Halloween Reading: Local Host Suggests Chilling Fiction and True Crime Picks

Traci Thomas, the creator and host of the book podcast 'The Stacks,' has released a list of horror recommendations timed for the upcoming Halloween holiday. Thomas compiled the selection to help readers find stories that will intensify the spooky atmosphere of the weekend.

The fiction section of the list features both classic and contemporary titles. Stephen King appears twice with 'Carrie' and 'The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.' Other entries include Toni Morrison's 'Beloved,' Shirley Jackson's 'The Haunting of Hill House,' and Ira Levin's 'Rosemary's Baby.' The list also includes translated works such as Agustina Bazterrica's 'Tender Is the Flesh,' Kim Bo-Young's 'A Plagued Sea,' and Mariana Enríquez's 'Our Share of Night.'

Short story collections round out the fiction category. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's 'Friday Black' and Carmen Maria Machado's 'Her Body and Other Parties' are included alongside Joyce Carol Oates' 'Zombie.' Newer releases like Jen Sookfong Lee's 'The Hunger We Pass Down' and Mira Grant's 'Into the Drowning Deep' are also on the list.

For readers interested in curated collections, Thomas suggests three anthologies. Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. edited the two-part series 'Never Whistle at Night.' Jordan Peele and John Joseph Adams compiled 'Out There Screaming,' while Cynthia Pelayo edited 'Something Followed Us Home.'

The nonfiction section focuses on true crime and historical tragedies. Lizzie Johnson's 'Paradise' covers a wildfire, and Ben Wickey's 'More Weight' details a story from Salem. Wright Thompson's 'The Barn' investigates a murder in Mississippi, and Philip Gourevitch's 'We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families' offers accounts from Rwanda.

Other nonfiction picks include Vincent Bugliosi's 'Helter Skelter' about the Manson murders and Daniel James Brown's 'The Indifferent Stars Above' regarding the Donner Party. Heather Ann Thompson's 'Blood in the Water' addresses the 1971 Attica prison uprising, and Iris Chang's 'The Rape of Nanking' covers a World War II event. Richard Lloyd Parry's 'People Who Eat Darkness' is the final entry in that category.