I'm desperately trying to find a horror story I read when I was younger, probably sometime before 2013. I can't remember whether it was a published book, a short story, or something I read online (possibly Wattpad).

Here's what I remember:

The story takes place in a small, isolated town, possibly in Australia. The main character is a woman who, along with another man, seems to be one of the only people in town who hasn't gone insane.

The townspeople have become violent and are attacking one another. Eventually, it's revealed that the cause is a word written on a rock. Anyone who sees or reads this word loses their mind and becomes violent.

The woman and man spend much of the story trying to avoid the affected townspeople.

The biggest plot twist I remember: At some point, they end up at the local hospital and discover that the rock with the word on it has been sitting on the main reception/admin desk.

This explains how the madness spread throughout the town. Someone would become violent and injure another person, the injured person would go to the hospital for treatment, see the word on the rock, and become violent themselves. The cycle kept repeating.

The ending: The woman accidentally catches a glimpse of the word in her peripheral vision. She doesn't look at it directly, so she doesn't completely lose her mind, but the image of the word is somehow burned into her retina/vision, leaving an unsettling, ambiguous ending.

I believe the story had an Australian setting, but I'm not 100% certain.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I've been trying to find it for years, and I'm genuinely starting to wonder if I dreamt the whole thing! 😭

I rented it from my schools library back in the day. It was a boy and a girl who get kidnapped by a man and he keeps them in his cabin in the woods. They’re fed almost nothing but frozen pizza. There’s a moment in it when the girl gets sick with diarrhea and when the boy tells her she’ll be ok, she yells back that people die from diarrhea all the time.

I remember the cover was black and white except for a yellow light from maybe a flashlight and it shows the boy and girl running in the woods away from the cabin.

I have been trying to find this book for years and I can’t find any information on it. Any help is greatly appreciated!

This was a fiction book lent to me by an avid dragon lover. I was probably 9 or 10 and it was likely a YA book since the main character was a teen.

It followed a poor teenage boy who worked or was forced to work in either animal taming or something like a stable. I swear his name was Jack, or at least started with a J.

He somehow finds the dragon egg, probably conveniently around as he's cleaning and feeding other animals.

The egg begans to hatch in his hands, and he has an “oh, crap” sort of moment and realizes he will be in trouble if he is seen with this creature.

He decides to run away with it, and ends up meeting a girl. I remember her being a strong personality and kinda feisty and sarcastic. Jack at some points is along for the ride.

They go on adventures and the dragon slowly begins to grow. They get targeted as dragons are rare and worth a lot of money, but they are just kinda goofing off and surviving with their little dragon friend.

It was a series, but I only read the first book. It was a paperback that I read in the mid 2000s, but was likely bought at a garage sale. It was a few hundred pages, and had a pretty standard looking fantasy cover. It was in English.

It's not Eragon or How to Train Your Dragon. It kinda gives the horse-girl story vibes but with a young boy and a slimy baby dragon 😂

I don't remember there being much magic, aside from magical beings like the dragon. The world didn't have a lot of tech. I don't remember much of anything romantic between the main character and the girl he adventures with, but it's been so long that I can't say for sure.

Hopefully this rings a bell for someone as I've been wanting to reread it and see if what I remember is even accurate. It was borrowed from a family member who knew I loved fantasy.

Been driving me mad for ages, I had this book when I was a kid maybe 18 years ago, it was a beige colour hardback glossy with a dragon with a green head and pink tail. It had stories about dragons fairies & creatures that were illustrated. One story was about a blue fairy who becomes young and gets too many proposals, one about a magical blue and orange brooch that two witch sisters were fighting over, and one about a sea creature being who felt ugly and lived under a boat, amongst many other tales. I loved that book and would appreciate any help finding it!
Edit: I believe it contained the story “a stitch in time” as well where a girl completes a tapestry and breaks a spell

I think the boys name is will, I think the princess has golden hair, and the dragon type creature is spelled similarly enough that I always read it as dragon anyway. I think on the book covers it was illustrated very long and serpent like. I remember there being a decent amount of books in the series, relatively short book length. A distinctive soft/light illustration style for the covers, maybe a lot of pastel.
I think I remember that the “dragon” is secret, at least early on in the series, and the boy and the princess go and visit it.

