This Month in Horror || The Best New Horror Books Coming July 2026
July is here, which means longer days, warmer nights, and a whole new crop of horror books ready to ruin your sleep schedule. Whether you want ghosts, monsters, dark fantasy, weird fiction, folk horror, or a little bloodbath with your summer reading, there’s plenty to keep your TBR pile growing.
So grab your sunscreen, lock your doors, and let's take a look at the horror books coming your way in July.
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When fashion influencer and grave robber Poppy Stringer is tasked with retrieving the body of flamboyant rockstar and queer icon Eddie Michaels from the medical examiner’s office, things take a decidedly unexpected turn when the corpse wakes up.
From there? A blood-soaked trip through Palm Springs, supernatural chaos, and a whole lot of fabulousness.
James Sugre has lived for centuries, but he’s never been this broke. After bad investments, missed crypto trends, and spending most of his time in his coffin because he can’t afford to go out, this vampire is ready to try anything to escape capitalism. So naturally, he starts a business turning humans into vampires for cash. Immortality is forever. Unfortunately, so are the bills.
Before Dracula, there were the Brides. Told across two timelines through letters, diaries, and psychiatric reports, this gothic retelling puts the women at the center of literature’s most famous vampire story. As love, illness, nightmares, and a mysterious man in black draw four women toward Transylvania, one question hangs in the air: There were meant to be four.
Paris, 1869. A coven of vampires runs a theater, follows a strict no-killing-too-many-people policy, and has somehow managed to keep the immortal drama onstage. But with a witch, rival vampires, forbidden attraction, ominous visions, and revolution brewing in the streets, their carefully managed eternity is about to get very messy.
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Two friends. One Ouija board. One massive secret that threatens to tear everything apart.
Honestly, this is exactly why we should stop playing with Ouija boards. Yet somehow, we never learn, do we?
The most addictive video game ever made—and the only way to stop playing is to die. When Margo’s brother becomes one of the game’s victims, she sets out to expose the people behind it before the game launches nationwide. Unfortunately, Fun Times at the Bloodbath has other plans, and soon the entire country is playing. Game over? More like game over for everyone.
Persephone Green doesn’t have a heartbeat—but she does have something ancient and inhuman stirring where her heart should be. When she meets the equally strange Sebastian, ghosts begin swarming around them, flowers bloom from the dead, and the two are pulled into a cross-country conspiracy involving a deserted facility, government agents, and Persephone’s deeply inconvenient mother. A supernatural road trip, a love story, and a battle over the fate of the living and the dead? No heartbeat, no problem.
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Three women. One cheating boyfriend. One remote, snow-covered cabin. When their revenge plan ends with their shared ex dead, the getaway turns into a locked-room murder mystery—with the killer trapped inside. As suspicion, secrets, and the freezing wilderness close in, the women must figure out whether one of them is a murderer… or if something much worse is waiting outside. Couples' retreat? More like a killer retreat.
After a violent incident at work, Tamsin escapes to a remote cottage for a fresh start. Unfortunately, her new home is actually semi-detached, and the unsettling woman on the other side of the wall seems to be hiding something. As strange disturbances begin in Tamsin’s house and locals share disturbing stories about the property, her paranoia starts to spiral. The perfect cottage getaway is just one thin wall away from becoming a nightmare.
A horror-movie-themed birthday party at a secluded mansion? What could possibly go wrong? When Tippi starts receiving threatening messages from her supposedly cross-country ex and her guests begin disappearing one by one, she realizes the killer may be closer than she thinks—and the secret she buried may be the reason everyone is in danger. The call is coming from inside the house.
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A group of academics descends into sea caves to study an ancient Cult of the Leviathan. Then the entrance collapses, trapping them underground with strange artifacts, scattered bones, and an ancient trial they never agreed to take. One by one, they’ll be forced to confront their greatest sins. Atone or die.
Eleven-year-old Penelope is already haunted by her father’s disappearance and her mother’s grief when she moves into a yellow house once owned by Sylvia Plath. Then Plath’s ghost begins to appear. As poetry, memory, and reality start to blur, Penelope must figure out whether she’s being haunted by a ghost—or by grief itself. Sometimes the house isn’t the only thing falling apart.
Nobody knows who created the Darkive—a mysterious database of firsthand accounts documenting ghosts, paranormal entities, and unexplained anomalies. When Adam and his best friend, Sol, stumble into a strange abandoned town during a disastrous camping trip, they’re forced to play a game of hide-and-seek. The rules are confusing, the town is empty, and something is definitely hiding with them. Ready or not, here it comes.
July 15
Monsters are personal—but they’re also universal. This collection explores the ways horror helps us examine monstrosity, from who gets labeled a monster to what those labels reveal about ourselves. Because while our monsters may look different, our nightmares have more in common than we think. My monsters aren’t like yours. They’re worse.
July 21.png)
When Malcolm’s dying mother makes him promise to carry her body back to her birthplace in Maine, he expects a difficult journey—not a supernatural road trip through a world waking up to collect an old debt. As violence erupts aboard the train and ancient evils emerge from their hiding places, Malcolm and Violet must get Maggie home before everything buried comes looking for her.
Sixteen-year-old Harrow Lane travels to an island that shouldn’t exist to uncover the truth about her father’s death—and the curse he accidentally gave her at birth. Then the boat sinks, something in the darkness starts laughing, and Harrow discovers that the island has rules she doesn’t understand, creatures that don’t want her there, and absolutely no way to call for help. Add in emotions with human faces, a monster made of pure terror, and the possible end of the world, and you’ve got Inside Out in hell—with significantly worse coping mechanisms.
