Laugh Or Scream: 50+ Comedy Horror Books
Horror meets humor…
Horror and comedy both make us jump—which is why these elements work together so well together in so many films like Shaun of the Dead, What We Do in the Shadows, Beetlejuice, and more. And the two sensations work together in books as well! Here are MORE THAN 50 BOOKS that touch on elements that are funny and scary.
This list includes several authors you might be familiar with (including Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Tanya Huff, Kelley Armstrong, John Scalzi, Diana Rowland, Kevin J. Anderson, Jason Pargin, Linda Addison, Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Kelly Link, Grady Hendrix, James Aquilone, and Christopher Moore) as well as many authors you should meet. There are also several books that come from series—meaning there are even more books out there for you to check out!
Ready to jump? Read on…
Related Links on Monster Complex
‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Fans—13 Books You Should Check Out
Dracula Comedy Roundup: Game, Movies, TV, Books, Comics, Videos
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Laugh Or Scream: More Than 50 Comedy Horror Books
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Adapted into a TV show by Amazon Prime, this novel is a collaboration from popular authors Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world’s only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.
So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.
And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist...
“Countless puns, humorous footnotes, and satirical illusions enliven the story. A book that’s sure to appeal to devoted fans of Douglas Adams.” (School Library Journal)
Buy the Good Omens book from Amazon
Buy Good Omens: The BBC Radio 4 dramatisation from Amazon
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Think The Addams Family Meets the Naked Gun: Ever since the Big Uneasy unleashed vampires, werewolves, and other undead denizens on the world, it’s been hell being a detective—especially for zombie detective Dan Chambeaux.
The series author, Kevin J. Anderson, has written like 200 books—including several featuring characters you know from brands like Star Wars, Dune, X-Files, and Star Trek. He also co-wrote the Clockwork Angels trilogy with the late Neil Peart, drummer for epic rock band Rush.
But now let’s zero in on his hilarious horror detective series starring Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. Anderson says, “Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. is one of my favorite characters among all the books I’ve written.”
Urban fantasy author Jim Butcher (who writes the blockbuster wizard detective Harry Dresden novels) likened Anderson’s Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. books to parody classic Spaceballs: “If mainstream urban fantasy is Star Wars, Dan Shamble is Spaceballs—quick, lighthearted, humorous stories that poke gentle fun at a genre that often takes itself overly seriously.”
Buy the Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. books from Amazon
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Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A piercingly raw debut story collection from a young writer with an explosive voice; a treacherously surreal, and, at times, heartbreakingly satirical look at what it’s like to be young and black in America.
“Strange, dark and sometimes unnervingly funny debut collection…” (New York Times)
From the start of this extraordinary debut, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s writing will grab you, haunt you, enrage and invigorate you. By placing ordinary characters in extraordinary situations, Adjei-Brenyah reveals the violence, injustice, and painful absurdities that black men and women contend with every day in this country.
These stories tackle urgent instances of racism and cultural unrest, and explore the many ways we fight for humanity in an unforgiving world. In “The Finkelstein Five,” Adjei-Brenyah gives us an unforgettable reckoning of the brutal prejudice of our justice system. In “Zimmer Land,” we see a far-too-easy-to-believe imagining of racism as sport. And “Friday Black” and “How to Sell a Jacket as Told by Ice King” show the horrors of consumerism and the toll it takes on us all.
Entirely fresh in its style and perspective, and sure to appeal to fans of Colson Whitehead, Marlon James, and George Saunders, Friday Black confronts readers with a complicated, insistent, wrenching chorus of emotions, the final note of which, remarkably, is hope.
A National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” honoree, winner of the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award for Best First Book.
My Life as A White Trash Zombie (White Trash Zombie series #1) by Diana Rowland
Horror meets humorous urban fantasy in first book of the White Trash Zombie series • Winner of the 2012 Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist by the RT Awards
Angel Crawford is a Loser.
Living with her alcoholic deadbeat dad in the swamps of southern Louisiana, she’s a high school dropout with a pill habit and a criminal record who’s been fired from more crap jobs than she can count. Now on probation for a felony, it seems that Angel will never pull herself out of the downward spiral her life has taken.
That is, until the day she wakes up in the ER after overdosing on painkillers. Angel remembers being in a horrible car crash, but she doesn’t have a mark on her. To add to the weirdness, she receives an anonymous letter telling her there's a job waiting for her at the county morgue—and that it's an offer she doesn’t dare refuse.
Before she knows it, she’s dealing wth a huge crush on a certain hunky deputy and a brand new addiction: an overpowering craving for brains. Plus, her morgue is filling up with the victims of a serial killer who decapitates his prey—just when she’s hungriest!
Angel’s going to have to grow up fast if she wants to keep this job and stay in one piece. Because if she doesn’t, she’s dead meat.
Literally.
“It’s unique, it’s funny and it has moments of surprising depth. Just don’t eat ham sandwiches at the same time.” (Fangs for the Fantasy)
Buy My Life as A White Trash Zombie from Amazon.
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The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls “an animal rights organization.”
Tom’s team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on.
What Tom doesn’t tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at least.
In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm, human-free world. They’re the universe's largest and most dangerous panda and they’re in trouble.
It’s not just the Kaiju Preservation Society who have found their way to the alternate world. Others have, too. And their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.
“LOVED this book. It was a quick, fun read. Catchy, satisfying, clever…” (D.M. Guay)
“Funny and endearing...it’s impossible to read this book without sensing how much fun Scalzi was having while writing it.” (BookPage)
An Amazon Best Book of March 2022: “An alternate world of giant monsters where the heroes have to watch Godzilla to get in? Yes, please.”
Blood Price (Blood series #1) by Tanya Huff
The inspiration for the TV series Blood Ties—set in Toronto, Ontario, where an ancient vampire helps a private investigator deal with crimes committed by the paranormal.
Vicki Nelson, formerly of Toronto’s homicide unit and now a private detective, witnesses the first of many vicious attacks that are now plaguing the city of Toronto. As death follows unspeakable death, Vicki is forced to renew her tempestuous relationship with her former partner, Mike Celluci, to stop these forces of dark magic—along with another, unexpected ally…
Henry Fitzroy, the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, has learned over the course of his long life how to blend with humans, how to deny the call for blood in his veins. Without him, Vicki and Mike would not survive the ancient force of chaos that has been unleashed upon the world—but in doing so, his identity may be exposed, and his life forfeit.
“The concept behind this book is pure genius…. What kept this book fun, and what makes me want to read more by Tanya Huff, is that the author’s voice is light and engaging and there’s a great sense of humor in the book.” (Smart Bitches, Trashy Books)
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The “wild and irreverent” monster comedy series Dead Jack stars the zombie detective and his homunculus frenemy Oswald. The engaging novels and short stories are written by author, editor, and publisher John Aquilone.
He wrote the first Dead Jack short story in 2006—but set it aside for years, because he didn’t think anyone would publish it. “It wasn’t until 2012 that I submitted it to a publisher,” he told Daily Dead. “It got accepted for Weird Tales Undead issue and was published in 2014.”
Since then, there have been three Dead Jack novels, some short stories, and even talk about a TV show. (Hopefully more books are in the works!)
Of course, Aquilone is also quite busy as an editor and a publisher. He has edited some amazing anthologies, including:
Classic Monsters Unleashed spotlighting famous monsters in brand-new fiction (from Joe R. Lansdale, F. Paul Wilson, Jonathan Maberry, Ramsey Campbell, and more)
Shakespeare Unleashed reimagining the Bard’s greatest works (with new horror tales from Seanan McGuire, Gwendolyn Kiste, Tim Waggoner, Jonathan Maberry, and more)
Dead Detectives Society #1 featuring monster sleuths investigating the shadows (with tales from Kevin J. Anderson, Steve Niles, Nancy A. Collins, Jeff Strand, and more)
Aquilone also recently launched Monstrous Books. The new independent publisher specializes in horror, science fiction, and fantasy. They’ve launched Monstrous Magazine (with original stories and comics). They’re also now the official home of new stories celebrating classic TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker!
But let’s get back to why we’re here: The Dead Jack stories are a lot of fun! I just read the Dead Jack story in the recent “Occult Detective” issue of Weird Tales—and loved it! Am now reading the Dead Jack books and other stories…
John Dies at the End (John Dies at the End series #1) by Jason Pargin (originally published under the name David Wong)
Adapted into the 2012 film of the same name, written and directed by Don Coscarelli.
“[Jason Pargin] has updated the Lovecraft tradition and infused it with humor that rather than lessening the horror, increases it dramatically.”—Joe Garden, Features Editor, The Onion.
“Horrific, thought-provoking, and hilarious all at once.”—Jacob Kier, publisher, Permuted Press.
STOP. You should not have touched this flyer with your bare hands. NO, don’t put it down. It’s too late. They’re watching you. My name is David. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you’ll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it’s too late. You touched the book. You’re in the game. You’re under the eye. The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me.
The important thing is this: The sauce is a drug, and it gives users a window into another dimension. John and I never had the chance to say no. You still do. I’m sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind: None of this was my fault.
