Posts tagged with horror
Horror redux
British publishing house Faber & Faber has announced the publication of several new editions of the "strange stories" of horror writer Robert Aickman...
The Glass Casket, by McCormick Templeman
McCormick Templeman's novel The Glass Casket swipes most of its most memorable images from various classic fairytales: twin rose bushes, a girl in a red cloak, the titular glass casket. The rest of the story feels equally cobbled together, resulting in an ambitious but flawed mash-up of horror, romance, and magic...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Glass Casket, by McCormick Templeman
This week's Book Giveaway pick is McCormick Templeman's The Glass Casket. We wrote a positive review of Ms. Templeman's first book The Little Woods a few years ago—we described it as "sufficiently entertaining to read in a single sitting," but complained about its weak love triangle and the implausible number of SAT words the author sprinkled throughout the text—so my expectations are high...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, by Holly Black
This week's Book Giveaway is Holly Black's The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. Our full review will be posted later today, but here's a quick take: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown reminded me of my all-time favorite vampire story, Vivian Vande Velde's Companions of the Night, and I can give no higher compliment than that...
NBC is feelin' bold
Fresh off the questionable success of their Sound of Music adaptation, NBC has ordered another update of a modern classic, according to THR: a four-hour miniseries based on author Ira Levin's 1967 horror novel Rosemary's Baby...
Yawn.
I am much less enthused about the "Penguin Horror" line of reprints than I was about the recent "Legends of the Ancient North" collection. I don't care if the book choices were curated by Guillermo del Toro ...
The Blood Keeper, by Tessa Gratton
While Tessa Gratton's The Blood Keeper is billed as a “companion novel” to her book Blood Magic, rather than a sequel, you need to have read the earlier book for this one to make sense. (Actually, this one isn't guaranteed to make sense even if you have read Blood Magic, but the light bulb might glow a little brighter...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Blood Keeper, by Tessa Gratton
This week's Book Giveaway title is Tessa Gratton's The Blood Keeper, the standalone "companion novel" to her 2011 novel Blood Magic, which we reviewed here. It's... not a sequel, I guess, but set in the same world? And maybe the pair from the first book will make a cameo? Who knows? Anyway, our review should go up later today...
Touched and Dead River, by Cyn Balog
Cyn Balog's standalone novels Dead River and Touched are the kind of stories that allow YA readers to dip their toes into the horror genre. They're disturbing enough to send the odd shiver up one's spine, but still guaranteed to come with a safely happy ending, making them an ideal choice for kids who aren't quite ready for, say, Stephen King...
Strands of Bronze and Gold, by Jane Nickerson
In case you were wondering, we didn't actually plan on reviewing two books about twisted relationships between hyper-controlling men and vulnerable young girls this week. This pairing was pure serendipity—creepy serendipity, if that's not a contradiction in terms.
Set in the antebellum South, Jane Nickerson's Strands of Bronze and Gold...
Room 237, in depth
I had no idea people had devoted so much energy to analyzing Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining, but apparently there's enough interest in picking apart the deeper significance of every shifted prop, altered costume, and misplaced window to justify making a whole documentary about it...
Banished and Unforsaken, by Sophie Littlefield
I'm sure most bookstores have filed Sophie Littlefield's novels Banished and Unforsaken with the teen paranormal romances, but that's far from accurate. These books are about a girl who discovers that she has magical healing powers, and is immediately targeted by a series of evil scientists, murderous rednecks, and zombies. She does eventually acquire a boyfriend, but their relationship is never more than a minor plot thread...
Dark Souls, by Paula Morris
Paula Morris's novel Dark Souls isn't the best YA paranormal romance I have ever read, but it boasts likeable characters, an intriguing premise, and literally dozens of ghosts, running the gamut from benign to horrifying. Fans of the genre are in for a creepy, history-infused treat...
That cover alone inspired a lifelong fear of clowns.
In an act of Halloween-related public service, the website GeekTyrant has dug up the three audiobook editions of Alvin Schwartz's series Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark on YouTube. These books were biiiig when I was as kid (and, now that I think back on it, probably wildly inappropriate for an elementary school setting)...
HBO mines bookstore shelves (again)
According to Flavorwire, HBO has hired Lost showrunner Damon Lindelof to collaborate with author Tom Perotta on a TV adaptation of Perotta's 2011 novel The Leftovers. The book (which I haven't read), apparently...
Tempest Rising, by Nicole Peeler
The cover art for Nicole Peeler's Jane True series is a perfect fit for the books: eye-catching, cartoonish, charmingly goth-lite. Also like the books, the covers would be improved by a bit...
In honor of Halloween...
According to NPR, William Blatty has written a "revised and polished" edition of his novel The Exorcist. In addition to the stylistic updates, the recently-released 40th Anniversary Edition also ...
Tighter, by Adele Griffin
I have always loved Henry James's 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw. When it comes to classic horror, this masterpiece of subtle, uncanny creepiness is the gold standard. Tighter, Adele Gr...
The Iron Thorn, by Caitlin Kittredge
The Iron Thorn might be Caitlin Kittredge's first book for young readers, but she's sticking to her roots. According to her author bio, she likes writing about "bad things [happening] to per...
Unoriginal yet effective
There's a trailer out for the upcoming horror film The Woman in Black, which is based on a 1983 horror novel by Susan Hill and stars Daniel Radcliffe. Behold:I don't know about that "most chillin...
The real undead
And speaking of Jane Austen, did they really need to write a sequel (as well as a prequel, and a comic book book adaptation, and an upcoming movie version) to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? Lik...
Creepy real estate doesn't bring in the cash that it used to, apparently.
The house that inspired Jay Anson's "nonfiction" book The Amityville Horror: A True Story has once again been sold, this time for $200,000 less than its asking price of 1.15 million dollars. I'm ...
The sweet scent of a horror-story victim
Behold, two limited-edition perfumes oils inspired by Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:Aren't they cute? I'm not sure I actually want to smell like a spicy pumpkin, but for a mere ...
Maybe This Time, by Jennifer Crusie
A new Jennifer Crusie novel is always cause for celebration, and Maybe This Time—her first full-length solo effort since 2004's Bet Me—is no exception. In this lively re-working of Henry James's novella The Turn of the Screw...
White Cat, by Holly Black
Bookstores are currently overflowing with YA novels about vampires and werewolves, but the majority of the “monsters” in these books seem like fundamentally nice guys. They care about their ...
Brace yourselves, horror fans...
If you're looking for a genuinely creepy take on the vampire genre (versus, say, a mopey, dopey, heavy-on-the-sixpack-abs one), check out the trailer for Let Me In, the upcoming film remake of the...