DEI Reading Lists

eBook and Audiobook available from Milwaukee Public Library
As troubled Farrah manipulates her way further into the Whitman family, the longer she stays, the more her own parents suggest that something is wrong in the Whitman house. She might trust them—if they didn’t think something was wrong with Farrah, too. When strange things start happening at the Whitman household—debilitating illnesses, upsetting fever dreams, an inexplicable tension with Cherish’s hotheaded boyfriend, and a mysterious journal that seems to keep track of what is happening to Farrah—it’s nothing she can’t handle. But soon everything begins to unravel when the Whitmans invite Farrah closer, and it’s anyone’s guess who is really in control.

Audiobook
A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance. Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid. The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah's white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss. Derek's father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy. Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys. Provocative and fast-paced, S. A. Cosby's Razorblade Tears is a story of bloody retribution, heartfelt change - and maybe even redemption. A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

eBook
Mexico in the 1970s is a politically fraught land, even for Elvis, a goon with a passion for rock ’n’ roll who knows more about kidney-smashing than intrigue. When Elvis is assigned to find Leonora, he begins a blood-soaked search for the woman—and his soul.

eBook
‘Remember daughter, the world is a lot bigger than anyone knows. There are things that science may never explain. Maybe some things that shouldn't be explained.'Stacey and Laney are twins – mirror images of each other – and yet they're as different as the sun and the moon. Stacey works hard at school, determined to get out of their small town. Laney skips school and sneaks out of the house to meet her boyfriend. But when Laney disappears one night, Stacey can't believe she's just run off without telling her.As the days pass and Laney doesn't return, Stacey starts dreaming of her twin. The dreams are dark and terrifying and hard to shake. Stacey can't tell what's real and what's imagined. All she knows for sure is that Laney needs her help.Stacey is the only one who can find her sister. Will she find her in time?

eBook Available from the Milwaukee Public Library
In Skin Folk, with works ranging from science fiction to Caribbean folklore, passionate love to chilling horror, Nalo Hopkinson is at her award-winning best, spinning tales like "Precious," in which the narrator spews valuable coins and gems from her mouth whenever she attempts to talk or sing. In "A Habit of Waste," a self-conscious woman undergoes elective surgery to alter her appearance; days later she's shocked to see her former body climbing onto a public bus. In "The Glass Bottle Trick," the young protagonist ignores her intuition regarding her new husband's superstitions—to horrifying consequences

Audiobook and eBook Available
From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father's belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family's dark history

eBook available from the Milwaukee Public Library
Lia Setiawan has never really fit in. And when she wins a full ride to the prestigious Draycott Academy on a track scholarship, she's determined to make it work even though she's never felt more out of place. But on her first day there she witnesses a girl being forcefully carried away by campus security. Her new schoolmates and teachers seem unphased, but it leaves her unsure of what she's gotten herself into. And as she uncovers the secrets of Draycott, complete with a corrupt teacher, a golden boy who isn't what he seems, and a blackmailer determined to get her thrown out, she's not sure if she can trust anyone...especially when the threats against her take a deadly turn.

eBook and audiobook available from Milwaukee Public Library
Something is wrong in Snakebite, Oregon. Teenagers are disappearing, some turning up dead, the weather isn't normal, and all fingers point to TV's most popular ghost hunters who have just come to town. Logan Ortiz-Woodley, daughter of TV's ParaSpectors, has never been to Snakebite before. But the moment she and her dads arrive, she starts to get the feeling that there's more than ghosts plaguing this small town. Ashley Barton's boyfriend was the first teen to go missing, and she's felt his ghost following her ever since. Although everyone shuns the Ortiz-Woodleys, the mysterious Logan may be the only person who can help Ashley get some answers.

eBook available from the Milwaukee Public Library
Matt's father is a criminal with high hopes that his son will follow in his footsteps. His family is at war with another, and Matt's dad is caught in the crossfire. Matt and his older brother are expected to fight for their family. But deep down Matt has other ambitions—and attractions. When he meets Jason, Matt believes he might be falling deeper than friendship for the first time. The boys keep their connection a secret, and soon Matt suspects that Jason is part of the family that tried to kill his father. The truth, however, is even more shattering, and Matt must decide if he can ever break free and own who he really is and who he is meant to love.

eBook available from the Milwaukee Public Library
Ava Simon designs storage boxes for STÄDA, a slick Brooklyn-based furniture company. She's hard-working, obsessive, and heartbroken from a tragedy that killed her girlfriend and upended her life. It's been years since she's let anyone in. But when Ava's new boss—the young and magnetic Mat Putnam—offers Ava a ride home one afternoon, an unlikely relationship blossoms. Ava remembers how rewarding it can be to open up—and, despite her instincts, she becomes enamored. But Mat isn't who he claims to be, and the romance takes a sharp turn.

eBook available from the Milwaukee Public Library
Every year, she searches for the worst man at Gorman University and plots his well-deserved demise. Thanks to her meticulous planning, she's avoided drawing attention to herself—but as she's preparing for her biggest kill yet, the school starts probing into the growing body count on campus. Determined to keep her enemies close, Scarlett insinuates herself into the investigation and charms the woman in charge, Dr. Mina Pierce. Everything's going according to her master plan...until she loses control with her latest victim, putting her secret life at risk of exposure.

Audiobook available from the Milwaukee Public Library
In this fast-paced thriller, Wanda M. Morris crafts a twisty mystery about a black lawyer who gets caught in a dangerous conspiracy after the sudden death of her boss . . . A debut perfect for fans of Attica Locke, Alyssa Cole, Harlan Coben, and Celeste Ng, with shades of How to Get Away with Murder and John Grisham's The Firm.

eBook
"Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked..." To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time. Cash is tight, especially with all those installment-plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace, Ray doesn't ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who doesn't ask questions, either. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa-the "Waldorf of Harlem"-and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do. Now Ray has a new clientele, one made up of shady cops, vicious local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and other assorted Harlem lowlifes. Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he begins to see who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs?

Audiobook
Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now. Will Chen plans to steal them back. A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents' American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible—and illegal—job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago. His crew is every heist archetype one can imag­ine—or at least, the closest he can get.

Audiobook
When Lissa Yellow Bird was released from prison in 2009, she found her home, the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, transformed by the Bakken oil boom. In her absence, the landscape had been altered beyond recognition, her tribal government swayed by corporate interests, and her community burdened by a surge in violence and addiction. Three years later, when Lissa learned that a young white oil worker, Kristopher "KC" Clarke, had disappeared from his reservation worksite, she became particularly concerned. No one knew where Clarke had gone, and few people were actively looking for him. Yellow Bird traces Lissa's steps as she obsessively hunts for clues to Clarke's disappearance. She navigates two worlds-that of her own tribe, changed by its newfound wealth, and that of the non-Native oilmen, down on their luck, who have come to find work on the heels of the economic recession. Her pursuit of Clarke is also a pursuit of redemption, as Lissa atones for her own crimes and reckons with generations of trauma. Yellow Bird is an exquisitely written, masterfully reported story about a search for justice and a remarkable portrait of a complex woman who is smart, funny, eloquent, compassionate, and-when it serves her cause-manipulative. Drawing on eight years of immersive investigation, Sierra Crane Murdoch has produced a profound examination of the legacy of systematic violence inflicted on a tribal nation and a tale of extraordinary healing.

Audiobook
In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies. A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store's prom dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella "Especially Heinous," Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naïvely assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgängers, ghosts, and girls with bells for eyes.

Stream through UWM Libraries
In Universal Pictures' Get Out, a speculative thriller from Blumhouse (producers of The Visit, Insidious series and The Gift) and the mind of Jordan Peele, when a young African-American man visits his white girlfriend's family estate, he becomes ensnared in a more sinister real reason for the invitation.

Stream through UWM Libraries
Perplexing, creepy, episodic thriller in which an unsuspecting social worker unlocks the terrifying past of a house haunted by its former inhabitants' darkest secrets. Megumi Okina, Misaki Ito. Written and directed by Takashi Shimizu, who also made the 2004 U.S. version starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Stream through the UWM Libraries
In this fairy tale, a small family in Spain moves into an old house in 1943 after the rise of Fascism. Their eldest daughter, at age 12, falls in love with a fawn that lives in the old ruined labyrinth behind their decrepit home.

Stream through the UWM Libraries
Adelaide Wilson, her husband Gabe, her son Jason and her daughter Zora head to Santa Cruz, California, for a beach vacation at Adelaide's childhood home with their friends the Tylers. That night, the Wilsons are terrorized by a family of doppelgangers with murderous motivations.

Stream through the UWM Libraries
Greed and class discrimination threaten the relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan in Bong Joon Ho's darkly hilarious modern fairytale. Winner of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Film at the Academy Awards. Winner of Best Foreign Motion Picture – Foreign Language at the Golden Globe Awards. Winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Stream through the UWM Libraries
A black detective sets out to infiltrate the Colorado chapter of the Ku Klux Klan with the help of his Jewish colleague. In the midst of the 1970s civil rights movement, they risk their lives to obtain insider information on the violent organization.

Stream through Vimeo
In 1991 Madrid, after holding a séance at school, a teen girl minding her younger siblings at home suspects an evil force has entered their apartment. Inspired by true events.

Request DVD
"Veteran 911 operator Jordan ... takes a life-altering call from a teenage girl ... who has been kidnapped and thrown into the trunk of a madman's car. But with the clock ticking, Jordan soon realizes she must confront a killer from her past to put and end to a serial killer's haunting rampage"--Container.

