Spooky Season Selections and October New Releases |
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It’s spooky times! Between crunching crunchy leaves, bobbing for apples, and sweating in flannel, I like to spend the season reading something dark and twisted. Fortunately, we’re well stocked with books by like-minded authors in our brand-new horror section.
A few years ago, Andy Davidson wrote The Boatman’s Daughter, a paperback original that I devoured. His highly anticipated sophomore book, The Hollow Kind is releasing in a beautiful hardcover edition October 11th, and proves that he’s the master of swampy chillers. This book is a duel-timeline family saga with a hungry ancient forest god, plenty of gore, and a driving plot that will keep you hooked from page one.
Another October release that I’m excited for is James Han Mattson’s Reprieve in paperback. Revolving around the death of a contestant in a full contact haunted house game show, this character driven novel is so fun and readable you’ll fly through it. Mattson’s satire of American culture and his twisted settings reminds me a lot of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer crossed with Catriona Ward’s Last House on Needless Street. Good for fans of horror-adjacent materials that are looking to be kept up at night, not by nightmares, but by a book they can’t put down.
Speaking of Last House on Needless Street, it’s now out in paperback! It’s a total puzzle box of a novel with nothing but unreliable narrators, one of which is a talking black cat. Enough said.
If you’re looking for true horror, pick up a copy of this year’s big surprise hit, This Thing Between Us, by Gus Moreno. A widower is haunted by cosmic forces of evil, and the images Moreno creates will haunt you as well. Read it with the lights on, or off if you’re a true freak.
Happy Dreadful reading!
Kevin
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Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet |
Author of the National Book Award nominated A Children's Bible is back with a beautiful, slice-of-life novel set in Arizona. I love this book for its subtlety and quiet brilliance. It's engaging and compelling but without any of the stress that conflict in novels usually provides.
Recommended by Becky
Available October 11th
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Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng |
This is a cautionary tale set in the very near future about censorship, exclusion, & fractured families. But it is also a redemptive story about the power of protest & the love of language. Reads like a classic!
Recommended by Mary
Available October 4th
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The Night Ship by Jess Kidd |
Author of Things in Jars (a store bestseller) brings her signature gothic, character-driven style to a new subject - this time with parallel timelines set on the same island. It's a compelling read and a thoughtfully pieced-together narrative with some fantastic characters!
Recommended by Becky
Available October 4th
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The perfect gift book this year, offering a perspective we can all benefit from, Ross Gay's follow-up to The Book of Delights (now available in paperback) is one of our most exciting nonfiction titles coming out this month!
Available October 25th
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Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah |
In rich and rolling prose, Gurnah, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize for literature, weaves the lives of two young people in East Africa in the early 20th century. The novel transcends pain and misfortune and becomes a beautiful love story.
Gurnah spoke at Town Hall on September 20th with Seattle Arts and Lectures. Follow this link to see SAL's current lineup for the 2022-23 season.
Recommended by Christy
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New short story collections pub this month from two authors we know you all love. George Saunders, author of Lincoln in the Bardo, and 10th of December, releases his new collection Liberation Day on October 18th.
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And Alan Moore tackles a new form in his collection, Illuminations. You might know Moore as the author of classic graphic novels Watchmen and V for Vendetta.
Available October 11th
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The Search for Sasquatch by Laura Krantz |
Laura Krantz dives right into the woods with several sasquatch seekers on a scientific mission: Is there something to the Bigfoot phenomenon? The Search for Sasquatch is a fantastic guide for young readers curious about cryptids, exploring how part of the fascination around them comes from the thrill of the chase.
Recommended by Andrew
Available September 6th
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Meanwhile Back on Earth by Oliver Jeffers |
Oliver Jeffers offers a nonfiction perspective of life on earth with his quirky and lovely illustration style that is so easily recognizable - a perfect gift for all future astronauts and philosophers.
Available October 4th
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Current Happenings in the Shop |
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Book launch with Suma Subramaniam |
Join us in the shop at 5pm on October 22nd to celebrate the launch of Suma Subramaniam's new book, Namaste is a Greeting. For more information check out our Events page on our website.
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All you horror fans out there - this is your season! We have a small table set up in the front of the shop, but it's just a preview of what's to come. Keep an eye on our windows and follow us on Instagram for more! @secretgardenbks
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LatinX/Hispanic Heritage Month is Sept 15-Oct 15 and we have a display of both fiction and nonfiction highlighting Latinx authors. Come check it out! |
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We love Halloween so much in the shop that we set up our Halloween children's display in September! Watch our windows and tables for more haunting and harrowing reads in October. |
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We are open for browsing 11am-6pm on weekdays, and 11am-5pm on weekends
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