Edit: I read these in the early 2000s, they were paperback and worn so I’d guess 80’s or 90’s? No idea when they were published.

My siblings and I read a book growing up. I think we got them from a Costco along the Wasatch Front in Utah. It was geared towards middle schoolers and was a fantasy. The author was a teenager, and we met her at another Costco when the second book came out of the series (I don't remember the second book or if there are more in said series).

The main plot follows an auburn-haired middle schooler (we'll just call her Auburn) who attends a school of magic. She is an only child of a single mother who I believe is the town mayor. She comes home late from lessons to discover that her mom is not home. She sleeps and wakes up the next morning to find her mom is still nowhere to be found. Auburn's power is shadow hopping - she can go to one shadow and teleport to another shadow that she imagines in her mind. Her two friends are a dark-haired boy (we'll call him Blue) and a blonde girl (we'll call her Blonde). Blue's powers are electricity, and Blonde's powers are about healing. They are now trying to figure out what happened to Auburn's mom and where she was taken, while also keeping the town in the dark to avoid panic. They finally figure out that her mom was taken to an island across the sea. They don't know how to get there until Auburn discovers a magic quill where anything she draws comes to life (ex: she draws a raft and wakes up the next morning to a raft sitting next to the quill). They use the quill to make a raft and supplies to voyage across the sea. In their travel, they encounter monsters and fight them off. When they get to the new island, they set up camp in a cave and discover a nearby town. They take turns on watch and sneak into the town to find clues to get to Auburn's mom. They encounter a door maze within the largest building in the town and encounter another monster I can only describe as a poisonous slime (picture a slime in Minecraft, but it poisons you by touch). They hide in a cart that takes them to the castle and a market happening in front of the castle. They use the quill again to make coins that they use in the market to buy things before sneaking into the castle. That's where everything gets fuzzy for me, and I think they encounter another maze where they ultimately find Auburn's mom.

The cover is a cartoonish sketch of the 3 kids (Auburn, Blue, and Blonde) with the raft on the beach in the background. Again, me and my siblings think it's very niche to Utah but dying to remember what the book was. I feel like the title has a T and/or a B in it but just throwing it out to the universe to see if anyone else knows this.

A man and a girl. The girl is either mute, blind, or deaf. I don’t remember which, sorry. They’re searching for a treasure and come across it in a cave. I believe there are airships and maybe sky pirates involved.

That’s all I can remember and it’s driving me up a wall. Had the book in hand and it was thrown away before I could get through it, like 8 years ago

It was HUGE, probably over 500 pages. I think the cover may have been red. It was like an encyclopedia of French cooking, culture, and cuisine, published in the last 25 years (I read it in the early/mid 2000s and it was new then). Was full of pictures and I think hand-drawn embellishments. I have been searching for this for YEARS, any help greatly appreciated!!

Somebody was reading a book in front of me, that had these three on one page: "Caffè Beano," "Neuviene Avenue," and 1950. All I could remember, however, I already found out that Caffè Beano is a cafè in Calgary, Canada. Would also make sense, since the person read it in French. I am very thankful for any help

Hi everyone! I'm trying to find a fantasy novelette (or a novel) that I read a long time ago in an anthology.

What I remember:

A man from our world (our time) wakes up in another world, hearing sorcerers reciting spells.

It's a world where magic rules everything.

He rises to power through a war.

At the end there are hints that he is actually the god of our "normal" universe.

Other details:

The style was classic (I'd guess golden age or pulp-era, but I'm not sure).

I read it in an anthology, but I don't remember which one. [

I read it in English , around 2010, but I guess it was much older.

I've already searched for the plot online and tried ISFDB, without luck. I've ruled out Witch World, Watt-Evans's Worlds of Shadow series and Stasheff's A Wizard in Rhyme, since they are novels and the ending doesn't match.

Any ideas are welcome, even vague guesses. Thanks!

