Horror
The September house
Orlando, Carissa, author.
FICTION Orlando Carissa
Horror, Thriller
You can survive anything. That's what Margaret tells herself when the walls of her house start to drip blood every September. She's learned how to live with it...and the other terrifying apparitions that have made the sprawling Victorian house she and her husband bought four years ago turn from a dream home into a living nightmare. But she can outlast all of it. Hal felt differently, though. Her husband couldn't take the hauntings anymore, and he left. But now he's not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine arrives, intent on looking for her missing father, convinced something grim has happened to him. With every desperate attempt Katherine makes at finding Hal, the hauntings at the September House grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.
Bury your gays
Tingle, Chuck, author.
FICTION Tingle Chuck
Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Horror, LGBTQ+
Bury Your Gays is a heart-pounding new novel from USA Today bestselling author Chuck Tingle about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead. Misha knows that chasing success in Hollywood can be hell. But finally, after years of trying to make it, his big moment is here: an Oscar nomination. And the executives at the studio for his long-running streaming series know just the thing to kick his career to the next level: kill off the gay characters, "for the algorithm," in the upcoming season finale. Misha refuses, but he soon realizes that he's just put a target on his back. And what's worse, monsters from his horror movie days are stalking him and his friends through the hills above Los Angeles. Haunted by his past, Misha must risk his entire future--before the horrors from the silver screen find a way to bury him for good.
"Bury Your Gays" is a refreshing original look at horror that will entice readers who crave a dark and suspenseful tale of queer joy, coercive capitalism, and the unrelenting power of the human spirit. It is a must-read for fans of LGBTQIA+ fiction and horror enthusiasts. -Madison C
The reformatory : a novel
Due, Tananarive, 1966- author.
FICTION Due Tananari
Historical Fiction, Horror
Gracetown, Florida. June 1950. Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie's journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory. Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it's too late.
This Tananarive Due novel is a haunting work of historical fiction based on the real-life story of her Great Uncle, killed with so many others at the notorious Dozier School for Boys. "The Reformatory" will possess any reader who appreciates historical fiction, horror, and novels that take a hard look at the often-hidden truths of racism in America. -Madison C
The troop
Cutter, Nick, author.
FICTION Cutter Nick
Horror
During a camping trip on an uninhabited island, scoutmaster Tim Riggs and his troop of boys encounter an unexpected intruder - shockingly thin, disturbingly pale, and voraciously hungry - that exposes the campers to something far more frightening than anything found in the wilderness. When a bioengineered microorganism begins to spread, the ensuing struggle for survival will pit the troop against the elements, the infected...and one another.
For fans of old-school horror with unrelenting terror, "The Troop" is a story with well-developed characters that will appeal to anyone who craves a dark venture of survival and the unbreakable bond of friendship in the face of unimaginable horror. -Madison C
Boys in the valley
Fracassi, Philip, 1970- author.
FICTION Fracassi Philip
Horror
St. Vincent's Orphanage for Boys. Turn of the century, in a remote valley in Pennsylvania. Here, under the watchful eyes of several priests, thirty boys work, learn, and worship. Peter Barlow, orphaned as a child by a gruesome murder, has made a new life here. As he approaches adulthood, he has friends, a future...a family. Then, late one stormy night, a group of men arrive at their door, one of whom is badly wounded, occult symbols carved into his flesh. His death releases an ancient evil that spreads like sickness, infecting St. Vincent's and the children within. Soon, boys begin acting differently, forming groups. Taking sides. Others turn up dead. Now Peter and those dear to him must choose sides of their own, each of them knowing their lives - and perhaps their eternal souls - are at risk.
If you thought the struggles of adolescence was enough to make you shudder, try mixing in a malevolent spirit and a setting where no one can hear you scream, and you have "Boys in the Valley." This novel is a gripping and suspenseful read that will speak to fans of dark, atmospheric horrors in a story that is "Lord of the Flies" meets "The Exorcist." A book to read with the lights on! -Madison C
House of Hollow
Sutherland, Krystal, author.