Thirteen years after her mother vanished, Phinnie “Skinny” Caldwell is still haunted by nightmares of the last time she saw her alive. When the man responsible, Zell Dorsey, returns to their small West Virginia coal camp, Skinny is determined to uncover the truth. But behind Zell’s charming smile lurks something far older—and far more monstrous than the devil himself. Appalachian grief, dark secrets, and oil-slicked monsters? Pass the sweet tea.
Moth knows the Winter Folk are dangerous. Her mother warned her. But when she’s broke, desperate, and offered a housekeeper’s contract at Deerhaven—a secret Appalachian lodge where every winter guest is something other than human—she signs anyway. Decades later, Moth returns to the place that banished her, haunted by memories of the antlered Mr. Oslin, the friends she left behind, and the obsession that may have cost her everything.
After a car crash leaves Junie Daniels with a dead sister, fragmented memories, and a mother too checked-out to plan a funeral, the cheapest grave plot she can find is in a nearby town with a dark history and rumors of even darker magic. When strange things begin happening at the cemetery, Junie and her best friend Omari investigate, only to discover that Williamsville wants both Daniels sisters. And Junie will do anything to protect her sister—even if she’s already dead.
A year ago, Elle made a deal with the devil to save her sister. Now she tends a lighthouse on a desolate island, luring ships to their destruction to pay the price. But when the devil demands more—and a mysterious woman washes ashore—Elle must choose between sacrificing another ship, breaking her sister’s heart, or losing her own soul. Turns out, the devil really does come with hidden fees.
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On a remote Irish island ruled by the church and haunted by old superstitions, eccentric painter Grizela Urquhart has spent forty years as an outsider. Then a young priest is found dead with a diabolical symbol carved into his chest, crows darken the skies, and demonic whispers begin invading Grizela’s mind. As the island descends into hysteria, Grizela must protect the four young girls under her care while confronting the dark secrets lurking beneath Beanna Dubh.
Phil discovers something dying under his deck emitting a horrid stench. When he attempts to remove the corpse, strange things begin to happen, and Phil descends into a strange pit of insanity.
The Hook: Professor Harper Grae studies ghosts, witches, and the occult, but she absolutely does not believe in any of them. Then a cheesy ghost tour leads her to a real murder at a nearly two-hundred-year-old mansion, where she sees something she cannot explain. When Harper discovers another woman was murdered beneath the same cypress tree almost two centuries earlier, she begins to wonder if the Perles Mansion is truly haunted. Turns out, the best way to ruin a skeptic’s day is with a murder and a ghost.
It’s 1887, and the nuns of an isolated Berkshire convent have enough prayers, hard work, and homemade Italian amaro to keep them busy. Then a pack of monstrous Gulo descends from the mountains and attacks the convent. After killing one of the beasts, the sisters decide the best defense is a good offense and head into the snowy wilderness to hunt the rest.
Luckily, they have help from the mysterious Long Nun, a warrior-saint from France who claims to have killed werewolves and other vicious creatures. She teaches the sisters to embrace their darker instincts and unleash their inner savages. Nuns with crossbows, monsters in the snow, and a holy war fueled by amaro? Amen.
July 29.png)
New mom Sadie is already struggling with the loss of her identity, autonomy, and sleep when a walk with her three-month-old daughter reveals a secret trail in the woods. At the end is a tiny door surrounded by tiny bones. The trail only appears when Sadie is alone, and something is waiting on the other side. Because apparently motherhood needed one more terrifying thing to worry about.
Jack and Avery think they’ve found the perfect fixer-upper. The strange collage of pornographic clippings in the basement is weird, but probably just part of the house’s quirky charm. Then the house wakes up. Now the walls are bleeding, the house is alive, and it demands homage. Nothing says “dream home” like a sentient house with artistic ambitions and a taste for blood.
July 30
Humanity escaped a dying world through a mysterious gate, only to end up dependent on the Root, a strange plant that provides the food they need to survive. Then a bloody accident creates a new kind of person, and suddenly the Root has something to say. It wants to give humanity a miracle, even if that miracle means transforming their bodies in ways they never asked for. The Root is listening. The Root is whispering. And apparently, the Root has plans for your body.
The summer of 2026 is bringing a seriously eclectic lineup of horror. We have ghosts, witches, vampires, Ouija boards, haunted homes, folk horror, body horror, sea monsters, mysterious bones, and at least one thing hiding under a deck.
In other words: the horror TBR is thriving.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have several books to add to my list and absolutely no room left on my shelves.
Happy reading—and remember: if something under your deck says your name, you did not hear it.
July is here, which means longer days, warmer nights, and a whole new crop of horror books ready to ruin your sleep schedule. Whether you want ghosts, monsters, dark fantasy, weird fiction, folk horror, or a little bloodbath with your summer reading, there’s plenty to keep your TBR pile growing.
So grab your sunscreen, lock your doors, and let's take a look at the horror books coming your way in July.
July 7
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When fashion influencer and grave robber Poppy Stringer is tasked with retrieving the body of flamboyant rockstar and queer icon Eddie Michaels from the medical examiner’s office, things take a decidedly unexpected turn when the corpse wakes up.
From there? A blood-soaked trip through Palm Springs, supernatural chaos, and a whole lot of fabulousness.
James Sugre has lived for centuries, but he’s never been this broke. After bad investments, missed crypto trends, and spending most of his time in his coffin because he can’t afford to go out, this vampire is ready to try anything to escape capitalism. So naturally, he starts a business turning humans into vampires for cash. Immortality is forever. Unfortunately, so are the bills.
