Archives de catégorie : Horror

DIRECT DESCENDANT de Tanya Huff

This cozy horror novel set in modern-day Toronto includes phenomenal characters, fantastic writing, and a queer romance—the perfect balance of dark and delightful. This stand-alone novel from the bestselling author of the Peacekeeper novels mixes the creepy with the charming for plenty of snarky, queer fun—for fans of T. Kingfisher, Grady Hendrix, Sangu Mandanna and Erin Sterling.

DIRECT DESCENDANT
by Tanya Huff
DAW, April 2025
(via JABberwocky)

Generations ago, the founders of the idyllic town of Lake Argen made a deal with a dark force. In exchange for their service, the town will stay prosperous and successful, and keep outsiders out. And for generations, it’s worked out great. Until a visitor goes missing, and his wealthy family sends a private investigator to find him, and everything abruptly goes sideways.

Now, Cassidy Prewitt, town baker and part-time servant of the dark force (it’s a family business) has to contend with a rising army of darkness, a very frustrated town, and a very cute PI who she might just be falling for…and who might just be falling for her. And if they can survive their own home-grown apocalypse, they might even just find happiness together.

Queer, cozy, and with a touch of eldritch horror mixed in just for fun, this is a charming love story about a small-town baker, a quick-witted PI, and, yes, an ancient evil.

Tanya Huff spent three years in the Canadian Naval Reserve then earned a degree in radio and television arts from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. She is the author of numerous short stories and more than twenty novels, including the bestselling Blood books, the Smoke series, and the Keeper’s Chronicles. She has been the guest of honor at numerous American and Canadian conventions, and her work has been nominated for several awards, including winning the Aurora Award for Best Novel. She lives in Ontario, Canada. 

THE UNHELD de Luke Larkin

A girl sets out to find her father after he is carried off by an otherworldly creature in this atmospheric horror Western.

THE UNHELD
by Luke Larkin
Hyperion Ave, August 2026
(via Neon Literary)

While other twelve-year-olds are in school. Charlie spends her days skinning the animals her father hunts in the wild woods just outside their cabin. Charlie’s life in the Montana Territory is a lonely one, as her father is a mercurial man of few words who mostly ignores her until there’s a chore to be done.

One night, a living nightmare appears, stalking out of the trees. Neither animal nor human, the Beast drags Charlie’s father into the wilderness. To find him Charlie enlists the aid of two unlikely allies: an Englishman with a connection to a mysterious occuIt society and a Cheyenne policeman exiled for a crime he didn’t commit.

Yet as she and her allies prepare for a confrontation with the Beast, Charlie will need to decide if her father is ultimately worth saving. What does she owe the man who called her daughter yet never showed her love?

THE UNHELD is an unsettling and soulful historical horror novel—perfect for readers of Christopher BuehIman’s Between Two Fires, Andy Davidson’s The Boatman’s Daughter, and T. Kingfisher’s What Maxes the Dead. The novel’s ingeniously conceived monster will set your skin crawling, while the indomitable heroine at the story’s center will capture your heart.

Luke Larkin is a writer who lives in Missoula, Montana, where he earned his MFA in creative writing at the University of Montana. His writing has appeared in publications such as the Iron Horse Literary Review, HAD, and Sonora Review.

STRANGE BLOOMS de Darren Simpson & Keith Robinson

A fully illustrated, darkly gripping tale of a town suddenly invaded by mysterious and deadly plants – Thornhill meets The Owl Service.

STRANGE BLOOMS
by Darren Simpson
illustrated by Keith Robinson
Pushkin Press, September 2026

Fran is an ordinary teenage girl, living in an ordinary seaside town. But one day, something horrifyingly out of the ordinary begins to take root…

They start slowly, almost imperceptibly. But soon the strange, uncanny flowers have infiltrated the whole town. And every young person who smells the intoxicating blooms falls victim to a life-sapping illness. All except one: seemingly ordinary Fran.

Told in a dual timeline, Strange Blooms takes the reader on an exciting journey to discover the truth behind these deadly flowers, and uncover a mystery that rocked the town 40 years earlier.