“If you mixed Ghostbusters with Shaun of the Dead and added some abnormal fantasy drugs into the mix then you’d almost be in the right genre for this story.... Overall, abnormal, crazy and utterly weird are a few of the words I can think of to describe this book.” (Fantasy Book Review)
Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall
Journey to the final frontier of sci-fi zombie horror!
Jim Pike was the world’s biggest Star Trek fan—until two tours of duty in Afghanistan destroyed his faith in the human race. Now he sleepwalks through life as the assistant manager of a small hotel in downtown Houston.
But when hundreds of Trekkies arrive in his lobby for a science-fiction convention, Jim finds himself surrounded by costumed Klingons, Vulcans, and Ferengi—plus a strange virus that transforms its carriers into savage, flesh-eating zombies!
As bloody corpses stumble to life and the planet teeters on the brink of total apocalypse, Jim must deliver a ragtag crew of fanboys and fangirls to safety. Dressed in homemade uniforms and armed with prop phasers, their prime directive is to survive. But how long can they last in the ultimate no-win scenario?
“Lovers of the zombie genre will definitely breeze through this book, while Star Trek fans will revel in the abundance of in-jokes and shout-outs to their beloved franchise.” (Geeks of Doom)
“Night of the Living Trekkies can be enjoyed as a standalone story by ANY zombie or ‘Star Trek’ fan, and while pre-existing knowledge of the ‘Star Trek’ universe or the nature of zombies is helpful in places, it is definitely not required.” (ScienceFiction.com)
Get in Trouble: Stories by Kelly Link
FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE
A bewitching story collection from a writer hailed as “the most darkly playful voice in American fiction” (Michael Chabon) and “a national treasure” (Neil Gaiman).
Kelly Link has won an ardent following for her ability, with each new short story, to take readers deeply into an unforgettable, brilliantly constructed fictional universe. The nine exquisite examples in this collection show her in full command of her formidable powers.
In “The Summer People,” a young girl in rural North Carolina serves as uneasy caretaker to the mysterious, never-quite-glimpsed visitors who inhabit the cottage behind her house.
In “I Can See Right Through You,” a middle-aged movie star makes a disturbing trip to the Florida swamp where his former on- and off-screen love interest is shooting a ghost-hunting reality show.
In “The New Boyfriend,” a suburban slumber party takes an unusual turn, and a teenage friendship is tested, when the spoiled birthday girl opens her big present: a life-size animated doll.
Hurricanes, astronauts, evil twins, bootleggers, Ouija boards, iguanas, The Wizard of Oz, superheroes, the Pyramids—these are just some of the talismans of an imagination as capacious and as full of wonder as that of any writer today. But as fantastical as these stories can be, they are always grounded by sly humor and an innate generosity of feeling for the frailty—and the hidden strengths—of human beings.
In Get in Trouble, this one-of-a-kind talent expands the boundaries of what short fiction can do.
“Ridiculously brilliant . . . These stories make you laugh while staring into the void.” (The Boston Globe)
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
In Warm Bodies, Isaac Marion’s New York Times bestselling novel that inspired a major film, a zombie returns to humanity through an unlikely encounter with love.
“R” is having a no-life crisis—he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he is a little different from his fellow Dead. He may occasionally eat people, but he’d rather be riding abandoned airport escalators, listening to Sinatra in the cozy 747 he calls home, or collecting souvenirs from the ruins of civilization.
And then he meets a girl.
First as his captive, then his reluctant house guest, Julie is a blast of living color in R’s gray landscape, and something inside him begins to bloom. He doesn’t want to eat this girl—although she looks delicious—he wants to protect her. But their unlikely bond will cause ripples they can’t imagine, and their hopeless world won’t change without a fight.
Marion told Monster Complex in an exclusive interview, “My protagonist is a zombie, so this is obviously not a story about rugged survivors mowing down hordes of undead monsters. I’m not interested in that. It’s about what it feels like to be dead inside and the struggle to find life again.”
Reviews of Marion’s novel Warm Bodies
“Dark and funny.” —Wired
“A mesmerizing evolution of a classic contemporary myth.” —Simon Pegg
“Gruesome yet poetic…highly original.” —The Seattle Times
“A strange and unexpected treat…elegantly written, touching, and fun.” —Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife
“Has there been a more sympathetic monster since Frankenstein’s?” —Financial Times
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In Every Generation by Kendare Blake
The first in an all-new series by New York Times best-selling author Kendare Blake continues the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer featuring the next generation of Scoobies and Slayers who must defeat a powerful new evil. A new Slayer for a new generation...
“I laughed out loud at some of the lines, which were really funny. Blake is clearly trying to put her own spin on the Buffyverse while also paying tribute to the characters and the world in general. The elements that worked, really worked.”—Books, Bones, and Buffy
Buy In Every Generation from Amazon
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Carpe Jugulum (Discworld series #23) by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett’s profoundly irreverent Discworld novels satirize and celebrate every aspect of life, modern and ancient, sacred and profane. Consistent number-one bestsellers in England, they have garnered him a secure position in the pantheon of humor along with Mark Twain, Douglas Adams, Matt Groening, and Jonathan Swift.
Carpe Jugulum (book 23 of the Discworld series) involves an exclusive royal snafu that leads to comic mayhem. In a fit of enlightenment democracy and ebullient goodwill, King Verence invites Uberwald’s undead, the Magpyrs, into Lancre to celebrate the birth of his daughter. But once ensconced within the castle, these wine-drinking, garlic-eating, sun-loving modern vampires have no intention of leaving. Ever.
Only an uneasy alliance between a nervous young priest and the argumentative local witches can save the country from being taken over by people with a cultivated bloodlust and bad taste in silk waistcoats. For them, there’s only one way to fight.
Go for the throat, or as the vampyres themselves say...Carpe Jugulum.
“Carpe Jugulum is entertaining, as most of Pratchett’s DISCWORLD novels are. As usual, Pratchett is making fun of something and, in this case, it’s vampire novels. Therefore, in Pratchett’s vampire story you won’t find blood-thirsty pale-skinned brooding immortals wearing black and cringing from sunlight and crosses.” (Fantasy Literature)
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Blood Lite: An Anthology of Humorous Horror Stories Presented by the Horror Writers Association (Dark-Hunter World), edited by Kevin J. Anderson
The Horror Writers Association Presents a collection of entertaining tales that puts the fun back into dark fiction, with ironic twists and tongue-in-cheek wit to temper the jagged edge.
Charlaine Harris reveals the dark side of going green, when a quartet of die-hard environmentalists hosts a fundraiser with a gory twist in “An Evening with Al Gore”...
In an all-new Dresden Files story from Jim Butcher, when it comes to tracking deadly paranormal doings, there’s no such thing as a “Day Off” for the Chicago P.D.’s wizard detective, Harry Dresden...
Sherrilyn Kenyon turns a cubicle-dwelling MBA with no life into a demon-fighting seraph with one hell of an afterlife in “Where Angels Fear to Tread”...
Celebrity necromancer Jaime Vegas is headlining a sold-out séance tour, but behind the scenes, a disgruntled ghost has a bone to pick, in Kelley Armstrong’s “The Ungrateful Dead.”
Plus tales guaranteed to get under your skin—in a good way—from Janet Berliner, Don D’Ammassa, Nancy Holder, Nancy Kilpatrick, J. A. Konrath and F. Paul Wilson, Joe R. Lansdale, Will Ludwigsen, Sharyn McCrumb, Mark Onspaugh, Mike Resnick, Steven Savile, D. L. Snell, Eric James Stone, Jeff Strand, Lucien Soulban, Matt Venne, and Christopher Welch. So let the blood flow and laughter reign—because when it comes to facing our deepest, darkest fears, a little humor goes a long way!
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Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
With raucous humor and brilliantly orchestrated mayhem, Meddling Kids subverts teen detective archetypes like the Hardy Boys, the Famous Five, and Scooby-Doo, and delivers an exuberant and wickedly entertaining celebration of horror, love, friendship, and many-tentacled, interdimensional demon spawn.
“Freaky pleasure...it scratches a nostalgic itch for those who grew up on Saturday morning Scooby-Doo cartoons and sugar-bombed breakfast cereal.”—USA Today.
SUMMER 1977. The Blyton Summer Detective Club (of Blyton Hills, a small mining town in Oregon’s Zoinx River Valley) solved their final mystery and unmasked the elusive Sleepy Lake monster—another low-life fortune hunter trying to get his dirty hands on the legendary riches hidden in Deboën Mansion. And he would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids.
1990. The former detectives have grown up and apart, each haunted by disturbing memories of their final night in the old haunted house. There are too many strange, half-remembered encounters and events that cannot be dismissed or explained away by a guy in a mask. And Andy, the once intrepid tomboy now wanted in two states, is tired of running from her demons. She needs answers.
To find them she will need Kerri, the one-time kid genius and budding biologist, now drinking her ghosts away in New York with Tim, an excitable Weimaraner descended from the original canine member of the club. They will also have to get Nate, the horror nerd currently residing in an asylum in Arkham, Massachusetts. Luckily Nate has not lost contact with Peter, the handsome jock turned movie star who was once their team leader . . . which is remarkable, considering Peter has been dead for years.
The time has come to get the team back together, face their fears, and find out what actually happened all those years ago at Sleepy Lake. It’s their only chance to end the nightmares and, perhaps, save the world.
