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Terror on the Page: Waylon’s Top 10 Horror Books of 2020

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Another year is coming to an end, though if I’m honest 2020 has felt like a whole decade rolled into one. Still, there are some things to celebrate this year, and as December looms large, it’s time for critics and reviewers to start putting together our “best of” lists.

Honestly, this has been an incredible year for horror books. Authors have thrived in an environment that has tested film at every turn.  You don’t need large crowds and “butts in seats” for book launches. You only need avid readers with access to online bookstores.

This does, however, make my job especially hard this year because there have been so many incredible books, many from independent and small presses that have just knocked my socks off. Terrifying, gorgeous storytelling that kept me turning pages and looking over my shoulder was the name of the publishing game in 2020. Check out my list below and let me know what you read this year in the comments!

#10 The Living Dead by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus

George A. Romero began writing this book long before his death, but it sadly remained unfinished until his widow contacted author Daniel Kraus and asked if he would be willing to complete the novel. What emerged was a brilliant, epic story of the onset of the zombie apocalypse in a way that Romero was never able to conjure onscreen. If The Stand had been about zombies, it would have been The Living Dead which is about the best compliment a novel of this type can receive. If you haven’t read it, you simply don’t know what you’re missing.

#9 The Malan Witch by Catherine Cavendish

If horror tales and ghost stories steeped in folklore of the British Isles with a twist or two along the way is your jam, then The Malan Witch is exactly the book for you. Cavendish has a knack for description and atmosphere that will keep you turning pages and guessing what is truly going on at an isolated seaside cottage until the final word. Buy it; turn down the lights, and immerse yourself in her world. You won’t be disappointed.

#8 If it Bleeds by Stephen King

Stephen King never fails to deliver, and this year was no different. If it Bleeds is a collection of four stories that are a good mixture of classic and new Stephen King with something for every kind of King fan. The collection is good, though somewhat uneven, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the title story/novella. You should definitely check this one out!

#7 The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

I only just recently read The Only Good Indians. It is one of those novels that is almost impossible to discuss without giving something away. I’ll only say that Jones continues to be one of my favorite authors, and this tale of identity, revenge, and despair is as heartbreaking as it is unnerving. It’s not essentially traditional horror, but that’s exactly what works for it. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

#6 Monstre: Volume One by Duncan Swan

best horror books Duncan Swan

This epic horror novel begins when an unexplained phenomena occurs at the CERN labs in Switzerland. An unexpected explosion sears the world around it and unleashes a terrifying cloud that blocks out the sun. The cloud quickly begins to grow. The darkness is terrifying enough, but there are deadly creatures living inside that darkness and soon all of Europe will fall.

What’s most interesting about this novel is that it takes place in two time periods. It begins on Day 0, then flashes forward to the United States on Day 89. The cloud will soon reach the Eastern Seaboard and lawlessness and mass suicides have become commonplace.  As we flash forward and back, Swan gives us the story of how this all began and the long-term fallout simultaneously in a way that is intense from start to finish.

#5 True Crime by Samantha Kolesnik

Way back in January, I predicted you’d be seeing this book on “Best of” lists at the end of the year. That kind of statement has a way of coming back to haunt a writer, but I’m so glad that isn’t the case in 2020. Samantha Kolesnik’s debut novella True Crime is a gut-punch of a story with passages that cannot be unread. It is brutal, raw fiction that will fill you with dread to the point of turning your stomach, but you will keep turning those pages to find out what happens next. In short it’s what horror books are supposed to be.

#4 The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

The Hollow Places is a quirky novel as hilarious as it is dread-inducing, something that was much needed in 2020. It revolves around a young woman, newly divorced, who accepts an offer to stay with her uncle at his curiosity museum. After he has to undergo emergency surgery, she’s left to mind the museum on her own. No big deal, right? It wouldn’t be except that she discovers an opening to a terrifying world that lies just on the other side of one of the walls and it’s trying to make its way farther into our own. I could not put this book down once I picked it up, and you won’t either. It’s easily one of the best horror books of the year.

#3 The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper

horror books hailey piper

This cosmic horror book reads like opera in the best way possible. A young homeless woman finds herself drawn into a terrifying underground mystery after her partner goes missing. Desperate to find her, she follows a monstrous being into the dark depths of night and finds herself in the middle of a world-ending mystery that could cost her everything. I’ve not read anything as gorgeous and unsettling as the final 15 pages of this novella in a long time. If you’re looking for cosmic horror done right, look no further than The Worm and His Kings.

#2 The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Simone St. James crafts a haunting story that will stay with you long after you close its cover. Something just isn’t right about The Sun Down. A young woman named Carly is determined to find out what. Her Aunt Viv disappeared at the motel years decades before, and Carly simply can’t let the mystery go. After she travels to the location in Upstate New York and applies for a job at the motel, she soon finds herself involved in the same mysteries that plagued Viv with terrifying consequences. Some evils aren’t so simply defeated. This page-turner is compelling and mystifying and will keep you guessing to the very end.

#1 The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

Horror Books Year of the Witching

Alexis Henderson crafted a dark, dystopian fantasy that centers on a young woman named Immanuelle Moore. Born in disgrace, Immanuelle does everything she can to conform to the puritanical law of the Prophet, but after an accident leads her into the Darkwood where four powerful witches were once slaughtered, the young woman’s eyes are opened to a new reality that will force her to move against convention in ways she never dreamed. Powerful, moving, and often downright scary, this book is one that will make you think long and hard about who you are, where you fit, and what you would do to right generational wrongs. For all of these reasons, The Year of the Witching earned my top spot for the best horror books of 2020.

