The 31st Trick-or-Treater – Ben Farthing
Halloween horror
Thirty-one nights. Thirty-one chapters. One final nightmare.
Last Halloween, thirty trick-or-treaters vanished into the night.
This October, they’re coming back, one by one, each day of the month. But every child carries the same chilling warning: something is returning on the 31st.
Bob has never stopped searching for his daughter. Now, as the shadows of Halloween grow longer, he must face the darkness that stole her before it takes everything again.
9pm – Amy Cross
Ghost horror – Book 2 of The Haunting of London
Late one night, Jane Lucas makes a surprising discovery on the step of her local church: a newborn baby has been left wrapped in a blanket, with no note and no explanation. With heavy rain starting to fall, Jane takes the baby inside and makes arrangements to have him collected. But as the rain gets stronger and heavier, Jane starts to notice something moving in the shadows.
Help soon arrives in the form of Roger, who’s there to take the child away. But he too quickly realizes that something is very wrong inside the church. For years, there have been rumors of a ghostly figure that is only ever seen at night. Jane insists that these rumors can’t possibly be based on anything real, yet even she can’t deny the sense of menace that seems to be spreading slowly through the building.
And trying to take the child.
Jane and Roger soon find themselves trapped in a battle to save the newborn boy from a terrifying entity. They can leave the church whenever they want, but only if they let the child stay. But what kind of creature is so desperate to claim a young life? And how far will this evil force go in its efforts to get what it wants?
Body of Water – Adam Godfrey
Supernatural horror
An estranged father and daughter find themselves trapped in a diner by a living body of water.
It’s been six years since Glen Masters lost his wife in a tragic accident. In hopes of reconnecting with his grieving teenage daughter, Lauren, he decides to take her on a road trip through the Appalachian mountains, where he has fond memories of their past as a family.
But what was supposed to be a quick diner pit stop suddenly transforms into a nightmare when armed men stumble in, ranting about a mysterious and deadly “living water” that attacked several people up the road. The story the men spin seems to be the rantings of drunken lunatics, but soon Glen, his daughter, and the other diners find themselves hostages to both the gunmen and the inexplicably terrifying entity.
Because there’s truly something wrong with the water, and it has no mercy.
Panic grows as the diners play witness to a nature-defying being that seeks only to swallow everything in its path. With help nowhere in sight, the group of strangers must work together to devise an escape, and ultimately, Glen will have to face his worst fears to reconcile with the past or risk losing everything.
Campus of Shadows – Jo Loveday
Psychological horror
Something dark has found Dave Everest at college; something hungry.
A neurodivergent freshman craving independence, Dave steps onto the sun-baked campus of the University of Mann with high hopes and a shaky sense of self. But freedom quickly spirals into chaos when he’s drawn into the orbit of Zane Maddox, his dangerously charming, party-obsessed roommate.
While Dave chases acceptance in all the wrong places, his childhood friend Maria Vasquez warns of forces that go far beyond hangovers and heartbreak. She carries psychic insight and the burden of guilt, sensing something ancient and malevolent stalking him, like a vulture waiting for its moment.
Zane mocks her as a “crazy religious freak,” but his grudge isn’t spiritual, it’s personal. When Dave’s loneliness deepens, he reaches out into the void and something answers. A whispering voice named Ivan slithers into his mind, awakening memories soaked in addiction and violence.
As family tensions erupt over Thanksgiving and Dave’s grip on reality slips, the boundary between madness and possession begins to blur. Ivan’s ghostly power grows. And the vulture circles closer.
Maria may be the only one who can help him. But will she reach Dave before the darkness does?
Cubby – Jyl Glenn
YA psychological horror
When Emma and Caleb move into an old farmhouse, it feels like the perfect home for their growing family.
Then they find something unexpected in the attic.
It’s soft, adorable, and stitched together with something that calls itself love.
As the days grow shorter and Emma’s due date draws near, strange things begin to stir in the shadows. The dog growls at empty corners. The baby’s room never feels quite right.
