There’s something in the air this time of year. Anxiety, nerves and fear seem a bit higher in October, and not just because of impending midterms. It’s officially Spooky Season! The perfect time of year to embrace blood, gore and everything horror. So this month, I’ll be giving you guys some book, movie or TV recommendations that are perfect for the Halloween season.
This week, I want to start by highlighting one of my favorite authors of all time: Stephen King. While many people within the horror community consider King overrated, to me he is the perfect author to read in October. I first discovered King when I was 14 years old, after reading “It.” While I love “It” and can’t recommend it enough, let’s be honest: no one has enough time on their hands nowadays to read a 1100 page novel about a demon-clown. So go watch the movie (at least “It: Part One,” since part two is… not good).
For readers who want to dip their toes into horror, I would recommend “Different Seasons,” one of King’s excellent collections of novellas. The book contains four stories: “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption,” “Apt Pupil,” “The Body” and “The Breathing Method.” Of the four stories, only one of them is horror (“The Breathing Method”). However, “Apt Pupil” has a thriller aspect to it that keeps the reader hooked until the very end. “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” is the basis for the critically acclaimed film “The Shawshank Redemption” (enough said), and “The Body” is the basis for the critically acclaimed film “Stand By Me” (also enough said).
Now for the horror. In Stephen King’s own words, “Pet Sematary” is the scariest novel that he has ever written. The novel follows the Creed family as they move into the idyllic town of Ludlow, Maine. However, their new home is right next to a makeshift graveyard called the Pet Sematary that children have used to bury their deceased pets in. And when a family tragedy strikes, Louis Creed uses the Pet Sematary to bring a loved one back to life… but “sometimes dead is better.”
As usual, King is not dead on in his analysis. This novel is terrifying and not for the fainthearted. The novel preys on a base, instinctual fear: the fear of losing a loved one. Everybody has that fear, and when reading the book, King begs the question: how far you would go to bring back the ones you love? Should you even try? When King finished writing the novel in the ’80s, he shoved it into his drawer, repulsed by his own creation and convinced that audiences would think he went too far. He eventually published the novel in 1983 due to contractual reasons with Doubleday—alas, even King has to pay the bills somehow.
Another novel I would recommend is “Salem’s Lot,” which King published in 1975. The novel follows author Ben Mears, who has returned to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot to find inspiration for his next book. But something strange is afoot. Odd new tenants have opened up an antique shop… people are disappearing in the night… and it all might be tied to the haunted house on the hill.
When I first read “Salem’s Lot,” I closed the book and realized it was one of the scariest I have ever read. First of all, the novel is paced perfectly. While some might be frustrated at how “nothing happens” in the first half of the novel, it’s all tension and buildup that is paid off in the end. King is an expert at depicting small town America, and “Salem’s Lot” is no exception. The town itself feels so alive and is a character itself with so many vivid places and settings, like the haunted Marsten House, Barlow and Straker’s antique shop and even simple abandoned alleyways. Essentially, “Salem’s Lot” is everything I love about a Stephen King novel: great horror, great characters, great pacing and an explosive ending.
In the end, I love horror because it provides a way to show that scary things end. Whether it’s homework, stress or anxiety involving any kind of life event, reading horror novels has reassured me that whatever scary things life throws my way will end at some point. So even if you think you’re not brave enough, curl up in bed with a good Stephen King novel this October to celebrate this spooky time of year. I promise you, it’s worth your time, and you might even learn a thing or two along the way. As King himself said, “Fiction is the truth inside the lie.”
And I assure you, you are brave enough.