Before Dracula, there were the Brides. Told across two timelines through letters, diaries, and psychiatric reports, this gothic retelling puts the women at the center of literature’s most famous vampire story. As love, illness, nightmares, and a mysterious man in black draw four women toward Transylvania, one question hangs in the air: There were meant to be four.
Paris, 1869. A coven of vampires runs a theater, follows a strict no-killing-too-many-people policy, and has somehow managed to keep the immortal drama onstage. But with a witch, rival vampires, forbidden attraction, ominous visions, and revolution brewing in the streets, their carefully managed eternity is about to get very messy.
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Two friends. One Ouija board. One massive secret that threatens to tear everything apart.
Honestly, this is exactly why we should stop playing with Ouija boards. Yet somehow, we never learn, do we?
The most addictive video game ever made—and the only way to stop playing is to die. When Margo’s brother becomes one of the game’s victims, she sets out to expose the people behind it before the game launches nationwide. Unfortunately, Fun Times at the Bloodbath has other plans, and soon the entire country is playing. Game over? More like game over for everyone.
Persephone Green doesn’t have a heartbeat—but she does have something ancient and inhuman stirring where her heart should be. When she meets the equally strange Sebastian, ghosts begin swarming around them, flowers bloom from the dead, and the two are pulled into a cross-country conspiracy involving a deserted facility, government agents, and Persephone’s deeply inconvenient mother. A supernatural road trip, a love story, and a battle over the fate of the living and the dead? No heartbeat, no problem.
July 14
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Three women. One cheating boyfriend. One remote, snow-covered cabin. When their revenge plan ends with their shared ex dead, the getaway turns into a locked-room murder mystery—with the killer trapped inside. As suspicion, secrets, and the freezing wilderness close in, the women must figure out whether one of them is a murderer… or if something much worse is waiting outside. Couples' retreat? More like a killer retreat.
After a violent incident at work, Tamsin escapes to a remote cottage for a fresh start. Unfortunately, her new home is actually semi-detached, and the unsettling woman on the other side of the wall seems to be hiding something. As strange disturbances begin in Tamsin’s house and locals share disturbing stories about the property, her paranoia starts to spiral. The perfect cottage getaway is just one thin wall away from becoming a nightmare.
A horror-movie-themed birthday party at a secluded mansion? What could possibly go wrong? When Tippi starts receiving threatening messages from her supposedly cross-country ex and her guests begin disappearing one by one, she realizes the killer may be closer than she thinks—and the secret she buried may be the reason everyone is in danger. The call is coming from inside the house.
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A group of academics descends into sea caves to study an ancient Cult of the Leviathan. Then the entrance collapses, trapping them underground with strange artifacts, scattered bones, and an ancient trial they never agreed to take. One by one, they’ll be forced to confront their greatest sins. Atone or die.
Eleven-year-old Penelope is already haunted by her father’s disappearance and her mother’s grief when she moves into a yellow house once owned by Sylvia Plath. Then Plath’s ghost begins to appear. As poetry, memory, and reality start to blur, Penelope must figure out whether she’s being haunted by a ghost—or by grief itself. Sometimes the house isn’t the only thing falling apart.
Nobody knows who created the Darkive—a mysterious database of firsthand accounts documenting ghosts, paranormal entities, and unexplained anomalies. When Adam and his best friend, Sol, stumble into a strange abandoned town during a disastrous camping trip, they’re forced to play a game of hide-and-seek. The rules are confusing, the town is empty, and something is definitely hiding with them. Ready or not, here it comes.
July 15
Monsters are personal—but they’re also universal. This collection explores the ways horror helps us examine monstrosity, from who gets labeled a monster to what those labels reveal about ourselves. Because while our monsters may look different, our nightmares have more in common than we think. My monsters aren’t like yours. They’re worse.
July 21
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When Malcolm’s dying mother makes him promise to carry her body back to her birthplace in Maine, he expects a difficult journey—not a supernatural road trip through a world waking up to collect an old debt. As violence erupts aboard the train and ancient evils emerge from their hiding places, Malcolm and Violet must get Maggie home before everything buried comes looking for her.
Sixteen-year-old Harrow Lane travels to an island that shouldn’t exist to uncover the truth about her father’s death—and the curse he accidentally gave her at birth. Then the boat sinks, something in the darkness starts laughing, and Harrow discovers that the island has rules she doesn’t understand, creatures that don’t want her there, and absolutely no way to call for help. Add in emotions with human faces, a monster made of pure terror, and the possible end of the world, and you’ve got Inside Out in hell—with significantly worse coping mechanisms.
Thirteen years after her mother vanished, Phinnie “Skinny” Caldwell is still haunted by nightmares of the last time she saw her alive. When the man responsible, Zell Dorsey, returns to their small West Virginia coal camp, Skinny is determined to uncover the truth. But behind Zell’s charming smile lurks something far older—and far more monstrous than the devil himself. Appalachian grief, dark secrets, and oil-slicked monsters? Pass the sweet tea.
.png)
Moth knows the Winter Folk are dangerous. Her mother warned her. But when she’s broke, desperate, and offered a housekeeper’s contract at Deerhaven—a secret Appalachian lodge where every winter guest is something other than human—she signs anyway. Decades later, Moth returns to the place that banished her, haunted by memories of the antlered Mr. Oslin, the friends she left behind, and the obsession that may have cost her everything.
After a car crash leaves Junie Daniels with a dead sister, fragmented memories, and a mother too checked-out to plan a funeral, the cheapest grave plot she can find is in a nearby town with a dark history and rumors of even darker magic. When strange things begin happening at the cemetery, Junie and her best friend Omari investigate, only to discover that Williamsville wants both Daniels sisters. And Junie will do anything to protect her sister—even if she’s already dead.