And the thing they found in the attic? Some things get left behind for a reason.
Dead Roots of the Earth – Shawn Brooks
Folk horror – Book 4 of Black Sun
Beneath the soil, ancient hunger stirs.
Noah Paulson’s wife has been missing for five years, and he can’t let her go. Together with his dog Beta, he lives a meager existence in Japan, reporting on local crops and refusing to pursue a romantic relationship with his neighbor.
A massive earthquake hits. Holes open up in the streets and even inside homes. People go missing. Noah sees this as an opportunity to write a story that will get his life back on track. Yet, the further he investigates, the more he hears his wife’s voice in his mind calling him to an isolated mining town where the locals are hiding a terrible secret.
Soon, he discovers that there are hungry things down in those holes.
Things that won’t stay down there for long.
The Garden of Before – Ryan Leslie
Psychological horror – Book 2 of The Between
For Paul Prentice things have gotten much worse. His house was destroyed in the battle with the Koŝmaro. He’s on thin ice at his job, where instead of working he loses himself in the Between’s computer game, trying in vain to find explanations. His best friend Jay has transformed into a shadowy killer. Corinne and Supriya have vanished. And it appears his wife, Julie, has finally had enough and left him.
Alone and near ruin, Paul receives a familiar visitor with a dire message: they are all back in the Between. Hunted, captured, doomed. For Paul, still wearing the serĉilo’s artifact on his wrist, escape was never an option. The game must be played until the end.
Hannah and Other Stories – Rami Ungar
Horror collection
Sometimes, one must search for the entrance of the strange and then walk into a world where the laws of reality and humanity have no meaning.
Other times, people find the horrors in this strange world simply by going to a toy convention, going to visit a troubled sibling, or checking out a party in the Paris catacombs.
Seven short stories that will make the reader question their reality and wonder just how easy it is to step into Hell.
If You Knew Me – S.P. Miskowski
Psychological horror
A novice reporter walks a perilous tightrope between ambition and obsession.
Parker Dillon can’t win. Just as she’s trying to start her journalism career, her aunt sells the website where she works, and the new owner is keen to replace employees with AI. But her luck seems to turn when she discovers an intriguing cold pitch buried in her aunt’s files.
Ann Mason claims she did something terrible and never got caught. She’s also weirdly infatuated with a long-forgotten TV star. Desperate for a spectacular feature, Parker tracks Ann from Seattle to her home in Arizona. But as she interviews neighbors, coworkers, and friends, her quarry grows increasingly elusive, and her story turns deadlier than she ever imagined.
Parker can’t shake the feeling that she’s the subject, not the author, of this macabre piece, the prey, not the hunter. The more she learns about Ann’s obsessions and drives, the more it’s like looking in a cracked mirror. And Parker’s not sure she likes what she sees.
Little Visitor & Other Abductions – Adam Szym
Sci-fi horror graphic novel
The cast and crew of an obscure film recount a tragedy that occurred during its doomed production.
A young girl searches for her father in the darkness of the desert and stumbles upon an otherworldly cocktail party.
Two strangers nurture violent thoughts in a bitter, lonely child as his village’s harvest festival nears.
Connecting these three stories is one horrific theme.
Nightwere at Christmas – Jason Davis
Werewolf horror
When Roger is called on duty to investigate some strange animal attacks in the woods, he’s already in a bad mood. It’s his wife’s first-time hosting thanksgiving dinner and his family is in town for the festivities. She’s not happy that he’s being called in and that is only going to make his life even more a living hell when he gets home…
If he gets home…
In the woods he’s attacked by something that isn’t a bear, and he barely survives. When he wakes up, he’ll find that his life will no longer be the same. Not when there is now a monster hiding inside him, and every day is a constant struggle to keep it locked away.
One of Us – Dan Chaon
Carnival horror
Orphaned twins on the run from their murderous uncle find refuge in a bizarre traveling carnival.