A nostalgic and subversive trip rife with sly nods to H. P. Lovecraft and pop culture, Edgar Cantero’s Meddling Kids is a strikingly original and dazzling reminder of the fun and adventure we can discover at the heart of our favorite stories, no matter how old we get.
“An adventure that meshes Lovecraft-like elements with an eco-catastrophe thriller, providing chills and chuckles in equal measure.” (Financial Times)
How to Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend by Linda Addison
Who doesn’t need to know How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend? From the first African-American to receive the HWA Bram Stoker award, this horror and science fiction collection of humor, short stories, and poetry reveals demons in the most likely people (like a jealous ghost across the street) or in unlikely places (like the dimension-shifting dreams of a Native American). Recognition is the first step, what you do with your friends/demons after that is up to you.
“There are multiple stories just kind of exploring the lines between life and death. A couple of pieces are either humorous or whimsical in nature. There are also a couple of more serious stories that examine things like emotional abuse and bullying. This is truly a wide-ranging collection, one that’s extremely well-written.” (Errant Dreams)
Buy How to Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend from Amazon.
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Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires comes a hilarious and terrifying haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting: a furniture superstore.
Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.
To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.
“Hendrix strikes a nice balance between comedy and horror.” (Washington Post)
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | VOTED GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD BEST HORROR NOVEL OF 2021 | A Good Morning America Buzz Pick | “The horror master…puts his unique spin on slasher movie tropes.”—USA Today | A can’t-miss summer read, selected by The New York Times, Oprah Daily, Time, USA Today, The Philadelphia Inquirer, CNN, LitHub, BookRiot, Bustle, Popsugar, and the New York Public Library
In horror movies, the final girls are the ones left standing when the credits roll. They made it through the worst night of their lives…but what happens after?
Like his bestselling novel The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix’s latest is a fast-paced, frightening, and wickedly humorous thriller. From chain saws to summer camp slayers, The Final Girl Support Group pays tribute to and slyly subverts our most popular horror films—movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream.
Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece.
But the thing about final girls is that no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.
“I believe that anyone who is a fan of horror novels and is familiar with the trope will love it. But more so, I think that if you are a fan of the horror genre in general including movies, this story will resonate with you because it straddles a very uncomfortable blood-splattered line bisecting the two mediums. A line that I had not seen explored before. Check it out.” (Grimdark Magazine)
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
“This funny and fresh take on a classic tale manages to comment on gender roles, racial disparities, and white privilege all while creeping me all the way out. So good.”—Zakiya Dalila Harris, author of The Other Black Girl
Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this New York Times best-selling horror novel about a women’s book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town.
Patricia Campbell’s life has never felt smaller. Her husband is a workaholic, her teenage kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she’s always a step behind on her endless to-do list. The only thing keeping her sane is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. At these meetings they’re as likely to talk about the Manson family as they are about their own families.
One evening after book club, Patricia is viciously attacked by an elderly neighbor, bringing the neighbor’s handsome nephew, James Harris, into her life. James is well traveled and well read, and he makes Patricia feel things she hasn’t felt in years. But when children on the other side of town go missing, their deaths written off by local police, Patricia has reason to believe James Harris is more of a Bundy than a Brad Pitt. The real problem? James is a monster of a different kind—and Patricia has already invited him in.
Little by little, James will insinuate himself into Patricia’s life and try to take everything she took for granted—including the book club—but she won’t surrender without a fight in this blood-soaked tale of neighborly kindness gone wrong.
“It feels weird to call a blood-soaked horror novel writhing with creepy-crawlies a delight, but these are strange times, and indie horror writer Grady Hendrix (My Best Friend’s Exorcism) is the patron saint of strange.” (USA TODAY)
Bonus features:
Reading group guide for book clubs
Hand-drawn map of Mt. Pleasant
Annotated true-crime reading list by Grady Hendrix
And more!
Buy The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires from Amazon.
Eat Your Heart Out by Kelly deVos
Shaun of the Dead meets Dumplin’ in this bitingly funny YA thriller about a kickass group of teens battling a ravenous group of zombies.
In the next few hours, one of three things will happen.
We’ll be rescued (unlikely)
We’ll freeze to death (maybe)
We’ll be eaten by thin and athletic zombies (odds: excellent)
Vivian Ellenshaw is fat, but she knows she doesn’t need to lose weight, so she’s none too happy to find herself forced into a weight-loss camp’s van with her ex-best friend, Allie, a meathead jock who can barely drive, and the camp owner’s snobby son. And when they arrive at Camp Featherlite at the start of the worst blizzard in the history of Flagstaff, Arizona, it’s clear that something isn’t right.
Vee barely has a chance to meet the other members of her pod, all who seem as unhappy to be at Featherlite as she does, when a camper goes missing down by the lake. Then she spots something horrifying outside in the snow. Something...that isn’t human. Plus, the camp’s supposed “miracle cure” for obesity just seems fishy, and Vee and her fellow campers know they don’t need to be cured. Of anything.
Even worse, it’s not long before Camp Featherlite’s luxurious bungalows are totally overrun with zombies. What starts out as a mission to unravel the camp’s secrets turns into a desperate fight for survival—and not all of the Featherlite campers will make it out alive.
A satirical blend of horror, body positivity, and humor, Kelly deVos’ witty, biting novel proves that everyone deserves to feel validated, and taking down the evil enterprise determined to dehumanize you is a good place to start.
“Eat Your Heart Out is an entertaining satirical horror. I loved the premise and it’s been ages since I read a fun (is that the right word?) zombie book.” (Utopia State of Mind)
Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story (Bloodsucking Fiends series #1) by Christopher Moore
Jody never asked to become a vampire. But when she wakes up under an alley Dumpster with a badly burned arm, an aching back, superhuman strength, and a distinctly Nosferatuan thirst, she realizes the decision has been made for her.
Making the transition from the nine-to-five grind to an eternity of nocturnal prowlings is going to take some doing, however, and that's where C. Thomas Flood fits in. A would-be Kerouac from Incontinence, Indiana, Tommy (to his friends) is biding his time night-clerking and frozen-turkey bowling in a San Francisco Safeway. But all that changes when a beautiful undead redhead walks through the door...and proceeds to rock Tommy's life—and afterlife—in ways he never thought possible.
“God I love this book. I think this is about the third or fourth time I’ve read it and it just gets better each time. This book is funny enough that you have to be careful in public. People tend to look at you funny if you start laughing hysterically while reading, something I found to be true when I read it while waiting for my car’s break job to be finished. Oh well, screw ’em. I had fun.” (Dear Author)
Buy Bloodsucking Fiends from Amazon
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A Dirty Job (Grim Reaper series #1) by Christopher Moore
Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy with a normal life, married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. They’re even about to have their first child.
Yes, Charlie’s doing okay—until people start dropping dead around him, and everywhere he goes a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Charlie Asher, it seems, has been recruited for a new position: as Death.
It’s a dirty job. But, hey! Somebody’s gotta do it.
“A Dirty Job is a book about death. And it’s hilarious. It’s Christopher Moore, after all.” (Patrick T. Reardon)
“To keep a straight face while reading this book, one would have to be dead already...” (Rocky Mountain News)
Practical Demonkeeping (Pine Cove series #1) by Christopher Moore
In Christopher Moore’s debut novel, we meet one of the most memorably mismatched pairs in the annals of literature. The good-looking one is one-hundred-year-old ex-seminarian and “roads” scholar Travis O’Hearn. The green one is Catch, a demon with a nasty habit of eating most of the people he meets.
Behind the fake Tudor façade of Pine Cove, California, Catch sees a four-star buffet. Travis, on the other hand, thinks he sees a way of ridding himself of his toothy traveling companion. The winos, neo-pagans, and deadbeat Lotharios of Pine Cove, meanwhile, have other ideas.
And none of them is quite prepared when all hell breaks loose.
“There are many elements at work here, namely comedy and horror, often complementing each other.” (Bookwormex)
Bunny by Mona Awad
The Vegetarian meets Heathers in this darkly funny, seductively strange novel from the acclaimed author of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl.
“We were just these innocent girls in the night trying to make something beautiful. We nearly died. We very nearly did, didn’t we?”
Samantha Heather Mackey couldn’t be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England’s Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort—a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other “Bunny,” and seem to move and speak as one.
But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies’ fabled “Smut Salon,” and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door—ditching her only friend, Ava, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the Bunnies’ sinister yet saccharine world, beginning to take part in the ritualistic off-campus “Workshop” where they conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur. Soon, her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies will be brought into deadly collision.
The spellbinding new novel from one of our most fearless chroniclers of the female experience, Bunny is a down-the-rabbit-hole tale of loneliness and belonging, friendship and desire, and the fantastic and terrible power of the imagination.
Named a Best Book of 2019 by TIME, Vogue, Electric Literature, and The New York Public Library.
“Bunny…is intelligent, but subversive. Delightful, but full of sadness. Wicked, but funny. Most importantly, it is deliciously bizarre, unfurling like a fist before the reader’s eyes.” (The Adroit Journal)
Monster by A. Lee Martinez
Meet Monster. Meet Judy. Two humans who don’t like each other much, but together must fight dragons, fire-breathing felines, trolls, Inuit walrus dogs, and a crazy cat lady—for the future of the universe.
