Did a podcast interview last night about Halloween and and about Halloween (more on that later) and I gave some recommendations for seasonal reading that I thought I’d pass on here. Naturally, we have plenty of Prime Books we want you to read, but outside of Prime…

First, you really can’t beat Edgar Allan Poe. He still is a great scary read (try reading “The Tell-Tale Heart” aloud to the kiddies). And then there are the old masters like Algernon Blackwood, Ambrose Bierce, M.R. James, and Oliver Onions. (We’ll still be offering up some free reads from those gents.) The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is another past master.

For young (ages 12 and up) and old alike, try Shirley Jackson’s We have Always Lived in the Castle. Roald Dahl’s The Witches is perfect for ages 7 -13 and you can read aloud to children age five to eight.

Of course Ray Bradbury is still Mr. Halloween: Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Halloween Tree, and The October Country deserve special places on your Halloween bookself.

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel is one of my all-time favorite horror novels, and ANYTHING by Peter Straub. Two newer must-read Halloween “classics” are The Night Country by Stewart O’Nan and Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge.