More like Zod Wallop
anchored on:fantasymadnessnorth americacontemporaryliterary & generalgrief and loss+3 more
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- The Land of Laughs
Jonathan Carrollstandalone novel1980
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WorldCat: Schoolteacher Thomas Abbey, unsure son of a film star, doesn't know who he is or what he wants--in life, in love, or in his relationship with the strange and intense Saxony Gardner. What he knows is that in his whole life nothing has touched him so deeply as the novels of Marshall France, a reclusive author of fabulous children's tales who died at forty-four. Now Thomas and Saxony have come to France's hometown, the dreamy Midwestern town of Galen, Missouri, to write France's biography. Warned in advance that France's family may oppose them, they're surprised to find France's daughter warmly welcoming instead. But slowly they begin to see that something fantastic and horrible is happening. The magic of Marshall France has extended far beyond the printed page...leaving them with a terrifying task to undertake.
- The Falling Woman
Pat Murphystandalone novel1986
similar bynorth americacontemporaryfantasyliterary & generalmadnessgrief and lossidentity
The Falling Woman is a 1986 contemporary psychological fantasy novel by Pat Murphy. The book won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1987.
- Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delanystandalone novel1975
similar byeeriecontemporarynorth americaliterary & generalmadnessidentity
Dhalgren is a 1975 science fiction novel by American writer Samuel R. Delany. It features an extended trip to and through Bellona, a fictional city in the American Midwest cut off from the rest of the world by an unknown catastrophe. It is number 33 on the 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction list.
- A Monster Calls
series2 books2011
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A Monster Calls follows a boy struggling with his mother's terminal illness, who is visited each night by a tree-like monster demanding an honest story from him in exchange for the unsettling tales it tells. Patrick Ness wrote the novel from an idea left unfinished by Siobhan Dowd, who died of cancer before she could write it herself, with illustrations by Jim Kay integral to the original edition. It was later adapted for the stage.
- The Drowning Girl
Caitlín R. Kiernanstandalone novel2012
similar byeerienorth americacontemporaryliterary & generalmadnessgrief and lossidentity
The Drowning Girl: A Memoir is a 2012 dark fantasy novel by American writer Caitlín R. Kiernan, set in Providence, Rhode Island. The story's protagonist and unreliable narrator, India Morgan Phelps, has schizophrenia.
- The Book of Love
Kelly Linkstandalone novel2024
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The Book of Love is a 2024 novel by American author Kelly Link. Set in a small coastal town in Massachusetts in December 2014, the fantasy novel follows four teenagers who return from the dead and must navigate magical challenges to remain among the living. Although Link has published several collections of short stories, The Book of Love was her first novel. One of Link's goals in writing a novel was to include elements not typically found in shorter fiction.
- Tigers, Not Daughters
Samantha Mabrystandalone novel2020
similar byeerienorth americacontemporaryfantasyliterary & generalgrief and loss
Tigers, Not Daughters is a 2020 novel by Samantha Mabry. It is about four sisters, one of whom dies by falling out of a window. The dead sister haunts the remaining sisters in the house they live in. Publishers Weekly wrote that the novel "read more like a series of vignettes." NPR reviewed it favorably.
- Lunar Park
Bret Easton Ellisstandalone novel2005
similar byeerienorth americacontemporaryliterary & generalmetafictionmadnessidentity
Lunar Park is a metafictional novel by American writer Bret Easton Ellis, presented as a mock memoir. It was released by Knopf in 2005. It was the first book written by Ellis to use past tense narrative.
- Insomnia
Stephen Kingstandalone novel1994
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When an elderly widower in Maine finds himself with sleep maintenance insomnia, awakening early every morning, this state of exhaustion allows him to perceive a higher state of reality, where he learns of an impending disaster which will shake not just the Earthly reality. but all the higher realities, and which he has been recruited to prevent.
- Quichotte
Salman Rushdiestandalone novel2019
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Quichotte is a 2019 novel by Salman Rushdie. It is his fourteenth novel, published on 29 August 2019 by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom and Penguin Books India in India. It was published in the United States on 3 September 2019 by Random House. Inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's classic novel Don Quixote, Quichotte is a metafiction that tells the story of an addled Indian-American man who travels across America in pursuit of a celebrity television host with whom he has become obsessed.
- Lisey's Story
Stephen Kingstandalone novel2006
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When the widow of a successful author is targeted by a psychopath, she must make use of the ability to shift to a parallel world, which she learned from her husband.
- Duma Key
Stephen Kingstandalone novel2008
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A workplace accident crushes Edgar Freemantle's truck, costs him his right arm, and leaves him with brain damage that scrambles his speech and memory -- severe enough that his marriage doesn't survive. On his psychologist's advice, Edgar relocates alone to a beach house on Duma Key, a quiet stretch of Florida's Gulf coast, taking up sketching as therapy, hiring a local student as an assistant and befriending an elderly heiress with dementia and her caretaker. But the drawings that pour out of him start showing things he has no way of knowing -- secrets about the people he loves, and the island itself. A standalone novel by Stephen King.
- Fault Lines (Tim Powers)
series3 books1992
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Tim Powers' Fault Lines novels (Last Call, 1992; Expiration Date, 1996; Earthquake Weather, 1997) are loosely connected supernatural thrillers set in a hidden-magic version of California. Last Call builds its occult conflict around a tarot-based magic system playing out between Los Angeles and Las Vegas; Expiration Date is only obliquely tied to it; and Earthquake Weather draws the threads of both earlier books into a single closing story.
