Joel A. Sutherland

Author, Ghost Hunter, Barbarian Librarian

Novels

Awards:

The House Next Door
  • Winner, Snow Willow Award (Saskatchewan Young Readers' Choice), 2019
  • Commended, Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre

Screamers

New middle-grade horror from the award-winning author of the Haunted Canada series!


When the hit television show Screamers announces a contest for young fans to appear on an upcoming episode, it’s all kids can talk about. So when Sai, Jason, and Aaliyah, strangers from different parts of the country, are selected from the thousands of applicants, they can't believe their luck. They pack their bags and travel to Winnipeg, excited to work with Zoë Winter, the show’s biggest star!


Zoë is famous, respected, and making more money than she ever thought she would . . . and she’s not even in high school yet! But money doesn’t buy happiness, and Zoë longs for a normal life with normal friends, which is why she’s just as excited about the contest as the three lucky winners. But little does she know that her life is about to imitate her art while filming the latest episode on location.


The creepy set, an abandoned amusement park called Pennyland, is haunted by a real ghost straight out of their worst nightmares: the park’s original mascot, Beauregard, an old clown with smeared makeup and threadbare clothes. Beauregard isn’t willing to accept that Pennyland closed years ago, and he’s determined to stage one final show for his captive young audience . . .


Zoë’s talent for screaming is going to be put to good use. Sai, Jason and Aaliyah are going to prove themselves quick studies. And their visit to Pennyland is going to be anything but amusing.


Buy Screamers:

Amazon.ca

Chapters.Indigo.ca


Also available in French under the title Hurleurs:

Amazon.ca

Chapters.Indigo.ca

The 'Haunted' Series

Haunted is a series of standalone middle-grade fiction, perfect for fans of Goosebumps and Haunted Canada! Packed with action, genuine chills, and some healthy doses of humour to cut the tension, these novels are set in towns and cities across Canada. Read them in any order and prepare to scream!

Field of Screams

Darius is excited that his cousin, Ryan, is coming to stay for a weekend in October. Though they used to be close, Darius hasn't seen his cousin since Ryan moved to Vancouver from central B.C. several years before. The visit doesn't get off to a good start. Ryan has changed and can't stop talking about how much better the city is than the country.


Eager to win back his favour, Darius plans a trip to Scarecrow Farm, a local farm that morphs into a Halloween attraction each fall. The boys used to love visiting when they were younger. Only Scarecrow Farm is nothing like they remember and seems to have fallen on hard times. It's not long before they become disorientated and lost in the corn maze. Just as they're beginning to panic, they come across a younger boy who seems even more lost...not in the maze, but in this plane of existence!


Can Darius and Ryan escape before they become the latest two victims of the corn maze?


Buy Field of Screams in America:

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble


Buy Field of Screams in Canada:

Amazon.ca

Chapters.Indigo.ca

Night of the Living Dolls

After her grandmother dies, Zelda’s family travels to Summerside, P.E.I., to arrange the funeral.

Everything in Grandma Fitzgerald’s house reminds Zelda of her. As Zelda comes to grips with her grief, Sadie Sees, the doll her grandmother gave her when she was very young, is a great comfort.

That is, until she hears the doll speaking on her own one night...

Buy Night of the Living Dolls in America:

Buy Night of the Living Dolls in Canada:

Ghosts Never Die (America) / Kill Screen (Canada)

Everyone in Evie's east-coast school is obsessed with Kill Screen, one of the scariest, most intense video games on the market! But no one has ever beat the game and many believe there must be a defect in the last level, making victory impossible to attain.

When Evie finally figures out how to defeat the final ghost, the Wisp, her work is far from over, for as the first person to ever complete Kill Screen, she's unwittingly unleashed the Wisp into our world!

Buy Ghosts Never Die in America:

Buy Kill Screen in Canada:

The Nightmare Next Door (America) / The House Next Door (Canada)

Having grown up in the country with woods to explore and lakes to swim in, Matt isn’t exactly thrilled when his parents move to a new subdivision of cookie-cutter houses near the city. But he’s determined to make the most of the move. His little sister Sophie, on the other hand, is absolutely miserable. That is, until they discover that the house next door — an old stone farmhouse, whose owners have stubbornly refused to sell to developers — has a horse!

Sophie doesn’t care if the horse is past its prime; maybe whoever lives next door might even let her ride it if she helps care for it. Which would be a great plan...if only the horse and its owners weren’t already dead!

Buy The Nightmare Next Door in America:

Buy The House Next Door in Canada:

Haunted Series Book Trailer