I couldn’t let October slip away without popping onto the blog to say hello. So, hello!

Do you enjoy reading scary stories? I know it is cliché to write about how delicious it feels to curl up in one’s favorite reading spot with a blanket and hot beverage to enjoy a story that is just the right level of spooky for one’s mood. I am just such a cliché.

Pictured above are some of the horror stories I plan to read this season. I know some folks kick off their scary reading in early October or even September, but Halloween feels more “natural” for me. Here are some of the books I plan to read this season.

Classic Gothic tales and vampire stories are my jam, but this Halloween, I find myself reading a different kind of horror novel, THE PLANT LADY by Minyoung Kang, translated by Shanna Tan. This is a short novel, just over 200 pages, and I’m at the halfway point.

Yoohee started her Plant Shop in a somewhat undesirable location on the outskirts of Dosan, South Korea, yet both Yoohee and her shop are thriving. Men are disappearing, but they’re not the nicest guys, so good riddance. I’m at the halfway point, and I think I know what kind of fertilizer Yoohee often uses. A cop is just entering the story, so we’ll see how this turns out.

An upcoming read is THE BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE by Florence Marryat, published in 1897, the same year as DRACULA by Bram Stoker. Marryat was a popular writer who published over 60 novels, several short story collections, and nonfiction books. How is it I’ve never heard of her until now? Wait, don’t tell me. I think I know the answer. It’s the curse of the woman writer living in a patriarchal system. Talk about a horror story… but I digress.

Marryat’s protagonist in The Blood of the Vampire is Harriet Brandt, a biracial, bisexual, feminist psychic vampire who feeds off people’s life force rather than their blood. The blurb also states that Marryat’s books were widely read during her lifetime and were “reviled by critics.” I cannot wait to read this one! Have you read?

I have read a couple of stories in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Gothic Tales and plan to read a couple more this autumn.

If you’re looking for more horror stories by women writers, check out MONSTER, SHE WROTE: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson. It includes both classic and contemporary writers and is a useful reference book for all readers’ libraries.

Leave a comment — I’d love to hear what horror stories you are reading this season or what some of your favorites are.