The Shining

By Stephen King

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Pocket Books, c 1977, 2001

Genre: Horror

ISBN: 9781439570616

Audience: Adult

Number of pages: 683

Settings: The Overlook Hotel & Boulder, CO, Stovington, VT, St. Petersburg, FL

Time period: Late 1970s

Plot summary: Jack Torrance has made mistakes in life – most recently, losing his job at an elite New England prep school.  As a result, he is determined to take the job he is offered as a winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado.  It will be a new start for his family and the job should give him time to finish writing the play he started.  Unfortunately, the hotel is haunted and Jack’s five year old son, Danny, knows it.  Danny has “the shine” and knows things that others do not.

The Walking Dead Book One

By Robert Kirkman – creator, writer, letter, Tony Moore – penciler, inker, gray tones, Charlie Adlard – penciler, inker, Cliff Rathburn – gray tones

Place: Publisher & Year: Berkeley, CA: Image Comics, Inc., 2010

Genre: Horror

Format: Graphic novel

Series: The Walking Dead

ISBN: 9781582406190

Audience: Adult

Number of pages: Unpaginated

Setting: Kentucky, Atlanta, GA and surrounding rural areas

Time period: Contemporary

Plot summary: Small town police officer, Rick Grimes, awakens from a coma to find his world turned upside down.  Before he can even leave the hospital, he encounters his first walking dead person.  As he seeks both safety and his family, he encounters many of the walking dead as well as a few live people.

Boneshaker

By Cherie Priest

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Tor, 2009

Genres: Fantasy, steampunk, horror, science fiction, adventure

ISBN: 9780765318411

Intended audience: Adult

Number of pages: 416

Setting: Seattle, WA

Time period: 1880

Plot summary: In an alternate history, the Klondike gold rush began a few decades earlier and brought huge numbers of people to Seattle.  Commissioned by the Russians, Leviticus Blue built a giant drill capable of penetrating the thick Klondike ice to reach the gold below.  However, when Levi takes his Incredible Bone Shaking Drill Engine for a test run in Seattle, it has dire consequences.  Not only does the Boneshaker cause massive structural damage to the city of Seattle, it also releases a poisonous gas, later named The Blight, which causes people who breathe it to turn into zombies, or rotters.

Sixteen years later, Levi’s widow, Briar Wilkes lives in the Outskirts of Seattle, which is now surrounded by a thick, massive wall to keep both the Blight and rotters inside.  When Briar’s teenage son, Zeke, decides that he wants to try and clear his father’s name for the history records, he ventures inside the walled city.  When Briar discovers where her missing son went, she also ventures inside the wall to try and find her son.

The Sandman: Season of Mists

By Neil Gaiman

Illustrators: Kelley Jones, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Matt Wagner, Dick Giordano, George Pratt, P. Craig Russell, illustrators; Todd Klein, letterer; Steve Oliff, Daniel Vozzo, colorists; Dave McKean, covers

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: DC Comics, 1992, 1994

Genres: Fantasy, dark fantasy, contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy, mythic fiction, adventure, horror

Format: Graphic novel

Series: The Sandman series; 4

ISBN: 9781563890413

Intended audience: Adult

Number of pages: 224

Settings: The Heart of Dreaming, Hell, and other various locations

Time period: contemporary to when written (1990)

Plot summary: The story begins when Dream’s brother, Destiny, receives a visit from the Grey Ladies, which prompts him to call a family meeting.  Once the family has gathered, events occur which cause Dream to reconsider his treatment to his former love, Nada.  He realizes that he has done her wrong and must travel to Hell to try and make things right.  He is not anxious to make the trip based upon his last visit there, but resigns himself to go.  Instead of  meeting conflict upon his entrance to Hell, however, Morpheus finds something entirely unexpected.

The Sandman: Dream Country

By Neil Gaiman

Illustrators: Kelly Jones, Charles Vess, Colleen Doran, & Malcom Jones III, illustrators; Dave McKean, covers  and design

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: DC Comics, 1995, 1991

Genres: Fantasy, dark fantasy, contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy, mythic fiction, adventure, horror

Format: Graphic novel

Series: The Sandman series; 3

ISBN: 9781563890161

Intended audience: adult

Number of pages: 113  (plus a 39 p. script of Calliope with a 2.5 p. introduction)

Settings: Many locations including London and rural England

Time period: Three out of the four stories take place in the mid-late 80′s.  One story- A Midsummer Night’s Dream- is set in 1593 in rural England.

Plot summary: Following an introduction by Steve Erikson, Dream Country consists of four separate stories: Calliope, A Dream of a Thousand Cats, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Facade.  These stories are then followed by an edited script for Calliope, so interested readers can see some of the processes involved with writing for this comic.  Morpheus has a very small role in the first three stories and is missing altogether from the last.  Facade features Dream’s sister Death.

