Welcome to our latest YA and Middle Grade roundup. Amongst the nine books featured we have an incredibly wide range of plots to dig into or recommend to your favourite youngsters, of which three are Middle Grade Danette Vigilante’s Tia Lugo Speaks No Evil, Jennifer Killick’s Crater Lake Evolution (sequel to the terrific Crater Lake) and Danny Weston’s excellent A Hunter’s Moon, which also crosses over into YA. Femi Fadugba’s mindboggling debut The Upper World is straight science fiction with a touch of dystopia, but as it is set very close to where I live I could not resist featuring it. I was delighted to see the return of the YA horror franchise Red Eye with Bryony Pearce’s Cruel Castle, which is a sequel to Savage Island (2018), unfortunately this was not one of the better Red Eye releases, but kids might still enjoy it. Alexandrea Weis’s Have You Seen Me was an entertaining murder thriller set in an American boarding school and Chris Whitaker’s The Forevers, a thoughtful end of the world drama with a huge meteor hurtling towards earth. Kat Ellis backs up the superb Harrow Lake of last year with another quality twisty horror thriller Wicked Little Deeds and finally Krystal Sutherland’s House of Hollow is a beguiling and highly entertaining dark, folklore, based fantasy. The books are listed alphabetically. Please get in touch if you have any Middle Grade or YA titles you would like us to review.  Kat Ellis – Wicked Little Deeds Last year, the fourth novel by Kat Ellis Harrow Lake impressed us tremendously and it featured in our best of 2020 Christmas YA roundup. Here’s an extract from the review: “A sly and clever YA novel for teen horror freaks to savour! Harrow Lake was a smartly plotted novel which has several layers which you will want to read very carefully, especially as you head towards the end. As a main character Lola was superb and I can think of lots of teenagers who are going to love this book and get lost in its gripping story. Clever, creepy, very original, and superb YA preparation for adult horror.” I’m delighted to say that Kat’s follow-up Wicked Little Deeds is another page-turning treat and for those readers who hid behind the sofa at the mention of ‘Mr Jitters’ in Harrow Lake are going to love ‘Dead-Eyed Sadie’, an equivalent character in Wicked Little Deeds. As with the previous novel, Ellis has fun with small town paranoia, local legends, old ghost stories and builds an entertaining thriller, with supernatural overtones, around the lore. It was one of those novels, that even though it was aimed at a teen audience, had me totally on the hook in figuring who the killer was. Also, I was pretty sure I had it sussed out, but was surprised with the big reveal, even though a few clues were dropped. The main plot was very clever and opens with Ava Thorn (with her uncle and aunt) having to leave the big house her family have lived in for generations. Set in the small town of Burden Falls, her family are closely linked to the legend and curse of ‘Dead-Eyed Sadie’ in which victims are supposed to see this spirit shortly before their imminent death. Moving to a smaller property, Ava is also trying to come to terms with the death of her parents from a year earlier and although a talented artist, is struggling to focus on school. Ava was an engaging lead character who jumps off the page, whose life goes even further off the rails when she realises who has bought her old house and believes she is seeing ‘Sadie’ stalking her. Is she going mad or not? After a teenager she had an argument with is murdered Ava becomes a suspect and begins to conduct her own investigation, whilst there seems to be a vendetta against her own family. Wicked Little Deeds was a pitch perfect slice of small-town life, which although it was more thriller than horror, had a lot going on and was very well plotted. For the most part ‘Dead-Eyed Sadie’ lurked in the background and did not do very much, but when you get to the end will realise why. Teenage thriller fans should eat this book up and it is an absolutely perfect summer read. AGE RANGE 13+  Femi Fadugba - The Upper World Femi Fadugba’s excellent debut is much more YA science fiction thriller than horror, however it has such a diverse and vibrant south London vibe I just have to give it a shout out. Its Amazon blurb says it is currently being developed into a Netflix film, I hope that is the case as I would love to see the areas of Peckham and Brixton (two interconnecting south London areas) feature prominently on screen. I live very close to Brixton and really enjoyed the slang, street life and authentic feelings of black teenagers struggling with gangs, poverty and the impossible dream of escaping. The book uses slang words which my fifteen-year-old daughter chats with, so if you don’t know what ‘peng’ means you’ll have to use a modern slang dictionary! Fadugba has a scientific background and it shows throughout The Upper World, which is a clever and captivating blend of gang warfare, physics, street violence, philosophy and time travel. I’m not going to pretend to understand the quirky detours into physics, some kids might find these confusing or frustrating, but I did enjoy them and much of the novel is grounded in science and quantum physics. Not surprisingly, for a book about time travel, The Upper World is set in two different times which are cleverly interconnected through location and one of the main characters. Firstly, London of 2020 in which teenagers run in gangs and question what kind of future they have, and a near future 2035 version of the city, which is credibly different but still recognisable, with teens having similar problems, but with certain escalations. Fadugba’s vision is scarily similar to ours, where the surveillance state is even more oppressive than it is today. London itself is instantly recognisable, vibrant, multi-cultural, alive and dangerous where we meet our main character Esso who is struggling at school, avoids gangs and has the usage teenage problems with girls and his mum (the relationship with his mum was a real strength of the novel). Soon he discovers he has the ability to see glimpses of the future and becomes haunted by a vision of a bullet fired in an alleyway with devastating consequences. The second plotline is set a generation later, fifteen-year-old Rhia, who is in the care home system and is a talented footballer, but a catastrophic moment from the past holds the key to understanding the parents she never knew. The book silkily leads both characters into a shadowy location called the ‘Upper World’ which exists outside of time (I think), which had other sequences I failed to grasp 100%, but its strengths were its engaging lead characters and authentic location which portrayed local gang feuds. Yes I was confused, but it was still cool. AGE RANGE 12+  Jennifer Killick – Crater Lake Evolution We reviewed Crater Lake back in September 2020 and were delighted to see the book pick up lots of positive vibes, great reviews and obviously successful enough for a sequel, Crater Lake Evolution. Here’s a short section of what we said about the original: “If I were nine years old, I would have loved Crater Lake! It concerns a class of Year Six pupils who are on their rights of passage school trip to an adventure centre. There are terrific action sequences, some gore, great interaction between the kids and big, exciting finish. This is an outstanding gateway into more mature science fiction and horror. It is also a terrific book for reluctant readers who want something relatively mature, but not too long.” The sequel picks up the story five months after the nightmare trip to the Crater Lake camp where a group of kids had to battle creatures which took over the bodies of their teachers, friends and camp staff. If you are after a cool Invasion of the Body Snatchers creepy story then these two books really do the trick. Evolution has many of the main characters as the original, with the gang now all happily settled in secondary school and making new friends, some of which feature in the story. This time out the action takes place in Lance’s hometown of Straybridge which has a university with a science department where they have been doing dodgy experiments connected to the creatures from book one. As with the original, the action takes place over a short period of time, with Lance trying to reconnect with his old friends, whilst suspecting something dodgy has happened to his mum. Before long, the old gang of Katja, Max, Chets and Ade, plus new friend Karim are breaking the curfew to make sure the events of Crater Lake are not repeated. Evolution is fast and furious fun and I love the way it picks up the story with the same kids now in secondary school, who deal with different problems, but still try to keep in touch with their old friends which often is not easy. There are plenty of excellent action sequences and the baddies are cartoony type characters and this is engaging fun for kids at the top end of primary, or first year at secondary. AGE RANGE 9-11  Bryony Pearce – Cruel Castle Bryony Pearce’s Cruel Castle heralds the exciting and long overdue return of the YA horror franchise Red Eye. Having not published a book since Gabriel Dylan’s excellent Whiteout back in 2018 it was looking like the series was well and truly washed up and so book eleven was a very welcome return. I have a feeling the publisher underestimated how popular this series was in school libraries and I was often asked “If I had any new Red Eye books?” by desperate kids. However, considering this is the first book in three years I was very surprised the publisher decided to bounce back with a sequel for its comeback? Cruel Castle follows the events in book nine Savage Island (2018) also by Bryony Pearce and the stories are very closely connected and reading this without having the predecessor might be rather confusing. Sadly, Red Eye do not return with a bang and Cruel Castle is one of the weaker entries in the series, with the whole novel build around a rather old hat escape room format. This lacks the freshness and cruelty of its predecessor Savage Island, which was set on a remote northern Scottish island. It is also worth pointing out that in June of this year Pearce published another YA horror novel called Raising Hell which was significantly better than this and would also have been a good fit for Red Eye rather than this rather bland and undemanding sequel. The story takes place some months after the events of Savage Island where a group of teens are duped into thinking they will be participating in adventure style challenges, for a huge cash prize, only to find out it is a huge setup and if they are to survive have to kill each other off. It’s not quite Battle Royale, but there are some nasty challenges lying ahead and the book was grisly fun. I am not going to say which characters are in Cruel Castle as it would provide spoilers as to who survives in Savage Island, but there is a lot of conspiracy, revenge is on the table, aimed at the billionaire psychopath who set it all up. However, the billionaire has his own ideas and the “team-building exercise” in a Scottish castle is much more than it seems, but ultimately a less fun version of what went down on the island. There were some solid twists and turns, with the plot more thriller than horror which might attract younger readers, but overall, I felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment as this was a brilliant opportunity for Red Eye to announce its triumphant return to YA horror with something wild, instead this was rather underwhelming and they return with a whisper instead of a howl. AGE RAGE 12+  Krystal Sutherland – House of Hollow I always enjoy authors moving around the genres and Krystal Sutherland’s third novel House of Hollow is an exceptionally convincing example of this. I read her debut Chemical Hearts a few years ago, which was an entertaining YA romantic drama, but this latest novel retains the convincing teenage voice of her debut, but effortlessly blends in the supernatural. One of the great strengths of the novel was that the reader was, for most of the time, unsure whether there was something otherworldly going on or not. It was obvious from the outset that the family the story revolved around was very strange, but the contemporary private school setting in Hampstead north London, grounded the action in the world of today. The novel is narrated by the youngest of three sisters Iris (the others being Vivi and Grey) and even she admits that odd things can happen around them, but kind of shrugs it off as the biproduct of being ‘Hollow Sister’ Whether Iris Hollow has special powers or is just plain weird is for the reader to find out, however, as a narrator she seriously crackles and gives House of Hollow a very authentic teenage voice which I am sure many teen readers will tap straight into. The reason the sisters are ‘special’ is because ten years earlier the three vanished into thin air, only to reappear a month later, with no memory of where they had been. Over the following years, even if the media interest eventually died down, both elder sisters Vivi and Grey led very different lives in a rock band and as a super model. However, even if the sister bond is very tight (and a great strength of the novel) it is Iris who is left behind. Early in the novel the story takes a fascinating direction when, once again, Grey disappears, but leaves clues to where she might be only her sisters can decipher. The story then moves into the realms of dark fairy tales and folklore, without ever playing to the stereotypes you often get in this brand of YA novel. Make sure you hang in there for a terrific ending. AGE RANGE 13+  Danette Vigilante - Tia Lugo Speaks No Evil If you’re after an enjoyable easy-read page-turning, but not too scary thriller, then Tia Lugo Speaks No Evil is worth a look for kids at the top end of primary, or first year of secondary school. Very early in the story thirteen-year-old New Yorker Tia Lugo partially witnesses a murder outside her bedroom window, suffering from Asma, she finds herself awake at odd times and struggles to sleep. The story is built around her failure to tell the police what she saw, fearful that the killer will target her family and at a certain point he does make contact. Adult readers will not find many surprises in this story, but I enjoyed Tia trying to negotiate what to do next, coming from a Spanish speaking family, with a grandmother who believes in herbal magic (and weird-smelling herb bundles, and eerie statues), the plot has some nice strands which are built around her close-knit family and a culture which does not find talking to the police easy. The nicest relationship is with her best friend Julius, who is the same age, and there are the early stages of romantic tension in the air, but the book keeps everything nicely innocent. Tia was a terrific main character, and although you will be screaming “go to the police!”, it was still very nice to have a Latin American central character, with the plot also taking in bullying at school and younger readers have an entertaining mystery to unravel, with a couple of red herrings thrown in along the way. Horror does not always have to be super scary, and this was a very enjoyable Middle Grade thriller with nice tension, atmosphere and family dynamics. AGE RANGE 8-11  Alexandrea Weis – Have You Seen Me Alexandrea Weis’s Have You Seen Me follows a well-trodden path into a posh American boarding school, Waverly Prep, with sinister goings on, which they seem to be deliberately playing down. There was little to separate this book from the crowded boarding school pack which falls short of the market-leader, Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious series, which has a very similar setting. My main issue with this book was the way in which the murder mystery was framed, not necessarily the story itself, which was a decent read with twists and turns and a surprise ending (but not too much, as I knew who the killer was long before the end). When I read a thriller, I need to be convinced what I am reading is plausible. However, within the first thirty pages of Have You Seen Me new history teacher (main character Aubrey LeRoux) almost becomes best friends with a group of students and begins to investigate the disappearance of troubled teenager Lindsey Gillett. This was just so implausible, the brand-new teacher leading a Scoobie gang investigation with her pupils! Granted, the teens had their own agenda, but this lack of basic credibility put me off the book from the start. Perhaps it is because I have worked in education and schools since 1994 that this irritated me so much as it lacked even an inch of credibility. Genuine kids readers will undoubtedly swallow the story much easier that I did. Bearing that observation in mind teen readers should have fun with what is an engaging murder mystery which takes in disappearances over two time periods. Once Audrey turns up (she is a young teacher, mid-twenties), we realise that she previously attended the school as a pupil when another girl disappeared and was questioned as a suspect. It is quickly revealed that Audrey was bullied and did not have a particularly happy time at Waverly Prep. The teens who join her Scoobie gang were all friends of Lindsey, and are also aware of Sophie’s history, and use her to try and solve the mystery and any connections to the previous disappearance. In the end there were not too many suspects, and like with Scoobie, it is never the most obvious one. Other points of view are the kids in the group, with the story taking in usual teen issues in broad strokes. One might wonder why Audrey ever came back as the Headmistress was a real dragon who did not like anybody. Have You Seen Me was an easy and relatively undemanding read for thriller and mystery fans. AGE RANGE 12+  Danny Weston - A Hunter’s Moon If you are after a very fast paced historical supernatural thriller then Danny Weston’s A Hunter’s Moon is a terrific Middle Grade read and because it holds back on graphic violence is perfect for kids starting secondary school. Set in 18th Century Scotland, and top-loaded with local folklore, teenager Callum’s life is turned upside down when his father loses a pile of money at cards. As a result, Callum ends up working as a servant/slave to Frazer McCloud as payment for his father’s debt and McCloud is a tough master. Early in the novel the pair are hired to kill a wolf which is terrorising a local community some miles away. Once they arrive they realise the local farmers believe that the killer is not a wolf, but a creature from Scottish mythology called Cù Sìth. What follows is a very entertaining thriller in which Callum and Frazer realise that the Colonel who hired them has not told them the full story and something very nasty lurks in the encroaching forests and it’s hungry. I particularly enjoyed the interactions between the characters in A Hunter’s Moon. Initially McCloud is painted as a real bad guy, but he grows on the reader as the plot moves along. Likewise, the developing friendship between Callum and local girl Mhairi, the innkeeper’s daughter, came across as authentic, particularly as she has a strange air about her. Even though it was not an especially violent book the action sequences were wildly intense and the descriptions of the beast were particularly strong. I enjoy fiction which has a convincing folklore spin and A Hunter’s Moon had me checking Wikipedia a few times, all of which is blended into a convincing Scottish setting. Young horror and thriller fans will get quickly sucked into this engaging plot, especially as the body count increases, and even those readers who do not read much historical fiction will easily tap into this engaging novel. AGE RANGE 10-13  Chris Whitaker – The Forevers There are many YA novels about the end of the world which head into wild survivalist or dystopian settings and Chris Whitaker’s The Forevers is an antidote to that particular trope, as there is not a biker or cannibal in sight. Alternatively, this novel is a very philosophical and character driven look at the end of the world, it will be too slow for action seeking teens, but for those who enjoy more thoughtful dark thrillers then there is much to admire. It also reminded me of the fantastic Last Policeman by Ben Winters, an adult trilogy with a very similar plot, a giant asteroid will hit earth and the novel is the countdown to this cataclysmic event. In a YA setting a countdown to the end of the world asks lots of interesting questions involving the point of going to school, following rules or even the law. Is murder a big deal or even worth investigating? Like in The Last Policeman the asteroid is discovered ten years before impact and the novel picks up the story thirty days before the world (probably) ends. Main character Mae is seventeen and knows she is going to die before she turns eighteen, so it is easy why teens might ask “What’s the point?” type questions. The story is built around three suicides, including the best friend of Mae, and her investigation into whether this was indeed a suicide. If anything, the story dwells too much on this and for some of the time the asteroid is relegated to the background. As society begins to crumble (but not to the extent of most novels of this type) it asks the question what would you do if you could get away with anything? Ultimately it was a very sad book as the reader knows what exactly is going to happen on the very last page. It was inevitable, but somehow I was still hoping that there was a get out for Mae as she was a great character, damaged, but one teen readers will feel great empathy for. AGE RANGE 13+ Tony Jones TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE[SPLASHES OF DARKNESS] |
![[YOUNG BLOOD LIBRARY] MIDDLE GRADE AND YA HORROR ROUND UP FOR AUGUST 2021](../../uploads/3/4/5/1/34519054/young-blood-library-middle-grade-and-ya-horror-round-up-for-august-2021_orig.jpg)
 | There are some terrific authors in this section, but my personal favourite is the great Scott Sigler who has written some vicious science fiction-tinged horror and more recently made a successful jump to YA with a trilogy which effortlessly blends science fiction and horror. |
This is the final of three article which takes a broad sweep at authors who started their careers as adult horror writers, but at some stage turned to YA fiction or visa-versa, those who began with YA and then jumped to adult. Interestingly, considering the huge number of horror writers there are, it is not an especially long list. If you missed part one and two follow the links below to catch up:
PART 1
https://gingernutsofhorror.com/young-blood/adult-horror-writers-who-also-write-ya-fiction-and-visa-versa-part-1-a-h
PART 2
https://gingernutsofhorror.com/young-blood/blurring-the-boundaries-between-worlds-horror-authors-who-write-ya-and-adult-horror-part-2-i-r
There are some terrific authors in this section, but my personal favourite is the great Scott Sigler who has written some vicious science fiction-tinged horror and more recently made a successful jump to YA with a trilogy which effortlessly blends science fiction and horror. It is tricky writing for both age groups and if you do not know many of these authors, they are well worth dipping into. Interestingly, many of them are much better known for one age group and would be seen as ‘dabblers’ in the others, for example, how many of you knew the great Jeff Strand has written many YA novels or that the multi-million selling YA legend Darren Shan writes adult fiction as Darren Dash?
It is not an authoritative list, and it has been compiled mainly from going through my old Ginger Nuts of Horror reviews, which date back to 2015. I would also like to thank the Twitter horror-sphere and the Books of Horror Facebook group who helped with many of the suggestions. I am sure there are many other great examples, so get in touch if there are any glaring omissions and they may feature in a follow-up article.
The short accompanying reviews notes: if it is a novel I have previously reviewed on Ginger Nuts of Horror it is introduced with “Here’s what we said about….” Others might have reviews of books I have read but have never previously reviewed online. The late additions, books I have not read, have blurbs which I have taken from either Fantastic Fiction or Amazon. Many of these are future reads! The dates I have used have also originated on Amazon or Fantastic Fiction. Note, they do not aim to be complete, and I have featured what I have found to be the most relevant to this project.
The authors are listed alphabetically.
PART 1
https://gingernutsofhorror.com/young-blood/adult-horror-writers-who-also-write-ya-fiction-and-visa-versa-part-1-a-h
PART 2
https://gingernutsofhorror.com/young-blood/blurring-the-boundaries-between-worlds-horror-authors-who-write-ya-and-adult-horror-part-2-i-r
There are some terrific authors in this section, but my personal favourite is the great Scott Sigler who has written some vicious science fiction-tinged horror and more recently made a successful jump to YA with a trilogy which effortlessly blends science fiction and horror. It is tricky writing for both age groups and if you do not know many of these authors, they are well worth dipping into. Interestingly, many of them are much better known for one age group and would be seen as ‘dabblers’ in the others, for example, how many of you knew the great Jeff Strand has written many YA novels or that the multi-million selling YA legend Darren Shan writes adult fiction as Darren Dash?
