SL_Culture DEPT_0925_Layout 1 9 / 25 / 25 2 : 58 PM Page 1 things were rumored to have happened . While The Silenced is a work of fiction , Wallach found plenty of inspiration in the historical events associated with a pair of shuttered reform schools in the c Philadelphia suburbs . C U L T U R E Who doesn’t love a classic vampire story ? You have nearly two dozen to choose from in Vampire Hunters : An Incomplete Record of Historical Ac - counts , published by Philly - based indie press Spec - ulation Publications . A gorgeous anthology featuring ghoulishly fun art and elegant stories , including Spine - Tingling Reads afew penned by Philadelphia - area authors , Vam - pire Hunters explores the lore of undead blood - As Halloween nears , explore the darkness suckers and the humans who hunt them . The anthology spans oceans of time and space , with a trio of books of local provenance . from pre - Christianity Babylon to the New World in the 21st century , and each story is written in Summer’s end represents the official beginning of “ spooky the epistolary style for reasons this reader won’t divulge here . season ” — black cats , jack - o - lanterns , and other hallmarks What About the Bodies by Ken Jaworowski of Halloween . For fans of horror films and other movies that may not qualify as horror , per se , but the novel explore the darkness of humanity , it’s the best time of the year . explores the many dark sides of human nature Readers should rejoice , too , as several recently released books and the struggles of life in a small town down written by storytellers with local ties deserve a home in their on its luck . Jaworowski , a New Jersey resident respective TBR piles . Following are three with strong Philadelphia ties , set What About worth delving into , preferably under the the Bodies in the fictional town of Locksburg , covers with a flashlight in hand . Pennsylvania , the same setting as his sensa - Diana Rodriguez Wallach , a Delco native tional first novel , Small Town Sins . This fol - who now lives near Villanova , made quite a low - up explores the lives of a handful of stir with her first two YA horror novels , Small well - drawncharacters who find themselves Town Monsters and Hatchet Girls . She ups the embroiled in sticky situations that endanger ante with her latest , The Silenced , about a their livelihoods , if not their lives — and even if character who has been transformed in they survive their respective ordeals , they will likely be forever ghastly / ghostly ways by a research project in - changed in the aftermath . n volvingan all - girls reform school where horrible — Bill Donahue SUBURBANLIFEMAGAZINE.COM VOLUME 16 ISSUE 10 16 |