Celebrate Friday the 13th with thirteen delightfully eerie book picks curated by Kevin Wadlow, Reference Librarian at the Florence Branch. From uncanny to outright chilling, these selections are ready to haunt your TBR.
by Barbara Truelove
Analogs of the Wolfman, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the Mummy team up to fight Dracula… IN SPAAAAAACE! All the while a starship pilot and a doctor, both artificial intelligences, discover what love is and write new code to experience it.
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by Neena Viel
Calla Williams rebuilds herself again and again from the broken pieces of the person she could have been even as she struggles to protect what is left of her family. The Nightmare that results from this is all too real.
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by Laura Elliot
Man attempts to play God in support of Capitalism (What if you could give up sleeping in order to work more?). God disagrees and stops by to offer counsel and ultimate judgement.
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by Robert Wynne Simmons
A small village descends into superstitious paranoia as the flesh of its children is used to resurrect a fallen devil. Based on the cult classic movie of the same name.
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The Witch
(2015)
Witchfinder General
(1968)
by Tana Huff
Sparks fly between an unemployed school teacher and a baker when she is sent to a remote Canadian town to investigate the disappearance of a tourist who might have s-worded himself (that’s “sacrificed”) to disrupt an agreement between the locals and The Dark.
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by Stephen Graham Jones
Novel told in a diary format that follows the confession of a Blackfoot man to a Lutheran preacher drawing comparisons between the slaughter of the buffalo and the genocide of his people. Also, he’s a vampire. And really angry about both of those things.
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by Jim C. Hines
The tag-line for the book calls it Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets the Golden Girls and I don’t know that I’d agree. The comparison to Buffy is fair but it’s more like what would have happened if Buffy had retired any of the times she said that she was retiring and the resulting consequences to the Scooby Gang post-retirement. Still very enjoyable.
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The Unkillable Frank Lightning
by Josh Rountree
This book would make a mighty fine Hammer Horror movie, if Hammer Horror was still a thing. A Weird Western take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
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The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society
by C.M. Waggoner
Who knew Cozy Horror was a thing? Not this guy! Small town librarian who happens to solve murders in her spare time, think Jessica Fletcher from “Murder She Wrote,” Sherry Pinkwhistle attempts to solve the most recent killings but discovers that the murderer might not be human.
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by Nat Cassidy
Failed improv comedian, actress, and waitress Jess rescues a small boy, a figurative monster, on the run from his father, a literal monster. Surprise cameo by Judge Doom from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”
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Someone You Can Build a Nest In
by John Wiswell
If you can envision a romance between Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote, in a fantasy setting, you’ll enjoy this novel. All Shesheshen wants is a place to lay her eggs. All Homily wants is to find and destroy the shapeshifting monster that has cursed her family for generations. Can this be love?
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by Bonnie Quinn
Goat Valley Campground has been in Kate’s family for generations. It has a few rules you need to follow. Stuff like “Don’t litter” and “Don’t feed the animals.” But also things like “Don’t buy ice from the children with no wagon.” Follow the rules and you will have a pleasant stay. Don’t follow the rules and Kate might have to kill you to keep the creatures that also inhabit the campground from getting loose.
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The Cabin in the Woods
(2011)
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil
(2010)
by Emily Jane
Extended metaphor for the dog-eat-dog environment of Wall Street meets actual flesh eating monsters when Natasha’s world implodes following the death of a roommate and the poorly received review of a popstar, leaving her with nothing but revenge to occupy her time.
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