It is not an authoritative list, and it has been compiled mainly from going through my old Ginger Nuts of Horror reviews, which date back to 2015. I would also like to thank the Twitter horror-sphere and the Books of Horror Facebook group who helped with many of the suggestions. I am sure there are many other great examples, so get in touch if there are any glaring omissions and they may feature in a follow-up article.
The short accompanying reviews notes: if it is a novel I have previously reviewed on Ginger Nuts of Horror it is introduced with “Here’s what we said about….” Others might have reviews of books I have read but have never previously reviewed online. The late additions, books I have not read, have blurbs which I have taken from either Fantastic Fiction or Amazon. Many of these are future reads! The dates I have used have also originated on Amazon or Fantastic Fiction. Note, they do not aim to be complete, and I have featured what I have found to be the most relevant to this project.
The authors are listed alphabetically.
VE SCHWAB AKA VICTORIA SCHWAB
Between 2013-2021 VE Schwab has written ten or eleven novels, which are a blend of dark fantasy, although technically they are adult reads, most have very strong YA vibes to them and are popular with teens. For example, my fifteen-year-old daughter loved The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020) and has read many of her other ‘adult’ novels, the best known are Vicious (2013), A Darker Side of Magic (2015) and The Steel Prince (2018). Her most recent novel is Extraordinary (2021), which kicks off her new series. When writing as Victoria Schwab her fiction is a mixture of dark fantasy and the supernatural, aimed at both YA and younger Middle Grade age groups. Her series include The Near Witch (2011), Archived (2013-14), Everyday Angel (2014), Monsters of Verity (2016-17) and Cassidy Blake (2018-21) which begins with City of Ghosts.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT CITY OF GHOSTS (2018)
The multi-talented Victoria Schwab who writes for both adults and teens returns with a new fantasy ghost story for slightly younger children. When Cass was younger, she had a near-death-experience which resulted in her having the ability to see ghosts. Her best friend, Jacob, is a ghost, whom her parents believe is just an invisible friend she will grow out of. After her parents get a new job presenting a TV programme about true supernatural hauntings her family relocate from America to Edinburgh in Scotland. Once in Edinburgh the ‘City of Ghosts’ Cass begins to see even more ghosts and even meets another little girl who has the same gift as her who teaches her to use it properly. This was a very easy read, quite gently written, with no real level of threat and would be a pleasant introduction for children beginning to develop an interest in ghost stories. AGE RANGE 8-11
DARREN SHAN AKA DARREN DASH
Darren Shan is arguably the most important British YA horror writer of the 21st Century and his twelve-book series The Saga of Darren Shan (2000-2005) and ten book Demonata (2005-2009) series were instrumental in creating a new generation of teen horror readers, selling millions of copies along the way. We regularly bang on about the importance of RL Stine and Christopher Pike, but in the UK Shan is as important as those other guys. Between 2010-12 he returned to his most famous debut series with a quartet of prequels The Saga of Larten Crepsley. By this stage, his popularity had begun to dip, and the twelve book ZOM-B series (2012-16) did not have the impact of his earlier work and one could argue the twelve books were published too closely together. Darren had originally started out as an adult writer, using his real name Darren O'Shaughnessy with the City Duology (1999-2000) which was later republished under Darren Shan, expanding into a trilogy. Other experiments with adult writing continued in 2012 with Lady of the Shades and other dark thrillers followed, including Molly Likes It Hot (2019), The Evil and the Pure (2014), Sunburn (2015) and An Other Place (2016) under the pseudonym Darren Dash. He has recently returned to YA with the multibook fantasy series Archibald Lox (2020-21). YA horror is sending out an SOS to the true king: we need you back, Darren!
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT THE SAGA OF LARTEN CREPSLEY QUARTET (2010)
‘Origin’ stories are dime a dozen these days, however, back in 2010 Darren Shan was way ahead of the curve when he returned to the world of his most memorable creations, the twelve-book series Cirque Du Freak which is one of my personal favourites and essential reading for any young teen. You could easily read this quartet without reading Cirque Du Freak, but much of it has been written for those ‘in the know’ and stars Larten Crepsley one of the main supernatural characters from Cirque Du Freak who is several hundred-years-old. This origins story takes us back to when Larten was still a human boy and gets into trouble after killing a man who murdered his brother. Once on the run he meets a vampire, Seba, and his life changes forever. The four books beautifully humanise Larten who at various times falls out of love with being a vampire and immortality, taking the reader on a highly entertaining and swashbuckling series of adventures and escapades. I wish Darren Shan would start writing horror for teens again, few have done more for engaging boys into reading horror than this outstanding author in the last twenty years. AGE RANGE 11+
SCOTT SIGLER
If I’m ever asked who my favourite author is, Scott Sigler is always in my all-time top three and sometimes occupies the top spot. I have read every word this wonderful author has written and if anybody blends bloody horror, science fiction and wild crazy technology together better, I have yet to discover them. I even met him when he visited London a few years back. He has too many amazing adult novels to list, but my favourites are Infected (2008), its sequel Contagious (2008), Earthcore (2001), Ancestor (2007) and Nocturnal (2012). At the time of writing my tongue is hanging out waiting for Mount Fitz Roy, the sequel to Earthcore, to drop at the end of 2021. Between 2015-17 Sigler tried his hand at YA with the impressive Generations Trilogy, which was a blend of dystopian science fiction and horror. However, you could argue that Sigler first dabbled with YA way back in 2009 with The Rookie (2009), which was the first book in his Galactic Football League series (2009-21), which now numbers six books. I have them in my school library and over the years many kids have read their way through the series.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT THE GENERATIONS TRILOGY (2015-17)
Sigler ranks amongst my favourite ever authors and has written many terrific adult novels, but Alive is his first full dip into YA which expertly blends science fiction, dystopia and horror with a group of kids waking up in coffins, not knowing who or where they are; all suffering from amnesia and feeling rather weird in the bodies they now inhabit. It’s an outstanding move into YA from the author of the horrific Infected trilogy and the inter-connected trilogy has many outstanding twists along the way. AGE RANGE 13+
RL STINE
RL Stine has written, quite literally, hundreds of books since first appearing in the mid-1980s and remains most famous for his Goosebumps (1992-2021), Fear Street (1989-98) and Point Horror novels, which are a mixture of Middle Grade and YA. Some of these series are truly massive, with the original Fear Street a huge 53 books and the first Goosebumps series, well over a hundred books. The impact Stine has had on young readers, horror fans, and budding authors, as a gateway to the world of the supernatural is truly beyond measure. At various times, with limited success, Stine has experimented with adult horror, but they seem to lack an edge. His first attempt was Superstitious (1995), others include Eye Candy (2003) and Red Rain (2012). There is always nostalgia for the Point Horror series, but in reality they are rather dated and YA has moved on considerably in the following decades.
BLURB FOR ‘THE SNOWMAN’ (1991)
Heather is so unhappy. Her evil guardian hates her and treats her like dirt, she has few friends, and she feels cold and alone. Then she meets a great guy who calls himself the Snowman. Heather feels safe, but is the Snowman all that he seems?
Between 2013-2021 VE Schwab has written ten or eleven novels, which are a blend of dark fantasy, although technically they are adult reads, most have very strong YA vibes to them and are popular with teens. For example, my fifteen-year-old daughter loved The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020) and has read many of her other ‘adult’ novels, the best known are Vicious (2013), A Darker Side of Magic (2015) and The Steel Prince (2018). Her most recent novel is Extraordinary (2021), which kicks off her new series. When writing as Victoria Schwab her fiction is a mixture of dark fantasy and the supernatural, aimed at both YA and younger Middle Grade age groups. Her series include The Near Witch (2011), Archived (2013-14), Everyday Angel (2014), Monsters of Verity (2016-17) and Cassidy Blake (2018-21) which begins with City of Ghosts.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT CITY OF GHOSTS (2018)
The multi-talented Victoria Schwab who writes for both adults and teens returns with a new fantasy ghost story for slightly younger children. When Cass was younger, she had a near-death-experience which resulted in her having the ability to see ghosts. Her best friend, Jacob, is a ghost, whom her parents believe is just an invisible friend she will grow out of. After her parents get a new job presenting a TV programme about true supernatural hauntings her family relocate from America to Edinburgh in Scotland. Once in Edinburgh the ‘City of Ghosts’ Cass begins to see even more ghosts and even meets another little girl who has the same gift as her who teaches her to use it properly. This was a very easy read, quite gently written, with no real level of threat and would be a pleasant introduction for children beginning to develop an interest in ghost stories. AGE RANGE 8-11
DARREN SHAN AKA DARREN DASH
Darren Shan is arguably the most important British YA horror writer of the 21st Century and his twelve-book series The Saga of Darren Shan (2000-2005) and ten book Demonata (2005-2009) series were instrumental in creating a new generation of teen horror readers, selling millions of copies along the way. We regularly bang on about the importance of RL Stine and Christopher Pike, but in the UK Shan is as important as those other guys. Between 2010-12 he returned to his most famous debut series with a quartet of prequels The Saga of Larten Crepsley. By this stage, his popularity had begun to dip, and the twelve book ZOM-B series (2012-16) did not have the impact of his earlier work and one could argue the twelve books were published too closely together. Darren had originally started out as an adult writer, using his real name Darren O'Shaughnessy with the City Duology (1999-2000) which was later republished under Darren Shan, expanding into a trilogy. Other experiments with adult writing continued in 2012 with Lady of the Shades and other dark thrillers followed, including Molly Likes It Hot (2019), The Evil and the Pure (2014), Sunburn (2015) and An Other Place (2016) under the pseudonym Darren Dash. He has recently returned to YA with the multibook fantasy series Archibald Lox (2020-21). YA horror is sending out an SOS to the true king: we need you back, Darren!
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT THE SAGA OF LARTEN CREPSLEY QUARTET (2010)
‘Origin’ stories are dime a dozen these days, however, back in 2010 Darren Shan was way ahead of the curve when he returned to the world of his most memorable creations, the twelve-book series Cirque Du Freak which is one of my personal favourites and essential reading for any young teen. You could easily read this quartet without reading Cirque Du Freak, but much of it has been written for those ‘in the know’ and stars Larten Crepsley one of the main supernatural characters from Cirque Du Freak who is several hundred-years-old. This origins story takes us back to when Larten was still a human boy and gets into trouble after killing a man who murdered his brother. Once on the run he meets a vampire, Seba, and his life changes forever. The four books beautifully humanise Larten who at various times falls out of love with being a vampire and immortality, taking the reader on a highly entertaining and swashbuckling series of adventures and escapades. I wish Darren Shan would start writing horror for teens again, few have done more for engaging boys into reading horror than this outstanding author in the last twenty years. AGE RANGE 11+
SCOTT SIGLER
If I’m ever asked who my favourite author is, Scott Sigler is always in my all-time top three and sometimes occupies the top spot. I have read every word this wonderful author has written and if anybody blends bloody horror, science fiction and wild crazy technology together better, I have yet to discover them. I even met him when he visited London a few years back. He has too many amazing adult novels to list, but my favourites are Infected (2008), its sequel Contagious (2008), Earthcore (2001), Ancestor (2007) and Nocturnal (2012). At the time of writing my tongue is hanging out waiting for Mount Fitz Roy, the sequel to Earthcore, to drop at the end of 2021. Between 2015-17 Sigler tried his hand at YA with the impressive Generations Trilogy, which was a blend of dystopian science fiction and horror. However, you could argue that Sigler first dabbled with YA way back in 2009 with The Rookie (2009), which was the first book in his Galactic Football League series (2009-21), which now numbers six books. I have them in my school library and over the years many kids have read their way through the series.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT THE GENERATIONS TRILOGY (2015-17)
Sigler ranks amongst my favourite ever authors and has written many terrific adult novels, but Alive is his first full dip into YA which expertly blends science fiction, dystopia and horror with a group of kids waking up in coffins, not knowing who or where they are; all suffering from amnesia and feeling rather weird in the bodies they now inhabit. It’s an outstanding move into YA from the author of the horrific Infected trilogy and the inter-connected trilogy has many outstanding twists along the way. AGE RANGE 13+
RL STINE
RL Stine has written, quite literally, hundreds of books since first appearing in the mid-1980s and remains most famous for his Goosebumps (1992-2021), Fear Street (1989-98) and Point Horror novels, which are a mixture of Middle Grade and YA. Some of these series are truly massive, with the original Fear Street a huge 53 books and the first Goosebumps series, well over a hundred books. The impact Stine has had on young readers, horror fans, and budding authors, as a gateway to the world of the supernatural is truly beyond measure. At various times, with limited success, Stine has experimented with adult horror, but they seem to lack an edge. His first attempt was Superstitious (1995), others include Eye Candy (2003) and Red Rain (2012). There is always nostalgia for the Point Horror series, but in reality they are rather dated and YA has moved on considerably in the following decades.
BLURB FOR ‘THE SNOWMAN’ (1991)
Heather is so unhappy. Her evil guardian hates her and treats her like dirt, she has few friends, and she feels cold and alone. Then she meets a great guy who calls himself the Snowman. Heather feels safe, but is the Snowman all that he seems?
SAM STONE AKA SAMANTHA LEE HOWE
Sam Stone is known for the six book adult Vampire Gene series (2008-16), the Jinx Chronicles (2015-18), Posing for Picasso (2018) and other novellas, collections and short stories. She has also written mysteries, The Stranger in our Bed (2020) and the House of Killers series (2021) under the name Samantha Lee Howe. Between 2012-18 she also moved into urban YA fantasy with a strong Steampunk twang, with the Kat Lightfoot Mysteries, which begins with Zombies at Tiffany’s.
BLURB FOR ZOMBIES AT TIFFANY’S (2012)
Kat Lightfoot thought that getting a job at the famed Tiffany's store in New York would be the end to her problems ... she has money, new friends, and there's even an inventor working there who develops new weapons from clockwork, and who cuts diamonds with a strange, powered light. This is 1862, after all, and such things are the wonder of the age.
But then events take a turn for the worse: men and women wander the streets talking of 'the darkness'; bodies vanish from morgues across town; and random, bloody attacks on innocent people take place in broad daylight. Soon Kat and her friends are fighting for their lives against a horde of infected people, with only their wits and ingenuity to help them.
JEFF STRAND
Jeff Strand is so prolific I have given up trying to keep up with him and although I’ve read a good few of his books, there are plenty more to go. Many of his recent books have been self-published, but that does not signify any dip in quality and Strand keeps on doing his prolific crazy and rather unique thing. He has too many books to list, so here are a few of my favourites Blister (2011), the utterly wild Cyclops Road is my personal favourite (2016), My Pretties (2019), Clowns Vs Spiders (2019) and Allison (2020). Much of his work has a distinctive brand of comic horror and often branches into other genres, his YA titles include Elrod McBugle On The Loose (2007), A Bad Day for Voodoo (2008), I Have a Bad Feeling About This (2014), The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever (2016), Stranger Things Have Happened (2017) and How You Ruined My Life (2018). Strand if one of the few authors to be both nominated for a YA Stoker (A Bad Day For Voodoo) and in the adult best novel category, for Pressure (2006). If you have never tried Jeff, you are in for an absolute blast. A deeper exploration of his YA is on my ‘to-do’ list and he is one of those authors I am always delighted to dip into his outstanding back catalogue.
BLURB FOR ‘A BAD DAY FOR VOODOO’ (2008)
When your best friend is just a tiny bit psychotic, you should never actually believe him when he says, "Trust me. This is gonna be awesome." Of course, you probably wouldn't believe a voodoo doll could work either. Or that it could cause someone's leg to blow clean off with one quick prick. But I've seen it. It can happen.
And when there's suddenly a doll of YOU floating around out there - a doll that could be snatched by a Rottweiler and torn to shreds, or a gang of thugs ready to torch it, or any random family of cannibals (really, do you need the danger here spelled out for you?) - well, you know that's just gonna be a really bad day ...
STEVE STRED
Canadian literary whirlwind is another author who is way too prolific for me to keep up with. Over the last few years Steve has released an impressive range of fiction, mainly at novella length. I’ve read a range of these and my favourite is the awesome The Window in the Ground (2020) which can count itself unlucky in not making the final ballot for the Novella Bram Stoker Award. The One That Knows No Fear (2019) was also a great read and The Girl Who Hid in the Trees (2019) and Ritual (2019) were also enjoyable. In 2020 Stred released his first junior fiction title, The Boy Whose Room Was Outside, which showed promise and I’ll be interested whether he returns to the younger age groups or attempts to write for the older YA audience.
REVIEW OF ‘THE BOY WHOSE ROOM WAS OUTSIDE’ (2020)
The Boy Whose Room Was Outside was quite a gentle and non-threatening fantasy novel aimed at a younger age group. The story revolves around a young boy who when he falls asleep wakes up in a fantasy and magical world where he meets lots of different animals who can talk. Whilst he is in this other world, he is also being watched by a dark presence which draws closer to him as the story progresses. This dark force does not want him in the forest, but we do not know why.
This was a very easy read which might fire the imagination of younger children but considering the depth of excellent fantasy novels on the market a story needs more strings to its bow than talking animals to genuinely hold the attention. There were many nice touches, including his relationship with his parents, his dad attempting to get to the other world, Peter’s understanding mother and the fact that his parents couldn’t figure out where he learned to swim! The giant was a lovely character, but in the end of the day the ‘dark’ character did not do much apart from lurk in the background. Having said that, not all stories have to be truly dark, and Peter’s journey was a nice, gentle, and easy to read coming-of-age story aimed at younger children. AGE RANGE 8-10
CL TAYLOR
CL Taylor is best known for her bestselling adult psychological thrillers, which include The Accident (2014), The Lie (2015), The Escape (2017), The Fear (2018), Strangers (2020) and most recently Her Last Holiday (2021). However, she has also written two YA novels, The Treatment (2017) and The Island (2021) neither of which are traditional horror novels, mor a blend of dark thriller with supernatural overtones.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘THE TREATMENT’ (2017)
The Treatment by CL Taylor has had some hype in YA land recently, being the teen debut for a bestselling adult thriller writer. I haven’t read any of her adult offerings, but this was a tad underwhelming and although it was well written with an engaging free flowing style the plot was telegraphed and predictable to an adult reader. Drew is having a tough time at school and is being bullied after her troublemaker brother is sent to a reform school. This is a new type of school, called Residential Reform Academy (RRA), Drew finds out that the RRA may have some dodgy ‘treatment’ which reconditions and cures these troublesome teens. Of course, before long Drew also ends up in the RRA and it all becomes very predictable. It’s more thriller than horror and teens looking for an easy read will get some entertainment from it. AGE RANGE 12+
Sam Stone is known for the six book adult Vampire Gene series (2008-16), the Jinx Chronicles (2015-18), Posing for Picasso (2018) and other novellas, collections and short stories. She has also written mysteries, The Stranger in our Bed (2020) and the House of Killers series (2021) under the name Samantha Lee Howe. Between 2012-18 she also moved into urban YA fantasy with a strong Steampunk twang, with the Kat Lightfoot Mysteries, which begins with Zombies at Tiffany’s.
BLURB FOR ZOMBIES AT TIFFANY’S (2012)
Kat Lightfoot thought that getting a job at the famed Tiffany's store in New York would be the end to her problems ... she has money, new friends, and there's even an inventor working there who develops new weapons from clockwork, and who cuts diamonds with a strange, powered light. This is 1862, after all, and such things are the wonder of the age.
But then events take a turn for the worse: men and women wander the streets talking of 'the darkness'; bodies vanish from morgues across town; and random, bloody attacks on innocent people take place in broad daylight. Soon Kat and her friends are fighting for their lives against a horde of infected people, with only their wits and ingenuity to help them.
JEFF STRAND
Jeff Strand is so prolific I have given up trying to keep up with him and although I’ve read a good few of his books, there are plenty more to go. Many of his recent books have been self-published, but that does not signify any dip in quality and Strand keeps on doing his prolific crazy and rather unique thing. He has too many books to list, so here are a few of my favourites Blister (2011), the utterly wild Cyclops Road is my personal favourite (2016), My Pretties (2019), Clowns Vs Spiders (2019) and Allison (2020). Much of his work has a distinctive brand of comic horror and often branches into other genres, his YA titles include Elrod McBugle On The Loose (2007), A Bad Day for Voodoo (2008), I Have a Bad Feeling About This (2014), The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever (2016), Stranger Things Have Happened (2017) and How You Ruined My Life (2018). Strand if one of the few authors to be both nominated for a YA Stoker (A Bad Day For Voodoo) and in the adult best novel category, for Pressure (2006). If you have never tried Jeff, you are in for an absolute blast. A deeper exploration of his YA is on my ‘to-do’ list and he is one of those authors I am always delighted to dip into his outstanding back catalogue.
