What to Read for Hallowe’en

For many around the world, Hallowe’en ushers in a season of cold, dark nights – a time to be indoors, playing games, reading and watching TV. (And if you’re in Australia, reading has the advantage that you can still do it on the beach.) So, as part of the Week of Arkham Horror, we bring you our top recommendations for tales of eldritch horror, fit for Hallowe’en and the holiday season ahead, with something for everyone, whether you’re thinking of diving into Arkham Horror fiction for the first time, or reading this from in front of shelves already straining at the seams…

And, as an added seasonal bonus, you’ll find the entire range* of Arkham Horror fiction available at up to 31% off in DriveThru’s Halloween Sale.

If you’ve never read an Arkham Horror novel before…

Try Wrath of N’Kai by Josh Reynolds, a classic Arkham Horror tale of a heist gone wrong and a first encounter with the eldritch. The novel marks the first appearance of Alessandra Zorzi, who joined the ranks of the Arkham Horror: The Card Game Investigators in 2024’s The Feast of Hemlock Vale expansion, but Wrath of N’Kai is where her story begins. 

Available in: Paperback | eBook | Audiobook | Audio Drama

Like this? Try this: Alessandra’s adventures continue in Shadows of Pnath and Song of Carcosa, also by Josh Reynolds. If you’re looking for a different kind of introduction to Arkham Horror fiction, the In the Hands of Madmen omnibus offers three novels of the arcane and esoteric in one mammoth volume.

If you want to be the Investigator…

Try The Darkness Over Arkham by Jonathan Green, the first installment in the Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks series. If you’ve played a gamebook before, the basic idea will be familiar – turn to different pages based on the choices you make, decide your fate through tests of willpower, intellect and combat resolved with dice – with a few unique features perfectly themed to the full Arkham Horror experience. Firstly, you can play as one of the many famed Investigators you may know from the other games in the Arkham Horror series, with three to choose from in each book  (and many others free to download here), and secondly you can use any Investigator with any book, allowing you to replay your favourite adventures or continue them with the same Investigator. Be warned, though – some of the Doom you acquire will be coming with you…

Available in: Paperback | eBook

Like this? Try this: The Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks series continues with Tides of Innsmouth. And there may be news of more on the horizon a little later today…

If you’re looking for a horror movie this Halloween…

Try the Visions & Nightmares omnibus, which brings together three very different novels by Rosemary Jones, linked by stars of the silver screen in the golden age of Hollywood. Betsy Baxter makes her first appearance, alongside cameos from Winnifred Habbamock, Stella Clark, and bootlegger Nova Malone, among others. Witness the fortunes of Arkham’s oldest families rise and fall, while the new technologies of radio and the motion picture give rise to new kinds of eldritch nightmares.

Available in: Paperback | eBook

Like this, try this? For a creature feature, check out Cult of the Spider Queen by S.A. Sidor, and its sequel Lair of the Crystal Fang.

If you like short stories…

Try The Devourer Below, edited by Charlotte Llewellyn-Wells, an anthology of short stories centered around the events of the classic “Night of the Zealot” scenario for Arkham Horror: The Card Game, with more than a few links to the Hungering Abyss Starter Set for Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game, too.

Available in: Paperback | eBook | Audiobook

Like this, try this? Secrets in Scarlet is a globe-trotting anthology of short stories, tying into the Scarlet Keys campaign expansion for Arkham Horror: The Card Game, that pulls back the veil on the shrouded power of the Red Coterie.

If secretly you prefer the bad guys…

Try The Ravening Deep, the first volume of the Carl Sanford trilogy, by Tim Pratt. The leader of Arkham’s Silver Twilight Lodge provides an unlikely ally to the book’s protagonists – fisherman Abel Davenport, redeemed cultist Diana Stanley and notorious thief Ruby Standish (who also appears in The Drowned City campaign expansion) – before inevitably coming to capture the limelight for himself…

Available in: Paperback | eBook | Audiobook

Like this? Try this: Sanford’s saga continues in Herald of Ruin and The Twilight Magus. And we are unlikely to have seen the last of him, whatever you might have heard about what’s going on in Arkham…

Check these and the entire range of Arkham Horror fiction titles* at up to 31% off in the DriveThruRPG Halloween sale, and for more information on any of these books visit the Aconyte Books website. Happy Hallowe’en reading!

*Excludes new releases.