Monster runs a pest control agency. He’s overworked and has domestic troubles—like having the girlfriend from hell.
Judy works the night shift at the local Food Plus Mart. Not the most glamorous life, but Judy is happy. No one bothers her and if she has to spell things out for the night-manager every now and again, so be it.
But when Judy finds a Yeti in the freezer aisle eating all the Rocky Road, her life collides with Monster’s in a rather alarming fashion. Because Monster doesn’t catch raccoons; he catches the things that go bump in the night. Things like ogres, trolls, and dragons.
Oh, and his girlfriend from Hell? She actually is from Hell.
“A fun and entertaining read. Perhaps what I like most about Monster is its humorous tone and dark edge.” (Erynn Loves Books)
Gil’s All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez
Bloodier than Fried Green Tomatoes! Funnier than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre! Welcome to Gil’s All Night Diner, where zombie attacks are a regular occurrence and you never know what might be lurking in the freezer...
Duke and Earl are just passing through Rockwood county in their pick-up truck when they stop at the Diner for a quick bite to eat. They aren’t planning to stick around-until Loretta, the eatery’s owner, offers them $100 to take care of her zombie problem. Given that Duke is a werewolf and Earl’s a vampire, this looks right up their alley.
But the shambling dead are just the tip of a particularly spiky iceberg. Seems someone’s out to drive Loretta from the Diner, and more than willing to raise a little Hell on Earth if that’s what it takes. Before Duke and Earl get to the bottom of the Diner’s troubles, they’ll run into such otherworldly complications as undead cattle, an amorous ghost, a jailbait sorceress, and the terrifying occult power of pig-latin.
And maybe—just maybe—the End of the World, too.
Gory, sexy, and flat-out hilarious, Gil’s All Fright Diner will tickle your funnybone—before ripping it out of its socket!
“It’s funny and light and vulgar and gross, but there are some really great elements in there, and it is certainly memorable.” (The Book Rat)
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
Sam leads a pretty normal life. He may not have the most exciting job in the world, but he’s doing all right—until a fast food prank brings him to the attention of Douglas, a creepy guy with an intense violent streak.
Turns out Douglas is a necromancer who raises the dead for cash and sees potential in Sam. Then Sam discovers he’s a necromancer too, but with strangely latent powers. And his worst nightmare wants to join forces...or else.
With only a week to figure things out, Sam needs all the help he can get. Luckily he lives in Seattle, which has nearly as many paranormal types as it does coffee places. But even with newfound friends, will Sam be able to save his skin?
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is a 2011 Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year.
“This book is just as adorable as can be. I found myself laughing out loud throughout...” (Rhapsody in Books Weblog)
The Atrocity Archives (Laundry Files series #1) by Charles Stross
The first novel in Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross’s witty Laundry Files series.
Bob Howard is a low-level techie working for a super-secret government agency. While his colleagues are out saving the world, Bob's under a desk restoring lost data. His world was dull and safe—but then he went and got Noticed.
Now, Bob is up to his neck in spycraft, parallel universes, dimension-hopping terrorists, monstrous elder gods and the end of the world. Only one thing is certain: it will take more than a full system reboot to sort this mess out...
“The novel is a neat mix of horrific fantasy—demons and Lovecraftian monsters and the like—with smart contemporary SF. Add aspects of spy thrillers and Dilbertian office comedy, and throw in Nazis and nasty Islamists and a very secret branch of British Intelligence. It’s told very wittily, though the central horrors are still pretty scary. The overall tone is snarky and fun, not horrific…. Overall, this is great fun.” (SF Site)
Buy The Atrocity Archives from Amazon.
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Married with Zombies (Living with the Dead series #1) by Jesse Petersen
A heartwarming tale of terror in the middle of the zombie apocalypse.
Meet Sarah and David. Once upon a time they met and fell in love. But now they’re on the verge of divorce and going to couples’ counseling. On a routine trip to their counselor, they notice a few odd things—the lack of cars on the highway, the missing security guard, and the fact that their counselor, Dr. Kelly, is ripping out her previous client’s throat.
Meet the Zombies. Now, Sarah and David are fighting for survival in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. But, just because there are zombies, doesn’t mean your other problems go away. If the zombies don’t eat their brains, they might just kill each other.
“It has the perfect mix of blood and guts, sarcastic humor, and demented brain seeking zombies. A super fast and enjoyable read that you simply won’t be able to put down!” (For the Love of Words)
A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan
A young couple’s toxic Instagram crush spins out of control and unleashes a sinister creature in this twisted, viciously funny, “bananas good” debut. (Carmen Maria Machado)
“Um, holy shit...This novel will be the most fun you’ll have this summer.”—Emily Temple, Literary Hub
Remy and Alicia, a couple of insecure service workers, are not particularly happy together. But they are bound by a shared obsession with Jen, a beautiful former co-worker of Remy’s who now seems to be following her bliss as a globe-trotting jewelry designer. In and outside the bedroom, Remy and Alicia’s entire relationship revolves around fantasies of Jen, whose every Instagram caption, outfit, and new age mantra they know by heart.
Imagine their confused excitement when they run into Jen, in the flesh, and she invites them on a surfing trip to the Hamptons with her wealthy boyfriend and their group. Once there, Remy and Alicia try (a little too hard) to fit into Jen’s exalted social circle, but violent desire and class resentment bubble beneath the surface of this beachside paradise, threatening to erupt. As small disturbances escalate into outright horror, we find ourselves tumbling with Remy and Alicia into an uncanny alternate reality, one shaped by their most unspeakable, deviant, and intoxicating fantasies. Is this what “self-actualization” looks like?
Part millennial social comedy, part psychedelic horror, and all wildly entertaining, A Touch of Jen is a sly, unflinching examination of the hidden drives that lurk just outside the frame of our carefully curated selves.
“All in all, it’s a great comedic book. A satire on the terrible neo-liberal morass we co-occupy, unable to touch intimacy. The laughs come fast, and the message is low-key freaky and haunting.” (Entropy)
iZombie, Vol. 1: Dead to the World by Chris Roberson and Mike Allred
The original comic book series that inspired the TV show: Told from a female zombie’s perspective, this smart, witty detective comic book series mixes urban fantasy and romantic dramedy.
Gwen Dylan is a 20-something gravedigger in an eco-friendly cemetery. Once a month she must eat a human brain to keep from losing her memories, but in the process she becomes consumed with the thoughts and personality of the dead person—until she eats her next brain. She sets out to fulfill the dead person’s last request, solve a crime, or right a wrong.
Our zombie girl detective is joined by a radical supporting cast: her best friend Eleanor, who happens to be a swinging ‘60s ghost, a posse of paintball blasting vampires, a smitten were-dog, and a hot-but-demented mummy. The first trade paperback collects issues #1-6 and The House of Mystery Halloween Annual #1.
“Filled with great characters, fun story and amazing art, the iZombie series is a good read that we highly recommend. (Comic Revolution)
Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson
Veronica Mars meets The Craft when a teen girl investigates the suspicious deaths of three classmates and accidentally ends up bringing them back to life to form a hilariously unlikely—and unwilling—vigilante girl gang.
Meet teenage Wiccan Mila Flores, who truly could not care less what you think about her Doc Martens, her attitude, or her weight because she knows that, no matter what, her BFF Riley is right by her side. So when Riley and Fairmont Academy mean girls June Phelan-Park and Dayton Nesseth die under suspicious circumstances, Mila refuses to believe everyone's explanation that her BFF was involved in a suicide pact. Instead, armed with a tube of lip gloss and an ancient grimoire, Mila does the unthinkable to uncover the truth: she brings the girls back to life.
Unfortunately, Riley, June, and Dayton have no recollection of their murders. But they do have unfinished business to attend to. Now, with only seven days until the spell wears off and the girls return to their graves, Mila must wrangle the distracted group of undead teens and work fast to discover their murderer...before the killer strikes again.
“Witches get the spotlight and zombies are way more interesting than their Walking Dead relatives in this coming-of-age horror comedy....a breezy entry to the supernatural that also rewrites creature-feature rules in a smart way.” (USA Today)
“A compelling mystery, a grimly funny fantasy, and a genuinely touching story of friendship.” (Booklist)
The Gates (Samuel Johnson series #1) by John Connolly
Bursting with imagination and impossible to put down, this “wholly original” (People) and “refreshing” (San Francisco Chronicle) novel from New York Times bestselling author John Connolly is about the pull between good and evil, physics and fantasy—and a quirky boy, who is impossible not to love, and the unlikely cast of characters who give him the strength to stand up to a demonic power.
Young Samuel Johnson and his dachshund, Boswell, are trying to show initiative by trick-or-treating a full three days before Halloween, which is how they come to witness strange goings-on at 666 Crowley Road. The Abernathys don’t mean any harm by their flirtation with the underworld, but when they unknowingly call forth Satan himself, they create a gap in the universe, a gap through which a pair of enormous gates is visible. The gates to Hell. And there are some pretty terrifying beings just itching to get out...
