I’m new to the horror genre, and when I started to dip my toe in, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a good number of the books I was picking up were really funny (in addition to being gruesome)! I asked around, and apparently it’s not uncommon for these writers to have an excellent sense of humor — which explains why the new Ghostbusters movie made me laugh and jump out of my seat. Check out these books if you wanna see what I’m talking about.
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
In 1977, four teenagers and a dog solved the mystery of Sleepy Lake. The trail of an amphibian monster terrorizing the quiet town of Blyton Hills leads the gang to spend a night in Deboën Mansion and apprehend a familiar culprit: a bitter old man in a mask. In 1990, the man they apprehended makes parole, and Andy tracks him down to confirm what she’s always known— they got the wrong guy. Now she’ll need to get the gang back together and return to Blyton Hills to find out what really happened.
How To Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she’ll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it’ll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market. But some houses don’t want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them.
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy with a normal life, married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. They’re even about to have their first child. Yes, Charlie’s doing okay— until people start dropping dead around him, and everywhere he goes a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Charlie Asher, it seems, has been recruited for a new position: as Death.
The Twisted Ones by T Kingfisher
When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother’s house, she says yes. But Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. Then Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors — because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you.
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Jamie Gray’s old acquaintance, Tom, works at what he calls “an animal rights organization” and needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. What Tom doesn’t tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm, human-free world. They’re the universe’s largest and most dangerous pandas and they’re in trouble. Others have found their way to the alternate world. And their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Korede’s sister Ayoola is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola’s third boyfriend in a row is dead, stabbed through the heart with Ayoola’s knife. Korede knows the best solutions for cleaning blood (bleach, bleach, and more bleach), the best way to move a body (wrap it in sheets like a mummy), and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures to Instagram when she should be mourning her “missing” boyfriend. But when a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where Korede works asks for Ayoola’s phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she’s willing to go to protect her.
My Heart Is A Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
Jade Daniels is an angry, half-Indian outcast with an abusive father, an absent mother, and an entire town that wants nothing to do with her. She lives in her own world, a world in which protection comes from an unusual source: horror movies…especially the ones where a masked killer seeks revenge on a world that wronged them. But when blood actually starts to spill into the waters of Indian Lake, she pulls us into her dizzying, encyclopedic mind of blood and masked murderers, and predicts exactly how the plot will unfold.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Brought up by unfriendly nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She prepares to launch her daring escape, but her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service. Harrowhark Nonagesimus, bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but she has no chance without Gideon.
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
S.T., a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle’s wild crows, and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos. But when Big Jim’s eyeball falls out of his head, S.T. is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis, where he discovers that the neighbors are devouring one another. Humanity’s extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one determined to save it is a cowardly crow whose only knowledge of the world comes from TV.
Ellen Whitfield is senior publicist at Books Forward, an author publicity and book marketing firm committed to promoting voices from a diverse variety of communities. From book reviews and author events, to social media and digital marketing, we help authors find success and connect with readers.
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