Category: The Fright Stuff

This first book I’ve got for you this week is a collection of horror stories that are all connected by one interesting premise. It all starts in 1999 at a Halloween party, where a writer ends up going to bed with the devil. From then on, the devil returns to her throughout her life. As the title suggests, this writer keeps creating stories for the devil, stories that are chilling and strange while also delving into the very real fears and hopes of the Brazilian American immigrant experience.

This one is such a creepy, mind-bendy experience that’s truly hard to describe, but let me try! Charlie and Eve have just gotten a great deal on an old house and are working on renovating it. Then, one day when Eve is at the house by herself, she hears a knock at the door. It’s a family, and the father, Thomas, claims to have lived in the house three years ago. They say they want to have a look around and will only stay for 15 minutes, tops. But as soon as they enter the house, strange things start happening. And, well, needless to say, they stay for longer than 15 minutes.

Best book of the year so far, friends. Hands down. I’m so excited that this one is finally out so you can all get it in your hands and start talking to me about it. This book follows a group of young filmmakers setting out to film an indie, experimental horror movie. But after many troubles on set, it’s a horror movie that will never see the light of day. In the present timeline, buzz about the never-released film is building, and some scenes have been released on YouTube. Demand for the film is high, so it’s no surprise that a major budget reboot is in the works. But some movies are just cursed, no matter how many times you try to film them or how much money you put into them.

This is another top read of the year for me, and I am so excited to see Nicola Yoon excel in adult fiction as well as young adult fiction. Not that I’m surprised. Jasmyn and King Williams move their family to Liberty, California in the hopes of becoming part of a supportive, thriving Black community. But Liberty is not the Black utopia Jasmyn dreamed it would be. Something strange is going on in this place, and the truth might destroy everything Jasmyn and King have built for their family.

It’s Pride Month, so let’s start with a new queer horror story! The Soler sisters are known around polite society for being brazen and rebellious, which is why their grandmother sends them off to a finishing school called Alarie House, in the hopes of turning them into respectable young socialites. But there’s something strange about the Alarie girls. They’re all just a little too perfect. When Renata returns from the program, she is a little too pleasant to be around. Then she disappears. Determined to figure out what’s going on in the Alarie House and what happened to older her sister, Isla—who left the school almost immediately upon entering—reenrolls to uncover the school’s secrets.

I am such a sucker for reality tv stories, especially when it’s (you guessed it) a horror story. The Groom is a reality TV series where women compete to win the love of a bachelor. In this case, the bachelor is Midwesterner Tristan, and the ladies will have to prove their love by spending the night in a haunted house. But then someone dies on set, and the game becomes much more dangerous than anyone could have predicted. Don’t mess with haunted houses, friends!

Junji Ito is the king of horror comics. He manages to portray so much creepiness and disturbing imagery in each panel. This collection contains stories about bats (and not cute ones), ghosts, a haunted house, and more disgusting, frightening events than you can shake a stick at. If you’ve never read Ito before, you should know that nothing is off limits — and it’s all drawn out for you. When people want really messed up stuff to read, this is where we point them.

If you like your horror on the more surreal side, JRJ is the author for you. These are like X-Files cases soaked in Red Bull inside Clive Barker’s skull. There’s a parasite making itself at home in a man’s body, extreme body modification, apocalypses, crime, and more. You will love and pet this collection and call George, and also wonder, “Jeremy Robert Johnson, wtf is wrong with you?!?” (Be sure to also pick up Skullcrack City!)

Surely if you are a horror fan, you know of Stephen Graham Jones by now. He’s one of the most awesome writers of the 21st century. And so freaking prolific! Most recently, he published the Indian Lake horror trilogy about a horror-loving young woman and horror tropes. (I’m going to say horror again: horror.) This is one of his many collections, with literal heartbreak, a haunted baby monitor, a disaster after a shipwreck, things in the woods, and so, so many scares you’ll want to read this in public.

Like I said, it’s Stephen King release week. And here’s what we’re getting from the master of horror this week. You Like It Darker is a new short story collection, featuring 12 stories. As the title suggests, these stories delve into the darker side of life. Bonus: fans of the King classics will be excited to know there’s a sequel to Cujo included here!

But we’ve got more than King in the new release category! Woodworm is a novel in translation set in a strange house filled with ghosts, witchcraft, and secrets. The house was built by a man who wanted to hold and control his wife. Now, many years later, their daughter and her granddaughter are still unable to escape. The isolated women are already whispered about in the local community. But after a boy goes missing, paranoia surrounding the women escalates.

I have three (!!) new horror novels to recommend for you this week, and it was hard to narrow it down to these three. Let’s start with the latest from Christina Henry.