BLURB FOR ‘A BAD DAY FOR VOODOO’ (2008)
When your best friend is just a tiny bit psychotic, you should never actually believe him when he says, "Trust me. This is gonna be awesome." Of course, you probably wouldn't believe a voodoo doll could work either. Or that it could cause someone's leg to blow clean off with one quick prick. But I've seen it. It can happen.
And when there's suddenly a doll of YOU floating around out there - a doll that could be snatched by a Rottweiler and torn to shreds, or a gang of thugs ready to torch it, or any random family of cannibals (really, do you need the danger here spelled out for you?) - well, you know that's just gonna be a really bad day ...
STEVE STRED
Canadian literary whirlwind is another author who is way too prolific for me to keep up with. Over the last few years Steve has released an impressive range of fiction, mainly at novella length. I’ve read a range of these and my favourite is the awesome The Window in the Ground (2020) which can count itself unlucky in not making the final ballot for the Novella Bram Stoker Award. The One That Knows No Fear (2019) was also a great read and The Girl Who Hid in the Trees (2019) and Ritual (2019) were also enjoyable. In 2020 Stred released his first junior fiction title, The Boy Whose Room Was Outside, which showed promise and I’ll be interested whether he returns to the younger age groups or attempts to write for the older YA audience.
REVIEW OF ‘THE BOY WHOSE ROOM WAS OUTSIDE’ (2020)
The Boy Whose Room Was Outside was quite a gentle and non-threatening fantasy novel aimed at a younger age group. The story revolves around a young boy who when he falls asleep wakes up in a fantasy and magical world where he meets lots of different animals who can talk. Whilst he is in this other world, he is also being watched by a dark presence which draws closer to him as the story progresses. This dark force does not want him in the forest, but we do not know why.
This was a very easy read which might fire the imagination of younger children but considering the depth of excellent fantasy novels on the market a story needs more strings to its bow than talking animals to genuinely hold the attention. There were many nice touches, including his relationship with his parents, his dad attempting to get to the other world, Peter’s understanding mother and the fact that his parents couldn’t figure out where he learned to swim! The giant was a lovely character, but in the end of the day the ‘dark’ character did not do much apart from lurk in the background. Having said that, not all stories have to be truly dark, and Peter’s journey was a nice, gentle, and easy to read coming-of-age story aimed at younger children. AGE RANGE 8-10
CL TAYLOR
CL Taylor is best known for her bestselling adult psychological thrillers, which include The Accident (2014), The Lie (2015), The Escape (2017), The Fear (2018), Strangers (2020) and most recently Her Last Holiday (2021). However, she has also written two YA novels, The Treatment (2017) and The Island (2021) neither of which are traditional horror novels, mor a blend of dark thriller with supernatural overtones.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘THE TREATMENT’ (2017)
The Treatment by CL Taylor has had some hype in YA land recently, being the teen debut for a bestselling adult thriller writer. I haven’t read any of her adult offerings, but this was a tad underwhelming and although it was well written with an engaging free flowing style the plot was telegraphed and predictable to an adult reader. Drew is having a tough time at school and is being bullied after her troublemaker brother is sent to a reform school. This is a new type of school, called Residential Reform Academy (RRA), Drew finds out that the RRA may have some dodgy ‘treatment’ which reconditions and cures these troublesome teens. Of course, before long Drew also ends up in the RRA and it all becomes very predictable. It’s more thriller than horror and teens looking for an easy read will get some entertainment from it. AGE RANGE 12+
STEVE RASNIC TEM
Steve Rasnic Tem published his first novel Excavation back in 1987, however he has been writing short stories since the 1970s with over 200 published, and either winning or being nominated for top awards such as the British Fantasy Award, the World Fantasy and Bram Stoker Awards. His short story output is so prolific he regularly has his own collections published, including his debut Decoded Mirrors in 1978, the many others which followed include Ugly Behaviour (2012) and Onion Songs (2013). Other adult horror novels are Blood Kin (2014) which won the Bram Stoker Award for best novel and Ubo (2017). However, in 2018 Tem changed direction and published his first novel for children, The Mask Shop of Doctor Blaack.
BLURB FOR THE ‘MASK SHOP OF DOCTOR BLAACK’ (2018)
Fall is Laura's favorite time of year, but this autumn, things are different. She's a teenager now, and the season brings new changes and challenges. Laura's decided she's too old for trick-or-treating and wants a more grown-up Halloween experience with her friends. Unfortunately for Laura, her parents tell her she has to take her little brother, Trevor, out trick-or-treating first. When they go shopping for Halloween costumes, they stumble upon a very strange shop and its even stranger proprietor. When Trevor tries on the wrong mask, the consequences are exciting...and dangerous. AGE RANGE 10+
GABY TRIANA
Gaby Triana has written a blend of YA horror, fantasy and teen romance, most recently the excellent Moon Child (2021) which is reviewed below. Other titles include Back Stage Pass (2004), Summer of Yesterday (2014) and Cakespell (2018). Her adult fiction includes The Haunted Florida Trilogy (2018). Gaby has also ghost written many other books.
HERE’S OUR REVIEW OF ‘MOON CHILD’ (2021)
Gaby Triana has a number of novels, across different genres, but Moon Child was the first time I had tried her fiction and I look forward to dipping into her back catalogue. This was another novel with a great catch phrase which I thought would be very difficult to live up to, however, Moon Child makes a rock-solid attempt of truly being “The Craft meets The Shining in this slow-burn Florida gothic horror.” Religious conflict lies at the heart of this engaging story as eighteen-year-old Cuban American Valentina Callejas has been brought up very close to the Catholic Church, with both a dominating mother and grandmother in a very close-knit Latin community in which tradition comes first. However, Valentina has a secret interest in tarot cards and the occult which guiltily clashes with her strict Catholic upbringing. After a bust up with her family, and a refusal to stay on a church retreat, she heads to visit her half-sister (whom she has never met) and finds her welcoming, warm, and completely different from her immediate family. There was a lot going on in Valentina’s life, even before we get to the horror.
Whilst out exploring, close to where her sister lives, Valentina discovers an abandoned hotel which sits beside a lake and inside the building meets a group of teenagers, who claim to have been waiting for her to complete their magic circle. After getting over her suspicions, Valentina realises the group all have slightly different magical gifts and are trying to open a supernatural entryway to the spirit world. However, although Valentine is delighted to make new friends, she senses a much darker presence in the hotel, connected to its sinister past as a mental hospital. Things quickly hot up and the supernatural element develops in the second half of the story, nicely tying into Valentina’s complex family history. This was a very convincing blend of supernatural and family drama, made even more so by the flashbacks to an unpleasant sexual experience Valentina had with a boy at the church camp the previous year. Readers are going to have a lot of fun with this spunky teenage girl as she goes on her own voyage of discovery and tries to leave her Catholic guilt in the past and be accepted for who she is. AGE RANGE 13+
LISA TUTTLE
In a career spanning five details Lisa Tuttle effortlessly moves through the genres, including science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, historical mystery and horror. She is also an absolute master of the short story and has featured in countless anthologies, edited others and has a new collection of the best of her short work, The Dead Hours of Night published in 2021. Some of her adult novels include Windhaven (1981) with George RR Martin, Familiar Spirit (1983), Gabriel (1987), Lost Futures (1992), The Mysteries (2005) and The Silver Bough (2006). Some of her YA fiction includes Catwitch (1983), Panther in Argyll (1996) and Love-On-Line (1998). Tuttle also contributed to the YA series Horrorscopes (1995) where various authors all used the penname Maria Palmer.
BLURB FOR ‘PANTHER IN ARGYLL’ (1996)
When Danni chooses to spend the school holidays with her godmother, Claire, she thinks she will find a kindred spirit. She doesn't bank on meeting the mysterious Finlay Black, or Claire being on the lookout for the Panther of Argyll - the beast that supposedly roams the woods around her cottage. And she doesn't bank on discovering that she has the 'animal spirit' - a rare and unique ability that not only provides an empathy with animals, but the ability to become them. But there is a price for letting the animal within loose. Panthers are wild, primal, strong . . . and most of all free: why remain human when all of this is within your grasp?
STEVEN E WEDEL
Over the last decade Steven Wendall has regularly moved between adult and YA fiction, co-authoring After Obsession (2011) and In the Woods (2019) with popular YA writer Carrie Jones. Further YA titles include Love Curse (2016), Afterlife (2020) and for much younger children Songbird (2017). Wedel began his four-book adult Werewolf Saga back in 2014 and his other work includes The God of Discord (2015), Seven Days in Benevolence (2015), Amara's Prayer (2015), A Light Beyond (2017) and the western Orphan (2017).
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT IN THE WOODS (2019)
Although it offers nothing new In the Woods was a very enjoyable and engaging collaboration between Carrie Jones and Steven Wedel, set in a small Oklahoma town in the Ozrak mountains. The book was split into two very distinct first-person narratives ‘Chrystal’ and ‘Logan’ perhaps the authors each created a ‘voice’ and if so it worked a treat. The action opens in Logan’s farm where he hears something attacking one of their calves, although he does not get a clear view of the assailant, he is certain it is not human. Meantime, Chrystal who is on holiday in New York, is dismayed to be pulled away from her fun to head to Oklahoma with her cryptozoologist father who is obsessed with finding evidence of everything from Big Foot to aliens. The story ends up in the National Enquirer and before long Chrystal and her father are knocking on Logan’s farm door not for the scoop, but to investigate further.
From then on In the Woods hits the ground running and is a fine horror Scoobie Doo style monster-mash-up mystery with a tasty dose of awkward romance. Both lead characters are very likable and really carry the novel and develop a friendship, or something more, when it seems like the creature is targeting locals after the disappearance of a teenage girl. The support cast were terrific also, I especially loved the way Chrystal tolerated her very quirky father, who when he wasn’t creature hunting was a kinder garden teacher! It was a well-paced novel when built suspense nicely before its big reveal. If you’re a fan of big hairy monsters stalking spunky teenagers jump right in, there is a lot of fun to be had here. Aimed at kids aged thirteen or older.
STEVE RASNIC TEM
Steve Rasnic Tem published his first novel Excavation back in 1987, however he has been writing short stories since the 1970s with over 200 published, and either winning or being nominated for top awards such as the British Fantasy Award, the World Fantasy and Bram Stoker Awards. His short story output is so prolific he regularly has his own collections published, including his debut Decoded Mirrors in 1978, the many others which followed include Ugly Behaviour (2012) and Onion Songs (2013). Other adult horror novels are Blood Kin (2014) which won the Bram Stoker Award for best novel and Ubo (2017). However, in 2018 Tem changed direction and published his first novel for children, The Mask Shop of Doctor Blaack.
BLURB FOR THE ‘MASK SHOP OF DOCTOR BLAACK’ (2018)
Fall is Laura's favorite time of year, but this autumn, things are different. She's a teenager now, and the season brings new changes and challenges. Laura's decided she's too old for trick-or-treating and wants a more grown-up Halloween experience with her friends. Unfortunately for Laura, her parents tell her she has to take her little brother, Trevor, out trick-or-treating first. When they go shopping for Halloween costumes, they stumble upon a very strange shop and its even stranger proprietor. When Trevor tries on the wrong mask, the consequences are exciting...and dangerous. AGE RANGE 10+
GABY TRIANA
Gaby Triana has written a blend of YA horror, fantasy and teen romance, most recently the excellent Moon Child (2021) which is reviewed below. Other titles include Back Stage Pass (2004), Summer of Yesterday (2014) and Cakespell (2018). Her adult fiction includes The Haunted Florida Trilogy (2018). Gaby has also ghost written many other books.
HERE’S OUR REVIEW OF ‘MOON CHILD’ (2021)
Gaby Triana has a number of novels, across different genres, but Moon Child was the first time I had tried her fiction and I look forward to dipping into her back catalogue. This was another novel with a great catch phrase which I thought would be very difficult to live up to, however, Moon Child makes a rock-solid attempt of truly being “The Craft meets The Shining in this slow-burn Florida gothic horror.” Religious conflict lies at the heart of this engaging story as eighteen-year-old Cuban American Valentina Callejas has been brought up very close to the Catholic Church, with both a dominating mother and grandmother in a very close-knit Latin community in which tradition comes first. However, Valentina has a secret interest in tarot cards and the occult which guiltily clashes with her strict Catholic upbringing. After a bust up with her family, and a refusal to stay on a church retreat, she heads to visit her half-sister (whom she has never met) and finds her welcoming, warm, and completely different from her immediate family. There was a lot going on in Valentina’s life, even before we get to the horror.
Whilst out exploring, close to where her sister lives, Valentina discovers an abandoned hotel which sits beside a lake and inside the building meets a group of teenagers, who claim to have been waiting for her to complete their magic circle. After getting over her suspicions, Valentina realises the group all have slightly different magical gifts and are trying to open a supernatural entryway to the spirit world. However, although Valentine is delighted to make new friends, she senses a much darker presence in the hotel, connected to its sinister past as a mental hospital. Things quickly hot up and the supernatural element develops in the second half of the story, nicely tying into Valentina’s complex family history. This was a very convincing blend of supernatural and family drama, made even more so by the flashbacks to an unpleasant sexual experience Valentina had with a boy at the church camp the previous year. Readers are going to have a lot of fun with this spunky teenage girl as she goes on her own voyage of discovery and tries to leave her Catholic guilt in the past and be accepted for who she is. AGE RANGE 13+
LISA TUTTLE
In a career spanning five details Lisa Tuttle effortlessly moves through the genres, including science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, historical mystery and horror. She is also an absolute master of the short story and has featured in countless anthologies, edited others and has a new collection of the best of her short work, The Dead Hours of Night published in 2021. Some of her adult novels include Windhaven (1981) with George RR Martin, Familiar Spirit (1983), Gabriel (1987), Lost Futures (1992), The Mysteries (2005) and The Silver Bough (2006). Some of her YA fiction includes Catwitch (1983), Panther in Argyll (1996) and Love-On-Line (1998). Tuttle also contributed to the YA series Horrorscopes (1995) where various authors all used the penname Maria Palmer.
BLURB FOR ‘PANTHER IN ARGYLL’ (1996)
When Danni chooses to spend the school holidays with her godmother, Claire, she thinks she will find a kindred spirit. She doesn't bank on meeting the mysterious Finlay Black, or Claire being on the lookout for the Panther of Argyll - the beast that supposedly roams the woods around her cottage. And she doesn't bank on discovering that she has the 'animal spirit' - a rare and unique ability that not only provides an empathy with animals, but the ability to become them. But there is a price for letting the animal within loose. Panthers are wild, primal, strong . . . and most of all free: why remain human when all of this is within your grasp?
STEVEN E WEDEL
Over the last decade Steven Wendall has regularly moved between adult and YA fiction, co-authoring After Obsession (2011) and In the Woods (2019) with popular YA writer Carrie Jones. Further YA titles include Love Curse (2016), Afterlife (2020) and for much younger children Songbird (2017). Wedel began his four-book adult Werewolf Saga back in 2014 and his other work includes The God of Discord (2015), Seven Days in Benevolence (2015), Amara's Prayer (2015), A Light Beyond (2017) and the western Orphan (2017).
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT IN THE WOODS (2019)
Although it offers nothing new In the Woods was a very enjoyable and engaging collaboration between Carrie Jones and Steven Wedel, set in a small Oklahoma town in the Ozrak mountains. The book was split into two very distinct first-person narratives ‘Chrystal’ and ‘Logan’ perhaps the authors each created a ‘voice’ and if so it worked a treat. The action opens in Logan’s farm where he hears something attacking one of their calves, although he does not get a clear view of the assailant, he is certain it is not human. Meantime, Chrystal who is on holiday in New York, is dismayed to be pulled away from her fun to head to Oklahoma with her cryptozoologist father who is obsessed with finding evidence of everything from Big Foot to aliens. The story ends up in the National Enquirer and before long Chrystal and her father are knocking on Logan’s farm door not for the scoop, but to investigate further.
From then on In the Woods hits the ground running and is a fine horror Scoobie Doo style monster-mash-up mystery with a tasty dose of awkward romance. Both lead characters are very likable and really carry the novel and develop a friendship, or something more, when it seems like the creature is targeting locals after the disappearance of a teenage girl. The support cast were terrific also, I especially loved the way Chrystal tolerated her very quirky father, who when he wasn’t creature hunting was a kinder garden teacher! It was a well-paced novel when built suspense nicely before its big reveal. If you’re a fan of big hairy monsters stalking spunky teenagers jump right in, there is a lot of fun to be had here. Aimed at kids aged thirteen or older.
DAN WELLS
Dan Wells is one of the few authors who smoothly moves between adult and YA without breaking sweat and is equally comfortable writing in both areas. Back in 2009 Wells published the superb I Am Not A Serial Killer (2009-17), which remains his best-known novel. Interestingly, in the USA this was marketed as an adult book, but was seen as YA in the UK, many sequels followed and also a successful and well received indie film. Also known as the John Cleaver series, the final book six was published in 2017 and over those years Wells also wrote the excellent Partials (2012-14) YA series, as well as the Mirador (2016-18) sequence. Over the years he occasionally returns to adult horror, including The Hollow City (2012) and Extreme Makeover (2016), which was a real hoot and a pleasure to review for Ginger Nuts of Horror.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT THE JOHN CLEAVER SERIES (2009-17)
This gleefully nasty thriller series which begins with I Am Not a Serial Killer about a teenage mortician who helps the family business, with serious, serious issues, who believes he may have serial killer tendencies or is a type of sociopath. He’s the sort of kid who would write a school ‘heroes’ essay on serial killer John Wayne Gacy. This sort of attitude gets him serious trouble with his teachers who would much rather an essay on Martin Luther King. Interestingly, this was always packaged as a YA novel in the UK but was aimed at the adult market in the USA. There is also an excellent indie-film of the same name. AGE RANGE 13+
F PAUL WILSON
Francis Paul Wilson has been prolifically releasing horror, thrillers, mystery and science fiction since 1976 and is best known for his very long-running Repairman Jack (1984-2019) series, which started back in 1984, and the international smash The Keep (1981) which kicks off the seven book Adversary Cycle (1981-2020). Wilson is not known as a YA writer, nevertheless between 2008-10 wrote Repairman Jack: The Teen Trilogy and later the Nocturnia Trilogy (with Thomas F Monteleone) which was first published in 2015. I have been meaning to investigate the Repairman Jack series for a while and will get to it soon.
BLURB OF SECRET HISTORIES (FIRST BOOK IN THE REPAIRMAN JACK TEEN TRILOGY) 2015
Ever come across a situation that simply wasn't right—where someone was getting the dirty end of the stick and you wished you could make things right but didn't know how? Fourteen-year-old Jack knows how. Or rather he's learning how. He's discovering that he has a knack for fixing things. Not bikes or toys or appliances—situations….
It all starts when Jack and his best friends, Weezy and Eddie, discover a rotting corpse—the victim of ritual murder—in the fabled New Jersey Pine Barrens. Beside the body is an ancient artifact carved with strange designs. What is its secret? What is the secret of the corpse? What other mysteries hide in the dark, timeless Pine Barrens? And who doesn't want them revealed? Jack's town, the surrounding Barrens, his friends, even Jack himself…they all have…Secret Histories.
Stay tuned for the final part of this massive feature soon, S-Z.
Tony Jones
Dan Wells is one of the few authors who smoothly moves between adult and YA without breaking sweat and is equally comfortable writing in both areas. Back in 2009 Wells published the superb I Am Not A Serial Killer (2009-17), which remains his best-known novel. Interestingly, in the USA this was marketed as an adult book, but was seen as YA in the UK, many sequels followed and also a successful and well received indie film. Also known as the John Cleaver series, the final book six was published in 2017 and over those years Wells also wrote the excellent Partials (2012-14) YA series, as well as the Mirador (2016-18) sequence. Over the years he occasionally returns to adult horror, including The Hollow City (2012) and Extreme Makeover (2016), which was a real hoot and a pleasure to review for Ginger Nuts of Horror.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT THE JOHN CLEAVER SERIES (2009-17)
This gleefully nasty thriller series which begins with I Am Not a Serial Killer about a teenage mortician who helps the family business, with serious, serious issues, who believes he may have serial killer tendencies or is a type of sociopath. He’s the sort of kid who would write a school ‘heroes’ essay on serial killer John Wayne Gacy. This sort of attitude gets him serious trouble with his teachers who would much rather an essay on Martin Luther King. Interestingly, this was always packaged as a YA novel in the UK but was aimed at the adult market in the USA. There is also an excellent indie-film of the same name. AGE RANGE 13+
F PAUL WILSON
Francis Paul Wilson has been prolifically releasing horror, thrillers, mystery and science fiction since 1976 and is best known for his very long-running Repairman Jack (1984-2019) series, which started back in 1984, and the international smash The Keep (1981) which kicks off the seven book Adversary Cycle (1981-2020). Wilson is not known as a YA writer, nevertheless between 2008-10 wrote Repairman Jack: The Teen Trilogy and later the Nocturnia Trilogy (with Thomas F Monteleone) which was first published in 2015. I have been meaning to investigate the Repairman Jack series for a while and will get to it soon.