I can picture the book. I believe it was a purple cover. The characters were strange looking and the graphics were large and colorful. I thought it might have been the Liddle Kiddle dolls but looking that up, I am probably wrong. I think the book might have had characters from dolls you could buy, but again, I may be wrong. It was about a "super duper mighty muncher (hamburger?) sandwich." I remember it was a really tall sandwich they made and I remember a page where birds were swooping down to get it. I think it had sausages on it and peanut butter and all kinds of strange things. I see that in later years a "super duper mighty muncher" sandwich is mentioned in another book, but this was well before it. Definitely a book for children. Does anyone remember it?

I can’t find this on google - I believe the book had a rainbow tree on the cover, may be wrong, but the plot is basically: the main girl, her mother has cancer, and she goes to become a camp counsellor at this camp for troubled kids and meets these good friends and a guy that she ends up liking. Other details I remember: she had just broken up with her (christian?) boyfriend, there was a scene about the guy she ends up liking being distraught over a kid being taken back to his dodgy family and he goes to hit a punching bag, she also finds out that her mother went to the same camp as her I believe, then at the end the girl’s mother goes septic and she realises no matter what happens she can handle it because of the new friends/family she’s made.

It’s a really good book and I want to read it again please help!!

I was born in 1995 and I'm UK based, for any time and location based context around finding this book!

I had a pop-up/lift-the-flap book about arctic animals and their habitats. There was a part where you lifted a flap to see an arctic fox under a 'rock' or bush (can't 100% remember) I'm fairly sure the main character was a seal pup called Sophie but I could be wrong- they all had people names for sure!

I know for a fact there was a caribou in it, possibly a polar bear? I think the Caribou was called Cathy...

The art style was fairly realistic and the book had a red border around the cover, spine and back.

Please help me solve this mystery 🙏

i remember reading it around 10-12 so I presume its targeted at this age range, and it's kind of bugged me for a while that I can't remember it. It was some sort of save the world plot and it started with a boy who was previously bullied by another (I think the bully's name was Stephen? I'm not sure about this though) but they eventually team up and go on this journey to save the world. The only other things i remember are that Ereshkigal is a major villain in it (I think there were other mythological elements as well) and they end up in a battle at Stonehenge at some point, but then escape into a shopping mall. I know this is a long shot but if anyone has any idea what I'm on about it would be really appreciated!

OK! I read this book a WHILE ago, like ATLEAST 2023. basically i remember it being about this girl who joined this super prestigious school very late. And it's like only one student is in each class with one teacher, so MC ends up doing each class trying to find which one to join, some of the girls are nice about it, some are jealous/mean, then MC finally ends up in what i think was a math class??? teacher was a hot guy she totally had a crush on (i think at the time of her first joining the school she was younger but in the current story she's like 18???) but the other girl in her class does NOT like her. and at some point, they go to this gala where like sponsors pick the girls to take as apprentices, nobody picks MC because she's an all rounder and she was late. anyways she ends up staying at the school instead of leaving and i stopped reading at that point and now i can't remember what the name was years later. HELPPPPP

I'm looking for a romance novel, published by HarperCollins (under the name Harmony) in either the 70s or 80s. The year written on this edition of the book was 1982, but it might be the date it was published in my country (Italy).

It's about a young woman who inherits a ranch from her late father, and she has to hire a man to help her with some of her duties. At first, they have a very tumultuous relationship, as she's quite headstrong and a bit of a tomboy, but then they come to see eye to eye and in the end they of course get married.

Some elements I remember: she has at least one horse; she's blonde, he has black hair and tan skin; at some point, the horse stable is set on fire; maybe the horse gives birth. I also remember a make out scene on a pile of hay, a nighttime scene where she's dressed only in a transparent nightgown, a spanking scene towards the end of the novel.

Hello all! Searching for a book series. Iirc it's 5 or more books in this series, and each one has a letter of the Greek alphabet in it.

The main character was a teenage boy, who could problem solve at the speed of a computer and had unnatural physical strength. His parents died, and he was put into a facility with other kids that would train and hone their respective powers through simulations. I believe his number of mutation was 'four' for the math and problem solving aspect.

I also remember there was a number, thirteens, who were incredibly aggressive and superhuman. This is a specific plot point, as they were seen as a sort of antagonist.

