February is the month of love!  It might seem like horror and romance are incongruous but what better time to read horror than on the cold a...


February is the month of love! 

It might seem like horror and romance are incongruous but what better time to read horror than on the cold and dark nights of February. Honestly, though, is there ever a bad time to read horror? 

February is a big month for horror releases so sit back, relax, and...

Get ready to pad your TBR, here are just a few of February's releases! 

If you've missed the previous list for January, you can still check those out. And if you are looking for what's still to come, you can see the whole list for 2023 here.

If you have a book releasing this year and want to get on the list, click here and I'll get you added!

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The Witch of Tin Mountain by Paulette Kennedy 
 
Woman in white dress standing in front of a mountain with her arms raised

Expected publication: February 1, 2023 by Lake Union Publishing


In Depression-era Arkansas, something wicked has come to a haunted mountain town in a novel of uncanny suspense by the author of Parting the Veil.


Blood and power bind three generations of women in the Ozark Mountains. So does an evil that’s followed them across the decades.

1931. Gracelynn Doherty lives peacefully on Tin Mountain, helping her adoptive granny work her cures. Despite whispers that the women are witches, the superstitious locals still seek them out, whether they suffer from arthritis or a broken heart. But when evangelist Josiah Bellflower comes to town touting miracle healing, full bellies, and prosperity, his revivals soon hold Tin Mountain in thrall—and Granny in abject fear.

Granny recognizes Josiah. Fifty years ago, in a dark and desperate moment, she made a terrible promise. Now Josiah, an enemy, has returned to collect his due.

As Granny sickens and the drought-ridden countryside falls under a curse, Gracelynn must choose: flee Tin Mountain and the only family she knows or confront the vengeful preacher whose unholy mission is to destroy her.




Melinda West: Monster Gunslinger by K.C. Grifant

Expected Publication: February 2, 2023 by Brigids Gate Press, LLC


In an Old West overrun by monsters, a stoic gunslinger must embark on a dangerous quest to save her friends and stop a supernatural war.

Sharpshooter Melinda West, 29, has encountered more than her share of supernatural creatures after a monster infection killed her mother. Now, Melinda and her charismatic partner, Lance, offer their exterminating services to desperate towns, fighting everything from giant flying scorpions to psychic bugs. But when they accidentally release a demon, they must track a dangerous outlaw across treacherous lands and battle a menagerie of creatures—all before an army of soul-devouring monsters descend on Earth.

The Witcher meets Bonnie and Clyde in a re-imagined Old West full of diverse characters, desolate landscapes, and fast-paced adventure.

Gothic by Philip Fracassi 

Expected publication: February 3, 2023 by Cemetery Dance Publications

On his 59th birthday, Tyson Parks—a famous, but struggling, horror writer—receives an antique desk from his partner, Sarah, in the hopes it will rekindle his creative juices. Perhaps inspire him to write another best-selling novel and prove his best years aren’t behind him.

A continent away, a mysterious woman makes inquiries with her sources around the world, seeking the whereabouts of a certain artifact her family has been hunting for centuries. With the help of a New York City private detective, she finally finds what she’s been looking for.

It’s in the home of Tyson Parks.

Meanwhile, as Tyson begins to use his new desk, he begins acting... strange. Violent. His writing more disturbing than anything he’s done before. But publishers are paying top dollar, convinced his new work will be a hit, and Tyson will do whatever it takes to protect his newfound success.

Even if it means the destruction of the ones he loves.

Even if it means his own sanity.


The Spite House by Johnny Compton

Shadow of a skinny house on a hill surrounded by branches

Expected publication: February 7, 2023 by Tor Nightfire

Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he’s desperate for money–it’s not easy to find safe work when you can’t provide references, you can’t stay in one place for long, and you’re paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you.

When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The owner is looking for proof of paranormal activity. All they need to do is stay in the house and keep a detailed record of everything that happens there. Provided the house’s horrors don’t drive them all mad, like the caretakers before them.

The job calls to Eric, not just because there’s a huge payout if they can make it through, but because he wants to explore the secrets of the spite house. If it is indeed haunted, maybe it’ll help him understand the uncanny power that clings to his family, driving them from town to town, making them afraid to stop running. A terrifying Gothic thriller about grief and death and the depths of a father’s love, Johnny Compton’s The Spite House is a stunning debut by a horror master in the making.




Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez

Expected publication: February 7, 2023 by Hogarth


A woman’s mysterious death puts her husband and son on a collision course with her demonic family in the first novel to be translated into English by the International Booker Prize–shortlisted author of The Dangers of Smoking in Bed—“the most exciting discovery I’ve made in fiction for some time” (Kazuo Ishiguro).

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2023: The New York Times, Oprah Daily, BuzzFeed, Elle, Electric Lit, Book Riot, BookPage, The Rumpus, World Literature Today, Tordotcom, CrimeReads, Lit Hub, Publishers Weekly

“Monumental.”—The New York Times
“A masterpiece of literary horror.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“One of Latin America’s most exciting authors.”—Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travel to her ancestral home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed: a family called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of immortality.

For Gaspar, the son, this maniacal cult is his destiny. As the Order tries to pull him into their evil, he and his father take flight, attempting to outrun a powerful clan that will do anything to ensure its own survival. But how far will Gaspar’s father go to protect his child? And can anyone escape their fate?

