A FESTIVE 50: A PARENTS GUIDE TO BUYING YA HORROR FICTION

BY TONY JONES 

With Christmas fast approaching and the dread of all that Christmas shopping ahead of you, why don't you let Ginger Nuts of Horror take some of the pressure of you? With our four part guide to purchase horror books suitable for your precious ones.

Our Festive 50 is designed as a buying guide for parents who would love to introduce their younglings to the horror genre, but who might be a little concerned with exposing them to something that might distress them too much.  The books featured here have all been vetted and deemed suitable for teenage readers.  

And as a special treat for you stressed out parents there is a handy click to purchase from Amazon.com and Amazon UK feature at the end of each of these articles.  

John Horner Jacobs - Twelve Fingered Boy Trilogy ​

This is one of my very favourite YA novels of the last couple of years from a versatile author who effortlessly moves around unique genres and from YA to adult. I first came across him after loving his adult horror debut “Southern Gods” and followed that with an entertaining zombie novel  “This Dark Earth” and his fantasy series “The Incorruptibles” which moved more into fantasy and had a strong whiff of YA. I reckon this author could turn his hand to just about anything and this dark coming of age tale set in a juvie prison about a boy with special powers is hard to beat. Jacobs isn’t so well known in the UK, but such a great talent cannot go unnoticed forever. You heard about him first on the GNoH. Remember that and try and of his work, adult or YA.

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Jonathan Maberry - Dead of Night Series
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​Stonkingly good end of the world horror: an executed prisoner starts a zombie plague in a small American town. Gripping, exciting and thrilling to the last page with short punchy chapters as the clock ticks down. It’s probably an adult read, but perfect for teens, especially those who might have gone off reading or play too many computer games. I defy any YA reader not to smoke their way through this violent little beauty in a couple of days. It has got serious, serious speed from one of the modern powerhouses of the horror genre.

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Neil Gaiman – Ocean at the End of the Lane
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This beautiful fantasy/horror novel with the scariest baby sitter of all time is almost impossible to pigeonhole. On one level it reads like a kids book, on another it’s a story of loss, aging and memories of childhood. I read this book whilst staying in a ‘haunted’ hotel in Whitby, the perfect location for a challenging novel that I just couldn’t decide whether it was a YA or an adult novel, one of the many things I love about it. It’s easily one of the author’s finest novels and this dark tale of a childhood and witchcraft which is half-forgotten is totally unforgettable to the reader. Genius. But watch out for that babysitter….
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Susan Hill – I’m the King of the Castle
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Published way back in 1970 this psychological thriller which borders into horror has aged beautifully, as all of the authors early work has. Maybe you studied it at school yourself? If not, it’s a perfect teen read and the controversial and shocking ending still packs a read punch even after all these years. Set in the early part of the twentieth century, a mother and her son are hired to work in a remote country house for a widowed gentlemen who has a very sadistic son of the same age. Do they become friends? Oh no, the new boy is bullied and victimised at every opportunity by the nasty little so-and-so of the house owner and the novel moves into very dark gothic territory. I loved it.

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Gregory Hughes – Summertime of the Dead
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Although this isn’t strictly a horror novel it is so unrelentingly dark it has more than earned its place near the top of the list. Yukio is a fourteen year old living in Tokyo who sets out to revenge the death of his two best friends who killed themselves after being endlessly tormented by the Yakuza. And there begins one of the most vicious revenge thriller you’ll read all year. Is this kid really fourteen? It’s a pretty hard book to classify, has references to both Manga and the samurai of old. Much of its brilliance is in the portrayal of Yukio who is totally relentless in his quest for revenge. The author hasn’t published anything since this very cool 2012 novel.

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Darren Shan - The Demonata Series
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​Brilliant 10 book horror series which effortlessly blends fantasy with pretty gory horror. The first few pages let you know what you’re in for when Grubbs witnesses his family being very violently murdered by demons, part of the mystery is why. I’ll never forget the first time I read this and one character is ripped in half, pretty damned nasty for a kids book! I later heard the author speak at an event and he read this scene aloud to about 500 kids, you could hear a pin drop! After the family massacre Grubbs goes to live with his uncle, but the demons are never far away. I also loved the recurring chess theme that pops up here and there across the series. Few have done more to keep YA horror alive than Darren Shan in the UK, he’s a real Dude.

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Sarah Wray - The Trap

Fantastic horror about a group of teenagers spending the summer at a school camp with a very bad reputation. Ok, Jason Vorhees isn’t going to make an appearance, but it’s still a punchy short read with some good twists and will have you pining for the slasher movie pomp of the 1980s. I was also a fan of “The Forbidden Room” but the author hasn’t published anything since 2008. Really deserves to be better known.

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Jon Mayhew - Mortlock    Trilogy

Fantastically imagined horror set in the Victorian era following the story of orphaned twins Josie and Alfie as they try to uncover the mystery of a secret connected to their past, that has been passed on to them in in a note by Josie's dying guardian. A really great atmospheric chiller which is heavy on the gore for a kid’s book. And why not? Although it’s billed as a trilogy these historical horror novels can happily be read as standalone novels as the further books head into demon and djinns with new plots.  What’s not to like from the always very readable Jon Mayhew?
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Jeremy de Quidt - The Toymaker
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A demonic toymaker takes the hearts from animals and uses them to give life to robotic creatures in this dark fairytale set in a travelling German circus in the nineteenth century. I have to say this is gleefully dark tale full of grotesque characters and the odd splattering of gore and violence. The author isn’t exactly prolific and since this great book was published in 2008 has only published one other novel and recently a collection of short stories. Pick up the pace Jeremy!

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Daniel Kraus – Rotters
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Highly original, and pretty demented novel, about a straight-laced teenager sent to live with the father he doesn’t know in rural Iowa. Moving to the sticks is the least of Joey’s worries as is father soon introduces him to the world of modern day grave robbing. Kraus is relatively unknown in the UK, but is an established filmmaker, columnist and novelist in the USA. He recently co-wrote the kids book “Trollhunters” with Spanish filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, his first work of fiction since the great adult horror trilogy “The Strain”.  There is a second “Trollhunters” novel in the pipeline, the first is good fun, but a kid’s novel, rather than YA. 
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Lily Herne (AKA Sara Lotz) - Dead Lands Series
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​A pretty cool horror adventure series set ten years after a zombie plague almost destroyed South Africa. The survivors are protected by a shadowy group known as Guardians and their yearly ‘lottery’ picks a ‘Chosen One’, this happens to be the main character Lele who goes on the run in the Dead Lands rather than face what the Guardians have in store for her. This really isn’t a lottery you want to win.  In recent years there has been a real glut of YA zombie reads, but this remains one of my favourites.

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CHECK OUT PART 2 OF OUR FESTIVE FIFTY HERE 

CHECK OUT PART 3 OF OUR FESTIVE FIFTY HERE ​

Ever wondered what books inspired some of the authors on this list?  We have that covered as well, with our "The Books of Our Childhood" feature ​

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