Books like 'Through the Dark Curtain'
Readers who enjoyed Through the Dark Curtain by Peter Saxon also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
horror supernatural folk-horror rural pulp
-
To Dream of the Dead by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe village of Ledwardine has never been flooded in living memory, but as the river continues to rise with December rains, within days it will be an island. Electricity has been cut and the church is serving as a temporary mortuary for two people who drowned... -
All of a Winter's Night by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt begins in the fog, with a bleak village funeral. In the early hours of the following morning, Merrily Watkins and her daughter Jane are made aware that Aidan Lloyd, son of a wealthy farmer, will not be resting in peace. A rural tradition is displaying its sinister side as an old feud re-ignites... -
Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom, Бром
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA spirited young Englishwoman, Abitha, arrives at a Puritan colony betrothed to a stranger – only to become quickly widowed when her husband dies under mysterious circumstances. All alone in this pious and patriarchal society, Abitha fights for what little freedom she can grasp onto, while trying to stay true to herself and her past... -
Who Fears the Devil? by Manly Wade Wellman, Mike Resnick
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThere's a traveling man the Carolina mountain folk call Silver John for the silver strings strung on his guitar. In his wanderings John encounters a parade of benighted forest creatures, mountain spirits, and shapeless horrors from the void of history with only his enduring spirit, playful wit, and the magic of his guitar to preserve him... -
-
The Fabric of Sin by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsCalled in secretly to investigate an allegedly haunted house with royal connections, Merrily Watkins, deliverance consultant for the Diocese of Hereford, is exposed to a real and tangible evil. A hidden valley on the border of England and Wales preserves a longtime feud between two old border families as well as an ancient Templar church with a secret that may be linked to a famous ghost story... -
The Prayer of the Night Shepherd by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAt Stanner Hall, a Victorian mansion-turned-hotel, Ben Foley hosts murder-mystery weekends and strives to prove that his hotel is the house on which Arthur Conan Doyle based his immortal Baskerville Hall. As the days shorten and the weather worsens, Foley’s dabbling uncovers more than he can handle... -
The Lamp of the Wicked by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIt appears that the unlovely village of Underhowle is home to a serial killer. But as the police hunt for the bodies of more young women, Rev. Merrily Watkins fears that the detective in charge has become blinkered by ambition. Meanwhile, Merrily has more personal problems, like the anonymous phone calls, the candles and incense left burning in her church, and the alleged angelic visitations... -
The Best Ghost Stories Of Algernon Blackwood by Algernon Blackwood
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSelected from the entire body of Algernon Blackwood’s work, this collection contains some of his finest writing. Blackwood’s ability to create and sustain an atmosphere of unrelieved horror is witnessed in ‘The Willows’, a starkly terrifying tale of another dimension impinging on our own. In contrast, ‘The Other Wing’, is a chilling but delicate evocation of the mysteries of childhood... -
The Haar by David Sodergren
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratings“I don’t fear death... but they do.”Muriel McAuley has lived in the Scottish fishing village of Witchaven all her life. She was born there, and she intends to die there.But when an overseas property developer threatens to evict the residents from their homes and raze Witchaven to the ground in the name of progress, all seems lost… until the day a mysterious fog bank creeps inland... -
I Am The River by T.E. Grau
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings~ Nominated for the 2018 Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. ~During the last desperate days of the Vietnam War, American soldier Israel Broussard is assigned to a secret CIA PSYOP far behind enemy lines meant to drive terror into the heart of the North Vietnamese and end an unwinnable war... -
The Events at Poroth Farm by T.E.D. Klein
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Events at Poroth Farm is a horror novella written by T.E.D Klein, in which Jeremy, a college lecturer, takes a summer vacation in Gilead, New Jersey, to prepare for a course on Gothic literature he'll be teaching in the upcoming semester. He rents an outbuilding from Mennonite couple Sarr and Deborah Poroth, and at first his holiday is happy and productive, but then odd things begin to happen... -
Immortelle by Catherine McCarthy
