Published March 24, 2026 by Tor Nightfire

Something darker than the devil stalks the North Carolina woods in Wolf Worm, a new gothic masterpiece from New York Times bestselling author T. Kingfisher.

The year is 1899 and Sonia Wilson is a scientific illustrator without work, prospects, or hope. When the reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position illustrating his vast collection of insects, Sonia jumps at the chance to move to his North Carolina manor house and put her talents to use. But soon enough she finds that there are darker things at work than the Carolina woods. What happened to her predecessor, Halder’s wife? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about “blood thiefs?”

With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder’s entomological studies have taken him down a dark road full of parasitic maggots that burrow into human flesh, and that his monstrous experiments may grow to encompass his newest illustrator as well.

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Wolf Worm is T. Kingfisher's latest offering: a Gothic horror set amid the dense undergrowth of body horror on the lush, forest floor of Southern charm and weirdness. This time, facing down the absurdity is Sonia Wilson, an illustrator hired to draw insects for the unsociable and ill-mannered Dr. Hader. Kingfisher once again takes an everyday somebody and drops them right into her gruesome biological catastrophe.

Some readers might struggle with the slow-burning, atmospheric build-up of Wolf Worm. It's an insidious, creeping dread as Wilson discovers the wrongness of her environment. The horror doesn't leap out and wail. It encroaches on your awareness with little by little, with phantom sensations of wriggling bodies and tickling wings. This is the perfect hallmark of Gothic fiction, so I wasn't upset at the slow pacing.

No one really does weird like Kingfisher, yet her voice always has this peculiar balance between cozy and unsettling, mingling with the absurd. Her characters are just average Joes, wandering into the nightmareish, and having to totally wing it. They face their fear, yes, but not with superhuman prowess, but in the same way a child clutches a flashlight and faces the proverbial boogeyman under their bed. They just do, because the only way is through. Wilson is a perfect example of this; she's unnerved, but she keeps going anyway. 

And who wouldn't be unnerved? Kingfisher has scripted her most cringeworthy horror yet—bugs. This book gets under your skin, literally. A "wolf worm" is the larva of the Cuterebra botfly that burrows under the skin and lives there, growing, until it drops out to start the cycle again. I was previously familiar with "warbles", as they are sometimes called, having worked in vet medicine before. (I once horrified a female client by plucking one out of a lump on her cat with forceps. In hindsight, I probably should have explained first. Oops.) These things have always icked me out, but hearing that they are also called wolf worms was new to me. As if the typical creepy crawlies aren't bad enough, Kingfisher's larvae come with... let's just say, abnormal capabilities. 

Reading a story by Kingfisher is like Wilson searching through the bug library drawers. There’s always something peculiar and something enormously endearing awaiting discovery in the next drawer. I can't wait to read whatever she comes up with next. 

Published June 10, 2025 by Wicked House Publishing

For fans of "The Haunting of Hill House" and "The Haunting of Bly Manor".

Noelle, a tragedy-ridden hospice worker with a unique connection to death, accepts a job caring for the dying patriarch of the reclusive August family at their lakefront manor just outside the town of Bell River, Oregon. The house does not have electricity, and the eccentric nature of the family is displayed through the grotesque artwork that lines the walls of the manor.

As Noelle wrestles with her own struggles with understanding her connection to death, she is also plunged headfirst into the dark mysteries surrounding the August family. The dying patriarch who she is strangely never able to see. The head of the household incapable of giving a straight answer, and a boy unable to speak but clearly terrified of something.

But above all, she must uncover the answers behind the ashen footprints she finds all over the house at night and the withered figure she sees looming at the tree line across the lake.

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Ashes of August Manor has the moody, unsettling atmosphere Blaine Daigle is known for. Its dark halls, foggy forests, and falling ashes only solidify the ghosts that haunt the manor and Noelle. The slow-burning tension, the creeping dread, and the feeling that something is inherently wrong are all present here, and Daigle’s descriptive style once again shines. August Manor is eerie and intriguing, and the family that inhabits it only lends strangeness to the place.

