oops, just realized I got it wrong. I said in the video I was reading The Only Good Indians in Dec but it's actually The Last Final Girl (same author) and The Only Good Indians in for Jan

AHH! You have to put a warning of some kind if you're going to scare the living daylights out of us like that at the start! 😵😱

Thank you for making this list! I can confidently say that I want to check out each and every one of these books

My fiancé is currently reading “How to sell a haunted house”. When he has talked about it totally sounded like a book that Merphy would like. Some of the things he has mentioned are haunted houses and a focus on characters.

I’m so excited for you to read Annihilation! The book is thoughtfully written. I’ll say nothing else, except that the movie adaptation is different enough by the end that they don’t spoil each other.

My soul left my body with that spooky opening. Yohohoho 👻

Ohh, looking forward to you reading some Jeff VanderMeer! Can also recommend Borne.

Perhaps for next year you could try HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. A small modern town, haunted by a 17th century witch with her eyes and mouth sewn shut. Muzzled, she walks the streets and enters homes at will. She stands next to children's bed for nights on end. Everybody knows that her eyes may never be opened or the consequences will be too terrible to bear.

one of my favorite parts of House of Leaves is that it's a book that follows someone who gets obsessed with a book (or at least a collection of compiled documentation) that requires you to get obsessed with a book to read it. Danielewski does a great job creating that parallel. Stephen Graham Jones just doesn't miss. The Only Good Indians kicks, the sudden shift the book takes after Act 1 is phenomenal. His Indian Lake trilogy books (My Heart is a Chainsaw, Don't Fear the Reaper, & the upcoming Angel of Indian Lake) are all amazing too. thanks for the recs!

I was hoping you would have more Bradbury already, but I'm glad to know you'll be continuing more eventually.

Cool! I should read Annihilation soon. Well, I could have said that around Easter, too, since that's when I got the Southern Reach Trilogy, but had other reading priorities. And cool top!

Hope to also read more SGJ soon, glad you found some new favorites

Excellent list, Merphy! Although I haven’t read much horror, Uzumaki and Pet Sematary set the bar high for me. I’m excited to hear your thoughts on The Only Good Indians, which I thought was fascinating!

Cute sweater!

I'll be picking up Uzumaki as my next read so I'm excited to see it here! If you want a unique horror reading experience I would suggest House of Leave by Mark Danielewski.

Thanks for reminding me of Uzamaki. I've had it on my shelf for a while. Maybe Ito will get me out of my current reading slump. Sanderson's Nightmare Painter couldn't. I may be intimidated by the fact that he seems to write faster than I read!

I know you mentioned some time ago that you don't plan on watching the Netflix series to The haunting of hill house since it is so different to the book. But I think you would still enjoy the series, because the story is all about a family dealing with grief, the siblings themselve all represent another stage of grief, and overall it's a very character focused story.

I LOVE The Halloween Tree! The audiobook is phenomenal. I haven't actually read anything else by Ray Bradbury so I'll have to try Something Wicked and hopefully I'll love it just as much

I’m really not a horror fan but I always enjoy hearing your thoughts on stuff I’m probably never going to read

Great Video!

Some really fantastic recommendations. I loved Pet Sematary, Something Wicked, Haunting of Hill House, Uzumaki, Annihilation, The Only Good Indians, The Halloween Tree, and Night of the Mannequins. I have Mapping the Interior and House of Leaves on my tbr.

Im super excited for "The Wordless Book." The blurb sounds fun and his artwork is awesome. Super creepy

A video about book endings would be a great discussion!! 😁😁😁 👏👏👏👏

Happy Halloween merphy 🎃🎃

I bought the audiobook of Dead Silence and the Pet Cemetery eBook based on your recommendation. Looking forward to enjoying them. 🚀🐈‍⬛

Awesome as always thanks try the Halloween tree by Ray bradbury and the illustrated man

I don't read horror usually but now and then. It seems like a right time, So thanks for this video. I don't know if you have read gormenghast trilogy, it's a classic, but definitely give it a try, it's a masterpiece.

The fisherman, by John Langan is my favorite horror book and absolutely dives into grief and what it can do to people. Think Pet Semetary with a lean towards old magic and unknowable beings. Also has just an incredible reader on Audible.

Oh my god my palms got all sweaty when you mentioned House of Leaves 😂 it took me a whole YEAR to read that story

Dead silence got my attention the most. I haven't read many horror books, never I guess. But I wanna try 1 or 2! Can you make more videos like this about other genres?

Happy Halloween.i know youre a booktuber but squeeze in some time to watch VHS 85 :) Nice spooky found footage film

I read house of leaves as I was barely comfortable with english(french beeing my first language). Very interesting read but a little challenging hahahaha

Bradbury is great. Highly recommend The Illustrated Man, The Martian Chronicles, and Fahrenheit 451. From the Dust Returned and Graveyard for Lunatics have some horror too!

