here are 93 books that The House on Hanging Hill Lane fans have personally recommended if you like
The House on Hanging Hill Lane.
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I am an indie horror author from Yorkshire, England. I grew up on a steady diet of Stephen King and horror films and developed a love of all things spooky and/or creepy. Supernatural horror has always been my favorite genre. When it’s done well, it has the capacity to be absolutely terrifying. It took me writing a couple of books before I finally jumped headfirst into writing supernatural horror. To me, there’s nothing scarier than the unknown, and that’s what I want to explore in my writing, and also my reading. I am also a huge advocate of indie authors, and I am thrilled to share these recommendations with you.
This is Leigh Kenny’s debut novel. I absolutely devoured it and read it in one sitting. I grew up on horror movies, and this is a new take on J-Horror. As somebody who loves The Grudge, I felt an affinity with this book. It was almost nostalgic in a way, reminiscent of 90s/00s horror movies.
Have you ever agreed to something without understanding the consequences? What would you do if a cursed object came into your possession?
Burn it?
Seek spiritual help?
Pass it on?
This is the impossible choice Curtis must face as a sinister entity is thrust upon him. As the walls close in and the evil takes hold, he must act before his life is forever altered.
Curtis is haunted.
Curtis is afraid.
Curtis is... Cursed
The ideal read for fans of horror, mystery thrillers, possessions and supernatural beings. The Grudge meets Drag Me To Hell, Cursed is the story of one…
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 am an indie horror author from Yorkshire, England. I grew up on a steady diet of Stephen King and horror films and developed a love of all things spooky and/or creepy. Supernatural horror has always been my favorite genre. When it’s done well, it has the capacity to be absolutely terrifying. It took me writing a couple of books before I finally jumped headfirst into writing supernatural horror. To me, there’s nothing scarier than the unknown, and that’s what I want to explore in my writing, and also my reading. I am also a huge advocate of indie authors, and I am thrilled to share these recommendations with you.
I am such a lover of ghost stories, hauntings, and anything paranormal. After a while, haunting/supernatural books can all feel very similar. However, this book is a complete wild card. I love the unique take on multiple ghosts.
It is creative, funny, and has some really creepy scenes too. It’s perfect for somebody wanting to explore more horror because it’s not super dark but will still give you a good scare.
"It was a suffering like no other. And, oh, how they suffered." Recreating the séance that led to the infamous Victorian Suffering massacre seems like a good idea at the time. But Kyle Birbeck soon discovers that the ghosts his distant ancestor banished into the walls of Brackenby House in 1876 have been lurking, waiting for a chance to come out. One by one the 5 terrifying ghosts latch onto each of the students who reside at Brackenby, preying on their deepest fears: A 3-eyed Incan giant. A member of the Hellfire Club who struck a deal with the devil…
I am an indie horror author from Yorkshire, England. I grew up on a steady diet of Stephen King and horror films and developed a love of all things spooky and/or creepy. Supernatural horror has always been my favorite genre. When it’s done well, it has the capacity to be absolutely terrifying. It took me writing a couple of books before I finally jumped headfirst into writing supernatural horror. To me, there’s nothing scarier than the unknown, and that’s what I want to explore in my writing, and also my reading. I am also a huge advocate of indie authors, and I am thrilled to share these recommendations with you.
This book deserves far more eyes on it. EC Samuels has a beautiful style of writing; it is real, raw, and believable. You can picture yourself right there in the thick of it–which is a Catch-22 situation when it comes to horror books.
This is Samuels’s debut novel, and she knocked it out of the park. If you’re a vampire lover but want something darker and far more ‘British,’ This is a safe bet.
Don’t open the door. Especially if it’s someone you know.
The sleepy English village of Crosseby is a nice place. A safe place. A place where everyone’s roots are generations’ deep. For Alf Schaeffer, it is a haven from a cruel world.
Then the newcomers arrive.
At first, Alf doesn’t understand why an attractive young couple would buy a long-abandoned plot of land, especially one whose stony soils and waist-high nettles hide the darkest chapter of Crosseby’s history.
But then people start to disappear.
At first, people panic. Disappearances don’t happen in places like Crosseby; that’s why people live there.…
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…
I am an indie horror author from Yorkshire, England. I grew up on a steady diet of Stephen King and horror films and developed a love of all things spooky and/or creepy. Supernatural horror has always been my favorite genre. When it’s done well, it has the capacity to be absolutely terrifying. It took me writing a couple of books before I finally jumped headfirst into writing supernatural horror. To me, there’s nothing scarier than the unknown, and that’s what I want to explore in my writing, and also my reading. I am also a huge advocate of indie authors, and I am thrilled to share these recommendations with you.
