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Hello All!

I'm back, mostly unpacked, and staring down a venerable tower of to-read books in hardcopy. (Len's prediction was correct - move to an English-speaking country, go nuts at used bookstores. I've tried to exercise restraint, but I'm still managing to add to the stack!)

I started sorting my to-reads in to piles, and realised I have a bumper-crop of a spooky harvest for October.

Which got me thinking that I could list some recommended, out-of-print and mostly-forgotten Children's Lit for the coming spooky season.

Care to add any great reads that fit the bill? Post away! Here's mine, ranked in a loose order of "Not So Spooky" to "Properly Atmospheric":

The Witch-Child by Imogen Chichester, 1965
Mainly in Moonlight by Nicholas Stuart Gray, 1965
Well Met by Witchlight by Nina Beachcroft, 1973
The Whispering Knights by Penelope Lively, 1917 (The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, too, but it's in print or at least recently was)
The Black Gull of Corrie Lochan by Margaret MacAlpine, 1964
The Silk and the Skin by Rodie Sudbery, 1982
A Visit to Folly Castle by Nina Beachcroft, 1983
The Visitor: A Story of Suspense / Billy Buck by Josephine Poole, 1972
The Wild Hunt of Hagworthy / The Wild Hunt of the Ghost Hounds by Penelope Lively, 1971

and my from my unsorted to-reads for October:
Grimbold's Other World by Nicholas Stuart Gray, 1963 - (first day in new town, walk by outdoor rack of used books at a charity shop for rescue cats, not even stopping to look (honest! Carrying luggage, ushering family along lane), and THIS was at the end of the bookshelf in plain sight. Had no cash, had to use plastic. What an auspicious beginning!) :D
Stag Boy by William Rayner, 1972 (online from OpenLibrary - can't afford a copy otherwise!)
Haphazard House by Mary Wesley, 1983
Robinsheugh by Eileen Dunlop, 1975
The Hounds of the Mórrígan by Pat O'Shea, 1985
Red Moon and Black Mountain by Joy Chant, 1970
Moon Eyes by Josephine Poole, 1965
Momo by Michael Ende, 1973
Lost Magic by Berthe Amoss, 1993
The Nargun and the Stars by Patricia Wrightson, 1970

(and those are just the long-out-of-print options...! The House on the Brink by John Gordon, 1970 has recently been republished, and I'm happy to have a new copy: The House on the Brink)

One that spooked me as a kid was Jane-Emily, by Patricia Clapp.

Charlotte wrote: "One that spooked me as a kid was Jane-Emily, by Patricia Clapp."

Ooh yes, I've wanted to read this one! :D Thanks for the reminder!
Jane-Emily came up on the "What's the Name of That Book?!" thread fairly recently, too!

Black Harvest and The Pit by Ann Cheetham

The Nightmare Man by Tessa Krailing

Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver

Tempting question. Not forgotten but here they are anyway.

The Changeover by Margaret Mahy.

The Tricksters by Margaret Mahy (or could be a Christmas book)

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones

Mister Corbett's Ghost by Leon Garfield

Darkhenge by Catherine Fisher

Perhaps forgotten.

Who's Afraid and Other Strange Stories

The Shadow Cage and Other Tales of the Supernatural

Both by Philippa Pearce.

All edited or written by Aidan Chambers:

The Bumper Book of Ghost Stories

Ghosts That Haunt You

Aidan Chambers' Book of Ghosts and Hauntings

A Haunt of Ghosts

Favorite Ghost Stories

Shades of Dark: A Collection of Ghost Stories

More Ghost Stories

Oh awesome - thanks, Len and Sem! I have read The Shadow Cage, and Other Tales of the Supernatural in the form of a Penguin Children's 60s, and Fire and Hemlock is in the October stack! :)

I'm adding the others to my to-read list now...! ;)

Elidor Alan Garner


October Moon Michael Scott

Oh yes, Elidor! And I feel I really have to read a book written by Michael Scott, if only in honour of Steve Carell... XD Thanks, Clare!

I've just read, and scheduled a review on my blog of, Joan Aiken's The Cockatrice Boys which is I think in the younger teen end of YA comic-fantasy-cum-horror-cum-supernatural Gothick if you can imagine that! Dystopia, monsters, the ozone layer, medieval alchemy, spells, however does she fit it all in one short novel?

Oh, and there's also her another of her YA ghost novels, The Shadow Guests which is worth more than a glance at.

Ooh, excellent! The Shadow Guests is one I've had my eye on. The Cockatrice Boys is not one I think I had taken note of before. Thanks, Chris! Looking forward to the review, too. ;)

Reminder: Chris's blog, Calmgrove, is here:

Capn wrote: "Ooh, excellent! The Shadow Guests is one I've had my eye on. The Cockatrice Boys is not one I think I had taken note of before. Thanks, Chris! Looking forward to the re..."

Since Aiken's been mentioned I thought I'd drop this here. Four volumes of short stories have been or are being published. You can see them here:

Oh thanks, Sem! I'll add this to her main thread!

Edit: There isn't a thread for Aiken, but I'll repost this elsewhere!

Capn wrote: "Oh thanks, Sem! I'll add this to her main thread!

Edit: There isn't a thread for Aiken, but I'll repost this elsewhere!"

I didn't think there was. She's very much in print but apart from a fairly recent anthology and a not-so-recent one, her short story collections are out of print. Entirely understandable since many of them included stories that were available in other collections. As I wended my way through them I kept coming across stories I'd read. So it's nice to see new collections which I can buy once they're available here.

I've read both The Cockatrice Boys and The Shadow Guests (I'm an Aiken fan). I thought the former was an interesting dystopian take on one of Aiken's big themes: a balkanized Britain. The latter had some interesting discussion of magic and science.

Continuing with short stories, there are some collections edited by Peter Haining which could be as much YA as for adults.

Scary! Stories That Will Make You Scream

The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories

The Mammoth Book of Haunted House Stories

Great Irish Tales of Horror A Treasury of Fear

Irish Tales of Terror

Hallowe'en Hauntings: Stories about the most ghostly night of the year

Scottish Ghost Stories

He was very prolific in the field and there are many other similar titles, it's just difficult to tell which could be suitable for younger readers.