A Selection of Horror Books Released, 5 to 11 May 2024
Themes: Supernatural, psychological, cosmic, sapphic, dark fantasy, and zombie horror
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Table of Contents
For the Better – Daniel J. Volpe
Supernatural horror – Prequel to Left to You
Everyone has demons, but for Josef, evil has a name.
After confronting an old enemy, Josef is left with a gift, granting him untold opportunities. But, as with everything, this comes at a hefty price. Each time he’s confronted with using his new-found gift, Josef has to convince himself it’s for the better.
As his life spirals out of control, Josef must decide whether he can reign in the new power or be consumed by it.
Ghostroots – ‘Pemi Aguda
Horror collection
Twelve imaginative stories set in Lagos, Nigeria, dramatizing the tension between our yearning to be individuals and the ways we are haunted by what came before.
A woman sees the ghost of her abusive mother in her daughter’s face. Shortly after, the daughter is overtaken by wicked and destructive impulses.
A wife forgives her husband for his infidelity. Months later, when she is unable to produce milk for her newborn, she blames herself for failing to uphold her mother’s feminist values and doubts her fitness for motherhood.
A trio of fathers finds something unnatural and unnerving about their infant sons. As their lives rapidly fall to pieces, they begin to fear that their sons are the cause of their troubles.
A teenage boy lives in the shadow of a mysterious disease that’s killing the boys on his street.
The Harvest – Diego Rauda
Cosmic horror
After a nightmare about a disembodied, skinless head calling him from under the bed, Daniel woke with a jolt, but managed to fall asleep again with little effort. He was used to these hellish visions … while asleep.
Now the visions have started to cross over to his waking life. As he tries to bury the feeling that he’ s being stalked by an unseen force, one of his closest friends takes their own life in front of him, but only after blaming him and “ the dragon he carries.”
While he races to elucidate a mystery that recedes before him, the people closest to Daniel continue to die in perverse circumstances. Against his better judgment, Daniel follows the thread which connects these deaths to discover the truth.
His Unburned Heart – David Sandner
Psychological horror
The story of Mary Shelley’s quest to retrieve her husband’s heart from his publisher.
History tells us that Percy Shelley was cremated, though his heart failed to burn, but the rest of the details are lost to time.
Paired with a second, related, piece: The Journal of Sorrow, named after Mary Shelley’s personal journal, that imagines Percy Shelley’s demise.
Mother Knows Best – Lindy Ryan (editor)
Women in horror anthology
New and exclusive short stories and poems inspired by bad mothers from some of today’s fiercest women in horror.
From mama trauma to smother mother, this all-new women in horror anthology features stories about the scariest monster of them all: our mothers.
Featuring Rachel Harrison, Gwendolyn Kiste, Kristi DeMeester, and Kelsea Yu, edited by Lindy Ryan with a foreword by Sadie Hartmann.
Supplication – Nour Abi-Nakhoul
Psychological horror
A hallucinatory horror novel set deeply in the consciousness of a woman exploring a changed and frightening world.
Our protagonist awakens in a basement, tied to a chair, with a man looming over her. But someone has a knife.
Follow her as she emerges from captivity into an unnamed, nightmarish city, seeking some meaning to her new reality.
As figures emerge from the night, some offering sanctuary, and others judgement, she keeps moving, making her way through this fever dream of a narrative.
When the Gods are Away – Robert E. Harpold
Dark fantasy horror
It’s Blasphemer’s Week, the annual period during which the gods vacation at Mount Olympus and ignore the inconsequential mortals, and it always begins with blood.
This year’s first victim is a former police officer, murdered while getting butter from his fridge. Virgil Glezos, the city-state’s first detective on his first case, must track the killer by inventing techniques that combine magic and technology.
He is aided by a professional dance choreographer, a bio-warfare expert who doesn’t want to be there, two police officers who hate him, and a priest who may or may not be trying to kill him.
When Virgil uncovers something deeper than a single murder, he must quickly become the wrong person at the right time to stop the greater plot against humanity.
When the Devil – Emma E Murray
Sapphic horror
Libby finds salvation in a new sapphic partner, homebrewed poison, and facing a God she no longer believes in.
The Z Word – Lindsay King-Miller
Zombie comedy horror
Chaotic bisexual Wendy is trying to find her place in the queer community of San Lazaro, Arizona, after a bad breakup, which is particularly difficult because her ex is hooking up with some of her friends.
When the people around them start turning into violent, terrifying mindless husks, well, that makes things harder. Especially since the infection seems to be spreading.
Now, Wendy and her friends and frenemies – drag queen Logan, silver fox Beau, sword lesbian Aurelia and her wife Sam, mysterious pizza delivery stoner Sunshine, and, oh yeah, Wendy’s ex-girlfriend Leah – team up to stay alive, save Pride, and track the zombie outbreak to its shocking source.
Hopefully without killing each other first.
Published: 11 May 2024
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