Talking Books Talk

Kansas Talking Books staff share with you what they've been reading this month. Maybe you'll find your next read from their selections. Don't forget these books are all available from BARD, Braille and Audio Reading Download, a free download library service provided by the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled to all Kansas Talking Books patrons. Learn more at https://library.ks.gov/talking-books/bard.

Michael Lang, Director

DB 104866 Wizard and glass: Dark Tower, book 4 by Stephen King 
Roland and his band continue their quest for the Tower by following a beam of energy. Roland also, in a flashback, narrates the tale of his first love, Susan Delgado. Violence, strong language, and descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 1997.

Also available in braille as BRG02219.

DB 104868 Wolves of the Calla: Dark Tower, book 5 by Stephen King 
Roland and his companions continue their quest to the Dark Tower. In the village of Calla Bryn Sturgis, they meet disgraced priest Father Callahan, who asks for help against the kidnapping wolves. Violence, strong language, and descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2003.

Also available in braille as BRG02067.

Dylan Calhoon, Patron Services Manager

DB 82848 A knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The tales of Dunk and Egg series, books 1-3 by George R. R. Martin 
Sir Duncan the Tall (Dunk) and his squire Egg (one day to be King Aegon Targaryen) go on adventures. Three novellas explore the history of the Seven Kingdoms, many years before the events told in the epic series A Song of Ice and Fire. Some violence. Commercial audiobook. 2015.

Maggie Witte, Outreach Librarian

DB 129758 Immortally yours: Argeneau, book 26 by Lynsay Sands 
"One hundred and twenty-five years is a long time to nurse a crush. That's how long it's been since Beth Argenis first met Cullen "Scotty" MacDonald and he instantly became the star of her most X-rated dreams. Back then, he was rescuing her from a Rogue Immortal. Now Beth's a Rogue Hunter--a damn good one. She doesn't need saving anymore, despite what Scotty thinks. What she does need is the fierce, wild desire that finally erupts between them. Scotty has hesitated to claim Beth as his own. But one explosive kiss confirms what he's long suspected: She's his life mate. But Beth is tough, fearless, beautiful...and in immortal danger. Unless he wants to lose her forever, he'll have to rethink everything he once believed about love and destiny as well as confront an enemy who's terrifyingly close."-- From publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 130000 Twice bitten: Argeneau, book 27 by Lynsay Sands 
"For someone who's been around for over a hundred and forty years, immortal Elspeth Argeneau hasn't done a whole lot of living. Now that she's moved away from her controlling mother, she's tracking down rogue vampires and enjoying some overdue freedom. A fling would be fun. A life mate can wait. Yet to Elspeth's surprise, her landlady's hot grandson checks both boxes. Wyatt fell instantly in love with Elspeth four years ago. He's stunned to run into her again, especially as she has no memory of him. Then again, there are a lot of things about Elspeth that don't make sense, like the miraculous speed with which her wounds heal. And the chemistry that transforms every touch into an explosion of desire. But with mysterious "accidents" besieging Elspeth, the ex-Special Forces soldier appoints himself her bodyguard. But time is running out to uncover the truth about her enemies--and rediscover the man determined to love her for eternity."-- From publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 130320 Vampires like it hot: Argeneau, book 28 by Lynsay Sands 
""Vampires ... " When Raffaele Notte pulls a barely dressed, disoriented woman from the ocean, the last thing he expects is for her to utter that word. The immortal has come to the island resort to help his cousin, but now, it seems, there are rogue vampires dining on unsuspecting tourists. And he soon realizes that not only is Jess a target, she's also the life mate he's been waiting for ... Vampires are real. Jess would've never believed it until she saw them with her own eyes. She knows she has to get off the island, and her gallant rescuer has offered to help. There's something about Raffaele that's unlike any man she has ever met, and his touch sends pleasure through her that is beyond all imagining. But when Jess discovers who he really is, will she risk life as she knows it for a chance of forever by his side?" -- From publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 130690 The trouble with vampires: Argeneau, book 29 by Lynsay Sands 
"Irresistible desire and thrilling suspense combine in this electrifying new Argeneau novel from New York Times bestselling author Lynsay Sands. For close to three thousand years the imposing, impossibly handsome Santo Notte has fought in armies across the world and battled his own, more personal enemies. Of all the places he might expect to encounter his life mate, a quiet corner of upstate New York doesn't seem likely. But as soon as he makes contact with history professor Petronella Stone, while hunting down a suspected rogue immortal, he knows that she will be the greatest adventure of his eternal life. He expects her to be surprised, confused, even overwhelmed. What he doesn't expect is that Pet has a secret history of her own. There's no mistaking the mind-blowing, mutual pleasure they share. But as Pet struggles to protect her nephew from a danger lurking too close to home, Santo realizes there's another threat to her safety--him. And claiming their passionate future will be impossible until he leaves his past behind, forever ..." -- From publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 57755 Touching the void: the true story of one man's miraculous survival by Joe Simpson 
Mountain climber recounts his harrowing 1985 survival story of plunging off an Andean ice ledge, forcing his partner, Simon Yates, to cut the rope binding them. Describes Simpson's grueling descent with a broken leg and Yates's emotional turmoil believing his friend dead. Some strong language. Bestseller. 1988.

Troy Arndt, Circulation Clerk

DB 125872 Herscht 07769: Florian Herscht's Bach novel by László Krasznahorkai 
"The gentle giant Florian Herscht has a problem: having faithfully attended Herr Köhler's adult education classes in physics, he is convinced that disaster is imminent. And so he embarks upon a one-sided correspondence with Chancellor Angela Merkel, to convince her of the danger of the complete destruction of all physical matter. Florian works for the Boss (the head of a local neo-Nazi gang), who has taken him under his wing and gotten him work as a graffiti cleaner in the small eastern German town of Kana. The Boss is enraged by a graffiti artist who is defacing the various monuments to Johann Sebastian Bach in Thuringia with wolf emblems. A Bach fanatic and director of an amateur orchestra, the Boss is determined to catch the culprit with the help of his gang. Florian has no choice but to join the chase. Havoc ensues when real wolves are sighted in the area... Written in one cascading sentence with the power of atomic particles colliding, Krasznahorkai's novel is a tour de force, a morality play, a blistering satire, a hilarious and devastating encapsulation of our helplessness at the moral and environmental dilemmas we face today."-- Provided by publisher. -- Translated from the 2021 Hungarian edition -- Strong language and some violence. -- Translated from the 2021 Hungarian edition. Strong language and some violence.

DB 46904 Blindness by José Saramago 
Written by the Nobel Prize- winning Portuguese author. Without cause people are suddenly becoming blind. A doctor's wife is spared but pretends she is blind to remain with her husband. Quarantined by the government in an abandoned mental hospital, the blinded citizens create a reign of terror. Some strong language, some violence, and some descriptions of sex.

DB 29012 A prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving 
When he was eleven years old, Owen Meany hit a foul ball that struck and killed the mother of his best pal, Johnny Wheelwright the story's narrator. Thereafter, Owen believes himself to be an instrument of God. What happens to the two pals after that accident is extraordinary and terrifying. Some strong language and some descriptions of sex. Book club selection.

DB 21531 The cider house rules by John Irving 
Set in rural Maine at the turn of the century, this is the story of Dr. Wilbur Larch, saint, obstetrician, orphanage director, ether addict, and abortionist. His medical practices are hindered and abetted by his favorite orphan, Homer Wells. The novel is based on documents left by the author's physician grandfather. Strong language and explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller 1985.

DB 11764 The world according to Garp by John Irving 
The fictional life and times of T.S. Garp, famous writer and son of Jenny, an early feminist leader. Named after a father he never sees, Garp grows up to be a fiercely independent, determined individual and his mother's equal. Some strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. 1978.

Check out last month's top BARD downloads in Kansas! If you aren't yet a BARD user, you can learn more at the NLS BARD website. If BARD isn't a good fit for you, we are still happy to mail books and magazines directly to your home. Just drop us a line at KTB@ks.gov or call 800-362-0699. Happy reading!

