Thursday, September 30, 2021

YA/MG Horror Spotlight September 2021

The Ladies of Horror Fiction team is putting a spotlight on Young Adult and Middle Grade horror each month. Below we are featuring the books that were released in September as well as what our team has been reading and reviewing.

Young Adult New Releases

The Girls Are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh

The Conjuring meets Sadie when seventeen-year-old podcaster Dare takes an internship in a haunted house and finds herself in a life-or-death struggle against an evil spirit.

Dare Chase doesn’t believe in ghosts.

Privately, she’s a supernatural skeptic. But publicly, she’s keeping her doubts to herself—because she’s the voice of Attachments, her brand-new paranormal investigation podcast, and she needs her ghost-loving listeners to tune in.

That’s what brings her to Arrington Estate. Thirty years ago, teenager Atheleen Bell drowned in Arrington’s lake, and legend says her spirit haunts the estate. Dare’s more interested in the suspicious circumstances surrounding her death—circumstances that she believes point to a living culprit, not the supernatural. Still, she’s vowed to keep an open mind as she investigates, even if she’s pretty sure what she’ll find.

But Arrington is full of surprises. Good ones like Quinn, the cute daughter of the house’s new owner. And baffling ones like the threatening messages left scrawled in paint on Quinn’s walls, the ghastly face that appears behind Dare’s own in the mirror, and the unnatural current that nearly drowns their friend Holly in the lake. As Dare is drawn deeper into the mysteries of Arrington, she’ll have to rethink the boundaries of what is possible. Because if something is lurking in the lake…it might not be willing to let her go. 

Sept. 7 by Razorbill Goodreads | Bookshop

The Last Beautiful Girl by Nina Laurin

BLACK MIRROR meets Darcy Coates in this exploration of the dangerous, dark side of beauty in the digital age, with a gothic, haunted-house setting.

When Izzy is dragged from Brooklyn to a tiny town for her parents’ new job, she’s not thrilled. The silver lining is the gorgeous old mansion she’s moved into: the former home of an artist’s muse who died tragically in a fire. But the house has its quirks: whole floors are closed off, paintings are covered up, and cell reception is nonexistent.

Izzy throws herself into starting an Instagram fashion account using the gowns and jewelry she finds hidden away in the house. She looks perfect in the photos–almost unnaturally perfect–and they quickly go viral. Soon she’s got a new best friend, a potential boyfriend, and is surrounded by a group of girls who want the photoshoots and fame for themselves. But there’s a darkness in the house, and a darkness growing in Izzy, too. When girls start dying, it’s clear that something–or someone–in the house is growing in power, with deadly intentions.

Sept. 7 by Sourcebooks Fire Goodreads | Bookshop

Small Town Monsters by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

The Conjuring meets The Vow! This terrifying paperback original tells the unputdownable story of a girl, a dark angel, and the cult hellbent on taking over her small, coastal town.

Vera Martinez wants nothing more than to escape Roaring Creek and her parents’ reputation as demonologists. Not to mention she’s the family outcast, lacking her parents’ innate abilities, and is terrified of the occult things lurking in their basement.

Maxwell Oliver is supposed to be enjoying the summer before his senior year, spending his days thinking about parties and friends. Instead he’s taking care of his little sister while his mom slowly becomes someone he doesn’t recognize. Soon he suspects that what he thought was grief over his father’s death might be something more…sinister.

When Maxwell and Vera join forces, they come face to face with deeply disturbing true stories of cults, death worship, and the very nature that drives people to evil.

Underlined is a line of totally addictive romance, thriller, and horror paperback original titles coming to you fast and furious each month. Enjoy everything you want to read the way you want to read it.

Sept. 7 by Underlined Goodreads | Bookshop

The Corpse Queen by Heather M. Herrman

In this dark and twisty feminist historical thriller, a teenage girl starts a new life as a grave robber but quickly becomes entangled in a murderer’s plans.

Soon after her best friend Kitty mysteriously dies, orphaned seventeen-year-old Molly Green is sent away to live with her “aunt.” With no relations that she knows of, Molly assumes she has been sold as free domestic labor for the price of an extra donation in the church orphanage’s coffers. Such a thing is not unheard of. There are only so many options for an unmarried girl in 1850s Philadelphia. Only, when Molly arrives, she discovers her aunt is very much real, exceedingly wealthy, and with secrets of her own. Secrets and wealth she intends to share–for a price.

Molly’s estranged aunt Ava, has built her empire by robbing graves and selling the corpses to medical students who need bodies to practice surgical procedures. And she wants Molly to help her procure the corpses. As Molly learns her aunt’s trade in the dead of night and explores the mansion by day, she is both horrified and deeply intrigued by the anatomy lessons held at the old church on her aunt’s property. Enigmatic Doctor LaSalle’s lessons are a heady mixture of knowledge and power and Molly has never wanted anything more than to join his male-only group of students. But the cost of inclusion is steep and with a murderer loose in the city, the pursuit of power and opportunity becomes a deadly dance.

Sept. 14 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers Goodreads | Bookshop

The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl

Sonia Hartl’s The Lost Girls is laced with dark humor and queer love; it’s John Tucker Must Die with a feminist girl gang of vampires.

When Elton Irving turned Holly Liddell into a vampire in 1987, he promised her eternal love. But thirty-four years later, Elton has left her, her hair will be crimped for the rest of immortality, and the only job she can get as a forever-sixteen-year-old is the midnight shift at Taco Bell.

Holly’s afterlife takes an interesting turn when, she meets Rose McKay and Ida Ripley. Having also been turned and discarded by Elton—Rose in 1954, and Ida, his ex-fiancĂ©e, in 1921—they want to help her, and ask for her help in return.