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‘Alien’ is Being Made Into a Children’s ABC Book

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Alien Book

That Disney buyout of Fox is making for strange crossovers. Just look at this new children’s book that teaches children the alphabet via the 1979 Alien movie.

From the library of Penguin House’s classic Little Golden Books comes A is for Alien: An ABC Book.

Pre-Order Here

The next few years are going to be big for the space monster. First, just in time for the film’s 45th anniversary, we are getting a new franchise film called Alien: Romulus. Then Hulu, also owned by Disney is creating a television series, although they say that might not be ready until 2025.

The book is currently available for pre-order here, and is set to release on July 9, 2024. It might be fun to guess which letter will represent which part of the movie. Such as “J is for Jonesy” or “M is for Mother.”

Romulus will be released in theaters on August 16, 2024. Not since 2017 have we revisited the Alien cinematic universe in Covenant. Apparently, this next entry follows, “Young people from a distant world facing the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Until then “A is for Anticipation” and “F is for Facehugger.”

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Holland House Ent. Announces New Book “Oh Mother, What Have You Done?”

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Screenwriter and Director Tom Holland is delighting fans with books containing scripts, visual memoirs, continuation of stories, and now behind-the-scenes books on his iconic films. These books offer a fascinating glimpse into the creative process, script revisions, continued stories and the challenges faced during production. Holland’s accounts and personal anecdotes provide a treasure trove of insights for movie enthusiasts, shedding new light on the magic of filmmaking! Check out the press release below on Hollan’s newest fascinating story of the making of his critically acclaimed horror sequel Psycho II in a brand new book!

Horror icon and filmmaker Tom Holland returns to the world he envisioned in 1983’s critically acclaimed feature film Psycho II in the all-new 176-page book Oh Mother, What Have You Done? now available from Holland House Entertainment.

‘Psycho II’ House. “Oh Mother, What Have You Done?”

Authored by Tom Holland and containing unpublished memoirs by late Psycho II director Richard Franklin and conversations with the film’s editor Andrew London, Oh Mother, What Have You Done? offers fans a unique glimpse into the continuation of the beloved Psycho film franchise, which created nightmares for millions of people showering worldwide.

Created using never-before-seen production materials and photos – many from Holland’s own personal archive – Oh Mother, What Have You Done? abounds with rare hand-written development and production notes, early budgets, personal Polaroids and more, all set against fascinating conversations with the film’s writer, director and editor which document the development, filming, and reception of the much-celebrated Psycho II.  

‘Oh Mother, What Have you Done? – The Making of Psycho II

Says author Holland of writing Oh Mother, What Have You Done? (which contains an afterward by Bates Motel producer Anthony Cipriano), I wrote Psycho II, the first sequel that began the Psycho legacy, forty years ago this past summer, and the film was a huge success in the year 1983, but who remembers? To my surprise, apparently, they do, because on the film’s fortieth anniversary love from fans began to pour in, much to my amazement and pleasure. And then (Psycho II director) Richard Franklin’s unpublished memoirs arrived unexpectedly. I’d had no idea he’d written them before he passed in 2007.”

“Reading them,” continues Holland, “was like being transported back in time, and I had to share them, along with my memories and personal archives with the fans of Psycho, the sequels, and the excellent Bates Motel. I hope they enjoy reading the book as much as I did in putting it together. My thanks to Andrew London, who edited, and to Mr. Hitchcock, without whom none of this would have existed.”

“So, step back with me forty years and let’s see how it happened.”

Anthony Perkins – Norman Bates

Oh Mother, What Have You Done? is available now in both hardback and paperback through Amazon and at Terror Time (for copies autographed by Tom Holland)

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Sequel to ‘Cujo’ Just One Offering in New Stephen King Anthology

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It’s been a minute since Stephen King put out a short story anthology. But in 2024 a new one containing some original works is getting published just in time for summer. Even the book title “You Like It Darker,” suggests the author is giving readers something more.

The anthology will also contain a sequel to King’s 1981 novel “Cujo,” about a rabid Saint Bernard that wreaks havoc on a young mother and her child trapped inside a Ford Pinto. Called “Rattlesnakes,” you can read an excerpt from that story on Ew.com.

The website also gives a synopsis of some of the other shorts in the book: “The other tales include ‘Two Talented Bastids,’ which explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills, and ‘Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,’ about a brief and unprecedented psychic flash that upends dozens of lives. In ‘The Dreamers,’ a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored while ‘The Answer Man’ asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.”

Here’s the table of contents from “You Like It Darker,”:

  • “Two Talented Bastids”
  • “The Fifth Step”
  • “Willie the Weirdo”
  • “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream”
  • “Finn”
  • “On Slide Inn Road”
  • “Red Screen”
  • “The Turbulence Expert”
  • “Laurie”
  • “Rattlesnakes”
  • “The Dreamers”
  • “The Answer Man”

Except for “The Outsider” (2018) King has been releasing crime novels and adventure books instead of true horror in the past few years. Known mostly for his terrifying early supernatural novels such as “Pet Sematary,” “It,” “The Shining” and “Christine,” the 76-year-old author has diversified from what made him famous starting with “Carrie” in 1974.

A 1986 article from Time Magazine explained that King planned on quitting horror after he wrote “It.” At the time he said there was too much competition, citing Clive Barker as “better than I am now” and “a lot more energetic.” But that was almost four decades ago. Since then he’s written some horror classics such as “The Dark Half, “Needful Things,” “Gerald’s Game,” and “Bag of Bones.”

Maybe the King of Horror is waxing nostalgic with this latest anthology by revisiting the “Cujo” universe in this latest book. We will have to find out when “You Like It Darker” hits bookshelves and digital platforms starting May 21, 2024.

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