Thank you for uploading 2 videos today seriously mad respect. And KUDOS!!! The thumbnail has a final girl vibe... 🔪HAPPY🎃HALLOWEEN!!!👻

I’ve seen a comment for this book already, but I recently read “How to sell a Haunted house” and it was really really good. A haunting but with a ending twist that I was not expecting. Highly recommend!

My fave Bradbury is Dandelion Wine! Similar vibes to Something Wicked, but a summer story instead! ...with something spooky going on 😯

Horrors are in the news. I don't have any appetite for more horrors. Thank you for recommendations.

Stephen Graham Jones came to my university for a reading and book signing a few weeks ago. Really nice, charming, funny guy. He personalized my copies of The Only Good Indians and My Heart is a Chainsaw. Happy to see you've read and enjoyed him!

Now that you brought up House of Leaves, it might be at the top spot on my own horror list ... although The Picture of Dorian Gray is a reigning champion that I hesitate to unseat.

I LOVED Dead Silence. S.A. Barnes is releasing another sci-fi horror called Ghost Station in 2024!

Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451. I will never view earbuds the same way. Loved this book. ❤

One of my favorite horror books ever is The Good House by Tananarive Due. It’s one of those books that has really stuck in my mind after reading it. It’s a really intriguing take on the haunted house trope and it’s super creepy.

Happy Halloween!! I’d like to see some more Stephen King related content when it comes to talking about horror :)

You should check out Erased and Parasyte: The Maxum. They are both manga/anime in the horror genre

Dead Silence was a five star first half and a two star second half read. Stephen Graham Jones is my current favorite horror novelist and it's not even close.

When it comes to books, I think psychological horror is most effective. Stephen King doesn't do it for me. But something like The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum effected me deeply. This is absolutely _not_ a recommendation to you, Merphy. But to those who have no triggers and are interested in a deeply, darkly disturbing exploration of violence, pick it up.

I recently read Pet Sematary on your recommendation and really enjoyed it. Similar to some of the books on your list, I didn't love the ending but that didn't ruin the overall story for me. Have you read Earthlings by Sayaka Murata? It might be interesting to you as an exploration of social taboos using (graphic at times) body horror. It's definitely one to look at the content warnings in advance

If you enjoy The Halloween Tree, you should absolutely watch the animated film adaptation! There are some differences between the book and film, but it's narrated by Bradbury himself, and Leonard Nimoy voiced one of the main characters.

If you are into slasher movies, Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare is a great book to scracth that itch. I randomly bought it on a kindle sale and read the entire thing within a weekend. I struggled with the first few chapters, but after that I couldnt stop reading.

I'm not a big fan of Something Wicked this way comes but I'm happy that you did

“Boo” cracked me and Idek why 😂

JESUS CHRIST MERPH you can’t just scare us like that without a content warning

I love Stephen Graham Jones! I can’t wait for the third lake witch book to come out

Spite House and How to Sell a Haunted House were great. Something Wicked This Way Comes was such a great movie.

Hey as a big fan of annihilation, I have to say you really should read the trilogy back to back. The first book is technically a standalone but your experience will be much much better by reading the two others in the trilogy in sequence

The “Boo” at the beginning was awesome! Scared the shit out of me…….😂😂😂

I’ve heard such good things about Dead Silence

Don't know if Murph mentions this book but I recently finished What moves the dead by T. Kingfisher It's a retelling of The fall of house Usher by E.A.Poe (which I also read) and I really enjoyed the novel.

Shiver by Junji Ito should definitely be on your horror list once you get to read it

Thank you for confirming how House of Leaves is pretty challenging to read I thought I was just dumb lol

I like From Below by Darcy Coates. It feels kind of like Dead Silence for me. I like them both in different ways. From Below has a shipwreck, so the fear of running out of air or getting stuck had an aspect of paranoia and claustrophobia like we had in Dead Silence. I can't wait to see the next book she puts out.

Since you love books about grief, you should check out This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno (if you haven't already). It's horror, but it explores grief from a male perspective and I thought it was extremely well done.

07:14 Oh snap, I'm dyslexic too! Nobody ever told me 😢 If ur dyslexic I must be trilexic cause u can read wayy more

I'm 21 and ordered my first book ever (Uzumaki), 😅quite ashamed as I haven't read a book since I was probably 10 or younger, I am however an avid movie/series/anime enjoyer and haven't missed a day without watching something, something about Uzumaki is just drawing me in and I'm super excited, I also looovveee horror but movies and shows have become really lackluster lately so hopefully this new found medium will rejuvenate that :))

A best/worst endings vid sounds like fun. How about a best first lines selection?

I'm watching this knowing full well I'm not reading any of this (I have read pet semetary because you recommended it so much, loved the exploration of grief but it also confirmed that I just really don't enjoy reading horror). Anyway, I'd love a video on books about grief, if you're ever looking for ideas

Dead Silence has me intrigued. It almost sounds like the set up to the movie Event Horizon. If you have not seen it i would recommend it.

