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Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the 22nd Read Harder task.

I don't like horror, but Things to Do When You're Goth in the Country: and Other Stories looks fun.

Very difficult because I don't read Horror anymore. I think I found one based on the Brontes that squeaks by: Black Spring by Alison Croggon - it was originally published by Walker Press.

One I read for a similar challenge in a previous year was The Last Horror Novel in the History of the World

I love horror, but I'm finding out i'm pretty mainstream.

The Invention of Ghosts, Sawkill Girls and Dig Two Graves all look good to me, but I'm not ready to choose one just yet.

I'm thinking about The Witches' Hollow for this prompt

I read Sourdough and Other Stories for an indie press prompt in a previous Read Harder Challenge, and loved it. (I may pick up the author's other collection, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, this year.)

It's not blood-and-guts horror, more dark-and-creepy fantasy horror. But specializes in literary supernatural/strange/horror fiction.

I don't like horror - both books and movies. I would never pick up a horror book so this will be a very big challenge for me

I'm thinking Wicked Weeds: A Zombie Novel (Mandel Vilar Press), The Night Visitors (Dead Ink), or Ghost Summer: Stories (Prime Books)

I will substitute a thriller for this prompt. No hoodie for me!

Hah! No HORROR not hoodie! 😀

I thought more and realize I like some kinds of supernatural horror, like zombies and ghosts. I’m feeling better about this prompt, but it will still take some research!

For those who don’t want graphic gory horror, I recommend Flowers of Mold by Ha Seong-nan, translated from Korean by Janet Hong. A collection of creepy, just slight off kilter stories of everyday life in Korea.

Amelia wrote: "For those who don’t want graphic gory horror, I recommend Flowers of Mold by Ha Seong-nan, translated from Korean by Janet Hong. A collection of creepy, just slight off kilter stories of everyday l..."

Sounds interesting. Thanks! I really don't like horror, but that is why I do the challenge, to read things outside my comfort zone. This book sounds perfect for accomplishing that goal.

Why not go full-on Stephen King? Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance Publications)

Amelia wrote: "For those who don’t want graphic gory horror, I recommend Flowers of Mold by Ha Seong-nan, translated from Korean by Janet Hong. A collection of creepy, just slight off kilter stories of everyday l..."

I just gave this to my husband for his birthday! Now I will have to borrow it...

I'd recommend Grady Hendrix's stuff... it's "horror" but it's not super scary or gory, and all his books have a slightly comical bent to it. His publisher is Quirk Books, which is an indie. My Best Friend's Exorcism is my favorite of his I've read so far.

Knobby wrote: "I'd recommend Grady Hendrix's stuff... it's "horror" but it's not super scary or gory, and all his books have a slightly comical bent to it. His publisher is Quirk Books, which is an indie. [book:M..."
I'm looking at Hendrix's new book - The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires - for this task. Due out in April 2020 from Quirk, but up on NetGalley now.

Going with fellow Iowa City writer Erik Therme's Resthaven.

What do you all think of Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado? I’ve never heard of Graywolf Press. Is it indie, and would you consider it horror?

Hmm, I've just seen a tempting review of Skein Island, published by Titan. Wikipedia says they're "independently owned" so I guess that counts??

Mary wrote: "What do you all think of Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado? I’ve never heard of Graywolf Press. Is it indie, and would you consider it horror?"

Graywolf is an independent publisher! And Her Body and Other Parties is sort of genre fluid, but I would consider the majority of it at least horror adjacent- I personally think you could count it (and it's great!)

Jennifer wrote: "Mary wrote: "What do you all think of Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado? I’ve never heard of Graywolf Press. Is it indie, and would you consider it horror?"

Graywolf is an indepen..."

This is great! The book has been on my TBR for a while, and I really want to read it before I read her new book. I had no idea it was horror! I think my earlier choices just got displaced.

Horror has a negative impact on me. Was thinking of a middle grade novel to limit gore and scariness 😊. Heard good things about indie author Matthew Story and his book A Monstrous Place. It is published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform - it's a self-publishing platform owned by Amazon. Could I count that?

Kristen wrote: "Horror has a negative impact on me. Was thinking of a middle grade novel to limit gore and scariness 😊. Heard good things about indie author Matthew Story and his book A Monstrous Place. It is publ..."

Yes, CreateSpace is indy. Also not a horror fan, and have been glad to see a number of options here that might work for me.

I highly recommend Wergild: A Heartwarming Tale of Coldblooded Vengeance by Boris Slocum both horrible, insightful and at times funny.

Horror is a genre I've been wanting to explore more of, but most of the books that are on my TBR, whether because they were recommended to me or because they caught my eye independently, are not published by indie presses. I may end up reading Horror in the West, which is a collection of weird west comics from Alterna, and it's available on Hoopla. It's been on my TBR since the summer, so it would be good to get to it.

Kristen wrote: "Horror has a negative impact on me. Was thinking of a middle grade novel to limit gore and scariness 😊. Heard good things about indie author Matthew Story and his book A Monstrous Place. It is publ..."

Ugh! I had no idea Amazon owned CreateSpace...

Knobby wrote: "I'd recommend Grady Hendrix's stuff... it's "horror" but it's not super scary or gory, and all his books have a slightly comical bent to it. His publisher is Quirk Books, which is an indie. [book:M..."