Rose and Ida are going to kill Elton before he turns another girl. Though Holly is hurt and angry with Elton for tossing her aside, she’s reluctant to kill her ex, until Holly meets Parker Kerr—the new girl Elton has set his sights on—and feels a quick, and nerve-wracking attraction to her.

Sept. 14 by Page Street Kids Goodreads | Bookshop

Stalking Shadows by Cyla Panin

A gothic YA fantasy debut about a young woman striving to break her sister’s curse and stop the killing in her small French town

Seventeen-year-old Marie mixes perfumes to sell on market day in her small eighteenth-century French town. She wants to make enough to save a dowry for her sister, Ama, in hopes of Ama marrying well and Marie living in the level of freedom afforded only to spinster aunts. But her perfumes are more than sweet scents in cheap, cut-glass bottles: A certain few are laced with death. Marie laces the perfume delicately—not with poison but with a hint of honeysuckle she’s trained her sister to respond to. Marie marks her victim, and Ama attacks. But she doesn’t attack as a girl. She kills as a beast.

Marking Ama’s victims controls the damage to keep suspicion at bay. But when a young boy turns up dead one morning, Marie is forced to acknowledge she might be losing control of Ama. And if she can’t control her, she’ll have to cure her. Marie knows the only place she’ll find the cure is in the mansion where Ama was cursed in the first place, home of Lord Sebastien LeClaire. But once she gets into the mansion, she discovers dark secrets hidden away—secrets of the curse, of Lord Sebastien . . . and of herself.

Sept. 14 by Amulet Books Goodreads | Bookshop

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson

The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out in this chilling YA psychological thriller and modern take on the classic haunted house story from New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson!

Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California beach town to the embattled Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper.

The renovated picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors has its . . . secrets. That’s only half the problem: household items vanish, doors open on their own, lights turn off, shadows walk past rooms, voices can be heard in the walls, and there’s a foul smell seeping through the vents only Mari seems to notice. Worse: Piper keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari gone.

But “running from ghosts” is just a metaphor, right?

As the house closes in, Mari learns that the danger isn’t limited to Maple Street. Cedarville has its secrets, too. And secrets always find their way through the cracks.

Sept. 14 by Katherine Tegen Books Goodreads | Bookshop

All These Bodies by Kendare Blake

Sixteen bloodless bodies. Two teenagers. One impossible explanation.

Summer 1958—a string of murders plagues the Midwest. The victims are found in their cars and in their homes—even in their beds—their bodies drained, but with no blood anywhere.

September 19- the Carlson family is slaughtered in their Minnesota farmhouse, and the case gets its first lead: 15-year-old Marie Catherine Hale is found at the scene. She is covered in blood from head to toe, and at first she’s mistaken for a survivor. But not a drop of the blood is hers.

Michael Jensen, son of the local sheriff, yearns to become a journalist and escape his small-town. He never imagined that the biggest story in the country would fall into his lap, or that he would be pulled into the investigation, when Marie decides that he is the only one she will confess to.

As Marie recounts her version of the story, it falls to Michael to find the truth: What really happened the night that the Carlsons were killed? And how did one girl wind up in the middle of all these bodies?

Sept. 21 by Quill Tree Books Goodreads | Bookshop

To Break a Covenant by Alison Ames

Debut voice Alison Ames delivers with a chilling, feminist thriller, perfect for fans of Wilder Girls and Sawkill Girls.

Moon Basin has been haunted for as long as anyone can remember. It started when an explosion in the mine killed sixteen people. The disaster made it impossible to live in town, with underground fires spewing ash into the sky. But life in New Basin is just as fraught. The ex-mining town relies on its haunted reputation to bring in tourists, but there’s more truth to the rumors than most are willing to admit, and the mine still has a hold on everyone who lives there.

Clem and Nina form a perfect loop–best friends forever, and perhaps something more. Their circle opens up for a strange girl named Lisey with a knack for training crows, and Piper, whose father is fascinated with the mine in a way that’s anything but ordinary. The people of New Basin start experiencing strange phenomena–sleepwalking, night terrors, voices that only they can hear. And no matter how many vans of ghost hunters roll through, nobody can get to the bottom of what’s really going on. Which is why the girls decide to enter the mine themselves.

Sept. 21 by Page Street Kids Goodreads | Bookshop

Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray

Magic doesn’t exist in the broken city of Lkossa anymore, especially for girls like sixteen-year-old Koffi. Indentured to the notorious Night Zoo, she cares for its fearsome and magical creatures to pay off her family’s debts and secure their eventual freedom. But the night her loved ones’ own safety is threatened by the Zoo’s cruel master, Koffi unleashes a power she doesn’t fully understand–and the consequences are dire.

As the second son of a decorated hero, Ekon is all but destined to become a Son of the Six–an elite warrior–and uphold a family legacy. But on the night of his final rite of passage, a fire upends his plans. In its midst, Ekon not only encounters the Shetani–a vicious monster that has plagued the city and his nightmares for nearly a century–but a curious girl who seems to have the power to ward off the beast. Koffi’s power ultimately saves Ekon’s life, but his choice to let her flee dooms his hopes of becoming a warrior.

Desperate to redeem himself, Ekon vows to hunt the Shetani down and end its reign of terror, but he can’t do it alone. Meanwhile, Koffi believes finding the Shetani and selling it for a profit could be the key to solving her own problems. Koffi and Ekon–each keeping their true motives secret from the other–form a tentative alliance and enter into the unknowns of the Greater Jungle, a world steeped in wild magic and untold dangers. The hunt begins. But it quickly becomes unclear whether they are the hunters or the hunted.