Can one small boy defeat evil? Can he harness the power of science, faith, and love to save the world as we know it?
“Though billed as ‘an adult book for children,’ this light fantasy will strike even adult readers as divertingly whimsical.” (Publishers Weekly)
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
The award-winning author of The Miseducation of Cameron Post makes her adult debut with this highly imaginative and original horror-comedy centered around a cursed New England boarding school for girls—a wickedly whimsical celebration of the art of storytelling, sapphic love, and the rebellious female spirit.
“A delectable brew of gothic horror and Hollywood satire . . . deliciously ghoulish.” —Ron Charles, Washington Post
Our story begins in 1902, at the Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara, two impressionable students, are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it the Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, the setting of their wildest happiness and, ultimately, of their macabre deaths.
This is where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. Less than five years later, the Brookhants School for Girls closes its doors forever—but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property, each in a most troubling way.
Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer Merritt Emmons publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” Gilded Age institution. Her bestselling book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, opposite B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara.
But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern heroines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled—or perhaps just grimly exploited—and soon it’s impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.
A story within a story within a story and featuring black-and-white period-inspired illustrations, Plain Bad Heroines is a devilishly haunting, modern masterwork of metafiction that manages to combine the ghostly sensibility of Sarah Waters with the dark imagination of Marisha Pessl and the sharp humor and incisive social commentary of Curtis Sittenfeld into one laugh-out-loud funny, spellbinding, and wonderfully luxuriant read.
“Plain Bad Heroines is a new kind of lesbian fiction.” (New York Times)
Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament by S.G. Browne
For fans of Chuck Palahniuk and Christopher Moore, a hilarious debut novel about life (and love) after death.
Meet Andy Warner, a recently deceased everyman and newly minted zombie. Resented by his parents, abandoned by his friends, and reviled by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new existence.
But all that changes when he goes to an Undead Anonymous meeting and finds kindred souls in Rita, an impossibly sexy recent suicide with a taste for the formaldehyde in cosmetic products, and Jerry, a twenty-one-year-old car-crash victim with an exposed brain and a penchant for Renaissance pornography.
When the group meets a rogue zombie who teaches them the joys of human flesh, things start to get messy, and Andy embarks on a journey of self-discovery that will take him from his casket to the SPCA to a media-driven class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rights of zombies everywhere.
Darkly funny, surprisingly touching, and gory enough to satisfy even the most discerning zombie fan, Breathers is a dark comedy and social satire about life, or undeath, through the eyes of an ordinary zombie. It’s Fight Club meets Shaun of the Dead, only with the zombies as the good guys.
“You’ll laugh at the absurdity of it all and, at the same time, feel as if you're getting a glimpse into an alternative lifestyle. Yes, BREATHERS concludes in a blaze of glory that is preposterous, but then you remember you’re reading a book about zombies fighting for civil rights and you know it’s the only way it can end.” (BookReporter)
Undead and Unwed: A Queen Betsy Novel (Undead series #1) by MaryJanice Davidson
First Betsy Taylor loses her job, then she’s killed in a car accident. But what really bites is that she can’t seem to stay dead. And now her new friends have the ridiculous idea that Betsy is the prophesied vampire queen, and they want her help in overthrowing the most obnoxious power-hungry vampire in five centuries.
“This book is definitely best described as vampire chick lit. It is a book for any woman who can understand that being fashionable, looking good and having great shoes are important... even if you’re dead.” (Love Vampires: Dedicated to Vampire Fiction)
“Sexy, steamy, and laugh-out-loud funny, Davidson’s chick-lit foray into the paranormal is delightful.” (Booklist)
The Utterly Uninteresting & Unadventurous Tales of Fred the Vampire Accountant (Fred, the Vampire Accountant series #1) by Drew Hayes
Some people are born boring. Some live boring. Some even die boring. Fred managed to do all three, and when he woke up as a vampire, he did so as a boring one. Timid, socially awkward, and plagued by self-esteem issues, Fred has never been the adventurous sort.
One fateful night – different from the night he died, which was more inconvenient than fateful – Fred reconnects with an old friend at his high school reunion. This rekindled relationship sets off a chain of events thrusting him right into the chaos that is the parahuman world, a world with chipper zombies, truck driver wereponies, maniacal necromancers, ancient dragons, and now one undead accountant trying his best to “survive.” Because even after it’s over, life can still be a downright bloody mess.
“The sardonic voice and short episodic nature of this story makes it easy to recommend. It’s a lot of fun without a lot of commitment. And the through-line of the plot in each one will keep you coming back to see what happens next.” (The Obsessive Bookseller)
Buy The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant from Amazon
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Welcome to Night Vale (Welcome to Night Vale series #1) by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
From the creators of the wildly popular Welcome to Night Vale podcast comes an imaginative mystery of appearances and disappearances that is also a poignant look at the ways in which we all struggle to find ourselves...no matter where we live.
“Hypnotic and darkly funny. . . . Belongs to a particular strain of American gothic that encompasses The Twilight Zone, Stephen King and Twin Peaks, with a bit of Tremors thrown in.” (The Guardian)
Located in a nameless desert somewhere in the great American Southwest, Night Vale is a small town where ghosts, angels, aliens, and government conspiracies are all commonplace parts of everyday life. It is here that the lives of two women, with two mysteries, will converge.
Nineteen-year-old Night Vale pawn shop owner Jackie Fierro is given a paper marked “KING CITY” by a mysterious man in a tan jacket holding a deer skin suitcase. Everything about him and his paper unsettles her, especially the fact that she can't seem to get the paper to leave her hand, and that no one who meets this man can remember anything about him. Jackie is determined to uncover the mystery of King City and the man in the tan jacket before she herself unravels.
Night Vale PTA treasurer Diane Crayton’s son, Josh, is moody and also a shape shifter. And lately Diane’s started to see her son’s father everywhere she goes, looking the same as the day he left years earlier, when they were both teenagers. Josh, looking different every time Diane sees him, shows a stronger and stronger interest in his estranged father, leading to a disaster Diane can see coming, even as she is helpless to prevent it.
Diane’s search to reconnect with her son and Jackie’s search for her former routine life collide as they find themselves coming back to two words: “KING CITY.” It is King City that holds the key to both of their mysteries, and their futures...if they can ever find it.
“Readers who are unfamiliar with the podcast shouldn’t be put off—they still get an eccentric thriller with a specific sense of humor that mimics the omnipresent spookiness of Twin Peaks. A delightfully bonkers media crossover that will make an incredible audiobook.” (Kirkus)
Fangs by Sarah Andersen
A New York Times bestselling love story between a vampire and a werewolf by the creator of the enormously popular Sarah’s Scribbles comics.
Elsie the vampire is three hundred years old, but in all that time, she has never met her match. This all changes one night in a bar when she meets Jimmy, a charming werewolf with a wry sense of humor and a fondness for running wild during the full moon. Together they enjoy horror films and scary novels, shady strolls, fine dining (though never with garlic), and a genuine fondness for each other’s unusual habits, macabre lifestyles, and monstrous appetites.
First featured as a webcomic series on Tapas, Fangs chronicles the humor, sweetness, and awkwardness of meeting someone perfectly suited to you but also vastly different. This deluxe hardcover edition of Fangs features an “engraved” red cloth cover, dyed black page trim, and 25 exclusive comics not previously seen online. Filled with Sarah Andersen’s beautiful gothic illustrations and relatable relationship humor, Fangs has all the makings of a cult classic.
“I found this book to be very cute and clever. There are many fun references to common werewolf and vampire tropes that are incorporated well and made me laugh out loud at times. I really like the simple black and white art, which is common for Sarah’s work as Sarah’s Scribbles is the same. But the styles between the two differ which really makes Fangs stand alone and stand strong.” (A Geek Girl’s Guide)
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Fat White Vampire Blues (Fat White Vampire series #1) by Andrew Fox
He’s undead, overweight, and can’t get a date…
Vampire, nosferatu, creature of the night—whatever you call him—Jules Duchon has lived (so to speak) in New Orleans far longer than there have been drunk coeds on Bourbon Street. Weighing in at a whopping four hundred and fifty pounds, swelled up on the sweet, rich blood of people who consume the fattiest diet in the world, Jules is thankful he can’t see his reflection in a mirror. When he turns into a bat, he can’t get his big ol’ butt off the ground.
What’s worse, after more than a century of being undead, he’s watched his neighborhood truly go to hell—and now, a new vampire is looking to drive him out altogether. See, Jules had always been an equal opportunity kind of vampire. And while he would admit that the blood of a black woman is sweeter than the blood of a white man, Jules never drank more than his fair share of either. Enter Malice X . Young, cocky, and black, Malice warns Jules that his days of feasting on sisters and brothers are over. He tells Jules he’d better confine himself to white victims—or else face the consequences. And then, just to prove he isn’t kidding, Malice burns Jules’s house to the ground.
With the help of Maureen, the morbidly obese, stripper-vampire who made him, and Doodlebug, an undead cross-dresser who (literally) flies in from the coast—Jules must find a way to contend with the hurdles that life throws at him . . . without getting a stake through the heart. It’s enough to give a man the blues.
