Halloween is approaching quickly, but it’s never too early for a good horror story!
At our October 6 Autumn Story Campfire, the R-SPEC team recommended some of their favorite horror stories and novels. We then delved into attendee favorites to learn about what horror fiction gives them night terrors.
Member Amy Aderman was good enough to compile a list of her recommendations, which is attached as an MS Word document and pasted below.
Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Our October meeting was in person at Barnes & Noble, Pittsford and on Zoom. (Please join us at least 10 minutes before the 7:00 p.m. start time to ensure a good connection.)
Meeting Time: Tuesday, October 6, 2026 from 6:30-8:45 p.m.
- Open chat: 6:30-7:00 p.m.
- Discussion: 7:00-8:45 p.m.
- Close meeting: 8:45 p.m. (or sooner to break down the Community Room before the store closes)
Note: R-SPEC presentations on topics of interest may be recorded, and a link to the recording posted on our website.
Amy’s Horror and Horror-Adjacent Literature Recs, October 2026
Note: All of the following are adult literature unless stated otherwise. Summaries in quotation marks are excerpted from the Monroe County Library System, Barnes & Noble, book covers, Overdrive, and author websites.
FICTION
Note: All of the following works of fiction are novels unless stated otherwise.
“You Let Me In” by Camilla Bruce
2020
“Cassandra Tipp is dead ... or is she? After all, the notorious recluse and eccentric bestselling novelist has always been prone to flights of fancy--everyone in town remembers the shocking events leading up to Cassie's infamous trial (she may have been acquitted, but the insanity defense only stretches so far). Cassandra Tipp has left behind no body--just her massive fortune, and one final manuscript. Then again, there are enough bodies in her past--her husband Tommy Tipp, whose mysterious disembowelment has never been solved, and a few years later, the shocking murder-suicide of her father and brother. Cassandra Tipp will tell you a story--but it will come with a terrible price. What really happened, out there in the woods--and who has Cassie been protecting all along?”
Amy’s comments: A fantastically creepy tale. I wish I could describe my reactions more without giving the plot away! Warning for child abuse.
“Victorian Psycho” by Virginia Feito
2025
"In Grim Wolds, England, Winifred Notty takes on the role of governess at Ensor House, where she must navigate the twisted dynamics of the dysfunctional Pounds family while suppressing her own violent past; as Christmas approaches, she plans sinister gifts for her charges, revealing her true nature."
Amy’s comments: Recommended for readers who are looking for fiction dealing with the gothic/thriller/horror tropes of governesses and big, strange houses in Victorian England. Warning for graphic violence including against children (the depiction lives up to the level of violence implied in the title).
“Ammie, Come Home” by Barbara Michaels
1968
“It begins as a lark -- a harmless diversion initiated by Washington, D.C., hostess Ruth Bennett as a means of entertaining her visiting niece, Sara. But the séance conducted in Ruth's elegant Georgetown home calls something back; something unwelcome ... and palpably evil. Suddenly Sara is speaking in a voice not her own, transformed into a miserable, whimpering creature so unlike her normal, sensible self. No tricks or talismans will dispel the malevolence that now plagues the inhabitants of this haunted place -- until a dark history of treachery, lust, and violence is exposed. But the cost might well be the sanity and the lives of the living.”
Amy’s comments: A very good ghost story. While I don’t think this is one of Michaels’s best novels—the character types are slightly rougher versions of ones that she would perfect in her later Amelia Peabody historical mystery series written under the name Elizabeth Peters—the creepy parts are excellently depicted and wonderfully spooky. As a former librarian, I also appreciated that the protagonists figure out a lot of what is happening thanks to the power of researching local history.
“Haunt Sweet Home” by Sarah Pinsker
2024
“When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin's ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she's truly been deceiving and hiding from all along--is herself. Eerie and empathetic, Haunt Sweet Home is a multifaceted, supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself.”
Amy’s comments: I would consider this an example of cozy horror. I had a lot of fun reading about how the TV crew fakes hauntings to spook home owners. But the tables are turned when it looks like Mara is experiencing real hauntings. Somewhat of a coming of age tale.
“Graveyard Shift: A Novella” by M.L. Rio
2024
“Every night, in the college's ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.
One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn't there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?
“Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks--and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.”
Amy’s comments: I had a blast reading this. Knowing that the entire story takes place over the course of one night adds to the tension. Although several of the locations aren’t on the college property, I consider this a good example of the dark academia genre. The character of the hotel receptionist also works in the college’s library, which earns points from me. More research skills that come in handy! Also recommended for readers who want a story featuring scientific experiments gone wrong. The story is told in multiple first-person point of view. I appreciated that the audio books has a different reader for each character, which made it easier to keep track of which character was narrating the current chapter.