The mystery itself is solid, and the final reveal is satisfying enough, but the journey there didn’t seize me as his other stories have. There are plenty of supernatural elements at play, some villainy, and a bit of folk horror that I wish had a better seat at the table. There's some truly creepy imagery in Old Crow, the local legend that haunts the woods in its tattered red cloak, taloned hands, and beaked face. Daigle speaks of writing quiet horror, the type of horror that is macabre and melancholic, and he accomplishes that with every turn of the hallway, every squeak of the wood floors, and flash into the psyche of his characters. 

Compared to some of Daigle's other titles, this one doesn’t quite reach the same level of emotional weight. While his best books balance emotional depth with encroaching horror, the characters in Ashes of August Manor didn't stick with me the way his others have. A book centered around death and grief should have been emotionally devastating, but instead, due to its inconsistent pacing left me struggling at times, dipping into stretches that felt repetitive.  

 Overall, Ashes of August Manor is a respectable, gothic read with some classic Daigle elements. If you are looking for a slow-burning gothic horror, this one would sit well on your shelf. However, for long-time readers of Daigle's, it doesn’t quite reach the intensity or emotional profundity of his best work.

I loved Johanna Van Veen's previous novel Blood on Her Tongue (You can read my review here.) so I'm very excited to be able to share with you the cover for her next novel Bone of My Bone. Her covers are deliciously dark and moody. I can't wait to read this one. 

One saint. One Sinner. One Skull.

Sister Ursula, a young nun fleeing the ruins of her convent, crosses paths with Elsebeth, a sharp-witted orphan, after narrowly escaping a band of marauding soldiers. Deep in the Bavarian Forest they encounter a dying man clutching a wooden box, inside it, the gilded skull of a saint. Pursued by a necromancer drawn to the relic’s power and haunted by visions of the saint herself, the women soon realize that what they carry may be both miracle and curse and the growing love between them will come at a cost. 

On sale 5/26/2026 Trade Paperback Original by Poisoned Pen Press

This book is perfect for fans of Robert Eggers’ The Witch and readers of Agustina Bazterrica’s The Unworthy. BONE OF MY BONE is a visceral, cannibalistic exploration of cruelty and passion set amid the devastation of the Thirty Years’ War. Told through an intimate and unflinching lens of daily survival, Johanna van Veen examines how devotion can be manipulated to justify both good and evil, and how love, faith, and the struggle to endure demand devastating sacrifices.

JOHANNA VAN VEEN grew up in the Netherlands with her two sisters. She received an MA in English Literature with a specialization in early modern literature, as well as an MA Book and Digital Media with a specialization in early modern book history. She enjoys spending time with her girlfriend, her sisters, and her dog, though not necessarily all at the same time. 

Published September 2, 2025 by Poisoned Pen Press

It's a Midsommar night's Scream in this blood-soaked thriller set at a remote healing retreat from horror author Brian McAuley.

Hannah has been running from her demons ever since she emerged from a harrowing wilderness trip without her fiancé. No one knows exactly what happened the day Ben died, and Hannah would like to keep it that way... even if his ghost still haunts her with vivid waking nightmares that are ruining her life. So when her friend group gets an exclusive invitation to a restorative spiritual retreat in Joshua Tree, Hannah reluctantly agrees in search of a fresh start.

Despite her skepticism of the strange Guru Pax and his belief in the supernatural world, Hannah soon finds healing through all the yoga, sound baths, and hot springs offered at the tech-free haven. But this peaceful journey of self-discovery quickly descends into a violent fight for self-preservation when a mysterious killer starts picking off retreat attendees in increasingly gruesome ways. As the body count rises and Hannah’s sanity frays, she’ll have to confront her dark past and uncover the true nature of a ruthless monster hellbent on killing her vibe for good.

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If you're a fan of slashers, unreliable narrators, and the kind of mystery that keeps you second-guessing —Breathe IN, Bleed Out is a wickedly fun ride. Brian McNulty delivers a fast-paced, genre-savvy novel that’s as much a love letter to horror tropes as it is a clever psychological mystery.

This book throws you into a world that feels like it was born out of a late-night horror movie marathon of Friday the 13th. You’ve got the tension between characters, the looming sense that someone (maybe everyone?) is hiding something, and the unreliability of the main character who is already seeing the ghost of her dead fiancé. 

