13 great Canadian books to read this Halloween

It's the perfect time of year for a chilling read! Ghosts, witches and danger abound in these recent tales by Canadian authors.

Yume by Sifton Tracey Anipare

InYume, Cybelleworks asan English teacher in a small city in Japan. As her contract comes to an end and her mother begs her to come back to Canada, Cybelleisn't sure where she belongs anymore. She faces fear and ostracism on a daily basis and her life in general starts to get weird.Cybelle finds herself caught up in the clash ofyokai(strange apparitions) and humans, and must figure out what's real and what she wants before her life spirals out of control.

Sifton Tracey Anipare is a Ghanaian Canadian writer who has lived and taught in Japan for four years.Yumeis her first novel.

The Spirits Up by Todd Babiak

InThe Spirits Up, Benedict is an inventor whose clean energy machine has made him a wealthy overnight sensation. His wife, Karen, and teenage daughters, Charlotte and Poppy, are proud of him. But Benedict doesn't realize that Karen is contemplating an affair, Charlotte has a chronic illness and the pressures of Poppy's social circle aregetting too much for her. Benedict also holds a terrible secret about his clean energy machine. On Halloween night, an accident starts a series of hauntings and the ghosts want something from the family.

• Todd Babiak'sThe Empress of Idahoexplores vulnerability and sexual power

Todd Babiak is a Canadianauthor and a screenwriter whose novels includeThe Empress of Idaho,Son of France,Come Barbarians,The Garneau Block,The Book of StanleyandToby: A Man. He currently lives in Tasmania.

To See Out the Nightby David Clerson, translated by Katia Grubisic

In the short story collectionTo See Out the Night,insects and jellyfish reveal a predatory world of children's fairy tales, lurking shadows and unrelenting fevers where people are swallowed up by cities and bogs.To See Out the Nightcelebrates nature and humanity, in all their terrifying glory and blurs the lines between man and beast, and life and death.

David Clerson is a writer from Sherbrooke, Que. and currently lives in Montreal. His debut novel,Brothers, was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for translation.

Katia Grubisic is a writer, editor and translator. She also translated Clerson'sBrothers.

Work for a Million by Amanda Deibert & Eve Zaremba, illustrated by Selena Goulding

Work for a Millionis a detective noir graphic novel set in the urban 1970s.Helen Keremos, a private detective, is hired by Sonia Deerfield, a rising pop star who has won a million dollar lottery prize and is currently being blackmailed. The two women are drawn closer together through the twists and turns of the blackmailer's dangerous pursuit.

Eve Zaremba is the author of six mystery novels featuring detective Helen Keremos, first introduced to readers in 1978. She was a founding member of the Broadside Collective, which produced a monthly feminist paper in Toronto from 1979 to 1989. Born in Poland, Zaremba emigrated to Canada in 1952 after a stint in the U.K.

Amande Deibert is a comic book and television writer based in Los Angeles.

Selena Goulding is a Canadian illustrator and comic book artist from Vancouver Island, currently living in Toronto.Susanna Moodiewas her first full-length graphic novel. Her illustration work has also been showcased in the Dark Horse Comics anthologyThe Secret Loves of Geek Girls.

Red X by David Demchuk

In the novelRed X,men are disappearing from the gay village in Toronto. Their disappearances are ignored by the police and media, but they rock the community the same community dealingwith the HIV/AIDS crisis, police brutality and homophobia. This story unfolds alongside author David Demchuk's own story, as he explores the relationship between queerness and horror and how the scariest monsters that move through his community aren't imaginary.

• The haunted, homophobic history of Toronto is a real-life horror story

Demchuk is a writer and a CBC communicationsofficer. His first book,The Bone Mother,was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Newfound freedom, insecurity, sexual competition these are the elements Laurie Elizabeth Flynn mixes together in her psychological thriller,The Girls Are All So Nice Here.The book is about two former best friends, Ambrosia and Sloane, who return to their college reunion to learn that they have been targeted by someone who wants revenge for what they did 10years before.

• Laurie Elizabeth Flynn's suspense novelThe Girls Are All So Nice Hereis a tale of toxic friendship

Flynn is a novelist based in London, Ont.She is also the author of the YA novelsFirsts,All Eyes on HerandLast Girl LiedTo.

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

The story begins in 1618, in the German duchy of Wrttemberg. Plague is spreading and the Thirty Years' War has begun. In the small town of Leonberg, an illiterate widow named Katharina Kepleris accused of being a witch. Katharina is known by her neighbours for her herbal remedies and the success of her children enough to make anyone jealous.Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witchis astory of how a community becomes implicated in collective aggression and hysterical fear is a tale for our time. It illuminates a society and a family undone by superstition, the state and the mortal convulsions of history.

