Three Atmospheric Reads to Enjoy in the Fall

By Rowen Murphy
Entertainment Columnist

Introducing the top three reads that are perfect to pick up this season. Whether you are looking for a story set in a small town where something isn’t quite right with your picture-perfect neighbors, or a Sci-Fi blockbuster that unsettles the senses, or a chilling ambiance where unexpected creatures ensnare a boarding school, we have a treat for you! This list features books by T.J. Klune, Chuck Tingle, and C.G. Drews.

Wolfsong by T.J. Klune

Wolfsong is the first book in the Greek Creek Series. Set against the backdrop of Oregon’s lush forests is a dark urban fantasy with werewolves and witches. Klune’s series embodies a unique blend of cozy found family dynamics while also being quite sinister at times. With each book focusing on a different romantic pairing, we get valuable insight into the minds of four key characters. Klune’s writing is hauntingly poetic and beautifully exemplifies what it means to love a human who can turn into a beast. 

Klune’s work offers a poignant discussion on the hardships that come with having a deadbeat dad and a mother you would do anything to see smile again, as well as the importance of finding the people who will help carry you when the impossibility of magic becomes a reality. But beware, there are worse things out there than your childhood crush coming from a family that turns into wolves. There are also “monster” hunters and rogue packs of violent Omegas losing their ties to memory and their humanity right along with it; both factions seek to destroy the comfortable tranquility the Bennett pack has built. This series features bisexual, gay, lesbianand asexual representation as well as the voices of strong female characters and the voices and experiences of people of color, which acts as a backbone to our main characters’ understanding of the world around them. My personal favorites in this quartet are Wolfsong and Heartsong.

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Bury Your Gays opens with gay TV script writer, Misha Byrne, receiving pushback on a script for the finale of his wildly successful show and his decision to put two female characters, whom he’s hinted at being in love, in a canon relationship. What happens when the film company tries to coerce Misha into killing off one of his lesbian leads after a single kiss with her beloved, and he replies, “bury your gays”, because that’s what the filming executives are essentially telling him to do. Worse yet, he has to contend with super fans in highly realistic cosplay of his films’ greatest villains stalking him, his boyfriend, and their asexual best friend.

Tingle’s sci-fi thriller features a diverse cast of characters set up to fail against the titan filming corporation they work under. They must come together to unravel a larger mystery in the face of fictional characters coming to life with less than pure intentions. With a mix of psychological horror, dry humor and profoundly tear-jerking moments, this book is sure to make its mark.

Tingle’s novel is an active critique of the overabundance of queer tragedy in the media. Within the story, there is a great deal of dialogue about the duty of the media industry to portray and give voice to every experience people go through, including those in minority communities, as their stories and perspectives matter most of all. 

Don’t Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews

Don’t Let the Forest In is a darkly beautiful story with a Grimm Brothers’ fairytale feel that does not pull its punches when exploring a friendship between two boys that becomes an all-consuming and codependent love. Drews' work features an asexual, anxiety-riddled high school student and horror writer extraordinaire, Andrew, and his gay best friend, Thomas, a hotheaded and strikingly talented artist in all things grotesque. Something shifts when the boys return to their boarding school. The monsters from Thomas’s drawings begin appearing in the forest beyond their school, slowly overtaking the woods and creeping ever closer to the walls that promised to protect them from the elements.

This novel oozes with atmosphere. It’s gorgeously written with poetic, in-depth descriptions of academia, the autumnal season, as well as the pervasive and decrepit nature of the forest. Another engaging factor is found in the construction of the book itself, with the faux blood-spattered edges of its pages, four of Andrew’s short stories, as well as four of Thomas’s monster drawings. All of which adds to the gory charm of C.G. Drews’s novel.