A year ago, Elle made a deal with the devil to save her sister. Now she tends a lighthouse on a desolate island, luring ships to their destruction to pay the price. But when the devil demands more—and a mysterious woman washes ashore—Elle must choose between sacrificing another ship, breaking her sister’s heart, or losing her own soul. Turns out, the devil really does come with hidden fees.
July 28
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On a remote Irish island ruled by the church and haunted by old superstitions, eccentric painter Grizela Urquhart has spent forty years as an outsider. Then a young priest is found dead with a diabolical symbol carved into his chest, crows darken the skies, and demonic whispers begin invading Grizela’s mind. As the island descends into hysteria, Grizela must protect the four young girls under her care while confronting the dark secrets lurking beneath Beanna Dubh.
Phil discovers something dying under his deck emitting a horrid stench. When he attempts to remove the corpse, strange things begin to happen, and Phil descends into a strange pit of insanity.
The Hook: Professor Harper Grae studies ghosts, witches, and the occult, but she absolutely does not believe in any of them. Then a cheesy ghost tour leads her to a real murder at a nearly two-hundred-year-old mansion, where she sees something she cannot explain. When Harper discovers another woman was murdered beneath the same cypress tree almost two centuries earlier, she begins to wonder if the Perles Mansion is truly haunted. Turns out, the best way to ruin a skeptic’s day is with a murder and a ghost.
It’s 1887, and the nuns of an isolated Berkshire convent have enough prayers, hard work, and homemade Italian amaro to keep them busy. Then a pack of monstrous Gulo descends from the mountains and attacks the convent. After killing one of the beasts, the sisters decide the best defense is a good offense and head into the snowy wilderness to hunt the rest.
Luckily, they have help from the mysterious Long Nun, a warrior-saint from France who claims to have killed werewolves and other vicious creatures. She teaches the sisters to embrace their darker instincts and unleash their inner savages. Nuns with crossbows, monsters in the snow, and a holy war fueled by amaro? Amen.
July 29
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New mom Sadie is already struggling with the loss of her identity, autonomy, and sleep when a walk with her three-month-old daughter reveals a secret trail in the woods. At the end is a tiny door surrounded by tiny bones. The trail only appears when Sadie is alone, and something is waiting on the other side. Because apparently motherhood needed one more terrifying thing to worry about.
Jack and Avery think they’ve found the perfect fixer-upper. The strange collage of pornographic clippings in the basement is weird, but probably just part of the house’s quirky charm. Then the house wakes up. Now the walls are bleeding, the house is alive, and it demands homage. Nothing says “dream home” like a sentient house with artistic ambitions and a taste for blood.
July 30
Humanity escaped a dying world through a mysterious gate, only to end up dependent on the Root, a strange plant that provides the food they need to survive. Then a bloody accident creates a new kind of person, and suddenly the Root has something to say. It wants to give humanity a miracle, even if that miracle means transforming their bodies in ways they never asked for. The Root is listening. The Root is whispering. And apparently, the Root has plans for your body.
The summer of 2026 is bringing a seriously eclectic lineup of horror. We have ghosts, witches, vampires, Ouija boards, haunted homes, folk horror, body horror, sea monsters, mysterious bones, and at least one thing hiding under a deck.
In other words: the horror TBR is thriving.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have several books to add to my list and absolutely no room left on my shelves.
Happy reading—and remember: if something under your deck says your name, you did not hear it.
Review || I Am The Monster Under Your Bed by Emily Zinnikas
I Am The Monster Under Your Bed by Emily Zinnikas Published September 15th 2026 by St. Martins Press
I Am The Monster Under Your Bed by Emily Zinnikas
Something lives under Willa’s bed. As an adult, her fondest childhood memories are of the invisible entity under her bed who taught her how to read. Now thirty-two, Willa is a reclusive but successful painter until a bombshell news report exposes her identity as the controversial survivor of the unsolved Rapture Mystery Slayings, a small-town tragedy that splashed across headlines during her senior year of high school. Six teenagers died in the woods while Willa walked free, and everyone thinks she killed them.
When an old classmate calls about a funeral, Willa reluctantly travels to her sleepy hometown, where the possessed forest that stole her friends looms. The trees whistle for her attention, but she knows better than to listen. And the unexplained knocking from the shadows in the basement of her decaying childhood home is honestly the least of her problems.
As her past pulls her back to the place where she swore she’d never return, Willa is drawn toward the monster she left behind—and becoming the villain her hometown has always believed her to be.
I Am the Monster Under the Bed is an ambitious debut that dreams big, and Zinnikas has some nightmares to share.
There is a lot happening here: multiple plot threads, timelines folding in on each other, flashbacks woven throughout, and there are definitely moments where it gets in its own way.
Willa is an unreliable narrator with survivor's guilt. She's impulsive, possibly a little bonkers, and has childhood trauma dragging her down as well. I actually liked her a lot.
The supernatural elements left me wanting more. The rules of the monster-verse, in particular, were fuzzy. I kept wanting Zinnikas to slow down and really let the weirdness breathe. Maybe that filling-in-the-blanks is why it works in the end though. (I'm also leaving this review a little vague to not give anything away.)
It has the kind of finale that makes you sit with the book closed for a second because you didn't see it coming, but it lands exactly right. Surprising, yet satisfying in equal measure, which is pretty difficult to pull off for a debut novel.
Despite the chaos of the middle, even the monster under the bed thinks the ending was worth the wait.
This Month in Horror || The Best New Horror Books Coming June 2026
June is bringing us zombies, vampires, serial killers, sinister fairy tales, and weird westerns to keep the TBR pile growing at an irresponsible rate.
Whether you're looking for something bloody and brutal, something really strange, or a book that makes you wonder why you ever thought the woods were a good place to visit, June has you covered.
