Quite the tricky treat bag of reading for FrightFall this year!

Autumn is definitely in the air right now and a sure sign of that is the announcement that sign ups for FrightFall over at Seasons of Reading have begun! For those  new to this readathon, it starts October 1st and ends on Halloween (naturally) with scary books ranging from cozies to out and out horror strongly encouraged.

My trio of TBR titles for this year’s sinister season are a mixed bag of treats, from an offbeat musical take on vampires to Marple flavored Agatha Christie and a much talked about terror tale set in the days of yesteryear. So, let’s look them over and see what scary sweetness awaits me:

Mike Chen’s Vampire Weekend blends the power of punk rock with vampire lore in the form of Louise, who despite her immortal status, is no more social as a member of the undead than she was during her human lifetime.

That reluctance to bond with anyone is severely tested when Ian, a distant teenage cousin, enters her existence. Since he has no one else to turn to for help, Louise takes Ian in and does her best to keep her blood drinking a secret. As a way of distraction, she introduces him to the modern classics of punk rock, an interest that never really died off for Louise and in fact, starts to bring her back to life, metaphorically speaking.

I’ve read one of Chen’s more recent novels (We Could Be Heroes) and his style of tweaking genres with heartfelt characters and occasional touches of humor is very much my cup of tea. He’s also a devoted music fan so this particular book should be singing in three part horror harmony indeed:

Next up is A Murder is Announced, one of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple adventures.

 The premise is right in the title as a newspaper ad invites the residents of Chipping Cleghorn to see an actual murder on a Friday evening in October and of course, Miss Marple is curios to learn what all of the fuss is about.

While it is possible that this is all a tasteless joke, it does frighten Letitia Blacklock, whose address is given as the setting for this gruesome event of which she knows nothing about!

On the day and time in question, the advertising has been proven to be sadly true yet the why of it all is for our dear Jane Marple to find out.

As someone who has only seriously tackled Agatha Christie late in life, it’s fun to play catch up with her works like this.

 Also, I adore Miss Marple and sincerely hope that when the Hollywood strikes are settled (in favor of the writers and actors there!) that this sweetly sharp sleuth is given the cinematic spotlight that she so richly deserves:

To round things off, I have Victor LaValle’s Lone Women, a much highly praised book by critics and readers alike.

Set in 1915, Adelaide leaves her burning remains of her parents’ house in California with only a mysterious trunk for company.

Reaching Montana, where solo women like her are able to claim land for themselves, she begins to make a new life for herself without too much scrutiny from the new neighbors. The time comes. however, when Adelaide cannot keep the deadly contents of that trunk locked up and the danger is far and beyond what anyone ever expected.

It’s been hard to hold off on reading this book(got it from Book of the Month Club earlier this year) but this story seems picture perfect for this readathon and I am in no doubt that my patience will be well rewarded:

If you’re interested in joining in on the spooky seasonal fun, there’s plenty of time to sign up over at Seasons of Reading and check out the Stephen King read along over at their sister site Castle Macabre, both run by the excellent Michelle Miller.

One great thing about the horror genre is just how well it lends itself to blending the old school style and the new way of dealing with fear. 

No matter how truly monstrous things may seem, fiction can show you the way to figure it out. At the very least, we can get some petrifying popcorn fare to delightfully distract us for awhile: