Today’s treble T is a Halloween freebie: I’ve never gotten into Halloween (aside from a few costume parties over the years), but I will give this the old college try. But first, the tease!
In fact, the thing Lorraine and I liked best about the Pigman was that he didn’t go around saying we were cards or jazzy or cool or hip. He said we were delightful, and if there’s one way to show how much you’re not trying to make believe you’re not behind the times, it’s to go around saying people are delightful.” THE PIGMAN
Look at that tease! No president to be found!
(1) Christine, Stephen King. Easily one of the creepiest novels I’ve ever read. Christine is a car that evil appears to cozy itself in.
(2) Needful Things, Stephen King. A new antiques store seems to carry just what people are looking for. Mayhem ensues.
(3) The Shining, Stephen King. Good evening, Mister Torrance.
(4) Ancestral Shadows, Russell Kirk. A very effective collection of ghost stories. To quote from my review:
Ghost stories” invariably makes me think of legends and folklore, but Ancestral Shadows is an altogether different anthology. Instead, its stories all feature ghostly characters and themes of redemption, revenge, or realization. The ghosts here are not transparent wraiths, scaring mortals or playing tricks with the furniture. They are in the midst, caught in the veil between the living and the dead, dwelling in their own moments of time. Some are corporeal enough that they believe themselves still living, and the news of their death comes as a surprise to both them and the reader. […] each [of these stories] draw the reader and the main character deeper into a mystery, until — fully enveloped by it — there is a line dropped, a corner turned, and suddenly both parties realize something that had been hitherto hidden .
(5) World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks. I don’t remember much about this one, only that it was compelling and I meant to read the author’s next release when it came out.
(6) Night of the Living Trekkies, Kevin David Anderson. This is meant to be horror but it’s entirely too funny.
(7) Sphere, Michael Crichton. SF about a discovery on the ocean floor that lurches into horror simply because of the alien-ness of the deep ocean. (Do I have thalassophobia?)
(8) The Good Guy, Dean Koontz. I don’t remember what this book was about. I remember it was unsettling enough that I have never read Koontz again. It’s been 16 years.
(9) Hallowe’en Party, Agatha Christie. Somebody dies at a Halloween party.
(10) Sleep No More, Greg Iles. Greg Iles is known for his southern gothic thrillers set in Mississippi, so this one with its supernatural vibes was both unexpected and effective.
(11) Enemy of God, Bernard Cornwell. Similar: Cornwell is known for realistic historic fiction, but his Arthur stories flirt with fantasy, and not in the “Oh ho! My fair lady, I have come to rescue thee!” sense”. It’s more in the the feeling of dread and uncanniness, the literary equivalent of knowing something sinister and terrible is watching you in the dark. Did I mention this is about King Arthur and Merlin?
(12) Turn of the Key, Ruth Ware. As much as the ending disappointed, the ride there was seat-of-the-pants stuff. A young woman is babysitting in an old English country estate turned tech palace, and starts getting the sense there’s something in the house. Is it a ghost? Is it a sentient AI? Who—OOO-oooo knowwwwws?
