A Selection of Horror Books Released, 25 to 31 Aug 2024
Themes: Supernatural, psychological, cosmic, sci-fi, splatterpunk, shark, and apocalypse horror
- This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Table of Contents
Come Out, Come Out – Natalie C. Parker
YA supernatural LGBTQIA+ horror
It’s never been safe for Fern, Jaq, or Mallory to come out to their families. As kids, their emerging identities drove them into friendship but also forced them into the woods to hide in an old, abandoned house when they needed safety.
But one night when the girls sought refuge, Mallory never made it back home. Fern and Jaq did, but neither survivor remembered what happened or the secrets they were so desperate to keep.
Five years later, Fern and Jaq are seniors on the verge of graduation, seemingly happy in their straight, cisgender lives, until a spirit who looks like Mallory begins to appear, seeking revenge for her death, and the part Fern and Jaq played in it. As they’re haunted, something begins to shift inside them.
They remember who they are.
Who they want to love.
And the truth about the vicious secrets hiding in their woods.
Crypt of the Moon Spider – Nathan Ballingrud
Sci-fi fantasy horror
Years ago, in a cave beneath the dense forests and streams on the surface of the moon, a gargantuan spider once lived. Its silk granted its first worshippers immense faculties of power and awe.
It’s now 1923 and Veronica Brinkley is touching down on the moon for her intake at the Barrowfield Home for Treatment of the Melancholy. A renowned facility, Dr. Barrington Cull’s invasive and highly successful treatments have been lauded by many. And they’re so simple! All it takes is a little spider silk in the amygdala, maybe a strand or two in the prefrontal cortex, and perhaps an inch in the hippocampus for near evisceration of those troublesome thoughts and ideas.
But patients aren’t the only ones with trouble on their minds, and although the spider’s been dead for years, its denizens are not. Someone or something is up to no good, and Veronica just might be the cause.
Dead Folk – Katherine Silva
Apocalypse horror
Once upon a time, a woman thought she made peace with her grief. As she tended the dying land, she befriended a fox: a symbol that reminded her of her beloved father who died at the hands of a selfish doctor.
But grief is perennial and after she loses her new friend, she discovers hope was just an illusion, too. Magic meanders back into her life and with it, a hunger for retribution unlike any felt before.
Demons in My Bloodstream – Candace Nola
Horror collection
Six nightmarish tales include a mobsters bucket list, a neighborhood gardening competition gone wrong, a serial killer patiently waiting for one last kill, and a colorblind man that finally cures what ails him.
Harvesting the Nightmare Fields – Ross Jeffery
Psychological horror
Philip awakes to the nightmare of a broken mind and body, at the mercy of a local farmer with a dark, abominable secret, who pulls him from the twisted wreck of his car.
As he recovers, clawing his way back through tortured memories and twisted nightmares, Philip realizes the person he fights to remember should have been best left forgotten, buried alongside the truth of his own personal demons.
And those demons are breaking through into reality.
Hush, My Darling – Leigh Kenny
Irish psychological horror
In pursuit of peace and family ties, American tourist Megan goes on a road trip around Ireland. When she becomes stranded deep in the mountains, the Brogan family come to her rescue. But is it luck, or is Megan’s nightmare just beginning?
The Wicklow Mountains offer breathtaking beauty to all who venture in.
Where nature abounds.
Where solitude beckons.
Where no one can hear you scream.
Love Skull – Emma Alice Johnson
Horror collection
Twelve stories that blend horror, sci-fi, weird, and romance.
A background skull from a popular 80s horror novel comes to life and becomes obsessed with the book’s reader.
Two women fall in love as a giant monster destroys the town around them.
Friends band together to haul their BFF’s corpse to the ocean for the ultimate funeral-by-shark.
The Madness – Dawn Kurtagich
Psychological horror
Dr. Mina Murray returns to the windswept shores of Wales to help her childhood friend fight the mysterious illness that plagues her. When the lines between reality and delusion begin to blur, Mina must face off against a monstrous legacy, or be consumed herself.