“The Lost Village” by Camilla Sten
2021 (English-language edition)
2019 (original Swedish edition)
"Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed "The Lost Village," since she was a little girl. In 1959, her grandmother's entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left-a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn-have plagued her. She's gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened. But there will be no turning back. Not long after they've set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice: They are not alone.”
Amy’s comments: As mentioned during our October meeting, this novel is one of the rare examples I’ve read in which I find the past and present storylines to be equally interesting. As the past and present-day stories progress, there is more and more tension while you wait to find out how the two plots will meet. I also appreciate that the “past” storyline is within the relatively recent past. I love fiction that goes back and forth between storylines in the present and hundreds of years ago, but this made for a fun change.
“The Debutantes” by Olivia Worley
2024
“For the New Orleans elite, the Les Masques Ball is sure to be the social event of the season—if they can avoid another dead Queen. When debutante Margot Landry was found dead the morning after her reign at last year’s ball, it was a tragedy, but not a shocking one. Margot was a wild child with a self-destructive streak, nothing like this year’s Queen, Lily LeBlanc. With a perfectly poised debutante on the throne, everything is going according to plan…until the ball is hijacked by a mysterious figure in a Jester costume. That night, Lily sends a text to three of the Maids on her royal court—her best friend, Vivian; her boyfriend’s sister, Piper; and April, her former frenemy—asking them all to meet the next morning. But Lily never shows up.
“On the surface, these three debutantes don’t have anything in common except their exclusive private school and their ties to Les Masques. But soon, they realize why Lily brought them together: something dark is lurking beneath the glamorous surface of the debutante world, and it might be the reason she disappeared. And the further the girls dig, the more they begin to suspect that Margot’s death may not have been an accident—and that Lily may be next. When the Jester starts threatening to expose their own secrets, this unlikely trio must team up to uncover the monsters behind the Mardi Gras masks—before they’re left with another dead debutante.”
Amy’s comments: An excellent Young Adult thriller. As the three girls dig farther into the mysteries of Lily’s disappearance and Margot’s death, they learn more about the rotten core of the way they live.
NONFICTION
“Edgar Allan Crow” by Courtney Acampora and Maggie Fischer, illustrated by Amanda Enright
2020
“Meet one of history’s greatest figures in this adorable board book with an animal twist! The ‘master of the macawbre,’ Edgar Allan Crow had a feather on the pulse of poetry and the horror genre, and made lasting contributions to literature that inspired countless others.”
Amy’s comments: A delightful children’s board book. It more than satisfies my love of puns. Places’, characters’, and literature names include “University of Birdginia,” “Virjaynia Clem” (depicted as a blue jay), and “The Fall of the Flock of Usher.”
“Mysteries of the National Parks” by Mike Bezemek
2025
“America's national parks are best known for stunning beauty and outstanding adventure—but these natural wonders also hold some of the world's greatest mysteries. Why did an ancestral civilization abandon their stone cities in the mountains of Colorado? Flying past Mt. Rainier, did a pilot really spot nine shiny objects that spawned the UFO craze? Was a contorted crater in Utah's dramatic Canyonlands created by a meteorite strike? Join outdoor expert and writer Mike Bezemek as he explores baffling disappearances, unexplained phenomena, and the secret history of our national parks.”
Amy’s comments: A fun looks at many sites in the National Park System and their weird backstories.
“Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World” by John Blair
2025
"Killing the Dead provides the first in-depth, global account of one of the world's most widespread yet misunderstood forms of mass hysteria -- the vampire epidemic. In a spellbinding narrative, John Blair takes readers from ancient Mesopotamia to present-day Haiti to explore a macabre frontier of life and death where corpses are believed to wander or do harm from the grave, and where the vampire is a physical expression of society's inexplicable terrors and anxieties. In 1732, the British public opened their morning papers to read of lurid happenings in eastern Europe. Serbian villagers had dug up several corpses and had found them to be undecayed and bloated with blood. Recognizing the marks of vampirism, they mutilated and burned them. Centuries earlier, the English themselves engaged in the same behavior. In fact, vampire epidemics have flared up throughout history -- in ancient Assyria, China, and Rome, medieval and early modern Europe, and the Americas. Blair blends the latest findings in archaeology, anthropology, and psychology with vampire lore from literature and popular culture to show how these episodes occur at traumatic moments in societies that upend all sense of security, and how the European vampire is just one species in a larger family of predatory supernatural entities that includes the female flying demons of Southeast Asia and the lustful yogini?s of India. Richly illustrated, Killing the Dead provocatively argues that corpse-killing, far from being pathological or unhealthy, served as a therapeutic and largely harmless outlet for fear, hatred, and paranoia that would otherwise result in violence against marginalized groups and individuals.”
Amy’s comments: The doorstopper nonfiction vampire book to end all doorstopper nonfiction vampire books. It provides an excellent, detailed look at vampires and vampire-type creatures throughout history. Although certain areas of the world are the main focus, it provides an international look at this problem that human society has encountered again and again.
