This is something we've been toying with for a while and this month, we finally got our arses in gear!

Recommended by MadMikeMarsbergen

Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

 I found this at Salvation Army and recognized the author's name. Thinking it would be suitable reading material while beginning my GothPunk story, I ended up buying it for a dollar (or fifty cents, since I recall there was a 50%-Off sale going on that day), along with a basketful of other books. I hadn't ever read Moore before, so I didn't really know what his style would be like, aside from comedy. I was pleasantly surprised to find he writes kind of like a dirtier, more twisted Terry Pratchett.

BLOODSUCKING FIENDS takes place in today's world—well, 1995's world—except vampires exist, and they don't sparkle; they're actually kind of pathetic, which makes for some great moments. A fair amount of the comedy revolves around vampire tropes and how most of them are wrong. And there are a surprising number of AIDS jokes, and I found them all hilarious.

All in all, I liked it, and there were some genuine laugh-out-loud moments for me, though I thought it dragged near the end for about fifty pages.

Cabal by Clive Barker

I read this back in... Let me check Goodreads. Looks like I read it in July of 2013, and I remember really enjoying it. It's a very dark read about a guy framed for eleven brutal murders, who—after failing to kill himself—discovers Midian, a city he dreams about. Eventually he finds companionship with a group of monsters who call themselves "the Nightbreed."

Like anything written by Barker, CABAL has some beautiful, poetic writing, combined with his unique brand of no-holds-barred horror-fantasy.

The Frankenstein series by Dean Koontz

This is a five-book series written by Koontz, though the first two books—PRODIGAL SON and CITY OF NIGHT—were supposedly co-written. They all read like modern-day Koontz, however, which means you'll get a bad guy who is a "utopian," a "nihilist," an "intellectual," etc. I quote those words because Koontz loves them and seems to use them in every one of his books from maybe 2003 onwards.

Anyway, I read this series back-to-back-to-back-to-etc. in about two weeks, back December of 2015—which is rather unheard of for me. Rarely will I read a completed series like this, but what can I say? The books hooked me. With these Frankenstein novels, Koontz has made a sort of sequel to the original novel by Mary Shelley, setting them in modern-day New Orleans. The original monster is back and his new name is Deucalion, which is a Greek-mythology nod to the original book's subtitle "The Modern Prometheus." He's also really nice and mystical, which I imagine would be the case for most people doomed to walk the planet for eternity while looking like a monster.

Actually, it's pretty obvious who Koontz empathized with in the original novel and who he didn't. Deucalion/Frankenstein's Monster is now a noble hero, a freak with the heart and soul of Jesus and Buddha combined. Dr. Frankenstein, now known as Victor Helios, is now a nihilist, utopian, intellectual psychopath.

The books are a mishmash of genres, like much of Koontz's latter-day work. Part sci-fi, horror, thriller, detective, fantasy, comedy. It makes for an interesting read.

Once you get to the last couple/few books, however, be prepared to laugh, cringe, or clap along and praise Jesus. Again, like a lot of modern Koontz, there's an abundance of Jesus, right-wing politics, guns and conspiracy. I've read a fair amount of his books now and I still can't decide if he's simply writing to his target audience while having a laugh, or if he believes it himself.

Regardless, it was fun.

Recommended by Dearest_Writer

The Thing On The Doorstep and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft

H.P. Lovecraft, the master of mixing gothic literature withscience fiction. I must start off saying that I really love H.P. Lovecraft'splay with words, word structure and the imagination. There's some slightromanticism of death and the unknown in his tone of voice for variouscharacters. To me, it's an exact replica of a bygone popular literature thatcaptivated, awed, and terrified the masses throughout the 1800s. So now, I'vegot that out of the way, let's get on with the review.

Beyond The Wall of Sleep: (Publication 1919) by H.P. Lovecraft

"Could it be that I was face to face with intellectual emanations which would explain the mystery if I could but learn to discover and read them?" Slater knew otherwise and experienced something so unbelievable that even the doctor does not believe him. To me, both the author and the narrator of the story suggest that through the dream state one can leave the physical body and to explore and see extraordinary things no other human ever seen before. The narrator suggests that the mind is made up of particles that make it possible to have telepathic communications. The valleys and hills and scenery he sees is equivalent to heaven and the entity that they become is a free form particle that could represent the human soul, something that survives for eons.

This plot, to me is so unique, in a sense that we, the readers are presented with the possibility of moving on. H.P. Lovecraft has a great imagination.

The characters are so interesting. The intern and Slater are complete opposite, with the intern being a very intelligent young man who's becoming a doctor. As I said earlier Slater is unintelligent yet extraordinary. They would never had met had it not been for the dreams. And as it turns out it was fate that brought them together.

I love this writing style. I really love this short story I have to say. I'd highly recommend this. With that I leave this section of the review with this quote from the short story.

"I have frequently wondered if the majority of mankind ever pause to reflect upon the occasionally titanic significance of dreams, and of the obscure world to which they belong."

The Temple, by H.P. Lovecraft

When I started reading this short story, I was heavily reminded of the movie Black Sea starring Jude Law. (A great movie by the way, check it out.)

The movie has a similar premise as the short story in which a group of men are in a submarine and they discover something that causes a series of unfortunate events leading up to death. I wonder if the movie pulled inspiration from this very short story. But there are great differences between the two. I will, though, only talk about the short story.

The short story starts off introducing the main character, Karl Heinrich of the German Navy and commander of the U-29 German submarine. After the destruction of Victory, a British ship, the crew find a young man who appears to be dead but is hold on to a strange artifact – a small head of a young man with an laurel on his head. After which the young man swam away – guys he was dead! "...and swore that after it [Young man's body] sank a little it drew its limbs into a swimming position and sped away..." Thus began the many misfortunes that fell upon the men.

I really like this short story. The writing style is really good. It's in a form of a recollection or a diary to people who may read it. Same as Beyond The Wall of Sleep. I actually did not like Karl at all. Though I understand the situation and what he's going through but I still didn't like him. I don't hate him. My dislike of the character did not force me to stop reading this short story. Matter of fact, it was his personality that kept me glued. That and the writing. Karl is like many German soldiers. Their ideology is to be strong. This gets in the way of obvious misfortunes many times. But I feel because of this attitude, he managed to survive the longest. (I promise I won't spoil anymore.) There were times that he seemed utterly cold toward his crew and his second-in-command. And his thoughts about them were very cruel as well.

So I recommend checking out this collection of short stories. It's definitely worth a read. Especially since it's Halloween and all. You'll dive into a sea abysmal darkness where Atlantis lies and curses are more real than you can ever imagine. Be careful when you lay your head to sleep! You may just travel to worlds never seen by humans and experience sensations of space and time collided to form as one. Immortality!