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.

 

[Westy]

Dead Beat concludes the Ninth House trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, as Alex and her crew have to find a way to close the door to Hell.

I think I liked this the most of the three books; the author keeps the pace up throughout, there's the additional POV of demon-possessed Darlington, and the feeling of comradery among the group is as strong as ever. A great ending as well.

Overall an excellent dark academia/horror/urban fantasy series.

 

[chitman13]

He Who Fights with Monsters by Travis Deverell - thought I'd give this one a go as I'd heard good things, and I enjoyed it enough to continue with the series. I liked that the LitRPG elements weren't too heavy, and the world building was done nicely as the story progressed. I think I'd have liked a little more backstory to Jason, but generally found it entertaining and enjoayble.

 

[Hobbit]

He Who Fights with Monsters by Travis Deverell - thought I'd give this one a go as I'd heard good things, and I enjoyed it enough to continue with the series. I liked that the LitRPG elements weren't too heavy, and the world building was done nicely as the story progressed. I think I'd have liked a little more backstory to Jason, but generally found it entertaining and enjoayble.

As you've probably seen, M, these are huge books, with many more on the way. Our new reviewer read it and liked it a lot! One that's definitely aimed at the DCC fans, I think.

 

[chitman13]

As you've probably seen, M, these are huge books, with many more on the way. Our new reviewer read it and liked it a lot! One that's definitely aimed at the DCC fans, I think.

Yeah, I was almost put off by the 29 hour runtime of the auidiobook, but glad I took the plunge. Saw the first two in Watertstones over the weekend (a second(!) Waterstones opened in my town over the weekend so I had to visit) and they are hefty!

 

[Hobbit]

Dead Beat concludes the Ninth House trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, as Alex and her crew have to find a way to close the door to Hell.

I think I liked this the most of the three books; the author keeps the pace up throughout, there's the additional POV of demon-possessed Darlington, and the feeling of comradery among the group is as strong as ever. A great ending as well.

Overall an excellent dark academia/horror/urban fantasy series.

Looking forward to reading this one. Hoping it ties things up nicely; sounds like it does, Westy!

 

[RedMage]

A few days ago I started the audiobook of Daniel Abraham's The King's Blood, second in The Dagger and the Coin series. I've been trying to add more Epic Fantasy to my reading lists--I typically read more Urban and Contemporary Fantasy or even some big military scifi. This is just one of the Epic Fantasy series I'm following atm. I read/listened to the first back in the summer and I'm now about 1/5 or maybe 1/4 into this second book (I'm too lazy to look just now ). I'm enjoying how the story from the first book is continuing to develop and have already yelled at one character for their absolutely horrible decisions, lol.

Finished! Thrilling! If I was a runner, I might say that I feel like I just finished a run, lol. (Maybe not) I don't want to rush the series, so Book 3 is now on my library wishlist rather than downloaded immediately.

One of my other Halloween reads is Kim Newman's Johnny Alucard, book 4 in his Anno Dracula series. I'm 1/4 of the way through the Kindle version. The series is set in a world where Van Helsing, the Harker's and others failed to stop Count Dracula.

Book 1 is set at the time of the Stoker's original book and primarily follows an investigation into Jack the Ripper and deals with hundreds, maybe thousands of newly turned vampires in London.

Book 2 is set during World War I with the main antagonist being a vampiric Red Baron and his squad, all who turns into a giant bats to take on the Entente's airplanes.

Book 3 has a lot of James Bond in it, with Dracula getting married in Rome in the late 1950s and the protagonists (humans and good vampires) rooting for an assassin of vampires to kill Dracula, while also trying to stop the assassin before they are killed.

This Book 4 is set in the 1970s, involves Francis Ford Coppola in Transylvania making a Dracula film, Andy Warhol in New York City and... I don't know who or what else yet. It's different than the previous entries in the series, as it seems to be following several different narratives that will, hopefully, weave together. All the books are multi-POV, but the previous three's POVs all formed one, cohesive story. I expect this one will too, and I just haven't reached that point yet. I'm enjoying it!

 

[Hobbit]

Brilliant, RM! We (Rob and I) were big fans of the Daniel Abraham books when they came out. Very pleased to hear you liked them too.

And Kim: great books too. Lots of fun - the number of Easter Eggs to films and books Kim includes is insane. It's not essential to know them but it is lots of fun spotting them.

I'm a huge Fan of Kim's work here as well. You may not know, being outside the UK, but he writes film reviews for magazines as well (Total Film, Empire) although he's been going lots of video commentary lately on old films as well. His knowledge of old Horror stuff is amazing!

I'm going to also say that I've known him for quite a while - he sends me birthday messages, which I'm always surprised by.

All in all, good stuff - pleased to see you get into the October/Halloween thing.