It’s 1915 and the world is transforming, but for thirteen-year-old Bolt and Eleanor – twins so close they can literally read each other’s minds – life is falling apart. When their mother dies, they are forced to leave home under the care of a vicious con man who claims to be their long-lost uncle Charlie, the only kin they have left. During a late-night poker game, when one of his rages ends in murder, they decide to flee.
Salvation arrives in the form of Mr. Jengling, founder of the Emporium of Wonders and father to its many members. He adopts Bolt and Eleanor, who travel by train across the vast, sometimes brutal American frontier with their new family, watching as the exhibitions spark amazement wherever they go. There’s Minnie, the three-legged lady, and Dr. Chui, who stands over seven feet tall; Thistle Britches, the clown with no nose, and Rosalie, who can foretell the death of anyone she meets.
After a lifetime of having only each other, Eleanor and Bolt are finally part of something bigger. But as Bolt falls in deeper with their new clan, he finds Eleanor pulling further away from him. And when Uncle Charlie picks up their trail, the twins find themselves facing a peril as strange as it is terrifying, one which will forever alter the trajectory of their lives.
The Red Knot – Asher Monique
Small town horror
On a tiny, isolated island off the southern Alaskan coast, three girls have vanished without a trace, and Audra’s close friend has been found murdered. A recent storm has severed all communication with the outside world, leaving Audra, the town’s lead detective, trapped and at the head of a very personal case.
Her lead suspect, Valorie, the daughter of a notorious cult leader and the town’s outcast, was discovered blood-covered and dazed at the crime scene. Valorie’s memory is a gaping void, a dark well hiding traumatic secrets, including the truth about the teenage kidnappings that haunt the island.
As Audra digs deeper into the town’s twisted history, it becomes clear other murders on the island, dating back decades, might be connected. The clock is ticking for the missing girls, and every clue leads Audra to question even those she’s known her whole life.
Valorie must confront the horrors of her past while Audra’s investigation becomes a descent into madness. On this cursed island, the line between neighbor and nightmare blurs, revealing that true horror often wears a familiar face.
Spit Back the Bones – Teagan Olivia King
Creature horror
Something dreadful is festering in the old Thomas Bog. For years, it’s done what it has been taught to do: it swallows. But it’s done following orders.
It’s been three years since Mila Thomas’ brother Jed went missing and his case went cold. Since then, Mila has fled town, running from the voices of the dead that reach her from the depths of the old family bog, afraid she would hear her brother’s among them.
But when her younger sister, Agatha, calls her back home to celebrate her graduation, Mila can’t help but return to her old haunts.
When she arrives, Mila comes face to face with the town reverend, who informs her that Agatha is now also missing. Finding her mother and the local police utterly useless, Mila opens herself up to the voices of the bog in the hopes that they can tell her where her sister is.
But something else lurks beneath the bog’s waters, something that would sooner hunt her than help her. As more bodies turn up on the sandy shores, Mila must overcome her complicated history with the reverend’s estranged son to unearth the fate of the town’s missing members and the family secrets that may be behind everything.
Spread Me – Sarah Gailey
Isolation horror
A routine probe at a research station turns deadly when the team discovers a strange specimen in search of a warm place to stay.
Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the isolation and the way the desert keeps temptations from the civilian world far out of reach.
When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it inside. But the longer it’s there, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can’t be ignored any longer.
One by one, Kinsey’s team realizes the thing they’re studying is in search of a new host, and one of them is the perfect candidate.
We Love You, Bunny – Mona Awad
Psychological horror
Sam has just published her first novel to critical acclaim.
But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they’ve been portrayed, kidnap her. Now a captive audience, it’s her (and our) turn to hear the Bunnies’ side of the story.
One by one, they take turns holding the axe, and recount the birth throes of their unholy alliance, their discovery of their unusual creative powers, and the phantasmagoric adventure of conjuring their first creation.
