Bewitching books for Halloween: Antenne shares its spookiest recommendations

Their selection includes the brand new release of Amani Willett's The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer, Coley Brown's closer inspection of things at night and Oliver Barrett's retelling of The Nuckelavee. Enjoy!

1. The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer by Amani Willett

A curious tale spun from the life of mysterious hermit Joseph Plummer, who lived in the woods of central New Hampshire in the late 1700s. Two centuries later, an unsuspecting man purchased the mythical loner’s land and built a hideaway cabin for himself – only to discover the legend of Joseph lurking deep in the seclusion of the forest. This atmospheric photobook explores our human desire to escape and find peaceful solitude, far from the burdens and apparatus of modern society.

Priced at £35 | Buy the book

2. Beyond the Beyond: Music From the Films of David Lynch

From his early short films made in Philadelphia in the 1960s up through more recent feature films like Inland Empire (2006), legendary artist and director David Lynch has used sound to build mood, subvert audience expectations and create new layers of affective meaning. Produced in conjunction with Lynch, Beyond the Beyond: Music From the Films of David Lynch explores the use of music and sound in Lynch’s films, as well as his own original music, and draws on the director's personal archives of photographs and ephemera from Eraserhead onward.

This volume also features interviews with more than a dozen popular contemporary musicians who performed at the Ace Hotel’s April 2015 benefit for the David Lynch Foundation, including The Flaming Lips, Duran Duran, Moby, Sky Ferreira, Lykke Li, Karen O, Donovan, Angelo Badalamenti, Jim James, Chrysta Bell, Tennis, Twin Peaks and Zola Jesus. The book also comes with a companion CD featuring a live recording of the Ace Hotel concert.

Priced at £35 | Buy the book

3. Deeper Than Night by Coley Brown

Deeper Than Night looks into the quiet chaos of the transitional moment when dark begins to overtake light, when clear boundaries between objects, elements and states begin to dissolve: water droplets form motionless constellations in the air, sparks draw whirring patterns against the sky, stars hang ember-like in nebulous fields, blue-black rocks glisten like globs of wet tar, and a lone wave pushes through the land.

We do not seek answers, but hang, like droplets of water or floating embers, in the undifferentiated states of intensity we encounter in the dark: hopeful at a glow but fearful of its waning; in awe at the quiet plashing of water upon rock but sensitive to how its coldness seeps into us. As our eyes and ears adjust, we are increasingly aware that a near-silent drip can become a deafening roar, and the faint glimmer of light on leaves can become blindingly brilliant.

Priced at £39 | Buy the book

4. Stations by Noemie Goudal

Oscillating between fantasy and reality, Noémie Goudal’s images explore both real and fictional geography, creating ephemeral spaces that question the nature of the image and its representational qualities. The series Southern Light Station continues to explore these subjects. Basing off of the symbolic spherical shape in reference to infinity and perfection, Goudal constructs her installations out of paper, wood and mirrors. Suspended in the sky, shot from high viewpoints or in isolated locations, these objects question our perception of the intangible nature of the infinite sky.

Priced at £25 | Buy the book

5. The Nuckelavee by Oliver Barrett

The Nuckelavee is a fresh re-telling of an old Orcadian folk story, written and illustrated by Oliver Barrett in this new edition from Tartaruga Press. Set across one stormy island night, The Nuckelavee follows Tammas Kelpy as he braves the wild elements and fearsome terrain, whilst something terrifying and ancient awaits him in the darkness.

Featuring stunning hand-drawn ink and pencil illustrations throughout and a hand-screenprinted dust jacket, The Nuckelavee is available in an edition of 250 numbered copies.

Priced at £12 | Buy the book

6. Incisions by Majla Zeneli

The relatively inconspicuous portrait-collages of Majla Zeneli refer to the wide and changing fields of communications industry, plastic surgery and psychoanalysis. Questioning time, memory and the body, they can be read within the tense narratives of the unconscious haunted by doppelgängers, ghosts and demiurges.

Priced at £7 | Buy the book

7. Front Lawn and Funerals and Cemetries by Cameron Jamie

America's decoration frenzy: graveyard cemeteries, ghosts, guillotines, skeletons in coffins, dismembered body parts, giant spiders and creatures turn up on the front lawns and exteriors of suburban homes in America every year. Families across the country decorate and stage their porches and gardens with horrorthemed scenes to celebrate Halloween on October 31st. In 1984, American artist Cameron Jamie started photographing these front exteriors in his old neighborhood in a suburban area of Los Angeles.

Priced at £54 | Buy the book

All images and book descriptions courtesy of Antenne Books