Moving back and forth in time, from London in the swinging 1960s to the brutal years of Argentina’s military dictatorship and its turbulent aftermath, Our Share of Night is a novel like no other: a family story, a ghost story, a story of the occult and the supernatural, a book about the complexities of love and longing with queer subplots and themes. This is the masterwork of one of Latin America’s most original novelists, “a mesmerizing writer,” says Dave Eggers, “who demands to be read.” 





Ancient Images by Ramsey Campbell

Expected publication: February 21, 2023 by Flametree Press

A lost horror film holds the key to terrifying secrets.  The legends have persisted for decades of a lost horror film starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi that was never released. Rumor has it that, for reasons long forgotten, powerful forces suppressed the film and burned all known prints. Nobody now living has seen the finished film. But that might no longer be true…  Film researcher Sandy Allan is invited to a screening of a newly-discovered sole-surviving print, but then the film disappears and the real horror begins. Sandy’s search for the film leads her to Redfield, a rural community known its rich soil, fertilized by blood from an ancient massacre. But Redfield guards its secrets closely, with good reason. During every step of her search, Sandy is watched, shadowed by strange figures. Is it paranoia, or is someone—or something—determined to keep the lost film and the secrets it reveals buried forever?  



The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell

Expected publication: February 9, 2023 by Raven Books

From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a gripping tale of obsession, superstition and ambition, set against the atmospheric backdrop of Victorian London. Be careful what you wish for it may just come true.

At The Mercury Theatre in London's West End, rumours are circulating of a curse. It is said that the lead actress Lilith has made a pact with Melpomene, the tragic muse of Greek mythology, to become the greatest actress to ever grace the stage. Suspicious of Lilith, the jealous wife of the theatre owner sends dresser Jenny to spy on her, and, desperate for the money to help her family, Jenny agrees.

What Jenny finds is a woman as astonishing in her performance as she is provocative in her nature. On stage, it's as though Lilith is possessed by the characters she plays, yet off stage she is as tragic as the muse who inspires her, and Jenny, sorry for her, befriends the troubled actress. But when strange events begin to take place around the theatre, Jenny wonders whether the rumours are true and fears that when the muse comes calling for payment, the cost will be too high.





The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

Expected publication: February 14, 2023 by HarperCollins B and Blackstone Publishing


A sumptuous, gothic-infused story about a marriage that is unraveled by dark secrets, a friendship cursed to end in tragedy, and the danger of believing in fairy tales—the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi.

Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.

But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.

Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.




Monstersona by Chloe Spencer

Expected publication: February 14, 2023 by Tiny Ghost Press

After her parents’ divorce, 16 year old Riley Grishin is forced to move from Portland, Oregon all the way to Little Brook, Maine, a small town that serves as the headquarters for Titan Technologies, an international science corporation.

Having no friends, Riley spends most of her days running through the woods with her dog Tigger, and eavesdropping on her classmates—in particular, the gorgeous, but very strange, Aspen Montehugh.

On the night of the homecoming game, Riley wakes up to find that her town is on fire, and being terrorized by an unseen monster. With the flames rapidly spreading, Riley and her dog Tigger have no choice but to pile up in their beat-up pickup truck and flee the town. But as they're driving away, they come across the only other survivor: Aspen.

When Aspen and Riley reach safety, they realize that something far more strange and sinister is happening. According to the news, all of the other Titan Tech laboratories on the East Coast have spontaneously combusted. All air travel has been grounded, so Riley has no way to fly to her dad who lives in Seattle. Riley and her dad agree to meet up in Minneapolis, and Aspen comes along in hopes of finding her aunt.

As they travel across the country, they are attacked by monsters and strange armed men in the dead of night. Slowly, Riley realizes that something's not quite right with Aspen, which puts her feelings for her—and her own humanity—to the ultimate test. 

  




Churn the Soil by Steve Stred

Expected publication: January 31, 2023 by Vesuvian Books

Two hundred miles north of the town of Basco sits The Border. It’s a quiet, off-the-grid settlement, where the residents have developed a tentative agreement with those that live on the other side of the clearing.

But things are about to change forever.

As night falls, a teenage girl is brutally murdered as she flees across the clearing.
Now, it’s up to Basco PD officers Brown and Reynolds to find her killer.

But the truth is far worse than they could possibly imagine, and the more the officers uncover, the bolder the things beyond the clearing grow.

‘Under an icy snowfall…’
‘Under a clear, blue moon…’

North of The Border lies a land unseen by man. A land where things are ready and waiting… to feed.

Splatterpunk-Nominated author Steve Stred, who brought you ‘Mastodon’ and ‘Incarnate,’ delivers a pulse-pounding, high-stakes story where if the cold doesn’t kill you, the Forest Guards will.

HorrorScope: A Zodiac Anthology

Expected publication: February 20, 2023 by H. Everend


Aries. Taurus. Gemini. Cancer. Leo. Virgo. Libra. Scorpio. Sagittarius. Capricorn. Aquarius. Pisces.

It is said that destiny is determined by the stars. The signs of the Zodiac can predict who you’ll love, who you’ll hate, and who you’ll become. But the fates written in the stars are not always kind. Sometimes, they’re terrifying.

In HorrorScope, you will find 36 dark fantasy poems and short stories all inspired by the Zodiac Signs. Within these pages, you’ll face killer goats, twisted twins and deadly fishies. So, open this book, if you dare, and pray that you weren’t born under a bad sign.





Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder 

Expected publication: February 21, 2023 by Tor Nightfire


Sister, Maiden, Monster is a visceral story set in the aftermath of our planet’s disastrous transformation and told through the eyes of three women trying to survive the nightmare, from Bram Stoker Award-winning author Lucy A. Snyder.

To survive they must evolve.

A virus tears across the globe, transforming its victims in nightmarish ways. As the world collapses, dark forces pull a small group of women together.

Erin, once quiet and closeted, acquires an appetite for a woman and her brain. Why does forbidden fruit taste so good?

Savannah, a professional BDSM switch, discovers a new turn-on: committing brutal murders for her eldritch masters.

Mareva, plagued with chronic tumors, is too horrified to acknowledge her divine role in the coming apocalypse, and as her growths multiply, so too does her desperation.


Inspired by her Bram Stoker Award-winning story “Magdala Amygdala,” Lucy A. Snyder delivers a cosmic tale about the planet’s disastrous transformation ... and what we become after.
.


The Monsters in our Shadows

Expected publication: February 28, 2023 by Lovecraft Press


It’s been a century since “the great consumption.” Humanity has been devoured to the edge of extinction by the ever-ravenous Shivers – terrifying, shapeless creatures that latch onto their hosts, tormenting them over time before consuming them all at once. The last of civilization lives in the crumbling city of Atlas, where they subsist on processed insects and await their inevitable fate.

Anthem is the city Exilist, tasked with trapping the Shivers and banishing them to the malevolent Deadlands outside the city walls. But Anthem is ailing and destined to soon fall victim to his own Shiver, a fate he’s reluctantly accepted. As Anthem begins to withdraw from his world, a threat he’s unprepared for comes hurtling home. If he is to save anyone, he will have to travel into the Deadlands in search of a remedy to tame these creatures. But no Atlas dweller has ever made it back alive, and Anthem must confront his own darkness before humankind is forever lost to the monsters in our shadows.

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

Expected publication: February 28, 2023 by Bloomsbury YA


A house with a terrifying appetite haunts a broken family in this atmospheric horror, perfect for fans of Mexican Gothic.

When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam for a visit with her estranged father, she has one goal: survive five weeks pretending to be a happy family in the French colonial house Ba is restoring. She’s always lied to fit in, so if she’s straight enough, Vietnamese enough, American enough, she can get out with the college money he promised.

But the house has other plans. Night after night, Jade wakes up paralyzed. The walls exude a thrumming sound, while bugs leave their legs and feelers in places they don’t belong. She finds curious traces of her ancestors in the gardens they once tended. And at night Jade can’t ignore the ghost of the beautiful bride who leaves her cryptic warnings: Don’t eat.

Neither Ba nor her sweet sister Lily believe that there is anything strange happening. With help from a delinquent girl, Jade will prove this house—the home her family has always wanted—will not rest until it destroys them. Maybe, this time, she can keep her family together. As she roots out the house’s rot, she must also face the truth of who she is and who she must become to save them all.


The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden

Expected publication: February 28, 2023 by Dutton


A gripping and atmospheric debut that is at once a chilling gothic mystery and a love letter to Victorian fiction.

Nobody ever goes to Hartwood Hall. Folks say it's cursed...

It's 1852 and Margaret Lennox, a young widow, attempts to escape the shadows of her past by taking a position as governess to an only child, Louis, at an isolated country house in the west of England.

But Margaret soon starts to feel that something isn't quite right. There are strange figures in the dark, tensions between servants, and an abandoned east wing. Even stranger is the local gossip surrounding Mrs. Eversham, Louis's widowed mother, who is deeply distrusted in the village.

Lonely and unsure whom to trust, Margaret finds distraction in a forbidden relationship with the gardener, Paul. But as Margaret's history threatens to catch up with her, it isn't long before she learns the truth behind the secrets of Hartwood Hall.

Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury

Expected publication: February 28, 2023 by Margaret K. McElderry Books


The Haunting of Hill House meets Sadie in this evocative and mind-bending psychological thriller following two teen girls navigating the treacherous past of a mysterious mansion ten years apart.

Daisy sees dead people—something impossible to forget in bustling, ghost-packed Toronto. She usually manages to deal with her unwanted ability, but she’s completely unprepared to be dumped by her boyfriend. So when her mother inherits a secluded mansion in northern Ontario where she spent her childhood summers, Daisy jumps at the chance to escape. But the house is nothing like Daisy expects, and she begins to realize that her experience with the supernatural might be no match for her mother’s secrets, nor what lurks within these walls…

A decade later, Brittney is desperate to get out from under the thumb of her abusive mother, a bestselling author who claims her stay at “Miracle Mansion” allowed her to see the error of her ways. But Brittney knows that’s nothing but a sham. She decides the new season of her popular Haunted web series will uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the mansion ten years prior and finally expose her mother’s lies. But as she gets more wrapped up in the investigation, she’ll have to decide: if she can only bring one story to light, which one matters most—Daisy’s or her own?

As Brittney investigates the mansion in the present, Daisy’s story runs parallel in the past, both timelines propelling the girls to face the most dangerous monsters of all: those that hide in plain sight.