In this much-anticipated series opener, fate binds two Black teenagers together as they strike a dangerous alliance to hunt down the ancient creature menacing their home–and discover much more than they bargained for.

Sept. 28 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers Goodreads | Bookshop

Middle Grade New Releases

The Thirteenth Cat by Mary Downing Hahn

From master of middle grade horror Mary Downing Hahn, a new thriller about bravery, unexpected friendship, and sinister cats that will captivate readers with its chilling mix of mystery and magic.

Zoey loves spending the summer with her Aunt Alice, and her aunt’s new house is the perfect place to cozy up with a good book. But she’s unnerved by the overgrown forest next door, which is creepy even in the daytime and full of eerie sounds at night. Worse, there are rumors in town of a dark force in those woods. And Zoey can’t deny that the wild black cats who live there seem to be watching her.

When she encounters a mean old woman who claims to be their owner, Zoey realizes there’s more to the cats than meets the eye. But little does she know that the closer she comes to discovering their secret, the more danger she’s in . . .

Sept. 7 by Clarion Books Goodreads | Bookshop

Infestation: Whispering Pines #2 by Heidi Lang and Kati Bartkowski

In this creeptastic sequel to the Whispering Pines, Rae and Caden take on flesh-eating centipedes that may be alien in nature—perfect for fans of Stranger Things!

Caden’s brother Aiden is many things: clever, powerful, vindictive. Unforgiving. And now, he’s also mysteriously free from the hellish dimensional prison that Caden had trapped him in. Caden is sure that Aiden is out for revenge, but since his parents refuse to see the danger when it comes to his brother, he’ll have to find a way to survive on his own.

Meanwhile, Rae, freed from the threat of the eye-snatching, monstrous Unseeing, has once again turned all her focus toward finding her missing father. She believes the town’s shady alternative energy company, Green On!, might have the information she seeks, so she joins their internship program to get answers. Unfortunately, this means sacrificing her friendship with Caden, who wants nothing to do with Green On! or anyone associated with it.

When a special assignment from Rae’s internship leads her to uncover an infestation of giant, flesh-eating centipedes that may be alien in nature, she needs to convince Caden to help her get rid of them. The two friends must learn to work together again, because this time, it’s not just Whispering Pines’ fate that hangs in the balance, but the world’s.

Sept. 14 by Margaret K. McElderry Books Goodreads | Bookshop

The List of Unspeakable Fears by J. Kasper Kramer

The War That Saved My Life meets Coraline in this chilling middle grade historical novel from the author of the acclaimed The Story That Cannot Be Told following an anxious young girl learning to face her fears—and her ghosts—against the backdrop of the typhoid epidemic.

Essie O’Neill is afraid of everything. She’s afraid of cats and electric lights. She’s afraid of the silver sick bell, a family heirloom that brings up frightening memories. Most of all, she’s afraid of the red door in her nightmares.

But soon Essie discovers so much more to fear. Her mother has remarried, and they must move from their dilapidated tenement in the Bronx to North Brother Island, a dreary place in the East River. That’s where Essie’s new stepfather runs a quarantine hospital for the incurable sick, including the infamous Typhoid Mary. Essie knows the island is plagued with tragedy. Years ago, she watched in horror as the ship General Slocum caught fire and sank near its shores, plummeting one thousand women and children to their deaths.

Now, something on the island is haunting Essie. And the red door from her dreams has become a reality, just down the hall from her bedroom in her terrifying new house. Convinced her stepfather is up to no good, Essie investigates. Yet to uncover the truth, she will have to face her own painful history—and what lies behind the red door.

Sept. 14 by Atheneum Goodreads | Bookshop

What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie

Welcome to the decrepit Woodmoor Manor…where something in the woods is always watching. From the author of Scritch Scratch comes a chilling middle grade story about a creepy mansion and sinister creatures in the woods

All Ginny Anderson wants from her summer is to relax. But when Ginny’s father—a respected restoration expert in Chicago—surprises the family with a month-long trip to Michigan, everything changes. They aren’t staying in a hotel like most families would. No, they’re staying in a mansion. A twenty-six room, century-old building surrounded by dense forest. Woodmoor Manor.

Locals claim the surrounding woods are inhabited by mutated creatures that escaped a mad scientist over a hundred years ago. And some say campers routinely disappear never to be seen again.

When the creaky floors and shadowy corners of the mansion seem to take on a life of their own, Ginny uncovers the wildest mystery of all: there’s more than one legend roaming Saugatuck, Michigan, and they definitely aren’t after campers.

They’re after her.

Sept. 14 by Sourcebooks for Young Readers Goodreads | Bookshop

The Ghost of Midnight Lake by Lucy Strange

From award winning author Lucy Strange comes a thrilling ghost story about a strong willed heroine who will follow even the most restless spirit in order to untangles the dark mystery of her own past.

It’s 1899. The Earl of Gosswater has died, and twelve-year-old Agatha has been cast out of her ancestral home – the only home she has ever known – by her cruel cousin, Clarence. In a tiny tumbledown cottage, she struggles to adjust to her new life and the stranger who claims to be her real father. While adjusting to her new fate, she learns that the shores of Gosswater lake are haunted, and soon comes face to face with the spirit of another young girl who’s soul will not rest. Could the ghost of Gosswater hold the key to Aggie’s true identity?

Sept. 21 by Chicken House Goodreads | Bookshop

Young Adult Books Reviewed

The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky

This month Audra read and reviewed The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky. Be sure to check out her review of The Mary Shelley Club (“This one caught me right off the bat because main character Rachel uses horror as a way to process her own trauma.”)

Middle Grade Books Reviewed

Kathy read and reviewed The Nightmare Thief by Nicole Lesperance. Be sure to check out her review of The Nightmare Thief (“I loved this book and so will middle grade readers.”)

Kathy also read and reviewed What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie. You can check out her review of What Lives in the Woods (“I love a good ghost story and was not disappointed.“)


Jen is one of our LOHF admins. Jen manages the technical side of the Ladies of Horror Fiction website. She also keeps a spotlight on middle grade and young adult horror each month.

You can also find Jen on her blog Book Den, Twitter as @bookden, Instagram as @bookdenjen, on Goodreads, and Letterboxd.

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

October 2021 New Releases

Each month the Ladies of Horror Fiction team posts all the books we are aware of that will be releasing during that month here and on Bookshop.org. You can also check out the releases for the year here. Please let us know if we missed any new releases so we can add them to our lists!


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Finches by A. M. Muffaz

Every family has a ghost story.

This gorgeous and lyrical debut by A.M. Muffaz shares a family’s story about their ghosts in an abandoned house in a Malaysian village. Grandmother Jah is determined to return to her estranged husband’s house years after a brutal murder. Her children and her granddaughter work together to clear out the remnants of the former residents. But, they’re still there, lingering in the dead garden and musty, old rooms.

Grandmother Jah will not surrender her home to the man that did so much harm in life. Her son, his boyfriend, her daughter, and granddaughter, all must join her in the effort to cleanse the old family home.

Expected publication October 1st 2021 by Vernacular Books Goodreads | Bookshop


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Our Fearful Roots by Carmilla Voiez and Faith Marlow

Dark memories are carried on the scent of roses.

Mary wants a better life for her family and hopes the house she inherited from her aunt in Alabama will be a sanctuary for them all, but Mary and the house share a terrible secret.

Roots run deep in the south, but secrets run even deeper.

Join the Anderson family in a tale of Southern Gothic Horror in four voices.

Expected publication: October 1st 2021 by Indomitable Ink Goodreads | Amazon


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Mouth Full of Ashes by Briana Morgan

Mourning the sudden loss of her sister, Callie Danoff wants nothing more than to embrace a fresh start in a new town, leaving the haunting memories of her sister’s death behind. But when her brother Ramsay drags her to a spooky boardwalk, the two become entangled with a local vampire gang and its enigmatic leader, Elijah. Callie refuses to accept their existence… until she and her brother unknowingly ingest vampire blood. Now, they only have three days before they turn into vampires themselves.

With her carefree summer thwarted, Callie must trust a group she barely knows in order to save her family.

Expected publication: October 4th 2021 by independently published Goodreads | Amazon


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The Between by Tananarive Due (reissue)

When Hilton was a boy, his grandmother sacrificed her life to save him from drowning. Thirty years later, he begins to suspect that he was never meant to survive that accident, and that dark forces are working to rectify that mistake. 

When Hilton’s wife, the only elected African American judge in Dade County, Florida, begins to receive racist hate mail from a man she once prosecuted, Hilton becomes obsessed with protecting his family. The demons lurking outside are matched by his internal terrors—macabre nightmares, more intense and disturbing than any he has ever experienced. Are these bizarre dreams the dark imaginings of a man losing his hold on sanity—or are they harbingers of terrible events to come? 

As Hilton battles both the sociopath threatening to destroy his family and the even more terrifying enemy stalking his sleep, the line between reality and fantasy dissolves . . . 

Chilling and utterly convincing, The Between is the haunting story of a man desperately trying to hold on to the people and life he loves as he slowly loses himself.

Expected publication: October 5th 2021 by Harper Perennial Goodreads | Bookshop


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Cackle by Rachel Harrison

All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She’s stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation.

Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the townsfolk seem…a little afraid of her. And like, okay. There are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power…but she couldn’t be…could she?

Expected publication: October 5th 2021 by Berkley Books Goodreads | Bookshop


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The Forest by Lisa Quigley

Everyone in Edgewood believes their annual tithes at the fall festival are what purchase Edgewood’s safety, but as Faye and her husband prepare to take over as town stewards—a long tradition carried out by her family for generations—they learn the terrible truth: in order to guarantee the town’s safety, the forest demands an unthinkable sacrifice.

In the midst of everything, Faye is secretly battling debilitating postpartum anxiety that makes her all the more terrified to leave the safe cocoon of her enchanted town.

When everyone turns against her—including her own husband—Faye is forced to flee with her infant son into the forest. She must face whatever lurks there and, perhaps most frightening of all, the dark torments of her own mind.

The Forest is an adult folk horror novel appealing to fans of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and Bird Box by Josh Malerman, with a hint of The Changeling by Victor LaValle. It is Quigley’s debut novel.

Expected publication: October 5th 2021 by Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing Goodreads | Bookshop


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The Ghosts of Thorwold Place by Helen Power

Trust No One. Especially your neighbors.

Rachel Drake is on the run from the man who killed her husband. She never leaves her safe haven in an anonymous doorman building, until one night a phone call sends her running. On her way to the garage, she is murdered in the elevator. But her story doesn’t end there.

She finds herself in the afterlife, tethered to her death spot, her reach tied to the adjacent apartments. As she rides the elevator up and down, the lives of the residents intertwine. Every one of them has a dark secret. An aging trophy wife whose husband strays. A surgeon guarding a locked room. A TV medium who may be a fraud. An ordinary man with a mysterious hobby.

Compelled to spend eternity observing her neighbors, she realizes that any one of them could be her killer.

And then, her best friend shows up to investigate her murder.

Published October 5th 2021 by CamCat Books Goodreads | Bookshop


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The Gold Persimmon by Lindsay Merbaum

Clytemnestra is a check-in girl at The Gold Persimmon, a temple-like New York City hotel with gilded furnishings and carefully guarded secrets. Cloistered in her own reality, Cly lives by a strict set of rules until a connection with a troubled hotel guest threatens the world she’s so carefully constructed.

