Halloween Picks for Higher Education

By Liza Riitters | October 2 2026 | Higher Education

October is here, bringing a change of season and the perfect time for a spooky read. These Halloween titles combine eerie settings and suspenseful stories with topics that work well in higher education, such as history, culture, folklore, identity, and fear in literature. Each book can support class conversations, reading groups, seminars, or independent study while adding a seasonal touch to learning.

Explore our full Halloween collection here, if you dare…

Public Access Afterworld
Public Access Afterworld
Jane Schoenbrun
9780593978382
A mysterious realm on the other side of our screens. A dark force that draws victims into its static. The unlikely hero called to save them and herself from this electric hell. Public Access Afterworld is the profound, binge-all-night, headrush of a novel by the celebrated filmmaker of I Saw the TV Glow and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma "Beautiful, funny, and scathing . . .  I stayed up all night binge-reading."—SenLinYu"Gave me a vertiginous thrill I haven’t encountered since David Mitchell."—Torrey Peters"Psychedelic horror of the first order."—Grady Hendrix"Heart-wrenching, hilarious, visionary, and so damned smart, this novel is a major work by a major writer."—Paul Tremblay"Utterly hypnotic."—Lev Grossman
$33.00 US
Oct 27, 2026
FOC Sep 28, 2026
Catalog August 2026
Hardcover
608 Pages
Hogarth
US, Canada, Open Mkt
View on Edelweiss
Things We Lost in the Fire: Four Graphic Stories
Things We Lost in the Fire: Four Graphic Stories
Mariana Enriquez, Lucas Nine
9798217198368
The spellbinding graphic adaptation of four stories from Mariana Enriquez's modern horror classic Things We Lost in the Fire
$28.00 US
Oct 13, 2026
FOC Sep 14, 2026
Catalog August 2026
Hardcover
112 Pages
Hogarth
US, Canada, Open Mkt
View on Edelweiss
Interview with the Vampire
Interview with the Vampire
Anne Rice
9798217208852
The 50th anniversary edition of the spellbinding classic that started it all, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author. This dazzling special edition features a jacket with foil and embossing, sprayed edges, designed endpapers, a new foreword by Leigh Bardugo, an afterword by Christopher Rice, and never-before-seen bonus pages from Anne Rice's original manuscript.
$50.00 US
Oct 06, 2026
FOC Sep 07, 2026
Catalog August 2026
Hardcover
368 Pages
Knopf
US, Canada, Open Mkt
View on Edelweiss
Incarnate
Incarnate
Alma Katsu
9798217177707
From beloved horror maven Alma Katsu comes a terrifying reimagining of The Picture of Dorian Gray for the internet age."Electric . . . A deliciously addictive techno-horror that you can’t look away from.” —Kylie Lee Baker, author of Japanese Gothic
$30.00 US
Sep 22, 2026
Hardcover
336 Pages
G.P. Putnam's Sons
US, Canada, Open Mkt
View on Edelweiss
The School of Night
The School of Night
Karl Ove Knausgaard
9780593832820
London. 1985. A city rife with possibility and desire. One young man who wants it all.
$22.00 US
Sep 15, 2026
Paperback
512 Pages
Penguin Books
US, Opn Mkt (no CAN)
View on Edelweiss
Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II
Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II
9798217007622
The bestselling Indigenous dark fiction anthology returns with a new selection of even more daring and sinister stories. From monsters to mutilation, Never Whistle at Night is back for revenge. Featuring stories by: Jessica Doe • P.C. Verrone • Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. • Jim Terry • Jessica Johns • A.J. Eversole • Sonia Marie Barry • Shane Hawk • Stephen Graham Jones • Alicia Elliott • Mat RudeWalker • Shaawan Francis Keahna • Billy-Ray Belcourt • Jake Arrowtop • Alina Pete • Debra Magpie Earling • Joshua Whitehead • Tommy Orange • Ramona Emerson • Erica Tremblay • Kimberly Blaeser
$20.00 US
Aug 18, 2026
Paperback
368 Pages
Vintage
World except Canada
View on Edelweiss
The Vegetarian: A Novel (Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition)
The Vegetarian: A Novel (Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition)
Han Kang
9798217199983
A handsome deluxe edition of the sensational, genre-defying novel by Han Kang, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, in honor of the tenth anniversary of the English translation, with an afterword by the author “[Han Kang’s] intense poetic prose . . . exposes the fragility of human life.”—The Nobel Committee for Literature, in the citation for the Nobel Prize WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZEA NEW YORK TIMES 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURYA KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE CENTURYA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Ferocious.”—The New York Times Book Review “Both terrifying and terrific.”—Lauren Groff“Provocative [and] shocking.”—The Washington Post
$22.00 US
Aug 11, 2026
Paperback
208 Pages
Hogarth
US, Opn Mkt (no CAN)
View on Edelweiss
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