Most downloaded audio books in Kansas, October 2025

• DB128800 The Argument by Jenkins, Victoria

• DB129492 The Tenant by McFadden, Freida

• DB129760 Hidden Nature by Roberts, Nora

• DBC29308 Mean and Evil by Johnstone, William W. & Johnstone, J. A.

• DB131308 Don't Let Him In by Jewell, Lisa

• DBC32225 Hey, Cowgirl, Need a Ride? by Black, Baxter

• DB129178 The Patient by Terry, Teri

• DBC32217 Murder on the Minnesota by Allen, Conrad

• DB129830 Husband Missing by Regan, Lisa

• DBC32218 Don't Think Twice by Johnson, Wayne

• DB130298 Nightshade by Connelly, Michael

• DBC32221 Savage Justice by Handberg, Ron

• DB131405 The Tattered Quilt by Brunstetter, Wanda E.

• DB131325 The Locked Ward by Pekkanen, Sarah
   

Most downloaded audio magazines in Kansas, October 2025

• Atlantic Monthly October, 2025

• The Week September 26, 2025

• Southern Living September, 2025

• Horticulture: For Gardeners Everywhere September, 2025

• Choice Magazine Listening October, 2025

• Cooking Light September, 2025

• Foreign Affairs September, 2025

• Consumer Reports: On Health October, 2025

• New York Times Book Review September 21, 2025

• AARP Magazine and Bulletin October, 2025

• The New Yorker October 06, 2025

• Consumer Reports September, 2025

• Travel and Leisure September, 2025

A full list of available magazines can be found on the NLS Website. 

Most downloaded braille books in Kansas, October 2025. 

• BR 25721 Lateral: Wonderful answers to weird questions by Scott, Tom & Bodycombe, David J.

• BRG05216 The Woods by Coben, Harlan

• BR 26173 Get Cooking: 150 simple recipes to get you started in the kitchen by Katzen, Mollie.

• BR 25101 Overcoming Every Problem: 40 promises from God's word to strengthen you through life's greatest challenges by Meyer, Joyce

BARD, Braille and Audio Reading Download, is a free download service provided by the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) that makes all the digital books and magazines in the NLS collection, and many books and magazines produced by network libraries across the U.S., accessible at all times. With today’s fast cellular, Wi-Fi, and computer technology, downloads take almost no time at all. 

Kansas Talking Books patrons can enjoy free access to this service with several great benefits:

• Unlimited access time — keep downloaded books as long as you like.
• No waiting lists — everyone can read the same book at the same time.
• Multi-device convenience — read across multiple devices and platforms.

Starting in 1999 as Web-Braille, BARD has changed over the decades to become what it is today, providing access to audio books, audio magazines, braille books, braille magazines, and music appreciation and learning materials in audio and braille formats. We include here a brief look at the timeline of significant changes to BARD over the years.

1999 - Web-Braille on the Internet is launched for blind and visually impaired library users. Web-Braille provided direct access to thousands of electronic braille files.

April 2009 - BARD Website launches for all talking book users after a two year pilot program. 

2013 - BARD Mobile app for iOS is released.

November 2014 - Kansas Talking Books Uploads our first book to BARD. DBC02401 The blue shoe: a tale of thievery, villainy, sorcery, and shoes by Rod Townley

2015 - BARD Mobile app for Android and Kindle Fire devices is released.

December 2016 - BARD Express desktop application becomes available for Windows computers.

Fall 2019 - Spanish BARD Interface introduced .

April 2022 - French BARD interface introduced. 

August 2022 - Many Faces of BARD patron program from NLS begins with monthly topics that help patrons learn about BARD 

August 2024 - BARD Express Player added, enabling users to download and play audio books and magazines on their personal Windows computer.

2024 - Amazon Alexa smart speaker skill launches open beta testing, allowing patrons to access BARD by voice on their Amazon smart speaker or Alexa mobile app.

August 2025 - BARD website updated to BARD 2.0 with a cleaner interface the ability to refine searches.

2025 - The new digital advanced player (DA2) launched with on board BARD accessibility, enabling patrons to download books and magazines directly to the player.

Kansas Talking Books staff share what they've been reading recently and recommend as your next read.

Michael Lang, Director

DB 50842 Alice's adventures in Wonderland; and, Through the looking glass, and what Alice found there by Lewis Carroll 
Extraordinary things happen when a little girl falls down a rabbit hole and encounters the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, and other unusual characters. Alice's second adventure takes her to a land with a peculiar back-to-front order in which everything is reversed. For grades 3-6 and older readers. 1865.

DB 127916 The lamb by Lucy Rose 
"Margot and Mama have lived by the forest ever since Margot can remember. When Margot is not at school, they spend quiet days together in their cottage, waiting for strangers to knock on their door. Strays, Mama calls them. People who have strayed too far from the road. Mama loves the strays. She feeds them wine, keeps them warm. Then she satisfies her burning appetite by picking apart their bodies. But Mama's want is stronger than her hunger sometimes, and when a beautiful, white-toothed stray named Eden turns up in the heart of a snowstorm, Margot must confront the shifting dynamics of her family, untangle her own desires, and make her bid for freedom."-- From publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 94129 We are legion (we are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor 
A century after his death, Bob Johansson wakes up to find that his consciousness has been uploaded into computer hardware on an interstellar probe. His job is now to seek habitable planets for humanity, but he will face foreign probes with the same goal. Contains strong language and violence. Commercial audiobook. 2016.

DB 128442 The unworthy by Augustina Maria Bazterrica 
"From her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find--discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood. A lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, deemed an unworthy, she dreams of ascending to the ranks of the Enlightened at the center of the convent and of pleasing the foreboding Superior Sister. Outside, the world is plagued by catastrophe--cities are submerged underwater, electricity and the internet are nonexistent, and bands of survivors fight and forage in a cruel, barren landscape. Inside, the narrator is controlled, punished, but safe. But when a stranger makes her way past the convent walls, joining the ranks of the unworthy, she forces the narrator to consider her long-buried past--and what she may be overlooking about the Enlightened. As the two women grow closer, the narrator is increasingly haunted by questions about her own past, the environmental future, and her present life inside the convent. How did she get to the Sacred Sisterhood? Why can't she remember her life before? And what really happens when a woman is chosen as one of the Enlightened?"-- From publisher. -- Translated from the Spanish edition. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

Nataly Renfro, Machine Clerk

DB 125976 Southern beauty: race, ritual, and memory in the modern South by Elizabeth Bronwyn Boyd 
"Southern Beauty explains a curiosity: why a feminine ideal rooted in the nineteenth century continues to enjoy currency well into the twenty-first. Elizabeth Bronwyn Boyd examines how the continuation of certain gender rituals in the American South has served to perpetuate racism, sexism, and classism. In a trio of popular gender rituals-sorority rush, beauty pageants, and the Confederate Pageant of the Natchez (Mississippi) Pilgrimage-young white southern women have readily ditched contemporary modes of dress and comportment for performances of purity, gentility, and deference. Clearly, the ability to "do" white southern womanhood, convincingly and on cue, has remained a valued performance. But why? Based on ethnographic research and more than sixty taped interviews, Southern Beauty goes behind the scenes of the three rituals to explore the motivations and rewards associated with participation. The picture that Boyd paints is not pretty: it is one of southern beauties securing status and sustaining segregation by making nostalgic gestures to the southern past. Boyd also maintains that the audiences for these rituals and pageants have been complicit, unwilling to acknowledge the beauties' racial work or their investment in it. With its focus on performance, Southern Beauty moves beyond representations to show how femininity in motion-stylized and predictable but ephemeral-has succeeded as an enduring emblem, where other symbols faltered, by failing to draw scrutiny. Continuing to make the moves of region and race even as many Confederate symbols have been retired, the southern beauty has persisted, maintaining power and privilege through consistent performance."-- Provided by publisher. -- Commercial audiobook.

Miguel Delgado, Library Assistant

DB 82848 A knight of the seven kingdoms: the tales of Dunk and Egg by George R. R. Martin 
Sir Duncan the Tall (Dunk) and his squire Egg (one day to be King Aegon Targaryen) go on adventures. Three novellas explore the history of the Seven Kingdoms, many years before the events told in the epic series A Song of Ice and Fire. Some violence. Commercial audiobook. 2015.