YOUNG ADULT FICTION Sutherland, Krystal
Horror, LGBTQ+
Something happened to Iris Hollow and her two older sisters Grey and Vivi when they were children, something they can't quite remember but that left each of them with an identical half-moon scar at the base of their throats. When Grey goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Iris learns just how weird her life can get: horned men start shadowing her, a corpse falls out of her sister's ceiling, and ugly, impossible memories start to twist their way to the forefront of her mind. As Iris retraces Grey's last known footsteps, it becomes apparent that the only way to save her sister is to decipher the mystery of what happened to them as children.
"House of Hollow" is an entrancing read for fans of atmospheric fantasy and gothic horror who desire a suspenseful tale of the lengths sisters will go for each other, with an ending that will linger with you for days. -Madison C
Incidents around the house : a novel
Malerman, Josh, author.
FICTION Malerman Josh
Horror
A horror novel about a haunting, told from the perspective of a young girl whose troubled family is targeted by an entity she calls "Other Mommy." To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There's Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: "Can I go inside your heart?" When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the question over and over, Bela understands that unless she says yes, her family will soon pay. Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder. Only the bonds of family can keep Bela safe, but other incidents show cracks in her parents' marriage. The safety Bela relies on is about to unravel. But Other Mommy needs an answer. "Incidents Around the House" is a chilling, wholly unique tale of true horror about a family as haunted as their home.
This novel is a spine-chilling, wholly unique story of true horror about a family as haunted as their home. "Incidents Around the House" will enthrall readers who enjoy stories that explore the intricacies of childhood innocence versus the forces of evil and the distance one family will go to keep everything they hold dear. -Madison C
Mark Z. Danielewski's house of leaves
Danielewski, Mark Z.
FICTION Danielewski, Mark Z.
Horror
Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form. The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story -- of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.
An intersection of narratives and unique storytelling, "House of Leaves" is a terrifying novel perfect for readers who want an immersive and unsettling story. Blurring the lines of reality, "House of Leaves" explores the dark corners of the human consciousness...and reveals what really goes bump in the night. -Madison C
Black river orchard : a novel
Wendig, Chuck, author.
FICTION Wendig Chuck
Horror
It's autumn in the town of Harrow, but something else is changing in the town besides the season. Because in that town there is an orchard, and in that orchard, seven most unusual trees. And from those trees grows a new sort of apple: Strange, beautiful, with skin so red it's nearly black. Take a bite of one of these apples and you will desire only to devour another. And another. You will become stronger. More vital. More yourself, you will believe. But then your appetite for the apples and their peculiar gifts will keep growing--and become darker. This is what happens when the townsfolk discover the secret of the orchard. Soon it seems that everyone is consumed by an obsession with the magic of the apples... and what's the harm, if it is making them all happier, more confident, more powerful? And even if buried in the orchard is something else besides the seeds of this extraordinary tree: a bloody history whose roots reach back the very origins of the town. But now the leaves are falling. The days grow darker. And a stranger has come to town, a stranger who knows Harrow's secrets. Because it's harvest time, and the town will soon reap what it has sown.
"Black River Orchard" is a gripping story about legacies gone sour and what happens when we must reap what we have sown. Perfect for readers that enjoy stories that blur the line between good and evil, and the classic trope of "small town horrors." -Madison C
I was a teenage slasher
Jones, Stephen Graham, 1972- author.
FICTION Jones Stephen
Horror
1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton-and a place where everyone knows everyone else's business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, the unfairness of being on the outside, through the slasher horror he lives but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic.
Told from the perspective of the killer that refuses to die, you'll soon find yourself rooting for the slasher. Embracing each telltale horror trope, this book is an homage to the slasher movies we've come to love while also eliciting sympathy for the outsider looking in. -Madison C
What would you endure to stay in your dream home? In this thrilling psychological horror debut, we're introduced to Margaret, a woman determined to stay in her perfect abode, even if it kills her. -Madison C