Whether you’re a fan of thrillers and horrors or not, it’s a tradition already to read spooky and scary books to get into the Halloween mood every October. Here are several books by New Zealand authors that will either make you sleep with your lights on (if you even are able to fall asleep after reading them, *evil laugh*) or are happening on Halloween.
Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn
Tauranga-based horror writer Lee Murray is a multiple-award winner. And one of her latest works, Black Cranes, isn’t an exception – this year, it was chosen as the winner in the Anthology category of the international Bram Stoker Awards®, created by The Horror Writers Association.
Black Cranes is a dark and intimate exploration of what it’s like to be a perpetual outsider. In it, Southeast Asian writers of horror dissect their experiences of ‘otherness’, be it in the colour of their skin, the angle of their cheekbones, the things they dare to write, or the places they have made for themselves in the world.
Dagda: A New Dawn, Corina Douglas
Corina Douglas might be based in New Zealand but mentally she’s saving the world side by side with Celtic Gods on the opposite side of the world.
Her fast-paced, emotional series feature the Great War Goddess, The Morrigan, the winter goddess, Cailleach Bheur, and other legends of Celtic mythology.
If you’re looking for a short story, happening on Halloween (a.k.a. Samhain), look no further than Dagda: A New Dawn.
In this story, the legendary husband of The Morrigan is bound by duty and love and heading towards heartbreak and pain.
Overdues and Occultism, Jamie Sands
A librarian witch from Mt Eden, a paranormal investigator, who loves to poke his nose into situations where he’s not supposed to be, a book-stealing ghost and haunted books? Say no more!
From Auckland-based writer comes this whirlwind of events and emotions that will all resolve on Halloween…
Overdues and Occultism is a novella with a little over 100 pages in it, so it makes for a great quick read! But if you want more of Basil and Sebastian, they return in Jingle Spells: Witchy Christmas Stories.
Under the Mountain, Maurice Gee
Maurice Gee is one of New Zealand’s most distinguished and prolific authors, who won multiple awards and wrote over 30 books for kids and adults.
If you want to have a closer look at his works, Under the Mountain is a perfect choice for a Halloween read!
It follows twins Rachel and Theo Matheson, who don’t think there is anything remarkable about them. So why is it then that they’re the only ones who can save the world from the terrifying giant creatures living beneath the extinct volcanoes, that are suddenly waking up from a spellbound sleep that has lasted thousands of years?
Ready To Burn, Tracey Alvarez
Living in Wellington but becoming a USA Today Bestselling Author? This incredible achievement has already been ticked off Tracey’s list.
Appearing on focus magazine’s list of best Halloween books, we hope, is another one she’ll be happy to tick off!
Ready To Burn is a heartwarming and sweet love story that features a good girl and a bad boy with a trashed reputation, cooking TV show shenanigans, a Stewart Island background and, of course, Halloween!
Rival Princes, Jaxon Knight
Sometimes the best part of a celebration or a holiday is the build-up to it… all the anticipation, the preparations, the smiles, the secret plans and uplifted mood. Do you agree?
Well, if you have to share this time with the wrong people, it can turn into a nightmare! Like in this contemporary romance story set in an amusement park where fairytales can come true and features two ‘princes’ – a newbie Nate, who quickly makes friends with everyone and is loved by all the guests, and the handsome but not-so-charming Dash, who was supposed to be training Nate.
Get ready for all the Hallmark-style fluff, low heat and high emotions!
Wake, Elizabeth Knox
Wake is often mentioned as the prime example of New Zealand horror. It’s based here, loved and accepted by the local audience and has been enthusiastically reviewed by all the major New Zealand media. It was also one of Knox’s contenders for the various year’s best lists.
Mysterious mass insanity at the Tasman Bay settlement of Kahukura leaves only a handful of survivors, who are cut off from the world and surrounded by the dead. While they’re trying to escape, something unseen is is picking at the loose threads of their characters, corrupting, provoking, and haunting them.