Here are 86 books that CyberStorm fans have personally recommended if you like
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My name is Mia Dalia. I write dark speculative fiction across genres. A lot of it is psychological horror, which I love! My latest novel features a rather unique haunted house and a family who spend their summer vacation there. Hauntings are a theme I have visited before in shorter forms and were very excited to explore in full. My goal here was to deconstruct the myth of an all-American happy family within the frame of a classic may-or-may-not-be-haunted house. Those who have dared to stay in Haven have been profoundly unsettled. It is a hungry house, always looking for more visitors. I hope you’ll come for a stay!
And speaking of hotels, there is, of course, the infamous Overlook Hotel, staying in which does terrible things to the Torrance family. I loved the idea of the place jeopardizing people’s sanity as it reveals its nightmarish secrets to them. Plus, a haunted hotel concept really works for me–why limit yourself to a single-family history of horrors when you can have a variety?
This book is a more in-your-face approach to the haunted house theme and, in my opinion, incredibly effective as such. Also, this one traps its characters, and the readers along with them, inside a winter storm to double down on that stuck-can't-leave feeling. Brr.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Before Doctor Sleep, there was The Shining, a classic of modern American horror from the undisputed master, Stephen King.
Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around…
I am an esoteric storyteller. One day a technician was installing our internet. When he found out we were from New Orleans, he told us a story about when he visited there and saw a ghost. To hear him, there was no doubt about his truthfulness, how it scared him and convinced him never to return to that city again. Here was an ordinary guy whose life view was turned upside down by the paranormal. I write about such things—urban fantasies. I include esoteric books as well as accounts of such experiences in my reading. For me, I believe there is much more to this world than meets the eye.
Though this book is divided into different perspectives, the main character is a writer, someone filled with imagination, who often questions his sanity and is being haunted. As a matter of fact, most of the characters in Peter Straub’s book are. But what exactly they are being haunted by becomes the question.
I love Straub’s portrait of the town of Milburn through the eyes of his guilt-ridden protagonists, The Chowder Club, who torture their guilty consciences by telling each other ghost stories. The way Straub time jumps around in this book is dizzying but truly gorgeous. Right at the prologue, I was pulled in as the haunting mystery unfolded, and the question hangs in the air: who and what is the real villain?
#1 New York Times bestselling author Peter Straub’s classic tale of horror, secrets, and the dangerous ghosts of the past...
What was the worst thing you’ve ever done?
In the sleepy town of Milburn, New York, four old men gather to tell each other stories—some true, some made-up, all of them frightening. A simple pastime to divert themselves from their quiet lives.
But one story is coming back to haunt them and their small town. A tale of something they did long ago. A wicked mistake. A horrifying accident. And they are about to learn that no one can bury…
A few years ago, while researching my novel Incarnate, I sought out Arctic, Alaskan, and winter horror novels. These books explored the dangers of such places—brutal nature, isolation, depression, fear, and suicidal tendencies. Combined with the supernatural, Lovecraftian, and unexplainable, they created gripping stories.
I also read non-fiction essays, books, articles, and watched YouTube videos about these harsh environments. The authors captured the reality of isolation and danger perfectly. If you're curious about what it’s like to venture into these perilous, frozen landscapes—without risking frostbite—these novels are a thrilling way to experience it.
When I think about the arctic, and horror, I immediately think of Dan Simmons and The Terror.
It’s an expansive, tense, visceral book that feels historical. The authority and details make this feel like fact when we know this is fiction. It’s also quite lyrical and haunting—the setting as a backdrop, the weather, and senses brutalized by this expedition, and the events that slowly unfold. Madness, mutiny, and cannibalism? Yes, please. There are so many ways you can die out here in the cold—starvation, hypothermia, scurvy, exposure, etc.
Whether you came to his work via this book, Carrion Comfort, or (like I did) with Song of Kali, this may be his best work to date. And the television series is worth a gander as well. Immersive, unsettling, gripping, and bleak this is one of my favorite Arctic horror novels to date.
The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is…
Truth told, folks still ask if Saul Crabtree sold his soul for the perfect voice. If he sold it to angels or devils. A Bristol newspaper once asked: “Are his love songs closer to heaven than dying?” Others wonder how he wrote a song so sad, everyone who heard it…
There’s something about a horror story set in the winter, especially with characters stuck in a snowstorm, that makes it more chilling to me. My first novel, Ancient Enemy, was inspired by my love of horror set in the dead of winter. If you haven’t read these books on my list, I hope you’ll check them out. It was difficult narrowing the list down to just five – I can think of so many other great winter-themed horror novels.
In Winter Moon, an ex-cop running from his past moves to a small cabin in the Montana snowy woods. I read this book decades ago, but it has always stuck with me, and it is one of my favorite Dean Koontz books. I think it might be his scariest novel.
If you delight in the suspense of Stephen King and The Stranger by Harlan Coben chilled you to the bone (in the best possible way), you'll love Winter Moon - the classic thriller by Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz. 'Not just a master of our darkest dreams but also a literary juggler' - The Times.
Eduardo is a lonely retiree living on his isolated Montana ranch. His life is peaceful, until one night he is awakened by a fearful throbbing sound and eerie lights in the woods. More mysterious and disturbing events follow over the…
I’ve been making up magical worlds ever since childhood, when I populated the creekbanks and vacant lots in my hometown with ghosts, fae, Land of Oz residents, and other creatures from my imagination. Fantasy and forbidden love have always been my two main allures in reading, and different varieties of sexuality and gender identity also fascinated me once I became more aware of such issues in college, through books as well as my anthropology classes. I was recently pleased to learn there’s at least one cool label for me as well—demisexual—and nowadays I love populating my fantasy novels with queer characters. Everyone deserves adventures in the otherworld!
I’m a sucker for a cool historical setting and also for romance with a social-status difference as a main obstacle, and this novel delivers on both! In 1920s-era New York City, amid Prohibition and jazz and snazzy fashions—and, in this version of things, an underworld of secret magic—wealthy Arthur meets working-class Rory, and the sparks begin. Both of the men are utterly endearing (another feature I’m soft on) and bring different paranormal powers to the problem of a lethal magical relic on its way to New York. There are two more books in the series, so if you fall for this pair, hurray! There’s more to read.
"Allie Therin built a world that came alive and flew off the pages." —Gay Book Reviews
To save Manhattan, they’ll have to save each other first…
New York, 1925
Arthur Kenzie’s life’s work is protecting the world from the supernatural relics that could destroy it. When an amulet with the power to control the tides is shipped to New York, he must intercept it before it can be used to devastating effects. This time, in order to succeed, he needs a powerful psychometric…and the only one available has sworn off his abilities altogether.
The seventh child of a seventh son of a seventh son. Mother spoke of my sleeping nights and alert days…felt I was curious, observant. She was convinced I’d be the writer in the family. Named me Jerome after the librarian St. Jerome and Mark after Mark Twain, her favorite author as a child. Mother read to us daily, during high school time, a chapter a night. My brother Fred mailed me a word a week to look up. My freshman year in college I earned money writing compositions. And so it began. I sat on the floor and listened to the world war from Pearl Harbor to D-Day and Hiroshima.
I heard Marilyn Monroe in everything Holly Golightly said. I heard her witticisms. Turned out Truman Capote wrote it using Marilyn’s voice.
Holly, a hooker, her protagonist (apartment neighbor) was an in-the-closet gay man. Holly would climb the fire escape and crawl into his room and snuggle in bed with him as if they were lovers. She never denied she was a hooker – but never hid that she had standards and would expect fifty-dollar tips for washroom attendants.
This novella, as does Grapes and Old Man, demonstrates to me the stage play of life we choose to be in is in acts—we know our assets, limitations and to survive we follow them—in Grapes pickers followed a dream to orange groves—in Old Man—a fisher needed to prove he could get his luck back—and in Tiffany—if she could find playgrounds of the rich, she’d survive.
A beautifully designed edition of Truman Capote's dazzling New York novel Breakfast at Tiffany's, which inspired the classic 1961 film starring Audrey Hepburn
'What I've found does the most good is just to get into a taxi and go to Tiffany's. It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits...'
Meet Holly Golightly - a free spirited, lop-sided romantic girl about town. With her tousled blond hair and upturned nose, dark glasses and chic black dresses, Holly is…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan. The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced, it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run the…
I’m an attorney who formerly practiced intellectual property law at large firms in Chicago and San Francisco. Even while I was practicing law, I had dreams of becoming an author. I’ve always been drawn to Chick-Lit, Rom-Coms, and Women’s Fiction, and even more fascinated by other lawyers who made the leap from lawyering to writing in these genres. My debut novel was about a PR executive, but for my sophomore novel, The Trials of Adeline Turner, I couldn’t help but revisit law firm life. While I enjoy reading and writing about lawyers, my favorite thing about these books is their message of following your heart to live your best life.
Molly Grant is a divorce attorney at a large Manhattan firm representing wealthy and demanding clients. While the book is entertaining in its descriptions of ridiculous office politics and insufferable clients, what made me fall in love with it was the main character. Molly is sharp and funny, and in the beginning of the book, she seems like the typical associate playing the game to get ahead, putting in the hours and stroking egos while also keeping her head down. But when the ex-wife of a rich, ruthless media mogul seeks help because her husband is alienating her children against her, Molly has to choose between her own career advancement or listening to her conscience to use her lawyer powers for good. This is an engrossing, entertaining, feel-good read.
Fast-paced and laugh-out-loud funny, L. Alison Heller's beloved debut The Love Wars has been heralded as a perfect summer read. Readers will want to cheer on smart and witty lawyer Molly Grant as she juggles work ambitions with finding love. Chock full of heart, The Love Wars is impossible to put down.