Maggie Witte, Outreach Librarian

DB 72629 A discovery of witches: All Souls trilogy, book 1 by Deborah Harkness 
After scholar and witch Diana Bishop requests an alchemical manuscript from the depths of Oxford's Bodleian Library, she finds the magical power within the leather cover disturbing and hastily sends it back. But the book's reemergence causes a chain reaction through the paranormal community. Descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2011.

DB 75214 Shadow of night: All Souls trilogy, book 2 by Deborah Harkness 
Diana and Matthew, from A Discovery of Witches (DB 72629), find themselves in Elizabethan England. Court intrigues demand their attention as they search for the enchanted Ashmole manuscript and Diana struggles to understand her powers. Descriptions of sex and some violence. Bestseller. 2012.

DB 79442 The book of life: All Souls trilogy, book 3 by Deborah Harkness 
After the events of Shadow of Night (DB 75214), Diana and Matthew return to modern-day Sept-Tours. The Congregation hunts them to demand answers regarding Diana's change in powers. They race against time to find the final pages of the Book of Life. Explicit descriptions of sex and some violence. Bestseller. 2014.

DB 122854 The black bird oracle: All Souls trilogy, book 5 by Deborah Harkness 
"Diana Bishop journeys to the darkest places within herself--and her family history--in the highly anticipated fifth novel of the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling All Souls series. Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two other-worldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, traveled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana's family line. Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family's future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply reads: It's time you came home, Diana. On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family's dark past, and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power-if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it"-- Provided by publisher. -- Explicit descriptions of sex, some strong language, some violence. Commercial audiobook.

DB 118427 Argylle by Elly Conway 
"A luxury train speeding towards Moscow and a date with destiny. A CIA plane downed in the jungles of the Golden Triangle. A Nazi hoard entombed in the remote mountains of South-West Poland. A missing treasure, the eighth wonder of the world, lost for seven decades. One Russian magnate's dream of restoring a nation to greatness has set in motion a chain of events which will take the world to the brink of chaos. Only Frances Coffey, the CIA's most legendary spymaster, can prevent it. But to do so, she needs someone special. Enter Argylle, a troubled agent with a tarnished past who may just have the skills to take on one of the most powerful men in the world. If only he can save himself first..." -- Provided by publisher. -- Some descriptions of sex, strong language, violence. Commercial audiobook.

DB 111034 Witch queens, voodoo spirits & hoodoo saints: a guide to magical New Orleans by Denise Alvarado 
"A magical mystery tour of the extraordinary historical characters that have defined the unique spiritual landscape of New Orleans. New Orleans has long been America's most magical city, inhabited by a fascinating visible and invisible world, full of mysteries, known for its decadence and haunted by its spirits. If Salem, Massachusetts, is famous for its persecution of witches, New Orleans is celebrated for its embrace of the magical, mystical, and paranormal. New Orleans is acclaimed for its witches, ghosts, and vampires. Because of its unique history, New Orleans is the historical stronghold of traditional African religions and spirituality in the US. No other city worldwide is as associated with Vodou as New Orleans. In her new book, author and scholar Denise Alvarado takes us on a magical tour of New Orleans. There is a mysterious spiritual underbelly hiding in plain sight in New Orleans, and in this book Alvarado shows us where it is and who the characters are. She tells where they come from and how they persist and manifest today. Witch Queens, Voodoo Spirits, and Hoodoo Saints shines a light on notable spirits and folk saints such as Papa Legba, Annie Christmas, Black Hawk, African-American culture hero Jean St. Malo, St. Expedite, plague saint Roch, and, of course, the mother and father of New Orleans Voudou, Marie Laveau and Doctor John Montenée. Witch Queens, Voodoo Spirits, and Hoodoo Saints serves as a secret history of New Orleans, revealing details even locals may not know." -- Provided by publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 58255 Again the magic by Lisa Kleypas 
1844. Twelve years ago, Lady Aline Marsden fell in love with John McKenna, one of her father's servants, who was sent away when their infatuation was discovered. Now, having made his fortune in America, McKenna returns to seduce and abandon Aline to avenge his heartbreak. Explicit descriptions of sex. 2004.

DB 129757 Immortal unchained: Argeneau, book 25 by Lynsay Sands 
"Ever since Domitian Argenis recognized Sarita as his life mate, he's been waiting for the perfect moment to claim her. Those fantasies did not include him being chained to a table in a secret lab or both of them being held hostage by a mad scientist. Somehow, they have to escape... Sarita has seen some crazy things as a cop, but nothing to rival Domitian. A vampire? Seriously? But his healing ability, incredible powers, and their mind-blowing physical connection? None of it should be possible, yet her body knows differently. Now, not only do they have to save each other, but other innocent lives are at stake. Failure is not an option, for Sarita intends that Domitian show her exactly what an eternity of pleasure feels like..."-- From publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

Horror is more than just ghost stories, scary monsters, and twisted killers. It blends well with many different genres such as science fiction, fantasy, and yes, even romance. Of course we all know the horror of romance gone awry; obsessive lovers killing all would-be suitors, psycho stalkers, etc., but there is also the love between partners facing the terror together. Horror romance combines romantic passion and heart-pounding fear to create unique stories highlighting the survival of a couple's love against the horrors faced together, or the meeting of two people who fall in love while trying to survive or defeat the horrors of the book.

For this last week of our Horror in October blog series, we bring to you a selection of romantic horror books to get your heart-racing and bones-chilling perfect for reading on your own or with your loved one in this lead up to the ultimate night of terror, Halloween. Take your reads with you wherever you go with BARD, Braille and Audio Reading Download, provided by the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled to all patrons making almost all of the books available at all times with BARD Mobile, the app for mobile devices. To learn more, visit the Kansas Talking Books BARD Resources webpage or contact the office at 1-800-362-0699 or KTB@ks.gov.

DB 127069 A dowry of blood by S. T. Gibson 
"A Dowry of Blood is a saga of obsession, desire and the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love. Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband's dark secrets. With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death."-- Provided by publisher.  --  Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 116478 Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas 
"As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters-her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead. Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago. Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind. When the United States invades Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion-and Nena's rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago-is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh. And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn." -- Provided by publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 110539 Such sharp teeth by Rachel Harrison 
"Rory Morris isn't thrilled to be moving back to her hometown, even if it is temporary. There are bad memories there. But her twin sister, Scarlett, is pregnant, estranged from the baby's father, and needs support, so Rory returns to the place she thought she'd put in her rearview. After a night out at a bar where she runs into an old almost-flame, she hits a large animal with her car. And when she gets out to investigate, she's attacked. Rory survives, miraculously, but life begins to look and feel different. She's unnaturally strong, with an aversion to silver--and suddenly the moon has her in its thrall. She's changing into someone else--something else, maybe even a monster. But does that mean she's putting those close to her in danger? Or is embracing the wildness inside of her the key to acceptance? This darkly comedic love story is a brilliantly layered portrait of trauma, rage, and vulnerability." -- Provided by publisher.  --  Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 99404 Mexican gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (also available in braille as BR 23483)
Mexico City, 1950. After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, socialite Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. Both the home and its owners seem to have a dark past. Contains violence, strong language, and descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2020.

DB 122244 Grim root by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam 
"On the set of the television show "The groom," a group of women compete for the heart of Midwestern bachelor Tristan by spending a week in a haunted house. But soon the game takes a sinister turn, with gruesome curses, oozing walls, and a competition for survival as well as love." --  Worldcat.  --  Violence, strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex.

