State of Horror Literature at the local Barnes & Noble (Chino Hills, CA)!

I stopped in at the local Barnes & Noble (Chino Hills, California location) over the weekend (10/14/2023) and was pleased to see a strong showing of horror books!

There were three packed bookcases (although one was mislabeled as science fiction), each with six shelves. The amount of horror offerings seems greater than normal, presumably as a Halloween-season-push (i.e. over the Summer, it was just two cases with a bit of overflow). Additionally, there were at least two other stand-alone displays of horror books throughout the store.

I saw lots of friends’ names and exciting titles that are trending in the horror community, and took some pics for posterity and to showcase my community!

There was tons of Stephen King, of course, filling 4-1/2 shelves of one case, but besides him, no single author had more than one shelf. Darcy Coates had one shelf (with 17 different titles!), and Joe Hill about 1/2 a shelf (with 4 different titles), and Paul Tremblay about 1/2 a shelf (with 6 different titles), and Simone St. James about 1/2 a shelf (with 7 different titles).

There were also some of the standards such as Richard Matheson, Clive Barker, V.C. Andrews; Peter Straub; and Anne Rice (plus classics DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN, CARMILLA, PSYCHO, etc…. even THE MONK!). But everything else was a very wide assortment of different contemporary (many indie) authors, and really a huge variety of offerings. I tip my hat to the taste and careful selection by the store’s buyer.

Among some of the other titles I recognized and wanted to give a shout-out to are:

Cynthia Pelayo (LOTERIA);
Zoje Stage (BABY TEETH, WONDERLAND);
Victor Lavalle (THE CHANGELING);
Jonathan Maberry (PATIENT ZERO; ZOMBIE CSU; INK);
Stephen Graham Jones (THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS; DON’T FEAR THE REAPER; MONGRELS);
Alma Katsu (THE DEEP; RED WIDOW; THE FERVOR);
Philip Fracassi (BOYS IN THE VALLEY)
Elizabeth Hand (A HAUNTING ON THE HILL);
Adam Nevill (THE RITUAL; LAST DAYS; NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE);
Chuck Tingle (CAMP DAMASCUS);
John Joseph Adams (WASTELANDS);
Bentley Little (THE DISAPPEARANCE;
Eric LaRocca (THINGS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE SINCE LAST WE SPOKE);
Chuck Wendig (THE BOOK OF ACCIDENTS; BLACK RIVER ORCHARD);
Silvia Moreno-Garcia (MEXICAN GOTHIC; CERTAIN DARK THINGS);
Catriona Ward (THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET; SUNDIAL; LITTLE EVE);
Josh Malerman (GOBLIN; BIRD BOX; SPIN A BLACK YARN);
Ronald Malfi (COME WITH ME; GHOST WRITTEN; BLACK MOUTH; THEY LURK);
Ellen Datlow (WHEN THINGS GET DARK; SCREAMS FROM THE DARK);
Lisa Morton and Ellen Datlow (HAUNTED NIGHTS); (including a short story from Eric J. Guignard!)
Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger (GHOST STORIES);
Eric J. Guignard and Leslie S. Klinger, ed. (THE KING IN YELLOW);
Craig DiLouie (CHILDREN OF RED PEAK; EPISODE THIRTEEN);
Richard Chizmar (GWENDY’S MAGIC FEATHER; CHASING THE BOOGEYMAN);
Delilah S. Dawson (BLOOM);
Christopher Golden (ARARAT; THE PANDORA ROOM; ALL HALLOWS);
Grady Hendrix (HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE; HORRORSTÖR; FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP; THE SOUTHERN BOOK CLUB'S GUIDE TO SLAYING VAMPIRES; MY BEST FRIEND’S EXORCISM);
Lucy A. Snyder (SISTER, MAIDEN, MONSTER);
Sadie Hartmann (101 HORROR BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU'RE MURDERED);
V. Castro (THE HAUNTING OF ALEJANDRA);

and many, many others!!

Great work, B&N!