KS3 English - Gothic Horror: Books

Johnny Dixon doesn't believe that the ghost of mad Father Baart haunts the town church. But when he takes an old scroll and a seemingly harmless figurine from the church basement, and accepts a magic ring from a mysterious stranger, he is plunged into a terrifying adventure. -- Google books

Nick and his brother Alan are on the run with their mother, who was once the lover of a powerful magician. When she left him, she stole an important charm - and he will stop at nothing to reclaim it. Now Alan has been marked with the sign of death by the magician's demon, and only Nick can save him. But to do so he must face those he has fled from all his life - the magicians - and kill them. So the hunted becomes the hunter... but in saving his brother, Nick discovers something that will unravel his whole past...

Short stories

When Coraline explores her new home, looking for excitement, she ventures through a mysterious door where she finds another house just like her own.....except that it's different. It's a marvellous adventure until she discovers that there is another mother and father in the house. They want her to to be their little girl and they want to keep her forever! Coraline must use all her wits and every ounce of courage to challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others.

A boy arrives at a remote village in the dead of night. His name is Ludlow Fitch, and he is running from a most terrible past. Then out of the mist comes Joe Zabbidou, a mysterious pawnbroker who trades people's deepest, darkest secrets for cash. As Joes assistant, Ludlow records the villagers' fiendish confessions in an ancient leather-bound volume: The Black Book of Secrets. Bodysnatching, thievery, murder, the people of Pagus Parvus have much to hide. But is Ludlow Fitch ready to release his own skeletons?

Short stories.

There's something nasty going on at Groosham Grange - sent there as a last resort by his parents, David Eliot quickly discovers that his new school is a very weird place indeed. New pupils are made to sign their names in blood; the French teacher disappears every full moon; the assistant headmaster keeps something very chilling in his room...What's the meaning of the black rings everyone wears? Where do the other pupils vanish to at night? Most important of all, how on earth can David get away - alive?

The Phantom Thief is about what a strange boy Alfie sees in the school detention room. His friend Sarah is convinced he has seen a ghost, and she is prepared to ghost-watch with Alfie. My Friend’s a Werewolf is about Kelly and her new next door neighbour, Simon, whom Kelly is seriously beginning to think is a werewolf.

Stephanie's uncle Gordon is a writer of horror fiction. But when he dies and leaves her his estate, Stephanie learns that while he may have written horror, it certainly wasn't fiction. Pursued by evil forces intent on recovering a mysterious key, Stephanie finds help from an unusual source -- the wisecracking skeleton of a dead wizard. When all hell breaks loose, it's lucky for Skulduggery that he's already dead. Though he's about to discover that being a skeleton doesn't stop you from being tortured, if the torturer is determined enough. And if there's anything Skulduggery hates, it's torture! Will evil win the day? Will Stephanie and Skulduggery stop bickering long enough to stop it? One thing's for sure: evil won't know what's hit it.

Two lonely, motherless 16-year-olds meet, one hot summer, in the East Anglian village of Winterfold. Rebecca, miserably dumped by her boyfriend, is with her uncommunicative father, a disgraced policeman awaiting his appeal. She is adopted by another lost soul, the elfin, clever and slightly sinister Ferelith, whose mother has killed herself and whose father has disappeared. Winterfold is another Dunwich. Once a bustling port, it has gradually fallen into the sea: the little that remains is going the same way. Its one, grim, remaining pub is called The Angel and the Devil. Shunning the cheerful beach, the girls explore the spooky church, its eastern end already fallen over the cliff, and the boarded-up Winterfold Hall, the scene of some seriously gruesome experiments in the 1780s, uncovering frightening secrets that would be best left long forgotten.

The Halibut's are an extended family, living in total isolation in a huge fortified estate constructed by their ancestor whose mysteriously acquired fortune is rumoured to be locked away within it. Knowing no different the family accept their odd way of life without question, absorbing themselves in a range of eccentric and insular obsessions. But when twelve-year-old Omnia sees a hooded figure stalking out of the woods one night, an exciting mystery begins. Who is the hooded figure and why is he sneaking around the house? Is he the reason for other mysterious happenings at Halibut House? Omnia knows that she needs to find out the truth, but in doing so puts her own life at risk and possibly threatens to bring the Halibuts' whole way of life crashing down around their ears...

A collection of horror stories by such noted authors as Joan Aiken, Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, and Leon Garfield.

