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By James Gardner

Clark County Public Library

There are two things the month of October, particularly as the run-up to Halloween, is known for: sweets and scares. People wishing to get into the Halloween spirit often indulge in their cravings for both. As one becomes older and is forced to don the permanent costume of adulthood, the craving for sweets can be satisfied by taking a percentage from their own Trick-or-Treat bowl but finding the time to immerse themselves in something scary entirely is more difficult as ghosts have to be inflated. Children must have their costumes to collect their own candy. Often, by the time one is able to stop and smell the pumpkin spice, the month of October, and Halloween has blown away with the autumn leaves.

I humbly suggest the novella for those seeking to indulge in a scary story. To satisfy my brain’s hankering for sugar, let’s use cake as an analogy. If the novel is a multi-tiered cake and the short story is a delicious frosted cupcake, then the novella, longer than a short story but shorter than the novel, is the simple sheet cake, tastefully decorated. The library has many scary novellas to enjoy in the time between carving the Jack-O’-Lantern and sewing a child-sized vampire cape.

So what is it you’re looking for? Like any good confectioner worth their sugar, the library has plenty of variety. Looking for a scary Halloween tale? Then try Norman Partridge’s Dark Harvest (F Fantastic Part). It follows a town with a strange tradition, a contest where boys chase a living scarecrow and ends in a sacrifice. If you like your Halloween frights a little darker, then try Hailey Piper’s Benny Rose the Cannibal King (F Fantastic Pipe), which follows the titular Rose as he terrorizes some teens on Halloween night. If it doesn’t have to be Halloween and your horror to be fantasy adjacent, then let Stephen Graham Jones introduce you to a boy who discovers his house extends to some unreal dimensions in Mapping the Interior (F Fantastic Jones). Maybe you’re looking for the spicy burn of something surreal and apocalyptic. Then let Joanna Koch help you discover The Wingspan of Severed Hands (F Fantastic Koch). If you prefer your scares to be local, Kentucky author Laurel Hightower’s Mothman-inspired tale Below (F Fantastic High) will have you putting another log on the fire to warm the bones and chase away the shadows.

So grab something sweet and scary at the library this October, and our in-person events have the monthly recommended requirement of both chills and thrills.

Murder & Mayhem Tuesday, October 18, 6:30 p.m. Join Angela and Jennifer for another installment of creepy cases from the past. Two true-crime stories will be featured from the Midwest region. Light refreshments will be served. Please call the library at 744-5661 to register to attend.

Pageturner’s Book Group featuring The Overnight Guest, by Heather Gudenkauf Monday, October 24, 11 a.m. True crime writer Wylie Lark, snowed in at an isolated farmhouse where she’s retreated to write her new book, finds a small child in the snow and bringing him inside for warmth and safety, learns that the farmhouse isn’t isolated.

Want to make your own scary story? Or just like to write? Then virtually stop by Write Local, the library writing group, where they share writings, get feedback, and grow as writers. They’ll meet on Zoom on October 14th and 28th. For more information or to receive a Zoom invitation, contact Adult Services Librarian, John Maruskin, at 859-744-5661, ext. 110; john.clarkbooks@gmail.com.