Darren Simpson writes vivid, unruly fiction for older children and teens. His debut novel, Scavengers, was a Guardian Best Book of the Year and his latest book, Furthermoor, was a Waterstone Book of the Year. He has been nominated twice for the prestigious Carnegie Medal.

Keith Robinson has created jackets for, among other projects, the Waterstones Book of the Year I Am Rebel.

WE’RE NOT SAFE HERE de Rin Chupeco

From bestselling author Rin Chupeco comes a bone-chilling horror about the unsettling town of Wispy Falls, where people go missing in the woods and monsters roam the streets.

WE’RE NOT SAFE HERE
by Rin Chupeco
Sourcebooks, November 2025

Wispy Falls’ town motto is: « You’ll be safe here! » but that doesn’t seem to be true. Because in Wispy Falls, monsters live in the woods, and children go missing, and the bodies are beginning to stack up.

A seventeen year-old vlogger known as Storymancer is determined to get to the bottom of what’s wrong in Wispy Falls. A few years ago his six-year-old brother went missing in the woods and no one in town seemed to care enough to find him.

So now he’s investigating why every household participates in something called the Bloodmoon Ritual, Why crpytid sightings are so common. And why everyone who goes into the woods, goes missing. If he can’t fix what’s wrong with the town, he just might be the next body in the woods.

Told primarily through video transcripts, message boards, and radio shows, this Welcome to Nightvale inspired horror will chill you to your core.

Despite uncanny resemblances to Japanese revenants, Rin Chupeco has always maintained their sense of humor. Raised in Manila, Philippines, they keep four pets: a dog, two birds, and a husband. They’ve been a technical writer and a travel blogger but now make things up for a living. They are the author of The Girl from the Well, The Suffering, The Sacrifice, The Bone Witch trilogy, and the A Hundred Names for Magic trilogy. Connect with Rin at rinchupeco.com.

LISTEN TO YOUR SISTER de Neena Viel

For fans of Jordan Peele’s films, Stranger Things, and The Other Black Girl, LISTEN TO YOUR SISTER is a laugh-out-loud, deeply terrifying, and big-hearted speculative horror novel from electrifying debut talent Neena Viel.

LISTEN TO YOUR SISTER
by Neena Viel
St. Martin’s Press, February 2025
(via Dystel, Goderich & Bourret)

Most Anticipated by Goodreads, People, BookRiot, Reactor, Screenrant, and more

Twenty-five year old Calla Williams is struggling since becoming guardian to her brother, Jamie. Calla is overwhelmed and tired of being the one who makes sacrifices to keep the family together. Jamie, full of good-natured sixteen-year-old recklessness, is usually off fighting for what matters to him or getting into mischief, often at the same time. Dre, their brother, promised he would help raise Jamie–but now the ink is dry on the paperwork and in classic middle-child fashion, he’s off doing his own thing. And through it all, The Nightmare never stops haunting Calla: recurring images of her brothers dying that she is powerless to stop.

When Jamie’s actions at a protest spiral out of control, the siblings must go on the run. Taking refuge in a remote cabin that looks like it belongs on a slasher movie poster rather than an AirBNB, the siblings now face a new threat where their lives–and reality–hang in the balance. Their sister always warned them about her nightmares. They really should have listened.

« Deliciously terrifying and belly laugh-inducing…Viel incorporates well worn genre tropes in new ways and provides plenty of bloodcurdling surprises along the way. » — BookPage, Starred review

« Unique and compelling … a terrifying and immerse supernatural horror story that is clearly underpinned with love. » — Library Journal

« [An] addictive supernatural thriller. » — Publishers Weekly

« Heartfelt and darkly humorous…Fans of Jordan Peele’s films will want to check this out. » — Booklist

« Anxiety metamorphoses into terror for a young Black woman fiercely protecting her own… A relentless descent into familial fears made manifest, both haunting and terribly familiar. » — Kirkus

Neena Viel is a horror writer who lives in a cabin in the Washingtonian woods with her husband and the best dog on the planet. Her passion for philanthropy (almost) rivals her love for ghost stories. LISTEN TO YOUR SISTER is her debut novel.