I’m a novelist who has primarily written in the dark fantasy and horror genre, which often embraces all things autumn. My first novelBlack & Orange, its sequel,Nomads, and supplemental short story collection, Reaping October, all take place in autumn and focus on an encroaching dimension of darkness that would change life as we know it. Halloween isn’t just a holiday, it’s a different existence altogether. Having a love for the season and being its steadfast student, I’ve explored these atmospheric themes for decades. I have a solid opinion on what stories take you there.
My first novel, Black & Orange, roots itself in Halloween, but doesn’t adhere to its known origins. What if there’s an even darker truth about things like Jack O’ Lanterns, witches, and ghosts? What if those things exist in an evil dimension full of sacrifice and sorcery? What kind of people could save us if those things took over our world?
This novel won the Bram Stoker award. While different from other Halloween novels, the force of autumn is present. I adore the season. Coils of windblown leaves bring more hope in my heart than the anemic budding of spring flowers, a beach burnt by a summer sun, or the icy demands of winter. Black & Orange is an autumn feast prepared in another world.
I read this novel in high school and it left an impression on my young mind, both as a reader and a writer. The main character, Eustacia Vye, longs for true love in her isolated world out on the blustery Egdon Heath. She has her eye on Clym Yeobright, who is set to return from Paris. But this wonderful gothic romance has other things in store for her, because Clym’s dreams are far different than her own. I recall lounging on my parent’s lazy boy in the den, reading about the Guy Fawkes festival, feeling the cold winds on the heath, smelling the damp brown and red leaves, and imagining indistinguishable, mysterious figures slowly emerging from the fog banks. This book breathes the season.
One of Thomas Hardy's most powerful works, The Return of the Native centers famously on Egdon Heath, the wild, haunted Wessex moor that D. H. Lawrence called "the real stuff of tragedy." The heath's changing face mirrors the fortunes of the farmers, inn-keepers, sons, mothers, and lovers who populate the novel. The "native" is Clym Yeobright, who comes home from a cosmopolitan life in Paris. He; his cousin Thomasin; her fiancé, Damon Wildeve; and the willful Eustacia Vye are the protagonists in a tale of doomed love, passion, alienation, and melancholy as Hardy brilliantly explores that theme so familiar throughout…
Dragonlance books have a fond place in my heart. I read most of this series while in elementary school at a swift clip. The first installment begins in autumn and Weis and Hickman masterfully paint their world of dragons, dwarves, and elves with the appropriate hues and textures that make the journey an experience in atmosphere, as well as character and story. The world of Krynn is in trouble. As an evil army prepares for its final slaughter, the populace braces in fear. Only a small band of friends can save the world. Yet, these friendships may fracture. If you enjoy heroic fantasy, this book comes highly recommended. There is no better place to start than a tavern with a slow-smoking chimney in a forest of colorful, falling leaves.
This Dungeons & Dragons-inspired fantasy adventure is the first installment in the beloved Dragonlance Chronicles, set in the magical world of Krynn
Once merely creatures of legend, the dragons have returned to Krynn. But with their arrival comes the departure of the old gods—and all healing magic. As war threatens to engulf the land, lifelong friends reunite for an adventure that will change their lives and shape their world forever . . .
When Tanis, Sturm, Caramon, Raistlin, Flint, and Tasslehoff see a woman use a blue crystal staff to heal a villager, they wonder if it's a sign the…
My uncle introduced me to The Lathe of Heaven. He explained the concept and I just had to read it. Set in the future, George Orr wakes up to discover his dreams can alter reality and he needs to understand why. Where the story goes from there, I will leave for new readers to discover, but it’s an incredible novel, with a particularly brooding Seattle atmosphere of endless rain. Living in Southern California most of my life, we never got much rain, but when we did, it usually came in autumn. Therefore, my memories of autumn are triggered by a relentless deluge. Guin’s novel concerns itself with dreams and the change they can bring. Seeing that autumn is the season of change, this story set my mind in that evolutionary state.
