Ghost Stories for around the Campfire

Ghost Summer by Tananarive Due

In her debut collection of short fiction, Due takes us to Gracetown, a small Florida town that has both literal and figurative ghost; into future scenarios that seem all too real; and provides empathetic portraits of those whose lives are touched by Otherness. The title novella, Ghost Summer, won a Kindred Award from the Carl Brandon Society. This collection includes Patient Zero, The Lake, The Knowing, Herd Immunity, and many other stories. (Publisher Summary)

Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman

Trigger Warning explores the masks we all wear and the people we are beneath them to reveal our vulnerabilities and our truest selves. Here is a rich cornucopia of poetry, horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, that explore the realm of experience and emotion. Trigger Warning includes a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series as well Black Dog, and more. (Publisher Summary)

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when 14-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of what at first seems to be acute schizophrenia, a condition which only gets worse, leading them to believe it's actually demonic possession, as they become the center of a reality TV show. A chilling thriller that brilliantly blends domestic drama, psychological suspense, and a touch of modern horror. (Publisher Summary)

The Damned by Andrew Pyper

Danny Orchard died on his 16th birthday-and so did his twin sister, Ashleigh-but only Danny came back. He wrote a bestselling memoir about his experience of heaven called The After, but despite his fame and fortune he's never been able to enjoy his second chance at life. His sister won't let him. Charming and magnetic in life, Ash appeared perfect to outsiders but the budding psychopath privately terrorized her family, and that hasn't stopped with her death. (Publisher Summary)

Ghosts of Long Island II by Kerriann Flanagan Brosky

After extensive research, and interviews with Long Islanders conducted with paranormal investigator Joe Giaquinto, Ms. Brosky has written 30 new accounts of paranormal happenings and haunted locations on Long Island.

The Grand Hotel...Where Nobody Checks Out

When a desk clerk welcomes a group of tourists into his mysterious and crumbling hotel, the last thing he expects is that a lone girl on his tour may hold the power to unravel the hidden mystery that has lain for untold centuries within the structure’s walls.

The Grand Hotel is a horror novel by esteemed bestselling author Scott Kenemore (Zombie, Illinois) that takes the reader on a thrilling ride through an interconnected series of stories narrated by the desk clerk and the residents of the hotel itself. And while it is not known whether or not the desk clerk is actually the devil incarnate, it is strange that so many visitors who come for a tour of the hotel have a way of never leaving. (Publisher Summary)

"This is a solid pick for those looking for horror tending more toward the mysterious and spooky." - Library Journal Reviews

Scare Yourself Silly

What could be better than curling up with a terrifying horror novel (and candy!) on Halloween night? Stop by the Community Library and pick up some frighteningly good books before heading out to trick-or treat! 

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The handsome appearance of dissolute, young Dorian Gray remains unchanged while the features in his portrait become distorted as his degeneration progresses. (Publisher Summary)

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

In D.C. to shoot a film, adored film star Chris MacNeil finds her stay turning into a nightmare when her young daughter, Regan, is possessed by the devil and must endure a brutal exorcism. (Publisher Summary)

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

Witchcraft and terror await Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse when they move into the ominous Bramford apartment building. (Publisher Summary)

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

A young governess is sent to a great country house to care for two orphaned children. To begin with Flora and Miles seem to be model pupils but gradually the governess starts to suspect that something is very wrong with them. As she sets out to uncover the corrupt secrets of the house she becomes convinced that something evil is watching her. (Publisher Summary)

Terror by Dan Simmons

Captain Crozier must find a way for his crew to survive the deadly attacks of a mysterious and insatiable sea monster that is stalking the men trapped in the Arctic ice, in a novel loosely based on the mid-nineteenth-century Arctic expedition originally led by Sir John Franklin. (Publisher Summary)

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The classic tale of the bizarre Carpathian count, who drinks human blood to stay alive, and the Englishman who knows his secret. (Publisher Summary)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Oh, the Horror!!

If you dare, stop by our main floor display (just outside the fax/copy room) featuring creepy books selected for their scare potential! Below are just a small selection of what's available at the Community Library.

Revelations edited by Douglas E. Winter Featuring opening and closing novellas by Clive Barker and stories by David Morrell, F. Paul Wilson, and Whitley Strieber, among others, a collection of stories offers an alternative, apocalyptic twist on the chronology of the twentieth century. (Publisher Summary) Ghosts Know by Ramsey Campbell After publicly attacking psychic Frank Jasper, who he believes to be a talented charlatan, on his controversial talk radio program, Graham Wilde is plunged into a terrifying nightmare where reality and fantasy blur together after Jasper accuses him of being behind the disappearance of a teenage girl. (Publisher Summary) The Six Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher Harboring supernatural secrets and mysterious origins, the fantastical cattle town of Golgotha in mid-19th-century Nevada is thrown into a maelstrom when a primordial evil emerges from an abandoned silver mine, rendering a death-marked sheriff, his half-human deputy and other posse members the world's only protectors. (Publisher Summary)

Book-to-TV Alert for Sci-Fi Fans

John Scalzi's newest book Lock In, released last month, is already slated to be adapted into a potential television series according to Variety (read article here). While there is no date yet on when we'll see it on our small screens, you may want to read the book first.

"Fifteen years from now, a new virus sweeps the globe. 95% of those afflicted experience nothing worse than fever and headaches. Four percent suffer acute meningitis, creating the largest medical crisis in history. And one percent find themselves "locked in"--fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. One per cent doesn't seem like a lot. But in the United States, that's 1.7 million people "locked in."

Spurred by grief and the sheer magnitude of the suffering, America undertakes a massive scientific initiative and two new technologies emerge. One is a virtual-reality environment, "The Agora," in which the locked-in can interact with other humans, both locked-in and not. The other is the discovery that a few rare individuals have brains that are receptive to being controlled by others, meaning that from time to time, those who are locked in can "ride" these people and use their bodies as if they were their own. This skill is quickly regulated, licensed, bonded, and controlled. Nothing can go wrong. Certainly nobody would be tempted to misuse it, for murder, for political power, or worse..." (Publisher's Summary)

Lock In received a starred review from Booklist: "...tightly plotted, highly imaginative SF/mystery . . . Another brilliant novel from a writer who has quickly become one of the genre's most successful and intriguing practitioners." (Booklist Reviews)

New Horror Tale: Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia

In Bellweather Rhapsody, the 1997 Statewide Music Festival (being held at the Bellweather Hotel in New York's Catskill Mountains) goes awry when Jill, a star flutist, goes missing from a hotel room that was the site of a murder-suicide that took place 15 years earlier. Jill's disappearance causes a bridesmaid, Minnie Graves, who witnessed the first crime and happens to be at the hotel on the murder-suicide's 15th anniversary, to relive her trauma while a snowstorm traps everyone on the hotel grounds.

"Part ghost story, part mystery, part coming-of-age tale, and part love sonnet to music, Racculia's second novel (after This Must Be the Place) is dark and delightful, with memorable characters inspired by both literature and pop culture. It will grab readers and keep them with multilayered plotting and writing that ranges from humorous to poetic." (Library Journal Reviews)