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Our reads in October 2025
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dustydigger
Posted 2025-09-30 11:21 AM (#33129)
Subject: Our reads in October 2025



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Location: UK		OK once again it is Spooky October. I will try to read a few books in the weird fiction/horror arena this month,thouc without reading glasses its rather tough .We'll see.

My TBR for October

Grady Hendrix - How to Sell a Haunted House
Grady Hendrix - Horrorstor
Darcy Coates - The Vengeful Dead
Edith Nesbit - House of Silence(short story)
Clark Ashton Smith - The Charnel God(short story)

If I complete these I will read more short stories from from a couple of ghost and vintage horror tales I have.

Cant actually see what I am typing so hope it isnt too bad..At least the typing fingers have a general idea of what to do. I only have long sight lenses in both eyes,cant make out anything near!
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daxxh
Posted 2025-09-30 11:15 PM (#33130 - in reply to #33129)
Subject: Re: Our reads in October 2025



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Location: Great Lakes, USA		October Books

Chapterhouse Dune - Frank Herbert (reread)
Dreamwish Beasts and Snarks - Mike Resnick
Invasion of the Body Snatchers -Jack Finney (reread)
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter - Stephen Graham Jones
Eversion - Alastair Reynolds
Dragonsblood - Todd McCaffrey

I didn't read much from my list last month. I had a lot of library holds come. I also decided to reread the last three of Frank Herbert's Dune series. I had forgotten a lot!
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dustydigger
Posted 2025-10-31 1:31 PM (#33182 - in reply to #33129)
Subject: Re: Our reads in October 2025



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Location: UK		Yay! Finally had my op,rested eyes for a month and now having reading glasses! I actually read 4 of the 5 books listed above.and did a rare Did Not Finish with Grady Hendrix How to Sell a Haunted House. I disliked the characters and the humour style and couldnt cope with it for 440 pages. lol.
By comparison I did much better with Hendrix Horrorstor. the rather bonkers tale of creepy goings on in an IKEA-esque. store. Loved the ridiculous cod swedish names for furniture and framing the chapters with diagrams of catalogue items. Lots of sharp satire,which I didnt take to in his haunted house book,but was great here. Characters were interesting too,and the grisly sections were often undercut with humour,which was a relief as I am a wimp .But I have had enough for down with his books,wont read more
I also read his affectionate take on the bonkers over the top horror genre in Paperbacks from Hell with its copious lurid garish often lunatic coverwork. The descriptions of the books could be very funny,which was a reason I was so disappointed with Haunted House.
I found Darcy Coates The Vengeful Dead rather mediocre. but I wanted to fnish off the series even after the also rather mediocre 4th book in series..Cant believe it a nominee in some YA award.I did in the past read a few of her singleton haunted house books. A whole 5 part series has overwhelmed her I think lol
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dustydigger
Posted 2025-10-31 1:51 PM (#33183 - in reply to #33129)
Subject: Re: Our reads in October 2025



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Location: UK		I also read Edith Nesbit - The House of Silence My first Nesbit adult tale. Apparently she was a prolific writer of spooky ghost stories and horror. ThIs was about a professional burglar who wants to rob the ancient sprawling manor house of a recluse.
The house is silent and eerie and he can find no signs of habitation.He locates treasures and beautiful objects but then gets stuck in a labyrinth of narrow passages and panic sets in as he wanders for hours like a rat in a maze. Then finally he finds away out into an inner courtyard where he finally locates the owner....
It wasnt scary really though I dislike claustrophobic settings,caves tunnels mazes and the like. But the style was rich and interesting very unlike the simple and jocular children's books she wrote..Her adult style is very rich and atmospheric,and she portrays the emotions of the protagonist in detail ,as well as giving a vivid and excellent description of the house.
I will certainly read more of her ghost stories.

Odd how today genres seem for the most part ghettoized (if there is such a word.).When you look back to the respected writers of the late 19th early 20th its amazing how many of them unapologetically published weird fiction and horror - John Buchan,Willa Cather,Wilkie Collins,Charles Dickens,E M Forster,Thomas Hardy,Henry James,Rudyard Kipling, Sir Walter Scott, R L Stevenson to name but a few.
Biggest surprise for me is H G Wells The Island of Doctor Moreau.I couldnt believe he had written this body horror tale. lol.
Managed to read Clark Ashton Smith's The Charnel God by using You Tube's Horrorbabble site full screen with subtitles. so technically I could ''read'' along with the narration. I really dont enjoy audio books so this was a compromise.
I am a fan of Clark's ornate prose and each time I read his work I am surprised at how gory his tales can be.This one was about a city where the dead are taken to a temple where the corpses are sacrificed to a god.However the priests are cannibals,and there are subtle hints at even nastier behaviour.
One of my favourite CAS stories is The Dweller in the Gulf set on Mars but definitely more horror than science fiction. The Vaults of Yoh - Vombis was another fun read.CAS does like his underground settings. lol.
Reread Edgar Rice Burroughs A Princess of Mars. The first couple of chapters are pretty suitable for Spooky October. John Carter is being chased by Apaches,and shelters in a cave where a miasma causes complete paralysis and our hero glumly looks forward to torture and death. There is a strange rustling and moaning in the gloomy cave and the arriving Apaches peer in and then run away screaming! lol.
Then John Carter finds himself separating from his body and then is off to Mars. That whole setting must have been electrifying in 1912,when some of the population had lived through Apache raids and the whole thing was etched vividly in folk legend.
Then comes a whole society of naked people on Mars,huge 4 armed green men and fast paced adventure, on the desolate plains of Mars. All that made ERB's planetary romance a monster hit. Still a rattling good read today.
Also I
did complete a book called The Haunted Monastery So many gothic vibes. A magistrate and his family take shelter at a monastery after breaking down on the road in an horrific storm.Cue descriptions of a sprawling labyrinth of cold dark corridors,strange disappearances, secret rooms where nefarious crimes are perpetrated,fear and angst everywhere and even a Chamber of Horrors.,a serial killer who comes to a gruesome end.and several interwoven crimes and puzzles solved by the magistrate.The twist is that this is not a mediaeval place but a Taoist monastery in China 667 AD!
My favourite Judge Dee story by Robert van Gulik.Spooky October was a good excuse for this reread with all the spooky atmosphere and mystery. :0).Enormous fun
And last but not least I have about 4 pages left of some Peter Grant short stories by Ben Aaronovitch. Will read them tonight to complete a quite enjoyable and varied selection of titles for Spooky October.
Great to get back into some reading without zooming in etc lol
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