Curated by Ellie Schoolfield, interview and description done by Thee Ms. Scott 

“When a reporter asked me for horror recommendations, I was like, oh no, we should ask a student instead. Horror is an amazing genre that I am way too much of a wimp for. In good news, Lincoln students are made of stronger stuff than their librarian. I was lucky to run into Ellie Schoolfield, who is an avid horror reader. Here’s what she recommended… with my very incomplete notes, since I was so busy listening that I forgot to be an assistant reporter. All errors are mine.”  – Ms Scott

1 & 2) Frozen Charlotte and Charlotte Says by Alex Bell  

Frozen Charlotte is the first in the series and Charlotte Says is the prequel.

Six words to describe Frozen Charlotte: Evil little dolls! Twists and turns.

Six words to describe Charlotte Says: GRIPPING. Edge of your seat the whole time.

3) The Wretched Waterpark by Kiersten White  

With a Series of Unfortunate Events vibe, six words to describe this one: Goth water park and ghosts. AHHHHHHHHH.

4) Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie  

A worldwide virus kills every child who hasn’t hit puberty and they die 30 minutes after infection… so families have only 30 minutes to say goodbye to their kids if at all. But then, a few weeks later, they start rising out of their graves and head back to their houses. The twist: – to stay alive, they have to drink blood. (!)  Of course, their families are willing to give them their blood to keep their kids alive.

Six words: And then it all goes wrong.

5) Flesh and Blood by Simon Cheshire  

Six words: just moved, small town, medical horrors. Bonus three words: SO. MUCH. GORE.

6) Savage Island by Bryony Pearce 

Set in the UK, this is an Iron Teen-style competition with a million-pound prize.

Six words: Scavenger hunt + survival + CREEEEEEEEEEEEEPY + body parts!

7) Fir by Sharon Gosling.

For some reason, most books set in Sweden are much horror, so murder.

Six words: ancient pines, ancient evil. What’s real?????

Bonus: three scary book recommendations from Ms Scott. 

What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher

A retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s classic story The Fall of the House of Usher, this creepy short novel involves historical fiction-y body horror, a haunted lake, a nonbinary soldier investigating odd happenings, possessed hares, and a Very Good Horse. Recommended for the Lincoln Mushroom Club and anyone who likes mycological zombies!

Manga readers who have a high tolerance for terrifying, this one is for you! Junji Ito is Japan’s master of horror manga. Check out his book Uzumaki, a hefty, deeply unsettling story of a coastal town haunted by not a ghost but spirals. The story is creepy by itself, but the visuals make you feel like you’re drowning. It’s a total masterpiece… for the brave, anyway. 

Not every book is for every reader, but every book has a reader out there… even the really weird ones. And this horror book is the weirdest, and one of the goriest, I’ve read in a long time. Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Patricia Allen is about a group of reality show finalists — the Bachelor, basically — whose final episodes are being filmed on an island in WA. There’s drama, pettiness, reality show shenanigans, and a series of strange encounters with the island residents… including a sapphic cryptid who maybe loves too much.