The isolated setting adds so much creeping dread and the growing paranoia builds until you are yelling "The killer is right behind you!". Mix that with a little bit of gritty angst and dark humor. McNulty really leans into the “whodunit” energy while still delivering all the bloody, campy, adrenaline-pumping thrills you expect from a slasher. 

If you’re a fan of books that keep you guessing and characters who keep you suspicious, Breathe IN, Bleed Out is well worth your time. What really sets this apart from your typical slasher is the way it messes with your head. It’s a bloody good time — in every sense.

Published April 15, 2025 by Quill & Crow Publishing House

Carve the bones. One for the gate, one for the door, two for the mantel, and three for the floor… Hyacinth Turning knows the terrors beyond her village, the insatiable hunger of the Teeth. She listens to the sermons given by the Elders in their hare-skin masks. She watches as the heathens hang and the witches burn. They tell her to be good and quiet. But Hyacinth is neither good nor quiet. After a series of tragic events, Hyacinth finds herself hastily wedded and sent far away from all she has ever known to a settlement at the edge of the sea. Where more than just the Teeth are hungry. Another horror swims below, leviathan shadows kept at bay by offerings of flesh and bone.

But no sooner does Hyacinth take root in her new home do the Teeth and the Deep come to feed. Suspicion soon falls upon the outspoken Hyacinth, who spends more time with the outcasted Morgan Carroway than her own husband. The Elders want her burned, her husband wants her hanged, and a long-lost love claws at her dreams, but Hyacinth only wants one thing. A life and death of her choosing.

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Hyacinth Turning is sent away to a remote village near the forest and sea, where ancient horrors like the Teeth and the Deep are kept at bay through sacrifices. She’s reeling from personal tragedy, isolated in a new marriage to a man she doesn't like, and immediately flung into a new claustrophobic community ruled by folklore, fear, and blood rituals...exactly like the one she left. She’s not just unwelcome, she’s disposable. Her body, her grief, and her silence are all things to be used, suppressed, or sacrificed for the “greater good.”

Hyacinth is constantly acted upon rather than acting. She’s shipped off, married off, silenced, accused, watched, threatened… and she endures all of it, often with the emotional affect of a ghost—just a resigned shuffle through escalating misery. She’s worn down by it until she’s just absorbed into the horror. I'm sure that's the point but it doesn’t make for satisfying character development. It makes for bleak existential rot. No sharp turns. No big “aha” moment. Just damp misery, sprinkled with vague dread.

A lot of “folk horror” tries to fake the ancient, the ritualistic, the uncanny, but The Bone Drenched Woods feels authentic. The bone offerings, the hare-masked Elders, the silent submission to the Deep? It all feels like it could have grown out of some obscure corner of real folklore. It’s primal and unnerving.

L.V. Russell absolutely nails that oppressive, damp, rot-soaked feeling of being somewhere ancient and uncaring. This book is all aesthetic. The prose is undeniably pretty, damp and bloody and yet frustratingly vague. Atmosphere can only carry you so far when the plot is doing the slowest, saddest shuffle toward nowhere. If you enjoy slow-burn folk horror where nothing is explained, and everyone is miserable, this one is for you.

Published October 28, 2025 by Thomas & Mercer
 

Cutthroat NYC lawyer Mary Whelton just buried her problematic old mentor. But as she leaves the mourners and protesters behind, the press stays hot on her heels. Desperate to escape, she unwittingly barrels deep into a remote forest in upstate New York. Until a collision—with a buzzing, oozing throng of cicadas—stops her dead in her tracks.

She awakens in a crude cabin, held captive by Girl, a simple, hulking woman who mistakes Mary for her derelict mother and obsesses over a mysterious Brood. While tortured echoes from Mary’s past feed her growing sense of fear, it becomes clear that she’s destined to bear an unthinkable role in the cicadas’ cyclical reemergence. But when Girl’s grisly past comes back to haunt them both, Mary is thrust into a violent battle of wills.

Confoundingly creepy and atmospheric, The Brood peels back the hurt and pain of the female experience, laying bare the messy necessity for transformation and growth.