With one unexpected email from her estranged best friend, Lucy, Mina Murray’s carefully curated life is turned upside down. Leaving behind her psychiatric practice in London, she returns home to the windswept shores of Wales. Faced with everything she’s left behind, she soon discovers that Lucy’s symptoms mirror those of her mysterious amnesiac patient hundreds of miles away.
With nothing but an untreatable sickness connecting the two women, and with Lucy’s life on the line, Mina finds herself asking questions and being drawn ever-deeper into a web of secrets, missing girls, and the powerful, nameless force at its center, one that has been haunting her for years.
As terrible, ancient truths begin to reveal themselves, Mina prepares to confront her own darkest secrets, and with them, an evil beyond comprehension. Together with a group of smart, savvy women, Mina seizes one last, desperate chance to stop the cycle that began so long ago. But there are dangers to inviting the attentions of what might not be a man, but a monster…
Night of the Living Head – Hanna Alkaf
Middle grade horror – Book 2 of Tales from Cabin 23
Twelve-year-old Alia has always had the worst luck. Whether it’s her parents moving her all the way from Kuala Lumpur to a tiny village or her shoes constantly coming untied, Alia can’t help but feel as if the universe has it out for her.
To top it all off, her estranged older sister, Ayu, has just reappeared in their lives after years away. Alia’s parents are delighted, but Alia is not so sure. She remembers the fights, the tears, the pain her sister caused and knows this is just another case of bad luck following her around.
Then Alia’s school fills with rumors of a horrifying creature spotted flying in the night sky. And Alia realizes that perhaps it’s not just her bad luck this time, but something more sinister is lying just under the surface of her town. It’s up to Alia to put an end to it for once and for all.
Sewer Rat – Iona Penn
Splatterpunk horror short – Part of Somebody Please Think of the Children
Ben Jansen has been bullied relentlessly since the third grade by his ex-best friend, Jimmy Norton, after he spills an important secret that destroys not only each of their families but also their friendship.
In an odd twist of fate, Ben finds friendship and comfort in a new and unlikely ally under the city streets. His new friend, Henry encourages Ben to stand up for himself.
Armed with newfound confidence, Ben seeks revenge on Jimmy and his Goon Squad, one by one.
Virus Shark: The Novelization – Cat Voleur
Movie tie-in shark horror
SHVID-1, a virus spread by shark bite, terrorizes the globe.
A group of scientists rush to find a cure in the underwater research base known as Cygnus, but time is running out.
Will they be able to engineer a cure? Will their retrofitted facility hold up to the underwater pressure? Is humanity even worth saving?
Whisperer in Valhalla – various
Cosmic horror anthology – Book 2 of The North Sea Trilogy
Thirteen Lovecraftian authors explore the Viking invasion of The British Isles and the nightmares it will unleash.
Harsh and uncaring, The North Sea harbours many secrets. Some see it as a sacred barrier that must not be crossed, others see it as an opportunity for riches.
As Doggerland slumbers beneath the waves, a new civilisation rises to dominance. For some of these warriors, the call of the sea turns into an obsession, and, eventually, to madness.
Deals with Gods older and stranger than their own lead to horror and tragedy, not just for the foolish few, but for all Humanity.
Who is Johanna? – Vivian Vandam
Psychological horror
Who am I?
It’s not a question someone should ask themselves. There are deep black crevices in my memory, shards that I can’t seem to grasp. Ghosts that linger within every nook and cranny of my memories. Nightmares that cling to a child.
It was like one day I woke up, and realized, I’m not who I believed I am. I’m not the Johanna I once knew. Things are different now that I’ve woken up. No one is who they say they are. Not me. Not you. Not the person you love the most.
So, the question still stands, who am I? And who are you?
Published: 31 August 2024
Subscribe
Horror-themed clothing, notebooks, homewares, and accessories