DB 125380 Feast while you can by Mikaella Clements 
"For readers of Nightbitch and We Ride Upon Sticks, this strange and sexy novel of queer love in a small town is an unsettling reminder that the horrors of modern life are monsters ready to possess us all. In the valley at the intersection of three towering mountains sits Cadenze, an ugly, remote town with little to its name. It's filled with tourists in the summer and dead the rest of the year, when most of its residents surrender to a sleepier existence. Except, that is, for whatever is lurking in the caves... Angelina Sicco was born and raised in Cadenze, and for many generations, so was every member of her family. Determined to be content with her lot in life, she walks her mongrel dog, attends her brother's heavy metal concerts, holds court in the local dive bar, and does everything she can to bait hot, queer women to her sleepy, conservative hometown. But on the night of a family party much like every other, Angelina runs into Patrick's ex, the sternly handsome Jagvi, who's back in town for a spell. Perhaps enticed by Jagvi's arrival, an ancient evil lying dormant in those caves is awakened, and soon Angelina's small, contained world begins to shatter. As the monstrous force grows bolder, it infiltrates Angelina's life. It talks with her dog's mouth; it guzzles on her memories; it controls Angelina from the inside. Only Jagvi's touch repels it--the final trigger for a secret, passionate romance. But this monster feasts on all the passion, heartbreak, and mess that makes up a life, and Angelina Sicco's life has never looked tastier. What will Angelina do to protect her future? And what will it cost her?"-- Goodreads.  --  Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 76132 Warm bodies by Isaac Marion 
After the zombie apocalypse, R lives in an airport with his fellow undead. During a search for fresh meat, R snacks on the brains of a teenage boy--and takes on his victim's memories and feelings, including his love for his girlfriend Julie. Violence and some strong language. Bestseller. Commercial audiobook. 2011.

DB 48914 Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (also availabe in braille as BR 12354)
Rebecca, the glamorous mistress of a great English estate, died eight months before Maxim de Winter brought a young and frightened second wife to live there. Mystery, intrigue, and violence eventually reveal the circumstances surrounding Rebecca's death.

DB 99340 The widow of Rose House by Diana Biller 
New York City, 1875. Widow Alva Webster returns from Europe after the death of her abusive husband with a scandalous reputation. When the dilapidated mansion she purchased appears to have a ghost, she needs the help of inventor Samuel Moore. Some strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2019.

DB 108393 The other side of midnight by Simone St. James 
"London, 1925. Glamorous medium Gloria Sutter made her fortune helping the bereaved contact loved ones killed during the Great War. Now she's been murdered at one of her own séances, after leaving a final message requesting the help of her former friend and sole rival, Ellie Winter. Ellie doesn't contact the dead--at least, not anymore. She specializes in miraculously finding lost items. Still, she can't refuse the final request of the only other true psychic she has known. Now Ellie must delve into Gloria's secrets and plunge back into the world of hucksters, lowlifes, and fakes. Worse, she cannot shake the attentions of handsome James Hawley, a damaged war veteran who has dedicated himself to debunking psychics. As Ellie and James uncover the sinister mysteries of Gloria's life and death, Ellie is tormented by nightmarish visions that herald the grisly murders of those in Gloria's circle. And as Ellie's uneasy partnership with James turns dangerously intimate, an insidious evil force begins to undermine their quest for clues, a force determined to bury the truth and whoever seeks to expose it." -- Provided by publisher.  --  Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2015.

BRG03096 The wolf gift by Anne Rice 
Newspaper reporter Reuben Golding falls for Marchent Nideck while researching a story about her long-lost uncle's Northern California estate. But their tryst ends in tragedy and Reuben barely survives, saved by a mysterious creature whose bite leaves Reuben a changed man. Descriptions of violence and some explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller. c2012. Marrakesh title.

Possessed dolls, haunted paintings, magic relics, and other cursed objects are terrifying in that 1) they're inanimate objects with killer souls, demons, or curses/hexes causing death, injury, and mayhem, and 2) it's hard to believe and to prove they're causing all the misfortune you're experiencing.

Whatever the cursed object may be, there are many books written about them, including those moderately scary to outright nightmare-inducing. We've gathered a list of some of the cursed object horror books in the Kansas Talking Books collection. You'll find there may be some well-known titles or authors and some lesser-known titles for you to enjoy this horror season.

Don't be scared of your computer, mobile device, or smart speaker and use one (or all) to access and download (or stream) any of these books and more at anytime with BARD, Braille and Audio Reading download. BARD is a download service provided by the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled making almost the entire collection available for download in just a few seconds with the click of a mouse or tap of the finger. To learn more, visit the Kansas Talking Books BARD Resources webpage or contact the Kansas Talking Books office at 1-800-362-0699 or KTB@ks.gov.

DB 18670 Christine by Stephen King 
Chilling, macabre love tragedy set in 1978 in Pittsburgh centers on teenage misfit Arnie Cunningham and his devotion to and ultimate possession by his '58 Plymouth Fury, 'Christine.' Eerie things happen from the day that Arnie buys it for $250 from creepy old Roland D. LeBay. Strong language and some descriptions of sex. Bestseller 1983.

DB 58397 The Good House by Tananarive Due 
African American talent agent Angela Toussaint returns to her late grandmother's house in Washington state where Angela's son committed suicide two years earlier. With her high school sweetheart, Angela investigates the tragedy and battles ancient supernatural forces that possessed her family. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2003.

DB 46641 The Monkey's Paw and Other Tales of Mystery and the Macabre by W. W. Jacobs 
Collection of eighteen supernatural tales set in England in the early 1900s. Some stories feature seamen and dockhands from the South Devon Wharf, where Jacobs's father worked. Others reflect ordinary English homes where strange events unfold. For junior and senior high and older readers.

DB 87453 The Ring, books 1-3 by Koji Suzuki 
Three works of Japanese horror, written between 1991 and 1998, revolving around a cursed video that can infect those who watch it. In Ring, a journalist investigates the death of four teens. Also includes Spiral and Loop. Translated from the Japanese. Some strong language. 2006.

DB 124555 Evil in Me by Brom 
"Evil in Me is bestselling author Brom's newest novel of possession, damnation, and rock 'n' roll where one woman must get the world singing in order to save her soul. This devilish tale includes nearly two dozen of Brom's immersive paintings and brilliant endpapers. Aspiring musician Ruby Tucker has had enough of her small rural town and dysfunctional family. But a falling out with her best friend and bandmate has killed her dreams of escaping and making it big in the Atlanta punk scene. While helping her eccentric neighbor organize his religious artifacts, an ancient ring clamps down on her finger--possessing her with the spirit of a blood-thirsty demon. There's no exorcizing it unless hundreds of people chant a spell to set Ruby free. And what's worse, the ring is a beacon for evil, drawing an unimaginably wicked mob straight to Ruby, hungry for her flesh. If Ruby can get her band back together, she has a shot at salvation. It's time for her to face the music and put her whole soul into a song--one powerful enough to raise some Hell"-- Provided by publisher.  --  Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 114076 The Heirloom by Graham Masterton 
"A mysterious antique that can summon the devil. An antique chair comes into a family's possession. But they soon discover that this is no ordinary heirloom. Strange things begin to occur, including shifts in the fabric of time itself. And then Satan himself is summoned." -- Provided by publisher.  --  Violence, strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex.

DB 86712 Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt 
The town of Black Spring, New York, has been dealing with a curse for centuries. Residents have high-tech ways to cope, including an app to log sightings of the town's ghost, Katherine. Now a group of bored teens could ruin everything. Strong language and some violence. Commercial audiobook. 2016.

DB 116720 Burn the Negative by Josh Winning 
"Arriving in L.A. to visit the set of a new streaming horror series, journalist Laura Warren witnesses a man jumping from a bridge, landing right behind her car. Here we go, she thinks. It's started. Because the series she's reporting on is a remake of a '90s horror flick. A cursed '90s horror flick, which she starred in as a child-and has been running from her whole life. In The Guesthouse, Laura played the little girl with the terrifying gift to tell people how the Needle Man would kill them. When eight of the cast and crew died in ways that eerily mirrored the movie's on-screen deaths, the film became a cult classic-and ruined her life. Leaving it behind, Laura changed her name and her accent, dyed her hair, and moved across the Atlantic. But some scripts don't want to stay buried. Now, as the body count rises again, Laura finds herself on the run with her aspiring actress sister and a jaded psychic, hoping to end the curse once and for all-and to stay out of the Needle Man's lethal reach." -- Provided by publisher.  --  Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 111028 White Horse by Erika T. Wurth 
"Some people are haunted in more ways than one. Old denim jackets, ripped jeans, Stephen King novels, and the occasional beer at the White Horse Lounge have defined urban Indian Kari James's life so far. But when her cousin Debby finds an old family bracelet that once belonged to Kari's mother, it inadvertently calls up both her mother's ghost and a monstrous entity, and her willful ignorance about her past is no longer sustainable. Haunted by visions of her mother and hunted by this mysterious creature, Kari must search for what happened to her mother all those years ago. Her father, permanently disabled from a car crash, can't help her. Her Auntie Squeaker seems to know something, but isn't eager to give it all up at once. Debby's anxious to help, but her controlling husband keeps getting in the way. Kari's journey towards a truth long-denied by both her family and law enforcement forces her to confront her dysfunctional relationships, her spiritual beliefs, and her desire for the one thing she's always wanted but could never have." -- Provided by publisher.  --  Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 122454 How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive by Craig DiLouie 
"Max Maury should be on top of the world. He's a famous horror director. Actors love him. Hollywood needs him. He's making money hand over fist. But it's the 80s, and he's directing cheap slashers for audiences who only crave more blood, not real art. Not real horror. And Max's slimy producer refuses to fund any of his new ideas. Sally Priest dreams of being the Final Girl. She knows she's got what it takes to score the lead role, even if she's only been cast in small parts so far. When Sally meets Max at his latest wrap party, she sets out to impress him and prove her scream queen prowess. But when Max discovers an old camera that filmed a very real Hollywood horror, he knows that he has to use this camera for his next movie. The only problem is that it came with a cryptic warning and sometimes wails. By the time Max discovers the true evil lying within, he's already dead set on finishing the scariest movie ever put to film, and like it or not, it's Sally's time to shine as the Final Girl"-- Provided by publisher.  --  Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