“Jules is an antidote to the sexy vampires of the paranormal romance genre. Fat White Vampire Blues is unusual for a vampire novel, no sexy, super evil or powerful vampires here, but it is an entertaining lightweight story that is well worth reading.” (Love Vampires: Dedicated to Vampire Fiction)
I Never Eat...Cheesesteak by Paul Lubaczewski
They say life is what happens when you’re making other plans. It is also what happens when you need cash to record a demo, but that isn’t as catchy in a song, or a meme.
Al was coasting through life without a plan or a clue when he was offered a way to make quick cash without doing anything illegal, mainly because killing vampires is not technically against any laws. If he agrees he jump starts his musical career, but on the downside he has to combat the forces of undead evil, including their horrific fashion sense.
Will Al survive? Will his punk rocker sister Angie finally dump her loser boyfriend? Will Al’s girlfriend come to her senses and dump him? Will Al’s gruff partner Abdiel become “woke”? (depends on your definition) Will the citizens of Philadelphia discover the dark festering evil that lurks in their very city?(other than Eagles fans) Will anyone eat an actual cheesesteak?
The only way to find out is to read this book, because there will probably never be a Cliff Notes for this one! With hyper-cool expansions, an all-new short story, an all-new author foreword, and an all-new foreword from Stoker Award-winning author Jeff Strand!
“Paul Lubaczewski has a firm grasp on how to integrate black comedy into his horror story. It’s not the kind of comedy that makes you laugh out loud, but rather leaves you with a constant wry simple on your face. I imagine natives of Philadelphia will probably get even more enjoyment of it as it is entrenched in the city.” (Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life)
Faking it with the Demon: A Paranormal Romantic Comedy (Raising Hell Downunder series #1) by Rhiannon Hartley
A fake girlfriend...from Hell?
Jilted by his fiancée, Ryan joked that a fake girlfriend would get his well-meaning family off his back. But he didn’t mean it. He wasn’t expecting his buddy to grant his wish like a damn genie in a bottle.
Torturing the souls of the damned? Not as much fun as it sounds.
Zoephus wants out of Hell. She’s willing to make a deal for the chance to escape. How hard could it be to play the fake girlfriend of a human, anyway?
For a demonic fake girlfriend, Zoephus isn’t what Ryan expected. Since when are demons gorgeous, oddly polite, and hilariously ignorant of the modern world? He just hopes she won’t break his coffee machine. Or his heart.
Bound together for fifty days, the lines of real and pretend begin to blur, emotions inevitably get involved, and yearnings intensify. But when truths and vulnerability are laid bare, hearts could be left shattered.
Can a heart molded in the flaming depths of Hell truly love?
Faking it with the Demon is a feel-good, slow-burn fake relationship romantic comedy that’s devilishly good fun. Set in sunny Sydney, you’ll love this standalone romance that promises cozy charm, a little steam, no cliff-hangers, and a guaranteed HEA.
“This was just the story I needed to pull me out of the stress of reality these days. It is funny, lighthearted and truly silly at times. Zoe’s character as a demon turned fake girlfriend was quirky and hilarious, showing us the comical side of being a human.” (Shameless Book Club)
Graverobbers Wanted (No Experience Necessary) (An Andrew Mayhem Thriller #1) by Jeff Strand
The first book in the wildly popular series of horror/comedy novels featuring Andrew Mayhem! “No author working today comes close to Jeff Strand’s perfect mixture of comedy and terror.”—Cemetery Dance
When you’re desperate for money, searching for a little adventure, and aren’t the most responsible person in the world, you can end up doing some outrageous things. Which is how Andrew Mayhem, a married father of two, ends up accepting $20,000 to find a key…a key buried with a body in a shallow grave.
But what he finds in the grave isn’t quite what he expected, and what begins as a simple evening of morally questionable manual labor turns into a really good way to die. Andrew finds himself investigating a murder while forced into a bizarre game of wits and courage played by an unseen killer with a twisted sense of humor. It’s a game that will involve him with a group of filmmakers known as Ghoulish Delights, who are hiding a secret that will test every last bit of Andrew’s nerve to discover.
And it’s impossible to find a babysitter.
“Graverobbers is a mystery, and Andy is the sleuth who needs to unravel it. It’s the gore version of a cozy mystery with comical, absurd, bloody, and psychological horror elements. Some of the scenes are so extreme that I didn’t know whether to laugh or be horrified.” (Lomeraniel Audiobook Reviews)
Buy Graverobbers Wanted (No Experience Necessary) from Amazon.
Oddjobs (Oddjobs series #1) by Heide Goody and Iain Grant
Unstoppable horrors from beyond are poised to invade and literally create Hell on Earth. “If Jodi Taylor wrote a Laundry Files novel set in Birmingham… A hilarious dose of bleak existential despair. With added tentacles! And bureaucracy!”—Charles Stross, author of The Laundry Files series.
It’s the end of the world as we know it, but someone still needs to do the paperwork.
Morag Murray works for the secret government organization responsible for making sure the apocalypse goes as smoothly and as quietly as possible. Trouble is, Morag’s got a temper problem and, after angering the wrong alien god, she’s been sent to another city where she won’t cause so much trouble.
But Morag’s got her work cut out for her. She has to deal with a man-eating starfish, solve a supernatural murder and, if she’s got time, prevent her own inevitable death.
If you like The Laundry Files, The Chronicles of St Mary’s or Men in Black, you’ll love the Oddjobs series.
“I honestly can’t recommend it enough. It’s Sir Terry Pratchett meets Monty Python and that, really, is all the recommendation any sane person should need.” (Anna Stephens, word seeker)
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer (Johannes Cabal series #1) by Jonathan L. Howard
A charmingly gothic, fiendishly funny Faustian tale about a brilliant scientist who makes a deal with the Devil—twice.
Johannes Cabal sold his soul years ago in order to learn the laws of necromancy. Now he wants it back. Amused and slightly bored, Satan proposes a little wager: Johannes has to persuade one hundred people to sign over their souls or he will be damned forever. This time for real.
Accepting the bargain, Jonathan is given one calendar year and a traveling carnival to complete his task. With little time to waste, Johannes raises a motley crew from the dead and enlists his brother, Horst, a charismatic vampire to help him run his nefarious road show, resulting in mayhem at every turn.
“Sometimes you need to laugh so hard you pee a little.... If you enjoy steampunk, dry humor or peeing your pants a little, then check Johannes out. The incontinence is worth it.” (Smart Bitches, Trashy Books)
The Fell of Dark by Caleb Roehrig
What’s a boy to do—in Caleb Roehrig’s YA paranormal romance The Fell of Dark—when his crush is a hot vampire with a mystery to solve?
The only thing August Pfeiffer hates more than algebra is living in a vampire town.
Located at a nexus of mystical energy fields, Fulton Heights is practically an electromagnet for supernatural drama. And when a mysterious (and annoyingly hot) vampire boy arrives with a cryptic warning, Auggie suddenly finds himself at the center of it.
An ancient and terrible power is returning to the earthly realm, and somehow Auggie seems to be the only one who can stop it.
“There is a great story in this book. There’s great attention to detail and I love how the entire story comes together in the end. There might be a few things that are unresolved…but I can’t help hoping that there might be a sequel in the future. A girl can wish.” (Kinzie Things: Books and Things)
Buy The Fell of Dark from Amazon
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Comemadre by Roque Larraquy
National Book Award Nominee: “Somehow both genuinely scary and genuinely funny, sometimes on the same page—a wickedly entertaining ride.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review). One of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of the Year.
On the outskirts of Buenos Aires in 1907, Doctor Quintana pines for head nurse Menéndez while he and his colleagues embark on a grisly series of experiments to investigate the line between life and death.
One hundred years later, a celebrated artist goes to extremes in search of aesthetic transformation, turning himself into an art object. How far are we willing to go, Larraquy asks, in pursuit of transcendence?
The world of Comemadre is full of vulgarity, excess, and farce: strange ants that form almost perfect circles, missing body parts, obsessive love affairs, and flesh-eating plants. Here the monstrous is not alien, but the consequence of our relentless pursuit of collective and personal progress.
“Grotesque, outrageous, and insanely funny, the novel has almost no equal in literature.” (BOMB Magazine)
A Hint of Magic: Bewitched by Magic (The Demon Diaries series #1) by Claire Chilton
The Demon Diaries is a darkly funny YA series that combines Good Omens-style wit with urban fantasy stories similar to Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments to create an enthralling paranormal series you won’t be able to put down.
She’s looking for a hint of magic in her world...
Dora Carridine is fed up with her life as a preacher’s daughter and sets out to explore the darker side of life instead. If she can find some magic in the world, then maybe she will find a place she belongs.
When she comes across a coven of witches, she takes on their trials to try and join them. But the witches aren’t all they appear to be, and Dora finds herself slipping into a darker world than she imagined.
She has to make a choice to do the right thing, but Dora’s never been very good at doing anything right…
Embark on the first exciting adventure for FREE with A HINT OF MAGIC.
Bill the Vampire (The Tome of Bill series #1) by Rick Gualtieri
There are reasons we fear the night. He’s not one of them.
Dateless dork Bill Ryder never suspected it would take death to make his life a hell of a lot more interesting, but then he met a girl to die for—so he did.