“Haunted States: An American Gothic Guidebook” by Miranda Corcoran
2024
“The witches and ghouls of New England; vampires and zombies in the bible belt; atomic monsters of the desert west; and satanic cults in California: this is a book about the American Gothic, the horrors haunting the vast landscapes of the United States and populating its movies and literature. Why do we continue to summon such creatures? Why do we give them such grotesque shapes and imbue them with taboo desires? Moreover, why do we sometimes desire them?
“Part cultural history and part travelogue, Haunted States traces the American Gothic’s roots in its natural and manmade environments and the nation’s dark history of colonialism, slavery, violence and oppression — past sins that continue to haunt the national consciousness to this day.”
Amy’s comments: Do you enjoy travel writing and creepy cultural studies? This is the book for you. Irish academic and author Miranda Corcoran uses the idea of the cross-country American road trip to examine the types of horror that occupy different regions of the country. She takes ground public transportation for most of her journey, allowing this book to have a different view of American than much travel writing in this country. I was not very impressed with the quality of the audio book reader, but I highly recommend the book itself.
“American Monsters: A History of Monster Lore, Legends, and Sightings in America” by Linda S. Godfrey
2014
“Bigfoot, the chupacabra, and thunderbirds aren't just figments of our overactive imaginations—according to thousands of eyewitnesses, they exist, in every corner of the United States. Throughout America's history, shocked onlookers have seen unbelievable creatures of every stripe—from sea serpents to apelike beings, giant bats to monkeymen—in every region.
“Author, investigator, and creature expert Linda S. Godfrey brings the same fearless reporting she lent to Real Wolfmen to this essential guide, using historical records, present-day news reports, and eyewitness interviews to examine this hidden menagerie of America's homegrown beasts.”
Amy’s comments: Looking for information and anecdotes about monsters and strange beings in the U.S.? Linda S. Godfrey has you covered.
“I Know What I Saw: Modern-Day Encounters with Monsters of New Urban Legend and Ancient Lore” by Linda S. Godfrey
2019
“The monsters of ancient mythology, folklore, and more contemporary urban legend have long captured the popular imagination. While most people in America today relegate monsters to just that—our imaginations—we continue to be fascinated by the unknown. Linda Godfrey is one of the country's leading authorities on modern-day monsters and has interviewed countless eyewitnesses to strange phenomena. Monsters evolve, taking on both new and familiar forms over time and across cultures. In this well-researched book, Godfrey explores uncanny encounters with werewolves, goatmen, Bigfoot, and more.
“In more than twenty-five years spent "chasing" monsters, Godfrey has found that it often remains unclear whether the sightings are simply mistaken animals, hoaxes, or coincidence. When all the speculation is said and done, one question remains for fans and researchers: Are the creatures "real," or are they entirely "other-world?" Godfrey suspects that it isn't an either/or question—our reality operates on a scale from dense matter to realms the human eye cannot see.
As Godfrey investigates unexplained phenomena, her search for answers will fascinate casual observers and enthusiasts alike.”
Amy’s comments: More monsters, more weirdness, more great stories. Godfrey shows her decades-long experience in her well-written books.
“Feral and Hysterical: Mother Horror’s Ultimate Reading Guide to Dark and Disturbing Fiction by Women” by Sadie Hartmann
2025
“Bram Stoker Awards® winning author Sadie "Mother Horror" Hartmann has curated the ultimate collection of recommendations from the leading ladies of horror! From classic authors such as Mary Shelley, Shirley Jackson, and Daphne du Maurier to the modern were of indie names and all the underrated voices waiting to be discovered, there's enough deadly damsels in here to leave you feeling distressed, there's enough deadly damsels in here to leave you feeling distressed long after you've run out of shelf space. Each recommendation includes a spoiler-free synopsis and has been carefully catalogued and organized into thematic reading lists making it easier than ever to sate your darkest desires. Are you in your Gothic Era? Love watching a marriage gruesomely fall apart? Just finished Mexican Gothic and need more horror in your life? Whatever you're vibing with, there's list for that.”
Amy’s comments: I love well-written reader’s advisory. Hartmann has her recommendations organized into categories that are helpful for readers looking to make reading choices based on location, mood, trope, etc. In addition to the writing and variety of recommendations, I appreciate that this is a good-quality book with glossy pages and color reproductions of the books’ covers.
