A Spooky Season List of Lists, plus a List
October 3, 2024 4:58 PM Subscribe
At GoodReads, Cybil lists The 78 Most Popular Horror Novels of the Past Five Years. At LitHub, Drew Broussard suggests a spooky season starter kit for the genre-curious. At CrimeReads, Kelley Armstrong describes 7 Great Haunted House Novels Written by Women. On her blog Jump Scares, Emily Hughes tracks 2024's New Horror Books (and several previous years too). Meanwhile on r/horrorlit, recent threads ask "What are we all reading this spooky season?"; "What's a horror book you like that not many know of?"; and what are some "Horror novellas you could knock out in one sitting?" For film suggestions, see also "It is less than 100 days until Halloween ..." and especially DirtyOldTown's "Pre-Halloween Guide to Streaming 2024." Incidentally, Women in Translation Month is long over, but ...
Left over from that event, here's a list of translated works tagged as horror at Goodreads that were released in English since 2020, according to sources such as the Publisher's Weekly Translation Database, the Speculative Fiction in Translation blog, longlists for The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, and Locus magazine:
Kim Bo-young, On the Origin of Species and Other Stories; Mariana Enríquez, Our Share of Night; Layla Martínez, Woodworm; María Fernanda Ampuero, Cockfight; Teffi, Other Worlds: Peasants, Pilgrims, Spirits, Saints; María Fernanda Ampuero, Human Sacrifices; Fernanda Melchor, Hurricane Season; Núria Bendicho Giró, Dead Lands; Barbara Molinard, Panics; Giovanna Rivero, Fresh Dirt from the Grave; Guadalupe Nettel, Bezoar: And Other Unsettling Stories; Mariana Enríquez, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed; Patricia Ratto, Proceed with Caution: Stories and a Novella; Leonor Fini, Rogomelec; Agustina Bazterrica, Tender is the Flesh; Aoko Matsuda, Where the Wild Ladies Are; Bora Chung, Cursed Bunny; Ha Seong-nan, Bluebeard's First Wife; Fernanda Trías, The Rooftop; Sayaka Murata, Life Ceremony; Mónica Ojeda, Jawbone; Samanta Schweblin, Seven Empty Houses; Mónica Ojeda, Nefando; Bora Chung, Your Utopia; Fernanda Melchor, Paradais; Samanta Schweblin, Little Eyes; Sayaka Murata, Earthlings; Camilla Sten, The Resting Place; Camilla Sten, The Lost Village; Brenda Lozano, Witches; Cho Yeeun, New Seoul Park Jelly Vendor Massacre; Hiroko Oyamada, The Hole; Sara Mesa, Four by Four; Kaori Fujino, Nails and Eyes; Kang Young-sook, At Night He Lifts Weights; Anne Eekhout, Mary: or, the Birth of Frankenstein; Marie Hélène Poitras, Sing, Nightingale; Maria Hesselager, First Comes Summer; Ursula Scavenius, The Dolls; Johanne Lykke Holm, Strega; Marie NDiaye, That Time of Year; Elvira Navarro, Rabbit Island; Agustina Bazterrica, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird; Dana Grigorcea, Dracula Park; and Hye-Young Pyun, The Owl Cries.
Left over from that event, here's a list of translated works tagged as horror at Goodreads that were released in English since 2020, according to sources such as the Publisher's Weekly Translation Database, the Speculative Fiction in Translation blog, longlists for The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation, and Locus magazine:
Kim Bo-young, On the Origin of Species and Other Stories; Mariana Enríquez, Our Share of Night; Layla Martínez, Woodworm; María Fernanda Ampuero, Cockfight; Teffi, Other Worlds: Peasants, Pilgrims, Spirits, Saints; María Fernanda Ampuero, Human Sacrifices; Fernanda Melchor, Hurricane Season; Núria Bendicho Giró, Dead Lands; Barbara Molinard, Panics; Giovanna Rivero, Fresh Dirt from the Grave; Guadalupe Nettel, Bezoar: And Other Unsettling Stories; Mariana Enríquez, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed; Patricia Ratto, Proceed with Caution: Stories and a Novella; Leonor Fini, Rogomelec; Agustina Bazterrica, Tender is the Flesh; Aoko Matsuda, Where the Wild Ladies Are; Bora Chung, Cursed Bunny; Ha Seong-nan, Bluebeard's First Wife; Fernanda Trías, The Rooftop; Sayaka Murata, Life Ceremony; Mónica Ojeda, Jawbone; Samanta Schweblin, Seven Empty Houses; Mónica Ojeda, Nefando; Bora Chung, Your Utopia; Fernanda Melchor, Paradais; Samanta Schweblin, Little Eyes; Sayaka Murata, Earthlings; Camilla Sten, The Resting Place; Camilla Sten, The Lost Village; Brenda Lozano, Witches; Cho Yeeun, New Seoul Park Jelly Vendor Massacre; Hiroko Oyamada, The Hole; Sara Mesa, Four by Four; Kaori Fujino, Nails and Eyes; Kang Young-sook, At Night He Lifts Weights; Anne Eekhout, Mary: or, the Birth of Frankenstein; Marie Hélène Poitras, Sing, Nightingale; Maria Hesselager, First Comes Summer; Ursula Scavenius, The Dolls; Johanne Lykke Holm, Strega; Marie NDiaye, That Time of Year; Elvira Navarro, Rabbit Island; Agustina Bazterrica, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird; Dana Grigorcea, Dracula Park; and Hye-Young Pyun, The Owl Cries.
Oh, here are a few other translations I had noted for myself in a different way back in late July, but they're tagged horror too: Liliana Colanzi, You Glow in the Dark; Fernanda Trías, Pink Slime; Dolores Reyes, Eartheater; and Christiane Vadnais, Fauna.
posted by Wobbuffet at 5:44 PM on October 3, 2024
posted by Wobbuffet at 5:44 PM on October 3, 2024
Thanks for this! I listened to The Drowning House during a drizzly spell that has hung over my area for the last little bit, and it's a good atmospheric read. Looking forward to finding some new ones to add to the to read/listen queue.
posted by the primroses were over at 6:30 PM on October 3, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by the primroses were over at 6:30 PM on October 3, 2024 [1 favorite]
There are a lot of really fantastic books here (I adored Our Share of Night, just as I adored Obscene Bird of Night, which it tips a hat to). Jawbone messed with me for weeks and The Hole is a real trip.
I just put out a post recently on another social platform seeking out well-written horror, especially folk horror, and would like to recommend Revelator by Dan Gregory and The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. Give me a bloodthirsty pagan god and a remote house in the country and pages of creeping dreaed and I AM ALL IN.
Happy Halloween gang
posted by thivaia at 7:38 PM on October 3, 2024 [3 favorites]
I just put out a post recently on another social platform seeking out well-written horror, especially folk horror, and would like to recommend Revelator by Dan Gregory and The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. Give me a bloodthirsty pagan god and a remote house in the country and pages of creeping dreaed and I AM ALL IN.
Happy Halloween gang
posted by thivaia at 7:38 PM on October 3, 2024 [3 favorites]
Thanks for sharing these! Nice to see Rogomelec in there. Some of my spooky faves:
Tales of Moonlight and Rain by Ueda Akinari, trans. Anthony H. Chambers
My Death by Lisa Tuttle
The Black Spider by Jeremias Gotthelf
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling, trans. John Minford
Japanese Ghost Stories by Lafcadio Hearn
posted by RGD at 7:52 PM on October 3, 2024 [2 favorites]
Tales of Moonlight and Rain by Ueda Akinari, trans. Anthony H. Chambers
My Death by Lisa Tuttle
The Black Spider by Jeremias Gotthelf
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling, trans. John Minford
Japanese Ghost Stories by Lafcadio Hearn
posted by RGD at 7:52 PM on October 3, 2024 [2 favorites]
Flagged as fantastic! Really, this is terrific — thanks!
posted by mochapickle at 9:00 PM on October 3, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by mochapickle at 9:00 PM on October 3, 2024 [1 favorite]
Incredible post, so much to dive into and explore here!
I know there will be lots of excellent recommendations shared here, so I just have to get in with the few recommendations from the past decade that have stood out to me:
The Fisherman by John Langan is just an incredible piece of weird fiction, with its story-within-a-story structure. I'm due a re-read as the details are starting to fade but the overall tone and mood, along with some of its imagery has lingered and stayed with me for years. I would described this as one of the few horror epics I've ever come across. It feels mythical and massive in scope. I know this one gets recommended by dreddit consistently but it's the one that for me actually justified the hype.
And for short stories I want to strongly recommend Song for the Unravelling of the World by Brian Evenson & Wounds by Nathan Ballingrud. Both are more on the surreal end of the horror spectrum, and both left me in a pretty unsettled headspace for a while after.
Evenson especially deals with themes I find the most disturbing; loss of identity and sense of self, paranoia and not trusting your own senses, and being trapped both literally and metaphorically, while Ballingrud creates incredible and horrific alternate realities where hell and its residents are far more active parts of the world.
