Category: The Fright Stuff

You know what is always a terrible idea? Exploring an abandoned military bunker rumored to have been used for top secret scientific experiments. (She says, knowing that she’d probably do it anyway if given the chance.) Because, I mean, even if the local legends are wrong, you’re still going to be underground in a creepy, abandoned bunker. I’ve seen that horror movie. It seldom ends well. It certainly didn’t end well for Liv, who led her friends on a trip to a former military bunker that, so the stories say, is inhabited by monsters. But it’s just a story, right? Where’s the danger? Well, apparently it’s in that bunker. Because Liv is the only one who gets out alive. She turns up at the local police station, covered in blood, raving about — of all things — killer mermaids.

This book. Ya’ll, seriously. It’s so good. It fulfills all the dreams of the little mermaid loving horror fan I once was (and still am, let’s be honest). All Ren Yu wants is to become a mermaid. (And feast on the flesh of tasty sea goers.) She’s already a swimmer, whose love of being in the water butts up against the expectations that she’ll use her skill at swimming to advance in life. Get into a good college on an athletic scholarship. Be successful — a state of being highly defined by everyone in Ren’s life except herself. When really all she wants is to escape from landlocked concerns and sink deep into the ocean until she’s nothing but fins and teeth. She wants to be free, and she’ll stop at nothing to make it happen.

Now Into the Drowning Deep is the obvious pick for this list, I know. It’s a fantastic bit of ocean horror, killer mermaids included, and I’ve actually never featured it in The Fright Stuff before now! So I’d say it’s about time. Seven years before the story begins, a cruise ship called the Atargatis set out for the Mariana Trench with a film crew on board. Their plan was to acquire enough footage and eyewitness testimonies to slap together a “mockumentary” on mermaids, but they found much more than they bargained for. Now a second crew has been brought together to research the fate of the Atargatis, among them Victoria Stewart whose sister was lost when the Atargatis went down. The truth about what happened to her sister can only be found on that same stretch of ocean above the trench, the Atargatis’ last known location, and Victoria isn’t going home without answers. No matter what secrets might lurk beneath the waves.

I have chosen to include Mermaids Never Drown in this week’s list with the caveat that it is an anthology that is not exclusively horror. I’m willing to lay odds that there’s more than one dark and horrifying twist on the mermaid mythos in this collection of 14 stories, given that a few of the authors included frequent the horror genre. However, I cannot promise you an anthology full of JUST flesh eating and bloodied waters. That being said, I’m so beyond excited that Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker are editing another collection like Vampires Never Get Old, and this time around, centering the history of merfolk in folklore and storytelling. And with authors like Kalynn Bayron, June Hur, Kerri Maniscalco, and many others on board, you just know that Mermaids Never Drown is going to be fin-tastic. (I won’t apologize for that, you can’t mako me.)

The damage that family can do when they don’t love you the way they should, just the way you are, is at the heart of this gorgeous retelling of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. When Gabriel Utterson was sent to London by his father to study medicine he fell head over heels in love with fellow medical student Henry Jekyll. But it’s hard to hide a love that burns that brightly, and before long rumors and whispers begin to follow Henry and Gabriel, forcing them to separate. When Gabriel returns to London after a long summer away, it becomes instantly clear that something is wrong with Henry, and Gabriel is certain that it has to do the with the strange young man, Hyde, who has been seen coming and going from the Jekyll household. If Gabriel cannot discover the truth about what has happened to Henry, he may be at risk of losing the boy he loves forever.

This book, y’all. The slow, unfolding realization of the horrifying truth at the heart of Vera’s childhood. The eerie almost-haunting rooted in the things she doesn’t want to remember. Just so good. Vera returns to her childhood home — the home that her father built — at the behest of her dying mother. But any hopes Vera might have had of loving, tearful reconciliations are dashed soon after she arrives. Her mother is as caustic and distant as ever, and her serial killer father’s ghost lurks around every corner. Possibly literally. Add to that the artist with avaristic intent, and a lascivious interest in Vera’s bloody past, who is currently squatting in the converted garden shed in the backyard, and is it any wonder that all Vera’s darkest memories are coming home to roost?