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen Elinor’s daughter, Rowena, is found poisoned and dead in an animal trough, Elinor is sure the local parish priest is to blame. A ceramic artist by trade and influenced by her late grandmother’s interest in supernatural magic, Elinor crafts an immortelle for Rowena’s grave and attempts to capture the girl’s spirit in the clay model of a starling... -
Maggie's Grave by David Sodergren
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe small Scottish town of Auchenmullan is dead, and has been for years. It sits in the shadow of a mountain, forgotten and atrophying in the perpetual gloom.Forty-seven residents are all that remain.There's nothing to do there, nothing to see, except for a solitary grave near the top of the mountain. MAGGIE WALL BURIED HERE AS A WITCH reads the faded inscription... -
The Haunted Dolls' House by M.R. James
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEvil comes with many different faces. A macabre human drama is re-enacted in a Gothic dolls' house one night; a whistle awakens a force of unspeakable malevolence; an ancient curse is passed from person to person; a grisly crime is avenged from beyond the grave; the tomb of a Swedish count will not rest quietly . M. R... -
-
Sleepy Hollow: Bridge of Bones by Richard Gleaves
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"My earliest memory is of discovering my grandfather's severed head." The HEADLESS HORSEMAN has risen and rides. JASON CRANE is the Horseman's target. But Jason must stay and fight, to protect those he loves. For Sleepy Hollow is falling to evil. Now Jason Crane lives under a tyrannical guardian. Jason Crane must descend into fearful darkness. And Jason Crane has an appointment with death.. -
The Collected Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson by E.F. Benson, Richard Dalby
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsContents:Room in the tower --Dust-cloud --Gavon's eve --Confession of Charles Linkworth --At Abdul Ali's grave --Shootings of Achnaleish --How fear departed from the long gallery --Caterpillars --Cat --Bus-conductor --Man who went too far --Between the lights --Outside the door --Terror by night --Other bed --Thing in the hall --House with the brick-kiln --"And the dead spake-" --Outcast... -
The Quiet Boy by Nick Antosca
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBut there was no Goldilocks in his story. There were only the Wolfs, who lived together in a cave above a town. Big Wolf, Middle Wolf, and Little Wolf. Big Wolf was a brute. Little Wolf was timid. Middle Wolf was the peacemaker... -
The Remains of an Altar by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn 1934, the dying composer Sir Edward Elgar feebly whistled to a friend the theme from his Cello Concerto and said, "If you're walking on the Malvern Hills and hear that, don't be frightened. It's only me... -
The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard by Robert E. Howard
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsHere are Howard’s greatest horror tales, all in their original, definitive versions. Some of Howard’s best-known characters–Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and sailor Steve Costigan among them–roam the forbidding locales of the author’s fevered imagination, from the swamps and bayous of the Deep South to the fiend-haunted woods outside Paris to remote jungles in Africa... -
Tales Of The Uncanny And Supernatural by Algernon Blackwood
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTales include The Doll, Running Wolf, The Little Beggar, The Occupant of the Room, The Man Whom the Trees Loved, The Valley of the Beasts, The South Wind, The Man Who Was Milligan, The Trod, The Terror of the Twins, The Deferred Appointment, Accessory Before the Fact, The Glamour of the Snow, The House of the Past, The Decoy, The Tradition, The Touch of Pan, Entrance and Exit, The Pikestaffe... -
The Scarfolk Annual by Richard Littler
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Scarfolk Annual is the facsimile of a book discovered in a charity shop in the north west of England in August 2018... -
A Nightmare on Elm Street: Suffer the Children by David Bishop
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen six teenagers volunteer to test a new anti-insomnia drug, all they expect is cash and a good night's sleep... -
I'll Bring You the Birds From out of the Sky by Brian Hodge
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen Nona Conklin brings him a painting by the great-grandfather she never knew, gallery owner Timothy Randolph knows he's found the project of a lifetime: curating a spectacular cache of folk art hidden for decades in the mountains of her home. "God never made a lazier man than Cecil Conklin. Never put a more slothful soul in a fella big enough to wrestle an ox to the ground... -
Witch Wood by John Buchan
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsSet against the religious struggles and civil wars of seventeenth century Scotland, John Buchan's Witch Wood is a gripping atmospheric tale in the spirit of Stevenson and Neil Munro.As a moderate presbyterian minister, young David Sempill disputes with the extremists of his faith, as all around, the defeated remnants of Montrose's men are being harried and slaughtered... -
-