Published  December 30, 2022 by D&T Publishing Uninvited and unwelcomed, Dan’s estranged mother Margo shows up at his doorstep moments b...


Published December 30, 2022 by D&T Publishing

Uninvited and unwelcomed, Dan’s estranged mother Margo shows up at his doorstep moments before a freak snowstorm hits their small Texas town. The arctic storm comes fast and hard, trapping Dan and his wife, their teen daughter, and her boyfriend inside with the malicious old woman who seems hell-bent on destroying everything her son and daughter-in-law have built together. Long-buried family secrets are exhumed, causing tensions to flare and tempers to erupt. As things spiral out of control and anger consumes the household, inside is Hell. But outside in the snow, there’s something far more sinister. Something full of rage. Something violent. And that something has a taste for blood.

"A multi-layered thriller that'll chill your blood faster than a freak blizzard, Matt Micheli's The White proves there are scarier things than being trapped at home with family." - Jessica McHugh, Bram Stoker & Elgin Award nominated author of A Complex Accident of Life and Strange Nests

“Reading The White is like jumping naked into an ice-cold dunk tank filled with razor blades and smashed faces, Micheli’s writing is horrifically refreshing.” – Luke Kondor, co-founder and host of The Other Stories

“The White is a fun one-sitting romp dealing with high-tension family dynamics and the arrival of a freak snowstorm offering more than just a chill.” – Mark Towse, author of Nana and Crows

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Matt Micheli is a dark fiction and horror writer out of New Braunfels, TX, author of The White by D&T Publishing. He has several pieces featured in various magazines and anthologies. He is a loving husband and a girl and Husky dad who spends his days dabbling in domestication and his nights in Tequila, always searching for the next great story. Watch for his second novella Scratched in spring of 2023 and his 80's throwback horror novella Two Minutes with the Devil coming June of 2023 by D&T Publishing.

Published  July 12, 2022 by Tor Nightfire W hat Moves the Dead is Kingfisher's retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall...



Published July 12, 2022 by Tor Nightfire

What Moves the Dead is Kingfisher's retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall of the House of Usher.”

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

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T. Kingfisher could write an encyclopedia that I'd want to read, so when I saw that What Moves The Dead was a revamping of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher", I was giddy with excitement. Yes, giddy. I said what I said. Instead of a regurgitated version, Kingfisher has added her own reconception to Poe's short story and it's a doozy.

As with Poe, Kingfisher begins her tale with a first-person narrative. However, unlike Poe and his exceptionally vague male protagonist, Lieutenant Alex Easton is a genderqueer retired soldier friend of the female Usher—a deviation from Poe's who is a friend of the male sibling. Kingfisher has also made the addition of a female mycologist, an American doctor, as well as various townspeople, to complete the cast. Though I have to admit Angus, the Scottish personal assistant of Lt. Easton, was a personal favorite. 

Kingfisher always crafts her stories with creeping dread and from the beginning pages, she molds (pun not intended but in this case, highly appropriate) this inspired tale with care. The Usher property is blooming with nasty, foul-smelling mushrooms, the manor house is crumbling and filled with mildew and decay,  and the Ushers themselves are pallid skeletal things. None of that is anything new.  Oh, but the hares. If nothing else will give you the heebie-jeebies in this story, the hares will. You know that feeling you get while watching horror movies, where a person skitters around on all fours or jerkily ambulates—familiar but thoroughly alien? Kingfisher must dream of that feeling because she excels at writing the wrongness of things. 

It's like Kingfisher took a look at Poe's narrative and decided to complete all of the gaps, mapping out the dark corners and watery lake depths. She scaffolded onto the original with a light touch, melding some gratifying humor and wit with the expected gothic conventions. However, if you were a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic and Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation, you'll be over the moon to know that this is also a fungal horror. Undeniably, Kingfisher gives us the answers to the questions that plagued us after finishing the original.  Poe's version left the reader with so many interpretations and very little solid evidence. Kingfisher doesn't wait for the House of Usher to break atwain; She lights it on fire and watches it burn. 

Exiled for a murder her father committed, Brigid Cleary has until midsummer to gather what she needs for readmission to her home in the fair...

Exiled for a murder her father committed, Brigid Cleary has until midsummer to gather what she needs for readmission to her home in the fairy mound: a chest of stolen gold and a chest full of her father’s blood. With nothing but her own wits and an ability to be mostly unseen, she takes a position as a scullery maid in a country manor house, where stealing gold is easy as dusting the candlesticks.

When discovery of her thieving becomes likely, she scarpers, embarking on a madcap season in London. With midsummer fast approaching, Brigid must recoup her stolen gold in any way she can, even if it means modeling for a lecherous pre Raphaelite artist, posing as a young debutante to spy on other debutantes, and forming a clandestine Pugilism Club for Young Ladies.

With gold filling her pockets and her father newly released from prison, the path back to the fairies should be clear. Or would be, were it not for her growing feelings for Edmund, the gentle young lord who hired her to spy on his sister; her burgeoning sense of loyalty and friendship to Adelaide, the sister upon whom she was meant to spy; and the unsettling question of whether she should--or even could--bloodily avenge her mother’s death.

Inspired by the actual 1895 murder of Bridget Cleary by her husband Michael, the struggle for Irish Home Rule, and events surrounding the late pre Raphaelite artistic movement, The Revenge of Bridget Cleary has been heralded by author Joanna Ruth Meyer as "equal parts haunting, compelling, and thoughtful."