Here are some of the best new horror books coming your way this month.
June is bringing us zombies, vampires, serial killers, sinister fairy tales, and weird westerns to keep the TBR pile growing at an irresponsible rate.
Whether you're looking for something bloody and brutal, something really strange, or a book that makes you wonder why you ever thought the woods were a good place to visit, June has you covered.
Here are some of the best new horror books coming your way this month.
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June 1
Grief Eater by Emma Osborne
When Kristina rises from her violent death, she's no longer the woman her family abandoned. She's angry, powerful, and very, very hungry. Her undead road trip takes her across Australia's scorched landscape as she searches for vengeance, answers, and perhaps a little closure.
A gory, queer zombie novella about grief, rage, found family, and what happens when the dead decide they're not finished yet.
When Kristina rises from her violent death, she's no longer the woman her family abandoned. She's angry, powerful, and very, very hungry. Her undead road trip takes her across Australia's scorched landscape as she searches for vengeance, answers, and perhaps a little closure.
A gory, queer zombie novella about grief, rage, found family, and what happens when the dead decide they're not finished yet.
Try Not to Die: In Slattery Falls by Brennan LaFaro
Welcome to Slattery Falls, home to a haunted house that has been watching, waiting, and feeding for years.
This interactive horror adventure puts you in the driver's seat. Every decision matters, and most of those decisions will probably get you horribly murdered.
There are more than a dozen ways to die, but only one path to survival.
Welcome to Slattery Falls, home to a haunted house that has been watching, waiting, and feeding for years.
This interactive horror adventure puts you in the driver's seat. Every decision matters, and most of those decisions will probably get you horribly murdered.
There are more than a dozen ways to die, but only one path to survival.
June 2
Backstabbers by Eliza Jabore
When three best friends get lost in the woods, they discover that surviving the wilderness might be easier than surviving each other. Backstabbers puts friendship under the world's most stressful pressure cooker: a slasher movie.
Expect blood, bad decisions, shifting loyalties, and the uncomfortable realization that your best friend knows exactly where to stick the knife.
When three best friends get lost in the woods, they discover that surviving the wilderness might be easier than surviving each other. Backstabbers puts friendship under the world's most stressful pressure cooker: a slasher movie.
Expect blood, bad decisions, shifting loyalties, and the uncomfortable realization that your best friend knows exactly where to stick the knife.
June 9
The Sourdough Compendium: Dark and Dangerous Fairy Tales by A.G. Slatter
If you've read A.G. Slatter before, you already know her fairy tales aren't exactly the sort you'd want to read to children at bedtime.
This collection gathers stories from the dark gothic world of The Sourdough universe, featuring witches, assassins, pirates, monsters, and all manner of terrible people.
Basically, it's fairy tales for people who prefer their happily-ever-afters with considerably more bloodshed, like all the good fairy tales do.
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It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo
If you've read A.G. Slatter before, you already know her fairy tales aren't exactly the sort you'd want to read to children at bedtime.
This collection gathers stories from the dark gothic world of The Sourdough universe, featuring witches, assassins, pirates, monsters, and all manner of terrible people.
Basically, it's fairy tales for people who prefer their happily-ever-afters with considerably more bloodshed, like all the good fairy tales do.
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Set during World War I, Wendy Darling is now an adult working as a teacher and helping soldiers returning from the Western Front. But when children begin disappearing again, Wendy starts to suspect that the nightmare she thought she'd escaped as a child has returned.
Peter Pan meets It in this dark, bloody reimagining of Neverland.
June 16
Set during World War I, Wendy Darling is now an adult working as a teacher and helping soldiers returning from the Western Front. But when children begin disappearing again, Wendy starts to suspect that the nightmare she thought she'd escaped as a child has returned.
Peter Pan meets It in this dark, bloody reimagining of Neverland.
June 16
Women of the Weird West edited by KC Grifant
Women of the Weird West brings together stories from women and marginalized-gender authors, taking the classic Western and giving it a supernatural makeover. Expect ghosts, monsters, fae, magic, strange worlds, and plenty of women who aren't interested in playing the damsel-in-distress.
Women of the Weird West brings together stories from women and marginalized-gender authors, taking the classic Western and giving it a supernatural makeover. Expect ghosts, monsters, fae, magic, strange worlds, and plenty of women who aren't interested in playing the damsel-in-distress.
June 19
Teeth by Dana Isaly
Poe has moved into her mother's old house in the Appalachian mountains, hoping to sort through her belongings and finally move forward.
Instead, she finds strange journal entries, disturbing photographs, warnings, and the growing feeling that something in the woods is watching her.
And apparently the number one rule of this particular nightmare is: if you hear something, no you don't.
Poe has moved into her mother's old house in the Appalachian mountains, hoping to sort through her belongings and finally move forward.
Instead, she finds strange journal entries, disturbing photographs, warnings, and the growing feeling that something in the woods is watching her.
And apparently the number one rule of this particular nightmare is: if you hear something, no you don't.
June 23
Tillinghast by Clare Cavenagh
Stutley Tillinghast is a quiet minister living in rural Rhode Island.
He's also been killing people and burying them in his cellar for decades.
When a desperately ill nineteen-year-old woman arrives claiming to be related to him, Stutley discovers that she has symptoms eerily similar to his own. Suddenly his carefully isolated existence gets considerably more complicated.
A slow-burning literary vampire story with gothic atmosphere, family secrets, and one very reluctant monster.
Stutley Tillinghast is a quiet minister living in rural Rhode Island.
He's also been killing people and burying them in his cellar for decades.
He's also been killing people and burying them in his cellar for decades.