Speaking of books that fall into the category of “Read This. Just Do It.” When Black Sheep comes out in September, I need you all to run not walk to the bookstore. Okay? Promise. Because this book is the crown jewel of “your family can fuck you up like no other.” I mean after all, that’s why Vesper left her tiny religious community when she was 18. She didn’t believe so she didn’t belong, and having chosen to leave, she couldn’t go back if she wanted to. Until, that is, a wedding invitation arrives and with it an offer: come home. Unable to resist the pull of family after so many years alone, Vesper gets on a train. But back home things aren’t quite like she remembers, and secrets new and old are bubbling to the surface. When one particularly terrifying truth comes to light, Vera will have to reconsider everything she thought she knew about her childhood, her family’s faith, and the people who were supposed to love her.

Between literature, TV, and film, there are thousands of stories of people traveling into the unknown, remote “American West,” in search of new opportunities or fleeing pasts they hope won’t follow them (though they always do). Lavalle has taken that familiar story and given it a sharp, horrifying twist in Lone Women. It’s the story of a woman who arrives on the Montana frontier to take the U.S. government up on its offer of free land in the wilderness to any homesteader who can settle and keep it. And Adelaide isn’t the only one; there are a number of “lone women” taking their chances on the Montana frontier. But not all of them have come to Montana literally dragging their pasts behind them like Adelaide has, hidden away in the massive steamer trunk that travels with her but always remains locked.

Hailey Piper’s Cruel Angels Past Sundown, published just last week, is the most recent title in Death’s Head Press’ Splatter Western series, whose gorgeous pulpy covers are almost as memorable as the stories they contain. Set in New Mexico Territory in 1882, Cruel Angels Past Sundown is about a woman, Annette, and her husband, whose life together is violently and irrevocably interrupted one day at sunset when a naked, pregnant woman stumbles onto their ranch. Escaping the bloodshed that follows, Annette flees to the nearby town. But the nightmare of that night has followed her to Low’s Bend. If she wants to survive the hell that’s coming, she’ll have to put her trust in new friends and face down an evil more frightening than anything she has yet encountered.

Vampires of El Norte takes place in 1846 in a territory that was once part of Mexico before being annexed into the United States, and is centered around the events that sparked the Mexican-American War. Nena and Néstor were childhood sweethearts growing up on her father’s ranch until the night that Nena was attacked by a terrifying winged creature. Néstor vanished into the night, sure that Nena was dead and that he would be blamed. Years later, they’re brought together again by the looming war with the United States, and find themselves having to set aside their past in order to survive when the violence of the battlefield gives way to an even more horrifying, unnatural danger in the form of the same monsters that once attacked Nena. The only way for Nena and Néstor to protect their home and the ones they love is to work together, or everything will be lost, including their second chance at a life together.

Paula D. Ashe’s We Are Here to Hurt Each Other won the Shirley Jackson for best single-author collection, and rightly so! It’s a dark and horrifying collection of 12 stories full of gore and decay. If you’re a fan of horror that leaves you feeling uneasy in your skin, this is the collection for you. Just looking at that cover creeps me out! Hello terrifying teeth creature of my nightmares. If you’ve been reading Fright Stuff for a while, you know that I love a collection. I think they’re one of the best ways to get acquainted with a new author, so go pick up a copy of We Are Here to Hurt Each Other today.

Angela Slatter won best novella this year with The Bone Lantern. The Bone Lantern is about a woman playing storyteller for the strange creature that visits her campfire one night. Intent on prolonging her survival until she can escape, Selke offers the creature her dinner and spins it a series of dark and fantastical tales. There’s a young witch, trying to survive the court of a dangerous prince with a penchant for killing his wives, a magical harp that was created to help its maker seek revenge, and the story of Selke’s own quest for something called the bone lantern.

Congratulations, last but definitely not least, to Gabino Iglesias, whose The Devil Takes You Home tied for best novel! The Devil Takes You Home is about a man, Mario, who takes a job as a hired gun in order to pay for his daughter’s medical bills. Only to find that he’s particularly good at the violent work his new job entails. But when the job that was supposed to be his last takes a terrifying and inexplicable turn for the worse, Mario will find himself on a dangerous journey through Texas and across the border. There’s $200,000 waiting for him on the other side of this job, and a life beyond his career as a hitman. If Mario can survive long enough to claim it.