What attracted you to the genre(s) you write in?


I love fantasy and horror because they allow you to explore the meaningful by way of the impossible. 

What part of writing do you consider a chore?


It really depends on my mood. Sometimes I like editing better, sometimes I like drafting better, and sometimes they're both a total slog. Getting shiny new ideas and throwing them all onto paper, however, is always fun.

Did publishing your first book change your process of writing?


Yes. I learned so much about editing and different ways of looking at narrative. I'm really grateful to my writing friends and beta readers for making this story so much better. 

What's your favorite "bad review" that you've gotten?  


*knock on wood* I haven't gotten one yet! I've only had one three star review, and I couldn't even call that bad, as it was thoughtful and generous, and the reviewer also went on to recommend my book to forums on reddit that he thought would enjoy it more than him!

I'm still waiting for a truly scathing review. I feel like it is a rite of passage for authors. 

What comes first for you - the plot or the characters?


It really depends on the story. For The Revenge of Bridget Cleary, it was the plot. For the book I'm currently writing, it was the characters. For a book I'm hoping to write in the near future, it was actually the world building. 

Do you have any writing superstitions?


I don't know if it's so much a superstition as it is Pavlovian training, but I have the hardest time writing if I am anticipating getting interrupted by my children. I like to write a coffee shops while they're at school, or evenings in the library while husband is with them at home, because when I'm with them, even if they promise to give me 20 minutes, I'm constantly anticipating interruptions.

Is there a word you find yourself using too often when writing?


Modifiers. All the modifiers. 

A lot of authors have a soundtrack while writing. Are there any songs you had on repeat? 


For The Revenge of Bridget Cleary, I really got into "Tell Me Ma," especially the cover by Gaelic Storm.

Do you have a favorite line that you've written? What is it and why do you like it?


"I love this. I love it all. The messiness, the uncertainty, the failure and the hunger. When you can live forever, time matters less. Triumph and failure all runs together like sunrises and sunsets—there are an endless supply of them. It doesn't work that way in the mortal world. You've only got so much time, and the press of what to do with that time. And then you die." 

Mortality is hard, and it's simultaneously comforting and terrifying that it's so temporary. 

What is something about the genre that annoys you?


In historical fiction, or historical fantasy, the assumption that "historical" must equate to "women in supporting roles only." Women have been shaping the course of history since the beginning of time, and I think it's important that we start challenging that assumption, centering their stories, and highlighting their remarkable achievements.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?


Please stop revising that one book over and over. Write new books, try new things. You can always come back to that project.

What advice would you like to pass on to aspiring writers that is unconventional but true?


When you hear people talking about writing "rules" or writing advice, stick to the pirates' code. They're all just suggestions. One of your jobs as a writer is to weigh, measure, and experiment with other writer's input and figure out your own process. What helps you be more productive, what helps you love the process? Just because it works for Stephen King doesn't mean it's for everyone.

Do you have a WIP? If so, can you tell us anything about it?


I do! I am nearly done drafting The Bee King, a 1920's Gothic Horror about a girl who accepts a marriage proposal from a mysterious beekeeper/ honey baron to save her family. 

Of course, things are not what they seem, and the strange Beekeeper's plans for her are not what she was expecting.

Which of your characters was your favorite to write and why?


I like to write duos that are foils to each other--the serious and careful character thrown in with the chaotic, disorganized anarchist. 

Characters are the most fun when they play off each other.

Would you and your main character get along?


Probably!

Killing off characters your readers love - Risky or necessary?


Necessary.

Did any of your characters surprise you while you were writing?


Yes. All the time.

You've watched a movie 50 times and you still aren't tired of it. What movie is it?


Knives Out

Which animal (real or fictional) would you say is your spirit animal and why?


Platypus. Nonsensical, harder to categorize, but totally here and  living my best life. 

Would you rather live in a haunted mansion or a cottage surrounded by fairytale creatures?


Cottage. I love mansions but don't want the upkeep.

What would you say is your weirdest writing quirk?


I mutter dialogue when I'm planning it. 

Using only emojis, sum up your book.

 ðŸ”¥ðŸŒ¸ðŸ§š‍♂️🗡💀

You've just gone Trick or Treating. 

What do you hope is in your bag? 

What do you pawn off on your kids/SO/random stranger?

I want: Almond Joys I pawn off: Jolly Ranchers

What is in your internet search history (researching for your book) that you would want someone to wipe if you were under suspicion from the police?

How much blood do you have to lose before dying?

You wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. What was it?

I'm back in contact with some people that, in real life, I've gone no contact with. If ever there was a sign that no contact is good, maybe it's that one!

What cliched tattoo would your main character have?

Her mother's name on her arm.

What movie completely scarred you as a child?

Silence of the Lambs. I saw it when I was 12, and it was...a lot

What's the strangest thing a fan (or other author)  has said to you?

Someone on Goodreads called The Revenge of Bridget Cleary a masterpiece. I mean, I worked very hard on that book and I am proud of it, but that one still definitely took me by surprise!

If animals could talk, which one would be the rudest?

Cats.

Your main character is at the hardware store. What do they buy?

A shovel.

Which of the Golden Girls is your personality most like?

I've actually never seen the show!