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witchis a finalist for the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers'Trust Fiction Prize.

• Rivka Galchen's reimagining of a 17th century witch trial is a story that speaks to our time

Rivka Galchenis a Canadian American writer. She is also the author of the novelAtmospheric Disturbances and theshort fiction collectionAmerican Innovations.She lives in New York City.

Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto, illustrated by Ann Xu

In the graphic novelShadow Life,76-year-oldKumikois placed in a long-term care home by her daughters. It's not what Kumiko wants and she breaks out and takes refuge in an apartment she keeps secret from her children. She finds the pleasure in simple, daily life, but Death's shadow haunts her. Kumiko is ready to fight for the life she's built herself, but how long can shefight back?

• Hiromi Goto's new graphic novel Shadow Life pits a rebellious senior against death itself

Hiromi Goto is a writer and editor from British Columbia. Her novels includeChorus of Mushrooms, Half WorldandDarkest Light.Shadow Lifeis her first graphic novel.

Ann Xu is an American illustrator.

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

In the thrillerNothing But Blackened Teeth, the foundations of an abandoned mansion rest on the bones of a bride and the walls are packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep the bride company. While it seems to bethe perfect venue for thrill-seeking friends to celebrate a wedding,their night quickly becomes a nightmare as secrets are exposed and relationships are tested. And lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride who gets lonely down there in the dirt.

Cassandra Khaw is an author, game writer and former scriptwriter at Ubisoft Montreal. Theirfirst novella,Hammers on Bone, received a British Fantasy Award and was a finalist for the Locus Award.

Hell's Flaw by Lovern Kindzierski, illustrated by John Bolton

Hell's Flawis the fifth book inLovern Kindzierski's Shame series. InHell's Flaw, Hope must deal with the corruption of a goodfriend. But that's not her only challenge: she might have to fight monsters as she tries to find her way back to the Cradle.

Lovern Kindzierski is a Winnipeg-based comic writer whose past work includesUnderworldand the Shame trilogy.

John Bolton is a British cartoonist and illustrator.

Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Set in the 1970s in Mexico City,Velvet Was the Nightfollows asecretary named Maite who lives to read the latest issue of Secret Romance. She escapes into stories of passion and danger, ignoring the student protests and political unrest that consume the city. When her next-door neighbour, Leonora, a beautiful art student, disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite searches for her and uncovers hersecret life as a student radicaland dissident. Eccentric criminal Elvis, at the request of his boss, is also looking for Leonora. As Maite and Elvis come closer to finding out the truth behind Leonora's disappearance, they can no longer escape the danger that threatens to consume their lives.

• Silvia Moreno-Garcia subverts genre expectations with the spooky suspense of her novel Mexican Gothic

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a Canadian writer born and raised in Mexico. She's the author of novelsMexican Gothic,Gods of Jade and Shadow,Signal to Noise,Certain Dark ThingsandThe Beautiful Ones. She has previously won the Goodreads Readers Choice Award,the Copper Cylinder Award and Aurora Award.

Ghost Lake by Nathan Niigan Adler

Nathan Niigan Adler's bookcollects 13 stories from a connectedcast of characters as they encounter the mysterious around Ghost Lake. Among the stories, Tyler, Clay and Dare are faced with answering a ghostly debt,Zaudeseeks answers to her brother's suspicious death and Aanzheyaawinhaunts the northern Ontario reserve with vengeance in her spirit.

• Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler on writing an Indigenous horror story

Adler is an Ojibwe Jewish author and a member of Lac Des Milles Lacs First Nation.His previous book was the horror novelWrist.He won the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for published prose in English fiction for Ghost Lake.

Stillwater by Chip Zdarsky and Ramn K. Prez

In the comicStillwater,Daniel is summonedto a mysterious, unheard-of town called Stillwater afterreceiving a letter of inheritance from his great-grand-aunt's estate. He discovers that the town is a place where no one can die a quirk with surprising consequences for its residents.

• Chip Zdarsky on the life of a comic book writer and why everyone loves Spider-Man

Chip Zdarsky is a comic book writer and illustrator born in Edmonton and based in Toronto. The creator has worked on books such as the award-winningSex Criminals,Kaptara, Jughead, Howard the Duck,Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man,AfterliftandDaredevil. He was a finalist for best writer at the 2021 Eisner Awards.

Ramn K. Prezhas won multiple Eisner and Harvey Awards for his work as a cartoonist and illustrator. His artwork can be seen in comics likeJane,a modern retelling ofJane Eyre,The Amazing Spider-Man: Learning to Crawl and The All-New Hawkeye.