BLURB OF SECRET HISTORIES (FIRST BOOK IN THE REPAIRMAN JACK TEEN TRILOGY) 2015
Ever come across a situation that simply wasn't right—where someone was getting the dirty end of the stick and you wished you could make things right but didn't know how? Fourteen-year-old Jack knows how. Or rather he's learning how. He's discovering that he has a knack for fixing things. Not bikes or toys or appliances—situations….
It all starts when Jack and his best friends, Weezy and Eddie, discover a rotting corpse—the victim of ritual murder—in the fabled New Jersey Pine Barrens. Beside the body is an ancient artifact carved with strange designs. What is its secret? What is the secret of the corpse? What other mysteries hide in the dark, timeless Pine Barrens? And who doesn't want them revealed? Jack's town, the surrounding Barrens, his friends, even Jack himself…they all have…Secret Histories.
Stay tuned for the final part of this massive feature soon, S-Z.
Tony Jones
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[BOOK REVIEW] THE DEATH OF AN AUTHOR BY S.L. EDWARDS
[FILM REVIEW] GAIA (2021), DIRECTED BY JACO BOUWER
BLURRING THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN WORLDS, HORROR AUTHORS WHO WRITE YA AND ADULT HORROR, PART 2: I-R
16/8/2021
 | This article, which is the second of three, looks at authors who started their careers as adult horror writers, but later wrote YA fiction or visa-versa, beginning with YA before jumping to adult. |
If you missed the first post, follow the link:
ADULT HORROR WRITERS WHO ALSO WRITE YA FICTION (AND VISA-VERSA) PART 1: A-H
ADULT HORROR WRITERS WHO ALSO WRITE YA FICTION (AND VISA-VERSA) PART 1: A-H
Interestingly, considering the huge number of horror writers there are, it is not an especially long list. Jonathan Maberry and Sarah Pinborough are two of my personal favourites from this section and fine examples of authors who write adult and YA fiction equally convincingly. Mastering both age groups is an artform and if you do not know many of these authors, they are well worth exploring. For example, I am sure not many of you knew Joe Lansdale or Graeme Masterton wrote YA!
It is not an authoritative list, and it has been compiled mainly from going through my old Ginger Nuts of Horror reviews, which date back to 2015. I would also like to thank the Twitter horror-sphere and the Books of Horror Facebook group who helped with many of the obscurer suggestions. I am sure there are many other great examples out there, so get in touch if there are any glaring omissions and they may feature in a follow-up article.
Regarding the short accompanying reviews: if it is a book I have previously reviewed on Ginger Nuts of Horror it is introduced with “Here’s what we said about….” Others might have reviews of books I have read but have never previously reviewed online. The late additions, books I definitely have not read, have blurbs which I have borrowed from either Fantastic Fiction or Amazon. These are books to be read further down the line. The dates I have used have also originate from Amazon or Fantastic Fiction. Note, they do not aim to be complete lists, and I have selected what I have found to be a good sample most relevant to this project.
The authors are listed alphabetically.
It is not an authoritative list, and it has been compiled mainly from going through my old Ginger Nuts of Horror reviews, which date back to 2015. I would also like to thank the Twitter horror-sphere and the Books of Horror Facebook group who helped with many of the obscurer suggestions. I am sure there are many other great examples out there, so get in touch if there are any glaring omissions and they may feature in a follow-up article.
Regarding the short accompanying reviews: if it is a book I have previously reviewed on Ginger Nuts of Horror it is introduced with “Here’s what we said about….” Others might have reviews of books I have read but have never previously reviewed online. The late additions, books I definitely have not read, have blurbs which I have borrowed from either Fantastic Fiction or Amazon. These are books to be read further down the line. The dates I have used have also originate from Amazon or Fantastic Fiction. Note, they do not aim to be complete lists, and I have selected what I have found to be a good sample most relevant to this project.
The authors are listed alphabetically.
DAVE JEFFERY
Dave Jeffrey is a very versatile author who is equally accomplished writing about werewolves, zombies as he is about yetis. His impressive back catalogue includes the Necropolis Rising series, Tooth and Claw (2019) and the Frostbite duology (2017-20) which involve this diverse range of creatures and more. However, over the last couple of years he has genuinely upped the ante with a fascinating change of pace, A Quiet Apocalypse (2020) and its sequel Cathedral (2021), in which survivors of a virus live in a post-apocalyptic world where those with hearing are hunted and used as slaves or killed. Part three, The Samaritan (2021), was even better and I urge you to check this excellent series out. Dave is one of the few authors who has frequentlyly switched from adult to YA and back again with his engaging supernatural Beatrice Beecham series which saw six books published between 2007-18, with another volume currently in the works.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘THE BEATRICE BEECHAM’ SERIES
Beatrice Beecham's Cryptic Crypt is an entertaining and enterprising fun read about a group of four teenage misfits (the ‘Newshounds’) who get wrapped up in a supernatural mystery in their sleepy small coastal town. The series is lightly spooky, but also very good natured; the joy of the first kiss and walks on the pier holding hands and all that cute stuff. I found the main character Beatrice to be really engaging and innocently likable, and not really the type of girl to get wrapped up in the weird reawakening of World War II and Neo Nazis. The books can be read in any order and this review is based on reading which are technically books five and six, the latter features the crazy reappearance of a ghost-ship which begins to possess some of the characters. Don’t worry though, Beatrice is soon on the case, leading a memorable fightback and outstanding climax. 2021 should see another book in the series released. AGE RANGE 11+
Dave Jeffrey is a very versatile author who is equally accomplished writing about werewolves, zombies as he is about yetis. His impressive back catalogue includes the Necropolis Rising series, Tooth and Claw (2019) and the Frostbite duology (2017-20) which involve this diverse range of creatures and more. However, over the last couple of years he has genuinely upped the ante with a fascinating change of pace, A Quiet Apocalypse (2020) and its sequel Cathedral (2021), in which survivors of a virus live in a post-apocalyptic world where those with hearing are hunted and used as slaves or killed. Part three, The Samaritan (2021), was even better and I urge you to check this excellent series out. Dave is one of the few authors who has frequentlyly switched from adult to YA and back again with his engaging supernatural Beatrice Beecham series which saw six books published between 2007-18, with another volume currently in the works.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘THE BEATRICE BEECHAM’ SERIES
Beatrice Beecham's Cryptic Crypt is an entertaining and enterprising fun read about a group of four teenage misfits (the ‘Newshounds’) who get wrapped up in a supernatural mystery in their sleepy small coastal town. The series is lightly spooky, but also very good natured; the joy of the first kiss and walks on the pier holding hands and all that cute stuff. I found the main character Beatrice to be really engaging and innocently likable, and not really the type of girl to get wrapped up in the weird reawakening of World War II and Neo Nazis. The books can be read in any order and this review is based on reading which are technically books five and six, the latter features the crazy reappearance of a ghost-ship which begins to possess some of the characters. Don’t worry though, Beatrice is soon on the case, leading a memorable fightback and outstanding climax. 2021 should see another book in the series released. AGE RANGE 11+
JOHN HORNOR JACOBS
John Hornor Jacobs kicked off his career off in style with two awesome adult horror novels Southern Gods (2011) and This Dark Earth (2012) before making a fascinating sidestep into YA with the Twelve Fingered Boy Trilogy (2013-15) a series which is so cool it deserves to be in every school library in the country. He followed this with The Incorruptibles Trilogy, which although was adult fantasy, also had YA leanings. John then found his stride with the beguiling and critically acclaimed A Lush and Seething Hell (2019). This is another author I hope returns to YA one of these days, but whatever he publishes, I always keep a keen eye on what he is up to. The Twelve Fingered Boy was also ranked 31 out of 50 in the Ginger Nuts of Horror top 50 YA horror novels of the decade.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT THE TWELVE FINGERED BOY (2013)
John Hornor Jacobs is an incredibly versatile author who effortlessly moves around the genres, and from YA to adult. He is equally skilled in writing about cosmic horror and zombies, as he is with fantasy, deserving to be much more widely read than he probably is. I first came across him after loving his beguiling adult horror debut about the blues, Southern Gods and followed that with an entertaining zombie novel This Dark Earth and his fantasy series The Incorruptibles. I reckon this author could turn his hand to just about anything and proves it with The Twelve Fingered Boy series, a superb coming of age tale set in a juvie prison.
Fifteen-year-old Shreve Cannon does not mind being locked up as he sells contraband sweets and treats, and for him anything is better than living with his drunk mother. Soon a new kid, Jack, who freakishly has twelve fingers arrives on the wing, and when he gets angry or triggered develops telekinesis powers which he struggles to control. Soon others, including a sinister doctor, begin to show interest in Jack and it is not because they want to help him. Shreve quickly takes the vulnerable Jack under his wing in this commanding fusion of fantasy, horror and teen coming-of-age drama which kicks off an outstanding trilogy in which Jack’s superpowers really come out to play. An engaging series which has been criminally ignored by the YA world. AGE RANGE 12+
John Hornor Jacobs kicked off his career off in style with two awesome adult horror novels Southern Gods (2011) and This Dark Earth (2012) before making a fascinating sidestep into YA with the Twelve Fingered Boy Trilogy (2013-15) a series which is so cool it deserves to be in every school library in the country. He followed this with The Incorruptibles Trilogy, which although was adult fantasy, also had YA leanings. John then found his stride with the beguiling and critically acclaimed A Lush and Seething Hell (2019). This is another author I hope returns to YA one of these days, but whatever he publishes, I always keep a keen eye on what he is up to. The Twelve Fingered Boy was also ranked 31 out of 50 in the Ginger Nuts of Horror top 50 YA horror novels of the decade.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT THE TWELVE FINGERED BOY (2013)
John Hornor Jacobs is an incredibly versatile author who effortlessly moves around the genres, and from YA to adult. He is equally skilled in writing about cosmic horror and zombies, as he is with fantasy, deserving to be much more widely read than he probably is. I first came across him after loving his beguiling adult horror debut about the blues, Southern Gods and followed that with an entertaining zombie novel This Dark Earth and his fantasy series The Incorruptibles. I reckon this author could turn his hand to just about anything and proves it with The Twelve Fingered Boy series, a superb coming of age tale set in a juvie prison.
Fifteen-year-old Shreve Cannon does not mind being locked up as he sells contraband sweets and treats, and for him anything is better than living with his drunk mother. Soon a new kid, Jack, who freakishly has twelve fingers arrives on the wing, and when he gets angry or triggered develops telekinesis powers which he struggles to control. Soon others, including a sinister doctor, begin to show interest in Jack and it is not because they want to help him. Shreve quickly takes the vulnerable Jack under his wing in this commanding fusion of fantasy, horror and teen coming-of-age drama which kicks off an outstanding trilogy in which Jack’s superpowers really come out to play. An engaging series which has been criminally ignored by the YA world. AGE RANGE 12+
LEX H JONES
Lex has been widely published in many horror anthologies and wrote The Other Side of the Mirror (2019) and Nick and Abe (2015) for adults. In 2019 Lex made a fascinating change of direction, with a Middle Grade reimagining of the life of HP Lovecraft, The Old One and the Sea (2019). It was as charming as it was delightful, and I hope Lex continues to write for children.
REVIEW OF THE OLD ONE AND THE SEA (2019)
Writing a book for children about the life of HP Lovecraft was never going to be an easy task. But Lex Jones completely nails it in a quirky tale which wisely avoids his adult politics and instead focusses upon how he developed his imagination for what would later feature in his fiction. It is not a YA novel, but more aimed at kids aged 7-10 and in many ways is a tale of grief and coming of age of a young boy who loses his father. Seeped in loneliness and melancholy HP is living on a quiet beach town and discovers a reef with a weird alter and coins with strange symbols. Adults with an interest in Lovecraft will undoubtedly enjoy this quirky read also and pick up on a few things which will pass child readers by. It is an incredibly gentle read, and I could well imagine this being a wonderful bedtime story for a parent to read to their child. Just don’t talk politics! AGE RANGE 7-10
Lex has been widely published in many horror anthologies and wrote The Other Side of the Mirror (2019) and Nick and Abe (2015) for adults. In 2019 Lex made a fascinating change of direction, with a Middle Grade reimagining of the life of HP Lovecraft, The Old One and the Sea (2019). It was as charming as it was delightful, and I hope Lex continues to write for children.
REVIEW OF THE OLD ONE AND THE SEA (2019)
Writing a book for children about the life of HP Lovecraft was never going to be an easy task. But Lex Jones completely nails it in a quirky tale which wisely avoids his adult politics and instead focusses upon how he developed his imagination for what would later feature in his fiction. It is not a YA novel, but more aimed at kids aged 7-10 and in many ways is a tale of grief and coming of age of a young boy who loses his father. Seeped in loneliness and melancholy HP is living on a quiet beach town and discovers a reef with a weird alter and coins with strange symbols. Adults with an interest in Lovecraft will undoubtedly enjoy this quirky read also and pick up on a few things which will pass child readers by. It is an incredibly gentle read, and I could well imagine this being a wonderful bedtime story for a parent to read to their child. Just don’t talk politics! AGE RANGE 7-10
GRAHAM JOYCE
Few authors effortlessly moved through the genres better than the late great Graham Joyce, who wrote horror, science fiction, fantasy and literary fiction. I have read many of his adult novels, my favourites were probably The Tooth Fairy (1996) and The Silent Land (2010) and of his non-horror YA I also enjoyed TWOC (2005). However, my personal favourite was always Do the Creepy Thing (2006), which was published as The Exchange in the USA. This terrific YA horror novel deserved much wider recognition than it ever got and truly showcased the originality of this very savvy writer.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT DO THE CREEPY THING (2006)
Two teenagers are cursed after breaking into an old lady’s house. They play a dare type game where you hover above the face (nose to nose) of the sleeping person who the house belongs to. Caz acquires a bracelet during one of these dares which begins to make her feel different. Not strictly a horror novel, but both clever and inventive, as you would expect from the late Graham Joyce who wrote several great books for teens.
Few authors effortlessly moved through the genres better than the late great Graham Joyce, who wrote horror, science fiction, fantasy and literary fiction. I have read many of his adult novels, my favourites were probably The Tooth Fairy (1996) and The Silent Land (2010) and of his non-horror YA I also enjoyed TWOC (2005). However, my personal favourite was always Do the Creepy Thing (2006), which was published as The Exchange in the USA. This terrific YA horror novel deserved much wider recognition than it ever got and truly showcased the originality of this very savvy writer.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT DO THE CREEPY THING (2006)
Two teenagers are cursed after breaking into an old lady’s house. They play a dare type game where you hover above the face (nose to nose) of the sleeping person who the house belongs to. Caz acquires a bracelet during one of these dares which begins to make her feel different. Not strictly a horror novel, but both clever and inventive, as you would expect from the late Graham Joyce who wrote several great books for teens.
T KINGFISHER AKA URSULA VERNON
T Kingfisher is the pseudonym for Ursula Vernon, the latter exclusively writes for children, including the eleven book graphic novel series Dragonbreath (2009-16) and the six book Hamster Prince series (2015-18). Kingfisher predominately writes fantasy, both for children and adult, but in recent years has turned to horror with the highly regarded The Twisted Ones (2019) and The Hollow Places (2020), both of which I have read, and thought were great. Kingfisher’s fantasy effortlessly moves between adult and children, including The Raven and the Reindeer (2016) and A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking (2020). Her children’s fiction has been predominately fantasy, rather than horror.
BLURB FOR A WIZARDS’S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING (2020)
Fourteen-year-old Mona isn't like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can't control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter, and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt's bakery making gingerbread men dance.
But Mona's life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona's city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona's worries...
T Kingfisher is the pseudonym for Ursula Vernon, the latter exclusively writes for children, including the eleven book graphic novel series Dragonbreath (2009-16) and the six book Hamster Prince series (2015-18). Kingfisher predominately writes fantasy, both for children and adult, but in recent years has turned to horror with the highly regarded The Twisted Ones (2019) and The Hollow Places (2020), both of which I have read, and thought were great. Kingfisher’s fantasy effortlessly moves between adult and children, including The Raven and the Reindeer (2016) and A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking (2020). Her children’s fiction has been predominately fantasy, rather than horror.
BLURB FOR A WIZARDS’S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING (2020)
Fourteen-year-old Mona isn't like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can't control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter, and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt's bakery making gingerbread men dance.
But Mona's life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona's city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona's worries...
KATHE KOJA
Although Kathe Koja is undoubtedly best known for her 1991 cult classic debut The Cipher, over the subsequent thirty years her widely varied career has taken in science fiction, horror, fantasy, romance and historical fiction. Between 2002-2008 Kathe also wrote seven, generally non-horror, YA novels featuring a range of teen issues including friendship, family dramas and animal stories. They were Straydog (2002), Buddha Boy (2003), Blue Mirror (2004), Talk (2005), Going Under (2006), Kissing the Bee (2007) and Headlong (2008). Her adult output also includes the Under the Poppy (2010-15) science fiction trilogy and Christopher Wild (2017) which is historical fiction.
BLURB OF ‘HEADLONG’ (2008)
The Vaughn School. Home of domed ceilings, gleaming checkerboard floors, and the Vaughn Virgins: the upper stratum of girls who have perfect grades, perfect lives, and perfect friends. Lily Noble is a lifer '" she knows all the rules. Then sophomore year, Hazel Tobias arrives as a scholarship student, with her model's looks and unconventional family, and shows Lily everything she's been missing. Can you ever fit in someplace you don't want to be? As Lily befriends Hazel, both girls discover what it means to dive deep beneath the surface '" of friendship, of commitment '" and to live life with all their hearts, with all they are, headlong.
Although Kathe Koja is undoubtedly best known for her 1991 cult classic debut The Cipher, over the subsequent thirty years her widely varied career has taken in science fiction, horror, fantasy, romance and historical fiction. Between 2002-2008 Kathe also wrote seven, generally non-horror, YA novels featuring a range of teen issues including friendship, family dramas and animal stories. They were Straydog (2002), Buddha Boy (2003), Blue Mirror (2004), Talk (2005), Going Under (2006), Kissing the Bee (2007) and Headlong (2008). Her adult output also includes the Under the Poppy (2010-15) science fiction trilogy and Christopher Wild (2017) which is historical fiction.
BLURB OF ‘HEADLONG’ (2008)
The Vaughn School. Home of domed ceilings, gleaming checkerboard floors, and the Vaughn Virgins: the upper stratum of girls who have perfect grades, perfect lives, and perfect friends. Lily Noble is a lifer '" she knows all the rules. Then sophomore year, Hazel Tobias arrives as a scholarship student, with her model's looks and unconventional family, and shows Lily everything she's been missing. Can you ever fit in someplace you don't want to be? As Lily befriends Hazel, both girls discover what it means to dive deep beneath the surface '" of friendship, of commitment '" and to live life with all their hearts, with all they are, headlong.
DANIEL KRAUS
I am a huge fan of the YA fiction of Daniel Kraus, who is equally proficient at writing for adults also, his superb most recent YA effort Bent Heavens (2020) was deservedly nominated for a YA Bram Stoker Award in 2021. Between 2009-13 Daniel kicked-off his career with three YA horror and dark fantasy novels, The Monster Variations (2009), the superb Rotters (2011) and Scowler (2013) before teaming up with Guillermo del Toro for the novelisation of the Oscar winning film The Shape of Water (2018) and later completing the massive zombie epic The Living Dead (2019) based on the original idea of zombie godfather George Romero. Along the way he has written Middle Grade novels also, Trollhunters (2015) also with del Toro, and two other series Death and Life of Zebulon Finch (2015-16) and finally the Teddies Saga (2020-21).
WHAT WE SAID ABOUT BENT HEAVENS (2020)
Kraus has a superb back-catalogue of dark/horror YA fiction, including the highly recommended Rotters, and this latest release maintains this high standard. Eighteen-year-old Liv Fleming leads this genre-bending thriller which dances around horror and science fiction in a very convincing, Ohio, small-town setting. Teenage readers will easily tap into the troubled psyche and angst of a girl whose world was turned upside down when her father disappeared two years earlier, but it is the circumstances surrounding her father which makes this story fascinating. Lee Fleming was a very popular English teacher at the school Liv attended and before he disappeared indefinitely, vanished for a much shorter period before reappearing, naked, on the school campus. He was not the same man and was deeply psychologically traumatised claiming to have been abducted by aliens, with patchy memories of being experimented upon. Officially, it was presumed he suffered a mental breakdown and the family struggled to cope with the very public emotional fallout.