In a parallel reality, an inexplicable fog envelops the city, trapping a young, nonbinary writer named Jaime in a sex hotel with six other people. As the survivors begin to turn on one another, Jaime must navigate a deadly game of cat and mouse.

Haunted by specters of grief and familial shame, Jaime and Cly find themselves trapped in dual narratives in this gripping experimental novel that explores sexuality, surveillance, and the very nature of storytelling.

Expected publication: October 5th 2021 by Creature Publishing Goodreads | Bookshop


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The Lighthouse Witches by C. J. Cooke

Two sisters go missing on a remote Scottish island. Twenty years later, one is found–but she’s still the same age as when she disappeared. The secrets of witches have reached across the centuries in this chilling Gothic thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Nesting.

When single mother Liv is commissioned to paint a mural in a 100-year-old lighthouse on a remote Scottish island, it’s an opportunity to start over with her three daughters–Luna, Sapphire, and Clover. When two of her daughters go missing, she’s frantic. She learns that the cave beneath the lighthouse was once a prison for women accused of witchcraft. The locals warn her about wildlings, supernatural beings who mimic human children, created by witches for revenge. Liv is told wildlings are dangerous and must be killed.

Twenty-two years later, Luna has been searching for her missing sisters and mother. When she receives a call about her youngest sister, Clover, she’s initially ecstatic. Clover is the sister she remembers–except she’s still seven years old, the age she was when she vanished. Luna is worried Clover is a wildling. Luna has few memories of her time on the island, but she’ll have to return to find the truth of what happened to her family. But she doesn’t realize just how much the truth will change her.

Expected publication: October 5th 2021 by Berkley Books Goodreads | Bookshop


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Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illustrated by Lisa Sterle

Pretty Little Liars meets Teen Wolf in this fast-paced, sharply funny, and patriarchy-smashing graphic novel from author Maggie Tokuda-Hall and artist Lisa Sterle. When the new girl is invited to join her high school’s most popular clique, she can’t believe her luck—and she can’t believe their secret, either: they’re werewolves. Fans of Mariko Tamaki and Elana K. Arnold will devour the snappy dialogue, vivid artwork, and timely social commentary.

When Becca transfers to a high school in an elite San Francisco suburb, she’s worried she’s not going to fit in. To her surprise, she’s immediately adopted by the most popular girls in school. At first glance, Marley, Arianna, and Mandy are perfect. But at a party under a full moon, Becca learns that they also have a big secret.

Becca’s new friends are werewolves. Their prey? Slimy boys who take advantage of unsuspecting girls. Eager to be accepted, Becca allows her friends to turn her into a werewolf, and finally, for the first time in her life, she feels like she truly belongs.

But things get complicated when Arianna’s predatory boyfriend is killed, and the cops begin searching for a serial killer. As their pack begins to buckle under the pressure—and their moral high ground gets muddier and muddier—Becca realizes that she might have feelings for one of her new best friends.

Lisa Sterle’s stylish illustrations paired with Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s sharp writing make Squad a fun, haunting, and fast-paced thriller that will resonate with fans of Riverdale, and with readers of This Savage SongLumberjanes, and Paper Girls.

Expected publication: October 5th 2021 by Greenwillow Books Goodreads | Bookshop


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The Violent Season by Sara Walters

An unputdownable debut about a town marred by violence, a girl ruined by grief, and the harsh reality about what makes people decide to hurt each other. The Violent Season is a searing, unforgettable, and thrilling novel that belongs on shelf with Sadie and Girl in Pieces.

Every November, the people in Wolf Ridge are overwhelmed with a hunger for violence–at least that’s the town rumor. Last fall Wyatt Green’s mother was brutally murdered, convincing Wyatt that this yearning isn’t morbid urban legend. but rather a palpable force infecting her neighbors.

This year, Wyatt fears the call of violence has spread to her best friend Cash–who also happens to be the guy she can’t stop wanting no matter how much he hurts her. At the same time, she’s drawn to Cash’s nemesis Porter, now that they’re partners on an ambitious project for lit class. When Wyatt pulls away from Cash, and spends more time with Porter, she learns secrets about both of them she can’t forget.

And as the truth about her mother’s death begins to emerge from the shadows, Wyatt is faced with a series of hard realities about the people she trusts the most, rethinking everything she believes about what makes people decide to hurt each other.

Expected publication: October 5th 2021 by Sourcebooks Fire Goodreads | Bookshop


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When We Entered That House by Claire L. Smith

Best friends Zoe and Elle share a secret. Every day after school, they sneak into the ominous woods surrounding their small town. The isolation of the remote wilderness shelters them from the chaos at home, but it also brings dangers of its own.

Something wicked watches the girls from a rotting Victorian mansion. Zoe and Elle will soon discover the mansion’s decaying walls hide centuries-old secrets and a family whose bloodline is stained with violence and insanity.

In order to escape, the girls’ friendship and inner strength will be tested. The house’s clutches are strong, and both friends will be caught in a struggle they may not be able to win.

Expected publication: October 15th 2021 by Off Limits Press Goodreads | Amazon


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Rosie Paints with Ghosts by Cassie Daley

When Rosie finds a secret door under her bed, it leads her to a spooky town with two BIG problems – they’ve lost all their color, and Rosie can’t seem to get back home!

With the help of a new friend, Rosie has a new goal: repaint and restore the town of Tomb!

But what can she do when the Mayor of Tomb doesn’t like Rosie’s changes?

