Throw on a fuzzy sweater, light a candle, and let us gather round and be thankful that the season of spookiness has finally arrived. If you’re at all like me (and other staff members at Crawfordsville District Public Library), then I hope the month of October and seasonal activities at the library will act as a cooling balm on your frazzled soul and provide you a brief respite from the chaos of 2020.
As always, we’ll be hosting displays throughout the building this month highlighting reads and watches to scare the jenkins out of yourself with. Come up to the second floor where you can browse our display stuffed full of a diverse selection of eerie, ghastly, and downright disturbing reads for Halloween (both chilling classics and modern nightmares) that will keep you busy reading all season long. Know a teen who loves all things horror? Encourage them to drop by the YA section to check out some seriously scary new book releases (like the new teen title “Clown in a Cornfield” by Adam Cesare). And, of course, we’ve been beefing up our selection of scary movies and tv shows all year long, so block out some time to browse our selection of horror on DVD.
Some people might theorize (“some people” being me) that the year so far has already been sufficiently traumatic and horrifying for all of us living through it, and that the phobias that might normally leave you covered with goosebumps just don’t hold the same edge of menace. If you’re nodding with me in agreement, and mourning the loss of our beloved Halloween season to the monster that is 2020, fret not — there’s still hope that you can get well and truly spooked with a good book. My remedy to this problem has been to seek out #OwnVoices horror fiction and to bask in the talented world-building of authors whose writing is rooted firmly in real-world acts of horror like violence against marginalized identities, exclusion and casting out of those who are “different,” and the many cruelties that humans perpetuate against others in day-to-day society.
If that sounds like something up your alley, and the kind of thing you’re in the appropriate mental space for, a classic that you won’t want to miss this year is “Kindred” by Octavia Butler, and you can enjoy it in both regular print (FIC But) and graphic novel format (GN FIC Kin). Content warning in this tale for depictions of violence, sexual assault and chattel slavery. Perhaps you’re already familiar with the talented Ms. Butler? For another #OwnVoices experience, try “The Only Good Indians” by Stephen Graham Jones (NEW FIC Jon); a Native American author, Jones is a genius modern horror and sci-fi writer who often incorporates elements of his Blackfeet heritage in his work, so be aware of content warnings for race-based violence and some gore in this one.
If you’re looking for something a little more removed from reality, where best to look that in the realm of Weird Fiction? Check out the summaries for “The Ballad of Black Tom” by Victor Lavalle (FIC Lav), “Hammers on Bone” by Cassandra Khaw (FIC Kha), and “Agents of Dreamland” by Caitlin Kiernan (FIC Kie) for an updated and inclusive approach to Lovecraftian horror (and then explore the works of all three authors, each of them has excellent works in a similar vein).
Finally, nonfiction readers, I see you out there. An excellent title to have on your radar this month is “Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative” by Lisa Kröger (809.9164 Kro). In it, you’ll be introduced to a sprawling list of women writers whom you simply MUST take time to acquaint yourself with--this book is a real treasure trove of underappreciated works for horror fans.
Stop by CDPL and take advantage of these and many more items that will keep you your Halloween mood going this month of October. Questions? Contact us at ref@cdpl.lib.in.us or give us a call at 765-362-2242, ext. 117, for the reference desk.
Shelbi Hoover, reference and local history assistant, contributed this week’s Preview Shelf column.