If you were bitten and changed, would you want it to be by a vampire or a werewolf?

Werewolf!

You're riding through the desert on a horse with no name. What are you going to call it?

Fletcher. He's a chubby palomino and I love him.

What are your SM links? Can we follow you and pretend we're besties? 

Yes!

Mathilda Zeller has inhabited 2 continents, 3 countries, 11 of the United States, and 18 towns. Don't ask her where she's from; it's complicated.

She endeavors to make you lose sleep with fantasy and horror stories and currently makes her home in the Midwest with her husband, six children, and two cats.

Published  November 22, 2022 by Brigids Gate Press, LLC B etrayal brings grave ending to a noble bloodline. Forced to flee, its sole survivi...


Published November 22, 2022 by Brigids Gate Press, LLC

Betrayal brings grave ending to a noble bloodline. Forced to flee, its sole surviving heir is spared this fate by the timely intervention of a haunter of the wilds. In his charge, the maiden embraces the lore of the dark arts and rises to become the watch-keep of the woods. As decades pass, with her legend growing, the ‘witch of root and earth’ weaves subtle deceits in a tangled web of vengeance.

But will there be a fairy tale ending, or will poisoned legacies and pacts with dark forces see ambition unravel in her relentless pursuit of power?

Bloody, and brilliantly realised, Baird’s dark fantasy nightmare spins a lavish tale of dread, desire, and fantastical fury.

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Black and white picture of Keith Anthony Baird

Keith Anthony Baird is the author of The Jesus Man: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale of Horror (Novel), Nexilexicon (Novel), And a Dark Horse Dreamt of Nightmares (Book of Shorts), This Will Break Every Bone In Your Heart (Novelette) and Snake Charmer Blues (Short), and a psychological/horror novella titled A Seed in a Soil of Sorrow. His works can be found on Amazon and Audible. 

He is currently querying a dystopian/cyberpunk novella titled SIN:THETICA.

The Diabolica Britannica horror anthology was his brainchild, in which you'll find his own contribution Walked a Pale Horse on Celtic Frost. 2021 saw the release of the Diabolica Americana and HEX-PERIMENTS anthologies, the latter in partnership with author Ross Jeffery.

He lives in Cumbria, in the United Kingdom, on the edge of the Lake District National Park.

Find him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/kabauthor

Published  September 27, 2022 by Tordotcom I n an isolated chateau, as far north as north goes, the baron’s doctor has died. The doctor’s re...

Black rectangle with the words Book Review and the cover of Leech by Hiron Ennes

Published September 27, 2022 by Tordotcom

In an isolated chateau, as far north as north goes, the baron’s doctor has died. The doctor’s replacement has a mystery to solve: discovering how the Institute lost track of one of its many bodies.

For hundreds of years the Interprovincial Medical Institute has grown by taking root in young minds and shaping them into doctors, replacing every human practitioner of medicine. The Institute is here to help humanity, to cure and to cut, to cradle and protect the species from the apocalyptic horrors their ancestors unleashed.

In the frozen north, the Institute's body will discover a competitor for its rung at the top of the evolutionary ladder. A parasite is spreading through the baron's castle, already a dark pit of secrets, lies, violence, and fear. The two will make war on the battlefield of the body. Whichever wins, humanity will lose again.


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  Words my thoughts with a coffee cup
Leech is a baffling gothic body-horror-filled affair and one in which, I was not totally sold...at first. Intrigued? You should be. It's most likely the most inscrutable read of my entire year (2022 that is). I started Leech initially thinking I was getting a drafty cold chateau set in a bleak snowy landscape with a parasite on the loose—and it delivered that but also much more. So much, in fact, that I initially gave up on it completely at a loss of what was occurring and resigned it to the DNF pile, but when I saw the audiobook, I decided to give it another shot. The narration was exactly what I needed to wade through the details and pique my interest again. 

When we first meet the doctor, they are arriving by train through a wintry desolate landscape to the frozen grounds of the Château de Verdira. It's the perfect gothic setting. The doctor has come after the death of the previous doctor to uncover exactly what caused the death. From there it only gets stranger. The doctor is part of the "The Institute" and has only just arrived, but seems to know all the inhabitants of the Château already. How is this? Well, that's part of Leech's charm. 

This book is dense. The language is stilted and the narrative constantly jumps; past, future, person to person, sometimes it's many voices at once in a strange mind share. The pacing is constantly speeding up and then slowing down. The setting seems primitive and yet the baron is kept alive by an innumerable amount of machinery, tubing, levers, and dials. There are talks of vestigial tails and a vendigeaux side by side with plastiophages and old nuclear plants. You get some answers, and more questions until it culminates in a fantastical ending. The trick of Leech is reading without the expectation to comprehend. It truly is dropping you in the middle of a myriad of things and tromping along until it makes sense in a very ah-ha manner. 

It's a curious beast of medical horror, sci-fi, and old-school gothic. It's body horror all wrapped up in existential dread and dubious bodily autonomy. It's vivid, disgusting things of mucous and fluids, of black tendrils and blood. It's a difficult read, but one where you get to the end, sit back and ruminate before deciding whether or not you truly enjoyed the read.  

Ah, New Year's Day. The time to reminisce on the days past and look forward to a brighter tomorrow. The day that everyone promises thems...


