Listen: Raphael Montes on His Mum, Screenwriting, Brazil, and His Biggest Fear
Raphael Montes, author of the horrifying novel, Perfect Days, calls Lindsay Jacobsen to talk about the book, his mum, screenwriting, Brazil, and his biggest fear.
Tag Archives: scary
Backlist Bracket: The Stand is the Scariest of The Scary Sixteen
The verdict is in! The scariest books have been narrowed down to just one.
We’ve enjoyed these weekly show-downs between our creepy favorites, but now that Halloween is upon us, it’s time to announce a winner!
In an extremely close final round, a modern horror masterpiece won out over a classic of the genre. Stephen King’s The Stand has beaten Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and is officially the ULTIMATE SPOOKY HALLOWEEN READ!
Will you be picking up The Stand this Halloween? Was Shirley Jackson robbed? Were there classic horror books that you think should have made it onto this bracket? Let us know what you thought of our Scary Sixteen tournament using #scarysixteen.
Congratulations to our sweepstakes winner: Jessica, from Costa Mesa, CA.  She’ll receive a Penguin Horror Classics set, edited by lifelong horror literature lover, Guillermo Del Toro.
If you’d prefer to buy from an independent bookseller, check out IndieBound to find a bookstore near you.
Backlist Bracket: The Scary Sixteen, Week 5
Welcome to Week 5Â of The Scary Sixteen! Â
The Penguin Random House team has come up with sixteen spine-tingling, spook-tastic contenders in four classic book categories that’ll make you sleep with the light on. Vote every week in a new round to determine the ultimate terrifying read!
Each week, there will be a drawing to see who wins a set of the Penguin Horror Classics set, edited by lifelong horror literature lover, Guillermo Del Toro.
Meet this week’s kickoff contenders: vote for one of each of these match-ups, and enter HERE for a chance to win the prize. Follow on social media and share your thoughts with the hashtag #scarysixteen.
WEEK 5:
The Stand vs. The Haunting of Hill House
The classic post-apocalyptic tale from the modern-day master of the macabre takes on the mother of all haunted house stories in this WINNER-TAKE-ALL battle for your nightmares. Which creepy read deserves to be crowned the scariest of them all?
If you haven’t read the books mentioned above, check them out here!
If you’d prefer to buy from an independent bookseller, check out IndieBound to find a bookstore near you.
Check back next week to see who’s made the cut!
Backlist Bracket: The Scary Sixteen, Week 4
Welcome to Week 4Â of The Scary Sixteen! Â
The Penguin Random House team has come up with sixteen spine-tingling, spook-tastic contenders in four classic book categories that’ll make you sleep with the light on. Vote every week in a new round to determine the ultimate terrifying read!
Each week, there will be a drawing to see who wins a set of the Penguin Horror Classics set, edited by lifelong horror literature lover, Guillermo Del Toro.
Congratulations to last week’s winner, Kristi from Chambersburg, PA!Â
Meet this week’s kickoff contenders: vote for one of each of these match-ups, and enter HERE for a chance to win the prize. Follow on social media and share your thoughts with the hashtag #scarysixteen. WEEK 4:The Fall of the House of Usher vs. The Haunting of Hill House
Could you survive the night in either one of these HAUNTED MANSIONS? From the ghoulish HILL HOUSE to the menacing home of USHER, both of these terrifying tales will leave you saying, “You know what, forget buying, I think I’ll just keep renting this apartment.”
Dracula vs. The Stand  What’s more terrifying — blood sucking ghouls or pandemic-inducing flus?
If you haven’t read the books mentioned above, check them out here!
If you’d prefer to buy from an independent bookseller, check out IndieBound to find a bookstore near you.
Check back next week to see who’s made the cut!
Backlist Bracket: The Scary Sixteen, Week 3
Welcome to Week 3 of The Scary Sixteen! Â
The Penguin Random House team has come up with sixteen spine-tingling, spook-tastic contenders in four classic book categories that’ll make you sleep with the light on. Vote every week in a new round to determine the ultimate terrifying read!