BR 08752 Needful Things by Stephen King 
Leland Gaunt, a new resident in Castle Rock, sets up a curio shop, Needful Things, where a person can have anything his or her heart desires-but for a price! Customers must play a prank on a designated person, and sometimes the jokes have serious consequences. Perhaps the residents are paying too high a price for happiness, for Castle Rock has become a battleground. Some violence and strong language. Bestseller.

BR 17064 Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill 
Middle-aged rock star Judas Coyne collects morbid curios. He buys a haunted suit online and discovers that it belonged to Craddock McDermott, the deceased stepfather of one of Coyne's groupies. Over time, both Coyne's own motives and those of McDermott's ghost are revealed. Violence and strong language. Bestseller. 2007.

BR 21765 The Motion of Puppets by Keith Donohue 
While visiting Quebec City with her husband, Theo, Kay Harper is entranced by a puppet shop in the oldest part of town. Walking alone one night, she fears she is being followed and ducks into the shop, only to find herself trapped. Some violence. 2016.

BRG01990 The Tommyknockers by Stephen King 
Bobbi Anderson, 37, out with her aging dog, Peter, is looking for trees to cull on her father's farm in Haven, Maine, when she stumbles over a piece of metal sticking out of the earth. Curious, she scrapes away the soil...The deceptively ordinary beginning of a tale of nightmarish horror that is to destroy a community. 1987. Unrated. Marrakesh title.

We all know some of the early classic horror stories that came after Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (DB 25835/BR 12173): Dracula (DB 31689/BR 08277) by Bram Stoker; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (DB 26427/BR 11092) by Robert Louis Stevenson; The complete stories (DB 44929) by Edgar Allan Poe; and The invisible man (DB 47064) by H. G. Wells. But there are many others that were published before and after that have influenced the horror genre over the years. 

To honor the genre in this week's Horror in October blog post, we look back at early writings that have come to truly define the horror genre as it is today. There may be stories and authors that are well-known and others you've maybe never heard of before. Celebrate the horror genre and the month of horror with the following books available in our collection to send in the mail or for immediate download using BARD, Braille and Audio Reading Download, provided by the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled. To order any of these or learn more information about BARD, please contact the Kansas Talking Books office at 1-800-362-0699 or KTB@ks.gov.

DB 20577 The woman in white by Wilkie Collins (also available in braille as BR 09083) 
A Victorian melodrama concerning a mysterious woman in white who bears an uncanny resemblance to the fiancee of Count Fosco, a sophisticated fortune hunter. First published as a serial between 1859 and 1860, this chronicle of evil, suspense, and villainy is believed to be the first English novel to deal with crime detection. 1859.

DB 31356 Melmoth the wanderer by Grant Douglas (also available in braille as BR 08339) 
This classic gothic novel by an eccentric Anglican curate in Dublin was originally published in 1820 and tells of a Faust-like hero. John Melmoth has sold his soul to the devil in return for a long life. He can redeem himself if he can find someone to take his place in hell. His search takes him from London's Bedlam mental institution to Spain during the Inquisition, and from Ireland to a mysterious uninhabited island.

DB 50339 The collected tales of Nikolai Gogol by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol (contains the short story Viy)

Thirteen stories newly translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Four from Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka (1831-32): "St. John's Eve," "The Night before Christmas," "The Terrible Vengeance," and "Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt." From the Petersburg tales: "Nevsky Prospect," "The Diary of a Madman," "The Nose," and "The Overcoat" among others. 1998. 1998.

DB 56794 The picture of Dorian Gray (also available in braille as BR 17780) / DB 12606 El retrato de Dorian Gray por Oscar Wilde  
First published in the late nineteenth century. A beautiful youth has his portrait painted by an artist with a flair for the morbid. The portrait becomes the mirror of its innocent-appearing subject's inner life. Introduction by Edmund White. 1999.

DB 103861 In the shadow of Edgar Allan Poe: classic tales of horror, 1816-1914 edited by Leslie S. Klinger 
A collection of twenty short horror stories, published between 1816 and 1914, that have been overshadowed by the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Includes Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Bram Stoker's "The Squaw." Violence. Commercial audiobook. 2015.

DB 16603 Three Gothic novels edited by E. F. Bleiler 
Three examples of nineteenth-century Gothic literature--Walpole's 'Castle of Otranto', Beckford's 'Vathek', and Polidori's 'Vampyre'--plus a fragment of a novel by Lord Byron.

DB 108772 The complete supernatural stories by Algernon Blackwood 
"Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) was an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre. He was also a journalist and a broadcasting narrator. S. T. Joshi has stated that "his work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's." Though Blackwood wrote a number of horror stories, his most typical work seeks less to frighten than to induce a sense of awe." -- Provided by publisher. -- Violence and strong language. 2020.

DB 74738 The house on the borderland by William Hope Hodgson 
Ireland. Two gentleman on a fishing trip discover a mysterious diary. It documents an elderly man's exploration of the cave beneath his home, which brought him through time and space to find a simulacrum of his house elsewhere. 1908.

DB 91586 Tales by H. P. Lovecraft; edited by Peter Straub 
Collection of twenty-two stories representing the best of Howard Phillips Lovecraft's fiction, much of it originally published in pulp magazines such as Weird Tales and Astounding Stories. Includes a popular work, "The Outsider" (1926), and the nightmarish science fiction tale "The Colour Out of Space" (1927). Some strong language. 2005.

DB 07946 Gothic tales of terror: classic horror stories from Great Britain, Europe, and United States, 1765-1840 edited by Peter Haining (also available in braille as BR 02392; Stories of note: The Cremona violin by E. T. A. Hoffmann and Hugues the wer-wolf is a novel)
A collection of 30 stories from Germany, France, The Netherlands, Italy and America. Each story is introduced with a short note showing its relationship to the author's work and the literature of the period.

DB 23324 Victorian villainies selected by Graham Greene and Hugh Greene (containing The beetle by Richard Marsh)
The authors have chosen four of their favorites from their personal collection of Victorian and Edwardian detective stories. The tales are about a classic murder, a mysterious Eastern sect, murder on a train, and a human lottery.

DB 35421 Victorian ghost stories: an Oxford anthology selected and introduced by Michael Cox and R.A. Gilbert (Stories of note: The captain of the ‘Pole-star’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Canon Alberic's scrap-book by M.R. James)
Thirty-five scary tales about interactions between the living and the dead, selected from the period when supernatural fiction, especially with the help of small magazines, flourished. Many stories are by well-known authors, such as Henry James, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle, and R.L. Stevenson. Several are set in haunted houses, typically around Christmas.

