Readings For Writers: Halloween Edition

Every few weeks, a member of the Grub community recommends a book they find helpful or inspirational from a craft perspective. This week is Halloween, so instructor KL Pereira recommends her favorite scary novel.

It's always hard when you're asked to choose just one, simply your favorite. For those of us who revel in words, language, image, line, how can we truly choose one book over all others? 

If you're into fear, there's really nothing like Shirley Jackson's novel We Have Always Lived In The Castle. Each time I read it, I'm astounded by the author's subtley creeping use of the first person unreliable narrator. Mary Katherine Blackwood quietly transforms from eccentric to palpably insane in this work. And we are transfixed, locked inside her head, seeing only what she chooses to reveal to us and to admit to herself. It's a terrifying journey. I highly recommend it to anyone who's seeking a little spookiness this Halloween, or who simply seeks to examine the power of of limiting your reader to a highly unreliable point of view.

This Fall and Winter Term, KL is teaching a new Short Fiction Essentials Series, starting with the course "Generating The Idea And Commiting To It" on Saturday, November 8 from 10am-5pm. Sign up now!

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