My thriller story, “Words to Live By,” is published today, Oct. 7, 2021. It’s free here only on that day: https://gohavok.com. Below is a list of thrillers, a few hidden gems, to read round the year and then especially at Halloween.
Thrillers to read any time of the year
Nathaniel Hawthorne. Who doesn’t know The House of Seven Gables? And if you’re like me, you had to read The Scarlet Letter for school. But Hawthorne wrote a little tale of horror many don’t know about named “Rappaccini’s Daughter.” While not overtly scary, this little gem introduces Beatrice—a deadly woman.
Richard Matheson. Of course, there’s the one the Twilight Zone made famous “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” And there’s “Button, Button.” But deeper in Matheson’s work is the chiller “Prey.”
Ray Bradbury. “The Small Assassin,” “The Veldt,” and “The Jar” are excellent stories and if you haven’t read them. Go out right now and read them! But the best of Bradburyphiles will tell you to not overlook “The Crowd,” “Skeleton,” or “The Man Upstairs.”
Stephen King. The list of his famous short stories is nearly endless because so many movies have been made about them. I’m not wild about “Children of the Corn” (story or movie) or the movie “The Mist” (love the novella). I did enjoy “1408.” But if you’re looking for something that people haven’t talked about endlessly, read “I Am the Doorway,” “The Monkey,” or “Boogeyman.”
And the classic, “In A Dim Room” (Lord Dunsany) A simple story of a tiger chasing a man until the unthinkable happens. Surprised M. Night Shylamalan hasn’t made a movie about this yet.
Thrillers to read near October
The Emissary (Ray Bradbury): A boy and his dog tale that starts sugar-sweet until the eerie ending.
Sorry, Right Number (Richard Matheson): The tension builds when a crank caller continues to call an elderly lady. (A lesser-known but equally creepy Twilight Zone.)
Pumpkin Head (Al Sorrantonio): When the shy girl starts a macabre tale at school, her teacher cuts her off. Too bad the students force her to continue at a Halloween party.
Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (Robert Bloch): Though set in November, this tale of catching up with Jack the Ripper has all the elements of a campfire tale.
Ghost Hunt (H. R. Wakefield): Told to you as if a radio play, the listener-reader is encouraged to follow along as a “supposedly” haunted house grows more and more sinister.
The Circle (Lewis Shriner): A group of friends gather on Halloween to read their horror tales, but one goes too far.
The Middle Toe of the Right Foot (Ambrose Bierce): The number of times this story’s twist has been done is uncountable but never like this. With its startling beginning to its last few sentences, one of Bierce’s finest.
And we’ll start with who we ended with.
The October Game (Ray Bradbury): Find out how an innocent game turns on its head in the blink of an eye.
