Reading Fantasy/Horror in October 2026

[Cicero]

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.

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!)

The 37th Mandala by Marc Laidlaw This one is quite interesting .

 

[Westy]

I'm reading short stories this year. I've been alternating between Clive Barker's Books of Blood and John Langan's Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions.

Some dark stuff there!

 

[Raf]

DNF at around 55% on Paul Tremblay's, "Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep". Supposed to be a mixed genre scifi/horror novel. But it just hasn't developed into a cohesive story...yet. Maybe it's a late bloomer and will eventually pick-up. But a dnf for me.

 

[Raf]

Reading "The Complete Ghost Stories" by M.R. James. The rhythm of the stories being told is a bit old fashioned. Good stories, though some of the endings seem truncated when they could have milked out a bit more spookiness. But that may be my modern tastes clashing a bit with this style of writing.