The Horror Shelf - LEMONDRILLA

A hundred and twenty-eight books that frightened the people who wrote everything else. One a month, on the Mondays the science fiction route leaves free; once that route reaches its last stop, every other week. Fourteen stops, from a giant helmet falling out of the sky onto a castle in 1764 to a house on Needless Street, and each stop hands you over to the next one through a single book: the gothic, Poe, the Victorian monsters, the undead, the body, the devil, childhood, folk horror, the rest of the world, Central Europe’s own dark, the weird, the ghosts, the human monster, and whatever is knocking on the cabin door right now. Read strictly from a writer’s point of view. With the lights on. Some earn an entry in the From the Shelf series. Some don’t. This is the horror shelf.

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On the nightstand

Up next The Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole, 1764

Stop 1 · The Gothic Castle Nov 2026–Apr 2027 · change at Melmoth the Wanderer · 0/7 read

Up next: The Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole, 1764
On the list: Vathek William Beckford, 1786
On the list: The Mysteries of Udolpho Ann Radcliffe, 1794
On the list: The Monk Matthew Lewis, 1796
On the list: The Devil's Elixirs E. T. A. Hoffmann, 1815
On the list: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner James Hogg, 1824
On the list: Melmoth the Wanderer Charles Maturin, 1820

Stop 2 · Poe's Century May–Sep 2027 · change at Tales (The Fall of the House of Usher and others) · 0/5 read

On the list: The Vampyre John Polidori, 1819
On the list: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Washington Irving, 1820
On the list: Viy Nikolai Gogol, 1835
On the list: The Black Spider Jeremias Gotthelf, 1842
On the list: Tales (The Fall of the House of Usher and others) Edgar Allan Poe, 1839–45

Stop 3 · Victorian Monsters Oct 2027–May 2028 · change at Dracula · 0/9 read

On the list: Carmilla Sheridan Le Fanu, 1872
On the list: Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson, 1886
On the list: The Horla Guy de Maupassant, 1887
On the list: The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde, 1890
On the list: Collected Stories Ambrose Bierce, 1891–93
On the list: The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1892
On the list: The Island of Doctor Moreau H. G. Wells, 1896
On the list: The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux, 1910
On the list: Dracula Bram Stoker, 1897

Stop 4 · Vampires, Undead, Beasts Jun 2028–Feb 2029 · change at World War Z · 0/10 read

On the list: I Am Legend Richard Matheson, 1954
On the list: The Rats James Herbert, 1974
On the list: Jaws Peter Benchley, 1974
On the list: 'Salem's Lot Stephen King, 1975
On the list: Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice, 1976
On the list: The Stand Stephen King, 1978
On the list: Let the Right One In John Ajvide Lindqvist, 2004
On the list: The Strain Guillermo del Toro – Chuck Hogan, 2009
On the list: The Last Werewolf Glen Duncan, 2011
On the list: World War Z Max Brooks, 2006

Stop 5 · The Body Mar–Sep 2029 · change at Her Body and Other Parties · 0/7 read

On the list: Crash J. G. Ballard, 1973
On the list: Books of Blood Clive Barker, 1984–85
On the list: Uzumaki Junji Ito, 1998
On the list: Haunted Chuck Palahniuk, 2005
On the list: The Vegetarian Han Kang, 2007
On the list: Tender Is the Flesh Agustina Bazterrica, 2017
On the list: Her Body and Other Parties Carmen Maria Machado, 2017

Stop 6 · The Devil and Faith Oct 2029–Mar 2030 · change at A Head Full of Ghosts · 0/7 read

On the list: Rosemary's Baby Ira Levin, 1967
On the list: The Exorcist William Peter Blatty, 1971
On the list: Carrie Stephen King, 1974
On the list: The Damnation Game Clive Barker, 1985
On the list: Swan Song Robert R. McCammon, 1987
On the list: The Hellbound Heart Clive Barker, 1986
On the list: A Head Full of Ghosts Paul Tremblay, 2015

Stop 7 · Childhood and the Small Town Apr–Oct 2030 · change at Boy's Life · 0/7 read

On the list: Lord of the Flies William Golding, 1954
On the list: The Body Snatchers Jack Finney, 1955
On the list: Something Wicked This Way Comes Ray Bradbury, 1962
On the list: The Other Thomas Tryon, 1971
On the list: It Stephen King, 1986
On the list: Coraline Neil Gaiman, 2002
On the list: Boy's Life Robert McCammon, 1991

Stop 8 · Folk Horror and the Land Nov 2030–May 2031 · change at The Only Good Indians · 0/8 read

On the list: The Lottery and Other Stories Shirley Jackson, 1948
On the list: A Good Man Is Hard to Find Flannery O'Connor, 1955
On the list: Harvest Home Thomas Tryon, 1973
On the list: Pet Sematary Stephen King, 1983
On the list: The Ritual Adam Nevill, 2011
On the list: The Loney Andrew Michael Hurley, 2015
On the list: Éjféli iskolák (Midnight Schools) Attila Veres, 2018
On the list: The Only Good Indians Stephen Graham Jones, 2020