“Tales from the Haunted South: Dark Tourism and Memories of Slavery from the Civil War” by Tiya Miles
2015
“In this book Tiya Miles explores the popular yet troubling phenomenon of “ghost tours,” frequently promoted and experienced at plantations, urban manor homes, and cemeteries throughout the South. As a staple of the tours, guides entertain paying customers by routinely relying on stories of enslaved black specters. But who are these ghosts? Examining popular sites and stories from these tours, Miles shows that haunted tales routinely appropriate and skew African American history to produce representations of slavery for commercial gain. “Dark tourism” often highlights the most sensationalist and macabre aspects of slavery, from salacious sexual ties between white masters and black women slaves to the physical abuse and torture of black bodies to the supposedly exotic nature of African spiritual practices. Because the realities of slavery are largely absent from these tours, Miles reveals how they continue to feed problematic “Old South” narratives and erase the hard truths of the Civil War era. In an incisive and engaging work, Miles uses these troubling cases to shine light on how we feel about the Civil War and race, and how the ghosts of the past are still with us.”
Amy’s comments: I can’t describe this book any better than the summary does. I just have to say that it does an excellent job of debunking ghost stories about famous locations in the American Southeast (ex. The Myrtles Plantation) and I highly recommend it for anybody who wants to read nonfiction about ghost stories and what they tell us about our own societies.
“The Man of the Crowd: Edgar Allan Poe and the City” by Scott Peeples
2020
"We tend to think of Edgar Allan Poe as a loner, living in a world of his own imagination and detached from his physical environment. Poe might seem like a Nowhere Man, but of course he was always somewhere - just not at the same address for very long. The Man of the Crowd chronicles Poe's rootless life, focusing on the American cities where he lived the longest: Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. The Poe who emerges in The Man of the Crowd is a man whose outlook and career were shaped by his physical environments - mostly urban and almost entirely American. His career was tied closely to the rise of American magazines, so he lived in the cities that produced them and wrote not just stories and poems but journalism and editorials with an urban magazine-reading public in mind. For years he witnessed urban slavery up close, living and working within a few blocks of slave jails and auction houses in Richmond. In Philadelphia, he saw an orderly, expanding city struggling to contain its own violent propensities. And at a time when suburbs were just beginning to offer an alternative to crowded city dwellings, Poe tried living cheaply on the then-rural Upper West Side of Manhattan and, later, in what is now the Bronx. Though Poe rarely provided "local color" in his fiction, his urban mysteries and claustrophobic tales of troubled minds and abused bodies reflect his experience living among soldiers, slaves, and immigrants"
Amy’s comments: I never cease to be entertained and delighted that there are new ways of writing nonfiction about authors of whom you think everything has already been said. It was very interesting to read about how the urban and rural environments Poe lived in affected both his life and writing.
“Beware the Banshee’s Cry: The Folklore & History of Messengers of Death” by Steven J. Rolfes
2024
"Unveil the mystery of the banshee and other entities that bridge the gap between life and death with this book's extensive Celtic folklore and historic cases. From deities like the Morrigan to death-related beings such as the Doppelga?nger, Steven J. Rolfes examines what banshees are and how they have captivated humanity for centuries."
Amy’s comments: Do you want banshee lore and stories? This book has you covered. This book did a good job of telling me interesting information about the banshee that I didn’t know. I only wish it had been longer!
“Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen” by Hallie Rubenhold
2025
“On February 1, 1910, the vivacious, diamond-adorned music hall performer Belle Elmore suddenly vanished from her home, causing alarm among her friends, the entertainers of the Music Hall Ladies' Guild. Their demands for an investigation would lead to the unearthing of a gruesome secret and trigger a fevered international manhunt for Belle's husband, medical fraudster Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen. Ethel Le Neve, Crippen's typist and lover, who fled with Crippen in disguise, has always hidden in the shadows of this tale--was she really just "an innocent young girl" in thrall to a powerful older man? And was there an equally sinister story behind the death of Crippen's first wife, Charlotte?”
Amy’s comments: Looking for a great nonfiction author? Try Hallie Rubenhold. She’s written terrific history books, some of which are true crime. As much as I loved reading this, listening to the audio book while at work became a problem because I kept wanting to yell, “Get his ass!” at Belle’s friends about Dr. Crippen.
“Ghostlore: Unveiling 50 Phantoms That Have Haunted History” by Icy Sedgwick
2025
“As long as there has been a movement in the corner of your eye, a strange noise in the dark, or a chilling feeling in your stomach, there have been ghost stories.
“Ghosts have haunted mythologies across the world for millennia – from Scotland's Green Lady to the duppies of the Caribbean, every folklore has tried to explain the mystery of where people go after they die.
“Ghostlore reveals the sinister stories behind the phantoms that have terrified history. From mischievous German poltergeists to Nigerian Madam Koi Koi, who haunts schools looking for unruly children, discover 50 misunderstood and mysterious ghosts from around the globe.”
Amy’s comments: Recommended for readers who want to expand their knowledge of ghost stories around the world. The introductions to types of ghosts are stories told in second person (ex. You’re walking through a neighborhood at night when…) which I don’t love, but I appreciate that this work includes ghosts not always mentioned in books on this topic.
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