When a desperately ill nineteen-year-old woman arrives claiming to be related to him, Stutley discovers that she has symptoms eerily similar to his own. Suddenly his carefully isolated existence gets considerably more complicated.
A slow-burning literary vampire story with gothic atmosphere, family secrets, and one very reluctant monster.
The Infested by Renée Lake
The American frontier wasn't won. It was surrendered to the monsters.
In 1900, a cursed stretch of the American frontier is crawling with ghosts, monsters, and ancient things that should have stayed buried. Desdemona's family has survived there for generations behind magical wards.
But after her mother's death, her father's disappearance, and the arrival of a mysterious shadow creature, their safe little sanctuary starts looking considerably less safe.
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The American frontier wasn't won. It was surrendered to the monsters.
In 1900, a cursed stretch of the American frontier is crawling with ghosts, monsters, and ancient things that should have stayed buried. Desdemona's family has survived there for generations behind magical wards.
But after her mother's death, her father's disappearance, and the arrival of a mysterious shadow creature, their safe little sanctuary starts looking considerably less safe.
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Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume Four edited by Alex Woodroe
The fourth volume of Brave New Weird brings together twenty-three stories showcasing some of the strangest, most inventive horror around. Expect speculative horror, genre mashups, grotesque ideas, experimental storytelling, and plenty of things that don't fit neatly into a little genre box.
June 26
The fourth volume of Brave New Weird brings together twenty-three stories showcasing some of the strangest, most inventive horror around. Expect speculative horror, genre mashups, grotesque ideas, experimental storytelling, and plenty of things that don't fit neatly into a little genre box.
June 26
Crater Girl by Polly Schattel
Polly Schattel returns with Crater Girl, a genre-bending novel mixing dark fantasy, noir, and horror with a distinctly Southern flavor.
It's a strange, satirical look at the modern South, and Schattel describes it as a "genre-inclusive" novel.
June 28
Polly Schattel returns with Crater Girl, a genre-bending novel mixing dark fantasy, noir, and horror with a distinctly Southern flavor.
It's a strange, satirical look at the modern South, and Schattel describes it as a "genre-inclusive" novel.
June 28
The Echo of Monsters by David H. Rankin
The Echo of Monsters promises another dive into the darker corners of horror, making it one to keep an eye on if your preferred reading material involves things that probably shouldn't exist and definitely shouldn't be making noises in the dark.
June 30
The Echo of Monsters promises another dive into the darker corners of horror, making it one to keep an eye on if your preferred reading material involves things that probably shouldn't exist and definitely shouldn't be making noises in the dark.
June 30
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay
Julia Flang is a former professional gamer who gets hired by a massive tech company to escort a man in a vegetative state across the country. The catch? There's an artificial intelligence implanted in his head.
A near-future technological horror story that gets increasingly more uncomfortable the more you think about it.
Julia Flang is a former professional gamer who gets hired by a massive tech company to escort a man in a vegetative state across the country. The catch? There's an artificial intelligence implanted in his head.
A near-future technological horror story that gets increasingly more uncomfortable the more you think about it.
The Summer of the Serpent by Cecilia Eudave
Welcome to Guadalajara in the summer of 1977, where children encounter ghosts, monsters, strange adults, a serpent girl in a carnival glass box, and all the little horrors that hide beneath ordinary life.
June is shaping up to be a seriously weird month for horror.
Welcome to Guadalajara in the summer of 1977, where children encounter ghosts, monsters, strange adults, a serpent girl in a carnival glass box, and all the little horrors that hide beneath ordinary life.
June is shaping up to be a seriously weird month for horror.
We've got angry zombies, murderous friends, evil fairy tales, haunted frontiers, vampires pretending not to be vampires, AI nightmares, and enough monsters to populate several small towns.
There's something weird here for everyone.
Happy Reading.
We've got angry zombies, murderous friends, evil fairy tales, haunted frontiers, vampires pretending not to be vampires, AI nightmares, and enough monsters to populate several small towns.
There's something weird here for everyone.
Happy Reading.
This Month in Horror: The Best New Horror Books Coming in May 2026
May is bringing us a respectable amount of bad news in book form.
We've got haunted places, human experimentation, sinister spirits, strange festivals, monstrous transformations, twisted fairy tales, gothic nightmares, and enough questionable life choices performed by unreliable narrators to keep the horror shelves fully stocked.
Here are some of the horror books I'm most excited about coming out this month.
If you want to see everything coming in 2026, check out my This Year in Horror 2026 release calendar.
May is bringing us a respectable amount of bad news in book form.
We've got haunted places, human experimentation, sinister spirits, strange festivals, monstrous transformations, twisted fairy tales, gothic nightmares, and enough questionable life choices performed by unreliable narrators to keep the horror shelves fully stocked.
Here are some of the horror books I'm most excited about coming out this month.
If you want to see everything coming in 2026, check out my This Year in Horror 2026 release calendar.
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May 5
She Waits Where Shadows Gather by Michelle Tang
Some places feel wrong before you can explain why. She Waits Where Shadows Gather promises the kind of unsettling horror where the shadows themselves may be the least of your problems.
If atmospheric, creeping dread is your thing, this one belongs on the May TBR.
Some places feel wrong before you can explain why. She Waits Where Shadows Gather promises the kind of unsettling horror where the shadows themselves may be the least of your problems.
If atmospheric, creeping dread is your thing, this one belongs on the May TBR.
I Know A Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours by Nat Cassidy
Nat Cassidy is taking us on a road trip and he's not stopping by the World's Biggest Ball of Twine.
This collection brings together Rest Stop and a dozen other dark detours, sending readers through suspicious rest stops, creepy offices, haunted kitchens, bizarre apartments, and other places where you shouldn't be alone after dark.