The Shadow at the Bottom of the World by Thomas Ligotti
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA longtime Lovecraft devotee, who has extended the weird tale to the next level via the likes of Borges and Burroughs, Thomas Ligotti is usually published as part of a general anthology of horror writers. But now Ligotti has pulled together a collection of his favorite fiction, both old and new, representing his best and most characteristic works... -
The Children of Old Leech: A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron by Ross E. Lockhart, Justin Steele
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThere are Things - terrifying Things - whispered of in darkened forests beyond the safe comfort of firelight: The Black Guide, the Broken Ouroboros, the Pageant, Belphegor, Old Leech... These Things have always been here. They predate you. They will outlast you. This book pays tribute to those Things. For We are the Children of Old Leech...and we love you... -
The End of the Story by Clark Ashton Smith
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsPublished in chronological order, with extensive story and bibliographic notes, this series not only provides access to stories that have been out of print for years, but gives them a historical and social context. Series editors Scott Conners and Ronald S... -
The Man in the Moss by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsPerfectly preserved in black peat, the Man in the Moss is one of the most fascinating finds of the century. But for the isolated community of Bridelow, his removal is a sinister sign—a danger to the ancient spiritual tradition. In the weeks approaching the Celtic feast of the dead, tragedy strikes again and again in Bridelow... -
Ashes to Ashes: The Dragon's Flame by John Saul
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen library assistant Rebecca Morrison comes across a beautifully ornate cigarette lighter in the shape of a fire breathing dragon, she gives it to her cousin, unwittingly igniting an evil that can only originate from the terrifying Blackstone Asylum. This is third installment in "The Blackstone Chronicles", Saul's serial novel about the horrors that plague a small New England town... -
Dark Gods by T.E.D. Klein
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFour unusually literate horror novellas, by the former editor of "The Twilight Zone" magazine... -
The Man With No Shadow by Bonnie Quinn
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsThis book is the physical edition of a series of posts from Reddit’s r/nosleep subreddit, containing the first major storyline of “How to Survive Camping”. It is largely unaltered, with only minor edits for readability in print form.Every year, campground manager Kate sends out a pamphlet titled “How to Survive Your Camping Experience... -
Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories by Algernon Blackwood
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsAlternate cover for this ISBN can be found hereSpine-tingling supernatural tales from "the one absolute and unquestioned master of weird atmosphere" (H.P. Lovecraft)By turns bizarre, unsettling, spooky, and sublime, Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories showcases nine incomparable stories from master conjuror Algernon Blackwood... -
Knock Knock, Open Wide by Neil Sharpson
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsKnock Knock, Open Wide weaves horror and Celtic myth into a terrifying, heartbreaking supernatural tale of fractured family bonds, the secrets we carry, and the veiled forces that guide Irish life.Driving home late one night, Etain Larkin finds a corpse on a pitch-black country road deep in the Irish countryside. She takes the corpse to a remote farmhouse... -
Curfew by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOn the border between England and Wales lies the tiny town of Crybbe, not picturesque enough for the tourist trade, quietly sliding into decay. Max Goff means to change all that. Goff has made millions in the record business, but his heart is in New Age philosophy. He has learned that Crybbe was once a spiritual center of sorts, surrounded by ancient standing stones that were emblems of power... -
-
Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratings*2017 Crawford Award shortlist**2016 Shirley Jackson Award nominee for Single-Author Collection*In his striking debut collection, Greener Pastures, Michael Wehunt shows why he is a powerful new voice in horror and weird fiction... -
The Cold Calling by Will Kingdom
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLife isn't easy for Detective Inspector Bobby Maiden. Death is even harder. When Maiden is revived in hospital after dying in a hit and run incident, his memories are not the familiar ones of bright lights and angelic music, only of a cold, harsh place, he has no wish to revisit - ever... -
Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAgainst a background of witchcraft in 17th-century rural Lancashire, ROBERT NEILL has woven an extraordinary novel of the power of evil.. -
Gateways to Abomination: Collected Short Fiction by Matthew M. Bartlett