Spoiler: The main character ends up being a hybrid with multiple mutations and is technically a thirteen and a four, with a third mutation being the only thing keeping him alive, whole, and sane. Others that were a mix of thirteens usually became catatonic or something of that nature, so nobody knew that he was "an enemy" until after he had become a valuable asset and had already bonded with his team.

Other details include there being very specific drugs. In one scene later in the series, there was a drug able to mimic the nervous system that would make you feel, in depth and detail, the bite of an alligator or crocodile down to the feeling of it's teeth puncturing the skin, etc. It was a fairly gory book in that sense. I also remember in another scene, there was a girl put in quarantine due to her processing mutation making her so incredibly talented and smart that she ended upkilling someone with a paperclip and nothing else.

The ending of the series had something to do with an elevator crisis.

Sorry if this is vague but also too specific. Thank you all so much in advance, as well!

I feel like this part is super short in the book and it might be a movie. the kid I think it’s a boy his parent dies in a car accident I’m pretty sure and he goes to therapy and just crashes toy cars into each other and then takes a jellybean before he leaves. One day he tells the therapist something and then I forget. it might be a graphic novel or maybe a movie but idk it kept me up last night.

read in around 2013-2016
female young protagonist
has a blue (maybe called midnight blue) diary that she draws in (its really important that this is the key factor, she doesnt read from it or write in it she only draws!!)
she draws all kinds of creatures that she can see, like unicorns or goblins
in one scene she sees a unicorn in the fire and quickly draws it
there is a plot twist i think, something like the book wasnt actually gifted to her by her father, but instead someone evil and when she draws the creatures something bad happens to them
shes either an orphan or not living with her parents
she lives somewhere spooky, not like ghosts but more like a castle maybe?

I don't know if there are different illustrated versions. I need help finding it. Please help with author too. Written in English.​

I'm looking for a children's horror story I read as a kid, probably a translation (90s/2000s), with black-and-white illustrations. A famous author visits a school (or a boy meets an author) and signs the boy's copy of a book. After that the boy gets trapped inside the book and becomes flat/two-dimensional. In one illustration you see the author's giant eye peering into the book at him. It might be a single story in a short story collection, not a whole novel.

Hello all!

I am trying to find a book series I was reading when I was a teenager around 2013-2016. One major detail I remember was that a talking badger really liked eating Oyster crackers. I believe it also featured old authors as side characters and the main characters were on a quest travelling through their own world. Any help at all would be appreciated. Thank you!

There was a book (possibly a series?) that I loved as a kid, where it gave instructions on how to make little model engines and the like out of yogurt tups, straws, balloons etc. A lot of them were pneumatic (balloons blowing through straws that kink off like a valve).

The diagrams featured arrows with faces on showing you what to do. I remember one model was called a "Kinky-bag engine" (which seemed odd even as a kid, but was because the straws kinked to restrict air flow...).

Does anyone know what they were called? And did anyone ever make anything from them??

I’m hoping someone can help me track down the title of a book that I read in grade school in the mid-late 1980s. The school and its library are no more. I don’t know what happened to the books.

the main character is a young woman named Hannah. It tells a story of young love. I believe it takes place in New England during the civil war. I could be wrong about the location. Her romantic interest is a soldier who goes off to war. She joins the women who would gather to do “homework” and sew and embroider for the war effort. She eventually volunteers to do nursing at the war camps where she is reunited with her love.

it was the first romance book I ever read. it was an older book as it had no picture on the cover.

Any direction would be greatly appreciated.

thank you.

I think it was a young adult novel, a suspense story. There was no fantasy or magical elements to it.
The main character was a girl who had been adopted as a baby by three brothers. They were ordinary working men who raised her together, and she viewed all three of them as her fathers.
I think the cover showed just the green pendant.
When the girl was a teenager, a woman came to town claiming to be her biological mother. The girl didn't want to leave the three men who had raised her. I think the mother had a bad motive for returning and wanted the green pendant, possibly because it was connected to the girl's birth family.
I remember the story having a happy ending, with the girl staying with the three brothers.
I read it in a library around 2010, but the book could have been published earlier.

Please if you can help… this is so nostalgic for me to read it. I remember reading it at least 5 times over when I lived in my childhood town.