Read this book. I’m not even asking, I am full-on Bigolas Dickolas and telling you to read this book, or I will come to your house and serenade you loudly with off-key covers of whale songs until you comply. Because if Daniel Kraus is going to make me cry over whales, I’m taking y’all with me. If you haven’t seen the rave (and fully deserved) reviews making the rounds, Kraus’ tense, beautiful, horrifying survival thriller Whalefall is shaping up to be one of the best new horror books of this year. Jay Gardiner knows the risks he’s taking when he sets off from one of the most dangerous beaches on the West Coast to search for his father’s bones. Diving always comes with risks, but they’ll be worth it if Jay can find his father’s remains and get a break from the guilt that has plagued him since his Father committed suicide a year ago. At first, everything goes according to plan. Until Jay dives too deep and ends up being swallowed by a sperm whale hunting for squid. Trapped in the belly of the massive whale, Jay has one hour to find his way out before his air runs out.

My obsession with large ships will not permit me to create this list without including at least one haunted ocean liner book, and Alma Katsu’s The Deep is a perfect example of that particular subcategory. But reader be duly cautioned, if you’re looking for a tense, fast-paced read, The Deep is not the one you want. Its excellence lies in its slow-building storytelling and creeping, dread-filled tone. What begins on the Titanic with a forbidden attachment and inevitable tragedy finds its resolution on the equally ill-fated Britannic. Annie, one of the survivors of the Titanic, has brought her demons with her to her stint as a nurse on board the luxury liner turned hospital ship, the Britannic. The past has a way of clinging that even the sea can’t wash away, and when she comes across an unconscious soldier who she recognizes as a young man who absolutely could not have survived the disaster of the Titanic, she is forced to confront her past and question the very memories that haunt her.

Rae Knowles can just have my money because I need this horror novella about Sapphic pirates more than I need life. Or groceries. Out in November from the excellent Brigids Gate Press, Merciless Waters is about a mysterious pirate ship Scylla, crewed only by women with no past. They spend their days roaming the sea, and for Jaq and Lily that’s enough. Their past doesn’t matter, only the present they share. Until, that is, the crew finds a man adrift on the sea and brings him on board. Lured by the promise of something new and unfamiliar, Lily abandons Jaq in favor of the exciting new interloper. But even as Jaq contemplates her options for revenge, strange happenings begin to overtake the crew of the Scylla. Something about the man’s arrival on the ship has caused the members of the crew to start to remember the pasts they lost and how it was they came to be on board the Scylla in the first place. With the truth rising to the surface and the Scylla nearing land, time is running short for Jaq, who faces a difficult choice that will determine not just her future, but that of Lily and all her fellow pirates aboard the Scylla.

Anna came to the distant frontier town of Whisperwood to disappear. Where better to hide from her witch-hunter ex, than a town that doesn’t exist? Whisperwood doesn’t show up on any map, and its population is completely isolated from the outside world. But once inside Whisperwood, Anna soon finds that she can’t leave, trapped inside the town’s borders by an unfamiliar folk magic. The secret to Whisperwood, and to Anna’s freedom, may lie in the strange forest that surrounds the town, but only if she can survive long enough to uncover it. I have been looking forward to Whisperwood and I am so excited that it’s finally making its way into the world tomorrow!

McCarthy’s new Gothic novel is a gorgeous, tragic tale of grief, secrets, folklore, and family curses. Grace Morgan, still trying to come to terms with the death of her mother, moves into the seaside house she inherited in Wales and is forced to confront the family curse that may spell the end of everything she knows and loves. You all know I love a book where the monster/ghost/curse/etc. that threatens the main character is a manifestation of some aspect of themselves that they must face, and I have a particular soft spot for manifestations of grief. So of course I am beyond ready to get my hands on A Moonlit Path of Madness. It also gets bonus points for being partially epistolary!

Wrath James White returns to the printed page with The Ecstasy of Agony, a new collection of hardcore horror stories and poems. If you’ve ever read any of White’s work before, you know it’s not for the faint of heart (looking at you, If You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your Corpse), but it always rewards its readers with a terrible sort of beauty, and stories you won’t soon forget. So whether you’re a long time fan or new to White’s brand of horror, I highly recommend picking up a copy of The Ecstasy of Agony when it comes out tomorrow.

I would just like to say: This whole newsletter is Premee Mohamed’s fault. The gorgeous, eerie cover of her recent short fiction collection No One Will Come Back for Us (another beautiful book brought to you by the one and only Undertow Publications!) captivated me and I had to pay it tribute. Combining science fiction and dark fantasy with harrowing cosmic horror, the stories in No One Will Come Back for Us catapult readers from the forgotten realms of ancient gods deep beneath the sea to the vast, merciless depths of space.The only thing guaranteed is that monsters await in all the shadowed, forgotten corners of the world that Mohamed crafts. And they probably have tentacles.