DB 108612 Ghost stories: classic tales of horror and suspense edited by Leslie S. Klinger and Lisa Morton (also available in braille as BR 24231) 
"The ghost story has long been a staple of world literature, but many of the genre's greatest tales have been forgotten, overshadowed in many cases by their authors' bestselling work in other genres. In this spine-tingling anthology, little known stories from literary titans like Charles Dickens and Edith Wharton are collected alongside overlooked works from masters of horror fiction like Edgar Allan Poe and M. R. James. Acclaimed anthologists Leslie S. Klinger The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes and Lisa Morton Ghosts: A Haunted History set these stories in historical context and trace the literary significance of ghosts in fiction over almost two hundred years--from a traditional English ballad first printed in 1724 up to the science fiction-tinged tales of the early twentieth century." -- Provided by publisher. -- Some violence. 2019.

DB 18129 The turn of the screw by Henry James 
A somewhat neurotic new governess is convinced her two beautiful young pupils are subject to the evil influence of two ghosts, a former steward of the estate and a former governess. She pits her will against the ghosts and is determined to exorcise the demons from her young charges. 1898.

DB 40864 Drácula: la novela original por Bram Stoker 
Una historia de vampiros ambientada a finales del siglo XIX. Jonathan Harker, un abogado inglés, visita al conde Drácula en su castillo de Transilvania para tramitar algunos negocios. No tarda en descubrir que Drácula no es el hombre normal que aparenta ser sino un monstruo. Su horror se acentúa cuanto Drácula se muda a Inglaterra.

DB 25706 Frankenstein por Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, traduccion Manuel Serrat Crespo 
Classic horror story. A monster, endowed with life by a young scientist named Frankenstein, later turns on his creator. Spanish language.

DB 22515 El extrano caso del Doctor Jekyll y de Mister Hyde por Robert Louis Stevenson 
In this psychological novel of the war waged between good and evil within the human personality, a kindly physician commits diabolical crimes when his suppressed personality is released. Spanish language.

BRG04514 Terror by night: classic ghost and horror stories by Ambrose Bierce 
Of all the writers of ghost and horror stories, Ambrose Bierce is perhaps the most colourful. He was a dark, cynical and pessimistic soul who had a grim vision of fate and the unfairness of life, which he channeled into his fiction. There are more than 50 short stories in this excellent collection. Some are no more than a couple of pages long and few are longer than ten pages. Unrated. Marrakesh title.

BR 13701 Gothic tales by Elizabeth Gaskell; edited by Laura Kranzler (contains Lois the Witch and The Grey Woman)
Short stories and the novella Lois the Witch from a nineteenth-century feminist. In “The old nurse's story” a father casts out a daughter and her child to perish in the cold. In “The crooked branch” a son returns home to rob his parents. Introduction and notes by Laura Kranzler. 2000.

Check out last month's top BARD downloads in Kansas! If you aren't yet a BARD user, you can learn more at the NLS BARD website. If BARD isn't a good fit for you, we are still happy to mail books and magazines directly to your home. Just drop us a line at KTB@ks.gov or call 800-362-0699. Happy reading!

Most popular KS1A user audiobook downloads from September 2025

• DB130298 Nightshade by Connelly, Michael.

• DB130129 The Wife Upstairs by McFadden, Freida.

• DB128800 The Argument by Jenkins, Victoria.
• DB130236 Never Flinch by King, Stephen.
• DB129492 The Tenant by McFadden, Freida

• DB130041 25 Alive by Patterson, James & Paetro, Maxine.

• DB129760 Hidden Nature by Roberts, Nora.
• DB130761 Just One of the Guys by Higgins, Kristan.
• DB129803 2 Sisters Murder Investigations: Don't mess with the Bird sisters! By Patterson, James & Fox, Candice.
• DB126887 Guilty by Elliot, Laura.

• DB130093 Echoes of Sunrise by Cabot, Amanda.

  Most popular KS1A user audio magazine downloads from September 2025

• Atlantic Monthly September, 2025
• Reader's Digest August, 2025
• AARP Magazine and Bulletin July, 2025
• AARP Magazine and Bulletin August, 2025
• The Week September 05, 2025
• National Geographic September, 2025
• Stereophile August, 2025
• Analog July, 2025
• People September 22, 2025
• People September 15, 2025
• Health and Nutrition August, 2025
• The Week August 29, 2025
• People September 01, 2025

A full list of available magazines can be found on the NLS Website. 

Most popular KS1A user braille book downloads from September 2025

• BR26258 Handmade Soap Book: Easy soapmaking with natural ingredients by Coss, Melinda.
• BR25714 Tell Me Everything by Strout, Elizabeth.
• BR26257 Amish Secrets by Perry, Marta.
• BR25674 Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and recipes from five generations of Black country cooks by Wilkinson, Crystal & Marshall, Kelly.
• BR25361 Basic Training for NVDA.
• BR24471 The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook: 650 recipes for everything you'll ever want to make by America's Test Kitchen

Serial killers are terrifying, whether conjured from the imaginations of your favorite fiction writers or a true story of real-world murder and mayhem. 

The term “serial killer” is a relatively new term for people who kill more than one person. Prior to the late 20th century, they were called mass murderers (Bonn, 2014). The two crimes, mass murder and serial murder, are distinguishable in that mass murder is the killing of multiple people at one specific time and place, while serial killings take place over a period of time and may occur in the same or multiple locations. Robert Ressler, who worked as investigator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, popularized the terms “serial murder” and “serial killer” in the 1970s (Jenkins,). 

While the term is relatively new, there have been serial killers throughout history. Cases of serial murderers have been documented as early as the first century in Rome and in several medieval European countries (Jenkins). Perhaps the most famous case of an early modern serial killer is Jack the Ripper in late 19th century London. 

Many well-known cases of serial killers have been investigated in true crime books. Serial killers also make fascinatingly disturbing content for horror, suspense, and mystery novels. We've gathered a list of both fiction and nonfiction books about serial killers and hope you find them an enjoyably terrifying read. Get these books scary fast by downloading them through BARD, Braille and Audio Reading Download, a download service provided by the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) and Kansas Talking Books (KTB) through a variety of platforms. To learn more, visit our website, or contact the KTB office at KTB@ks.gov or 1-800-362-0699.

References:

Nonfiction

Audio

DB 94190 Sons of Cain: a history of serial killers from the stone age to the present by Peter Vronsky 
Historian examines the motives and methods of serial killers and society's attempts to classify and understand them. Uses case studies to highlight murderers from the fifteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Analyzes the ways the surrounding culture has allowed for the development of serial killers. Violence and some descriptions of sex. 2018.

DB 126602 Lady killers: deadly women throughout history by Tori Telfer 
"When you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are likely Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, and Kate Bender? The narrative we're comfortable with is one where women are the victims of violent crime--not the perpetrators. In fact, serial killers are thought to be so universally male that, in 1998, FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood infamously declared that There are no female serial killers. Inspired by Telfer's Jezebel column of the same name, Lady Killers disputes that claim and offers fourteen gruesome examples as evidence. Although largely forgotten by history, female serial killers rival their male counterparts in cunning, cruelty, and appetite. Each chapter explores the crimes and history of a different female serial killer and then proceeds to unpack her legacy and her portrayal in the media as well as the stereotypes and sexist cliches that inevitably surround her."-- Goodreads. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 43669 Mindhunter: inside the FBI's elite serial crime unit by John E. Douglas 
Douglas, who pioneered criminal profiling, gives an inside account of the FBI's elite Investigative Support Unit. He recounts some of his most famous cases and describes various tactics used to identify and prosecute serial criminals. Violence, descriptions of sex, and some strong language. Bestseller.

