October is my favorite month! Not just because it’s my birthday (although, yes), and not just because of the candy (although, also yes), but because scary stories are my favorite! 

Here are my picks for Top Five Authors to read at Halloween. Did yours make the list? 

1. Of course no scary author list can be complete without the master of horror, Stephen King. But I prefer (as I tell anyone who will listen) his non-horror stories. I find them creepy, disturbing, and brilliant. Don’t believe me? Read The Long Walk (1979), originally published under his pen name Richard Bachman. Never has a novella about walking been so terrifying. Or try The Institute (2019), which, although it features supernatural elements, is most frightening when it focuses on a group of kidnapped children and the horrors inflicted on them by adults who should know better.

2. Shirley Jackson is the queen of slow-burn dread. You know, that tickling sense at the back of your neck that something…just isn’t right? The Haunting of Hill House (1959) and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962) are proof that fear is in the details. 

3. Alice Feeney is a new author to me, and not only is she a master of twisty mysteries and gripping thrillers, she also has a wicked sense of humor and some of the best one-liners I’ve ever read. (“There are forests less shady than my wife.”) I read Rock, Paper, Scissors (2021), His & Hers (2020), and Sometimes I Lie (2018) in one week and am a verified fan.

4. No one does high school horror better than Christopher Pike. Group of hormone-addled teens stranded in a remote location? Check. Mystical forces? Check. Possession? Check. Murdery besties? Check. Immortal dinosaurs? Check check! His first book, Slumber Party, came out in 1985, and from there he published 1-2 books a year through the 1990s. I read them all, but my favorites were Slumber Party, Last Act (1988) and Scavenger Party (1989). If you ever get a chance, go back and read how truly warped the 80s were. 

5. Finally, I wouldn’t be a good Marshall, Michigander without singing the praises of hometown legend and Gothic YA author John Bellairs. His best-known work is The House With a Clock in its Walls (1973) but it was his follow-up, The Figure in the Shadows (1975). that truly scared the bejesus out of 10-year-old Joanna and necessitated the house rule of “No Reading Ghost Stories After 4 p.m.” With plenty of humor and magic and little-to-no gore, the (mis)adventures of Lewis Barnavelt are a great genre introduction for kids who enjoy things that go bump in the night (Extra awesome points awarded for the original illustrations by Edward Gorey).

What are your favorite books to read before 4 p.m.? Drop me a line and let me know.

Happy Halloween!