Because most popular bookstores don´t have huge science fiction and fantasy sections, it can be hard for genre readers to find good books there. There are, however, a number of stores, online and off, that cater specifically to these readers. This article introduces three of the very best.

Published around the same time as The Kite Runner, Yasmina Khadra´s novel The Swallows of Kabul also takes place in modern-day Afghanistan. Unlike The Kite Runner, however, The Swallows of Kabul is a dark and disconcerting look at the effects of the Taliban regime on personal relationships. By focusing on only four characters, Khadra creates a tight, gripping novel that will haunt you long after you´ve finished reading it.

There are some authors who have become so associated with one or two of their works that we tend to forget they wrote anything else; think, for example, of Charlotte Brontë and Jane Eyre, or F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby. Most great writers, though, do not simply create one masterpiece and stop, so why not check out some of these authors´ less famous works? This article covers a range of authors, from William Shakespeare to Virginia Woolf, and highlights some of their lesser-known writings.

Justin Evans´ much-anticipated sophomore novel, The White Devil, hit the shelves in May 2011. The White Devil, which tells the story of an American student sent to study at a prestigious English boarding school only to discover that the school is haunted, may at first glance appear little more than another ghost story, but the novel´s firm grounding in literary history distinguishes it from more conventional tales of horror and mayhem. It is, however, in his depiction of a pair of star-crossed lovers--students of the school some two centuries ago--that Evans truly shines. The more we learn more about this love affair gone wrong, the more The White Devil becomes a meditation on the injustices of society and the fickleness of human nature.

It´s not hard to find books that will leave you afraid to turn out the lights, but too often these novels run on little more than shock value. The next time you´re looking for a creepy read, why not try something that will also make you think? The following novels and short stories range from murder mysteries to ghost stories, but all of them are sure to make your heart race and your head spin.

Why is Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, still a classic? Is it because of the language used? Is it because of the subject matter of the novel? All these questions, and more, are answered in this article which is suitable for publication in a literary magazine or e-zine.