Expected publication: October 11th 2021 by Galactic Press Goodreads


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Beware!: The Art of Goosebumps by Sarah Rodriguez, illustrated by Tim Jacobus

Featuring tons of fun facts about the series alongside a walkthrough of all books and covers in the Goosebumps collections, this art book is a must-have for old and new fans alike!

In the summer of 1992, Scholastic tasked two terrifyingly talented artists with creating the cover paintings for the books that would premiere the Goosebumps series. At that time, four books in the line were being market-tested by the publisher to see how young readers would react to R.L. Stine’s particular brand of humor-tinged horror. One element that was sure to catch the attention of little eyes everywhere was striking cover art, and, boy, did they find it!

The imagery provided by the covers of the Goosebumps series is part and parcel to the 90s Kid zeitgeist, helping to create a visual brand for R.L. Stine’s smash-hit horror series. The covers helped set the tone for the numerous adaptations of the series, including a television series, a theatre experience, and, more recently, blockbuster films!

Expected publication: October 12th 2021 by Dynamite Entertainment Goodreads | Bookshop


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Psychros by Charlene Elsby

A woman’s lover commits suicide. Why does everyone expect her to grieve? What if he wasn’t one of the good ones? Was his suicide another cruelty? Her grief and rage are expressed through increasingly violent sexual encounters with strangers, acquaintances, and past lovers. How many deaths does he deserve?

And why did he love death more than her?

Expected publication: October 12th 2021 by CLASH Books Goodreads | Amazon


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The Wild Dark by Katherine Silva

Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Raleigh has lost everything: her job as a police detective, her partner, her fiancĂ©, and her peace of mind. After a month of solitude at a cabin in the woods, she finally feels as though she’s ready to move on.

But in one terrifying night, everything changes. Liz’s partner, Brody, appears in the form of a ghost. He’s one of millions that have returned to haunt their loved ones. Brody can’t remember how he died and Liz is determined to keep the secret of it buried, for it means dredging up crushing memories. Along with him comes an unearthly forest purgatory that swallows up every sign of human civilization across the world. The woods are fraught with disturbing architecture and monstrous wolves hungry for human souls. Brody says he escaped from them and that the wolves are trying to drag him and others ghosts back.

As winter closes in and chaos erupts across New England, Liz fights desolation, resurfacing guilt, and absolute terror as she tries to survive one of the most brutal winters she’s ever seen.

Expected publication: October 12th 2021 by Strange Wilds Press Goodreads | Bookshop


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Cacophony: Book Two by L. Marie Wood

Toddlers and playdates and white picket fences. Afternoons in the park, steak on the grill – all in the perfect neighborhood. Gabby was living a life that many people could only wish for and she was over it. It wasn’t that she disliked her world – it wasn’t that at all…she loved her family and the life that she and her husband had made. She just wanted more – more action, more stimulation, more excitement.

Gabby was bored.

But while she spent her days washing sand out of hair and making PB&J sandwiches, a battle was going on in The Realm, a cosmic tug of war over the most inimitable of prizes: Gabby’s very soul.

Expected publication: October 13th 2021 by Cedar Grove Book Goodreads | Amazon


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Body Shocks: Extreme Tales of Body Horror edited by Ellen Datlow

Bestselling editor Ellen Datlow (Lovecraft’s Monsters) delivers world-class body horror in all its gruesome, psychological, and shocking glory. Discover—if you dare—shockingly twisted tales of the human body that make The Twilight Zone seem like a children’s show. In Body Shocks, you will find twenty-nine chilling tales from storytelling masters including Carmen Maria Machado, Richard Kadrey, Seanan McGuire, CaitlĂ­n R. Kiernan, Tananarive Due, Cassandra Khaw, Christopher Fowler, and many more.

The most terrifying thing that you can possibly imagine is your own body in the hands of a monster. Or worse, in the hands of another human being.

In these 29 tales of body horror selected by World Horror Grandmaster Ellen Datlow, you’ll find the unthinkable, the shocking, and more: a couture designer preparing for an exquisitely grotesque runway show; a vengeful son seeking the parent who bred him as plasma donor; a celebrity-kink brothel that inflicts plastic surgery on sex workers; and organ-harvesting doctors who dissect a living man without anesthetic.

Expected publication: October 19th 2021 by Tachyon Publications Goodreads | Bookshop


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The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town. Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is a terrified, paranoid man—one who cannot tell reality from nightmare, and fears Jane is an apparition, come to haunt him.

By morning, Augustine is himself again, but Jane knows something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall, and with the man she has so hastily bound her safety to. Set in a dark-mirror version of post-war England, Starling crafts a new kind of gothic horror from the bones of the beloved canon. This Crimson Peak-inspired story assembles, then upends, every expectation set in place by Shirley Jackson and Rebecca, and will leave readers shaken, desperate to begin again as soon as they are finished.

Expected publication: October 5th 2021 by St. Martin’s Press Goodreads | Bookshop


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Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn

Flowers for the Sea is a dark, dazzling debut novella that reads like Rosemary’s Baby by way of Octavia E. Butler.

We are a people who do not forget.

Survivors from a flooded kingdom struggle alone on an ark. Resources are scant, and ravenous beasts circle. Their fangs are sharp.

Among the refugees is Iraxi: ostracized, despised, and a commoner who refused a prince, she’s pregnant with a child that might be more than human. Her fate may be darker and more powerful than she can imagine.

Zin E. Rocklyn’s extraordinary debut is a lush, gothic fantasy about the prices we pay and the vengeance we seek.

Expected publication: October 19th 2021 by Tordotcom Goodreads | Bookshop


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The Ghost Sequences by A. C. Wise

From A.C. Wise, the acclaimed author of Wendy, Darling, comes a brand new collection of horror stories, The Ghost Sequences.

