Book News & Features

Wayne Kramer, Rock Legend And Failed Outlaw, Assembles A Supergroup In The Rearview

9:38am August 22, 2018

by Alex Pappademas

Now 70 years old, Wayne Kramer — co-founder of the short-lived, influential Detroit rock band The MC5 — reflects on life as an artist, near-revolutionary, bumbling outlaw and prison reform advocate.

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Arts

Enter The Crypt, Tomb, Vault, Coffin (And More) Of Horror Comics

11:51am August 20, 2018

by Stephen Graham Jones

Horror comics enjoyed a golden age in the 1940s and '50s, before people got scared about kids reading gore and terror — but they never went away entirely, and now there's a new generation of scares.

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3 Sweet Reads For August's Hot Days

10:00am August 18, 2018

by Maya Rodale

We're sweating toward the end of summer, and that calls for a romance binge. This month, we've got some suspense, a road trip — destination love — and a gritty look at Regency England.

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Click If You Dare: 100 Favorite Horror Stories

8:21pm August 16, 2018

by Petra Mayer

In honor of Frankenstein's 200th birthday, this year's summer reader poll is all about horror — from classics like Mary Shelley's monster to new favorites, we've got something to scare everyone.

Readers nominated Jaws for our list of 100 favorite horror stories — but our judges recommend you see the movie instead.

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What, No 'Jaws?' Or: See The Movie, Skip The Book

7:00am August 16, 2018

by Grady Hendrix

Readers may notice that some famous titles are missing from this year's final list of 100 favorite horror stories — books like Jaws and The Amityville Horror. That's because, frankly, they stink.

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H.P. Lovecraft And The Shadow Over Horror

7:00am August 16, 2018

by Ruthanna Emrys

Lovecraft's stories are among the foundations of modern horror; they still have the power to terrify today. But his bigotry is just as horrific — so how do we deal with this all-too-human darkness?

Remembering Nobel Laureate And Author V.S. Naipaul

5:08pm August 12, 2018

Nobel Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul has died. NPR's Lakshmi Singh speaks with author Paul Theroux about Naipaul's influence on the literary world.

Night of the Living Dummy, by R.L. Stine

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Like 'Goosebumps?' Here's Another 30 Years' Worth Of Horror For Kids

10:00am August 12, 2018

by Grady Hendrix

From the late '60s to the rise of Harry Potter in the late '90s, horror fiction had a hold on young readers, and there was something to scare everyone, from realistic thrillers to possessed dummies.

V.S. Naipaul, seen here in 1968, once told NPR, "It's important to avoid the wallow. It repels the reader."

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V.S. Naipaul, Controversial Author And Nobel Laureate, Dies At 85

10:05pm August 11, 2018

by Lynn Neary

Naipaul was born in Trinidad, and his relationship to his birthplace was nothing if not complicated. He was often criticized for the way he depicted developing countries in his novels.

Why read horror when the world is already so creepy?

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Reading Horror Can Arm Us Against A Horrifying World

7:00am August 05, 2018

by Ruthanna Emrys

Why read horror stories when the real world is scary enough on its own? Because horror does more than scare us — it teaches us how to live with being scared, and how to fight back against evil.