Chilling YA Novels Coming Our Way... and a New Site That Celebrates Them

Thanks to A.G. Howard—a fellow Amulet Books author, whose dark Alice in Wonderland spinoff, Splintered, arrives this fall—I learned about a brand-new website that celebrates eerie young adult and middle-grade fiction: ADR3NALIN3.

From the blog:

ADR3NALIN3 is the brainchild of a group of authors who write the dark side of middle grade and teen fiction. We are far from cozy, and we don't do warm and fuzzy. When you send us emails during the early morning hours to tell us you've lost another night of sleep reading our books, we secretly do a strange “happy” dance that is borderline Voo Doo Hoo Doo.

We want to make your skin crawl and your heart beat faster as you venture deeper into the dark recesses of our imaginations. Reality can be overrated or just plain scary. We offer you a savory feast of chilling contemporary thrillers, eerie mysteries, fantasies from your worst nightmares, and our bent and twisted take on the paranormal. 

—adr3nalin3.blogspot.com

The website got me thinking about all the dark and delicious young adult novels I'm looking forward to reading in the coming years. One of the many thrilling aspects about having my own Gothic YA novel in the works for a 2013 release is that I get to receive early info about similar books...plus I'm getting to know the amazing and talented authors behind them.

Here are some upcoming YA Gothics I can't wait to devour while huddled under my covers...

DARK COMPANION by Marta Acosta
Tor
July 2012
“Dark secrets, hidden mysteries, disquieting realities, passion and romance…without a doubt this is my favourite YA book of the year. Dark Companion is recommended reading for teen gothic/vampire fiction fans as well as for Jane Eyre fans of any age. Bloody brilliant!”
—Amanda Wright, Love Vampires



SPLINTERED by A.G. Howard
Amulet Books
Fall 2012
For sixteen years, Alyssa Gardner has lived with the stigma of being descended from Alice Liddell—the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll's famed novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. But cruel jokes about dormice and tea parties can’t compare to the fact that Alyssa hears the whispers of bugs and flowers ... the same quirk which sent her mother to a mental institution years before.



THE MADMAN'S DAUGHTER by Megan Shepherd
Balzer & Bray/HarperCollins
Winter 2013
A gothic thriller trilogy loosely inspired by H.G. Wells’ classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, in which Dr. Moreau’s sixteen-year-old daughter travels to her estranged father’s island and finds murder, madness, and a love triangle with an enigmatic castaway and her father’s handsome young assistant.

HOUDINI'S DAUGHTER by Teri Brown
Balzer & Bray/HarperCollins
Fall 2013
Anna Van Housen is thirteen the first time she breaks her mother out of jail. By sixteen she’s street smart and savvy, assisting her mother, the renowned medium Marguerite Van Housen, in her stage show and séances, and easily navigating the underground world of magicians, mediums and mentalists in 1920’s New York City. Handcuffs and sleight of hand illusions have never been much of a challenge for Anna. The real trick is keeping her true gifts secret from her opportunistic mother, who will stop at nothing to gain her ambition of becoming the most famous medium who ever lived.

MISTWALKER by Saundra Mitchell
Harcourt Children’s Books
Fall 2013
When Willa’s brother dies on the family fishing boat, her father forbids her from stepping foot on the deck. But her family needs her, and she’ll do anything to help out– even going to see the Grey Man, the legendary spirit who haunts the lighthouse, controlling the fog–and with it, the fate of any boat within 100 miles. But what Willa finds isn’t a spirit at all, but a boy trapped inside until he takes 1,000 souls.

ANNABEL by Mary Lindsey
Philomel
2013
A dark retelling of Poe’s final poem, Annabel Lee, pitting a pair of star-crossed lovers in a doomed struggle with forces of ancient malice and evil.