It’s finally October, which means there’s officially never been a better time to read horror books. It’s the season for curling up in your favorite chair with a blanket, a warm beverage, and a creepy story that’ll keep you reading late into the night.
Fortunately, horror publishers big and small have come prepared for this moment, with dozens of new releases hitting throughout the month.
So, to get you in that Halloween mood, here are 20 horror books we can’t wait to read this month, from long-awaited sequels to novellas, debuts, and more.
Find Me Where It Ends by Cassandra Khaw (October 6)
Cassandra Khaw is one of the finest prose stylists in all of genre fiction, capable of casting complete spells with single sentences. In Find Me Where It Ends, Khaw explores what happens when a woman whose ancestors were stalked by spectral black dogs leading up to their death wakes up one day to find a black dog of her own waiting by the door. This is a haunting, must-read novella from one of the best in the game right now.
Other Worlds Than These by Stephen King and Peter Straub (October 6)
The much-anticipated, long-promised third novel in the series that began with The Talisman and continued with Black House is finally here. Peter Straub is sadly no longer with us, so Stephen King is taking the lead on this one, and based on the title alone, we can expect close ties to his personal fictional cosmology. What awaits in this one? I can’t wait to find out.
Quaint Folk by Bitter Karella (October 6)
Bitter Karella‘s Moonflow remains one of my favorite horror novels of the last couple of years, and now she’s back with a satirical folk horror journey that you shouldn’t miss. Quaint Folk follows Jessica, a woman with a past who’s just trying to have a quiet family life, and thinks she may have found it on a remote island called Hasenhurst. But the more Jessica tries to settle into her new life, the more she finds that the islanders’ folk tales hint at a shocking reality. Karella’s fiction is simultaneously horrifying and hilarious, truly bonkers stuff in the best way, so this is a must-read for me.
Look What the Cat Dragged In by Jason Rekulak (October 13)
Jason Rekulak is best-known for his complex thrillers and horror novels like Hidden Pictures. With Look What the Cat Dragged In, he takes another horror turn with a high-concept that sounds like his most daring yet. The hook is simple: Penny, a cartoonist from Philly, takes on cat sitting duties for a feline named Godfrey. Easy enough, except that things seem to happen when Godfrey is around, and suddenly Penny’s art takes on a much, much darker tone. What’s going on, and what does the cat have to do with it? I’m excited to find out.
Monstera by Delilah S. Dawson (October 13)
A young woman moves into a Savannah apartment, eager to finally be free after years of oppressive family life, and realizes her downstairs neighbor has cultivated a garden of immense proportions. Saskia, the neighbor, is everything Lucy is not, but a bond quickly forms over their shared love of plants and the many ways that Saskia could introduce Lucy to the wider world. But Saskia has a secret, and Lucy’s about to find that she and her new friend have become more than just neighbors. A blend of romance and horror at a very single-sitting-friendly novella length, this one feels like a must-have for fans of sapphic horror and botanical horror alike.
Mystery Play by Elizabeth Kostova (October 13)
It’s been 20 years since Elizabeth Kostova’s breakthrough Dracula novel The Historian, and now she’s back with a sequel. Following the son of the historian from the first book, Mystery Play is another globe-hopping, mystery-laden journey through old libraries, stately homes, and secrets, this time focused on Gilded Age actors with a tie to a business manager and writer named Bram Stoker. I got a very early look at this one, and if you loved The Historian, you absolutely won’t want to miss this.
Off the Reservation by Stephen Graham Jones (October 13)
Modern horror master Stephen Graham Jones returns to the world of one of his most enduring novels with this sequel to The Only Good Indians. It’s been five years, and survivor Nathan “Nate” Yellow Tail is once again in a tight spot. In an effort to save his best friend, he takes on a road trip into the heart of darkness as a means of restoring balance to his world, unaware of what awaits him on the road. I was lucky enough to read this one early, and it’s as good as you’d hope it is, and then some. Read an excerpt here.