Now he’s a vampire, surrounded by creatures stronger, deadlier, and much cooler than he is. They’re giving him just ninety days to prove he has what it takes to be an apex predator of the night, assuming he doesn’t give them a reason to dust his ass sooner.
Bill isn’t exactly average, though. A vamp like him hasn’t been seen in centuries. He’s got a few tricks up his sleeve, unexpected allies, and an attitude that makes him too obnoxious to quit. Good thing, too, because he’ll need all the help he can get if he doesn’t want to end up even deader than last time.
Join him in this hilarious tale of bloodthirsty monsters, gory mishaps, and an unlikely hero who, fangs or not, is still at the bottom of the food chain.
Bill The Vampire is book one of The Tome of Bill, the quintessential vampire comedy series. You’re in for a bloody good time with this side-splitting tale of horror comedy.
“Bill The Vampire is an excellent start to The Tome of Bill series. Its wickedly funny, has excellent characters and a great story. What more can you really ask for from an ongoing series? If you like urban fantasy and enjoy Kevin Smith-esque humor, check out Bill The Vampire.” (PopHorror)
Buy Bill the Vampire from Amazon
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One Bloody Thing After Another by Joey Comeau
“The crescendos of terror are leavened by moments of unexpected humor and warmth.”—Publisher Weekly
At turns heartwarming and horrifying, this strange and funny novel deals with the terror of losing one’s family and the extreme measures people will take to hold on. Jackie and her crush, Ann, both have odd family situations: Jackie’s mother, although dead from cancer, is a ghost that only Jackie can see, while Ann’s mother and sister have turned into such violent creatures they need to be kept in the basement and fed living animals.
Add in a cantankerous old man, his powerfully stupid dog, a headless ghost, a lesbian crush and a few unsettling visits from Jackie’s own dead mother, and you’ll find that One Bloody Thing After Another is a different sort of horror novel from the ones you’re used to. It’s as sad and funny as it is frightening, and it is as much about the way families rely on each other as it is about blood being drooled on the carpet. Though, to be honest, there is a lot of blood being drooled on the carpet.
“The horror genre represents a departure for Comeau, but the themes here are strikingly similar to those he’s previously explored…. The gore and supernatural elements are a fitting complement to his characteristic blend of pathos and black humor.” (Quill & Quire)
An Unattractive Vampire by Jim McDoniel
Jim McDoniel’s debut novel, An Unattractive Vampire, is a darkly comic urban fantasy of ancient horrors in suburban cities.
After three centuries trapped underground, thousand-year-old Yulric Bile—also known as the Curséd One, the Devil’s Apprentice, He Who Worships the Slumbering Horrors—awakens only to find that no one believes he is a vampire. Apparently he’s just too ugly—modern vampires, he soon discovers, are pretty, weak, and, most disturbing of all, good.
Determined to reestablish his bloodstained reign, Yulric sets out to correct this disgusting turn of events or, at the very least, murder the person responsible. With the help of pert vampire-wannabe Amanda; Simon, the eight-year-old reincarnation of his greatest foe; and a cadre of ancient and ugly horrors, Yulric prepares to battle the glamorous undead. But who will win the right to determine, once and for all, what it truly means to be a vampire?
“An Unattractive Vampire begins as a cleverly tongue-in-cheek novel with a similar silliness and satire to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, seamlessly steering your sympathies towards an unholy monster and its last remaining followers.” (The Shameful Narcissist Speaks)
Buy An Unattractive Vampire from Amazon
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Tea and Sympathetic Magic (Teacup Magic series #1) by Tansy Rayner Roberts
If you enjoy Regency house parties, witty romantic banter and high society sorcery, you’ll adore this magical comedy of manners cozy mystery.
There’s nothing more dangerous than an eligible duke. Every unmarried young lady of the Teacup Isles wants to marry the Duke of Storm, except Miss Mnemosyne Seabourne, who is quite content on the shelf, thank you very much. All she wants is a quiet life and a good book.
At a house party full of ruthless debutantes willing to employ sneaky sympathetic magic to win a husband of quality, Mneme joins forces with an enigmatic spellcracker to rescue the duke from being married against his will, and to find out who is responsible for his abduction.
Can Mneme save the Duke of Storm without becoming his bride? Will this caper ruin her reputation forever? Can teacups and hedgehogs be used as projectile weapons in emergencies? Why are attractive men more devastating when they roll up their sleeves?
A short read to introduce you to a fabulous series of novellas!
Fright Squad: A Comedic Horror Adventure (Fright Squad series #1) by Flint Maxwell
In a world where monsters exist...who’s gonna kick monster ass? FRIGHT SQUAD! Well...they’ll try.
Abraham Crowley, like his father before him, is a monster hunter. The problem: He’s not a very good one. Employed by the mostly secret organization BEAST, Abe and his two best friends, Maddie and Zack, are rarely taken seriously (the last “serious” job they performed was cleaning up after a particularly messy werewolf orgy...yuck).
Then, while on patrol one fateful night, the trio accidentally prove their worth against a mutated vampire and are thrust into the action-packed world of monster-hunting they’d so been craving.
But the job isn’t as glamorous as they thought it would be. Because something strange is afoot. More and more creatures are mutating and wreaking havoc in the city, bodies are being stolen from the morgues, and someone is behind it all, someone dark and magical with a secret—a secret Abe desperately needs to know.
Featuring epic monster battles, laugh-out-loud humor, and heartwarming characters, Fright Squad is the first book in this comedic-horror series perfect for fans of John Dies at the End, Shaun of the Dead, and The Monster Squad.
The Immortal Doc Holliday: Hidden (The Immortal Doc Holliday series #1) by M.M. Crumley
Not all ‘monsters’ are evil; not all humans are good...
Soul eating tattoo. Check
Self-replicating knife. Check
Two-hundred-year-old score to settle. Double check.
Meet the immortal Doc Holliday.
Lying on his deathbed, Dr. John Holliday was offered a choice; let the tuberculosis finish its work—or accept immortality. Doc chose the latter, knowing full well that such “gifts” don’t come cheap, but damned if the last two hundred years haven’t been a blast. Partying, playing, fighting, killing; yes, eternal life’s been good...
But the time to get serious has finally come, and the task he’s always known he was saved for is at hand.
Now in modern-day Denver, Doc will be pushed to his limits to keep his promise and save the missing descendent of the beautiful shaman who gave him everlasting life. The trouble is, things aren’t going as planned, and it’s becoming clear that there is far more at stake than Doc bargained for...
Fans of edgy urban fantasy look no further! If you’re into badass, morally ambiguous, anti-heroes that don’t flinch at killing bad guys (and stealing their souls) then this is the book for you! It has the perfect blend of supernatural action, humor, and mystery that you crave!
The Witch’s Veil (The Rowan Anomalies series #1) by B.K. Wellman
Boy and dog vs. The older brother, an evil witch, and a few demon-possessed bunnies.
Robbie Rollins hopes to someday be too big to bully. With his rotten older brother constantly picking on him, a schoolyard bully beating him up, and a tyrannical teacher assigning too much homework, the best the unhappy eleven-year-old can do is keep his head down. But when he’s attacked in a lifelike dream by what he thought was only an urban legend, the resourceful kid fears the veiled witch might actually be real.
As strange and horrifying occurrences begin plaguing his town, making everyone more irritable and hostile than an adult who missed their morning coffee, Robbie and his beagle buddy search for the origin to the supernatural events. When sinister creatures emerge from the forest and begin to spread their corrupted influence, the brave youth realizes it’s up to him to save the whole town… even the people he loathes.
Monsters (Prodigium Academy series #1) by Katie May
As the daughter of Dracula, you would think I’d be born the perfect monster. You couldn’t be more wrong.
As far as monsters go, I’m a screw up—if I’m not tripping over my own feet, I’m accidentally murdering someone (it’s a real issue, guys). Left with no choice, Dad decides to send me to Prodigium—otherwise known as Monster Academy—to train me on how to be a better monster.
When bodies turn up on campus, I’m the prime suspect. (Not that I can blame them. I’ll be pretty suspicious too if bodies drained of blood show up right after Dracula’s daughter arrives.)
With the help of …
my mortal-nemesis Vin, Van Helsing’s son
Frankie, Frankenstein’s son
Mason, Medusa’s son
And Jack (sometimes Hux), Dr. Jekyll’s son
… I might have a chance of uncovering the truth. If I’m not murdered first. The struggles of being a vampire, am I right?
This is a horror comedy reverse harem with some dark elements. After all, you can’t have a bunch of monsters without some darkness.
“This is a hysterical romp, the kind of tale you’d expect from Katie May. There’s mystery, romance, paranormal hijinks and enough humor, both innocent and raunchy, to keep the pages turning. Like most of her stories, it ends on a cliffhanger and is a delightful slowburn, but it’s the perfect mixture of action and general WTF?” (Books and Blurbs)
The Dead Speak Ill Of The Living: A Paranormal Horror-Comedy (The Dead Speak series #1) by Robert H. Wilde
If you like darkly funny action, strong women, and explicit in-your-face lunacy, then you’ll love Robert H. Wilde’s wild ride into the Great Unknown…
They may have passed on, but they’ve still got a lot to say. Can this ragtag band tap into lifeless lunatics and help her dad’s memory rest in peace?
