Looking for some unnerving recommendations to read by candlelight while things go bump outside at the end of the month?

Tim Burton (yes the film director, Tim Burton) has a number of books in his own style some of which contain his fascinatingly creepy illustrations. A particularly good one to cause a slight twist in your mental state by the end of the book is The Melancholy Death of the Oyster Boy and Other Stories. This title surely gives a sufficient impression of the contents of the book.

Kafka might not be the first person that springs to mind around this time of year, but he really ought to be. Perhaps it was working in a job that he hated that caused his imagination to be so fertile yet off-kilter. In any case, The Metamorphosis alone contains a bizarre enough plot when a man awakes to find himself transformed into a beetle with no explanation.

Edgar Allan Poe is a rather obvious choice but such classics in literature are not to be underestimated. His pervasively popular gothic tales are the perfect pairing with a fireside evening in October. Though The Raven and The Pit and the Pendulum might be the most well-known, if you haven't already ventured into the rest of his works it is long overdue as The Black Cat and The Premature Burial are horrors that will be sure to keep you awake at night.

Mary Shelley is a writer that many writers, directors, comedians and costume shops owe a great debt to. Frankenstein is her most notable novel and a ground-breaking examination of man merging with machine and the emergence of the power of science. Mathilda should also be noted as a dark tale worthy of death-themed holidays narrated from the deathbed of a young woman who has good reason to be gloomy.

The Memory Carriers by Mike Nelson, Mindflower by Cody Phillips and The Knowing by Karen Campbell are all chilling reads published by Austin Macauley and available now.

Can you think of any other writers that fill you with a sense of unease? Let us know, I’m sure they won't take it personally.