8 Books to Get You in the Spirits

Come closer! Be Scared of Everything, by media critic, Peter Counter—and host of Friday Night Fright Club on Instagram!—is available to order. If you’re a fan of all-things-horror, you’ll be deeply entertained and wholly validated. If you’re new to the genre, we can’t imagine a better primer or guide. Beneath these essays lies a warm, beating heart.

Grab a copy, and perhaps another, because they’ll have to pry yours from your cold, dead hands!

To celebrate, here are some of Peter’s picks for books and series to get you into…the spirits!

The Death Scene Artist by Andrew Wilmot (Wolsak & Wynn)
In a compelling narrative of blog entries interspersed with film script excerpts, The Death Scene Artist immerses readers in a three-act surrealist exploration of the obsessive fault-finding of body dysmorphia and the dangerous desires of a man who has lived several hundred half-minute lives without having ever experienced his own.

When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll (Koyama Press)
Like many before her that have never come back, she’s made it to the Countess’ castle determined to snuff out the horror, but she could never be prepared for what hides within its turrets. Emily Carroll has fashioned a rich gothic horror charged with eroticism that doesn’t just make your skin crawl, it crawls into it.

Experimental Film by Gemma Files (Open Road Media)
Winner of the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel. Former film teacher Lois Cairns is struggling to raise her autistic son while freelancing as a critic when, at a screening, she happens upon a sampled piece of silver nitrate silent footage. She is able to connect it to the early work of Mrs. Iris Dunlopp Whitcomb, the spiritualist and collector of fairy tales who mysteriously disappeared from a train compartment in 1918. As Lois discovers terrifying parallels between her own life and that of Mrs. Whitcomb, she begins to fear not just for herself, but for those closest to her heart.

Cauchemar by Alexandra Grigorescu (ECW Press)
An eerie and romantic Southern gothic drama, Cauchemar tells the story of 20-year-old Hannah, who finds herself living alone on the edge of a Louisianan swamp. After her mysterious birth mother, outcast as a witch and rumoured to commune with the dead, comes back into Hannah’s life, she must confront the deadly spirits that haunt the swamp, the dark secrets of her past, and the nascent gift she possesses.

Little Heaven by Nick Cutter (Simon & Schuster)
An all-new epic tale of terror and redemption set in the hinterlands of midcentury New Mexico from the acclaimed author of The Troop—which Stephen King raved “scared the hell out of me and I couldn’t put it down…old-school horror at its best.”

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Penguin Random House)
After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find. And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.

Kitaro by Shigeru Mizuki (Drawn & Quarterly)
Meet one of Japan”s most popular characters of all time—Kitaro, a yokai (spirit monster)! With all the offbeat humor of an Addams Family story, Kitaro is a lighthearted romp. The Kitaro series was inspired by a kamishibai, or storycard theater, entitled Kitaro of the Graveyard.

Bonus titles!

Because superheroes are about as important to the Halloween season as skeletons and witches: Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots (HarperCollins).
The Boys meets My Year of Rest and Relaxation in this smart, imaginative, and evocative novel of love, betrayal, revenge, and redemption, told with razor-sharp wit and affection, in which a young woman discovers the greatest superpower—for good or ill—is a properly executed spreadsheet.

The Power of Tarot: To Know Tarot, Read Tarot, and Live Tarot by Liz Worth (Liz Worth)
Reading tarot isn’t just about memorizing card meanings. It’s about understanding what tarot is, what it can and can’t do, where it came from, and what makes it relevant to our daily lives. The Power of Tarot helps to bridge the gaps between studying tarot and putting your knowledge to use. Here, you will learn not just how to read tarot, but how to think about tarot.

With notes generously borrowed from the amazing publishers who craft their copy so well.