Nat Cassidy is taking us on a road trip and he's not stopping by the World's Biggest Ball of Twine.
This collection brings together Rest Stop and a dozen other dark detours, sending readers through suspicious rest stops, creepy offices, haunted kitchens, bizarre apartments, and other places where you shouldn't be alone after dark.
Accumulation by Aimee Pokwatka
Tennessee Cherish thought moving into her dream house would be a fresh start. Cute house, new town, happy family.
The kids start acting weird. Her husband is never home. And the house has a few quirks, including a faucet that runs on its own, a creepy doll that keeps appearing in different rooms, and, a human tooth in the floorboards.
Then things get really weird. The family starts repeating everyday actions over and over, with each loop becoming more dangerous than the last.
Tenn needs to figure out what the hell is happening in her new home before the house finishes what it started.
Tennessee Cherish thought moving into her dream house would be a fresh start. Cute house, new town, happy family.
The kids start acting weird. Her husband is never home. And the house has a few quirks, including a faucet that runs on its own, a creepy doll that keeps appearing in different rooms, and, a human tooth in the floorboards.
Then things get really weird. The family starts repeating everyday actions over and over, with each loop becoming more dangerous than the last.
Tenn needs to figure out what the hell is happening in her new home before the house finishes what it started.
May 8
The Blood Year Daughter by G.G. Silverman
The Blood Year Daughter is a collection of fairytale horror stories filled with murderous brides, strange transformations, ghosts, witches, snakes, revenge, and women who are absolutely done playing by the rules.
Silverman's debut collection mixes horror, magical realism, and twisted fairy tales into something that sounds like it crawled out of a very dark corner of the Brothers Grimm.
The Blood Year Daughter is a collection of fairytale horror stories filled with murderous brides, strange transformations, ghosts, witches, snakes, revenge, and women who are absolutely done playing by the rules.
Silverman's debut collection mixes horror, magical realism, and twisted fairy tales into something that sounds like it crawled out of a very dark corner of the Brothers Grimm.
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May 12
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Muntu by Eugen Bacon
Eugen Bacon brings her particular brand of unsettling speculative fiction to Muntu, a book that promises to be strange, atmospheric, and decidedly not interested in making you comfortable.
This is one for readers who like their horror with a literary edge and plenty of things lurking beneath the surface.
Eugen Bacon brings her particular brand of unsettling speculative fiction to Muntu, a book that promises to be strange, atmospheric, and decidedly not interested in making you comfortable.
This is one for readers who like their horror with a literary edge and plenty of things lurking beneath the surface.
Abyss by Nicholas Binge
Joe always had potential. He just doesn't expect much from himself, so when he lands a low-key admin assistant job at a company he's never heard of, he's hoping it won't expect much from him either.
Then he walks into the offices of Ponos.
Turns out, potential is exactly what they're looking for.
Joe always had potential. He just doesn't expect much from himself, so when he lands a low-key admin assistant job at a company he's never heard of, he's hoping it won't expect much from him either.
Then he walks into the offices of Ponos.
Turns out, potential is exactly what they're looking for.
Electric Shamans at the Festival of the Sun by Mónica Ojeda
Two friends head into the Andes for an eight-day music festival at the foot of a volcano. There's mysticism, underground music, altered states, an ancient landscape, and a girl who starts speaking in a voice that isn't her own.
Electric Shamans at the Festival of the Sun blends psychological horror, supernatural elements, psychedelic imagery, and Indigenous Andean traditions into something wonderfully strange.
Two friends head into the Andes for an eight-day music festival at the foot of a volcano. There's mysticism, underground music, altered states, an ancient landscape, and a girl who starts speaking in a voice that isn't her own.
Electric Shamans at the Festival of the Sun blends psychological horror, supernatural elements, psychedelic imagery, and Indigenous Andean traditions into something wonderfully strange.
Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey
Celia is lonely, grieving, and desperate to belong, so she heads to the mysterious Kindred Cove for its annual Salt Festival. The community promises healing, transformation, and a life without grief.
Sarah Gailey's latest sounds like the perfect combination of creepy island community, questionable self-improvement, and the horrifying realization that maybe becoming a better version of yourself has a price.
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Celia is lonely, grieving, and desperate to belong, so she heads to the mysterious Kindred Cove for its annual Salt Festival. The community promises healing, transformation, and a life without grief.
Sarah Gailey's latest sounds like the perfect combination of creepy island community, questionable self-improvement, and the horrifying realization that maybe becoming a better version of yourself has a price.
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Femme Feral by Sam Beckbessinger
Is it menopause or lycanthropy?
Femme Feral promises a wild, vicious take on womanhood, transformation, and the things lurking just beneath the surface.
Is it menopause or lycanthropy?
Femme Feral promises a wild, vicious take on womanhood, transformation, and the things lurking just beneath the surface.
May 19
The Dorians by Nick Cutter
Five people are invited to a remote island in the Canadian wilderness with an offer that sounds almost too good to be true: stop aging. Maybe even reverse it.
The secret to restoring their youth comes from an ancient biological agent with one very simple goal: survive.
What could possibly go wrong?
I hope their aren't any turtles. IYKYK.
Five people are invited to a remote island in the Canadian wilderness with an offer that sounds almost too good to be true: stop aging. Maybe even reverse it.
The secret to restoring their youth comes from an ancient biological agent with one very simple goal: survive.
What could possibly go wrong?
I hope their aren't any turtles. IYKYK.
