Why am I passionate about this?

I have always been fascinated by horror, particularly the dark and imagination-inciting creatures produced by it (even though I’m a big scaredy-cat, haha!). In a time when slasher films and haunted houses tend to dominate the horror genre, I set out to create a creature-feature similar to the 80s and early 90s classics I grew up with (Aliens, The Thing, Phantoms, Dawn of the Dead). I fell in love with creating truly nightmarish monstrosities and deep, vulnerable but strong characters to battle them. The books on this list are definitely huge inspirations in my own work, so I hope you enjoy the beasties in them as much as I have!


I wrote

Pandora

By Joshua Grant,

Book cover of Pandora

What is my book about?

A cruise ship disappears without a trace, reemerging a week later and transmitting a single word: Pandora. Business tycoon and…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Code: Veronica

Joshua Grant Why did I love this book?

I have always loved the hapless heroes and gruesome thrills of the Resident Evil video game series! When a friend bought me this book, I was a bit skeptical at first, but it quickly became my favorite book series I’ve ever read! It builds depth and likability into the characters and situation beyond what the games have ever achieved, and it’s just fun to spend some more time with zombies and other horrifying creatures! S.D. Perry is definitely one of the biggest influences on my early writing.

By S.D. Perry,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Code as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Claire Redfield's desperate search for her missing brother leads her to a remote island, where a mad genius has unleashed every grotesque creature at his disposal to stop her from interfering with his horrific agenda. Meanwhile, Chris Redfield has been fighting a one-man war against Umbrella's creations...and is now on a collision course with the man who betrayed the S.T.A.R.S. in Raccoon City.


Book cover of 77 Shadow Street

Joshua Grant Why did I love this book?

This book is all around haunting and instantly made me a huge fan of Dean Koontz. Set in an apartment complex with a long history of violence and hauntings, Koontz does a fantastic job of setting up expectations, and then subverting those expectations. Not everything here is as it seems. Throw in some disturbing creatures and an interesting twist and I was hooked!

By Dean Koontz,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked 77 Shadow Street as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Heart-stopping thriller from the master of suspense. Bad things are starting to happen at the Pendleton, an eerie building with a tragic past.

The Pendleton stands on the summit of Shadow Hill, a palace built in the late 19th century as a tycoon's dream home. But its grandeur has been scarred by episodes of madness, suicide and mass murder. Since being converted into luxury apartments in the 70s, however, the Pendleton has been at peace. For its fortunate residents - among them ex-marine Bailey Hawk, songwriter Twyla Trahern and her young son Winny - the Pendleton is a sanctuary, its…


Book cover of Bird Box

Joshua Grant Why did I love this book?

I was one of those people that read this one after seeing the popular film on Netflix. While I enjoy the movie a bit better personally, the book adds a lot of depth to the characters and sheds more light on the strange and creepy creatures. I just love the alien and unknowable nature of the monsters in this one, along with the downright creepiness of the people that worship these creatures. I truly can’t wait for them to make a film of the sequel!

By Josh Malerman,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Bird Box as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Josh Malerman's debut novel Bird Box is a terrifying, Hitchcockesque psychological horror that is sure to stay with you long after reading.

Malorie raises the children the only way she can: indoors.

The house is quiet. The doors are locked, the curtains are closed, mattresses are nailed over the windows.

They are out there. She might let them in.

The children sleep in the bedroom across the hall.

Soon she will have to wake them. Soon she will have to blindfold them.

Today they must leave the house. Today they will risk everything.


Book cover of Sphere

Joshua Grant Why did I love this book?

I know, it’s the same guy that created Jurassic Park, but this book is downright a horror novel! It made me afraid of the ocean for years! It’s the fantastic writing and mind-bending nature of this one that makes it so suspenseful, and all the creature encounters are pulse-pounding. Just don’t read this one if you like the movie. I couldn’t even go back and watch it after reading.

By Michael Crichton,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Sphere as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Ingenious and beguiling.”
—Time

“Crichton keeps us guessing at every turn in his best work since The Andromeda Strain.”
—Los Angeles Times

“Sphere may be Crichton’s best novel, but even if it ranked only second or third, it would be a must for suspense fans.”
—Miami Herald

A classic thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Crichton, Sphere is a bravura demonstration of what he does better than anyone: riveting storytelling that combines frighteningly plausible, cutting edge science and technology with pulse-pounding action and serious chills. The gripping story of a group of American scientists sent to the…


Book cover of The Mist

Joshua Grant Why did I love this book?

I actually kind of hate all the characters in this novella (I’m actually not a huge Stephen King fan), but the creatures and the horrifying nature of this world made me half to read it (and I wasn’t disappointed). Mist in itself makes everything creepy. Now fill that with nightmarish things flitting about and some truly grizzly deaths, and I’m liable to never go outside in the fog ever again! It’s the monsters that made this one for me, and it is a testament to King that my imagination still wonders just what were those horrid things and where did they come from?

By Stephen King,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Mist as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King’s terrifying novella about a town engulfed in a dense, mysterious mist as humanity makes its last stand against unholy destruction—originally published in the acclaimed short story collection Skeleton Crew and made into a TV series, as well as a feature film starring Thomas Jane and Marcia Gay Harden.

In the wake of a summer storm, terror descends...David Drayton, his son Billy, and their neighbor Brent Norton join dozens of others and head to the local grocery store to replenish supplies following a freak storm. Once there, they become trapped by a strange…


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Pandora

By Joshua Grant,

Book cover of Pandora

What is my book about?

A cruise ship disappears without a trace, reemerging a week later and transmitting a single word: Pandora. Business tycoon and owner of the cruise line Patrick Carver sends a band of mercenaries to land on the ship and figure out what happened. For reasons beyond her, young doctor Aubrey Pittenger is chosen to go along for the ride. But all is not as it seems aboard the crumbling cruise liner, and evil comes in many forms. Now the ragtag team will have to band together in order to survive the night in this Aliens/The Thing homage horror thriller from the mind of bestselling author Joshua Grant!

Book cover of Code: Veronica
Book cover of 77 Shadow Street
Book cover of Bird Box

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Bad Blood

By K.B. Thorne,

Book cover of Bad Blood

K.B. Thorne Author Of Bad Blood

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve adored reading a good snarky first-person story since I first read Bloodlist, so long as the snark doesn’t go too far and become total unlikeable jerk… It can be a fine line! I hope I stay on the right side of it, but having read it enough and written in it for years with my Blood Rights Series, I feel qualified to say I’m a…snark connoisseur. (If you ask my family, this is how my own internal/life narrator speaks! My mother says that my character Dakota is me if I “said everything aloud that I think in my head.” She’s probably right, and I’m okay with that.)

K.B.'s book list on if first person snark is your style

What is my book about?

Bad Blood is paranormal suspense in First Person Snark, so if you like sarcastic, strong female characters set in a world where the preternatural is run amok (i.e., legal citizens in the United States), then this book and series are for you.

Follow Sadie Stanton–"poster girl for the preternatural"–as she deals with all sorts of messes and sets up her business while being a vampire in a new day...or night, really.

Bad Blood

By K.B. Thorne,

What is this book about?

VAMPIRES ARE PEOPLE TOO

I’m Sadie Stanton, and I don’t know why everyone makes such a big deal out of me. I’m just like everyone else—I’m trying to start a business, not spending much time on my social life, and dealing with an obnoxious roommate...

Oh, and being a vampire. There’s that. But it’s okay, because we’re all legal now.

But believe me, that doesn’t make life easy. In fact, it might be harder now than ever before, but I did it to myself… And now vampires are attacking people seemingly at random and not even trying to feed. Everyone…


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