DB 129808 Murderland: crime and bloodlust in the time of serial killers by Caroline Fraser 
"Caroline Fraser grew up in the shadow of Ted Bundy, the most notorious serial murderer of women in American history, surrounded by his hunting grounds and mountain body dumps, in the brooding landscape of the Pacific Northwest. But in the 1970s and '80s, Bundy was just one perpetrator amid an uncanny explosion of serial rape and murder across the region. Why so many? Why so weirdly and nightmarishly gruesome? Why the senseless rise and then sudden fall of an epidemic of serial killing? As Murderland indelibly maps the lives and careers of Bundy and his infamous peers in mayhem--the Green River Killer, the I-5 Killer, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, even Charles Manson--Fraser's Northwestern death trip begins to uncover a deeper mystery and an overlapping pattern of environmental destruction. At ground zero in Ted Bundy's Tacoma stood one of the most poisonous lead, copper, and arsenic smelters in the world, but it was hardly unique in the West. As Fraser's investigation inexorably proceeds, evidence mounts that the plumes of these smelters not only sickened and blighted millions of lives but also warped young minds, including some who grew up to become serial killers. A propulsive nonfiction thriller, Murderland transcends true-crime voyeurism and noir mythology, taking readers on a profound quest into the dark heart of the real American berserk."-- Provided by publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 127983 Serial killers: the minds, methods, and mayhem of history's most notorious murderers by Richard Estep 
"This chilling book looks at the horrifying stories of forty malevolent killers and hundreds of innocent victims, including such notorious homicidal maniacs as John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, and Jeffery Dahmer, but it also looks at lesser-known and overlooked murderers like Herbert Baumeister, America's I-70 Strangler; Japan's "Anime Killer," Tsutomu Miyazaki; Russia's "Rostov Ripper," Andrei Chikatilo; the "Giggling Granny," Nannie Doss; and many more. It journeys to 16th-century Scotland to meet a clan of cannibals whose existence is still debated by historians today, and to the fog-shrouded alleys of Whitechapel, London, where Jack the Ripper earned his grisly namesake. Along the way, we'll meet the Dating Game Killer, the Milwaukee Cannibal, the Acid Bath Murderer, and other monsters."-- Provided by publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DBC18791 The midnight assassin: panic, scandal, and the hunt for America's first serial killer by Skip Hollandsworth 
"A sweeping narrative history of a terrifying serial killer--America's first--who stalked Austin, Texas in 1885. In the late 1800s, the city of Austin, Texas was on the cusp of emerging from an isolated western outpost into a truly cosmopolitan metropolis. But beginning in December 1884, Austin was terrorized by someone equally as vicious and, in some ways, far more diabolical than London's infamous Jack the Ripper. For almost exactly one year, the Midnight Assassin crisscrossed the entire city, striking on moonlit nights, using axes, knives, and long steel rods to rip apart women from every race and class. At the time the concept of a serial killer was unthinkable, but the murders continued, the killer became more brazen, and the citizens' panic reached a fever pitch. Before it was all over, at least a dozen men would be arrested in connection with the murders, and the crimes would expose what a newspaper described as "the most extensive and profound scandal ever known in Austin." And yes, when Jack the Ripper began his attacks in 1888, London police investigators did wonder if the killer from Austin had crossed the ocean to terrorize their own city. With vivid historical detail and novelistic flair, Texas Monthly journalist Skip Hollandsworth brings this terrifying saga to life. The introduction and epilogue are read by the author."--publisher's summary. Adult. Some descriptions of sex. Some strong language. Violence.

DB 127114 Bind, torture, kill: the inside story of BTK, the serial killer next door by Roy Wenzl, Tim Potter, L. Kelly, and Hurst Laviana 
"For thirty-one years, a monster terrorized the residents of Wichita, Kansas. A bloodthirsty serial killer, self-named "BTK"--for "bind them, torture them, kill them"--he slaughtered men, women, and children alike, eluding the police for decades while bragging of his grisly exploits to the media. The nation was shocked when the fiend who was finally apprehended turned out to be Dennis Rader--a friendly neighbor...a devoted husband...a helpful Boy Scout dad...the respected president of his church. Written by four award-winning crime reporters who covered the story for more than twenty years, Bind, Torture, Kill is the most intimate and complete account of the BTK nightmare told by the people who were there from the beginning. With newly released documents, evidence, and information--and with the full cooperation, for the very first time, of the Wichita Police Department's BTK Task Force--the authors have put all the pieces of the grisly puzzle into place, thanks to their unparalleled access to the families of the killer and his victims."-- From publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 44273 Journey into darkness: follow the FBI's premier investigative profiler as he penetrates the minds and motives of the most terrifying serial killers by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker 
A former FBI agent explains the technique of behavioral profiling of violent criminals to gain understanding of their motives and actions. Recounts cases in which this technique was used. Strong language and violence. Bestseller.

Braille

BR 23974 The case of the murderous Dr. Cream: the hunt for a Victorian era serial killer by Dean Jobb 
Profile of a nineteenth-century Canadian doctor who was convicted of murders in the United States and England, and is believed to have also murdered people in Canada through the use of poison. Discusses criminal investigation techniques of the late 1800s and his 1892 trial in London. Violence. 2021.

BR 09122 The search for the Green River killer by Carlton Smith and Tomas Guillen 
In the early 1980s, the Strip in Washington state had become an outdoor sex market. Suddenly women were disappearing--their bodies turning up in the Green River. By the time the third body was found in August 1982, the Green River police department knew a serial killer was responsible. By the end of the 1980s, forty-nine bodies had been found and the police still had no suspects. Violence. Bestseller.

BR 20629 Villains, scoundrels, and rogues: incredible true tales of mischief and mayhem by Paul Martin 
Thirty portraits of little-known scoundrels throughout history, whose misdeeds range from unspeakable acts of evil to unscrupulous behavior includes the notorious Ed Gein, the Wisconsin serial killer who was the inspiration for Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 2014.

Fiction

Audio

DB 85299 The killer in me by Margot Harrison 
Every time seventeen-year-old Nina falls asleep, she connects with a serial killer and helplessly becomes a witness to the murders. Determined to stop him before he kills again, Nina, along with her friend Warren, embarks on a dangerous manhunt. Violence and strong language. For senior high and older readers. 2016.

DB 131594 Killer on the road by Stephen Graham Jones (In process) 
"Sixteen-year-old Harper has decided to run away from home after she has another blow-out argument with her mother. However, her two best friends, little sister, and ex-boyfriend all stop her from hitchhiking her way up Route 80 in Wyoming by joining her on an intervention disguised as a road trip. What they don't realize is that Harper has been marked by a very unique serial killer who's been trolling the highway for the past three years, and now the killer is after all of them in this fast-paced and deadly chase novel that will have your heart racing well above the speed limit as the interstate becomes a graveyard." -- From publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 103845 Survive the night by Riley Sager 
1991. After the murder of her best friend by a serial killer, called the Campus Killer, college student Charlie shares a drive home to Ohio with Josh, whom she met through the college's ride board. The more Charlie learns about Josh, the more she wonders if he's the Campus Killer. Some strong language, some violence. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

DB 77866 Cain's blood by Geoffrey Girard 
Six boys, who are clones of the world's worst serial killers, escape a science research facility in Radnor, Pennsylvania. Former special ops soldier Shawn Castillo tries to capture them before their sadistic desires leave a path of bodies behind. Violence, strong language, and descriptions of sex. 2013.

DB 123956 Blood like mine by Stuart Neville 
"On a snowy December night, single mother Rebecca Carter drives her van into a snowbank to avoid hitting an elk on a desolate mountain highway. She is at the end of her rope, out of money and food. Still, she refuses help from a man in a pickup truck--Rebecca's adolescent daughter, Moonflower, is on the run from a grisly secret, and the last thing they can afford is to be remembered by anyone they meet. Meanwhile, Special Agent Marc Donner of the FBI has spent the better part of two years hunting down a gruesome serial killer who drains victims of blood before severing their spinal cords, leaving a trail of bodies throughout the country. As Agent Donner's investigation brings him closer and closer to where Rebecca and Moonflower are hiding out, in the foothills of Colorado, the life that Rebecca has fought so hard to hold together for her daughter becomes increasingly imperiled. In this deadly, high-stakes game of cat and mouse, nobody is safe and nothing is certain--not even the line between predator and prey."-- From publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DB 115657 Dead of winter by Darcy Coates 
"There are eight strangers. One killer. Nowhere left to run. When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, she's hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin. Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes they'll be safe as they wait out the storm. She couldn't be more wrong. Deep in the night, their tour guide goes missing ... only to be discovered the following morning, his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified, and completely isolated by the storm, Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. One of them kills for sport ... and they're far from finished. As the storm grows more dangerous and the number of survivors dwindles one by one, Christa must decide who she can trust before this frozen mountain becomes her tomb." -- Provided by publisher. -- Some violence, some strong language and some descriptions of sex.