Decomposition Book by Sara van Os
Savannah retreats to her parents' empty lake house after a disastrous falling-out with her best friend. She's drinking, overthinking, and generally spiraling when she wakes up in the woods beside a dead body. Turns out she's the best friend Savannah could ask for.
Savannah retreats to her parents' empty lake house after a disastrous falling-out with her best friend. She's drinking, overthinking, and generally spiraling when she wakes up in the woods beside a dead body. Turns out she's the best friend Savannah could ask for.
The Temptation of Charlotte North by Camilla Bruce
In 1910, Charlotte North lives on a remote island where an ancient tower has been standing guard over something that really should have stayed imprisoned.
Then the tower collapses.
The Temptation of Charlotte North combines gothic horror, dark fantasy, an isolated island, a sinister spirit, and a woman discovering just how dangerous getting what you want can be.
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In 1910, Charlotte North lives on a remote island where an ancient tower has been standing guard over something that really should have stayed imprisoned.
Then the tower collapses.
The Temptation of Charlotte North combines gothic horror, dark fantasy, an isolated island, a sinister spirit, and a woman discovering just how dangerous getting what you want can be.
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Salomé by Leslie Baird
A dark, strange take on an old story? Yes, please.
Salomé puts a familiar figure into a horror setting and promises to give this particular tale some teeth.
A dark, strange take on an old story? Yes, please.
Salomé puts a familiar figure into a horror setting and promises to give this particular tale some teeth.
Filth Eaters by Ito Romo
In 1849, vampire Radamés discovers that New World vampires get to live a little more like humans. They marry. They have children. They actually get to build lives. Naturally, he wants that for himself.
His search takes him to Mexico, where he falls for a member of the ancient Filth Eaters and fathers a new kind of vampire. From there, the story jumps across centuries, mixing vampires with empire, greed, climate change, and the very human need to find someone to love.
May 26
In 1849, vampire Radamés discovers that New World vampires get to live a little more like humans. They marry. They have children. They actually get to build lives. Naturally, he wants that for himself.
His search takes him to Mexico, where he falls for a member of the ancient Filth Eaters and fathers a new kind of vampire. From there, the story jumps across centuries, mixing vampires with empire, greed, climate change, and the very human need to find someone to love.
May 26
House of Margins by Tlotlo Tsamaase
Anaya Sebeya is a brilliant young writer who disappears after attending a prestigious writing residency at Günter Huis, an eerie colonial mansion on Devil’s Peak.
Years later, her sister Ranewa becomes obsessed with a true-crime podcast claiming to reveal what happened to Anaya. As she listens, she starts piecing together a much stranger and more horrifying story.
Because at Günter Huis, Anaya wasn't just struggling to write. The house was getting inside her head, twisting time and reality and demanding a story that apparently wasn't meant to be told.
Anaya Sebeya is a brilliant young writer who disappears after attending a prestigious writing residency at Günter Huis, an eerie colonial mansion on Devil’s Peak.
Years later, her sister Ranewa becomes obsessed with a true-crime podcast claiming to reveal what happened to Anaya. As she listens, she starts piecing together a much stranger and more horrifying story.
Because at Günter Huis, Anaya wasn't just struggling to write. The house was getting inside her head, twisting time and reality and demanding a story that apparently wasn't meant to be told.
Bone of My Bone by Johanna van Veen
It’s 1635, the Thirty Years’ War is tearing through Bavaria, and Ursula, a runaway nun, and Elsebeth, a peasant, are hiding from marauding soldiers in the forest.
Then they find a gilded saint’s skull.
Legend says that reunite the skull with the saint’s body and you get a wish. Unfortunately, they're not the only ones interested in the relic. A necromancer wants it, the saint starts whispering at night, and the magic comes with a price.
It’s 1635, the Thirty Years’ War is tearing through Bavaria, and Ursula, a runaway nun, and Elsebeth, a peasant, are hiding from marauding soldiers in the forest.
Then they find a gilded saint’s skull.
Legend says that reunite the skull with the saint’s body and you get a wish. Unfortunately, they're not the only ones interested in the relic. A necromancer wants it, the saint starts whispering at night, and the magic comes with a price.
Teddy Bears Never Die by Cho Yeeun
A deadly cyanide poisoning kills Hwa-young's mother, but Hwa-young doesn't believe it was an accident. Determined to find the person responsible, she takes whatever work she can get to save enough money to hire a hitman.
Hwa-young is about to become the next victim when a grubby teddy bear starts talking to her.
Now the two team up to uncover the truth, take revenge, and bring the real killer to justice.
A deadly cyanide poisoning kills Hwa-young's mother, but Hwa-young doesn't believe it was an accident. Determined to find the person responsible, she takes whatever work she can get to save enough money to hire a hitman.
Hwa-young is about to become the next victim when a grubby teddy bear starts talking to her.
Now the two team up to uncover the truth, take revenge, and bring the real killer to justice.
Between Nat Cassidy's dark detours, Sarah Gailey's creepy island, Mónica Ojeda's psychedelic festival nightmare, gothic spirits, twisted fairy tales, human experimentation, and several books that appear to have taken the concept of "gross" as a personal challenge, there's plenty here to keep horror readers busy.
Which is great news for us but not so great for our TBR pile.
Happy reading and may your books be creepy, your coffee be strong, and your house remain suspiciously tooth-free.
Between Nat Cassidy's dark detours, Sarah Gailey's creepy island, Mónica Ojeda's psychedelic festival nightmare, gothic spirits, twisted fairy tales, human experimentation, and several books that appear to have taken the concept of "gross" as a personal challenge, there's plenty here to keep horror readers busy.
Which is great news for us but not so great for our TBR pile.
Happy reading and may your books be creepy, your coffee be strong, and your house remain suspiciously tooth-free.
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