Dee Nettleship’s father’s disappearance has cost her plenty… in therapy bills. One night, he just stopped the car and ran out to a strange light, never to be seen again. So when she hears of a scientific breakthrough allowing the user to speak to the dead, the erstwhile journalist figures stealing it to get him on the line for the truth is a no-brainer…
Learning that communicating with the dearly departed brings its own challenges, Dee teams up with a lovestruck scientist, a dead professor’s sister, and an asylum-seeking hacker as they open the dangerous door to the supernatural. But stuffing the ghoulish genie back in the high-tech bottle isn’t so easy when she’s being chased by soul-operated robots and hunger-crazed cats.
Will Dee find the facts behind her dad’s demise, or is she doomed to converse with crazy corpses forever?
The Dead Speak Ill Of The Living is the first book in the comedy horror The Dead Speak series.
How To Be Dead (How To Be Dead Grim Reaper Comedy Horror series #1) by Dave Turner
The Grim Reaper is a hard drinking, grumpy Billy Joel fan and the undead are bored, lonely and dangerous…
Dave Marwood is trapped in a soul crushing dead end job. He’s in love with his work colleague Melanie and his only friend Gary is a conspiracy theory nut.
His life is going nowhere until he has a Near Death Experience—though Death thinks of it as a Near Dave Experience. He discovers gifts he never knew he possessed and a world he never dreamed existed…
How To Be Dead is the first part in a series of best-selling funny urban fantasy novellas that tells the story of Death and his friends protecting humanity from ghosts, zombies, vampires and medium-sized apocalypses.
After a nice cup of tea and a biscuit.
The Graveyard Shift: A Horror Comedy (24/7 Demon Mart series #1) by D.M. Guay
“I laughed quite a bit at the first book in the 24/7 Demon Mart series.” (Andrew Marc Rowe)
Lloyd Wallace is the most clueless crossing guard the intersection of hell and earth has ever seen. So clueless, that he doesn’t even realize the beer cave in the corner store where he works is the gateway to hell.
The gate needs a hero, but Lloyd’s a zero, a loser with a capital L. He’s ten thousand dollars in debt and lives with his parents. He’s been fired from every job he’s ever had. He was the first thing his ex-girlfriend tossed to the curb when she upgraded her life.
He had no money and no prospects until the night he accidentally slayed a one-eyed tentacle monster hellbent on world domination. And, impressed by his pure heart and bravery, the suave but devilish owner of the 24/7 Dairy Mart gave Lloyd a job.
His coworkers—a karate-chopping bombshell and a talking roach with a really bad attitude—need Lloyd’s help to keep the demons in line. Can he man up and become a world-saving hero? Or, will he remain a couch-surfing zero? The fate of the world is on the line.
24/7 Demon Mart is a new horror-comedy series for fans of David Wong, Terry Pratchett, Tom Holt, Christopher Moore, and A. Lee Martinez. If you love Exorcist-level demon vomit, brooding Lovecraftian hell monsters, and plenty of laughs, this novel is for you.
The Graveyard Shift is the first book in the 24/7 Demon Mart horror-comedy and fantasy series.
“I was laughing very early in the book and sharing the jokes with my son who would laugh uproariously at them second hand. Guay has a gift for the absurd and it really works.” (The Imaginary Realms of Gilbert M. Stack)
Buy The Graveyard Shift from Amazon.
In her interview with Monster Complex, the author shared her favorite thing about this part of the genre: “The most exciting thing about horror comedy right now is seeing more fan geeks like me writing and releasing books in this space. I really love this. I get very excited when I see a cover on a new book and it looks like a B movie poster, or one of the old 70s and 80s paperback pulp horror novels that used to be everywhere. I love seeing hardcore fans writing for other hardcore fans.”
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Division X by August Hill
The monster killing business isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
We all have a monster within... understatement of the year. For 24-year-old Randi Matheson, she quite literally does. On every full moon, it rears its hairy head.
She wasn’t always like this. Ever since her attack, the animal comes out to play. And on one full moon, the beast inside tries to eat her younger brother.
Division X, a paramilitary group hellbent on the eradication of monsters, intervenes and saves Randi’s brother from being devoured. They take Randi far away and imprison her in a place no monster can escape.
Held captive, Randi is given an ultimatum. Work for Division X as a new weapon in the fight against evil or be dissected. Without a real choice, she chooses the former and experiences the dark underbelly of reality as she faces off against vampires, demons, and redneck serial killers. Promised a cure to her condition along the way, Randi does her best to stay alive.
August Hill’s Division X is a supernatural horror novel filled with dark humor, adventure, and sinister creatures that leap off the pages.
Related link: August Hill: ‘Division X’—supernatural horror filled with dark humor, adventure, and sinister creatures [Spotlight]
Tales from the Gas Station: Volume One (Tales from the Gas Station series #1) by Jack Townsend
Drunk customers. Shoplifting raccoons. Otherworldly visitors. As night shift clerk at the twenty-four-hour gas station at the edge of town, Jack has pretty much seen it all.
That is, until his best friend reveals the body of a local politician hidden in the trunk of a car, setting off a chain of events with apocalyptic potential. Soon, Jack finds himself entangled in a supernatural conspiracy involving monster hunters, sociopaths, doomsday cultists, and…garden gnomes?
Armed with nothing but his wits, sarcasm, and alarming amounts of coffee, can Jack stay alive long enough to see another morning shift? Or will he, too, fall victim to the dark, ancient force infecting the dreams of everyone around him?
One thing’s for sure. He’s not getting paid enough for this.
“This series is just fantastic! But I’ll tell you one thing: This book is no good to read out in public—all I want to do is laugh out loud, so it was hard to read this and not burst out laughing. I adore the dark humor in this!” (Lili Lost in a Book)
WereCage by Ian Fortey
Legend says that whoever is bitten by Nic Cage and lives becomes a Nic Cage themselves...
Stanley Miller got bit by Nic Cage in the park. Things got worse from there. If his roommate Cameron and Wilford Brimley are to be believed, the world is now on a fast track to the apocalypse. Unless Stanley can save it. When the moon rises, Stanley feels the change overcome him and Nicolas Cage takes over.
With the first Cage still out there, turning more and more people into raving, angry, Hollywood action stars, can Stanley use his tenuous grasp on his own sense of self to track the source of the infection and stop it once and for all? Or are we all destined to fall victim to the curse?
“A lot of it was just having fun with the idea of the werewolf trope,” the author told Monster Complex. “There is a small amount of therianthropy fiction in the world, more so in books than film, but it’s rare you see a were-something out there that isn’t a wolf.”
RELATED: Ian Fortey Q&A: WereCage
Wisconsin Vamp (Monsters in the Midwest series #1) by Scott Burtness
Some vampires are destined for greatness. Herbert Knudsen isn’t one of them.
When the truck stop diner cook and mediocre bowler becomes a vampire, his once simple life gets a bit more complicated. He’s stronger, a little sexier, and a heck of a lot better at bowling. Even Lois, the girl of his dreams, is starting to notice him.
But he can’t drink beer, the bodies are piling up, and his best friend Dallas isn’t just getting suspicious–he’s getting jealous. When Lois is caught in the middle of the two friends’ escalating rivalry, keeping his dark secret becomes the least of Herb’s concerns.
Booze, bowling, bake sales, bar fights, blood and karaoke... Who would have thought that being undead would make life so exciting?
About the Monsters in the Midwest series:
Herb, Dallas, and Stanley live in small-town northern Wisconsin, where life is nice and simple.
Until Herb becomes a vampire.
And Dallas becomes a werewolf.
And Stanley becomes a zombie.
The author shared with It’s Write Now what inspired his abnormal vampire series: “It actually started when I was rewatching Interview with the Vampire. Claudia, a pale, sickly child, becomes a vampire, and—bam!—her hair is perfect. I found myself thinking, ‘It can’t be that easy, can it?’ That thought sparked a bunch of others. Why are vampires always so cool? So sexy? How do they comb their hair? Do they automatically know kung-fu? I decided to write about a vampire that was the polar opposite of cool. A mediocre bowler and even worse cook. A guy that has trouble matching his socks.”
The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde
A humorous short story by Oscar Wilde, “The Canterville Ghost” was the first of Wilde’s stories to be published, appearing in The Court and Society Review in 1887. The story revolves around an American family who moves into a castle haunted by the ghost of an English nobleman who had killed his wife and was then murdered by his wife’s brothers.
“The Canterville Ghost” has been adapted multiple times for TV, film, audio, comics, music, and the stage. The films include a 1944 Hollywood movie starring Charles Laughton, as well as a 1970 Soviet movie, a 2008 Bollywood film, a 2016 French-Belgian movie, and a 2021 animated feature. Television productions have appeared over the years on the networks ABC, NBC, Du Mont, BBC, as well as syndication.
“I’m not drawn to ghost stories, so I was relieved to find The Canterville Ghost is atypical of the genre. What I am continually impressed by is how modern and fresh Oscar Wilde’s prose still sounds. It would be easy to forget it was penned in the late 1800s.” (Booklover Book Revews)
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