Horror lovers know Justin Boote by his alternative extreme horror pen name–J Boote–and many don’t necessarily realize that he writes supernatural horror, too. This is one of those books that has you thinking, ‘Oh God, what on earth would I do in that situation?’
I felt like my heart was beating out of my chest the entire time I was reaching it. It is dark and creepy and had me sleeping with the lights on.
Described as, "Insidious meets Paranormal Activity!" Susanne Hill has witnessed tragedy first-hand; her six-year-old daughter, Sally, died in a car crash years before. Having been plagued her whole life by ghostly visitations, Susanne decides to use her abilities to help others after being visited several times by Sally. Thanks to some ethereal friends, the Soul Searchers, Susanne dedicates her life to helping lost and trapped souls move on to a better place. But there are other, darker spirits that lurk in the netherworld. Spirits that want those souls for themselves… When John and Cathy Richwood move into their new home,…
Religion and horror have long appeared to me like the double helix of some mysterious, transcendental strand of DNA. This relationship has been lived out in my own life. I am simultaneously an author of supernatural horror stories, a critic and scholar of the field, and a student of religion and philosophy with a master’s in religious studies, a Ph.D. in leadership studies, and a lifetime of involvement in various Christian churches. As both a writer and a human being, I hold a special focus on the mutual implications of religion, horror, and creativity, which all seem to arise from and lead back to the same ultimate mystery.
This book is a skeleton key for understanding the fundamental relationship between religion, horror, and the supernatural. Otto was a German theologian and scholar of religions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and in this, his most famous book, he set out to interrogate the nature of holiness, understood not primarily as supernatural moral goodness but as the feeling of numinous dread that accompanies the supernatural, and that “first begins to stir in the feeling of ‘something uncanny, ‘ ‘eerie,’ or ‘weird.’” He explicitly states that it was this emotion in the mind of early humans that gave rise not only to religion but to the cultural traditions of ghost stories and horror tales. If you read only one book on religion and horror, make it this one.
"It is essential to every theistic conception of God, and most of all to the Christian, that it designates and precisely characterizes Deity by the attributes Spirit, Reason, Purpose, Good Will, Supreme Power, Unity, Selfhood. The nature of God is thus thought of by analogy with our human nature of reason and personality; only, whereas in ourselves we are aware of this as qualified by restriction and limitation, as applied to God the attributes we use are 'completed', i.e. thought as absolute and unqualified. Now all these attributes constitute clear and definite concepts: they can be grasped by the intellect;…
I was a weird kid. Often accused of ‘thinking too much’, I cut my literary teeth on Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Phillip K Dick, and Shirley Jackson. Raised on their dark milk, I grew up wanting more than hollow scares and mindless eviscerations. Don’t just give me a scary story, give me a scary story that resonates, one that raises a lens to our world, our history, the rules we’re asked to live by. Unsettle me, make me think. Most of all, give me characters worth my precious time. These are the kind of stories I endeavor to write and the ones I most enjoy reading. I hope you enjoy this small selection as much as I have.
Reminiscent of Ray Bradbury at his very finest, this absorbing collection of supernatural tales has it all: fascinating characters, palpable atmosphere, and delicious, chewy plots. McHugh brings the uncanny into the every day, most often through the experiences of women, and often using a distinctly Irish lens. From the Irish countryside, in all its windswept, boggy, or tangled forms, to modern office life, this is a glorious kaleidoscope of experiences that feel real even as the surface of human experience is punctured to expose the void beneath. Each story in this collection has a lot to offer, and - another thing this writer has in common with Bradbury - you’ll find yourself returning time and again for rereading
The Boughs Withered is the debut collection from accomplished Irish author Maura McHugh. It includes twenty tales - four of them original to the volume - which represent the best strange visions from an award-winning writer of fiction, non-fiction, comic books and plays. Among the featured stories is "Bone Mother", which was adapted into the award-winning stop-motion animated short film by See Creature in Canada.
In her horror and dark fantasy stories, Maura McHugh explores her love of the uncanny, delves into the eerie past, and evokes weird landscapes that might just co-exist with our own.
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 fascinated by the link between golf and the Eastern arts since I heard the great Jack Nicklaus say that golf is played with the feet. This immediately struck a chord with me as my background spans over thirty years of Tai Chi training and I have understood from this art that all movement comes from the ground upwards. The early training of Nicklaus in fact echoes that of the ancient warriors who understood the link between intention and action, which is a very different approach to the modern way of over-thinking technique. The simplicity of flow cancels out the need to separate the golf swing into individual positions.