Once Lee Fleming returns after his first disappearance, he becomes obsessed with aliens and constructs a series of six very dangerous traps in the woodland surrounding his house and names them; Amputator, Hangman’s Noose, Crusher, Neckbreaker, Abyss and Hard Passage. I found Bent Heavens to be a great read and it has enough strings in its bow to attract differing types of teen readers with its convincing blend of horror, drama, and thriller. In the end the story did not go where many readers might expect it to and is backed up an impressive twist (although I saw it coming) which was also completely heart-breaking. Ultimately, even though Liv might not have been the most sympathetic of characters, her pain and grief were convincingly portrayed in a powerful novel about the lengths people will go to know the truth. Even if the answers are going to provide more pain, there is at least closure. AGE RANGE 13+
I am a huge fan of the YA fiction of Daniel Kraus, who is equally proficient at writing for adults also, his superb most recent YA effort Bent Heavens (2020) was deservedly nominated for a YA Bram Stoker Award in 2021. Between 2009-13 Daniel kicked-off his career with three YA horror and dark fantasy novels, The Monster Variations (2009), the superb Rotters (2011) and Scowler (2013) before teaming up with Guillermo del Toro for the novelisation of the Oscar winning film The Shape of Water (2018) and later completing the massive zombie epic The Living Dead (2019) based on the original idea of zombie godfather George Romero. Along the way he has written Middle Grade novels also, Trollhunters (2015) also with del Toro, and two other series Death and Life of Zebulon Finch (2015-16) and finally the Teddies Saga (2020-21).
WHAT WE SAID ABOUT BENT HEAVENS (2020)
Kraus has a superb back-catalogue of dark/horror YA fiction, including the highly recommended Rotters, and this latest release maintains this high standard. Eighteen-year-old Liv Fleming leads this genre-bending thriller which dances around horror and science fiction in a very convincing, Ohio, small-town setting. Teenage readers will easily tap into the troubled psyche and angst of a girl whose world was turned upside down when her father disappeared two years earlier, but it is the circumstances surrounding her father which makes this story fascinating. Lee Fleming was a very popular English teacher at the school Liv attended and before he disappeared indefinitely, vanished for a much shorter period before reappearing, naked, on the school campus. He was not the same man and was deeply psychologically traumatised claiming to have been abducted by aliens, with patchy memories of being experimented upon. Officially, it was presumed he suffered a mental breakdown and the family struggled to cope with the very public emotional fallout.
Once Lee Fleming returns after his first disappearance, he becomes obsessed with aliens and constructs a series of six very dangerous traps in the woodland surrounding his house and names them; Amputator, Hangman’s Noose, Crusher, Neckbreaker, Abyss and Hard Passage. I found Bent Heavens to be a great read and it has enough strings in its bow to attract differing types of teen readers with its convincing blend of horror, drama, and thriller. In the end the story did not go where many readers might expect it to and is backed up an impressive twist (although I saw it coming) which was also completely heart-breaking. Ultimately, even though Liv might not have been the most sympathetic of characters, her pain and grief were convincingly portrayed in a powerful novel about the lengths people will go to know the truth. Even if the answers are going to provide more pain, there is at least closure. AGE RANGE 13+
JOE LANSDALE
The creator of the Hap and Leonard (1990-2019) series will need no introduction to the majority of you. Few authors effortlessly move and blend genres better than Joe Lansdale, also responsible for the cult-classic Bubba Ho-Tep (2003), which was turned into the awesome Bruce Campbell film. When not writing horror, Lansdale is equally at home with westerns and thrillers, including Cold in July (1989) which was also turned into a great film and Edge of Dark Water (2012), another high-quality thriller. He is also a prolific writer of short stories, novellas and is involved in graphic novels. However, he is not particularly known as a YA author, but has dipped into this reading age on a couple of occasions, including All the Earth Thrown to the Sky (2011) and Fender Lizards (2015) which has YA leanings.
BLURB FOR ALL THE ‘EARTH THROWN TO THE SKY’ (2011)
Jack Catcher's parents are dead - his mom died of sickness and his dad of a broken heart - and he has to get out of Oklahoma, where dust storms have killed everything green, hopeful, or alive. When former classmate Jane and her little brother Tony show up in his yard with plans to steal a dead neighbour’s car and make a break for Texas, Jack doesn't need much convincing. But a run-in with one of the era's most notorious gangsters puts a crimp in Jane's plan, and soon the three kids are hitching the rails among hoboes, gangsters, and con men, racing to warn a carnival wrestler turned bank robber of the danger he faces and, in the process, find a new home for themselves. This road trip adventure from the legendary Joe R. Lansdale is a thrilling and colourful ride through Depression-era America.
The creator of the Hap and Leonard (1990-2019) series will need no introduction to the majority of you. Few authors effortlessly move and blend genres better than Joe Lansdale, also responsible for the cult-classic Bubba Ho-Tep (2003), which was turned into the awesome Bruce Campbell film. When not writing horror, Lansdale is equally at home with westerns and thrillers, including Cold in July (1989) which was also turned into a great film and Edge of Dark Water (2012), another high-quality thriller. He is also a prolific writer of short stories, novellas and is involved in graphic novels. However, he is not particularly known as a YA author, but has dipped into this reading age on a couple of occasions, including All the Earth Thrown to the Sky (2011) and Fender Lizards (2015) which has YA leanings.
BLURB FOR ALL THE ‘EARTH THROWN TO THE SKY’ (2011)
Jack Catcher's parents are dead - his mom died of sickness and his dad of a broken heart - and he has to get out of Oklahoma, where dust storms have killed everything green, hopeful, or alive. When former classmate Jane and her little brother Tony show up in his yard with plans to steal a dead neighbour’s car and make a break for Texas, Jack doesn't need much convincing. But a run-in with one of the era's most notorious gangsters puts a crimp in Jane's plan, and soon the three kids are hitching the rails among hoboes, gangsters, and con men, racing to warn a carnival wrestler turned bank robber of the danger he faces and, in the process, find a new home for themselves. This road trip adventure from the legendary Joe R. Lansdale is a thrilling and colourful ride through Depression-era America.
TANITH LEE
The late Tanith Lee wrote over ninety novels, the majority of which were science fiction and fantasy, but she also released a few horror titles, dabbled in mystery, eroticism and literary fiction. Of her incredible output Kill the Dead (1980) and sequel Sabella (1980), the four-book series Secret Books of Paradys (1988-93), and the Blood Opera Trilogy (1992-4) were the most obviously horror. Although some of her adult fiction bridged into YA, The Castle of Dark Trilogy (1978) was specifically aimed at children. She also wrote picture books and was the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award best novel award, for Death's Master (1980).
BLURB FOR THE CASTLE OF DARK BOOK ONE (1978)
Although she leads an overprotected life with the two old hags, Lilune knows she possesses a special gift. When she 'calls' the musician, Lir, to her prison-like castle, she knows she must avail herself of the opportunity to escape and explore the world. But travelling south of the castle, Lilune and Lir realize that they aren't alone - for an ancient, infectious evil accompanies them, which instils terror in everyone they meet. Lir dislikes arrogant Lilune but finds himself intrigued by her and the source of the evil. Is it within Lilune, or does it come from a deeper source? When the pair become separated, he carries on searching for her. Finally, Lilune returns to her castle in despair, believing that she must be imprisoned to protect the world from the evil within her. But Lir follows her, and discovers that the root of the evil lies deep beneath the castle...
The late Tanith Lee wrote over ninety novels, the majority of which were science fiction and fantasy, but she also released a few horror titles, dabbled in mystery, eroticism and literary fiction. Of her incredible output Kill the Dead (1980) and sequel Sabella (1980), the four-book series Secret Books of Paradys (1988-93), and the Blood Opera Trilogy (1992-4) were the most obviously horror. Although some of her adult fiction bridged into YA, The Castle of Dark Trilogy (1978) was specifically aimed at children. She also wrote picture books and was the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award best novel award, for Death's Master (1980).
BLURB FOR THE CASTLE OF DARK BOOK ONE (1978)
Although she leads an overprotected life with the two old hags, Lilune knows she possesses a special gift. When she 'calls' the musician, Lir, to her prison-like castle, she knows she must avail herself of the opportunity to escape and explore the world. But travelling south of the castle, Lilune and Lir realize that they aren't alone - for an ancient, infectious evil accompanies them, which instils terror in everyone they meet. Lir dislikes arrogant Lilune but finds himself intrigued by her and the source of the evil. Is it within Lilune, or does it come from a deeper source? When the pair become separated, he carries on searching for her. Finally, Lilune returns to her castle in despair, believing that she must be imprisoned to protect the world from the evil within her. But Lir follows her, and discovers that the root of the evil lies deep beneath the castle...
JONATHAN MABERRY
The prolific Jonathan Maberry is probably best known for the Joe Ledger (2009-18) series which begins with the awesome Patient Zero, Ghost Road Blues (2006), Glimpse (2018), Ink (2020), the Dead of Night (2011-18) series and a huge range of comic and graphic novels. I am a massive Maberry fan and whilst Joe Ledger was going strong, he published the awesome five book YA Rot and Ruin series (2010-15) and later a second interconnected series called Broken Lands. This is undoubtedly the best YA zombie series ever written and Maberry’s transition to teen author was totally seamless and amongst the most impressive jumps I have come across. He has also written other YA novels, including the Nightsiders (2015-16) series.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT THE ROT AND RUIN SERIES (2010-15)
Rot and Ruin is an outstanding series (also known as the Benny Imura sequence) set in a zombie infested world. Two brothers hunt the creatures, but not for the most obvious reason, as they are a slightly different breed of zombie killer, which plays a major role in this excellent adventure horror story. Leading up to this, when Benny turns fifteen, he needs to find a job otherwise his rations will be cut in a beautifully described isolated community of survivors. This was Maberry’s YA debut, which remains the best zombie teen series in the business, through a combination of strong characterisation, clever plot and very well developed post-apocalyptic world near the Mexican border. Although they are primarily aimed at adults, many of Maberry’s other series deserve to find teen audience, Joe Ledger, Dead of Night and Glimpse have all been popular titles in my school library.
Maberry is simply a terrific author to gets teens reading, with his intensely fast-paced fiction, loaded with page-turning action sequences and likable characters which kids can easily connect with. The author recently returned to this world in a second series which begins with Broken Lands, and sees Benny Imura return with a host of other characters and further zombie adventures. I am not sure how successful that will be as the zombie craze never truly took off in YA like it did with adult horror. Rot and Ruins direct sequel, Dust and Decay, is also top notch. AGE RANGE 12+
The prolific Jonathan Maberry is probably best known for the Joe Ledger (2009-18) series which begins with the awesome Patient Zero, Ghost Road Blues (2006), Glimpse (2018), Ink (2020), the Dead of Night (2011-18) series and a huge range of comic and graphic novels. I am a massive Maberry fan and whilst Joe Ledger was going strong, he published the awesome five book YA Rot and Ruin series (2010-15) and later a second interconnected series called Broken Lands. This is undoubtedly the best YA zombie series ever written and Maberry’s transition to teen author was totally seamless and amongst the most impressive jumps I have come across. He has also written other YA novels, including the Nightsiders (2015-16) series.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT THE ROT AND RUIN SERIES (2010-15)
Rot and Ruin is an outstanding series (also known as the Benny Imura sequence) set in a zombie infested world. Two brothers hunt the creatures, but not for the most obvious reason, as they are a slightly different breed of zombie killer, which plays a major role in this excellent adventure horror story. Leading up to this, when Benny turns fifteen, he needs to find a job otherwise his rations will be cut in a beautifully described isolated community of survivors. This was Maberry’s YA debut, which remains the best zombie teen series in the business, through a combination of strong characterisation, clever plot and very well developed post-apocalyptic world near the Mexican border. Although they are primarily aimed at adults, many of Maberry’s other series deserve to find teen audience, Joe Ledger, Dead of Night and Glimpse have all been popular titles in my school library.
Maberry is simply a terrific author to gets teens reading, with his intensely fast-paced fiction, loaded with page-turning action sequences and likable characters which kids can easily connect with. The author recently returned to this world in a second series which begins with Broken Lands, and sees Benny Imura return with a host of other characters and further zombie adventures. I am not sure how successful that will be as the zombie craze never truly took off in YA like it did with adult horror. Rot and Ruins direct sequel, Dust and Decay, is also top notch. AGE RANGE 12+
TIM MAJOR
Tim Major is best described as a writer of speculative fiction, rather than horror, and his four novels and novellas cross horror, fantasy and science fiction. Machineries of Mercy (2018) is definitely YA, the others are adult reads. His adult fiction includes You Don’t Belong Here (2016), Snakeskins (2019) and Hope Island (2020). If you have a teenager who loves computer games, they might really dig Machineries of Mercy.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT MACHINIERIES OF MERCY (2018)
Machineries of Mercy was originally published in 2018 on CHITEEN, the YA section of the troubled CHIZINE publishing house. There problems have been well documented elsewhere, so if you are interested in this quirky dystopian thriller, perhaps consider waiting until it is republished on a new label later this year. I don’t know how fashionable the computer game SIMS is with kids today, but my fourteen-year-daughter remains an avid fan and there is an element of that system in this novel, there is also a large slice of Orwell’s 1984, John Wyndham’s Midwich Cuckoos and other novels of this type will probably spring to mind. Told through a double-narrative, Lex and Ethan, are involved in a break into a powerful company Mercy HQ and after he is caught, and imprisoned, things go from bad to worse. The story takes its time revealing what is going on and being set slightly in the future an Orwellian style world is chillingly mapped out in a Wyndham style village. Lex and Ethan are railing against the system created by the all-powerful Mercy HQ, but ‘the man’ is big and very powerful.
Once caught Ethan is not sent to a prison, he is sent to a virtual reality village called Touchstone, adult readers will quickly realise this is very similar to Westworld. However, this is a freaky place and is incredibly well drawn out by the author. There are loads of glitches in the system, the ‘prisoners’ so to school and many are avatars mixed in amongst the real prisoners who band together. Like 1984, the objective is brainwashing and breaking the spirits of the inmates. In one great scene Ethan runs in a long-distance race and is doing well, but eventually finishes last, as he is an avatar, the system is rigged for him to lose. Whilst he fights to survive in the virtual reality world Lex tries to solve the mystery of where he disappeared to. Things might fit together a bit too easily in the end, but for teens who like computer games and YA dystopian novels it was very entertaining. AGE RANGE 12+
Tim Major is best described as a writer of speculative fiction, rather than horror, and his four novels and novellas cross horror, fantasy and science fiction. Machineries of Mercy (2018) is definitely YA, the others are adult reads. His adult fiction includes You Don’t Belong Here (2016), Snakeskins (2019) and Hope Island (2020). If you have a teenager who loves computer games, they might really dig Machineries of Mercy.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT MACHINIERIES OF MERCY (2018)
Machineries of Mercy was originally published in 2018 on CHITEEN, the YA section of the troubled CHIZINE publishing house. There problems have been well documented elsewhere, so if you are interested in this quirky dystopian thriller, perhaps consider waiting until it is republished on a new label later this year. I don’t know how fashionable the computer game SIMS is with kids today, but my fourteen-year-daughter remains an avid fan and there is an element of that system in this novel, there is also a large slice of Orwell’s 1984, John Wyndham’s Midwich Cuckoos and other novels of this type will probably spring to mind. Told through a double-narrative, Lex and Ethan, are involved in a break into a powerful company Mercy HQ and after he is caught, and imprisoned, things go from bad to worse. The story takes its time revealing what is going on and being set slightly in the future an Orwellian style world is chillingly mapped out in a Wyndham style village. Lex and Ethan are railing against the system created by the all-powerful Mercy HQ, but ‘the man’ is big and very powerful.
Once caught Ethan is not sent to a prison, he is sent to a virtual reality village called Touchstone, adult readers will quickly realise this is very similar to Westworld. However, this is a freaky place and is incredibly well drawn out by the author. There are loads of glitches in the system, the ‘prisoners’ so to school and many are avatars mixed in amongst the real prisoners who band together. Like 1984, the objective is brainwashing and breaking the spirits of the inmates. In one great scene Ethan runs in a long-distance race and is doing well, but eventually finishes last, as he is an avatar, the system is rigged for him to lose. Whilst he fights to survive in the virtual reality world Lex tries to solve the mystery of where he disappeared to. Things might fit together a bit too easily in the end, but for teens who like computer games and YA dystopian novels it was very entertaining. AGE RANGE 12+
GRAEME MASTERTON
Scottish horror legend Graeme Masterton’s adult fiction needs no introduction. Actually, I would not know where to start and he was deservedly presented with a lifetime award by the Horror Writer’s Association a couple of years ago. In a career spanning six decades he has terrified and shocked readers with the likes of The Manitou (1976) and is as good as ever with recent titles Ghost Virus (2018) and The House of a Hundred Whispers (2020). Over the years he made an occasional foray into YA writing for two Point Horror spin-off series, Hair Raiser (2001) for Mutant Point Horror and House of Bones (1998) for Point Horror Unleashed, whilst contributing to many other YA Point Horror anthologies.
HERE’S THE BLURB FOR HAIR RAISER (2001)
Kelly has just started as a trainee hairdresser at Sizzuz, working for the sinister, but creative, Paul. One evening, having swept up the hair from the salon floor, she has a nasty experience disposing of it in the basement. Could there be something living there, something hairy?
Scottish horror legend Graeme Masterton’s adult fiction needs no introduction. Actually, I would not know where to start and he was deservedly presented with a lifetime award by the Horror Writer’s Association a couple of years ago. In a career spanning six decades he has terrified and shocked readers with the likes of The Manitou (1976) and is as good as ever with recent titles Ghost Virus (2018) and The House of a Hundred Whispers (2020). Over the years he made an occasional foray into YA writing for two Point Horror spin-off series, Hair Raiser (2001) for Mutant Point Horror and House of Bones (1998) for Point Horror Unleashed, whilst contributing to many other YA Point Horror anthologies.
HERE’S THE BLURB FOR HAIR RAISER (2001)
Kelly has just started as a trainee hairdresser at Sizzuz, working for the sinister, but creative, Paul. One evening, having swept up the hair from the salon floor, she has a nasty experience disposing of it in the basement. Could there be something living there, something hairy?
ADRIAN McKINTY
I have read many Adrian McKinty novels, none of which are horror, as he specialises in thrillers, including the Michael Forsythe Series (2003-07), the Lighthouse Trilogy (2006-08), the Sean Duffy Series (2012-17) and many standalone novels, of which my favourite was Fifty Grand (2009). In 2011, out of the blue, he wrote his single YA horror novel Deviant. It was outstanding and I hope he writes another one day.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘DEVIANT’ (2011)
I really love this guy as he can expertly move around the genres and age groups and is best known as a highly distinguished crime novelist. Deviant is his only foray into YA though and blends his trademark mystery style with clever crossovers into horror with a troubled teenager biting off more than he can chew when he is sent to an experimental school in Colorado where a killer awaits and a tale which seamlessly blends horror and thriller.
I have read many Adrian McKinty novels, none of which are horror, as he specialises in thrillers, including the Michael Forsythe Series (2003-07), the Lighthouse Trilogy (2006-08), the Sean Duffy Series (2012-17) and many standalone novels, of which my favourite was Fifty Grand (2009). In 2011, out of the blue, he wrote his single YA horror novel Deviant. It was outstanding and I hope he writes another one day.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘DEVIANT’ (2011)
I really love this guy as he can expertly move around the genres and age groups and is best known as a highly distinguished crime novelist. Deviant is his only foray into YA though and blends his trademark mystery style with clever crossovers into horror with a troubled teenager biting off more than he can chew when he is sent to an experimental school in Colorado where a killer awaits and a tale which seamlessly blends horror and thriller.
BRIANA MORGAN
Since 2016 Briana Morgan has published two plays Touch: A One-Act Play (2016) and Unboxed: A Play (2020), also her debut collection The Tricker-Treater and Other Stories (2020). Her debut publication was in 2015 with the YA novel Blood and Water, which she has since followed with Reflections (2019) and Livingston Girls (Livingston Witches Book 1) in 2020.