DB 110958 The mill by Cailyn Lloyd 
"As a psychic, seeing ghosts is routine for Lili. She isn't surprised to discover spirits lurking in the renovated paper mill where she just bought an apartment. What she doesn't expect is the dark, sinister presence under the floor and the serial killer who is prowling about the mill. When a woman is found murdered and another goes missing, Lili tries to work with one of the spirits-a young girl long dead-to expose the psychopath. But not everyone can be trusted and soon, Lili fears the killer will flee, never to be found and free to strike again." -- Provided by publisher. -- Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

Braille

BR 23950 Chasing the boogeyman by Richard Chizmar 
In the summer of 1988, the mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up in a small Maryland town, and the gruesome evidence points to a serial killer. But soon, a rumor spreads that the evil stalking local teens may not be entirely human. Violence, strong language, and descriptions of sex. 2021.

BR 26341 Sleep tight by James Markert 
"Father Silence once terrorized the rural town of Twisted Tree, disguising himself as a priest to prey on the most vulnerable members of society. When the police finally found his "House of Horrors," they uncovered nineteen bodies and one survivor-a boy now locked away in a hospital for the criminally insane. Nearly two decades later, Father Silence is finally put to death, but by the next morning, the detective who made the original arrest is found dead. A new serial killer is taking credit for the murder and calling himself the Outcast."-- Publisher description. -- Violence, strong language and descriptions of sex.

BR 23616 Later by Stephen King 
An NYPD detective draws Jamie, a young boy born with the unnatural ability to communicate with the dead, into the pursuit of a killer. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine. Violence, strong language, and descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2021.

Living in Kansas, we are used to a wide range of weather with  four distinguishable seasons. Summer is full of hot days, plenty of sun, and occasional thunderstorms. Fall sees warm temperatures cooling down with rain, sun, and the occasional snow during the later part of the season. Temperatures become cold in winter with some moderately cool days mixed with other days of extreme wind chills. We might experience rain and sun, but also have the danger of snowstorms, snow showers, ice, sleet, and freezing rain that can wreak havoc. Then comes spring, the season of intense storms bringing the threat of torrential rains, hail, and tornadoes, as well as the temperature roller coaster.

We've all heard stories about the weather in Kansas and witnessed how different Kansans react to it, such as the front porch storm watchers when the tornado sirens sound. Maybe you've heard of a street being split down the middle with rain on one side and bright sunshine on the other. There are also the stories from adults of trick-or-treating in snow and a winter coat when they were kids. Many Kansans will say they've been taught how to recognize storm clouds, wall clouds, and funnel clouds since they were children. Kansans love their weather stories and to talk about how weather patterns are changing. 

But talking about the weather and climate isn't only a Kansas pastime. Other people from around the U.S. and in other countries find weather and climate just as fascinating and like to share their own stories. We've found some weather and climate related books in our collection that relay stories of past weather events, anecdotal experiences, meteorological insight, and climate concerns. Make one of these your next read this fall.

DB118644 Wait five minutes: weatherlore in the twenty-first century by Shelley Ingram 
"The weather governs our lives. It fills gaps in conversations, determines our dress, and influences our architecture. No matter how much our lives may have moved indoors, no matter how much we may rely on technology, we still monitor the weather. Wait Five Minutes: Weatherlore in the Twenty-First Century draws from folkloric, literary, and scientific theory to offer up new ways of thinking about this most ancient of phenomena. Weatherlore is a concept that describes the folk beliefs and traditions about the weather that are passed down casually among groups of people. Weatherlore can be predictive, such as the belief that more black than brown fuzz on a woolly bear caterpillar signals a harsh winter. It can be the familiar commentary that eases daily social interactions, such as asking, "Is it hot (or cold) enough for you?" Other times, it is simply ubiquitous: "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change." From detailing personal experiences at picnics and suburban lawns to critically analyzing storm stories, novels, and flood legends, contributors offer engaging multidisciplinary perspectives on weatherlore. As we move further into the twenty-first century, an increasing awareness of climate change and its impacts on daily life calls for a folkloristic reckoning with the weather and a rising need to examine vernacular understandings of weather and climate. Weatherlore helps us understand and shape global political conversations about climate change and biopolitics at the same time that it influences individual, group, and regional lives and identities. We use weather, and thus its folklore, to make meaning of ourselves, our groups, and, quite literally, our world." -- Provided by publisher.  --  Commercial audiobook.

DB130668 Cloud warriors: deadly storms, climate chaos—and the pioneers creating a revolution in weather forecasting by Thomas E. Weber 
For millennia, humans have tried to understand and predict the weather. The Space Age helped usher in satellites and radar, while computers made it possible to plug all that data into complex equations that anticipated the atmosphere's future behavior. Now a new age of advances in forecasting is unfolding, driven by AI, drones, and satellites. The Internet of Things has turned everything from cellphones to cars into ubiquitous weather sensors. Equally significant are new efforts to understand how people respond to forecasts and warnings. Scientists and government officials are realizing that how people get their weather information, and how they use it, are crucial factors in the outcome of a catastrophic weather event. Employing in-depth reporting on cutting edge science and technology, veteran journalist Thomas E. Weber takes us on a tour of how meteorologists, scientists, and officials track and prepare for major weather events. As climate change is altering our planet and making weather events more extreme, Weber introduces us to those on the front lines of weather preparation and prediction. We travel from coast-to-coast, to space and back, meeting TV meteorologists and storm chasers, city planners, backyard weatherman, and many others. Cloud Warriors will change the way you think about the weather--and the power of being able to see it coming.  --  Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

DBC05312 How to find a good weather forecast by Tony Pann 
This engaging and entertaining book takes a humorous, but detailed, look at one of the things we all take for granted every day: The Forecast.

DB 82316 Rain: a natural and cultural history by Cynthia Barnett 
Journalist details the history of rain, from its beginnings approximately four billion years ago during Earth's infancy to its impact on life in the twenty-first century. Describes the geometry of the raindrop, technologies to control and direct rainfall, and rain's influence on the arts. 2015.

DB 76324 Global weirdness: severe storms, deadly heat waves, relentless drought, rising seas, and the weather of the future by Climate Central, Inc. 
Nonprofit science and journalism organization compiles information regarding climate change as of the early twenty-first century. Details research and predictions for future trends, such as fewer but more powerful hurricanes. Provides solutions for limiting the impact of climate change. Commercial audiobook. 2012.

DB 31760 The Old Farmer's almanac book of weather lore: the fact and fancy behind weather predictions, superstitions, old-time sayings, and traditions by Edward F. Dolan 
"Clear moon, frost soon." "Kill a beetle and it will rain." "Lighting never strikes twice in the same place." These statements belong to a centuries-old body of weather lore that ranges from pure superstition to reasonable accuracy. Dolen investigates fact or fallacy behind weather phenomena.

DB 72280 The weather of the future: heat waves, extreme storms, and other scenes from a climate-changed planet by Heidi Cullen 
Climatologist discusses the art and science of long-term climate forecasting. Examines forty-year forecasts for seven locations that are physically vulnerable to climate change. Predicts that unless we actively work to reduce carbon emissions, weather conditions around the world will become unbearable. 2010.

DB 73506 Into the storm: violent tornadoes, killer hurricanes, and death-defying adventures in extreme weather by Reed Timmer 
Meteorology doctoral candidate and star of Discovery Channel's reality TV series Storm Chasers discusses his love of dangerous weather--especially tornadoes; his career as a storm chaser; and the science behind severe conditions. Describes his adventures during such hurricanes as Katrina, Floyd, Ike, and others. 2010.

Find more weather-related books using the Kansas Talking Books online catalog at https://kstb.klas.com/. Some possible search terms include:

• storms nonfiction
• tornado nonfiction
• hurricane nonfiction
• weather nonfiction

Or, you can contact the office for help from a readers' advisor to find more weather-related books by calling 1-800-362-0699 or emailing KTB@ks.gov. 

These books are all available for immediate download using BARD, Braille and Audio Reading Download, a download service provided by the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled making almost our entire collection available to you at anytime of day with no due dates, no expiration dates, and no waiting. BARD can be accessed on various devices such as smartphone, tablet, the new DA2 digital player, Windows computer, or just using a web browser on a Mac computer. To learn more, visit our BARD Resources webpage. If you would like an account, contact the office to get an account started.