The Sandman: The Doll’s House

By Neil Gaiman

Illustrators: Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli, & Steve Parkhouse, illustrators; Todd Klein & John Costanza, letterers; Robbie Busch, colorist; Dave McKean, covers  and design

Place: Publisher & Year: New York, NY : DC Comics, 1995

Genres: Fantasy, dark fantasy, contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy, mythic fiction, adventure, horror

Format: Graphic novel

Series: The Sandman series; 2

ISBN: 9780930289591

Intended audience: adult

Number of pages: 232

Settings: Various dream worlds and locations in the US and England, including a convention for serial killers.

Time period: 1989

Plot Summary: Following a delightful introduction by Clive Barker, the reader is reminded or learns for the first time (through text) what occurred in the previous story.

After regaining his powers and realm after more than seventy years have passed, Morpheus has his servant, Matthew, take a census of the dream realms and discover a handful of missing entities – some of which should not be free to roam.  Morpheus also becomes aware of the first vortex of the era – a young woman named Rose Walker.  Morpheus has Matthew watch Rose, as she poses a great danger to the dreaming realms. As Morpheus seeks his other missing servants, he finds his path intertwined with Rose’s and her family’s.  He also must deal with members of his own immortal family.

The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes

By Neil Gaiman

Illustrators: Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, artists; Todd Klein, letterer; Robbie Busch, colorist; selected recoloring by Daniel Vozzo; Dave McKean, covers.

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: DC Comics, 1995, 1991

Genres: Fantasy, dark fantasy, contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy, mythic fiction, adventure, horror

Format: Graphic novel

Series: The Sandman series; 1

ISBN: 9781563890116

Intended audience: “Suggested for mature readers”

Number of pages: 239

Settings: various cities on Earth, Hell, and dreams

Time period: 1916- 1988

Plot summary: When a secret magical society tries to capture Death to use for their own purposes, they mistakenly capture Dream, Death’s younger brother instead.  Imprisoned in a glass bubble, Dream (aka Morpheus and The Sandman) waits for his chance to escape.  After waiting more than seventy years, Dream is finally able to escape, but he has been much weakened by his capture.  His realm has fallen to ruin and he must find his tools of his trade which were taken from him (his pouch, his mask, and his ruby), before he can fully regain his strength.

A Lick of Frost: a novel

By Laurell K. Hamilton

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Ballantine Books, 2007

Genres: Fantasy, contemporary fantasy, dark fantasy, paranormal romance, romantic suspense, horror, mystery, occult fiction, erotic fiction

Series: Meredith Gentry series; 6

Intended audience: Adult

Number of pages: 274

Setting: Los Angeles, CA and the Seelie Court

Time period: Contemporary

Plot summary: The story begins with a meeting of various attorneys; about one month has passed since the previous book ended.  Three of Merry’s guard have been accused by Taranis, the king of the Seelie Court, of raping a Sidhe female, only Merry knows her men are innocent.  Taranis has involved the US government in this case.  For a Sidhe to lie means risking exile from Faery forever.  However, Merry and her men already know that Taranis has lied to his own people.  What they need to prove now is his capacity to lie to those beyond his own court.  They also need to discover the King of Light and Illusion’s reasons for conjuring and pursuing this particular lie.

Mistral’s Kiss: a novel

By Laurell K. Hamilton

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Ballantine Books, 2007

Genre: Fantasy, contemporary fantasy, dark fantasy,  paranormal romance, romantic suspense, horror, mystery, occult fiction, erotic fiction

Series: Meredith Gentry series; 5

Intended audience: Adult

Number of pages: 326 – includes an excerpt from the next series novel A Lick of Frost. Mistral’s Kiss ends at 302.

Setting: The Dead Gardens of both the Unseelie and Sluagh courts; outside the Mounds of Cahokia.

Time period: Contemporary

Plot summary: Princess Meredith dreams of The Consort and awakens to find another relic which has crossed from The Otherworld into hers.  The relic is a cup which belongs to Abeloec, who lost his powers as a cup bearer ages ago.  When Meredith and Abeloec begin the process of restoring Abe’s powers through sex, a few things happen at once.  First, Mistral, Queen Andais’ Captain of Guard, comes to the princess seeking her help, but quickly become engulfed by the sexual magic.  Next, the sithen relocates Merry and her men to the Dead Gardens, buried deep within the mound.  And finally, the queen comes looking for her captain, whom she finds entangled with her niece.

A Stroke of Midnight

By Laurell K. Hamilton

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Ballantine Books, c2005

Genre(s): Fantasy, contemporary fantasy, dark fantasy, paranormal romance, romantic suspense, horror, mystery, occult fiction, erotic fiction

Series: Meredith Gentry series; 4

Intended audience (Age range): Adult

Number of pages: 366

Setting: The Unseelie court at Cahokia, IL

Time period: Contemporary

Plot summary: Merry begins one of the longest nights of her life by participating in a press conference held inside the sithen.  While press conferences in general can be less than pleasant, this is particularly true when one is trying to hide information from the press.  Princess Meredith has been ordered by the Queen of Air and Darkness not to reveal certain truths about the recent assassination attempts.  Finally, the conference ends, only to be replaced by a very long night when two bodies – one human reporter and one Unseelie demi fey – are found murdered inside the sithen.