In case you’ve gotten tired of reading about my book, which isn’t even published yet, I thought I’d turn the focus on some fantastic books by other authors that I’ve enjoyed recently. Happy reading!

Nightmare House by Robert Clegg. A really entertaining old-fashioned haunted house story. Not particularly terrifying, but has a great gothic creepiness to it. I’m not a big haunted house fan, but I do enjoy a good one (Richard Matheson’s Hell House is the best, in my opinion – yes, even better than The Shining!), and Nightmare House definitely falls into that category, if not on the same level as Matheson or King. It’s the first of a series of stand-alone novels about the same house, and I’m looking forward to reading the next one. If you’re in the mood for a creepy but entertaining good time, check it out!

The Son by Philipp Meyer. The basis for a great mini-series starring Pierce Brosnan, The Son tells the story of three generations of the McCullough family: Eli McCullough – raised by the Comanches who slaughtered his family, Eli eventually returns to white society and founds a Texas dynasty, Peter McCullough – Eli’s son, caught up in the racial struggles of south Texas of the early 20th Century, and Jeannie McCullough – Eli’s Great-Granddaughter, who struggles to find her place in the world of oil booms and progress. To be honest, I haven’t even finished it yet, but it is great, the kind of great book that gets into my dreams. If you like rough, tough, historical fiction about the Old West and early 20th Century, give it a try!

The Fervor and The Hunger by Alma Katsu. Excellent historical horror. The Hunger is a psychological horror story about the Donner Party, whose wagon train got lost in the Rocky Mountains and were forced to turn to cannibalism to survive. Even without the horror trappings, it’s a really good look at the Donner Party, and what drove people to risk everything on the long road west, to California. The Fervor begins in the Japanese Internment Camps of WWII, and follows Meiko and Aiko Briggs, the wife and daughter of an American combat pilot fighting in the war. A mysterious disease afflicts the camp, and things go downhill from there. Again, it’s more psychological horror than blood-and-guts, and like the best genre fiction, its about way more than it seems on the surface. Katsu is a really good writer, and I’m looking forward to reading The Deep, about a woman who survives a supernatural mystery aboard, and the sinking of, the Titanic, who ends up on its sister-ship, the Britannic, a WWI hospital ship.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry – by Fredrik Backman. A very sweet, funny, and fantastical story about Elsa, a little girl whose loose-cannon grandmother dies, but not before setting up one last adventure for Elsa. It’s kind of a very modern, kind-hearted fairy tale about found family, love, and mystery. It’s not the sort of thing I normally read (like I said, it’s a very sweet book), but I may have to change my reading habits to include more of this sort of thing. Backman is the author of A Man Called Ove, which I’m looking forward to reading.

Strip by Thomas Perry. Perry is a fantastic writer of thrillers and comic crime novels. A small-time gangster has been robbed, and his goons have been informed that Joe Carver, a new guy in town, is the robber. He isn’t, but that doesn’t stop them from going after him, and finding out they’ve caught a tiger by the tail. An action-packed thriller with a lot of laughs and a great every-man hero.

The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe. For my money, the best book on this list. It’s actually pretty similar to mine, but while reading it, I found myself thinking “Man! I wish I could write” and deciding I should start calling myself a storyteller rather than a writer. It’s about English brothers who come to the States in 1876 to find a third brother who’s gone missing. It is beautiful, harrowing, and rugged, and should not be missed, especially if you like historical fiction.

The Border by Robert McCammon. An apocalyptic sci-fi thriller in which two alien races lay waste to the earth, which lies on the border of their universes (dimensions?), the few humans left struggling for survival, and the possibly psychic teenage boy who may hold the key to save mankind and the planet. McCammon rarely disappoints, and pretty much knocks this one out of the park. It’s got everything you look for in your basic sci-fi apocalypse, and then some. McCammon’s already done the apocalypse a couple of times, with nukes (Swan Song), vampires (They Thirst), along with numerous other thrillers, horror, and historical novels. Sci-fi isn’t usually my thing, but I really loved this book.

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. Another guy whose Sci-fi I always enjoy, it’s the story of a group who work in a different dimension, one inhabited by Kaiju (monsters like Godzilla and Mothra), to protect them, and keep them from destroying our dimension. Of course, there are nefarious forces at work to use the Kaiju for their own ends here on earth. A quick, fun read with a lot of humor and action. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with Scalzi.

The Good Lord Bird and Deacon King Kong by James McBride. McBride is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. The Good Lord Bird is the story of John Brown, from Bloody Kansas to Harpers Ferry, told from the point of view of a slave boy mistaken for a girl and freed by Brown. A historical horror/tragedy told with humor and heart (for those of you who aren’t readers, it was made into an excellent mini-series starring Ethan Hawke as John Brown). Deacon King Kong is about an old church deacon in Brooklyn, 1969, who goes off the rails and shots the local drug dealer in front of the entire community. It is big-hearted, funny, and moving, but not sentimental. It is an amazing book – one of those that feels like it’s making the world just a little bit better, just by being read. Great stuff.

Finally, for all you book lovers out there (and if you’ve read this far, I’m guessing you are one), there’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. Who doesn’t love a book-based mystery-adventure revolving around an old bookstore with mysterious, coded books and even more mysterious customers? Especially told by a down-and-out laid-off computer programmer who stumbles into a job in the store and becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of the store. Lots of fun. Really, it’s not going to change your world, but it is a delightful break from it.

Anyway, I guess that’s it for now. Happy reading!