'Her worlds have a magic sheen . . . She moulds them into dimensions we can only just sense. She is unique. She is legend' THE TIMES
'Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power' OBSERVER
George Orr is a mild and unremarkable man who finds the world a less than pleasant place to live: seven billion people jostle for living space and food. But George dreams dreams which do in fact change reality - and he has no means of controlling this extraordinary power.
Psychiatrist Dr William Haber offers to help. At first sceptical of George's powers, he comes…
I recall when Blockbuster Video had a books section they discontinued. I went and merrily bought anything I could get my bookwormy hands on. I found Tom Savage and was never the same. He is one of those authors that everybody should read, but few have. A master thriller writer, he uses so many twists, you never know where the story goes next. In this book, Holly is about to collect on an inheritance from the mysterious Randall family. Set in a spooky mansion, high above Long Island Sound, she discovers that fortune comes at a terrifying price. Wrought iron gates, moonlit nights, a shadowy mansion—this novel hits all the correct notes in an October symphony.
With these words, an ordinary young woman is ushered into a strange new world. Yesterday, she was Holly Smith, living a comfortable, middle class life in Southern California. Today, all that has changed. For Holly Smith is actually Holly Randall, born twenty-four years ago to a woman convicted of a heinous crime, and given up for adoption as an infant. Now, the mysterious death of a great aunt she never knew has made Holly one of the richest women in America–and heiress to a magnificent Connecticut estate.
In the beautiful mansion above Long Island Sound, they…
Thomas Ligotti writes dark magical realism short stories. The Shadow at the Bottom of the World is an unforgettable collection written by a modern master of atmosphere. His stories rarely have complicated plots, but the feeling they leave you with is the whole point. In the thousands of books I’ve read, I can safely say he writes like no other-- he enshrouds your spirit with dread. The title story showcases a small town that encounters the arrival of a threatening breed of darkness. Written with the stunning imagery of Bradbury, the mysticism of Lovecraft, and the disquieting tone of William S. Burroughs, this collection will have you brightening the blaze in the fireplace, just to make the shadows retreat.
A longtime Lovecraft devotee, who has extended the weird tale to the next level via the likes of Borges and Burroughs, Thomas Ligotti is usually published as part of a general anthology of horror writers. But now Ligotti has pulled together a collection of his favorite fiction, both old and new, representing his best and most characteristic works.
Thomas Ligotti's stories are perhaps best described as dark magical realism. Many of his stories center on the distorted perspective of a frequently doomed narrator. The title story, "The Shadow at the Bottom of the World," reimagines a kind of Bradbury-like small…
I became fascinated with 16th-century and 17th-century Europe after reading Don Quixote many years ago. Since then, every novel or nonfiction book about that era has felt both ancient and contemporary. I’m always struck by how much our environment has changed—transportation, communication, housing, government—but also how little we as people have changed when it comes to ambition, love, grief, and greed. I doubled down my reading on that time period when I researched my novel, Dulcinea. Many people read in the eras of the Renaissance, World War II, or ancient Greece, so I’m hoping to introduce them to the Baroque Age.
Dolça Llull Prat, a wealthy Barcelona woman, is only 15 when she falls in love with an impoverished poet-solder. Theirs is a forbidden relationship, one that overcomes many obstacles until the fledgling writer renders her as the lowly Dulcinea in his bestseller.
By doing so, he unwittingly exposes his muse to gossip. But when Dolça receives his deathbed note asking to see her, she races across Spain with the intention of unburdening herself of an old secret.
On the journey, she encounters bandits, the Inquisition, illness, and the choices she's made. At its heart, Dulcinea is about how we betray the people we love, what happens when we succumb to convention, and why we squander the few chances we get to change our lives.
Interested in
magical realism,
dreams,
and
dragons?
10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them.
Browse their picks for the best books about
magical realism,
dreams,
and
dragons.
