Here are the posts from the last week that readers read the most. Maybe you missed one or two, so check them out.
Oh, how I love the fall. And we’re truly almost there. We’re finally in the last throes of summer, and September is right around the corner. You know, in my mind, that means it’s basically Halloween. Wouldn’t you agree? Let’s get ready for everyone’s favorite holiday by talking about some scary stuff.
Generally speaking, dark academia is a fairly malleable subgenre that takes place in loosely academic settings (think libraries, universities, etc.) or has an academic kind of feel. That’s the “academia” part. The “dark” part comes from the presence of everything from Gothic elements to secret societies and murders. Again, it’s all pretty flexible, as most genres are when you really try to nail them down.
There are so many exciting horror books out in the next few months, including new releases from big names, like Nick Cutter and Rivers Solomon, as well as debuts to give you the shivers. Goodreads has put together a list of 24 of the most anticipated new horror novels of the fall, so you have plenty of time to add these to your spooky season TBR. Be sure to click through to check out the full Goodreads list of upcoming sci-fi, fantasy, and horror releases.
What campus novels do is create an immersive world where the setting is in and of itself a crucial character in the book. These books typically feature young adults out on their own for the first time, learning how to navigate a new place with new people, new responsibilities, and more freedom than they have likely ever experienced before. They can also focus on the faculty and staff on those campuses. Campus novels are a world unto themselves, and because they run on a well-established timeline—the semester or the quarter—a story and relationships can play out in ways that most readers are familiar.
While it’s not exactly a new phenomenon — there are books going back centuries that do this — it has been fun watching more fourth-wall-breaking books being published each day. Some of these books focus on playing with their given genre, like mystery or fantasy.
Sometimes a weird little horror book that doesn’t have a real solid genre home is exactly what hits the spot. I love an oddball book, something that doesn’t necessarily fit in a subgenre quite right. Too scary for regular fiction, not scary enough for the horror buffs, not thrilling enough for a thriller. These in-betweeners can be just as entertaining and unsettling as any other horror novel. In fact, they can sometimes be more unsettling because you’re not expecting it as tensions rise and dread creeps up your spine.