All three recommendations have, as the kids would say, vibes. Horror is awfully personal like comedy, but the existential horror of these three has really stuck with me, even after reading dozens of other horror books since.
posted by slimepuppy at 12:41 AM on October 4, 2024 [3 favorites]
I know there will be lots of excellent recommendations shared here, so I just have to get in with the few recommendations from the past decade that have stood out to me:
The Fisherman by John Langan is just an incredible piece of weird fiction, with its story-within-a-story structure. I'm due a re-read as the details are starting to fade but the overall tone and mood, along with some of its imagery has lingered and stayed with me for years. I would described this as one of the few horror epics I've ever come across. It feels mythical and massive in scope. I know this one gets recommended by dreddit consistently but it's the one that for me actually justified the hype.
And for short stories I want to strongly recommend Song for the Unravelling of the World by Brian Evenson & Wounds by Nathan Ballingrud. Both are more on the surreal end of the horror spectrum, and both left me in a pretty unsettled headspace for a while after.
Evenson especially deals with themes I find the most disturbing; loss of identity and sense of self, paranoia and not trusting your own senses, and being trapped both literally and metaphorically, while Ballingrud creates incredible and horrific alternate realities where hell and its residents are far more active parts of the world.
All three recommendations have, as the kids would say, vibes. Horror is awfully personal like comedy, but the existential horror of these three has really stuck with me, even after reading dozens of other horror books since.
posted by slimepuppy at 12:41 AM on October 4, 2024 [3 favorites]
There's so much great trans horror out there right now (and I'm not talking about the political situation, badum tiss)... Hailey Piper, Allison Rumfitt, Gretchen Felker-Martin, Joe Koch. the anthology Bound In Flesh.
posted by kokaku at 3:31 AM on October 4, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by kokaku at 3:31 AM on October 4, 2024 [2 favorites]
awwwwwwwwwwwesome post!!! thank you.
posted by supermedusa at 8:26 AM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by supermedusa at 8:26 AM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
My go-to Victorian & early-20th c. ghost stories:
Elizabeth Gaskell, "The Old Nurse's Story" (the moral at the end aggravates some people, but the domestic horror at the story's center remains effective, along with the slow build-up of the mood)
Mary Elizabeth Braddon, "At Chrighton Abbey" (unusually subtle for Braddon--it's more of a psychological study of a bitter, repressed woman, with multiple nods to Jane Eyre)
J. S. Le Fanu, "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street" (my students still find this one scary)
Rudyard Kipling, "The Phantom'Rickshaw" (the protagonist's sexual hypocrisy has unexpected effects)
M. R. James, "'Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" (simultaneous parody of Victorian ghost tropes and a genuine horror story)
Oscar Wilde, "The Canterville Ghost" (still extremely funny)
In recent years, I've really enjoyed Dale Bailey's "The Donner Party" (er, not that one) and Nathan Ballingrud's "The Atlas of Hell" and "The Butcher's Table" (the latter being a prequel to the former).
posted by thomas j wise at 11:23 AM on October 4, 2024 [3 favorites]
Elizabeth Gaskell, "The Old Nurse's Story" (the moral at the end aggravates some people, but the domestic horror at the story's center remains effective, along with the slow build-up of the mood)
Mary Elizabeth Braddon, "At Chrighton Abbey" (unusually subtle for Braddon--it's more of a psychological study of a bitter, repressed woman, with multiple nods to Jane Eyre)
J. S. Le Fanu, "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street" (my students still find this one scary)
Rudyard Kipling, "The Phantom'Rickshaw" (the protagonist's sexual hypocrisy has unexpected effects)
M. R. James, "'Oh Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" (simultaneous parody of Victorian ghost tropes and a genuine horror story)
Oscar Wilde, "The Canterville Ghost" (still extremely funny)
In recent years, I've really enjoyed Dale Bailey's "The Donner Party" (er, not that one) and Nathan Ballingrud's "The Atlas of Hell" and "The Butcher's Table" (the latter being a prequel to the former).
posted by thomas j wise at 11:23 AM on October 4, 2024 [3 favorites]
Mod note: This post is so fangtastic, we've put it in the sidebar and Best Of blog!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 1:18 PM on October 4, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 1:18 PM on October 4, 2024 [2 favorites]
Flagged as fantastic!! This post is great!
posted by maryellenreads at 1:22 PM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by maryellenreads at 1:22 PM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
Terrific post, Wobbuffet.
posted by doctornemo at 4:18 PM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by doctornemo at 4:18 PM on October 4, 2024 [1 favorite]
I've been reading a big long history book, but wanted a break, so between chapters I have been reading Human Sacrifices inspired by this post! The writing style is very quick, which is good, because it's talking about some really devastating stuff, and it'd be a very different book if it lingered.
posted by mittens at 4:44 PM on October 15, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by mittens at 4:44 PM on October 15, 2024 [1 favorite]
« Older Net-zero commitments can’t be taken at face value | Faith-mongers get fact-checked on social media Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by cupcakeninja at 5:12 PM on October 3, 2024 [4 favorites]