Stop 9 · World Horror Jun 2031–Mar 2032 · change at Mexican Gothic · 0/11 read

On the list: Tales of Moonlight and Rain Ueda Akinari, 1776
On the list: Kwaidan Lafcadio Hearn, 1904
On the list: Tales of Love, Madness and Death Horacio Quiroga, 1917
On the list: Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination Edogawa Rampo, 1925–29
On the list: Bestiary Julio Cortázar, 1951
On the list: Ring Koji Suzuki, 1991
On the list: Frankenstein in Baghdad Ahmed Saadawi, 2013
On the list: Things We Lost in the Fire Mariana Enríquez, 2016
On the list: Fever Dream Samanta Schweblin, 2014
On the list: Our Share of Night Mariana Enríquez, 2019
On the list: Mexican Gothic Silvia Moreno-Garcia, 2020

Stop 10 · Central European Dark Apr–Nov 2032 · change at Odakint sötétebb (Darker Outside) · 0/10 read

On the list: The Sandman E. T. A. Hoffmann, 1816
On the list: The Rider on the White Horse Theodor Storm, 1888
On the list: Alraune Hanns Heinz Ewers, 1911
On the list: A gólyakalifa (The Stork Caliph) Mihály Babits, 1913
On the list: In the Penal Colony Franz Kafka, 1914
On the list: The Golem Gustav Meyrink, 1915
On the list: The Pendragon Legend Antal Szerb, 1934
On the list: The Street of Crocodiles Bruno Schulz, 1934
On the list: The Notebook Ágota Kristóf, 1986
On the list: Odakint sötétebb (Darker Outside) Attila Veres, 2017

Stop 11 · The Weird and Cosmic Dread Nov 2032–May 2033 · change at The Fisherman · 0/12 read

On the list: The Great God Pan Arthur Machen, 1894
On the list: The King in Yellow Robert W. Chambers, 1895
On the list: The House on the Borderland William Hope Hodgson, 1908
On the list: The Wendigo Algernon Blackwood, 1910
On the list: The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories H. P. Lovecraft, 1926–36
On the list: Selected Tales (Gonosz mesék) Clark Ashton Smith, 1930–41
On the list: Conjure Wife & Our Lady of Darkness Fritz Leiber, 1943 / 1977
On the list: Cold Hand in Mine Robert Aickman, 1975
On the list: Teatro Grottesco Thomas Ligotti, 2006
On the list: The Imago Sequence and Other Stories Laird Barron, 2007
On the list: The Ballad of Black Tom Victor LaValle, 2016
On the list: The Fisherman John Langan, 2016

Stop 12 · Ghosts and Houses May–Nov 2033 · change at The Little Stranger · 0/15 read

On the list: The Turn of the Screw Henry James, 1898
On the list: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary M. R. James, 1904
On the list: The Monkey's Paw · Seaton's Aunt · The Beckoning Fair One W. W. Jacobs · Walter de la Mare · Oliver Onions, 1902–22
On the list: Carnacki the Ghost-Finder William Hope Hodgson, 1913
On the list: Selected Ghost Stories (S beszélt a halott) E. F. Benson, 1912–28
On the list: Rebecca Daphne du Maurier, 1938
On the list: The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson, 1959
On the list: Hell House Richard Matheson, 1971
On the list: The Shining Stephen King, 1977
On the list: Ghost Story Peter Straub, 1979
On the list: The Woman in Black Susan Hill, 1983
On the list: Beloved Toni Morrison, 1987
On the list: Dark Matter Michelle Paver, 2010
On the list: The Reformatory Tananarive Due, 2023
On the list: The Little Stranger Sarah Waters, 2009

Stop 13 · The Human Monster Dec 2033–May 2034 · change at American Psycho · 0/11 read

On the list: Psycho Robert Bloch, 1959
On the list: We Have Always Lived in the Castle Shirley Jackson, 1962
On the list: Pop. 1280 Jim Thompson, 1964
On the list: The Face That Must Die Ramsey Campbell, 1979
On the list: Misery Stephen King, 1987
On the list: The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris, 1988
On the list: The Girl Next Door Jack Ketchum, 1989
On the list: Carrion Comfort Dan Simmons, 1989
On the list: From Hell Alan Moore – Eddie Campbell, 1989–96
On the list: Out Natsuo Kirino, 1997
On the list: American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis, 1991

Stop 14 · Contemporary Horror May–Aug 2034 · end of the line · 0/8 read

On the list: House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski, 2000
On the list: The Terror Dan Simmons, 2007
On the list: Heart-Shaped Box Joe Hill, 2007
On the list: Bird Box Josh Malerman, 2014
On the list: Horrorstör Grady Hendrix, 2014
On the list: The Cabin at the End of the World Paul Tremblay, 2018
On the list: What Moves the Dead T. Kingfisher, 2022
On the list: The Last House on Needless Street Catriona Ward, 2021

Encore · The Craft Sep 2034 · why we read this at all · 0/1 read

On the list: Danse Macabre Stephen King, 1981