Ohhhh, Buddy!Â
If you’ve watched the most recent entry into absurdist horror movies, then you’re likely as obsessed as some of our staff is and looking for a book to fill that Buddy-sized hole- we love Buddy, yes we do!
If you’re looking for similar themes about television and entertainment, look no further:
Mister Magic by Kiersten White
Whether you read the book or graphic novel, this is the PERFECT recommendation for any Buddy lover! The five remaining cast members, known as the Circle of Friends, sometimes aren’t sure if they imagined everything- with no surviving videos or record of the Mister Magic show, they only have their memories and a rabid, devoted fan base to know they aren’t losing their minds, but they desperately miss that happiness they felt during the show and the protection they felt from the host. When a twist of fate brings the castmates all back together at the same desert filming compound, they realize they can escape back to their childhood glory days, but is this reunion actually their choice or a trap… because magic never forgets the taste of your friendship.
Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun
While this isn’t available until the end of October, it’s never too late to preorder this incredible work from the writer/director of “I Saw the TV Glow” and “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma!” Similar to Buddy’s themes of the illusion of escape and the questioning of reality, this bingeworthy story follows an unlikely hero called to save herself and everyone else from a mysterious realm on the other side of our screens, a realm that only a select, special few can see and enter. A dark force keeps drawing victims into its static, lured by a promise to escape the horrors of the real world, exchanging reality for a better place inside their favorite tv show… but what’s the real truth and what is Public Access Afterworld??
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Need more mascot horror in your life? We’ve got ya:
Knock Knock, Open Wide by Neil Sharpson
Be prepared to be transported to a blood-soaked Ireland where everyone remembers the classic, innocent children’s show of their youth, but no one seems to remember it exactly the same… When Betty arrives at college in Dublin and falls in love with Ashling, she discovers her lover is convinced this show is why her family is troubled, but only she seems to remember the star of the show: a small black goat puppet who lives inside a box and only comes out if you don’t behave. But he never comes out… almost never.
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
Buddy’s got some competition for sassiest and most demented mascot in this Grady Hendrix classic. When Louise receives the news of her parent’s death, she’s most upset that she’ll have to return home and deal with the remains of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. But in order to sell the house, she’s going to need more than new paint and clearing out all the junk, because some houses don’t want to be sold… Â
She’s a Doll by Barbara Truelove
With a similar outrageous amount of humor, rage, and gore, this book will make Truelove your next auto-buy author! Lucy is a doll on a mission- after her murder goes unavenged, Lucy is not about to let her killer, Kyle, go off quietly in the night, so obviously she possesses an antique doll and sets out on her quest. But killing is hard when you’re 18-inches and made of porcelain, so she teams up with another scorned woman, rolls up her lacy sleeves, and prepares to teach the lesson of a lifetime.
Who doesn’t love a group of young friends just trying to make it out alive?!Â
If We Survive the Night by Jo Salazar
This one’s for Freddy- badass girls who get the job done, but are traumatized for life. What’s a group of teen girls locked up in a psychiatric hospital to do when the zombie apocalypse starts?! If you’re this main protagonist, then obviously you’re going to use your sociopathic tendencies to your advantage to hopefully survive the night and, much like Buddy, cut off the dead weight to outlive the rest.
Slasher Summer by E. L. Chen
This is a love letter to our favorite slashers of the 80s, bringing the same level of campiness and a surprise final girl who you can’t help but fall in love with. If not for the 80s horror flick “Slasher,” the sleepy town Cedar Lake would go unknown, but thanks to its fame, every summer there’s a Rocky Horror Picture Show level re-enactment and the 7 high school friends who used to be the stars have decided to reunite for a weekend of fun. But when a cold-blooded killer starts hunting them down, they find that they’ve never really escaped the horror of who they were in high school and they might not escape this masked killer either…
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
The girls they whisper about in the school hallways, who disappear in the middle of the school year, have a reputation as loose girls, and grow up too fast? Well, they’ll probably find their way to the Wellwood House where they can have their babies in secret, adopt them out, and never think about it again. But what if you want to keep your baby, go outside, or eat something unapproved? Their every move is watched, but when 15-year-old Fern is given a book of witchcraft, the power is finally in their hands, but magic always comes with a price…
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And if you’re just looking for some bananas horror and humor OR nostalgic nightmares, we’ve got you covered there too!
Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle
Some heroes were never meant to be met… Poppy is sooo close to achieving her influencer dreams and giving her daughter everything she never got, but until she hits it big, she’ll have to take the graveyard shift… No, literally, she moonlights as a grave robber, but when her next corpse turns out to be her personal hero/world famous rock star, who isn’t as dead as he should be, the night will become a fight for her and her daughter’s lives…
Teddy Bears Never Die by Yeeun Cho
The perfect read if you loved the bubblegum horror style of Buddy, get ready to cheer on a young woman and her possessed teddy bear as they set out on a revenge quest like none other. When a mass-poisoning attack takes Hwayoung’s mother from her, she decides to take justice into her own hands and Doha will take it into his furry paws as the two unite to shake this city’s shiny facade to its rotten core.
Winterset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham
If you grew up with a certain honey loving bear, this one might hurt… What kid wouldn’t love to step into their favorite book? When Eamon and his two closest friends journey to Addington Isle, the place that inspired their favorite book about animal friends preparing for an end-of-summer-festival, they discover the fantasy is real! But it's much less cozy than they remember their beloved friends are darker and dangerous; making it to the final chapter might just cost them everything…
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
Speaking of nostalgia kicking you in the gut, this dark reimagining of your favorite mystery solving gang asks what happens when they grow up and when the monster isn’t just an angry old man in a mask? Filled with Lovecraftian horror, thrilling twists, and surprising moments of humor and tenderness, the remaining members of the gang will reunite to revisit their last case because it turns out they got the wrong guy and the answers aren’t as simple as they want.
I Will Kill Your Imaginary Friend for $200 by Robert Brockway
Holding onto your childhood a little too tightly? So is Ivan, a 40-something-year-old man who never got over losing his imaginary friend, but cursed with the ability to see everyone else’s invisible pals, he makes his living by killing them off. When a concerned mother reaches out about her daughter’s “friend” who’s been making her do disturbing things, he’s going to have to tackle the fear of growing up once and for all…