- Pet Sematary
Stephen Kingstandalone novel1983
similar byeerienorth americacontemporarygrief and loss
Pet Sematary is a 1983 horror novel by American writer Stephen King. It tells the story of a family moving to Maine and settling closer to a pet cemetery in the woods, which is home to a terrifying force that brings death and sorrow. The novel was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1984, and adapted into two films: one in 1989 and another in 2019 as well as several spinoffs.
- Dead Lines
Greg Bearstandalone novel2004
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From the flaps of the Ballantine first edition: "For the last two years, Peter Russell has mourned the death of one of his twin daughters - who was just ten when she was murdered. Recent news of his best friend's fatal heart attack has now come as another devastating blow. Divorced, despondent, and going nowhere in his career, Peter fears his life is circling the drain. Then Trans comes along. The brainchild of an upstart telecom company, Trans is (as its name suggests) a transcendent marvel, a sleek, handheld interpersonal communication device capable of flawless operation anywhere in the world, at any time. "A cell phone, but not" - transmitting with crystal clarity across a newly discovered, never-utilized bandwidth... and poised to spark a new-technology revolution. When its creators offer Peter a position on their team, it should be a golden opportunity for him. If only he wasn't seemingly going mad. Everywhere Peter turns, inexplicable apparitions are walking before him or reaching out in torment. After a chilling encounter with his own lost child he begins to grasp the terrifying truth: Trans is a Pandora's box that has tapped into a frequency not of this world... but of the next. And now, via this open channel to oblivion, the dead have gained access to the living. For Peter, and for humankind, a long shadowy night of the soul has descended, bringing with it the stuff of a horrifying nightmare from which they may never awaken."
- Going Bovine
Libba Braystandalone novel2009
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A modern teenager is diagnosed with the mad cow disease and has fantastic adventures, which may or may not be hallucinations.
- The Seduction of Water
Carol Goodmanstandalone novel2003
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"Iris Greenfeder, ABD (All But Dissertation), has just turned forty, lives in Manhattan, and works three teaching jobs to support herself. Recently she's felt that the "buts" are taking over her life: all but published, all but a professor, all but married (to Jack, her boyfriend of ten years). Yet the sudden impulse to write a story about her mother leads to a shot at literary success. The piece recounts an eerie Irish fairy tale her mother used to tell her at bedtime - and nestled inside it is the sad story of her mother's death...". "More than fifty years ago, Iris's mother, Katherine Morrissey, arrived at the Catskills's grand Hotel Equinox penniless, with almost no belongings. Kay was hired as a maid but refused to speak of her past or her family. One year later, she married Ben Greenfeder, the hotel's manager. During the hotel's off-season, Kay wrote the first two fantasy novels of a planned trilogy. There never was a third book. When Iris was nine, her mother left one day for a writer's conference - and never came back. Kay died that very night in a hotel fire on Coney Island, registered as another man's wife." "Now Hedda Wolfe, Kay's former literary agent, has a proposal: If Iris will return to the Hotel Equinox where she grew up, research her mother's life, and find the third and final manuscript that Hedda is convinced exists, then she can guarantee Iris a huge advance to write her mother's biography.". "Transfixed by the notion of a third book, Iris believes that it will hold clues to the mysteries of Kay's life - and death. But as she begins to peer into the thicket of her mother's hidden world, stinging revelations leave Iris with new questions. When a deadly "accident" befalls the one man who could shed some light on Kay, it becomes clear that Iris is not alone in her deep interest in her mother's past - or in her search for a lost manuscript that might hold more secrets than she ever expected."--BOOK JACKET.
- Death in Her Hands
Ottessa Moshfeghstandalone novel2020
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Death in Her Hands is a 2020 novel by Ottessa Moshfegh.
- Faerie Tale
Raymond E. Feiststandalone novel1988
similar byeerienorth americacontemporaryfantasy
Faerie Tale is a supernatural thriller, falling within the subgenre of contemporary fantasy, by American writer Raymond E. Feist, first published in 1988.
- The Wood Wife
Terri Windlingstandalone novel1996
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Maggie leaves her life to pursue her dream when her mentor leaves her his estate and a mystery.
- The Book of Form and Emptiness
Ruth Ozekistandalone novel2021
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The Book of Form and Emptiness is a novel by American author Ruth Ozeki, published in 2021 by Viking. Ozeki's fourth novel, the book won the 2022 Women's Prize for Fiction. The story follows a boy who hears voices from inanimate objects while the narrative explores themes of mental illness and bereavement.
- The Halloween Tree
Ray Bradburystandalone novel1972
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Eight boys gather on Halloween night to trick-or-treat with their ninth friend, Pipkin, only Pipkin never shows, having vanished on some errand that may cost him his life. A strange, black-robed guide named Moundshroud appears to lead the boys after him, and the chase turns into a journey through the history of the holiday itself: ancient Egypt, druidic Britain, Rome, medieval Paris, and the Mexican Day of the Dead, each stop peeling back another layer of how humanity has faced death and the dark. Ray Bradbury's Halloween novel doubles as a compressed history of the holiday's origins.
- House of Leaves
series2 books2000
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House of Leaves is the debut novel by American author Mark Z. Danielewski, published in March 2000 by Pantheon Books. A bestseller, it has been translated into a number of languages, and is followed by a companion piece, The Whalestoe Letters.