I have always been interested in Vedic philosophy and have greatly enjoyed the film The Legend of Bagger Vance. While there has been much watering down of ancient truths to fit with our 21st Century lifestyle (the plethora of mindfulness apps being one example) the author of this book has a depth of literary and spiritual knowledge that helps unlock the mysteries of golf and allies them with the epic tale, The Bhagavad Gita. Rosen explains that Rannulph Junuh, (played by Matt Damon in the film) is really Arjuna, the charioteer who is instructed by the Supreme Being, Bhagavan (Bagger Vance, the caddie played by Will Smith). It is an approach to the game that brings us face to face with the eternal battles within and how to overcome them.
In 1995, Steven Pressfield decided to introduce the Bhagavad-Gita to a contemporary audience, so he restructured the Gita in terms of a golf novel, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Now a major motion picture directed by Robert Redford and starring Matt Damon and Will Smith, The Legend of Bagger Vance is loosely based on the ancient Hindu epic, The Bhagavad-gita. Steven Rosen, in Gita on the Green: The Mystical Tradition Behind Bagger Vance, draws the story out further using some thirty years of Gita scholarship and a writing style that is both eloquent and thorough.
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…
As an author of experimental and genre-bending books, I evangelize people not only to read more books but to read books outside of their comfort zone. And while it doesn’t take much work to get adult readers to consider Young Adult titles, getting them to read Middle-Grade books has been a much greater challenge, which is a shame because middle school has a lot to offer. Some of the best and most life-changing books exist within the Middle-Grade category. My own Middle-Grade books were written with readers of many age ranges in mind.
It’s quite possibly the scariest book ever written. Much scarier than most adult horror books. Adult horror books rely on cheap shock value to elicit cheaper scares. It provides the same (or greater) level of unease without resorting to the gratuitous.
I cannot fathom how this book managed to pull that off. But I can say that this book has more to offer adults than it can give to children. An adult can see the subtext of a story where a child disappears because a stranger offers them candy and toys, as well as the implication that such strangers may not be entirely human.
And I can’t tell you what makes it so great without spoiling the whole story. I was so engrossed in this story that it practically kidnapped me. I can’t recommend it enough.
"Sometimes funny, always creepy, genuinely moving, this marvellous spine-chiller will appeal to readers from nine to ninety." - "Books for Keeps". "I was looking forward to "Coraline", and I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I was enthralled. This is a marvellously strange and scary book." - Philip Pullman, "Guardian". "If any writer can get the guys to read about the girls, it should be Neil Gaiman. His new novel "Coraline" is a dreamlike adventure. For all its gripping nightmare imagery, this is actually a conventional fairy story with a moral." - "Daily Telegraph". Stephen King once called Neil Gaiman 'a treasure-house…
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…
Gothic fiction is the Wednesday’s child of literature, rife with melancholic darkness and woe. More a mood than a subgenre, it enhances paranormals, suspense, mystery, and romance novels alike. I love the creepiness of it all, how the words make me long to burrow under a warm blankie with a cup of tea and wallow in their morbidity. And no one did horror-stricken grief better than the ladies (although Poe gave them a run for their money.) Ann Radcliffe, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, Mary Shelley, Daphne du Maurier…these were the early Queens of Goth. Here are five for the modern age. Read ‘em and weep.
Published in February, 2022, this is the most modern of my five choices. An impressive debut by an author who lives in a one-hundred-and-fourteen-year-old haunted house,The Hitman’s Daughter embodies modern Gothic, with its atmospheric setting in a haunted, historic, past-its-prime hotel/chateau, a gruesome murder, a whiff of the supernatural, and a kick-ass heroine (Mave) plagued by her past (and daddy issues.) Thanks to a massive New Year’s Eve blizzard that traps Mave and the chateau’s high-society guests at the scene of a crime, this felt like a twisted, claustrophobic game of Clue.
The Château du Ciel was once the destination for the rich and famous to play, drink and ski—complete with a private railway to shuttle those desiring extra privacy—now, however, the guests are few and far between. The New Year’s Eve party was supposed to hoist the rundown hotel back to its former status, until a massive blizzard hits, trapping the guests who’ve come to celebrate the grand hotel’s last hurrah. The circumstances might even be romantic, if the hotel wasn't reputed to be haunted.
When hotel employee Mave Michael finds the resident artist dead, and shortly thereafter hotel security finds…