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBizarre radio broadcasts luring dissolute souls into the dark woods of Western Massachusetts. Sinister old men in topcoats gathered at corners and in playgrounds. A long-dead sorcerer returning to obscene life in the form of an old buck goat. Welcome to Leeds, Massachusetts, where the drowned walk, where winged leeches blast angry static, where black magic casts a shadow over a cringing populace... -
The Lake of the Dead by André Bjerke
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDeep in the darkest part of the Norwegian woods stands Dead Man's Cabin, the site of tragedy a century earlier when Tøre Gruvik, in a fit of madness, murdered his sister and her lover, beheading them and throwing their corpses in a nearby lake before drowning himself to join them in death... -
The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSome ghosts never leave us.SHORTLISTED FOR THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE 2021'A wild rural gothic with some slick plotting . . . the perfect novel for our phantom present' Guardian'Outstanding . . -
The Best of Robert Bloch by Robert Bloch
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsContents:xi · Robert Bloch: The Man Who Wrote Psycho · Lester del Rey · in 1 · Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper · ss Weird Tales Jul ’43 21 · Enoch · ss Weird Tales Sep ’46 39 · Catnip · ss Weird Tales Mar ’48 55 · The Hungry House · ss Imagination Apr ’51 79 · The Man Who Collected Poe · ss Famous Fantastic Mysteries Oct ’51 97 · Mr... -
A Gathering of Twine by Martin Adil-Smith
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"Everything about you is a lie." Freeman Sullivan is a man running out of time. As he submits his final manuscript to his sceptical editor, he tells the story of Professor George Tate, and Celus - his seemingly ageless assistant - as they are expelled from the British Museum and embark on a journey that leaves a wake of irrevocably changed lives... -
Search and Rescue Woods by Kerry Hammond
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSearch and Rescue Woods is an eight-part Creepypasta by Kerry Hammond, published on Reddit under the username searchandrescuewoods. It was originally posted to the Nosleep subreddit in August of 2015, with its final update being in December of that year. Currently, a novelization is in progress... -
The Root Witch by Debra Castaneda
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA beautiful forest. A terrifying legend.It’s 1986. Two strangers, hundreds of miles apart, grapple with disturbing incidents in a one-of-a-kind quaking aspen forest.Knox is a new Forest Service ranger assigned to a vast, remote territory in Utah.Sandy is a producer fighting for her place in a tough TV newsroom.Both have heard about the shadowy figure believed to menace visitors to the forest... -
-
Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsIt's a Midsommar night's Scream in this blood-soaked thriller set at a remote healing retreat from horror author Brian McAuley.Hannah has been running from her demons ever since she emerged from a harrowing wilderness trip without her fiancé. No one knows exactly what happened the day Ben died, and Hannah would like to keep it that way.. -
Dark Companions by Ramsey Campbell
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA brilliant collection of stories by one of the masters of horror. Not all companions are friendly. There are many that you most definitely do not want to see. When Elaine was working late at the office, she thought she was all alone. But something sinister was in the elevator shaft…working its way to her floor... -
Dread in the Beast by Charlee Jacob
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDREAD IN THE BEAST used to be a novella about the goddess of waste and the king of wasters. Now it is a novel, stuffed full of the gruesome and horrible. Taken from the mythologies and histories of humankind, it follows the trail of the Mother Spririt of the worst that the world is capable of producing... -
The Searching Dead by Ramsey Campbell
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDominic Sheldrake has never forgotten his childhood in fifties Liverpool or the talk an old boy of his grammar school gave about the First World War. When his history teacher took the class on a field trip to France it promised to be an adventure, not the first of a series of glimpses of what lay in wait for the world... -
The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral by Robert Westall
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSoon after steeplejack Joe Clarke begins work on one of the spires of Muncaster's medieval cathedral, terrible things start to happen and Joe realizes that there is a malevolent force connected to the spire's gargoyle... -
The Devil's Woods by Brian Moreland
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFear wears many skins. Deep within the Canadian wilderness, people have been disappearing for over a century. There is a place the locals call “the Devil’s Woods,” but to speak of it will only bring the devil to your door. It is a place so evil that even animals avoid it...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.