Ah, New Year's Day.
The time to reminisce on the days past and look forward to a brighter tomorrow. The day that everyone promises themselves they'll do better, be happier, do MORE, and by the end of January that resolution is gathering dust in the closet with our rattling skeletons and those jeans from two sizes ago that we are holding onto "just in case".


As Billy Crystal said “New Year’s Day — now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."
For this reason alone, I don't make New Year's resolutions. I know myself far too well. I'm a sprinter, not a marathoner. But like a good little optimist, I reloaded my Goodreads challenge with another 100 books for 2023. At least I know that reading is something I will stick with, unlike that promise to give up caffeine and sugar. (Sure, like that would happen.)


What about you? Did you make a resolution for 2023? If like mine, it's to read more books, I got you, fam. Get ready to pad your TBR, here are just a few of January's releases!


If you are looking for what's still to come, you can see the whole list for 2023 here.

If you have a book releasing this year and want to get on the list, click here and I'll get you added!

__________________________________________

AHH! That's What I Call Horror: An Anthology of '90s Horror

ed. Chelsea Pumpkins
 

Expected publication: January 1, 2023 by PIT

With fourteen horror stories set during the decade of flannel shirts and neon dolphin Trapper Keepers, Ahh! That’s What I Call Horror features a PHAT (pretty horrific and terrifying) collection of totally rad horror and weird fiction authors exploring the darker side of what many consider a time of relative peace and prosperity. With Communism falling and Clear Channel rising, the horror of the 1990s requires peeling back layers of safe, sanitized media to reveal the nightmares waiting beneath. When it comes to ‘90s horror, this is one anthology guaranteed to be all that and a bag of haunted chips.

You won’t need a dial-up connection to reach the beyond in this time-warp to the ‘90s. With undead grunge rock icons, menacing action figures, family sitcoms gone very wrong, and more: these terror tales will return you to the end of the old millennium.

How will you get back?
Like, who says you will?




The Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert

Expected Publication: January 10, 2023 by Crooked Lane Books

T. Kingfisher meets Cassandra Khaw in a chilling horror novel that illustrates the fine line between humanity and monstrosity.

Blackwood mansion looms, surrounded by nightmare pines, atop the hill over the small town of New Haven. Ben Bookman, bestselling novelist and heir to the Blackwood estate, spent a weekend at the ancestral home to finish writing his latest horror novel, The Scarecrow. Now, on the eve of the book’s release, the terrible story within begins to unfold in real life.

Detective Mills arrives at the scene of a gruesome murder: a family butchered and bundled inside cocoons stitched from corn husks, and hung from the rafters of a barn, eerily mirroring the opening of Bookman’s latest novel. When another family is killed in a similar manner, Mills, along with his daughter, rookie detective Samantha Blue, is determined to find the link to the book—and the killer—before the story reaches its chilling climax.

As the series of “Scarecrow crimes” continues to mirror the book, Ben quickly becomes the prime suspect. He can’t remember much from the night he finished writing the novel, but he knows he wrote it in The Atrium, his grandfather’s forbidden room full of numbered books. Thousands of books. Books without words.

As Ben digs deep into Blackwood’s history he learns he may have triggered a release of something trapped long ago—and it won’t stop with the horrors buried within the pages of his book.

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

Expected publication: January 10, 2023 by Doubleday Books

In this gripping debut tinged with supernatural horror, a young Cree woman's dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community and the land they call home.

When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears.

Night after night, Mackenzie's dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina's untimely death: a weekend at the family's lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt. But when the waking world starts closing in, too--a murder of crows stalks her every move around the city, she wakes up from a dream of drowning throwing up water, and gets threatening text messages from someone claiming to be Sabrina--Mackenzie knows this is more than she can handle alone.

Traveling north to her rural hometown in Alberta, she finds her family still steeped in the same grief that she ran away to Vancouver to escape. They welcome her back, but their shaky reunion only seems to intensify her dreams--and make them more dangerous.


What really happened that night at the lake, and what did it have to do with Sabrina's death? Only a bad Cree would put their family at risk, but what if whatever has been calling Mackenzie home was already inside?
.



Briardark by S.A. Harian

Expected publication: January 16, 2023 by Compass and Fern

Survival and cosmic horror collide in this new series, perfect for fans of LOST and House of Leaves.

For Dr. Siena Dupont and her ambitious team, the Alpenglow glacier expedition is a career-defining opportunity. But thirty miles into the desolate Deadswitch Wilderness, they discover a missing hiker dangling from a tree, and their satellite phone fails to call out.

Then the body vanishes without a trace.

The disappearance isn’t the only chilling anomaly. Siena’s map no longer aligns with the trail. The glacier they were supposed to study has inexplicably melted. Strange foliage overruns the mountainside, and a tunnel within a tree hollow lures Siena to a hidden cabin, and a stranger with a sinister message…

Holden Sharpe’s IT job offers little distraction from his wasted potential until he stumbles upon a decommissioned hard drive and an old audio file. Trapped on a mountain, Dr. Siena Dupont recounts an expedition in chaos and the bloody death of a colleague.

Entranced by the mystery, Holden searches for answers to Siena’s fate. But he is unprepared for the truth that will draw him to the outskirts of Deadswitch Wilderness—a place teeming with unfathomable nightmares and impossibilities.