Request DVD
A thriller about a graduate student whose research into modern folklore summons the spirit of Candyman, an enslaved man with a hook hand, and ignites a string of slayings.

DVD
Slim thought she was entering a life of domestic bliss when she married the man of her dreams. After the arrival of her daughter, Slim begins to see the hidden, abusive side of her husband. Terrified for her and her daughter's safety, Slim flees. But her husband's resources allow him to relentlessly pursue them. Finally Slim fights back, engaging her husband in a physical and psychological battle.

DVD
Dr. Hess Green, an archaeologist overseeing an excavation of an ancient civilization called Myrthia, is stabbed by his research assistant, who then commits suicide. When Hess wakes up, he finds that his wounds have healed, but he now has an insatiable thirst for blood. It turns out that the knife he was stabbed with carried ancient germs that have turned him into a vampire. Soon after, Hess meets his former assistant's wife, Ganja. Though Ganja is initially concerned about her missing husband, she soon falls for Hess. Though they are initially happy together, Ganja will eventually learn the truth about Hess, and about her husband. Will she survive the revelation? Will Hess?

Request DVD
Ignoring the eerie warning of a troubled mother suspected of child endangerment, a social worker and her small kids are soon drawn into a frightening supernatural realm. Their only hope to survive the deadly wrath may be a disillusioned priest and the mysticism he practices to keep evil at bay, on the fringes where fear and faith collide.

DVD Available through Milwaukee Public Library
Successful author Veronica Henley finds herself trapped in a horrifying reality and must uncover the mind-bending mystery before it's too late.

Affirmative Murder is the true crime comedy podcast hosted by Alvin Williams and Francel Evans. Each week they swap murder stories from marginalized communities, while trying not to rant about anything from fast food, to what is actually buried in graveyards...Follow them as they shed a light on the darker side of true crime, pun intended.

Join hosts Bhavna and Jamie each episode as they dissect their love of horror and all its subgenres.

An unfiltered dive into true crime cases of color, dumb crime cases of stupidity, and music from indie artists join me, Andre, and my V O I D cat as I shed light on true crimes of marginalized people.

This is a podcast where I cover missing persons, unsolved cases and cases where the conclusion still raises questions involving people of color. Bringing light to the stories that are often pushed to the side or left untold and uncared for. Welcome to Cases of Color.

In 1997, thirty-nine people took their own lives in an apparent mass suicide. The events captivated the media and had people across the planet asking the same question... ‘Why?’ 20 years later, those who lost loved ones and those who still believe - tell their story. Hosted by Glynn Washington of Snap Judgment. "Heaven's Gate: The Cult of Cults," is now a four-part docuseries inspired by this podcast, streaming on HBO Max.

Murder History Girls is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by sisters Mikki Wilkerson and Brandi Samples. We have been interested in these topics forever and want to share our stories and thoughts with others with similar interest. Join us every week for our comedic take on ghost stories and true crime stories throughout history.

Once Upon a Crime is a weekly true crime podcast that tells “the story behind the story” of real life crime. Told in a storytelling style, listeners are presented facts and information about each case they won’t hear anywhere else.

“Scam Goddess is a podcast dedicated to fraud and all those who practice it! Each week host Laci Mosley (aka Scam Goddess) keeps listeners up to date on current rackets, digs deep into the latest scams, and breaks down historic hoodwinks alongside some of your favorite comedians! It's like true crime only without all the death! True fun crime!”

Spooked! features true-life supernatural stories, told firsthand by people who can barely believe it happened themselves. Be afraid. Created in the dark of night, by Snap Judgment Studios, and hosted by Glynn Washington.

It’s a lighthearted nightmare in here, weirdos! Morbid is a true crime, creepy history and all things spooky podcast hosted by an autopsy technician and a hairstylist. Join us for a heavy dose of research with a dash of comedy thrown in for flavor.

The Bright Sessions is a science fiction podcast that follows a group of therapy patients. But these are not your typical patients - each has a unique supernatural ability. The show documents their struggles and discoveries as well as the motivations of their mysterious therapist, Dr. Bright.

It's an alternate 2016, and Watchtower 10 sits in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, keeping lonely watch over the Transcontinental Bridge. Each watchtower sits hundreds of feet away from the Bridge, broadcasting regular traffic reports to ensure that proper safety precautions are taken. These lighthouses (for cars) are filled with a carefully selected (and very capable) crew. Watchtower 10's necessary personnel happen to be: a generalist DJ who spends her free time relaying folklore from abandoned parts of the Bridge, her supervisor (who's only there because he lost a bet), an unfailingly optimistic Bridge Travel Agent, and a groundskeeper who has a thing for romantic comedies. Unbeknownst to the general public (but totally knownst to each watchtower's crew), these stations also hold a secret that could potentially destroy the world...or save it. The Bridge is a fictional serialized fantasy podcast about the monsters we fear, the monsters we can become, and the stories we leave behind.

