“Sour candy trumps chocolate.”

Celebrate Valentine's weekend with Aurelien and a creepy horror story that will make you happy to be alone. "Sour Candy" by Kealan Patrick Burke (2015) starts with an everyday encounter and quickly devolves into more nightmares than you can count.

Buy the book and read more from Kealan Patrick Burke: https://www.kealanpatrickburke.com/books

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"Creatures of the night, they get along just fine in the darkness."

Happy new year, spooky friends! Join Aurelien for a dark modern horror tale of unconventional friendship,  the beauty of the night, and some light murder: "The Night Cyclist" by Stephen Graham Jones (2016). 

"I asked how many days it took before she was aware of the ghost."

It’s time for another flash fiction roundup! Join Aurelien for a quick tour of the latest sweet, spooky, supernatural, super weird, and, of course, super short fiction she's loved lately. No spoilers! 

This week for book club, let's go on a spooky tour of Aurelien's horror shelf, from teen witches and the perils of friendship, to creepy haunted houses, dark family secrets, and suspenseful short stories. No spoilers!

“Haunting is an art.”

Find us in the secret room for a hauntingly good time with "Open House on Haunted Hill" (2020) by John Wiswell. Autumn isn't only spooks and screams; it's also about loneliness, change, and the warmth of home. Warning: this story might melt your horror-loving heart. 

Read the story: http://www.diabolicalplots.com/dp-fiction-64a-open-house-on-haunted-hill-by-john-wiswell/

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"What fearful shapes and shadows beset his path amidst the dim and ghastly glare of a snowy night!"

Let's meet at the spooky old church for book club to talk about a classic American ghost story: "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820) by Washington Irving. Featuring superb descriptions of fall foliage, an excellent spooky atmosphere, and ghostly, mysterious ending, this story will immerse you in autumn. 

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"What they find defies their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation..."

Something has been found on the ocean floor, something intriguing and impossible. A group of scientists are sent 1000 feet down to investigate - and there, they find something even stranger. Aurelien covers the first half of "Sphere" (1987) by Michael Crichton, a paranoid, weird sciencey horror thriller.

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"Black winter had descended in a single night.”

Watch the tides and slip out in the cover of night for Daphne Du Maurier's "The Birds" (1952). It's a chilling, suspenseful story that's not really like the movie adaptation at all, and will fill your heart with dread. If you're a Shirley Jackson fan, add this one to your tbr! Spoilers ahead!

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And now she sat so very quietly, so very still, like a living-dead doll staring out the window.

Buenas noches, spooky friends! This week, let Aurelien tell you all about how Georgina's perfectly planned life got flipped-turned upside down - by Death. Set during the Mexican Revolution, "This Strange Way of Dying" (2011) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a spooky dark historical love story about choosing your future and also, ...

"She is only a ghost, and nobody believes in ghosts any longer."

Let's go back in time for book club this week, with Ellen Glasgow's 1920 ghost story "The Past". If you like classic gothic stories and spooky hauntings, but also want a protagonist who asks "wtf?", this one is for you. And, please, ignore the spiritual representation of trauma watching us from the corner. 

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“The house was full of dead bodies, it seemed. It felt like a mechanical cemetery.”

Hey, spooky friends! It's a special, Bradbury birthday edition of book club. Aurelien discusses (and spoils!) her favorite Ray Bradbury short stories: the spacey sadness of "All Summer in a Day" and the visceral horror of "The Veldt". Plus: how it feels when a favorite author might be someone you wouldn't want to talk to at...

"Darkness stood hushed and bulky beneath his kitchen window."

Bring a flashlight and stay out of the cellar! This week, Aurelien covers Ramsey Campbell's viscerally horrifying "The Brood" (1980). It's a dark, unsettling story about a lonely veterinarian and the strange happenings in the house next door. Who lives there? What are they doing with all those small animals? And do you hear those moaning, wailin...

"Even when you’re dead, some things cut close to the bone."

Let's go to the mall, everybody! But be careful - you don't want to get stuck here, like the ghosts in "Old Habits" (2011) by Nalo Hopkinson. It's a short modern horror story that manages to pack in plenty of nightmares (and feelings). Spoilers ahead!

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"...and there were the trooping faeries that would steal them all away to their underground hills for a hundred years."

Meet by the edge of the wood and wear your best coat to book club for modern faery tale "The Coat of Stars" by Holly Black. It's a short and emotional story of lost love, faery bargains, and ethereal womenswear. Spoilers ahead! 

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"Not a spirit to be found, of course."

Meet in the hidden passage at midnight for book club to discuss modern gothic comic "Women Do Not Creep by Daylight" (2019), written by Vera Greentea and illustrated by Kyla Vanderklugt. A spiritual descendent of "The Yellow Wallpaper", it's the story of a determined young woman, a crumbling old castle, and a mysterious green amulet. No spoilers in this one! 

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"She was not quite sure what made her so nervous."

Leave the city behind and join Aurelien at the lake house for Shirley Jackson's 1948 paranoia-inducing short story, "The Summer People". It's a story full of beautiful views, strange townspeople, and a distinct feeling of creeping dread.

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"The sound that wasn’t footsteps came closer."

Do you hear that strange tapping? Better investigate before book club this week for "Come Closer" by Sara Gran (2003). It's a strange, dark, twisty horror story about identity, relationships, and the strength (and weakness) of our own minds. And also demons. 

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"I’m the picture of normalcy. June Cleaver with freeze-dried casseroles. Betty Crocker in a gas mask."

Grab your emergency supplies and join Aurelien at book club for YA contemporary weird novel "Let's Call It A Doomsday" by Katie Henry. It's a wild ride through teen angst, clinical anxiety, world-ending prophecies, and friendship (awww). 

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