Now that it’s October, spooky season is officially here and one of the best ways to get into the mood is with a good book. While a scary story is a great way to get in the Halloween mood there’s a lot of amazing non-fiction out there that digs into the strange, the unusual and the macabre. So curl up with a hot cocoa or apple cider, tuck into some Halloween candy and dive into the recommendations below.
Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction by Lisa Kroeger and Melanie Anderson
This book is made up of a series of mini ‘chapters’ profiling a range of female writers of horror, science fiction and speculative fiction. The book dives into a range of authors from icons such as Mary Shelley and Shirley Jackson to lesser-known authors such as Alice Askew or Ruby Jean Jensen. Described as ‘part biography, part reader’s guide’ Monster, She Wrote profiles over a hundred authors who lived and breathed weird fiction, taking the reader through some of the earliest science fiction of the 17th century, the gothic boom of the 1800s, pulp magazines of the twenties and thirties, right up to authors working today. Each author profile comes with a curated list of recommendations of their work, so this book is packed full of recommendations of bone-chilling horrors and spine-tingling tales perfect for a Halloween reading list.
Monster, She Wrote also inspired a series of spin offs of some previously out-of-print authors such as The Dead Hours of Night by Lisa Tuttle and Nightmare Flower by Elizabeth Engstrom for those looking for lesser known authors. Monster, She Wrote authors Lisa Koreger and Melanie Anderson specialise in female-focused spookiness as they also recently released Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult.
Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween by Lisa Morton
Trick or Treat is a comprehensive history of the festival known as Halloween, stretching all the way back to its origins of Samhain and All Souls Day. Lisa Morton takes us through chapters of turnip carving, fortune-telling traditions, soul cake, juvenile delinquency and trick or treat, tracking how a celtic festival co-opted by the Catholic Church travelled to America to receive a new (after)life. Morton also takes the time to explore how Halloween has made it around the globe, and been received in wider pop culture. This book is literally all things Halloween, not only will it put you in the mood for some trick or treating, it will also give you a greater appreciation of the wider history and context of the day itself.
Morton is something of a spooky expert, having also recently written Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances.
A Season with the Witch – The Magic and Mayhem of Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts by J.W Ocker
Being a self-described ‘weird history expert’, one year author J.W Ocker decided to pack up his family and move to Salem for the entire month of October. In A Season with the Witch, Ocker takes us through Salem during its peak season, which is so popular with tourists that hotels book out months in advance and celebrations take place all month long. Ocker’s account of costume-clad crowds and tourist traps will really put you in a seasonal mood, and maybe even incite the urge to take a trip. But the author also digs deeper into the tension of Salem between those who feel the witch trials are a historical tragedy better forgotten and those who want to celebrate what makes the town unique (and maybe make a quick buck). As Ocker interviews business owners, residents and local officials, he questions where the line is between exploiting and embracing the ‘Witch City’s’ strange history.
J.W Ocker is another prolific writer worth checking out for more weird and wonderful non-fiction including The United States of Cryptids: A Tour of American Myths and Monsters, Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World’s Most Infamous Items and Cult Following: The Extreme Sects That Capture Our Imaginations—and Take Over Our Lives.
Monsters in the Closet by Harry M. Benshoff
Monsters in the Closet by Harry M. Benshoff was one of the first histories of horror films to approach the genre from a LGBTQ+ perspective. Monsters in the Closet is a thorough history that examines the social conditions that produced classic movie monsters and how queer-coded pop culture has often been used to demonise queerness. This book will give you a fresh new perspective on many classic monster movies and highlight a number of older classics you may not have heard of.
Benshoff approaches the subject from an academic perspective but those looking for a more personal approach may want to check out It Came From the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror, an anthology in which writers in the LGBTQ+ community discuss their unique takes on popular horror films and the way they resonate with them.
Although they aren’t your traditional ‘scary stories’ non-fiction can be a perfect Halloween read! So whether it’s the history of the season or the secrets of Salem be sure to check out some non-fiction this Halloween.
Words by Louise Eve Leigh
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