I'm glad you liked that book. I threw it across the room at the point where I thought there should have been a Trigger Warning and swore off horror, which I never wanted to read anyway. (I HATE to be scared...) It was for an IRL book club. I did not attend the meeting or participate in the discussion and decided I will refuse to read another horror book. Though with that said I read and loved Beloved by Toni Morrison which is classified as horror by some. So I'm looking for something similar to that I guess...

I love the fact that readers can have such diverse reactions to the same book! :)

What about Horrorstor by Grady Hendricks? I tend not to like a lot of horror - no blood, guts or gore for me, thanks - but I think horror is whatever scares YOU sometimes. This book was creepy but it was also a bit funny at times. I read a lot of mysteries, so I could kind of see what was coming, but it wasn't a full on scare fest as I remember. And I think Quirk is indie?

This is a hard task. I'll probably go with some bizarro fiction type horror. I also found this list of horror books published by indie presses -/list/show/1...

As someone who, like many others on here, has a hard time stomaching horror, I came across Zombie Run, described as a "comic horror novel."

A description from Kirkus here:

Candace wrote: "This is a hard task. I'll probably go with some bizarro fiction type horror. I also found this list of horror books published by indie presses -/list/show/1......"

Thanks for the list! I particularly enjoyed that there's a book titled "If You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your Corpse."

I don't read horror. However, I remembered Blodwedd Mallory self published a horror novella in her urban fantasy series. I think it's on her website.

The Hic Dragones press has several options for this, I'm going for She-Wolf

I'm finally going to read ��ǰ����ǰ�����ö��! It's been sitting on my bookshelf for quite a while.

Jennifer wrote: "Mary wrote: "What do you all think of Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado? I’ve never heard of Graywolf Press. Is it indie, and would you consider it horror?"

Graywolf is an indepen..."

I agree with Jennifer on both counts!

Carmen Maria Machado also just worked with an indie publisher (Lanternfish Press) to publish an updated version of Carmilla. It's the original text, with CMM's edits and an additional fictionalized academic framing device (details here: ). It sounds awesome, and I'm super excited to read this even though horror isn't usually my thing.

Mary wrote: "What do you all think of Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado? I’ve never heard of Graywolf Press. Is it indie, and would you consider it horror?"
I read this for the challenge last year, and it was not horror. Graywolf is an indie press though.

Atlantic Monthly Press -- does that count as indie?

Has anyone read Witch - would it count as horror?

It says horror book without specifying what type of book, so pretty much any horror comic by a comic book publisher outside of Marvel/DC counts as indie.

For those that don't like scary, this should make reading the book quicker, and horror comedy is pretty common.

I've chosen Adam Nevill, The Reddening published by Ritual Ltd. I read Last Days and scared myself silly. Just noticed it's included in the Kindle monthly sale for 99p if that helps anyone.
Check out this book on ŷ������: The Reddening http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45...

A couple months ago I requested that my library purchase a copy of Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories, and they actually did! I've got it on hold, and it will fit this category nicely since it was published by Inhabit Media (Inuit-owned, Arctic-based indie publishing company).

I just started reading Pet, by Akwaeke Emezi.


I don’t normally do horror, but this book seems relevant to current times. It also meets the bonus challenge, as the author is a non-binary trans person.

For those who can manage creepy but don’t want gore, some of the stories in Falling in Love with Hominids, by Nalo Hopkinson, fit the bill. Ditto Flowers of Mold, by Ha Seong-nan. I liked the first book much more than the second.

One nice thing about collections of short stories is that the format means you are not sucked into an entire novel’s worth of creeping discomfort. It also helps that not every story in it the collection has elements of horror. Exposure is limited, and there’s relief built in as you go from story to story.

Hi book friends! Our rec post for this task is now live.

I think I'm going to do a graphic novel: Beautiful Darkness

From Paste Magazine:

French import Beautiful Darkness is perhaps more horrific than straight-up horror, slowly unfolding its absolutely bleak miniature world in gorgeous watercolors. Like a classic children’s book straight from Hell, Beautiful Darkness follows a large band of oddly shaped Lilliputians struggling to survive—and constantly, flippantly meeting their violent ends—on, in and around the corpse of a little girl murdered and left to rot in the woods. There are potent metaphors about the human condition and capacity for cruelty at work here, and few comics will leave you as unnerved and inconsolable about our species.

Elizabeth wrote: "A couple months ago I requested that my library purchase a copy of Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories, and they actually did! I've got it on hold, and it will fit this ..."

Oh my goodness, thank for you this -- this is RIGHT UP MY ALLEY and I've just put it on hold from the library. I can't wait!!

I second everyone's recommendations of Grady Hendrix, and would also recommend Penpal by Dathan Auerbach. I love horror but a lot of it doesn't scare me, but this book definitely creeped me out.

Kingdom of Needle and Bone was my choice. It isn't great.

Lyndsie wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "A couple months ago I requested that my library purchase a copy of Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories, and they actually did! I've got it on hold, and..."

Glad I could help! I'm really excited about it myself. I haven't seen a list that includes all the authors featured, but the authors in it that I'm aware of are all genuinely wonderful. A few people realised the library got it befoe I did, so I'm on a waitlist.