Enjoyable video, Merphy. You never disappoint 😃... I was however disappointed with "Something Wicked This Way Comes" when I read it last year..... I'd be very interested in a review of "The Halloween Tree" after you've finished it. Maybe Mr. Bradbury can redeem himself yet 😆😆 😁

personally I loathed The haunting of Hill House, maybe because I expected so much more from it. a great book that does gothic horror justice is 'The whistling' by Rebecca Netley

I love Ray Bradbury. I have Something Wicked This Way Comes next to me which I think I will start today. We went on a Halloween scavenger hunt and the clues had to be unscrambled which is just basically impossible for my dyslexic son so I had to help him.

Please watch the animated movie The Halloween Tree (1993) after you read the novella. It was an instant classic for my siblings and I, when we were growing up. It’s a great adaptation and in my opinion, one of the few times the movie is better than the book!

Man, "House of Leaves" is such a fun read, I remember going slowly insane trying to make sense of it, I had a blast. And I loved, loved, loved "The Haunting of Hill House", so I will definitely give a chance to the rest of your recs (starting with those novellas, they look great). Thanks for your work as always, Merphy!

I don't read a lot of horror but STephen Graham JOnes, even if he doesn't always deliver a 5 star for me, he always has a really interesting idea and I'm SO there for it. Apparently Paul Treblay is a friend/mentored by him as I found out in the author's notes of his collection of short stories that came out in the past year or so... he gives a friendly nudge-poke at him in one of the short stories... THE HALLOWEEN TREE IS MY HEART and I will be listening it tonight as soon as I finish my Dracula reread shortly. If you haven't seen the cartoon from 94 I gotta push you at it even though it's taken a slightly lighter in some parts and still dark turns.

Thumbnail Merphy looks like she's a slasher killer that is horrified by all her own killings but still can't stop.

Please do the video on endings!!!

Merph: So this is Dead Silence Me: *Gasp* BEWARE THE STARE OF MARY SHAW- Merph: The takes place in space Me: -oh. That’s cool too.

You should totally read higurashi visual novel. It takes a time to get horrific, then goes back to normal and then horrific. (you'll get it when you read) And the ending is just one of my all time favourite endings

I'm generally trying to avoid parasocial relationships, but sometimes... but we're basically friends, thought. right?

Also, Stephen King’s The Langoliers is a masterclass in suspense.

Exciting about Annihilation! I thought it was very strange and cool. However, the sequels were not at all worth it to me.

HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt would be a good read. Funny fact Thomas is dutch and his dutch version is actually a little different than his translated english version which he did on purpose. I'm sad I don't speak dutch because I'd also like to read that version.

I just picked up the audiobook of Pet Semetary (my first Stephen King) and I swear I am seeing everyone singing it’s praises 😁 🤞I’m so excited

What about a video about books that you didn’t love but had great endings?

The Halloween Tree is a great read, highly encouraged.

When it comes to horror books, for me no one even comes close to H.P Lovecraft (I know, not very original). I can also recomend a forgotten Polish master of horror, Stefan Grabiński and his Motion Demon.

If you like books about manga you should try Goodbye, Eri by Tatsuki Fujimoto (the author of Chainsaw Man and Fire Punch). It's a one shot (one tankobon, 200 pgs) and really good!

Bradbury and King - like two old friends - thx :)

great vid. I try to read horror to get out of my comfort zone.

You should check out a ghost story collection by M. R. James. He was a late 19th / early 20th century British short story writer.

Every time I'm reminded of Junji Ito's Uzumaki I get chills

Annihilation. So good. Part 1 of the southern reach trilogy. Hope you enjoy!

I found 3 recs, thanks! I have The Only Good Indians on my TBR

It’s not an adult book, but have you read Coraline by Neil Gaiman? I remember that book freaked me out as a kid and it would be a quick read!

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood does in two hours what most horror novels of far greater length couldn’t hope to accomplish. He is a master of atmosphere, tension, and confronting the unknowable, impersonal, and incomprehensible. There’s a reason Lovecraft drew such a strong inspiration from his work

That moment when Merphy uploads two videos for no reason XD

5:36 So basically the house is "bigger on the inside"

Will you watch The Halloween Tree movie with your family after reading it? It's a classic (albeit maybe not the most faithful adaptation).

00:01 made me jump out of my chair 😱

I forgot about the Halloween Tree by Ray Radbury. I would have to go and read that eventually but for now I'll be re-reading Something Wicked This Way Comes again a bit (I don't think I can do the whole story unfortantly outloud) on Twitch Stream if I decide to do a Halloween Stream to also do a FF14 halloween event. (I usually stream holiday events the past two years, so I donno since Tuesdays isn't my usual days but skipped Saturday due to a halloween party I do every year). Reads with Rachel talked about "The only Good Indians" and gave it high praises as it's a really well done version of the type of Horror Genre it is. It'll be intresting to see the two povs for that one. I need to eventually read Annilation and it's two sequals (I just recently discovered there are two others through the Textual Tension youtube channel discussion of it.) but that's again in the future.