Each week, there will be a drawing to see who wins a set of the Penguin Horror Classics set, edited by lifelong horror literature lover, Guillermo Del Toro.
Congratulations to last week’s winner, Jake from Greenwich Connecticut!Â
Meet this week’s kickoff contenders: vote for one of each of these match-ups, and enter HERE for a chance to win the prize. Follow on social media and share your thoughts with the hashtag #scarysixteen. WEEK 3:Two books set in our world, but after devastating events that have annihilated the population. Each pits a few who cling to love and compassion against those who are driven by the darker side of human nature. Which made you consider becoming a prepper? What haunted you long after you finished reading?
Frankenstein vs. Dracula  Mary Shelley’s scientist and his infamous monster take on Bram Stoker’s dark Count and the heroic Van Helsing. One eventually inspired Young Frankenstein and the other eventually inspired Twilight. Which original monster came the most alive for you from the pages of these classics?The Haunting of Hill House vs. The Turn of the Screw
What’s scarier? The notorious Hill House that arouses your paranormal curiosity while gathering its powers to make unsuspecting visitors its own? OR A ghost story that needs no chains and demonic voices. A novel that creates an atmosphere of tingling suspense and unspoken horror and has been a masterpiece of the supernatural for a century.
Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre vs. The Fall of the House of Usher In the last round of the Worst Fears category two of horror’s biggest names face off for the right to move on to the Frightening Four – Edgar Allen Poe or H.P. Lovecraft, who is the true master of fear?
If you haven’t read the books mentioned above, check them out here!
If you’d prefer to buy from an independent bookseller, check out IndieBound to find a bookstore near you.
Check back next week to see who’s made the cut!
Backlist Bracket: The Scary Sixteen, Week 2
Welcome to Week 2 of The Scary Sixteen! Â
The Penguin Random House team has come up with sixteen spine-tingling, spook-tastic contenders in four classic book categories that’ll make you sleep with the light on. Vote every week in a new round to determine the ultimate terrifying read!
Each week, there will be a drawing to see who wins a set of the Penguin Horror Classics set, edited by lifelong horror literature lover, Guillermo Del Toro.
Congratulations to last week’s winner, Ashley from Massillon, Ohio!Â
Meet this week’s kickoff contenders: vote for one of each of these match-ups, and enter HERE for a chance to win the prize. Follow on social media and share your thoughts with the hashtag #scarysixteen. WEEK 2: The Ruins vs. Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft  A book which will cause you to fear your garden takes on an author whose stories will haunt your dreams…It’s the book Stephen King called “the best horror novel of the new century” versus the author King hailed as “the 20th Century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale.”   Haunted vs. The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings In Haunted, eighteen wanna-be writers set off on a retreat but instead are trapped in an abandoned theater by a mysterious benefactor with unknown motives – the result is twenty three of the most disturbing, stomach-churning stories you’ve ever dared to read. Beating hearts, swinging pendulums and speaking ravens all haunt the definitive collection of short stories from the master of the genre–Edgar Allan Poe–in The Fall of House of Usher and Other Writings. Which collection of haunted tales make you want to sleep with the lights on? ÂThe Winter People vs. The Haunting of Hill House
Where’s the worst place to spend a night? In an old house in a small Vermont town with a history of ghosts, sightings, and altogether creepy occurrences over the last 100 years or the notorious Hill House that arouses your paranormal curiosity and while gathering its powers to make unsuspecting visitors its own?
  The Turn of the Screw vs. The Little Stranger  In these two novels, Henry James and Sarah Waters explore the nature of evil – and the apparently inevitable creepiness of English country estates. Which epically haunting masterpiece makes you jump at every bump in the night – the gothic classic or the 2009 Man Booker nominee? Click the image below to see the full-size bracket, and check back next week to find out who survived the first round!
If you haven’t read the books mentioned above, check them out here!
If you’d prefer to buy from an independent bookseller, check out IndieBound to find a bookstore near you.
Check back next week to see who’s made the cut! 