I loved this weird, creepy, queer Lovecraft-inspired YA horror so much, and I am begging you to please read it and then come talk to me. Adelle and Connie are best friends and super fans of an obscure gothic romance novel called Moira. So much so that when offered the opportunity to be transported into the novel and experience the world of Moira for themselves, they decide to take the chance. But inside the pages of Moira, things have gone terribly wrong. Instead of a lush Gothic setting, dripping with romance and velvet, the two girls find themselves trapped in a horror story, surrounded by the creepy servants of the tentacle monster that’s squatting in the harbor, and entangled with the book’s characters in a desperate bid to save both themselves and the fictional world they love

If you love Cassandra Khaw’s more recent books, but have caught yourself thinking: “you know what The Salt Grows Heavy needs? More eyes and tentacles!” Oh jiminy do I have a book recommendation for you. Hammers on Bone, and its sequel A Song for Quiet, are an excellent mix of arcane monsters and hardboiled detective work. A bit Lovecraft, a bit noir, it’ll scratch all your cosmic horror itches (even the ones the tentacles can’t reach). John Persons is a P.I. with a talent for handling the ancient and abominable, being ancient and somewhat abominable himself. Which makes him the perfect person to hunt down the stepfather of his newest client, a man infected with a monstrous alien presence.

My last pick of the week is S.L Coney’s forthcoming, Wild Spaces, a cosmic horror novel about an 11-year-old boy and a dark family secret. He lives with his parents and his dog on the remote South Carolina coast, and his childhood, though isolated, was not unhappy. Until the day his estranged grandfather turns up at the house, and his unwanted visit begins to expose the inconsistencies in the boy’s life that he cared to question before. Now it’s clear that his parents are and have been keeping secrets from him. Things they still refuse to explain. Things that, just maybe, have something to do with the strange and frightening changes happening to the boy’s body, transforming him into something new and monstrous.

The Death I Gave Him is actually the first of two horror/dark fiction Shakespeare retellings on this list. Which, as an eternal English major, I find just so delightful. The name of the game is Hamlet through the lens of a locked room sci-fi thriller, with plenty of murder, gore, and body horror to satisfy any horror reader. A scientist on the verge of a momentous discovery — the defeat of death itself — has his work interrupted in brutal fashion when his father (and co-researcher) is murdered in their lab. In a bid to catch the killer himself, Hayden steals his own research. Only to discover that his father had suspected his death was near and left a message charging Hayden to avenge him. What ensues is a deadly game of whodunnit within the locked down laboratory. There are only four other people in the building besides Hyden, and one of them is a murderer.

Now, see, that’s an Upsetting cover. So squiggly. So wiggly. Slimy. Pulpy. I just love it, and I can’t wait for Brainwyrms to hit shelves this October. I absolutely devoured Rumfitt’s oh so disturbing and terrifying Tell Me I’m Worthless when it came out earlier this year, and I have been eagerly anticipating the release of Brainwyrms ever since. When the aftermath of a transphobia-motivated bombing at her workplace upends Frankei’s life, it leaves her grasping for someway to cope with the fallout. Along the way she finds herself falling hard and fast for a mysterious woman with too many secrets. The more time Frankie spends with Vanya, the more she’s sure Vanya’s hiding something sinister from her, and unfortunately for Frankie, she’s right.

Someone give me this book already. Please, just put it in my hands so I can put it in my eyes. December is such a long time away and, as someone who absolutely adored Wilkes’ All the White Spaces, I am impatient! Taking us back to the cold and the dark, Wilkes steers us towards the Arctic this time, following in the footsteps of William Day who is returning to the ice 13 years after his disastrous Arctic expedition. His then second-in-command, Jesse Stevens, has vanished, and if Day can find Jesse, just maybe he can redeemed himself in the eyes of society. But things soon go from bad to worse when Day’s rescue mission descends into chaos and darkness. The ice is unforgiving and its memory is long. Day will have to face the horrors of his own past if he hopes to survive the dark days ahead and bring Jesse home.

