Culpeper County Library271 Southgate Shopping Center, Culpeper, Virginia 22701 | 540-825-8691https://www.cclva.org |
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| Dreamland by Olivie BlakeLooking for an opportunity to break into the film industry, aspiring actress Anya Morris takes a job working as caretaker for Julian “Jude” de Witt, the epileptic adult son of movie star William de Witt. Drawn into a world of opulence and excess, Anya finds herself falling for mysterious Jude. But secrets plague the de Witt household, and Anya begins to suspect the family may be connected to a rash of murders happening throughout Los Angeles. Fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia will want to check out this menacing modern gothic. |
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| A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-youngFormer security guard Mu-young has spent the last three years trapped in the seaside village of Haewon after an earthquake spread a strange disease throughout South Korea. When a young scientist arrives in Haewon, his presence could destroy what little remains of the village. Kim Bo-young’s evocative cosmic horror novella offers a fresh spin on H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow over Innsmouth. For more subverted Lovecraftian tales, try The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle or Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys. |
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| Devil Inside by Clay McLeod ChapmanOne year after surviving an accident in which he died but was quickly revived, Jordan has a passionate one-night stand with Lilith, a body-hopping demon who wants to claim him as her own. But Jordan’s vessel is a hot commodity among the demon community, and Lilith might have some tough competition if she wants to stay with him forever. Told from both Jordan and Lilith’s perspectives, Bram Stoker Award winner Clay McLeod Chapman’s first foray into “horromance” is a steamy yet gruesome love story. Try this next: Jenny Will Eat You Now: A Meat Cute by Gillian Daniels. |
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Mazywood
by Tananarive Due
All the Sinners Bleed meets Erasure in this literary thriller from the award-winning author of The Reformatory following the grandson of a famous Black actress who returns to his grandmother's cabin retreat in the California mountains only to encounter the legacy of her rage born in Old Hollywood. When Johnny--a filmmaker and grandson of the famous Black actress Mazelle Washington--brings his family to Mazywood, the secluded California mountain lodge left behind by his grandmother, he expects a quiet retreat. Instead, he uncovers a legacy of rage, secrets, and terror that has haunted his family for generations. Set primarily in the present day, with haunting flashbacks to Hollywood's Golden Age, Mazywood explores three generations while following Johnny as he pieces together the true story of his grandmother. As a young Black actress whose career spanned from the 1920s to the 1940s, Mazelle brushed shoulders with giants like Lena Horne, Clark Gable, and Hattie McDaniel. But beneath her public appearance, she carried a secret she had kept and nurtured since she was a child, when a dark wish came true and changed the course of her life forever. Now, fifty years after Mazelle's death, Johnny finds himself confronting the truth she buried--and the consequences she left behind. For a monster lurks outside Mazywood, hidden for generations, and Johnny brought his family to its hunting grounds.
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Hunger and Thirst
by Claire Fuller
From the celebrated author of Bitter Orange and Swimming Lessons comes an atmospheric, psychologically vivid, and unputdownable new novel of complicated friendship and the desperate need to belong (Alice Winn). 1987: After a childhood trauma and years in and out of the care system, sixteen-year-old Ursula finds herself with a new job delivering mail at a local art school, a bed in a halfway house, and some new friends, including wild-child Sue. When Ursula is invited to join a squat at the Underwood, a mysterious house whose owners met a terrible end, she can't resist this hodgepodge family. But as Sue's behavior and demands become more extreme, Ursula, who has always been hungry--for food, but more importantly for love and acceptance--carries out her friend's terrible dare. And, for this, Ursula finds herself literally haunted. Thirty-six years later, Ursula is a renowned but reclusive sculptor living under a pseudonym in London when her identity is exposed by a true-crime documentarian researching an unsolved disappearance. But the filmmaker is not the only one who has discovered Ursula's whereabouts, and as her past catches up with her present, Ursula must work out whether the monsters are within her or without--and if they will finally make her pay for her past mistakes.
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| Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel HarrisonShaken after a run-in with her ex-fiancé at a mutual friend’s wedding, Willa Sullivan’s night goes from bad to worse when a masked figure kills everyone at the reception. But then Willa wakes up…and discovers she’s re-living the day of the wedding. Stuck in a time loop in which she is killed in increasingly disturbing ways, Willa alone must fight back to unmask the killer and save herself and her friends. Try this next: Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle |
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| Blacktail by Scott HawkinsScott Hawkins’ violent and thought-provoking folk horror/fantasy follow-up to The Library at Mount Char stars Blacktail, an orphaned wolf seeking vengeance against the humans who killed his pack. Feline sorceress Old Kitty Mother aids Blacktail in his quest, tasking him with reuniting the animal world with the sleeping Forest God. For fans of: eco-horror novels like Something of a Calling by Zoje Stage. |
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Incarnate
by Alma Katsu
Beauty doesn't fade. It feeds. Dorothy Wagner has spent her whole life wanting nothing more than to be seen. But after failing to make her mark as an influencer, she takes a job working for a brilliant coder whose company is focused on cutting-edge deepfake technology. And there, in secret, is where she creates her salvation. Isabella. An impossibly gorgeous girl who takes social media by storm. Dorothy's artistry is brilliant, and Isabella seems so real that she garners millions of followers. But everybody knows overnight success doesn't just happen. And when someone gets a little too close to the truth, a violent confrontation sends Dorothy on the run, forcing her to confront what she's willing to sacrifice to keep her secrets. A modern reimagining of a classic tale, Alma Katsu's Incarnate is an illuminating, haunting tale of algorithmic worship and beauty that can kill.
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| Pictures of You by Josh MalermanAfter a drunken night out with her boyfriend, Jack, Emily wakes up trapped inside a painting. With no exit in sight, she discovers her movements are being controlled by Helen, a mentally unstable artist who reassures her that Jack is fine. But Jack’s distant screams suggest otherwise. Now Emily will have to think like a painter if she wants to save them both. Fans of fast-paced novels that explore the destructive power of art, like Kosoko Jackson’s The Macabre, will want to check out bestselling author Josh Malerman’s haunting latest. |
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| Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahonOne hundred years after a rabies-like plague destroyed isolated Boone’s Ferry, Vermont and turned the town’s knackerman into a monster, siblings Ashley and Malcolm inherit a property in the area. Still haunted by the spirit of the knackerman, locals perform a series of unusual rituals to appease him, and anyone who fails to do so dies a horrific death. When Ashley discovers the knackerman’s mark on her hotel room door, she and Malcolm must learn the truth about Boone’s Ferry’s traumatic history. For fans of: Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester. |
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| These Walls Remember by Del SandeenWhen their great-aunt dies and leaves them her Savannah, Georgia home, estranged sisters Mickie and Delilah plan to sell the property. But the house has other plans, drawing them into its mysteries and plaguing them with visions and other supernatural phenomena. When Delilah succumbs to the house’s sinister energy, Mickie will have to remove her from its clutches before it consumes them both. Exploring themes of racism and generational trauma, this thought-provoking novel will appeal to fans of You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom by Vincent Tirado and When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen. |
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| Reliquary by Hannah WhittenWhen Elias Ashbury suddenly dies, his fiancée Claire Sutherland reluctantly accepts an invite to a memorial service at his family’s private, subterranean island compound. But it’s not long before Claire suspects why Elias stayed away, as she finds herself grappling with the Ashburys’ grotesque, otherworldly legacy. Try this next: Please Enjoy Your Stay by Tara Goedjen. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Culpeper County Library271 Southgate Shopping Center, Culpeper, Virginia 22701 | 540-825-8691https://www.cclva.org |
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