A curated booklist by your favorite SPL librarians!
Creature Feature Halloween Fiction 2021: Witches | Ghosts | Vampires
Witches
Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper
Emmy is back in her hometown of Thistle Grove, which she's been avoiding for a while, for a traditional spellcasting tournament. After the charming Gareth Blackmoore broke her heart, she's surprised to learn that she's not the only one - and the other two girls want her help with a witchy revenge. |
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A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
When Diana Bishop uncovers a lost manuscript in the Bodleian Library, she has no idea that a whole world of fantastical creatures is about to enter her life. Now, the demons and vampires are making it especially hard for her to separate from her family's history of magic. |
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The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin
In a world where the weather is tied to witch-magic, the changing climate condition is leading to trouble for the witches who control it. |
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A Dark and Starless Forest by Sarah Hollowell
Nine witches are being raised in an isolated cabin in the woods. Abandoned there so they can grow into their powers, far away from the world, they begin to go missing one at a time. |
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Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen
It's the year 1618 in Württemberg, Germany, and Katherina Kepner has been accused of witchcraft by another woman in the village. It falls to her son, a scientist, to help clear his mother's name. Based on true historical documents. |
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Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Owens family women have always been the scapegoats for anything that goes wrong in their small Massachusetts town. Now, three generations of Owens women are living in the house together, and they're in for a whirlwind of adventure as they contend with their magic and a family curse. |
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The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
How wrong can putting a curse on your ex-boyfriend go? Vivienne is about to find out, when a drunk, silly hex she cast in an emotional state begins to wreak havoc on the whole town. |
Ghosts
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Yadriel is trying to prove his worth to his family as a brujo by performing a traditional ritual to find the ghost of his murdered cousin. But the ghost that he calls back isn't his cousin - it's Julian, a boy from his school, who needs Yadriel to help him figure out how he was killed. |
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The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
A young woman takes a job as a governess to two strange children, only to uncover all sorts of haunts and dangers in the estate they live on. |
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The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Dr. Faraday is called out to Hundreds Hall, home of the Ayres family, to treat a patient. The estate is in horrible decline, the owners seem unable to keep up with the changing times, and the doctor will soon begin to suspect that something is haunting the Ayreses. |
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The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Four strangers are brought together to spend several nights at a notoriusly haunted house. Each of them has some prior experience with the paranormal, but by the end of their stay, they'll never be the same again. |
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Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia
Tuesday Mooney is on a treasure hunt: an eccentric billionaire has died, and left clues to find his grand fortune. Adding in ghosts to this puzzle? Only the start. Set in and around Boston, among all the other recognizable locations, you'll find that your favorite Central Library features in one of the scenes. |
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The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
Carly works as a night clerk at the Sun Down Motel, where she's determined to uncover the secrets that swallowed her Aunt Viv thirty five years before. |
Vampires
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
What's a housewife to do when the new neighbor turns out to be a bloodsucking threat to the neighborhood? Patricia may have no idea, but at least she has the book club to prepare herself. |
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The Lost Girls: A Vampire Revenge Story by Sonia Hartl
Holly has been a sixteen year old vampire for about thirty years, when two other young vampire girls come to find her. The bad news? Their mutual creator has his eyes on another young girl, and they want her help to stop him forever. |
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Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Predating Dracula by nearly thirty years, Carmilla is the vampire fiction blueprint. Laura and her ailing father live in an isolated castle until one day, their routine is interrupted by the arrival of a strange young woman. As Laura and Carmilla get closer, she unravels the mystery around the new houseguest. The linked edition is edited and introduced by Carmen Maria Machado. |
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Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Told from the perspective of Louis, a vampire from New Orleans, he shares about his life since being turned by the vampire Lestat, and all the other vampires he has met in his lifetime. |
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Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Twelve year old Oskar becomes fascinated with his new neighbor, a young girl who only comes out at night. |
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Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Atl is a descendent of Aztec blood drinkers living in Mexico City and running from other species of vampires that seek to kill her. She finds help from Domingo, a young street kid who is fascinated by her existence. |
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Fledgling by Octavia Butler
Shori is a 53 year old vampire, turned as a child, who suffers from amnesia and has to remember how she became a vampire while protecting herself from an unremembered danger. |
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