Caitlin Marceau’s But A Dream is the aforementioned second Shakespeare retelling on this list, and honestly December can not come fast enough. Because as excited as I am for all the new queer horror we’re getting this year, I am absolutely over the moon that Marceau is giving us a dark retelling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, my absolute favorite Shakespeare play. But a Dream is about a group of four friends whose camping trip in the Canadian wilderness goes awry. Horribly awry. Cataclysmically, terribly, violently awry when they kill and eat what they assume to be a deer but is in fact a witch in disguise. A witch whose magic, upon consumption, produces some very…unpleasant side effects…

Werewolves vs. Vampires! A horror rivalry for the ages, and one at the heart of Olivia Stephens’ graphic novel Artie and the Wolf Moon. When Artie Irvin sneaks out of the house one night and catches her mother turning into a werewolf — or rather, a werewolf turning back into her mother — her whole life turned upside down. Reluctantly, Artie’s mom tells her everything: about where they come from, about the father that died when Artie was small, and the long line of werewolves from which they are descended. But even though Artie couldn’t be more excited about uncovering her own wolfish tendencies and becoming part of the larger werewolf community, not every new discovery is a good one. It turns out werewolves aren’t the only monsters in the world.

You’ve heard me say it before: the best ghost stories are about more than ghosts. So it is with Kyle Lukoff’s Too Bright to See, about a young trans kid discovering who they are while trying to uncover the truth about the ghost haunting their house. Bug is 11, just getting ready to start middle school, and even though summer is supposed to be the best part of the year when you’re a kid, Bug’s isn’t off to a great start. Bug’s best friend Moira only wants to talk about boys and how to be the right kind of girl for middle school, which Bug couldn’t care less about, and oh by the way, Bug’s house is haunted! But the more Bug digs into the mystery of the ghost and what it wants, the more difficult the questions Bug has to answer. And not just about the ghost.

Another Kind is one of those great graphic novels that’s going to appeal to so many readers. It’s Stranger Things meets D&D meets just enough creepy monster goodness to tip it into the dark side of fantasy, veering towards horror. Six children, each a little bit more than human, are forced to flee a secret government facility known as the Playroom, where they were being raised and taught how to control their powers. The Playroom kept them safe and hidden from the world. Now they only have each other to rely on as they try to navigate their frightening new reality, and evade the clutches of the mysterious shadowy being stalking their every move. The thing that calls itself The Collector.

Ah. Nothing like the chilling knowledge that the starship you’re literally trapped on has been infiltrated by an unknown threat. I know that’s the premise of most space horror stories, but it just never gets old. Or less creepy. I mean, when the monster’s in the house and the house is floating through space, it’s not like you can just check into a motel! When every crew member on board the starship M.G Yellowjacket suddenly disappears except for communications specialist Alto, what should have been an ordinary shift in an ordinary workday takes a frightening turn. Something has made its way onboard the Yellowjacket, something with the ability to dig into the minds of crewmembers and control what they think and feel. Alto’s only chance is to risk a journey through the now infected passages of the Yellowjacket to reach the bridge and reunite with what remains of the crew before things get even worse.

Have I convince you to that you definitely want to read The Scourge Between Stars yet? Because I’m happy to keep trying! Set on the starship Calypso, one of a flotilla of ships (possibly the last of a flotilla of ships for all anyone on board knows), is in imminent danger. They’re trying to make the journey home to Earth ever since their colony failed centuries ago, but at the speed they’re traveling, and beset as they are by invisible deep space forces that bat their ship around like a cat with a toy, it seems unlikely that the crew and ex-colonists will ever make it home. Especially when a series of brutal murders on board make it suddenly clear that there’s a dangerous stowaway lurking somewhere within the massive hulk of the Calypso. Jacklyn Albright is acting captain, responsible for the Calypso’s survival in her father’s absence, and if she wants to have any chance of seeing her ship and her people home safely, she and her team will have to hunt the creature down one deck at a time. Get ready to be STRESSED, because this novella had me on my toes.

A found family of queer cyborg clones just trying to deal with their traumas while surviving the heartless void of space and the all-powerful AI who rules the known universe? Don’t mind if I do. In a bid to discover what truly happened on their last, disastrous mission together, this group of soldiers turned criminals reunite in search of their missing comrade and the secret hidden at the heart of a planet that might hold all the answers they’re seeking. But the secret deep inside Dimmuborgir is also the key to controlling the universe, and the AI will do anything to make sure it never falls into human hands. If they want to solve the mystery of their past, our ragtag band of former friends will have to pull together if they want to get to the heart of Dimmuborgir alive with a whole universe full of enemies at their heels.