The Big Loop is a biweekly anthology series from the co-creator of The Black Tapes. Hosted by Paul Bae, each episode is a self-contained narrative exploring the strange, the wonderful, the terrifying, and the heartbreaking. Stories of finite beings in an infinite universe.

The Black Tapes is a weekly podcast from Pacific Northwest Stories and Minnow Beats Whale, and is hosted by Alex Reagan. The Black Tapes is a serialized docudrama about one journalist's search for truth, her enigmatic subject's mysterious past, and the literal and figurative ghosts that haunt them both. How do you feel about paranormal activity or the Supernatural? Ghosts? Spirits? Demons? Do you believe?

Winner Best Fiction Podcast (Ignyte) featuring creepy stories with full audio production written by Black writers and performed by Black actors. So scary it’ll make you want to leave your night light on.

A troubled girl is caught in the war between Heaven and Hell, and learns she is humanity’s only chance at survival. A serialized, full-cast fantasy audio drama.

This season, grab some hot cocoa and a creepy doll as we follow mediums, Claire and Olivia, on their journey through "Orphanage."
Will they survive? What happens during Sunshine Time? Exactly how many consumption jokes can two people make? All of the questions you're *dying* to ask shall be answered.

Micah Jones has suffered from night terrors and a particularly unnerving recurring dream for as long as she can remember. With the help of her friends, Devon Williams and Elia Cabral, Micah starts a podcast to explore her dreams and life, with the hope of setting her troubled mind at ease. Everything begins well enough until information surrounding her father’s death and a harrowing experience she had as a teenager seem to connect, causing Micah to think that some of her dreams are not dreams at all, but memories. Content warnings: grief, death of a parent, mild alcohol consumption, stalking, adult language.

The Haunted Hour broadcasts from the town of Lantern, North Carolina. Explore abandoned pools, convenience stores that move, and things that go bump in the night in this horror comedy from Emerson College.

Lillian Harper moves to the small town of Mt. Absalom, Ohio, to care for her estranged mother Dorothy after an injury. Living in the town's boarding house which has been run by her family for generations, she discovers conspiracies, ghosts, and a new family in the house's strange assortment of residents.

Set a few years in the future, Adventures in New America follows the escapades of two mismatched African-New-American best friends — fat, lonely, curmudgeon IA and lesbian sneak-thief Simon Carr — who take on a series of increasingly wild heists to get quick cash to pay for IA’s medical treatment while attempting to survive the wilds of New New York City — and a secret cabal of Tetchy Terrorist Vampire Zombies from outer space. Intrigued? Good! Frequently, there will be musical numbers... and radical reflections on our dangerous, beautiful, heart-pounding world.

Sam, a guilt-ridden blacksmith, gets a telegram from the woman he left behind, asking for help. He returns to his hometown to find the “afflicted” roaming the streets, and discovers that letting go of the past is even more difficult than battling supernatural hordes. A feature-length horror western.

What happens when a truck driver picks up a loaded trailer, but has no idea what’s really inside? Tony, Grammy, and Emmy award winner Cynthia Erivo journeys down a dark and lonely highway in this seven-part original scripted thriller. With immersive audio techniques that create a dimensional listening experience, the audience is strongly advised to use caution, wear headphones if possible, and listen... carefully.

Everyone thought Danny had gone missing. Towards the end of senior year she vanished, leaving everyone confused and devastated including her closest friend in the world, Becca. GASLIGHT picks up years later when Becca and her new husband receive a visitor during breakfast.

JANUS DESCENDING is limited series, science fiction/horror audio drama podcast, follows the arrival of two xenoarcheologists on a small world orbiting a binary star. But what starts off as an expedition to survey the planet and the remains of a lost alien civilization, turns into a monstrous game of cat and mouse, as the two scientists are left to face the creatures that killed the planet in the first place. Told from two alternating perspectives, Janus Descending is an experience of crossing timelines, as one character describes the nightmare from end to beginning, and the other, from beginning to the end.

Salutations! Pod Mortem is a horror podcast dedicated to bringing you scene-by-scene horror film reviews with healthy doses of trivia, commentary and yuks. Join Reneé, John Paul and Travis as they bring you varying points of view on contemporary, classic and cult horror films every Monday

Something is coming after you. I know, because it’s coming after me too.
Based on the suspense-filled and popular Reddit thread, The Burned Photo, tells the story of Felicia and Kira, two women, whose lives become intertwined when they discover they are being terrorized by the same generational curse that is determined to end each of their family lineages… but why?

The Historical Natives is a horror-themed podcast that covers Native American history, culture, language, and folklore. Founded by a sibling duo wanting to learn more about their culture, they create digital art and short stories to accompany their researched information. For more information please visit our website: