It’s Tuesday again, and you know what that means! Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl). Today is supposed to be a “Halloween Freebie” but I don’t celebrate Halloween (I may include it in a book someday, but partly it involves my now dh’s former fiancée and a trip to Knott’s Scary Farm). So I decided to twist the topic and write about creatures that are in books I read that are often associated with Halloween. So let’s get started!
Shadowhunters books have all sorts of supernatural creatures: vampires, werewolves, warlocks, and even the occasional ghost! These aren’t scary books or anything like that though.
Stephen King is typically known for his scary stories, but 11/22/63 isn’t exactly one of them. It’s a time-traveling story where a man goes back and tries to prevent the shooting of JFK. There is a reference to a killer clown though.
So Chosen Ones wouldn’t be my go-to book for Halloween (then again, I don’t celebrate Halloween anyway), but this book does have zombies. So I guess it fits in this week’s theme.
The first line of Skyhunter is “Ghosts travel in packs.” They’re not exactly what you’re probably thinking of, but this is a ghost book like Chosen Ones is a zombie book.
Slasher Girls and Monster Boys is a book of horror stories. Some of these stories are scarier than others, and some do have some bona fide creatures that go bump in the night.
Vampires definitely count as creatures that go bump in the night. Twilight also has werewolves too, although those take a slightly less prominent role.
Happily, Renée Ahdieh’s book about vampires is going to be a trilogy. Goodreads still doesn’t reflect that a third book was picked up, but I saw it on Twitter.
While The Lady Rogue doesn’t exactly scream “scary!” it is a story that revolves around the real Count Dracula. Dracula reminds one of vampires, which fits into today’s topic.
And while we’re on the subject of the real Vlad the Impaler, Kiersten White’s And I Darken is a retelling of this historical era–with a twist. Dracula is female in this story. This book isn’t really paranormal, but it does give some of the background to our most famous spooky tales.
An Ember in the Ashes is also not a scary story, but it does contain some creatures that often only are seen wandering the streets on October 31st. There are ghosts, wights, efrits, and other fantastical creatures.
So that is this year’s Halloween Freebie on Top Ten Tuesday. There are a lot of similarities between this list and last year’s list; sorry about that. I don’t read a lot of scary books, I guess.
Next week, we’re going to take a completely different tack and talk about non-bookish hobbies. Those exist? Maybe I’ll just have to include things I’m interested in but don’t ever have time for. We’ll see.
So what did you write about this week? Since this is a freebie week, I’m sure we’ll see quite a variety.
I like a werewolf story even though I don’t read very many!
Greg recently posted…Top Ten Tues
They make a lot of them (especially in the indie world) but I don’t read that many either!
11/22/63 was an excellent read.
My post.
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I really liked that book. It was a way to visit a time period I’ll never live in.
How did I not know Chosen Ones has zombies in it? I love zombies lol
The Zombies aren’t a main feature of the book, but they are there. They probably don’t advertise the zombies because to say how they got into the book would be a little spoilery.
I’m not much for Halloween either. Just not my thing. I do like ghost stories as long as they’re not TOO scary 🙂
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I don’t know if I find most stories scary… although I guess I don’t go look for those kinds of books either.
I have read Twilight and I want to read Lady Rouge.
I hope you like it when you get around to it!
An Ember In The Ashes was only okay for me, but I know lots of people loved it!
Jo recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday #287
I’ve been “meh” about stories that many people loved before too.
City of Bones and Twilight are excellent choices! They make me think of Halloween.
I read the series this summer, but Twilight definitely seems to have those vibes.
I can never say no to more Shadowhunter stories and I’m also eager to try Renee Ahdieh’s vampire series!
They’re all so good!
Nice take on this week’s topic! I like a good vampire story. Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
Maybe next year I should try out Salem’s Lot! That’s a vampire story I haven’t read.
I had completely forgotten about 11/22/63’s connection to It. You got quite creative with books that have typically scary beings that aren’t quite so scary in that book’s world. Great post!
I had never read It (but I knew what it was about) but when I saw the reference to the clown I just loved how clever it was! I had to Google the details of the book to make sure the clown was in the right time period.
This is a seriously cool and creative take on this week’s TTT!
Thank you!
I really enjoyed 11/22/63, too! Skyhunter is on my tbr. I read an excerpt and was hooked. Great list!
Dedra @ A Book Wanderer recently posted…My September Book HookUp Unboxing
Thank you! I hope you like Skyhunter when you get the chance to read it. I’m looking forward to the sequel next fall! Of course, between now and then there will be many new wonderful books to read!
Great list! I am familiar with most but have not read any.
Isn’t it like that on so many of these TTTs? There are so many books, but not enough time to read them all.
Loved Lady Rogue, and I agree, the whole area and atmosphere does have that vibe! Also good call on Chosen Ones, I would not have thought of it but you’re definitely right!
Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight recently posted…Pick My Halloween Read (Again!)
Chosen Ones zombies are usually as close as I get to horror, LOL!