No one in the village of Karlstein dares to leave their homes on All Souls' Eve - the night Zamiel the demon huntsman comes to claim his prey. But the evil Count Karlstein has struck a terrible bargain with Zamiel and so his two young nieces are in terrible danger. Can Hildi the maid save them? - Book Depository

Damien Graves has spent many years searching for the most spine-chilling stories in existence. Now, at last, he has chosen to share with you the best of his collection.... Kate hears startling voices in her head--voices that reveal a terrifying future. Justin fears for his life when his running shoes begin running after him. Tim wants an apple from the neighbor's perfect orchard--no matter what the cost. -- British Library

Ben's under a curse that will kill him unless he sells it on to someone else. Can he bring himself to do it? While he hesitates, the body count rises...Spellbinding horror - Book Depository

The days between 27 December and New Year's Eve are dead days - days when spirits roam and magic shifts restlessly just beneath the surface of our everyday lives.There is a man, Valerian, whose time is running out, who must pay the price for the pact he made with evil so many years ago. His servant is Boy, a child with no name and no past; a child he treats with contempt, but who serves his master well and finds solace in the company of his only friend, Willow. Unknown to any of them it is Boy who holds the key to their destiny.Set in dark threatening cities and the frozen countryside in a distant time and place of the author's making, 'The Book of Dead Days' conjures a spell-binding story of sorcery and desperate magic as Valerian, Boy and Willow battle to stop time and cling to life. Beautifully evoked, dramatic and emotionally powerful, this is a real page turner. - British Library

When Tomas and his son, Peter, settle in Chust as woodcutters, Tomas digs a channel around their hut so they have their own little island kingdom. Peter doesn't understand why his father has done this, nor why his father carries a long, battered box. When the dead of Chust rise from their graves, both father and son must face a soulless enemy and a terrifying destiny.

The Baudelaire children (Violet, Klaus and Sunny) are enjoying a dark, foggy day at Briny Beach, when they are told of their parents' death in a fire that destroyed their home. The children are placed in the care of a guardian until Violet turns eighteen. Count Olaf is a distant relative who makes his living as a theatrical actor in the city. When they meet him, however, they discover that he is a cruel and filthy man living in a grungy, dirty mansion. He has a strange tattoo of an eye on his left ankle, but most importantly, he is seeking to gain possession of the Boulderaire fortune. The three children must depend on each other and their wits to prevent him getting their inheritance.

Connor and Grace are twins, recently orphaned after their widowed father's death. Rather than being adopted by the town's busy-bodies, they decide to set sail for new pastures in their father's last single possession, his sailing boat. But a vicious storm sees their boat capsize and the twins separated. Two mysterious ships sail to their rescue - each picking up one twin before disappearing into the mist. Connor wakes to find himself on a pirate ship and is soon being trained up with a cutlass. Meanwhile Grace finds herself locked in a darkened room, as the vampirates await nightfall... Determined to find each other, yet intrigued by their new shipmates, the twins are about to embark on the biggest adventure of their life...

Weird and evil events at a London boarding school provide messenger Barnaby Grimes an opportunity to test his budding knowledge of the ancient Chinese art of yinchido, in which one focuses on silences and empty spaces.

Through her terrifying nightmares, Kirsty gradually realizes that her grandmother didn't fall to her death down the stairs - she was pushed. Her suspicions focus on her unfriendly aunt, but when Kirsty tries to discover the truth, she finds out more than she bargained for.

Everyone's heard the rumours. Call on Tall Jake and he'll take you to Malice, a world that exists inside a horrifying comic book. Seth and Kady think it's all a silly myth. But then their friend disappears, and suddenly the rumours don't seem so silly after all.

Dumped in the River Charon, hunted by an accursed river creature and betrayed by the wicked Matron Pluckrose, Tensy Farlow is in mortal danger. She has no parents. Worse still, she has no guardian angel. When she is thrown into the Home for Mislaid Children – a gloomy orphanage where ravens attack, Watchers hover over your bed, and even the angels cannot be trusted – it seems that all hope is lost. Yet could it be that a plucky, flame-haired orphan with a mysterious past is precisely what this dark world needs?

High atop Hathorne Hill, near Boston, sits Danvers State Hospital. Built in 1878 and closed in 1992, this abandoned mental institution is rumored to be the birthplace of the lobotomy. On the eve of the hospital's demolition, six teens break in to spend the night and film a movie about their experiences. For Derik, it's an opportunity to win a filmmaking contest and save himself from a future of flipping burgers at his parents' diner. For the others, it's a chance to be on TV, or a night with no parents. But what starts as a dare quickly escalates into a nightmare. Behind the crumbling walls, down every dark passageway, and in each deserted room, they will unravel the mysteries of those who once lived there and the spirits who still might.

Mr. Hood's Holiday House has stood for a thousand years, welcoming countless children into its embrace. It is a place of miracles where every childhood whim may be satisfied. There is a price to be paid, of course, but young Harvey Swick, bored with his life and beguiled by Mr. Hood's wonders, does not stop to consider the consequences. It is only when the house shows its darker face—when Harvey discovers the pitiful creatures that dwell in its shadows—that he comes to doubt Mr. Hood's philanthropy. But the house and its mysterious architect are not about to release their captive without a battle. Mr. Hood has ambitions for his new guest, for Harvey's soul burns brighter than any he has encountered in ten centuries . . .