"Every character in this warm, witty contemporary novel felt so refreshingly true to life."-Liane Moriarty, author of The Husband's Secret
Breaking up is hard to do. At least the first few times.
Even though Molly Grant has only a handful of relationships behind her, she's already been through…
As an author of a trilogy about the Flying Tigers (a group of American pilots who fought the Japanese valiantly in WWII in China), I love reading wartime stories, especially WWII.
I was very shy and fearful when I was young. It was because of my shyness and fearfulness that I fell in love with wartime stories. I looked up to heroes. I admired their courage and spirits. I read books about those extraordinary people so that I could be inspired by them and hopefully learn from them. Where else can you find more heroic stories than in wartime? As a writer, I write what I love to read: heroic tales with touching love stories.
The Lost Girls of Paris is a historical fiction about a group of young British women who make the ultimate sacrifice to help their country in WWII. Fraught with danger and filled with mystery, it’s a fascinating tale, and I finished it in two days. I wasn’t aware of the war efforts of these brave women, who went unheralded for many years after the war, and I’m thankful to read this intriguing book of bravery and perseverance.
'A gripping tale' MY WEEKLY 'Thrilling' WOMAN 'A truly gripping read of mystery, love and heroism' FROST MAGAZINE
The Lost Girls of Paris is an emotional story of friendship and betrayal during the second world war, inspired by true events - from the international bestseller Pam Jenoff.
1940s With the world at war, Eleanor Trigg leads a mysterious ring of female secret agents in London. Twelve of these women are sent to aid the resistance.
They never return home.
1946 Passing through Grand Central Station, New York, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase tucked beneath a bench. The case is…
My recommendations are more like a diary of my nascent writing career. I don’t mean to get melodramatic here, but these five Korean-American authors literally (get it?) built me. None of them know this, but they were a quintet of Dr. Frankensteins who created Sung J. Woo, writer. I dared to write my first novel because these authors showed me how, in the best possible way, the only way, really: through their printed words. When I held their books in my hands, I believed a little more that I could do the same. I’ll always be proud to be in their debt.
And now the year is 2007, and here’s the big-ass Korean-American book we’ve all been waiting for – Free Food for Millionaires. In baseball terms: while the rest of us first-time novelists choked up our bats and hit our singles and doubles, Min Jin swung for the fences. At the center of the novel is Casey Kim and her quest to find her passion, never mind the consequences of being basically disowned by her parents, but make no mistake: the scope of this book is like that of Casey’s favorite authors, George Eliot, the Brontë sisters, and Anthony Trollope. There are multiple generations of Koreans at work and play here. It’s exactly the type of book I love to read and never even consider writing, because I just don’t have that kind of ambition. Thank goodness some do!
The brilliant debut novel from the New York Times-bestselling author of Pachinko.
'Ambitious, accomplished, engrossing... As easy to devour as a nineteenth-century romance.' NEW YORK TIMES
Casey Han's years at Princeton have given her a refined diction, an enviable golf handicap, a popular white boyfriend and a degree in economics. The elder daughter of working-class Korean immigrants, Casey inhabits a New York a world away from that of her parents. But she has no job, and a number of bad habits.
So when a chance encounter with an old friend lands her a new opportunity, she's determined to carve a…
After World imagines a not-so-distant future where, due to worsening global environmental collapse, an artificial intelligence determines that the planet would be better off without the presence of humans. After a virus that sterilizes the entire human population is released, humanity must reckon with how they leave this world before…
I'm a memoir writer whose latest book, Drunk-ish, chronicles my experience getting sober. Before quitting drinking and after, I devoured all the "quit lit" books I could get my hands on despite not being entirely convinced I had an issue. I read to bond and identify with the authors, and the books I'm recommending are a few of my very favorites on the topic of addiction. On my podcast, "For Crying Out Loud," I often share about quitting drinking and addiction in general, and when I do, I find those are some of the most popular episodes. If you're sober, thinking about quitting, or even just like reading books about messed-up boozers, these books are for you.
This is one of my all-time favorite books about alcoholism because it’s hilarious. The title has a double meaning because the book is about the author’s attempt to stop drinking but also because Augusten’s humor is incredibly dry.
I found this book before I ever even entertained the notion that I, too, might have an issue with alcohol, and yet, I loved it. I’ve probably read this book at least 10 times, and it still makes me laugh despite the fact that it’s become all too real for me.
From the New York Times Bestselling author of Running With Scissors comes the story of one man trying to out-drink his memories, outlast his demons, and outrun his past.
“I was addicted to “Bewitched” as a kid. I worshipped Darren Stevens the First. When he’d come home from work and Samantha would say, ‘Darren, would you like me to fix you a drink?’ He’d always rest his briefcase on the table below the mirror in the foyer, wipe his forehead with a monogrammed handkerchief and say, ‘Better make it a double.’” (from Chapter Two)