The Cabinet of Dr. Leng by Douglas Preston, 
Lincoln Child

Expected publication: January 17, 2023 by Grand Central Publishing

Preston & Child continue their #1 bestselling series featuring FBI Special Agent Pendergast and Constance Greene, as they cross paths with New York’s deadliest serial killer: Pendergast’s own ancestor…and now his greatest foe.

AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY

Astoundingly, Constance has found a way back to the place of her origins, New York City in the late 1800s, leaping at the chance, although it means leaving the present forever.

A DESPERATE OPPORTUNITY

Constance sets off on a quest to prevent the events that lead to the deaths of her sister and brother. But along the road to redemption, Manhattan’s most infamous serial killer, Dr. Enoch Leng, lies in wait, ready to strike at the slightest provocation.

UNIMAGINABLE ODDS

Meanwhile, in contemporary New York, Pendergast feverishly searches for a way to reunite with Constance—but will he discover a way back to her before it’s too late?





How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

Expected publication: January 17, 2023 by Berkely

Your past and your family can haunt you like nothing else… A hilarious and terrifying new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Final Girl Support Group.

Every childhood home is haunted, and each of us are possessed by our parents.

When their parents die at the tail end of the coronavirus pandemic, Louise and Mark Joyner are devastated but nothing can prepare them for how bad things are about to get. The two siblings are almost totally estranged, and couldn’t be more different. Now, however, they don’t have a choice but to get along. The virus has passed, and both of them are facing bank accounts ravaged by the economic meltdown. Their one asset? Their childhood home. They need to get it on the market as soon as possible because they need the money. Yet before her parents died they taped newspaper over the mirrors and nailed shut the attic door.

Sometimes we feel like puppets, controlled by our upbringing and our genes. Sometimes we feel like our parents treat us like toys, or playthings, or even dolls. The past can ground us, teach us, and keep us safe. It can also trap us, and bind us, and suffocate the life out of us. As disturbing events stack up in the house, Louise and Mark have to learn that sometimes the only way to break away from the past, sometimes the only way to sell a haunted house, is to burn it all down.



Bloodtooth by D.W. Hitz

Expected publication: January 17, 2023 by Fedowar Press, LLC

After nightmares begin in the small town of Custer Falls, Montana, in 1992, it’ll be thirty years before they end.

Just outside of Custer Falls, something is sleeping. Life in the small town was never ideal, but it was safe, quiet, and predictable. After Wes Henson and his friends' field trip to Bloodtooth Caverns, all of that changes.

All they did was stray off the path. They didn't expect to break their bones and discover an ancient relic. But once it's in Wes's hands, he's the one that has to put it back.

Until he does, the town's nightmares are no longer harmless. The good side of your conscience may go quiet as the devil on your shoulder speaks up. Children fall into comas, while adults are torn to pieces in their sleep.

If Wes and his friends want to survive, they'll have to conquer the waking world and the dreamscape.



Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

Expected publication: January 17, 2023 by Tor Nightfire

Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends, Ila and Hannah. Since then, Alice’s life has spiraled. She lives a haunted existence, selling videos of herself for money, going to parties she hates, drinking herself to sleep.

Memories of that night torment Alice, but when Ila asks her to return to the House, to go past the KEEP OUT sign and over the sick earth where teenagers dare each other to venture, Alice knows she must go.

Together, Alice and Ila must face the horrors that happened there, must pull themselves apart from the inside out, put their differences aside, and try to rescue Hannah, whom the House has chosen to make its own.



Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

Expected publication: January 24, 2023 by Redhook

A ghost-hunting reality TV crew gain unprecedented access to an abandoned and supposedly haunted mansion, which promises a groundbreaking thirteenth episode, but as they uncover the secret history of the house, they learn that “reality” TV might be all too real — in Bram Stoker Award nominated author Craig DiLouie's latest heart pounding novel of horror and psychological suspense.

Fade to Black is the newest hit ghost hunting reality TV show. It’s led by husband and wife team Matt and Claire Kirklin and features a dedicated crew of ghost-hunting experts.
 
Episode Thirteen takes them to Matt's holy grail: the Paranormal Research Foundation. This crumbling, derelict mansion holds secrets and clues about the bizarre experiments that took place there in the 1970s. It's also, undoubtedly, haunted, and Matt hopes to use their scientific techniques and high tech gear to prove it. 

But, as the house begins to slowly reveal itself to them, proof of an afterlife might not be everything Matt dreamed of. 
  
A story told in broken pieces, in tapes, journals, correspondence, and research files, this is the story of Episode Thirteen — and how everything went horribly wrong.



River of Wrath by Alexandrea Weis, Lucas Astor

Expected publication: January 31, 2023 by Vesuvian Books

Leslie Moore is struggling to get through her last semester at St. Benedict High. Even her relationship with her boyfriend Derek is falling apart. But after receding floodwaters from the Bogue Falaya River expose the bones of a woman, Leslie becomes obsessed with tracking down the killer.


Sightings of an apparition haunting The Abbey send Leslie and her friends back to the scene of the horrors from last Halloween, but no one is prepared for what they find.

After a stranger—the handsome Luke Cross—arrives in town, another girl goes missing, and the sheriff suspects the newcomer is hiding something. Leslie believes the Devereaux family is connected to everything going wrong in St. Benedict. And she means to uncover the truth, no matter the cost.

Not all secrets can be kept silent. Some eventually find their way home.