BLURB FOR ‘LIVINGSTONE GIRLS’ (2020)
What if you could become a witch? When my parents shipped me off to an all-girls boarding school, I thought I was in for a boring junior year. The last thing I expected was discovering magic and a secret coven of witches. Although I’d wanted to lie low at my new school, I couldn’t deny how tempting it was to join the witches.
As I got more involved in the coven, I discovered something else about myself: I had feelings for my roommate, another girl, for the first time in my life. Suddenly, learning magic didn’t seem so scary. But nothing exists in a vacuum, and along with becoming a witch, I learned our coven must go up against a witch-hunter. Not only that, but he’s the headmaster of the boys’ school across town. Now, I have to juggle my feelings for my roommate, my complicated new friendships, my status as a witch… and schoolwork. Maybe this year won’t be as boring as I thought.
Since 2016 Briana Morgan has published two plays Touch: A One-Act Play (2016) and Unboxed: A Play (2020), also her debut collection The Tricker-Treater and Other Stories (2020). Her debut publication was in 2015 with the YA novel Blood and Water, which she has since followed with Reflections (2019) and Livingston Girls (Livingston Witches Book 1) in 2020.
BLURB FOR ‘LIVINGSTONE GIRLS’ (2020)
What if you could become a witch? When my parents shipped me off to an all-girls boarding school, I thought I was in for a boring junior year. The last thing I expected was discovering magic and a secret coven of witches. Although I’d wanted to lie low at my new school, I couldn’t deny how tempting it was to join the witches.
As I got more involved in the coven, I discovered something else about myself: I had feelings for my roommate, another girl, for the first time in my life. Suddenly, learning magic didn’t seem so scary. But nothing exists in a vacuum, and along with becoming a witch, I learned our coven must go up against a witch-hunter. Not only that, but he’s the headmaster of the boys’ school across town. Now, I have to juggle my feelings for my roommate, my complicated new friendships, my status as a witch… and schoolwork. Maybe this year won’t be as boring as I thought.
SARAH J NAUGHTON
Sarah J Naughton started writing YA back in 2013, with a second novel in 2014, however, since then she has exclusively written adult thriller mysteries which include Tattletale (2017), The Last Gift (2017), The Girlfriend (2018), The Mothers (2020) and most recently The Festival (2021). It is a shame Sarah departed the world of YA as both The Hanged Man Rises (2013) and The Blood List (2014) were great reads, with her debut being nominated for the prestigious Costa Children's Book Award. Interestingly, both of Sarah’s YA novels are set in historical periods (Victorian and Sixteenth Century) whereas her adult novels have contemporary settings. Sarah and I exchange the occasional horror themed email and one of these days I might just try and convince her to return to YA horror.
THE HANGED MAN RISES (2013)
I read The Hanged Man Rises when it was originally nominated for the Costa Children's Book Award and was greatly impressed by a very clever page-turner set in a claustrophobically drawn and dangerous Victorian London. The descriptions are so vivid you can almost feel the smog and smell the squalor. Blended into a story of murder is the fact that the author naturally makes the reader aware how difficult it was for children raised in poverty in the Victorian era. Steeped in the gothic tradition, after their parents are killed in a fire Titus Adams and his little sister Hannah are left to fend for themselves before coming into the orbit of a policeman involved in apprehending a child killer. As the story moves on, the murders restart and the supernatural is beautifully blended into the story, with Titus going to any lengths to protect his little sister. Dangers lurk around every corner in this gripping chiller which is ripe for rediscover. AGE RANGE 12+
Sarah J Naughton started writing YA back in 2013, with a second novel in 2014, however, since then she has exclusively written adult thriller mysteries which include Tattletale (2017), The Last Gift (2017), The Girlfriend (2018), The Mothers (2020) and most recently The Festival (2021). It is a shame Sarah departed the world of YA as both The Hanged Man Rises (2013) and The Blood List (2014) were great reads, with her debut being nominated for the prestigious Costa Children's Book Award. Interestingly, both of Sarah’s YA novels are set in historical periods (Victorian and Sixteenth Century) whereas her adult novels have contemporary settings. Sarah and I exchange the occasional horror themed email and one of these days I might just try and convince her to return to YA horror.
THE HANGED MAN RISES (2013)
I read The Hanged Man Rises when it was originally nominated for the Costa Children's Book Award and was greatly impressed by a very clever page-turner set in a claustrophobically drawn and dangerous Victorian London. The descriptions are so vivid you can almost feel the smog and smell the squalor. Blended into a story of murder is the fact that the author naturally makes the reader aware how difficult it was for children raised in poverty in the Victorian era. Steeped in the gothic tradition, after their parents are killed in a fire Titus Adams and his little sister Hannah are left to fend for themselves before coming into the orbit of a policeman involved in apprehending a child killer. As the story moves on, the murders restart and the supernatural is beautifully blended into the story, with Titus going to any lengths to protect his little sister. Dangers lurk around every corner in this gripping chiller which is ripe for rediscover. AGE RANGE 12+
JAMES PATTERSON
These days James Patterson undoubtedly deserves his reputation as a low-brow thriller writer in which you leave your brain at the door, with many novels ‘co-authored’ with others who undoubtedly do all the heavy lifting. However, it was not always like that, back in the day Patterson wrote a couple of excellent YA series, Maximum Ride (2005-15) and Daniel X (2008-15) and to a lesser extent Witch and Wizard (2009-14).
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT MAXIMUM RIDE (9 BOOK SERIES 2005-15)
Many readers might have a doubletake when they see the mainstream writing machine James Patterson appear on a YA horror list, but this is a very entertaining fantasy/science fiction series. The story revolves around six teenagers who are 98% human and 2% bird after a series of scientific experiments. The six kids can fly and when the bloodthirsty Erasers who are half men, half-wolves genetically engineered by sick and sinister scientists, kidnap one of the group they have to go on a rescue mission with fourteen-year-old Max leading the group on a dangerous adventure where they might just have to save the world along the way. This was fast paced exciting fun, that heads into post-apocalyptic fiction as the series develops. AGE RANGE 11+
These days James Patterson undoubtedly deserves his reputation as a low-brow thriller writer in which you leave your brain at the door, with many novels ‘co-authored’ with others who undoubtedly do all the heavy lifting. However, it was not always like that, back in the day Patterson wrote a couple of excellent YA series, Maximum Ride (2005-15) and Daniel X (2008-15) and to a lesser extent Witch and Wizard (2009-14).
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT MAXIMUM RIDE (9 BOOK SERIES 2005-15)
Many readers might have a doubletake when they see the mainstream writing machine James Patterson appear on a YA horror list, but this is a very entertaining fantasy/science fiction series. The story revolves around six teenagers who are 98% human and 2% bird after a series of scientific experiments. The six kids can fly and when the bloodthirsty Erasers who are half men, half-wolves genetically engineered by sick and sinister scientists, kidnap one of the group they have to go on a rescue mission with fourteen-year-old Max leading the group on a dangerous adventure where they might just have to save the world along the way. This was fast paced exciting fun, that heads into post-apocalyptic fiction as the series develops. AGE RANGE 11+
CHRISTOPHER PIKE
Christopher Pike arrived on the YA horror scene in the mid-1980s, around the same time as RL Stine, combined the pair revolutionised the genre and went onto sell millions of books. Pike is probably best known for his Chain Letter (1986-92) duology, Remember Me (1989-95) trilogy, The Last Vampire (1994-96) series, and the 24-book series Spooksville (1995-8). Like RL Stine Pike dabbled, with limited success, in adult fiction, some of his titles included: Sati (1990), The Season of Passage (1992), The Listeners (1994), The Cold One (1995), Blind Mirror (2003) and Falling (2007). Like RL Stine, his YA fiction inspired many of the next generation of horror writers.
BLURB OF ‘SATI’ (1990)
The first adult novel from a bestselling author of young adult fiction. Michael picks up a young hitch hiker in the Arizona desert, bringing her home and letting her sleep on his couch. The next day, she talks about being God and strange things begin to happen to everyone coming in contact with her.
SARAH PINBOROUGH
Sarah Pinborough is one of the few authors who is equally skilled writing for adults as she is for teens. First published in 2004, her early novels The Hidden (2004), The Reckoning (2005) and Bleeding Ground (2006) were all adult horror before The Nowhere Chronicles Trilogy (2010-12) arrived as Sarah Singleton before returning to her original name to retell dark fairy tales. However, in 2015 and 2016 she really moved through the YA gears, publishing two awesome novels back-to-back, with The Death House (2015) and 13 Minutes (2016), the former was a particularly powerful and moving dystopian read. In 2017 she hit the jackpot with the adult twister Behind Her Eyes, which was adapted by Netflix and has followed that with other big selling thrillers. It’s sad to say, but I feel Sarah’s days in YA are over, but I hope I’m wrong.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘THE DEATH HOUSE’ (2015)
When I recommend books to teenagers, I am always on the lookout for titles which the readers can make strong emotional connections with and in my experience, there are few better than The Death House. In the years I have been recommending this amazing dystopian thriller I always tell the kids to watch out for the stunning ending and if I enquire how they got on, more than a few admit to crying at the very sad end. Certain readers think the ending is unnecessarily downbeat, I am not sure though, but it is amazing that it encourages such debate. One thing is for sure: there are a lot of teenagers out there who are truly passionate about this knockout of a novel.
You could argue The Death House is not strictly a horror story, but it is so good I add it to just about any list I can. It has a haunting mix of dystopia, where everything is kept enticingly vague, and teen novel which has been rightly compared to classics such as Lord of the Flies. Children who are infected with a virus, which they have been told is deadly, are shipped to a remote orphanage on an island which they call ‘Death Houses’ because the survival rate is zero. What follows is a quite beautiful and haunting look at the teens who live there, waiting to die, whilst trying to live. The story is seen from the point of view of Toby, who has been in the Death House longer than everybody else (who are all dead) and what changes when a couple of girls arrive amongst the latest bunch of inmates. YA writing has never been better as young love begins to blossom on the island. An absolute stunner and I loved it more than you can ever imagine. AGE RANGE 13+
Tony Jones
Sarah Pinborough is one of the few authors who is equally skilled writing for adults as she is for teens. First published in 2004, her early novels The Hidden (2004), The Reckoning (2005) and Bleeding Ground (2006) were all adult horror before The Nowhere Chronicles Trilogy (2010-12) arrived as Sarah Singleton before returning to her original name to retell dark fairy tales. However, in 2015 and 2016 she really moved through the YA gears, publishing two awesome novels back-to-back, with The Death House (2015) and 13 Minutes (2016), the former was a particularly powerful and moving dystopian read. In 2017 she hit the jackpot with the adult twister Behind Her Eyes, which was adapted by Netflix and has followed that with other big selling thrillers. It’s sad to say, but I feel Sarah’s days in YA are over, but I hope I’m wrong.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘THE DEATH HOUSE’ (2015)
When I recommend books to teenagers, I am always on the lookout for titles which the readers can make strong emotional connections with and in my experience, there are few better than The Death House. In the years I have been recommending this amazing dystopian thriller I always tell the kids to watch out for the stunning ending and if I enquire how they got on, more than a few admit to crying at the very sad end. Certain readers think the ending is unnecessarily downbeat, I am not sure though, but it is amazing that it encourages such debate. One thing is for sure: there are a lot of teenagers out there who are truly passionate about this knockout of a novel.
You could argue The Death House is not strictly a horror story, but it is so good I add it to just about any list I can. It has a haunting mix of dystopia, where everything is kept enticingly vague, and teen novel which has been rightly compared to classics such as Lord of the Flies. Children who are infected with a virus, which they have been told is deadly, are shipped to a remote orphanage on an island which they call ‘Death Houses’ because the survival rate is zero. What follows is a quite beautiful and haunting look at the teens who live there, waiting to die, whilst trying to live. The story is seen from the point of view of Toby, who has been in the Death House longer than everybody else (who are all dead) and what changes when a couple of girls arrive amongst the latest bunch of inmates. YA writing has never been better as young love begins to blossom on the island. An absolute stunner and I loved it more than you can ever imagine. AGE RANGE 13+
Tony Jones
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[COMIC REVIEW] SPLASHES OF DARKNESS: RAYGUN ROADS
THE HEART AND SOUL OF YA HORROR REVIEWS
 | This article looks at authors who started their careers as adult horror writers but at some point, have turned to penning YA fiction, or visa-versa, beginning in YA and then jumping to adult. Interestingly, considering the huge number of horror writers there are, it is not an especially long list, of which this is the first of three parts: A-H. |
In this section the awesome Neil Gaiman is a true standout, as an author this guy is unique, effortlessly moving from picture books, up through primary years, YA and onto adult. It is tricky writing for both age groups and if you do not know many of these authors, they are well worth exploring. Interestingly, many of them are much better known for one particular age group and would probably be seen as ‘dabblers’ in the other. Nobody would argue that adult horror legend Shaun Hutson was known for his YA literature. Many featured in the list such as Hutson, you might not know ever wrote a YA or novel for kids.
This is not an authoritative list, which has been compiled mainly from going through my old Ginger Nuts of Horror reviews, which date back to 2015. I would also like to thank the Twitter horror-sphere and the Books of Horror Facebook group who helped with many of the suggestions. I am sure there are many other great examples, so get in touch if there are any glaring omissions and they may feature in a follow-up article.
About the short accompanying reviews: if it is a book I have previously reviewed in the Ginger Nuts of Horror it is introduced with “Here’s what we said about….” Others included might have reviews of books I have read, but I have never posted online before or via Ginger Nuts. The late additions, books I have not read, have blurbs which I have taken from either Fantastic Fiction or Amazon. The dates I have used have also originated on Amazon or Fantastic Fiction. Note, they do not aim to be complete, and I have selected what I believe to be the books which are most relevant to this project.
The authors are listed alphabetically.
This is not an authoritative list, which has been compiled mainly from going through my old Ginger Nuts of Horror reviews, which date back to 2015. I would also like to thank the Twitter horror-sphere and the Books of Horror Facebook group who helped with many of the suggestions. I am sure there are many other great examples, so get in touch if there are any glaring omissions and they may feature in a follow-up article.
About the short accompanying reviews: if it is a book I have previously reviewed in the Ginger Nuts of Horror it is introduced with “Here’s what we said about….” Others included might have reviews of books I have read, but I have never posted online before or via Ginger Nuts. The late additions, books I have not read, have blurbs which I have taken from either Fantastic Fiction or Amazon. The dates I have used have also originated on Amazon or Fantastic Fiction. Note, they do not aim to be complete, and I have selected what I believe to be the books which are most relevant to this project.
The authors are listed alphabetically.
CLIVE BARKER
Best known for the Books of Blood (1981-85) series, The Damnation Game (1984), Weaveworld (1987), Cabal (1988) and a host of other novels Clive Barker is one of the modern giants of the genre, who also directed the cult horror film Hellraiser in 1987. However, along the way he has written a few excellent YA and children’s novels which are a clever blend of fantasy and horror. The Thief of Always (1992) is undoubtedly his most famous example, followed closely by Abarat (2002-11), which begins an engaging fantasy trilogy. Barker’s junior fiction was outstanding, and it is a great shame he never wrote more of it.
REVIEW OF ‘THE THIEF OF ALWAYS’ (1992)
I still remember reading this book for the first time in my early twenties, but strangely never associated it with the horror giant that Barker had become in the adult horror world, even though I had seen Hellraiser on video back in the day. In the pre-internet days those connections were not so easy or obvious to make, and I had never read Barker when I was a kid. Although I first read The Thief of Always as an adult, it maintains a steady level of dread as main character Harvey Swick is slowly sucked into the orbit of the dastardly Mr Hood’s house. I reread it a couple of years ago and it remains just as unsettling and sinister, and I still regularly recommend it to kids getting interested in horror. Barker creates a haunting world with well-drawn characters where countless children are welcomed into the dodgy embrace of Mr Hood’s holiday house. It is a place of miracles, a blissful round of treats and seasons, where every childish whim may be satisfied. But there is a price to be paid in this darkest of coming-of-age tale which beautifully blends childhood fantasy and horror. AGE RANGE 10/11+
REVIEW OF ‘THE THIEF OF ALWAYS’ (1992)
I still remember reading this book for the first time in my early twenties, but strangely never associated it with the horror giant that Barker had become in the adult horror world, even though I had seen Hellraiser on video back in the day. In the pre-internet days those connections were not so easy or obvious to make, and I had never read Barker when I was a kid. Although I first read The Thief of Always as an adult, it maintains a steady level of dread as main character Harvey Swick is slowly sucked into the orbit of the dastardly Mr Hood’s house. I reread it a couple of years ago and it remains just as unsettling and sinister, and I still regularly recommend it to kids getting interested in horror. Barker creates a haunting world with well-drawn characters where countless children are welcomed into the dodgy embrace of Mr Hood’s holiday house. It is a place of miracles, a blissful round of treats and seasons, where every childish whim may be satisfied. But there is a price to be paid in this darkest of coming-of-age tale which beautifully blends childhood fantasy and horror. AGE RANGE 10/11+
ALDEN BELL AKA JOSHUA GAYLORD
In 2010 Alden Bell wrote The Reapers are the Angels which is without doubt my favourite ever zombie novel, a prequel Exit Kingdom followed in 2012. It is open for debate whether these stunning novels were YA or adult books, and marketing varied in different counties, however, I have always seen Reapers as YA and in the huge Ginger Nuts of Horror ‘Top Fifty Novels of the Decade 2010-2019’ this book was our proud number one. Alden Bell is a pseudonym for Joshua Gaylord, who wrote the literary fiction novel Hummingbirds (2009) and When We Were Animals (2015) which also had strong YA leadings and was number 11 of 50 in that same Ginger Nuts of Horror decade poll.
WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘WHEN WE WERE ANIMALS’ (2015)
When We Were Animals is a strange novel about a small town where when teenagers reach a certain age, they ‘breach’. Although the concept of breaching is never fully explained, it is best described as a strong mental and physical pull where most teens lose control of their inhibitions, running wild in the streets, sometimes naked, abandoning all sense of civility. Their parents do not do anything about this because they did it themselves years earlier and it is seen as a peculiar right-of-passage into adulthood. Is When We Were Animals an adult or a teen novel? It was incredibly different to tell, however, it completely knocked out my fourteen-year-old daughter who found a lot of magic in the novel, particularly in relation to the ‘bad boy’ Blackhat Roy. He was not a main character, but his shadow dominated the book and my daughter felt herself being pulled to his dark, irresistible, side. Blackhat Roy was nasty, interesting, layered, violent and very human character. He was the ultimate outsider.
Lumen, however, swears she will never breach because of what happened to her mother. Soon everyone around her is breaching, including her only friend Polly. When the sound of the teens howling echoes the streets, she hears her classmates calling her name and the pull becomes almost irresistible. The novel also flashes forward to see Lumen as a married adult with a son, as she reflects on her past and begins to feel the urge again, it is a coming-of-age tale like no other. AGE RANGE 13/14+
WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘WHEN WE WERE ANIMALS’ (2015)
When We Were Animals is a strange novel about a small town where when teenagers reach a certain age, they ‘breach’. Although the concept of breaching is never fully explained, it is best described as a strong mental and physical pull where most teens lose control of their inhibitions, running wild in the streets, sometimes naked, abandoning all sense of civility. Their parents do not do anything about this because they did it themselves years earlier and it is seen as a peculiar right-of-passage into adulthood. Is When We Were Animals an adult or a teen novel? It was incredibly different to tell, however, it completely knocked out my fourteen-year-old daughter who found a lot of magic in the novel, particularly in relation to the ‘bad boy’ Blackhat Roy. He was not a main character, but his shadow dominated the book and my daughter felt herself being pulled to his dark, irresistible, side. Blackhat Roy was nasty, interesting, layered, violent and very human character. He was the ultimate outsider.
Lumen, however, swears she will never breach because of what happened to her mother. Soon everyone around her is breaching, including her only friend Polly. When the sound of the teens howling echoes the streets, she hears her classmates calling her name and the pull becomes almost irresistible. The novel also flashes forward to see Lumen as a married adult with a son, as she reflects on her past and begins to feel the urge again, it is a coming-of-age tale like no other. AGE RANGE 13/14+
MAX BRALLIER AKA JACK CHABERT
Max Braillier started his career with the adult ‘choose your own adult adventure novel Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? (2011) which he followed with the sequel Highway to Hell (2016). Between the publication of these adult titles Brallier turned to junior and Middle Grade fiction where he has since concentrated. Between 2015-21 zombies headlined in his six-book series Last Kids on Earth and also wrote a trilogy of horror chillers Mister Shivers (2019-21) and other series, some of which were fantasy comedy. Between 2014-19 his pseudonym Jack Chabert published the ten book Eerie Elementary series which begins with The School is Alive!