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Rebecca Baum is a novelist, ghostwriter, and content marketer. While her ghostwriting has served founders of global nonprofits and mission-driven businesses, Baum wades into the wonderfully troubled waters of horror with her novel The Brood. Her prior book, Lifelike Creatures, was longlisted for the Crook’s Corner Book Prize Foundation’s 2021 best debut novel set in the American South. A native of rural Louisiana, Baum feels she has almost earned the right to call herself a New Yorker after more than twenty-five years in the city. She lives in Greenwich Village with her husband and favorite karaoke partner, Gary. 

Published October 1, 2025 by Falcon Lit

 

A collection of horror-infused novelettes for mature readers who crave the macabre. Within these pages wait twisted tales of possession, ravenous monsters, vengeful demons, and deeply rooted phobias clawing their way to life.

Each story is a separate haunt on Halloween — from modern horrors to ghost-haunted histories, and a bleak future scarred by a deadly plague.

After three years working on writing projects together, Fallon and Lewis debut their first anthology with guest author Rissa Miller; Historian and Seer.

Combining their interests in horror, speculative fiction, and gritty characters, these authors twist dark fiction into reality

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Published August 1, 2025 by Savage Realms Press

 

Seeking to understand the recent deaths and disappearances in their town, a disgraced homicide detective and a group of grieving high schoolers unwittingly join forces. But what this ragtag bunch of answer-seekers find will not only force them into a fight to save themselves and their town, but all of humanity as we know it... Welcome to Cedar Mills.

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Dylan James is the author of a dozen plus short stories and poetry publications, appearing in Horror Tree’s Trembling With Fear, Moria Literary Magazine, and more. 

His nonfiction novel BROTHERS peaked at #3 on Barnes & Noble’s History Bestsellers.

His horror fiction novel CEDAR MILLS is set to be published in 2025 by Savage Realms Press.

Published February 13th 2024 by Tor Nightfire

The follow-up to T. Kingfisher’s bestselling gothic novella, What Moves the Dead .

Retired soldier Alex Easton returns in a horrifying new adventure.

After their terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels as if they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favor to Angus and Miss Potter, they find themself heading to their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold, damp forests of their home country, Gallacia.

In theory, one can find relaxation in even the coldest and dampest of Gallacian autumns, but when Easton arrives, they find the caretaker dead, the lodge in disarray, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence. The villagers whisper that a breath-stealing monster from folklore has taken up residence in Easton’s home. Easton knows better than to put too much stock in local superstitions, but they can tell that something is not quite right in their home. . . or in their dreams.

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T. Kingfisher returns to the eerie world of gothic horror with What Feasts at Night, the second novella in her Sworn Soldier series following the acclaimed What Moves the Dead. This novella once again follows Alex Easton, a gender non-binary former soldier with a dry sense of humor, a haunted past, and a knack for running into things that go bump in the night.

This time, Easton heads to their family's old hunting lodge in Gallacia in search of some rest. Naturally,  rest is the one thing they don’t get. The lodge is falling apart, the caretaker has died under bizarre circumstances, and the quiet feels wrong. The longer they stay, the more the atmosphere closes in: disturbing dreams, strange local legends, and plenty of superstition. Familiar faces return, including the ever-delightful Miss Potter, a no-nonsense mycologist who continues to steal every scene with her fungal fanaticism. New faces charm as well, like the sharp-eyed Widow Botezatu with her baleful looks and no-nonsense ways.

While What Feasts at Night trades some of the first book’s energy for a slower, more reflective pace, it still delivers plenty of dread. The horror here is quieter, more psychological, and steeped in folklore and PTSD. Kingfisher’s uniquely dry humor is still present, with sharp, witty banter and Easton's internal dialogue. Easton’s internal battle adds emotional depth to the creeping horror, and the camaraderie between characters brings just enough warmth to offset the gloom. 

While it’s not as fast-paced as What Moves the Dead, What Feasts at Night is haunting in its own way: moody, thoughtful, and quietly chilling. It’s another strong entry in Kingfisher’s growing collection of uniquely strange horror stories.