Lovely scary winters read

[BadAmbassador]

Just finished The Haunting Season, short stories all set in winter/Christmas, very gothic and delightfully creepy without being too scary:

www.goodreads.com/book/show/56075256-the-haunting-season

Thoroughly recommend!

I’ve just taken a punt and bought it, thanks! The cover has a nice ‘1970s BBC adaptation of MR James stories’ vibe.

Oooh well done! I hope you enjoy it 😊

Susan Hill

Well, it's not winter exactly or Christmassy, but it is scary, snowy, cold and icy - Michelle Pavers 'Dark Matter'.

Proper spooky ghost story and so atmospheric that you could feel the chill even if you were sat in the blazing sunshine in Africa. Which sounds random but is where I first read it and STILL felt the cold!

I was just going to post about Michelle Pavers 'Thin Air' also snowy, cold, icy and mountainous. Seriously creepy, I have read it several times and just thinking about it gave me goosebumps!

I also really enjoyed The Haunting Season, though none of the stories are particularly scary (thought Confinement was the most disturbing).

I like Neil Gaiman's short story collections - Fragile Things, Trigger Warning and Smoke and Mirrors. They are not exactly ghost stories (though a couple are) - more dark fantasy - but he is so creative and some of them are really disturbing (especially in Fragile Things).

Love a creepy short story!

I was coming in to recommend Michelle Paver and I see others have beaten me. I think Thin Air is the creepier of the two but only just!

Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas demon. Swiftly to be followed by whatever this year's British library crime classic is - also makes a great stocking filler!

Oh I love Thin Air too. They both get a reread as soon as winter properly hits!

The audio books are great too, work very well on audio.

I have read Dark Matter and love it but didn't know about Thin Air so have ordered that too, thank you!

Haven't read any of Neil Gaiman's short stories so thank you for that too! Have downloaded Fragile Things 😊