BLURB OF THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH
Ever since the monster apocalypse hit town, average thirteen-year-old Jack Sullivan has been living in his tree house, which he's armed to the teeth with catapults and a moat, not to mention video games and an endless supply of Oreos and Mountain Dew scavenged from abandoned stores. But Jack alone is no match for the hordes of Zombies and Winged Wretches and Vine Thingies, and especially not for the eerily intelligent monster known only as Blarg. So, Jack builds a team: his dorky best friend, Quint; the reformed middle school bully, Dirk; Jack's loyal pet monster, Rover; and Jack's crush, June. With their help, Jack is going to slay Blarg, achieve the ultimate Feat of Apocalyptic Success, and be average no longer! Can he do it? AGE RANGE 8+
BLURB OF THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH
Ever since the monster apocalypse hit town, average thirteen-year-old Jack Sullivan has been living in his tree house, which he's armed to the teeth with catapults and a moat, not to mention video games and an endless supply of Oreos and Mountain Dew scavenged from abandoned stores. But Jack alone is no match for the hordes of Zombies and Winged Wretches and Vine Thingies, and especially not for the eerily intelligent monster known only as Blarg. So, Jack builds a team: his dorky best friend, Quint; the reformed middle school bully, Dirk; Jack's loyal pet monster, Rover; and Jack's crush, June. With their help, Jack is going to slay Blarg, achieve the ultimate Feat of Apocalyptic Success, and be average no longer! Can he do it? AGE RANGE 8+
ADAM CESARE
Adam made a massive splash in 2020 with his YA debut Clown in a Cornfield and I hope he becomes a major new voice in YA horror. As a writer for adults, he is very well known in the indie horror scene and has penned Video Night (2013), The Summer Job (2014), Zero Lives Remaining (2016) and many others. His arrival in the YA world was a breath of fresh air and he thoroughly deserved winning the YA Bram Stoker Award in 2021.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD (2020)
With a title like Clown in a Cornfield you might be forgiven for thinking you had stumbled upon a glorious ‘straight-to-video’ release from the 1980s heyday of lurid but wonderful horror films.
It is not deep, the characters neither ‘change’ or ‘grow’ and it does not have a heavy underlying serious message. I do love a ‘Final Girl’ and although the story is told in the third person, taking in various characters, Quinn Maybrook dominates the book and she is an excellent Final Girl (okay, other characters survive too) when the body count spirals in the second half of the story.
This truly is a book of two halves in which the first sets up the plot and in the second the story explodes. The set up was handled very well, my only concern might be that some readers might be frustrated by the lack of action in the first 50%, however, Quinn Maybrook and the other characters were varied enough to keep the reader invested in how the story would play out and intrigue in what part the clowns might have. Interestingly, the book is set over a very short time of a couple of days, after Quinn and her father Doctor Glen Maybrook arrive in the sleepy and very remote small town of Missouri town of Kettle Strings. Once the action kicks off, like many of the horror films it is inspired by, the action takes place over a single night. If you have watched many of the slasher films Clown in the Cornfield plays homage to, you’ll realise these films were all about the kill sequences and in this regard the novel does not hold back on the gore which involves chainsaws, shotguns and crossbows. This was both fun and gleefully nasty, whilst also being an excellent gateway novel for young teenagers not quite ready to make the jump to adult horror. AGE RANGE 13+
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD (2020)
With a title like Clown in a Cornfield you might be forgiven for thinking you had stumbled upon a glorious ‘straight-to-video’ release from the 1980s heyday of lurid but wonderful horror films.
It is not deep, the characters neither ‘change’ or ‘grow’ and it does not have a heavy underlying serious message. I do love a ‘Final Girl’ and although the story is told in the third person, taking in various characters, Quinn Maybrook dominates the book and she is an excellent Final Girl (okay, other characters survive too) when the body count spirals in the second half of the story.
This truly is a book of two halves in which the first sets up the plot and in the second the story explodes. The set up was handled very well, my only concern might be that some readers might be frustrated by the lack of action in the first 50%, however, Quinn Maybrook and the other characters were varied enough to keep the reader invested in how the story would play out and intrigue in what part the clowns might have. Interestingly, the book is set over a very short time of a couple of days, after Quinn and her father Doctor Glen Maybrook arrive in the sleepy and very remote small town of Missouri town of Kettle Strings. Once the action kicks off, like many of the horror films it is inspired by, the action takes place over a single night. If you have watched many of the slasher films Clown in the Cornfield plays homage to, you’ll realise these films were all about the kill sequences and in this regard the novel does not hold back on the gore which involves chainsaws, shotguns and crossbows. This was both fun and gleefully nasty, whilst also being an excellent gateway novel for young teenagers not quite ready to make the jump to adult horror. AGE RANGE 13+
JOHN CHRISTOPHER AKA CHRISTOPHER SAMUEL YOUD
John Christopher prolifically and effortlessly moved between children’s and adult fiction, across multiple genres. He is best known as a science fiction writer who specialised in post-apocalyptic tales such as The Tripods Quartet (1967-68) for children or The Death of Grass (1956) for adults. He rarely wrote what would be regarded as traditional horror, with A Dusk of Demons (1993) being one of the strongest examples for children and The Little People (1966) for adults.
HERE’S THE BLURB FOR A DUSK FOR DEMONS (1993)
Ben, like many others, has heard the stories of the Demons--those being summoned by the Dark One. But they exist only in his nightmares until his father, the Master, dies mysteriously and Ben is told the Demons are responsible. Then the Demons set fire to Ben's home on Old Isle and he and his stepsister must flee their homeland to find their family. Along the way, they face imprisonment, gypies, and terrified countrymen who are seeking a sacrifice to save themselves from the Dark One.
HERE’S THE BLURB FOR A DUSK FOR DEMONS (1993)
Ben, like many others, has heard the stories of the Demons--those being summoned by the Dark One. But they exist only in his nightmares until his father, the Master, dies mysteriously and Ben is told the Demons are responsible. Then the Demons set fire to Ben's home on Old Isle and he and his stepsister must flee their homeland to find their family. Along the way, they face imprisonment, gypies, and terrified countrymen who are seeking a sacrifice to save themselves from the Dark One.
JOHN CONNOLLY
I am a massive, MASSIVE, fan of Connolly’s nineteen book Charlie Parker series, which I completed over the Covid lockdowns. The blend of horror and detective thriller has never been bettered and I cannot recommend this magnificent series highly enough. However, once in a while this exceptionally talented Irish author writes either a children’s novel or a work like The Book of Lost Things (2006), which is totally unclassifiable. His YA fiction to look out for include Samuel Johnson Versus the Devil Quartet (2009-20) Chronicles of the Invaders Trilogy (2012-16). Book four in the Samuel Johnson series arrived eight years after number three and I hope we do not have to wait as long for another. As long as it does not detract from Charlie Parker!
HERE'S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT SAMUEL JOHNSON VERSUS THE DEVIL (2012)
I would highly recommend this great supernatural children’s series which begins with The Gates in which a comedy of errors leads to a gate to hell opening and poor little Samuel (and his pet dog) is just the boy to close it and save the world in an outstanding blend or the supernatural and fantasy. AGE RANGE 10/11+
HERE'S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT SAMUEL JOHNSON VERSUS THE DEVIL (2012)
I would highly recommend this great supernatural children’s series which begins with The Gates in which a comedy of errors leads to a gate to hell opening and poor little Samuel (and his pet dog) is just the boy to close it and save the world in an outstanding blend or the supernatural and fantasy. AGE RANGE 10/11+
TOM DEADY
Tom Deady is best known as an adult novelist and novella writer, although very recently he has been edging towards YA. His superb 2021 novella for Crystal Lake Publishing Of Men and Monsters is being sold as an adult release, however, it also has a serious YA vibe to it, and I would happily recommend this quality eighty-page come-of-age tale to any kid thirteen or older. It tackles mature themes, but blends it sensitively with family drama, the supernatural and a cool 1970s vide. Tom has written other adult horror novels Eternal Darkness (2017), Haven (2017) which won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel, and the novellas Weekend Getaway (2017), Backwater (2018) and Coleridge (2020). Tom’s debut YA novel, The Clearing (2021) is really great and is reviewed below. I’ve already ordered this one for my school library.
HERE'S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘THE CLEARING’ (2021)
If you’re after a gateway horror novel for kids aged ten plus, then look no further than Tom Deady’s outstanding The Clearing which is perfect for the top end of primary to the early secondary years. This engrossing read had everything to get keen kids turning the pages; engaging characters, great pace, threat (but not too scary), a taste of early romance, and friendship which is all cleverly built around a snappy mystery, which develops supernatural overtones and conspiracy in the local community. I have already bought a copy for my school library. Bizarrely, something about it made me think of the 1970s cult film Race with the Devil where Warren Oates and friends are stalked by Satanists, who hide in plain sight. Set in a small and sleepy New Hampshire town, two young girls find themselves in danger after deciding to do a Nancy Drew and carry out their own investigation, instead of going to the police. It was the summer holidays, and they were bored, so who can blame them?
The Clearing has a super cool opening hook which is guaranteed to reel any young horror hound in right from the off. Hannah Green is out walking her dog when the pooch makes a grisly find, a decomposing foot. Instead of going to the police she calls her best friend Ashley, and they begin to snoop, which leads them into a decades old mystery which they connect to the disappearance of a local girl. As they begin to join the dots, other characters are introduced and suspicion falls on a reclusive old woman, Mama Bayole. There were not too many suspects, but this mystery was great fun, with the supernatural story convincingly backed by the friendship story between Hannah and Ashley. Another story strands involves Hannah and her father, who is struggling to cope (as is Hannah) with the disappearance of her mother the previous year. The crisp pace, kidnappings and red herrings ensure the intensity keeps up right to the end, which finishes satisfyingly for a potential sequel. As with most Middle Grade horror, it was very clear who were the ‘good’ and who were the ‘bad’ guys, but it was great fun accompanying Hannah and Ashley on their adventure. AGE RANGE 10-13.
HERE'S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘THE CLEARING’ (2021)
If you’re after a gateway horror novel for kids aged ten plus, then look no further than Tom Deady’s outstanding The Clearing which is perfect for the top end of primary to the early secondary years. This engrossing read had everything to get keen kids turning the pages; engaging characters, great pace, threat (but not too scary), a taste of early romance, and friendship which is all cleverly built around a snappy mystery, which develops supernatural overtones and conspiracy in the local community. I have already bought a copy for my school library. Bizarrely, something about it made me think of the 1970s cult film Race with the Devil where Warren Oates and friends are stalked by Satanists, who hide in plain sight. Set in a small and sleepy New Hampshire town, two young girls find themselves in danger after deciding to do a Nancy Drew and carry out their own investigation, instead of going to the police. It was the summer holidays, and they were bored, so who can blame them?
The Clearing has a super cool opening hook which is guaranteed to reel any young horror hound in right from the off. Hannah Green is out walking her dog when the pooch makes a grisly find, a decomposing foot. Instead of going to the police she calls her best friend Ashley, and they begin to snoop, which leads them into a decades old mystery which they connect to the disappearance of a local girl. As they begin to join the dots, other characters are introduced and suspicion falls on a reclusive old woman, Mama Bayole. There were not too many suspects, but this mystery was great fun, with the supernatural story convincingly backed by the friendship story between Hannah and Ashley. Another story strands involves Hannah and her father, who is struggling to cope (as is Hannah) with the disappearance of her mother the previous year. The crisp pace, kidnappings and red herrings ensure the intensity keeps up right to the end, which finishes satisfyingly for a potential sequel. As with most Middle Grade horror, it was very clear who were the ‘good’ and who were the ‘bad’ guys, but it was great fun accompanying Hannah and Ashley on their adventure. AGE RANGE 10-13.
JOE DONNELLY
Between 1989 and 2012 Joe Donnelly published ten adult novels which were a mixture of horror and mystery, which include Bane (1989), Stone (1990), The Shee (1992), Incubus (1996), and Full Proof (2012). In 2007 Joe took his first detour into Middle Grade children’s fiction with the Jack Flint trilogy, published between 2007-10 which deals Celtic mythology. He returned to YA fantasy in 2016 with the Book of Ways (2016) trilogy, which opens with Mythlands.
BLURB FOR ‘JACK FLINT AND THE REDTHORN SWORD’ (2007)
Jack Flint is 13. He's never known his mother and has - literally - lost his father. On a stormy Halloween he steps from his humdrum world of school, chores and getting by, into a maelstrom. Scaling the dark-walled coppice known as Cromwath Blackwood he and his best friend, Kerry Malone, find a mysterious circle of thirteen standing stones. Stones that almost seem to be breathing, pulling the boys to a place of myth and mayhem.
From playing fields to battle fields they stumble into the legendary world of Temair. Here Celtic myth comes to life as Jack, Kerry and Corriwen Redthorn, the orphaned daughter of a Temair Chief, face the terrifying cunning of Morrigan, goddess of death and her servants, the Scree and the cruel, black-feathered Roaks.
BLURB FOR ‘JACK FLINT AND THE REDTHORN SWORD’ (2007)
Jack Flint is 13. He's never known his mother and has - literally - lost his father. On a stormy Halloween he steps from his humdrum world of school, chores and getting by, into a maelstrom. Scaling the dark-walled coppice known as Cromwath Blackwood he and his best friend, Kerry Malone, find a mysterious circle of thirteen standing stones. Stones that almost seem to be breathing, pulling the boys to a place of myth and mayhem.
From playing fields to battle fields they stumble into the legendary world of Temair. Here Celtic myth comes to life as Jack, Kerry and Corriwen Redthorn, the orphaned daughter of a Temair Chief, face the terrifying cunning of Morrigan, goddess of death and her servants, the Scree and the cruel, black-feathered Roaks.
JG FAHERTY
JG Faherty is one of the very few authors to be nominated for both the YA Bram Stoker Award with Ghosts of Coronado Bay (2011) and the adult Best Novel category in 2015 with The Cure. Faherty moves around the genres and often blends fantasy with horror, but also writes science fiction. His most recent two horror novels Hellrider (2019) and Sins of the Father (2020) were both published by Flame Tree Press, who have been dropping excellent novels over the last few years. Faherty features in many anthologies and has his own collections The Monster Inside (2014) and Houses of the Unholy (2019). The majority of his other work, including many novellas, are adult rather than YA, check out Cemetery Club (2012), Carnival of Fear (2010), The Burning Time (2013) and others. I have read a couple of his adult novels and must look into his YA stuff.
BLURB OF GHOSTS OF CORONADO BAY (2011)
By all accounts, 16-year-old Maya Blair is a typical teen-age girl. She hangs out with her best friend Lucy, has a turbulent relationship with her ex-boyfriend Stuart, and works at her family’s diner. However, Maya has an extraordinary secret – she can see, hear, and talk to ghosts. And when spirits are near her they revert back to solid form. But now there are new ghosts in town and she’s fallen for two of them. The problem is, one of them is an evil spirit who wants her dead. Things were so much simpler when all Maya had to worry about was a date for the dance.
MICHAEL THOMAS FORD AKA MIKE FORD AKA ISOBEL BIRD
There can be very few writers in this A-Z which have the sheer versatility and range of the amazing Michael Thomas Ford who pens mainstream YA, genre fiction for both adults and teens, as well as horror for Middle Grade age groups. His remarkable output of fifty books (and counting) also takes in humour, gay fiction, romance, literary and nonfiction. His Jane Bites Trilogy (2009-12) features Jane Austen as a modern-day vampire and Z (2010) was his spin on the zombie novel. His incredible Lily (2016) was shortlisted for the Shirley Jackson Award and made the preliminary list for the YA Bram Stoker Award. Alas, it was probably just too strange for the HWA! (but I loved it). When writing as Mike Ford, he penned ten of the Indiana Eerie Series between 1997-98 of which The Dollhouse That Time Forgot (1998) was shortlisted for a YA Bram Stoker Award, he resurrected the name in 2020 for the four book Frightville series, aimed at junior and Middle Grade horror fans. His third name, Isobel Bird, wrote the fifteen book Circle of Three fantasy magic series between 2001-02. There is nothing that Mike cannot do.
WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘DON’T LET THE DOLL IN’ (FRIGHTVILLE BOOK 1) 2020
The constant in all the stories is the new Frightville store in the local town where the action takes place and kids buy quirky junk store objects from the creepy Odson Ends. In this opening tale Mara is delighted to purchase a small figurine doll called Charlotte. Kids love creepy doll stories, and this is a beauty when odd things happen after Charlotte ends up in Mara’s dollhouse. A fast-paced supernatural story quickly develops, with a very cool ending which your children will love.
WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘DON’T LET THE DOLL IN’ (FRIGHTVILLE BOOK 1) 2020
The constant in all the stories is the new Frightville store in the local town where the action takes place and kids buy quirky junk store objects from the creepy Odson Ends. In this opening tale Mara is delighted to purchase a small figurine doll called Charlotte. Kids love creepy doll stories, and this is a beauty when odd things happen after Charlotte ends up in Mara’s dollhouse. A fast-paced supernatural story quickly develops, with a very cool ending which your children will love.
PATRICK FREIVALD
Patrick Freivald started his career with two YA zombie novels, Twice Shy and Special Dead (2012-13) before moving onto adult horror and dark thrillers. Between 2014-19 he published four novels in his Matt Rowley series, about a superhuman commando, which opens with Jade Sky. Other novels are Blood List (2013) and Murmur (2020). Patrick has also featured in many anthologies and been nominated for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award four times.
BLURB FOR ‘TWICE SHY’ (2012)
High School Sucks. It's worse when you're dead. Ohneka Falls is a small, Western New York town where everyone knows everyone and nothing of note happens. Ani Romero is a sixteen-year-old girl who wants to play sports, hang out, and kiss Mike, her middle-school crush. A childhood carrier of the zombie virus, she died at fourteen but didn't become a mindless, brain-eating monster. Her controlling mother forces her to join the emo crowd to hide her condition behind a wall of black clothes and makeup, and her friends abandon her.
When creeper Dylan learns her secret, he falls into obsession, with Ani and with death. She bites him in self-defence. Persecuted by the jocks and ignored by Mike, Ani struggles through the motions of life hoping her mother's research unveils a cure, or Dylan dooms them all to a hungry, walking death. As her emo facade crumbles in the face of jealousy and obsession, Ani knows that the worst thing she can do is be true to herself.
BLURB FOR ‘TWICE SHY’ (2012)
High School Sucks. It's worse when you're dead. Ohneka Falls is a small, Western New York town where everyone knows everyone and nothing of note happens. Ani Romero is a sixteen-year-old girl who wants to play sports, hang out, and kiss Mike, her middle-school crush. A childhood carrier of the zombie virus, she died at fourteen but didn't become a mindless, brain-eating monster. Her controlling mother forces her to join the emo crowd to hide her condition behind a wall of black clothes and makeup, and her friends abandon her.
When creeper Dylan learns her secret, he falls into obsession, with Ani and with death. She bites him in self-defence. Persecuted by the jocks and ignored by Mike, Ani struggles through the motions of life hoping her mother's research unveils a cure, or Dylan dooms them all to a hungry, walking death. As her emo facade crumbles in the face of jealousy and obsession, Ani knows that the worst thing she can do is be true to herself.
NEIL GAIMAN
No author straddles the age groups as naturally or beautifully as Neil Gaiman. From his picture books, including The Wolves in the Walls (2007), to his fiction for the under tens, Fortunately, the Milk (2013), all the way up to the famous adult modern classics he is best known for. The Ocean at the End of the Lane (2013) is my favourite of his novels, is it an adult or YA novel? It is very hard to tell…. His top YA and children’s titles include Coraline (2002) and The Graveyard Book (2008), which is the only novel ever to win both the Carnegie and Newbery Medals, the biggest prizes in children’s literature. Further personal adult favourites include Good Omens (1990), Stardust (1998) and American Gods (2000). The quality of his fiction is so deep than Gaiman fans will argue all day over which is his ‘best’ novel. In Ginger Nuts of Horror recent top 50 YA novels of the decade The Ocean at the End of the Lane was placed number six.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE (2013)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is, hands-down, my favourite Neil Gaiman novel and I have read most of them. It is predominately seen through the eyes of a little boy and features the scariest babysitter/nanny of all time who terrifies the child. Hell, she terrified me. This breath-taking blend of fantasy and horror is almost impossible to pigeonhole and possibly takes the best bits from many of Gaiman’s other novels; increasing the fear-factor from Coraline and The Graveyard Book, includes snatches reminiscent of Stardust, but without the huge page length of American Gods. It might very well be Gaiman’s masterpiece with old and dangerous magic filtering into the world.