“A haunting is a moment of trauma, infinitely repeated. It extends forward and backward in time. It is the hole grief makes. It is a house built by memory in-between your skin and bones.”

A lush and elegant collection of tales – many having appeared in various “Best Of” anthologies – teeming with frightful and tragic events, yet profoundly and intimately human. These chilling tales will engross and enthrall.

For readers of Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, and Angela Carter, this is a must have collection of ghostly tales set to deliver a frisson of terror and glee.

Expected publication: October 19th 2021 by Undertow Books Goodreads | Bookshop


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Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

Cassandra Khaw’s (they/them) Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a gorgeously creepy haunted house tale, steeped in Japanese folklore and full of devastating twists.

A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company.

It’s the perfect wedding venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends.

But a night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare. For lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.

And she gets lonely down there in the dirt.

Expected publication: October 19th 2021 by Tor Nightfire Goodreads | Bookshop


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The Restoration by J.H. Moncrieff

Inspired by the author’s overnight stay in a historical haunted house, The Restoration is a thrilling tale of intrigue, murder, and family secrets that refuse to stay buried.

It was the perfect opportunity…or so she thought. When Terri Foxworth is hired to spend a year restoring a crumbling manor house, she believes she’s hit the jackpot. She moves in with her young daughter and high hopes for the project’s success. As the restoration begins to go terribly wrong, she realizes dark forces won’t let her leave the house until its horrible secrets are revealed.

This job could very well be the death of her.

Expected publication: October 19th 2021 by Flame Tree Press Goodreads | Amazon


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The Science of Serial Killers: The Truth Behind Ted Bundy, Lizzie Borden, Jack the Ripper, and Other Notorious Murderers of Cinematic Legend by Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence

Discover the real-life inspirations behind history’s most infamous serial killers: John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, and so many more.
 
Gothic media moguls Kelly Florence and Meg Hafdahl, authors of The Science of Monsters, The Science of Women in Horror, and The Science of Stephen King, and co-hosts of the Horror Rewind podcast called “the best horror film podcast out there” by Film Daddy, present a guide to the serial killers who inspired the movies and media we all know and love. Delve into the brutal truth behind horror’s secret: many monsters portrayed on the silver screen are based on true murderers. Uncover the truth behind the real monsters of horror, answering such questions as: 
What is the science behind serial killers’ motivations like Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy? 
How did detectives discover the identities of criminals like the Boston Strangler and the BTK Strangler?
Has science made it possible to unmask Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer? 
What is the science behind female versus male serial killers? 
Through interviews, film analysis, and bone-chilling discoveries, join Kelly and Meg as they learn about the horrors of true crime through the decades.

Expected publication: October 19th 2021 by Skyhorse Goodreads | Bookshop


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Someone To Share My Nightmares by Sonora Taylor

A band of bloodthirsty sea creatures terrorize a scientist and a journalist trapped in a Carolina cove. The seduction of a plumber making a house call becomes a nightmarish haunting for both parties. A woman transformed for her lover has second thoughts about just how good “together forever” can be. And the one man a woman wants for Christmas is the holiday demon sent to punish the wicked.

“Someone to Share My Nightmares” is a tapestry of horrors interwoven with sensuality. Can our deepest fears be vanquished when they’re shared with someone else? Or is the danger doubled when two people come together?

Expected publication: October 19th 2021 by independently published Goodreads | Amazon


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Where Echoes Lie by Shannon Schuren

In this eerie thriller of a ghost story, a teenage girl must solve the mystery of the ghost bride that has haunted her community in rural Kentucky for more than a century.

Rena Faye believes in things she can see and touch, or at least capture through the lens of her camera. Things like the moonbow–a gray-and-white colorless bow that arcs out of Cumberland Falls every month when the moon is full. This natural phenomenon is what keeps her family’s motel business afloat, and what puts their tiny Kentucky town on the map. That, and the legend of the ghost bride.

Along with everyone else who has grown up near the falls, Rena knows the tragic tale of the bride who walks the cliff on moonlit nights. But when her grandma tells her that the legend is real, and worse, that the ghost bride has cursed the women of their family, she dismisses it as just another of her mawmaw’s famous stories. But when Rena Faye’s life begins to fall apart, she must delve deeper into the stories surrounding the legend, and reexamine who she can trust, as well as the truth about her town and family history. before the curse takes everything–and everyone–she holds dear.

An eerie thriller of a ghost story filled with twists and turns until the final page.

Expected publication: October 19th 2021 by Philomel Books Goodreads | Bookshop


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Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood

What the heart desires, the house destroys…

Andromeda is a debtera—an exorcist hired to cleanse households of the Evil Eye. When a handsome young heir named Magnus Rochester reaches out to hire her, Andromeda quickly realizes this is a job like no other, with horrifying manifestations at every turn, and that Magnus is hiding far more than she has been trained for. Death is the most likely outcome if she stays, but leaving Magnus to live out his curse alone isn’t an option. Evil may roam the castle’s halls, but so does a burning desire.

Kiersten White meets Tomi Adeyemi in this Ethiopian-inspired debut fantasy retelling of Jane Eyre.

Expected publication: October 19th 2021 by Wednesday Books Goodreads | Bookshop


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The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, Volume 2 edited by Paula Guran

The supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real . . . tales of the dark. Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while inventing imaginative new ways to unsettle us. Chosen from a wide variety of venues, these stories are as eclectic and varied as shadows.

This volume of The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror offers more than four hundred pages of tales from some of today’s finest writers of the fantastique, sure to delight as well as disturb.

