Reading Fantasy/Horror in October 2026

Jonathan Janz is one of my favorite modern/current horror writers, so I was thrilled to see Marla re-released to a wider audience, in a gorgeous edition, through Blackstone. About 1/3 into it and loving it.
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I'm still working my way through Johnny Alucard in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series. I'm right at 50% now, according to my Kindle.

Last night I listened to an audiobook of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. That's another one I've been familiar with from SFFH culture but not actually read/listened to. Until now :) I really liked it! Tim Burton's 1999 film Sleepy Hollow is an annual Halloween favorite, so it was fun to finally learn the source material. I watched the movie this year about a week ago, so it was fresh in my mind for the audiobook. I loved recognizing the different characters of Katrina and Baltus Van Tassel, Brom and, of course, the Horseman and Ichabod Crane, all from the original 1820 story. As well as some of their characterizations and the events that Burton included in his film, as well as how he altered the story to create a feature-length film, such as changing Ichabod's profession. I know there's other adaptations and such out there, but I haven't seen or read any. Atm, I'm thinking Burton's film is a pretty faithful adaptation.
 
Burton's Sleepy Hollow is one of my go-to Halloween watches, too.

Here I'm on this one:

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Another huge tome by the much missed David G Hartwell. 662 pages, fairly small print. Didn't realise that it was a companion book to Hartwell's The Dark Descent, which is one of my usually recommended collections. Great to dip into.
 
I read the 6th book in Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills series, A Mouthful of Dust. This was the “baby eating” one she wrote during COVID that, when she submitted it to her agent, she was told “the world isn’t ready for this right now”.

While it is a bit darker and has less of a cozy feel to it than the other installments, I didn’t find it all that dark. Maybe I’ve just read too much Grimdark and Horror in my life. It was actually probably my least favorite of the series so far…but Vo’s writing is really good so I still plowed through it.

One thing I’ve noticed with these books is that I tend to enjoy them quite a bit while I’m reading them, but then they don’t seem to have much staying power in my brain beyond “I liked it.” Maybe it’s just the nature of the novella format? Anyway, not everything has to live long in the memory to be enjoyed in the moment.

Either way these are really fun little fantasy nibbles!
 
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I just finished reading Dreadful Company which is the second in the “Dr. Greta Helsing Novel” series by Vivian Shaw. These stories are set in an alternate world where beings that some might term “monsters” exist undercover in the modern world. These include vampires, demons, ghouls, mummies, witches, banshees, etc. Greta Helsing is a specialized medical doctor who is following in her father’s footsteps, and provides care to these beings.

She is visiting Paris, in order to attend a medical convention. She and her friend Lord Edmund Ruthven decide to attend the opera while they have an opportunity. While they are there, they are sighted by an old enemy of Lord Ruthven. This nemesis decides to kidnap Greta and use her as bait to draw his enemy into his lair. Greta finds herself in the catacombs under Paris, as the prisoner of a coven of young and tasteless vampires.

Like the first novel, this was fun, witty, and charming. The characters were warm and engaging. It’s very much a story of found family, and how people accept and take care of each other. I’m glad theres plenty more books in the series. I’m now looking forward to reading the next volume, Grave Importance.
 
Prairie_Dog said:
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I just finished reading Dreadful Company which is the second in the “Dr. Greta Helsing Novel” series by Vivian Shaw. These stories are set in an alternate world where beings that some might term “monsters” exist undercover in the modern world. These include vampires, demons, ghouls, mummies, witches, banshees, etc. Greta Helsing is a specialized medical doctor who is following in her father’s footsteps, and provides care to these beings.

She is visiting Paris, in order to attend a medical convention. She and her friend Lord Edmund Ruthven decide to attend the opera while they have an opportunity. While they are there, they are sighted by an old enemy of Lord Ruthven. This nemesis decides to kidnap Greta and use her as bait to draw his enemy into his lair. Greta finds herself in the catacombs under Paris, as the prisoner of a coven of young and tasteless vampires.

Like the first novel, this was fun, witty, and charming. The characters were warm and engaging. It’s very much a story of found family, and how people accept and take care of each other. I’m glad theres plenty more books in the series. I’m now looking forward to reading the next volume, Grave Importance.
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Good review! I love the series too. I've only read the initial trilogy, then was surprised to learn a fourth book was published. And, is there a fifth? I have to look.
 
RedMage said:
Good review! I love the series too. I've only read the initial trilogy, then was surprised to learn a fourth book was published. And, is there a fifth? I have to look.
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There’s also a novella Bitter Waters which is considered “3.5” in the series, so it might be the next you should read if you’ve completed the first three…
 
Prairie_Dog said:
There’s also a novella Bitter Waters which is considered “3.5” in the series, so it might be the next you should read if you’ve completed the first three…
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I actually knew about that one! I had forgotten though, so thanks for the reminder! I have the 4th book Strange New World, but it's in the TBR pile. I should make an effort to get Bitter Waters and read that first.
 
More goodness from Jodi Taylor!

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Having a "Halloween Special" appear almost like magic was a wonderful surprise. It's a nice spooky little novella - some deaths and the odd swearword also - but this is a locked room mystery with a mystical quirk. Team 236 go back in time to arrest some artifact looters to find something else rather more creepy.

It is not essential, nor do you have to have read previous stories, although there's a few nice little connections to other St Mary's stories should the long-time reader wish to look for them.

But it is a story that does what it is supposed to - entertain, with some typically nice Jodi humorous touches along the way. A wonderful way to spend an hour on the runup to Halloween.
 
Haven't been able to read as many short stories as I'd like, but I've enjoyed some by Manly Wade Wellman, a couple of novellas by Fritz Leiber, stories by Ed Gorman (under appreciated mystery/horror writer) and now Nat Cassidy. I'm debating whether to read the novella "Rest Stop" in Cassidy's collection, I Know a Place, and suspect I will because "The Unluckiest Girl" and "Generation" were so good.
 
This has been a pleasing find, although the cover nearly put me off. 30 stories, so haven't read them all. Quite eclectic. Nice introductory summary too.

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Leonard Wolf brings together thirty tales in which vampires of all varieties make their ghastly presence felt-male and female, human and non-human, humorous and heroic-all of them kin to the dreadful bat. From Lafcadio Hearn, Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman, Edith Wharton, August Derleth, and Ray Bradbury to such contemporary masters as Anne Rice, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, John Cheever, and Woody Allen, and in settings as diverse as rural New England and outer space, this collection offers readers a dazzling compendium of vampire stories. Wolf organizes the collection into six categories-The Classic Adventure Tale, The Psychic Vampire, The Science Fiction Vampire, The Non-Human Vampire, The Comic Vampire, and The Heroic Vampire-which allows readers to see the many guises Dracula's descendants have assumed and the many ways they can be interpreted.

It's a nice idea so I'm mixing them up a little between the themes.

 
Some very good stories in there. Not sure I'd think of "The Spider" as vampiric if seen in another context, but it fits. The Woody Allen story made me laugh out loud when I read first read it back in the '70s.
 
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I finished Books of Blood, Volume 2 by Clive Barker.
I liked all of these stories, but I didn't really love any of them. I'm glad I read this, but there was just something missing or a little off for me. Not sure what it was.
 
Randy M. said:
Some very good stories in there. Not sure I'd think of "The Spider" as vampiric if seen in another context, but it fits. The Woody Allen story made me laugh out loud when I read first read it back in the '70s.
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I'm surprised by some of the choices, but great so far. Quite a few I have read before. Haven't seen many books with extracts of late. Don't think I've read the Woody Allen before this, and it made me laugh too.
 
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