Book Club: Oh, the Horror!

When Abraham Lincoln was nine years old, his mother died from an ailment called “the milk sickness.” Only later did he learn that his mother’s deadly affliction was actually the work of a local vampire, seeking to collect on Abe’s father’s unfortunate debts. When the truth became known to the young Abraham Lincoln, he wrote in his journal, “henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become learned in all things—a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose.” The purpose? Elimination of all vampires. Seth Grahame-Smith has reconstructed the life story of our greatest president for the first time—all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War, and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation. […]

The Haunting Four seekers have come to the ugly, abandoned old mansion: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of the psychic phenomenon called haunting; Theodara, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, the lonely, homeless girl well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the adventurous future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable noises and self-closing doors, but Hill House is gathering its powers and will soon choose one of them to make its own. […]