Halloween Monsters, Madness, Mystery, and Zombies!

WELCOME TO DARK HOUSE

For seven essay contestants, their worst nightmares win them an exclusive, all expense paid, behind-the-scenes look at director Justin Blake’s latest, confidential project and they’re promised “special fun” based on their nightmare essays. It’s a fans dream come true. Until it gets weird. Like the hostess who is a serial-killer look-alike. Or the Nightmare Elf, a character from a Justin Blake movie, lurking around. Or when the seventh essay winner disappears. Their dream come true has turned into a nightmare, but it’s too late to wake up and run.

From the edge-of-your seat thrills to the surprising laughs, WELCOME TO THE DARK HOUSE looks to capture the essence of Halloween scares. Written for sixth to ninth graders, WELCOME TO THE DARK HOUSE provides the tense, scary atmosphere without the gory bloodshed. With six different nightmare essays, there’s bound to be one to make your skin crawl.

OF MONSTERS AND MADNESS

Edgar Allan Poe is a master of Gothic horror, but what if his story isn’t what the history books write? From author Jessica Verday comes a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe and his Annabel Lee.

Annabel Lee is alone in the world except for a father who refuses to accept her affection. She turns to her father’s assistant Allan for friendship. Allan is a writer when not helping her father with medical advancements. Then there is Edgar, her father’s assistant who others claim doesn’t exist and who she only sees at night. When Annabel discovers that Edgar and Allan are the same person, although very different people, she must stop him from bringing the murders in Allan’s stories to life.I can’t even describe how excited I am to read OF MONSTERS AND MADNESS. I love Edgar Allan Poe’s work. I loved watching Vincent Price perform Poe’s work, and I love when an author re-imagines his darkly tragic life. Fresh Fiction Reviewer Debbie Wiley says OF MONSTERS AND MADNESS is a “delightfully creepy tale” and “a treat you do not want to miss!”

THE QUEEN OF ZOMBIE HEARTS

Alice "Ali" Bell, zombie slayer, thinks the worst is behind her…until Anima Industries, the agency controlling the zombies that killed her family and changed her world in a heartbeat, launches a sneak attack, killing four of her friends. Humans can be more dangerous than monsters…and the worst has only begun. Ali learns she has special abilities that Anima wants and she will stop at nothing to bring Anima down. Even if it’s the last thing she ever does.

Alice in Wonderland and zombies! Need I say more? THE QUEEN OF ZOMBIE HEARTS is the conclusion to the wildly popular White Rabbit Chronicles. I have been waiting not-so-patiently for the entire series to be released because I have plans to read these back to back. I’m only taking a break to refill the popcorn and break out a new box of tissues!

THE SPIRITGLASS CHARADE

What Halloween would be complete without a Stoker & Holmes on the case?

Evaline Stoker is the sister of Bram. Mina Holmes is niece to Sherlock. Was there ever any doubt these two would find themselves surrounded by the uncanny and the criminal? Evaline and Mina are eager to get a new case and this one is extremely unsettling. Seventeen-year-old Willa Aston is obsessed with spiritual mediums. She’s convinced she is speaking with her mother from beyond the grave, but what seems like a case of spiritualist fraud quickly devolves into something far more menacing: someone is trying to make Willa "appear lunatic.” What is really going on and why? It will take all of Mina's wit and Evaline's muscle to keep London's sinister underground at bay.

When I first discovered the Stoker & Holmes series, I sat for a minute in complete and utter disbelief: the disbelief that no one had thought to create this series earlier. Sometimes an idea is so wonderfully brilliant and perfectly apparent I get a little jealous that I didn’t think of it. Colleen Gleason’s Stoker & Holmes series is one of those times. Vampires (the dark, creepy, and best kind), steampunk, Sherlock Holmes, mystery, and teenage female sleuths, absolutely brilliant!