Javier Castillo was an award-winning horror movie director who had audiences at the edge of their seats with every new film release. But after his family was hit with tragedy and scandal, the director was forced to step away from the spotlight. Now single mom (and film aficionado) Harry Adams has accepted a job cleaning Javier’s home. Javier values discretion over everything else, and Harry promises not to ask questions. But when Harry hears a voice behind a locked door calling for help, she’s not so sure she can keep her promise.

This next one is a chilling YA horror fantasy from Rick Riordan Presents. Set on the Caribbean Island of St. Virgil, It Waits in the Forest follows Selina DaSilva, a plant-loving young girl who dreams of leaving the island to study pharmacology. But that was before her mother and father were viciously attacked. Now, her father is dead and her mother is in a coma, and Selina’s ex-boyfriend Gabriel wants to get to the bottom of who is violently killing people on the island. There have always been stories of evil lurking in the forest, something Selina’s logical mind always refused to regard as truth. But now she’s not so sure.

This final book is a queer supernatural horror novel. Roos Beckman has a spirit companion, Ruth, who only she can see. Roos uses her abilities to connect with the spirit world to conduct questionable séances where she and her mother feed on the vulnerability of people grieving their loved ones. But then she meets Agnes Knoop, a wealthy young widow who also has a spirit companion. Realizing that they are kindred spirits, Agnes invites Roos to come live with her at the crumbling estate she inherited from her dead husband. Agnes and Roos quickly form a deep bond with one another. When someone ends up dead, Roos’ sanity is questioned, and she’s forced to choose between her love for Agnes and her deep bond with Ruth.

The first book in Liu and Takeda’s Night Eaters trilogy came out in 2022, and I really enjoyed the story of a pair of Chinese American twins who come to learn of an unbelievable family legacy (spoiler alert: they discover they’re demons). Book 2 came out late last year, upping the stakes dramatically for Ipo and Keon, who may just have to harness their brand-new powers to save the world. Beyond the story itself, I really enjoy the lush artwork in this series.

In this stunningly drawn graphic novel, Abby marries a man who was recently widowed and struggles to adjust to a new life with him and his young daughter. But the memory of his husband’s first wife soon seems to grow and expand, taking up even more space in Abby’s life. As Abby begins to have visions of her predecessor, she begins to question everything. Is she losing her grip on reality? Or, could it be possible that things are not what they seem?

Ellis is a comic artist and illustrator whose work I follow on Instagram and who used to be a staff cartoonist at BuzzFeed. So, I’m used to seeing his work in the context of just a small handful of panels. When I saw he had a book coming out — and that it was horror — I was pumped. In this graphic horror collection, described as a graphic version of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Ellis presents a number of standalone supernatural tales, eerie and perplexing and, in some cases, leading me to legit shout out, “Ew!” Each of these tales is accompanied by a short description of what inspired the comic. A quick but satisfying (and unsettling) read.

The Z Word is like Zombieland, if Zombieland were really, really queer. It’s the story of Wendy, a bisexual woman living in San Lazaro, Arizona. She wants to get over her ex-girlfriend Leah, but that’s hard to do when she keeps hooking up with her friends. On top of that, people all around them are turning into zombies. In order to survive, Wendy will be forced to team up with a rag-tag group of friends (and frenemies) — including Leah!

Also out this week: this debut collection of 12 short stories, set in a supernaturally charged version of Lagos, Nigeria. Each story starts familiarly enough — a visit to the market, a mother trying to feed her newborn child. But, that makes every dark, uncanny turn all the more frightening. On May 7th, see why Lauren Groff called Aguda’s work “elegantly balanced with the gorgeous fullness of human emotion.”

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I love a good haunted house story. But, yeah, I do often find myself asking, “Why didn’t you just leave?” Which is part of why I love this short story anthology. All of these stories illustrate that escaping a haunted house is never as simple as just leaving. Don’t believe me? Read and find out.

Are you more scared of serial killers than ghosts? Check out this new horror/thriller reminiscent of The Silence of the Lambs. When a local teen is found murdered, the otherwise quiet community of Granite Harbor is turned upside down. Then, another body is found, and single parents Alex and Isabel worry their kids could be next.

From V. Castro, the author of The Haunting of Alejandra, comes a horrifying new tale of an ancient Aztec vampire who travels the modern world avenging conquered peoples, reclaiming their stolen artifacts, and returning them to their homelands. Malinalli’s travels take her to Dublin, where she searches for stolen Aztec skulls that are connected to her own past. But in this city, she finds something unexpected — two mortal men who speak to Malinalli’s other desires in different ways.

Alex Nguyen is a chronically ill college student whose life is quickly unraveling. Following a recent suicide attempt and a long hospitalization, Alex finds herself without a job, without a romantic relationship, without money to pay for school, and without a place to live. Then, she’s offered a lifeline in the form of a job housesitting for the summer at a mansion on a gulf island. But the mansion — surrounded by a mysterious (and possibly magic) forest and an unsettling, insular community — brings back traumatic memories Alex has long repressed.