Books like Zod Wallop — picked by fans

Early in this book, a character uses his kitchen oven to dry out some psychedelic mushrooms harvested from the rooftop garden at his flat in World War II London. Dosing the characters (and somehow the reader) with Amanita Muscaria is an appropriate way to set the tone of this book.

Mushroom experiences are fun and giggly and clever, at times, but they can also open the mind to the evils mankind is capable of and the intricate conspiracies seemingly hiding in plain sight. Which is what I love about Gravity’s Rainbow – Pynchon’s writing is hilarious, but then he’ll hit you with a gut punch so poignant it will linger in your mind for decades. 

Okay, I’m a big fan of Lovecraftian lore, but who needs me to recommend Lovecraft? I might as well recommend White Castle to stoners.

While this book (which was also an HBO series) isn’t as funny as Ruff’s Sewer, Gas, and Electric (a wonderful spoof of Atlas Shrugged), I reread it after watching the series and found it as thrilling and exciting as the first read. It plays on science fiction as well as horror, and the chapter depicting Hypolita Freeman’s discovery of a portal to other universes in an observatory has haunted me since I first read it.

I’ve never read a book that weaves horror and science fiction so seamlessly. (Note: I love the irony of writing a book about a closely-knit black family tackling the horrors inspired by the openly racist Lovecraft.)

I read this book every year. In my opinion, Walker Percy, along with Flannery O’Connor, is the premiere southern novelist of the last half of the 20th Century. I consider it one of the finest novels written and an example of the plotting, character development, use of language, and religious parody to which young novelists should aspire.

Percy’s novel blends Southern Gothic, science fiction, and comedy to create a world in which the racial divide in New Orleans blossoms into an apocalypse with hilarious and unpredictable results.

What if elevator inspectors had their own influential guild? Not science fiction, not fantasy, and not even alternative history. Just a riveting, delightful, challenging ‘what if’ that does not fit in a box. In a shaft. In a skyscraper. When I first heard about this book, I thought elevator inspection might be, let’s say, resistant to novel-sized interrogation.

To this, I now say, behold the umbrella that fits in the purse or the king-sized mattress that arrives in a toddler-sized box. This book unfolds and puffs up deliberately and warmly, and eventually, you find yourself curled up, reading about the very nature of thought. In a person. In a society. You don’t want to turn out the light and stop. 

While I didn’t set out to copy this novel, I have to admit that unconsciously this mashup of chick lit and horror with a vampire protagonist probably spawned my idea to write a romantic comedy/horror mashup with a protagonist who has just become a ghost. If you enjoyed Restless Spirits, this book has a similar vibe, albeit one that’s quite a bit more, ahem, spicy than you’ll typically find in my own writing. At turns hilarious, frightening, poignant, and steamy, this is probably the book that put paranormal chick-lit on the map.

I have been praising this book for years and have no plans to stop anytime soon. Using investigatory skills and a keen sense of human pathos, journalist and NPR producer Horn tells the full-circle story of the parapsychology lab founded by the Rhines. She doggedly and accurately presents the “unbelievable” findings of the Duke lab and the struggle of its founders to swim against a tide of orthodox reaction. As a work of history, it is significant—and as a piece of dramatic historiography it is enthralling. 

While not explicitly written from a witchcraft point of view, The Psychic Energy Codex by Michelle Belanger is a highly approachable book for awakening your psychic ability and learning how to manipulate energy, which are very crucial skills for the psychic witch. Despite being a world-famous psychic and an occult researcher with encyclopedic knowledge, the way Belanger breaks everything down in this book makes the information easy to understand for even the absolute beginner. In addition, the book provides foundational techniques that are essential for any energy worker, witch or not. One of the brilliant aspects of this book is that Michelle emphasizes that everyone is wired differently energetically, perceiving and working with energy differently. As such, the author provides impressive guidance and insight to help you tailor practices to suit you so that you can effectively engage in psychic and energetic practices.

Adam Selzer writes as if you're listening to him tell ghost stories over a beer and a plate of nachos in a dark Chicago bar, with a summer night's breeze blowing in off Lake Michigan. Selzer is hands-down the expert on Chicago history, and he's no slouch at the paranormal aspect of the city's background either -- he's a tour guide for one of the Chicago ghost tour companies. He has a snarky, irreverent style that makes any of his books a sheer pleasure to read. In addition to his historical and paranormal nonfiction, he also writes YA fiction. 

This title drew me in right away, and the contents did not disappoint. This is a well-written and thoroughly researched book with interesting first-hand accounts of ghost hunts by an English author who, as a child, lived in a haunted house, yet has never actually seen a ghost.

The approach to the subject is also right up my alley: why do people fear the supernatural, and why are some cultures and people more likely to encounter ghosts than others?

Ghost stories are fascinating in their own right, but exploring how people in different times and places reacted to these encounters is even more interesting. 

In my view, one of the most illuminating books ever written about the so-called "psychic phenomena" (also called psi phenomena) (e.g. telepathy, clairvoyance, and psychokinesis).

In this volume, Dean Radin – a scientist known internationally for innovative experiments in the field of psi research – reviews rigorous scientific investigations of these phenomena. He debunks the skeptical myths surrounding them; moreover, Radin convincingly demonstrates that psi phenomena are both real and widespread.

In addition, he explains why these phenomena are a direct consequence of the interconnected, entangled reality we live in.