Reading Fantasy/Horror in October 2026

[Prairie_Dog]

It is! You say it depicts events in the book? I see the two creatures' heads in the silhouette, but what's the thing on the right? I think it's a human, but it's not defined enough to really tell.

Yes, I think it’s a person in silhouette wearing a wolf-skin cape.

 

[Prairie_Dog]

Might be a Europe/US thing... it happens, sometimes. (But it is now there.... thank you!)

This one's my cover:

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For it's time, I enjoyed it a lot. You've pointed out the issues of the time - mainly male readership, mainly (if not all) male characters, women, if there, often being shown as a shrieking, shrinking violet. But yes, there's still creepy moments. Very much of that Weird Tales type era.

It’s a good cover! Accurate as well, depicting something described in the story.

 

[blailock]

I finished An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham. Book 3 in The Long Price Quartet.
Wow! These just keep getting better and better. I love it when books don't go the way I expect them to and the way they go is so much better than what I thought. I can't wait to read the last one, but it'll have to wait until after Spooky Season.

 

[blailock]

I finished Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson.
This was so good. It's a vampire story set in the late 70's. I love the writing here. Great characters with excellent backstories. Yes, please! This was an awesome start to Spooky Season.

 

[Randy M.]

Finished Fog Heart by Thomas Tessier. Good Spooky Season read.

For now and maybe for the rest of October, I'm concentrating on short stories, dipping into collections by Manly Wade Wellman, August Derleth, Nat Cassidy, and others as the mood hits. Also starting a GoodReads group read (one story per week) of The Penguin Book of the International Short Story -- which sounds off topic, but looking at some of the entries, may not be entirely.

 

[Cicero]

Currently reading

Conan Cult of the Obsidian Moon( A Black Stone Novel) by James Lovegrove and liking it . It's sequel to Howard's story Queen of the Black Coast and it also ties into another of Howard's characters Jim Allison .

 

[blailock]

I finished The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman.
Spooky Season continues. This is a 1970's vampire story set in New York. It's much different than most of the vampire stories that I've read before, but I really enjoyed it. It also has a pretty cool plot twist at the end.

 

[blailock]

I'm also taking my yearly journey with Snuff. One chapter a day for A Night in the Lonesome October.
I always forget how short the first few chapters are, and I'm always tempted to keep reading, but I have to follow the process. Haha.

 

[Raf]

I ran across this guy on Reddit. He is a new Kindle Unlimited author with his first book published there. I read the blurb and it sounds really interesting. Time will tell though. If anyone else is interested, it's called "Out of Eden's Ashes" by W.R. Kennedy. Kind of strange to mention a novel I've not read, but the premise sounds pretty cool...if he can pull it off.

I downloaded it, but have been trying to read some horror for Oct, but I've got the flu so not making much progress this week.

 

[Hobbit]

I've got the flu so not making much progress this week.

Get well soon, Raf! I have had my flu jab this week, so of course, this does not bode well for the next few days!

Reading for October continues. I have finished All Hallow's Eve, a collection edited by Ellen Datlow, with a review for SFFWorld to follow.

Have spent a day dipping into a variety of short story collections - mainly older writers such as Lovecraft, Frank Belnap Long & Robert E Howard. Also Robert Silverberg, who is everywhere!

 

[Ubergeek]

I finished Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson.
This was so good. It's a vampire story set in the late 70's. I love the writing here. Great characters with excellent backstories. Yes, please! This was an awesome start to Spooky Season.

Blailock , got that on my kindle . Will try and read it this month . Sounds awesome .

 

[Ubergeek]

" DEATHDAY " and " SPAWN " both by Shaun Hutson .

( Deathday may originally have been published under his pen name Robert Neville ) .

Lurid , gory , trashy and sexy ............ Loved them !

Now onto SCUTTLER'S COVE by David Barnett .

Only forty pages in . Very promising . Some nice exposition and setting up . Hints of folk horror and an anticipation that things are about to go " of - kilter " .

 

[Hobbit]

" DEATHDAY " and " SPAWN " both by Shaun Hutson .

( Deathday may originally have been published under his pen name Robert Neville ) .

Lurid , gory , trashy and sexy ............ Loved them !

Now onto SCUTTLER'S COVE by David Barnett .

Only forty pages in . Very promising . Some nice exposition and setting up . Hints of folk horror and an anticipation that things are about to go " of - kilter " .

Oooh, I liked Scuttler's Cove.... and I am looking at the new one, Twisted Pike, which is in the pile....

 

[Cicero]

Get well soon, Raf! I have had my flu jab this week, so of course, this does not bode well for the next few days!

Reading for October continues. I have finished All Hallow's Eve, a collection edited by Ellen Datlow, with a review for SFFWorld to follow.

Have spent a day dipping into a variety of short story collections - mainly older writers such as Lovecraft, Frank Belnap Long & Robert E Howard. Also Robert Silverberg, who is everywhere!

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Would suggest Murgunstrumm. by Hugh B Cave. contain 30 of his best pulp horor stores form the 1920s and 1930. he's one of the greats . This anthology compiled n edited by Karl Edward Wagner in 1977 and won awards . The book is on the list great horror books . it's available on Amazon in paperback for only $21.00 dollars.

Revelations in Black by Carl Jacobi

 

[Hobbit]

Thanks, Cicero. I have an Arkham Press edition of Revelations in Black. Also agree with your recommendation!

 

[Cicero]

Thanks, Cicero. I have an Arkham Press edition of Revelations in Black. Also agree with your recommendation!

The original Hardcover edition of Murgunstrumm goes for absolutely crazy money.


Ive seen the Arkham Press edition Revelations in Black a wonderful edition. I had cheap paperback edition I picked in 1990's. I don't know what I did with it .

 

[Westy]

I'm about 300 pages into The Rouse by China Mieville and seriously considering stopping. There are sections that are good and the writing, as expected, is inventive and free flowing. But a lot of it is plodding to me, with not much happening. I don't understand why it has to be nearly 1,300 pages! Surely a better book would be trimmed down more? It almost feels a bit indulgent by the author.

Which is a real shame as he's written a few of my favourite ever books..thinking this won't be one of them. Reviews promise it picks up and there's more of the paranormal to come, but it needs a very patient reader (maybe I'm not!)

 

[Hobbit]

I'm about 300 pages into The Rouse by China Mieville and seriously considering stopping. There are sections that are good and the writing, as expected, is inventive and free flowing. But a lot of it is plodding to me, with not much happening. I don't understand why it has to be nearly 1,300 pages! Surely a better book would be trimmed down more? It almost feels a bit indulgent by the author.

Which is a real shame as he's written a few of my favourite ever books..thinking this won't be one of them. Reviews promise it picks up and there's more of the paranormal to come, but it needs a very patient reader (maybe I'm not!)

Was exactly my thoughts, Westy. Think I stopped at about 400 pages, having gone back to it at least three times. A slog - could happily have got rid of the first 150 pages, or had them as a separate novella. Like you, I was so disappointed.