Expected publication: October 19th 2021 by Pyr Goodreads | Bookshop


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The Secret Skin by Wendy N. Wagner

The Secret Skin by Wendy N. Wagner is a sawmill gothic that begins with June Vogel’s return to Storm Break, her family’s estate. Things in the great house aren’t what they used to be. Doors slam in the night. Faucets turn on, untouched. Something is always watching, whatever June does. And when her brother returns with his new bride, deceit and betrayal threaten to destroy everything she loves.

Expected publication: October 26th 2021 by Neon Hemlock Goodreads | Amazon


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The Son of Abraham by Kathleen Kaufman

Ten years after the city of Los Angeles is nearly destroyed by a violent domestic terrorist attack, Esther Robertson struggles to reconcile her father’s culpability as leader of the deadly Son of Abraham cult. She grants CBS’s top reporter, Cooper Carlson, a rare interview and insight into her father, Alan Robertson, who sits awaiting trial for his crimes in federal prison.

A report of a horrific and seemingly natural disaster interrupts the interview. Another will follow and another after that. Are these increasingly violent and bizarre phenoms truly natural, or is there another force behind them?

In the epic conclusion of the story of the Society at Sinder Avenue, the end times–put into motion by a demonic deal made generations ago–are finally unfolding. Destruction, famine, war, and pestilence reign. But is it God who comes to answer the prayers of the suffering and dying world, or is it Ceit Robertson, the ascended matriarch of the Society, Goddess of the Dead, and Ruler of the Night Forest? Will they offer salvation or Armageddon?

Expected publication: October 26th 2021 by Keylight Books Goodreads | Bookshop


The Sound of Breaking Glass: (and other weird tales) by [Christine Makepeace, Gabino Iglesias]

The Sound of Breaking Glass: And Other Weird Tales by Christine Makepeace

Do you know what it means to be haunted? To lose yourself in a world where you don’t quite fit? This selection of stories proves that the emptiest rooms can often be the most crowded.

With its titular novella acting as anchor, “The Sound of Breaking Glass,” an atypical possession tale, dares you to peer into darkened corners in search of other worlds. From a fry cook’s unlikely ascent to power, to a fashionista’s deconstruction, these stories will wiggle into your brain whether you like it or not.

Exploring loss of self, isolation, and the soul-crushing machine that is capitalism, The Sound of Breaking Glass (and other weird tales) is an unflinchingly weird, lush, and mournful collection of fiction.

Expected publication: October 26th 2021 by Son of the Land Press Amazon


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The Villa and the Vortex: Selected Supernatural Stories, 1914–1934 by Elinor Mordaunt, edited by Melissa Edmundson

Elinor Mordaunt was the pen name of Evelyn May Clowes (1872–1942), a prolific and popular novelist and short story writer, working in Australia and Britain in the first thirty-five years of the twentieth century. Melissa Edmundson has curated this selection of the best of Mordaunt’s supernatural short fiction, which blend the technologies and social attitudes of modernity with the classic supernatural tropes of the ghost, the haunted house, possession, conjuration from the dead and witchcraft. Each story is an original and compelling contribution to the genre, making this selection a marvellous new showcase for women’s writing in classic supernatural fiction. 

Expected publication: October 26th 2021 by Handheld Classics Goodreads | Bookshop


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Chingle Hall by Zowie Swan

On the outskirts of the village, down a quiet lane, there sits a house.

Just another old house in another old village. Except Goosnargh is not just any old village and Chingle Hall is not just any old house.

Shielded from the roadside by reaching oaks and curtains of willow, Chingle has sat here in sullen isolation for an age. The lane is peaceful, near silent save for the song of blackbirds and the whisper of fallen leaves underfoot. The house is quiet too, but there is nothing natural about the silence that weeps from its windows and streaks down from its walls. It wears this abnormal hush like a funeral veil. It exists on a stunted breath, held centuries long, screaming for exhalation.
The house is waiting.

Waiting for you.

Expected publication: October 31st 2021 by Safety Pin Horror Goodreads | Amazon


Unfettered Hexes: Queer Tales of Insatiable Darkness edited by dave ring

A speculative anthology edited by dave ring. Queer witches, the knife edge between the sacred and the profane, and infinite darkness. Stories, poems, comics, art and games. Find your coven, craft new rituals and hex your enemies.

Expected publication: October 31st 2021 by Neon Hemlock Amazon


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Vampire: The Begotten by Dayna Ward

When the death of a child heralds the birth of a monster, living nightmares destroy pleasant dreams. What if your dreams don’t come true… but your nightmares do?

Eiko “Erica” Calmet loves children — they are her entire world. Caring for them quiets her mind and soothes a hurt residing deep within her soul. But the darkness of her dreams soon takes a more sinister turn as mutilated bodies start turning up at local synagogues, repeating a grisly pattern of ritualized deaths occurring at the same time every few years.

When she confides her secret nightmares to a trusted friend, a harmless elderly man named Henry, she is unprepared for the consequences that will deepen her despair and change her life for all of eternity. 

Expected publication: October 31st 2021 by independently published Goodreads | Bookshop


& This is How To Stay Alive by Shingai Njeri Kagunda

In & This is How to Stay Alive by Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Nyokabi’s world unravels after her brother Baraka’s death by suicide. When an eccentric auntie gives Nyokabi a potion that sends her back in time to when Baraka was still alive, it becomes her only goal to keep him that way. Nyokabi learns that storytellers may be the carriers of time, but defying the past comes with its own repercussions.

Expected publication: October 2021 by Neon Hemlock Amazon


Audra

Audra and her horror hound, Ouija, help manage the Ladies of Horror Fiction Instagram page. When not ghost hunting or rollerskating, she also contributes articles and helps maintain the website.

You can find Audra on Instagram as @ouija.reads, Twitter as @audraudraudra, and Goodreads.

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