On one level it reads like a children’s book, on another it is a story of loss, aging, and childhood memories. This is a big question: is this an adult or a YA novel? It is very hard to tell, and I have a special love for novels which blur that boundary. Since its publications I have read it twice with different book clubs at school and readers frequently argue about how it should be categorised. However, if it an adult novel, it is perfect for strong teenage readers and the majority I lend it to adore its strange blend of coming-of-story, childhood fear and nostalgia, not to mention very old magic. Life might not be normal for a boy whose nearest neighbours are a family of ancient witches, including a little girl who he befriends, in this dark and brooding tale of childhood and witchcraft which is half-forgotten and is totally unforgettable to the reader. Genius. But watch out for that babysitter…. AGE RANGE 13+
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE (2013)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is, hands-down, my favourite Neil Gaiman novel and I have read most of them. It is predominately seen through the eyes of a little boy and features the scariest babysitter/nanny of all time who terrifies the child. Hell, she terrified me. This breath-taking blend of fantasy and horror is almost impossible to pigeonhole and possibly takes the best bits from many of Gaiman’s other novels; increasing the fear-factor from Coraline and The Graveyard Book, includes snatches reminiscent of Stardust, but without the huge page length of American Gods. It might very well be Gaiman’s masterpiece with old and dangerous magic filtering into the world.
On one level it reads like a children’s book, on another it is a story of loss, aging, and childhood memories. This is a big question: is this an adult or a YA novel? It is very hard to tell, and I have a special love for novels which blur that boundary. Since its publications I have read it twice with different book clubs at school and readers frequently argue about how it should be categorised. However, if it an adult novel, it is perfect for strong teenage readers and the majority I lend it to adore its strange blend of coming-of-story, childhood fear and nostalgia, not to mention very old magic. Life might not be normal for a boy whose nearest neighbours are a family of ancient witches, including a little girl who he befriends, in this dark and brooding tale of childhood and witchcraft which is half-forgotten and is totally unforgettable to the reader. Genius. But watch out for that babysitter…. AGE RANGE 13+
HELEN GRANT
I am a huge fan of Helen Grant and read the majority of her YA fiction published between 2009-2015, these six novels include her debut, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden (2009) which was shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. Other titles are the equally impressive The Glass Demon (2010) and Wish Me Dead (2011), two novels I have enjoyed recommending widely. Helen does not write traditional horror novels, but her fiction often has a convincing flavour of myths, legends and are often set in European countries, including her Forbidden Spaces Trilogy (2013-15). In 2018 Helen made the impressive switch to adult fiction with Ghost and follows that with a second adult novel later in 2021. She is also widely published in many anthologies, and I hope she returns to YA before too long.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT WISH ME DEAD (2011)
Steffi and her friends visit the house of a long-dead local witch and is seemingly given the power to make wishes come true. This is far from a blessing as she is soon plagued with locals wanting her to do their dirty work over the most trivial slights. It is clever in that for a decent chunk of the novel you are not 100% sure whether there is anything supernatural or not. Grant is a British author who lives in Germany, where most of her books are set, often playing with the supernatural and local German superstitions. Others I recommend are The Glass Demon and The Vanishing of Katharina Linden which was a highly successful novel inspired by the Pied Piper story.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT WISH ME DEAD (2011)
Steffi and her friends visit the house of a long-dead local witch and is seemingly given the power to make wishes come true. This is far from a blessing as she is soon plagued with locals wanting her to do their dirty work over the most trivial slights. It is clever in that for a decent chunk of the novel you are not 100% sure whether there is anything supernatural or not. Grant is a British author who lives in Germany, where most of her books are set, often playing with the supernatural and local German superstitions. Others I recommend are The Glass Demon and The Vanishing of Katharina Linden which was a highly successful novel inspired by the Pied Piper story.
MIRA GRANT AKA SEANAN McGUIRE AKA DEBORAH BAKER
I have been a fan of Mira Grant for a number of years and have enjoyed both the Newsflesh/Feed (2011-16) series and the Parasitology (2013-15) trilogy, which although they are adult reads are also highly accessible for YA readers. Also writing (prolifically) as Seanan McGuire and more recently Deborah Baker she still remains best known for the terrific Newsflesh series, rather than the huge number of urban fantasy titles she has since released under her other two names. In 2019 Mira wrote a YA novel to the Aliens franchise which was an entertaining read and is reviewed below.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘ALIEN ECHO’ (2019)
Her latest science fiction horror novel, Alien Echo, is specifically aimed at the YA audience and is set in the Alien universe created by Ridley Scott and developed by James Cameron. For much of the novel (unless you’re aware of the connection) you could be forgiven for not even noticing the connection to the Aliens made famous by Ridley Scott. At a certain point, the creatures are described as having a mouth (within a month) and then the acid for blood is a give-away. Apart from that you could be reading any science fiction novel and this book felt as if it were unnecessarily shoe-horned in a series when, in actual fact, Mira Grant creates enough cool creatures that the famous Aliens were not strictly necessarily.
Alien Echo was an entertaining, if slightly undemanding, YA science fiction horror which was set on the planet of Zagreus. The novel is seen from the point of view of a gay teenager Olivia who is the daughter of two distinguished xenobiologists. She has a twin sister, Viola, who has a serious medical condition which means she cannot go outside. In the early stages of the novel Olivia hooks up with Kora and things are going great, however, after her parents go on a routine expedition they bring something nasty back to the planet which quickly decimates the local wildlife, easily killing off the dangerous apex predators. Along the way there are friendship conflicts, family revelations, lots of killing and a battle for survival. You may well enjoy this better if you know nothing of the famous films it is inspired by it is a decent mix of teen stuff and fast faced action. AGE RANGE 12+
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘ALIEN ECHO’ (2019)
Her latest science fiction horror novel, Alien Echo, is specifically aimed at the YA audience and is set in the Alien universe created by Ridley Scott and developed by James Cameron. For much of the novel (unless you’re aware of the connection) you could be forgiven for not even noticing the connection to the Aliens made famous by Ridley Scott. At a certain point, the creatures are described as having a mouth (within a month) and then the acid for blood is a give-away. Apart from that you could be reading any science fiction novel and this book felt as if it were unnecessarily shoe-horned in a series when, in actual fact, Mira Grant creates enough cool creatures that the famous Aliens were not strictly necessarily.
Alien Echo was an entertaining, if slightly undemanding, YA science fiction horror which was set on the planet of Zagreus. The novel is seen from the point of view of a gay teenager Olivia who is the daughter of two distinguished xenobiologists. She has a twin sister, Viola, who has a serious medical condition which means she cannot go outside. In the early stages of the novel Olivia hooks up with Kora and things are going great, however, after her parents go on a routine expedition they bring something nasty back to the planet which quickly decimates the local wildlife, easily killing off the dangerous apex predators. Along the way there are friendship conflicts, family revelations, lots of killing and a battle for survival. You may well enjoy this better if you know nothing of the famous films it is inspired by it is a decent mix of teen stuff and fast faced action. AGE RANGE 12+
JL HICKEY
JL Hickey started his career writing Middle Grade and YA, including his Secret Seekers Society series, which was republished in 2018-19 by Black Rose Writing, Beast of Bladenboro (book 1), Solomon’s Seal (book 2) and Wrath of the Wendigo (book 3). Earlier he wrote Deity Chronicles: Origins (2015). In recent times Hickey has turned to adult horror and in 2021 has two new novels: It Was Born in the Darkness of the Woods and The Dark and the Darker.
BLURB FOR ‘THE BEAST OF BLADENBORO’ (2018)
Secret Seekers Society and the Beast of Bladenboro follows the young protagonists Hunter Glenn and Elly Ann through an adventure ripe with adversity, paranormal monsters, secret societies, and most haunting of all, a life without their parents. Both siblings suffer emotional struggle from the sudden loss of their parents, as well as their physical journey into a new and strange “home”; an ancient and creepy mansion known only as the Belmonte Estate. The children slowly unravel the secrets of their parents’ true identities, the origin of the strange mansion and their inheritance into an ancient secret society of monster hunters. AGE RANGE 11+
BLURB FOR ‘THE BEAST OF BLADENBORO’ (2018)
Secret Seekers Society and the Beast of Bladenboro follows the young protagonists Hunter Glenn and Elly Ann through an adventure ripe with adversity, paranormal monsters, secret societies, and most haunting of all, a life without their parents. Both siblings suffer emotional struggle from the sudden loss of their parents, as well as their physical journey into a new and strange “home”; an ancient and creepy mansion known only as the Belmonte Estate. The children slowly unravel the secrets of their parents’ true identities, the origin of the strange mansion and their inheritance into an ancient secret society of monster hunters. AGE RANGE 11+
SUSAN HILL
Susan Hill effortlessly moves around the genres and is impressively impossible to pigeonhole, she is also an absolute master of the supernatural novella. Hill is probably still best known for The Woman in Black (1983) which although was released as an adult story, is frequently taught to the age group of 13-15-year-olds in UK schools. Many of her best horror novellas, including The Small Hand (2010) and Dolly (2012), which although are predominately aimed at adults, also have strong YA feels to them. My favourite of the many Hill novels I have read is I’m the King of the Castle (1970), which I have used for book clubs is also technically for adults, but again is popular in schools. Her non-horror output remains incredibly popular, with her detective Simon Serrailler now stretching to eleven books between 2004-2021. Hill has also written many picture books, literary fiction and the occasional children’s or teen fantasy novel, The Glass Angels (1991). Other highly recommended adult horror novels include The Mist in the Mirror (1992) and The Man in the Picture (2007).
BLURB FOR ‘THE BATTLE FOR GULLYWITH’ (2008)
A stone army, an enchanted castle, mysterious ancient powers - and some very clever tortoises - Olly finds there's more than meets the eye at Gullywith. When his family move to Gullywith Farm in the Lake District, Olly just can't imagine being happy in his new home. Gullywith is the coldest house in the world and no one has lived there for years. Then Olly meets KK and she tells him locals won't go near the place. It does seem to be jinxed - the roof falls in, walls collapse but even more strangely, Olly notices that there are stones at Gullywith that can move around of their own accord - stones with ancient markings on them. He feels sure that they are angry about something. KK takes Olly to see the mysterious Nonny Dreever to ask his advice and he tells them they must return the stones to Withern Mere. As they search for the answer to Gullywith's secret, Olly is drawn into a world of myth, magic and midnight adventure deep inside the surrounding hills. What is the ancient power that controls the stones, and can anything be done to end their hold over Gullywith? Susan Hill deftly weaves a tale of real life and enchantment to delight young readers. AGE RANGE 11+
BLURB FOR ‘THE BATTLE FOR GULLYWITH’ (2008)
A stone army, an enchanted castle, mysterious ancient powers - and some very clever tortoises - Olly finds there's more than meets the eye at Gullywith. When his family move to Gullywith Farm in the Lake District, Olly just can't imagine being happy in his new home. Gullywith is the coldest house in the world and no one has lived there for years. Then Olly meets KK and she tells him locals won't go near the place. It does seem to be jinxed - the roof falls in, walls collapse but even more strangely, Olly notices that there are stones at Gullywith that can move around of their own accord - stones with ancient markings on them. He feels sure that they are angry about something. KK takes Olly to see the mysterious Nonny Dreever to ask his advice and he tells them they must return the stones to Withern Mere. As they search for the answer to Gullywith's secret, Olly is drawn into a world of myth, magic and midnight adventure deep inside the surrounding hills. What is the ancient power that controls the stones, and can anything be done to end their hold over Gullywith? Susan Hill deftly weaves a tale of real life and enchantment to delight young readers. AGE RANGE 11+
NANCY HOLDER
Nancy Holder has regularly moved between adult fiction, YA and novelisations of TV shows in a long career which has seen her win four Bram Stoker Awards, three for short stories and the fourth for her adult novel Dead in the Water (1994). Her adult output has included science fiction, Gambler’s Star (1998-2000), romance novels and relatively recent novelisations of the films Crimson Peak (2015), Ghostbusters (2016) and Wonder Woman (2017). Earlier in her career she did similar novelisations for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Highlander. Further YA releases include Wicked series (2002-9), Gifted (2006-8), Possessions trilogy (2009-11), Wolf Springs Chronicles (2011-13), often dabbling in Paranormal Romance, werewolves or other areas of supernatural fiction.
BLURB FOR ‘POSSESSIONS’ BOOK ONE (2009)
New-girl Lindsay discovers all is not right at the prestigious Marlwood Academy for Girls. Ethereal, popular Mandy and her clique are plotting something dangerous. Lindsay overhears them performing strange rituals, and sees their eyes turn black. It doesn't help that the school itself is totally eerie, with ancient, dilapidated buildings tucked into the Northern California woods, a thick white fog swirling through campus. There are hidden passageways, odd reflections in the windows at night, and scariest of all is the vast lake rumoured to have captured the ghost of a girl who drowned many years ago.
What Lindsay doesn't yet realize is that Mandy and her cohorts are becoming possessed by spirits who have haunted the school for two hundred years. Spirits who want someone dead...
BLURB FOR ‘POSSESSIONS’ BOOK ONE (2009)
New-girl Lindsay discovers all is not right at the prestigious Marlwood Academy for Girls. Ethereal, popular Mandy and her clique are plotting something dangerous. Lindsay overhears them performing strange rituals, and sees their eyes turn black. It doesn't help that the school itself is totally eerie, with ancient, dilapidated buildings tucked into the Northern California woods, a thick white fog swirling through campus. There are hidden passageways, odd reflections in the windows at night, and scariest of all is the vast lake rumoured to have captured the ghost of a girl who drowned many years ago.
What Lindsay doesn't yet realize is that Mandy and her cohorts are becoming possessed by spirits who have haunted the school for two hundred years. Spirits who want someone dead...
GREGG HURWITZ
Gregg is almost exclusively known as an adult thriller writer rather than horror, with his best-known books being The Tim Rackley Series (2003-06) and the Orphan X Series (2016-21) with more on the way. In addition, he has written a host of standalone thrillers including You’re Next (2010) and Tell No Lies (2013). However, between 2016-17 Gregg made a brief, but highly impressive foray into YA horror/science fiction, with the outstanding Rains Duology. I’m not sure whether these books were successful enough to entice Gregg back to YA, but they were a killer blend of end of the world, alien invasion horror and deserve to be much better known than they probably are. I would love to see Gregg return to YA one of these days as these books seriously rocked.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘THE RAINS’ (2016)
The Rains is a brutally successful mash-up of horror, science fiction and adrenaline pumping adventure. In fact, you’re unlikely to find a faster paced YA novel this year if you tried. It stops for the odd breather, but on the whole is unrelenting from beginning to end and I found myself reading it very fast through the multiple mini climaxes, which keep the book moving at a furious lick, helped by the fact the plot plays out in just one highly explosive week. The fast-paced zombie style action should be brilliant for the bored teenage boy and once you get sucked into the breath-taking pace, you’ll forget you even have a mobile phone and have sheer tunnel vision for the Rain brothers and their fight for survival and saving their small town from destruction. AGE RANGE 12+
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT ‘THE RAINS’ (2016)
The Rains is a brutally successful mash-up of horror, science fiction and adrenaline pumping adventure. In fact, you’re unlikely to find a faster paced YA novel this year if you tried. It stops for the odd breather, but on the whole is unrelenting from beginning to end and I found myself reading it very fast through the multiple mini climaxes, which keep the book moving at a furious lick, helped by the fact the plot plays out in just one highly explosive week. The fast-paced zombie style action should be brilliant for the bored teenage boy and once you get sucked into the breath-taking pace, you’ll forget you even have a mobile phone and have sheer tunnel vision for the Rain brothers and their fight for survival and saving their small town from destruction. AGE RANGE 12+
WILLIAM HUSSEY
In 2008 and 2009 ‘Bill’ Hussey wrote two adult horror novels Through a Glass, Darkly and The Absence before later turning to YA fiction in 2010. Between his debut Dawn of the Demontide (2010) and Jekyll’s Mirror in 2015 he wrote five excellent YA horror novels. In 2020 he abandoned horror for the critically acclaimed Hideous Beauty and The Outrage (2021), two novels with strong diversity themes and gay central characters, the latter using a modern dystopia which is so realistically portrayed it is close to horror. I hope Bill returns to the supernatural one of these days as he was one of my favourite YA writers and I regularly recommend his horror fiction to a lot of kids. However, I must also point out that his non-horror YA fiction is truly stunning. Jekyll’s Mirror was also ranked 48 in the Ginger Nuts of Horror top 50 YA horror novels of the decade.
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT JEKYLL’S MIRROR (2015)
Jekyll’s Mirror is an outstanding modern twist of RL Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde story, written for the social media generation as users of an experimental website called ‘Project Hyde’ are sucked into something much nastier as they turn against each other, have their fears manipulated and many aspects of the modern online world surface including trolling, cyber bullying and horrific violence collide fusing with dodgy magic. It is very easy to take liberties with the Stevenson masterpiece, but Hussey both updates it for the online generation whilst retains the subtleties of the original.
The main character Sam is easy to get behind because of the internal conflicts he struggles with. His father had anger management problems so severe that he is now in prison for killing Sam’s mother. Sam feels some of that same family rage and is fearful that too much of his father lurks inside him, in another clever nod to Jekyll and Hyde. Other great Hussey YA novels to check out include Witchfinder and Haunted. AGE RANGE 11+
HERE’S WHAT WE SAID ABOUT JEKYLL’S MIRROR (2015)
Jekyll’s Mirror is an outstanding modern twist of RL Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde story, written for the social media generation as users of an experimental website called ‘Project Hyde’ are sucked into something much nastier as they turn against each other, have their fears manipulated and many aspects of the modern online world surface including trolling, cyber bullying and horrific violence collide fusing with dodgy magic. It is very easy to take liberties with the Stevenson masterpiece, but Hussey both updates it for the online generation whilst retains the subtleties of the original.
The main character Sam is easy to get behind because of the internal conflicts he struggles with. His father had anger management problems so severe that he is now in prison for killing Sam’s mother. Sam feels some of that same family rage and is fearful that too much of his father lurks inside him, in another clever nod to Jekyll and Hyde. Other great Hussey YA novels to check out include Witchfinder and Haunted. AGE RANGE 11+
SHAUN HUTSON AKA NICK SHADOW AKA SPIKE T. ADAMS
If you’re serious about horror, then the legendary Shaun Hutson needs no introduction. This dude is a genuine giant of the genre and although his best-known work dates back to the eighties, the likes of Slugs (1982) and Spawn (1983) are as influential as anything King or Herbert wrote in the golden 1980s horror period. Hutson is also famous for having more pseudonyms than you can swing a cat at. He was prolific under his own name, and when you factor in his eight or nine aliases his output becomes truly staggering. When I was a teenager, I read his Wolf Kruger war novels (such as Kessler’s Raid from 1982) before realising they were Hutson, in the pre-internet days pseudonyms really were a secret! Until calling on Twitter to help with this article I was also unaware that Hutson had also penned children’s novels under the name Nick Shadow, specifically the twelve-book series The Midnight Library (2005-07) and apparently other authors have also written under this same name. When he got bored of Nick Shadow, Hutson then moved onto Spike T Adams and wrote a series of books called EDGE: last Lane which were a blend of genres aimed at reluctant readers, published in 2008, including Bad Brother and Burn Up.
BLURB FOR VOICES (BOOK 1 IN THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY SERIES) 2008
Damien Graves has spent a lifetime searching for the most terrifying stories in existence. Now, for the first time, he offers the best of his collection. Dare to be scared! Damien Graves has spent many years searching for the most spine-chilling stories in existence. Now, at last, he has chosen to share with you the best of his collection....
Kate hears startling voices in her head--voices that reveal a terrifying future. Justin fears for his life when his running shoes begin running after him. Tim wants an apple from the neighbour’s perfect orchard--no matter what the cost. Welcome to a realm of heart-stopping fear. Welcome to The Midnight Library.
Stay tuned for part two of this massive feature soon, I-R.
Tony Jones
BLURB FOR VOICES (BOOK 1 IN THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY SERIES) 2008
Damien Graves has spent a lifetime searching for the most terrifying stories in existence. Now, for the first time, he offers the best of his collection. Dare to be scared! Damien Graves has spent many years searching for the most spine-chilling stories in existence. Now, at last, he has chosen to share with you the best of his collection....
Kate hears startling voices in her head--voices that reveal a terrifying future. Justin fears for his life when his running shoes begin running after him. Tim wants an apple from the neighbour’s perfect orchard--no matter what the cost. Welcome to a realm of heart-stopping fear. Welcome to The Midnight Library.
Stay tuned for part two of this massive feature soon, I-R.
Tony Jones
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