The humidity might linger for another few weeks, but let’s face it: Summer is over. The long since burnt out barbecues contain nothing but ash, the playgrounds are desolate, and at the deserted coast, unattended beach umbrellas blow across the sand like tumbleweeds. With visions like those, the end of summer can seem like the end of the world. While some choose to believe that the dog days are only “living on a farm upstate” and will come back to us soon, the rest of us have accepted that the season is dead and buried. Winter is indeed coming, and the time for those beach reads has passed. So before the nights get shorter, let’s embrace the darkness, the dystopian, and the disturbing.

Bookshelf curated by Benjamin Samuel.

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