Phantom Limb by Brian Evenson (October 13)
Brian Evenson is a true original, a storyteller of astonishing clarity capable of conjuring some of the most frightening images you’ll ever find in a book. Though he’s best known for his short stories, Evenson has ventured into novel-length territory with books like Last Days, and now he’s back with a sequel to that tale of a detective infiltrating an amputation cult. This time, having survived the events of the last book, Evenson’s detective must face offshoots of the same cult he just escaped, and risk being seduced into their number once again. I’m so excited to see how Evenson continues to unspool this narrative.
Unspeakable Things by Elizabeth Hand (October 13)
Few modern horror authors have a grasp of the Gothic like Elizabeth Hand‘s, and this fall she’ll prove it with her latest book. Set in England in the 1920s, Unspeakable Things follows an unlikely sapphic romance between Tamsin and her tutor, Olivia, as the couple is drawn into the world of a wealthy eccentric whose home is a haven for the more free-spirited outcasts of English society. But in ducking the darkness they fled to this house to escape, Tamsin and Olivia have simply opened a door to something darker. Sounds like a must-read to me!
Penitents by Madeline Blondeau (October 13)
Set in the Pacific Northwest, Penitents follows Ginger, a queer woman escaping the drama of her relationship for a little while, who gets into a one-night stand gone horribly wrong. Hunted by a former sheriff who dabbles in both human trafficking and snuff filmmaking, Ginger and her girlfriends are caught up in a life-or-death struggle across one horrifying weekend. This book is described as a “trans tribute to New French Extremity cinema and ’70s grindhouse horror,” which is an instant lure for me.
The Exodontists by Drew Huff (October 13)
Drew Huff is a rising star horror author you need to know about, and this fall he’s got a book that sounds too bonkers to pass up. Set in a previously abandoned retail space, The Exodontists follows the title creatures, immortal monsters who run a black market dental practice and have an obsession with teeth, as they find their den taken over by a Spirit Halloween. Yes, a Spirit Halloween store has encroached on the monsters’ territory, and if they’re going to survive, they have to contend with an employee they accidentally converted first. I cannot wait to see how this one unfolds.
Happy Hour by Gemma Amor (October 20)
The Killer VHS series of books overseen by Shortwave Publishing is an endlessly entertaining string of quick reads, all packing found footage and nostalgia elements to catapult readers back to the VHS era. For the ninth book in the series, Shortwave has enlisted Gemma Amor to tell the story of a mysterious bar in 1990s London, where the owner keeps tab on everyone and makes anyone who can’t follow the rules vanish. These books are fun, ferocious, lightning-fast reads, so if you’re looking for a rad way to spend a Saturday night in October, pick this one up.
Tatratea by Alex Woodroe (October 20)
Though she’s perhaps best-known as an editor at the always-excellent Tenebrous Press, Alex Woodroe is also a wonderful novelist in her own right. Now, her third book is here, and it sounds like her most ambitious yet. Set in and around the title home, an abandoned manor in Romania, the book follows Errata, a researcher sent to Tatratea to uncover what crashed there, what signals it’s sending to drive the whole world mad, and why the local flora has reacted in such a startling way to this intrusion. Trapped on the manor’s grounds with only a few pieces of equipment, Errata has to solve the mystery, or give in to madness. If you haven’t read Woodroe’s previous novels and you want some gripping eco-horror, this is a great place to start.
The Turning of Sally-Mae by Nuzo Onoh (October 20)
Nuzo Onoh is one of the most exciting voices in modern genre fiction, and this fall she’s dropping a book which promises a heady blend of Western and African horror. The Turning of Sally-Mae follows the title character who, after an assault from a pair of Texas ranchers leaves her pregnant, joins a missionary voyage to Africa. There, she finds the babies inside her at the center of an occult battle, as a pair of African gods battle it out for their fate. The blend of cultures alone is enough to get me interested, and I’m excited to see where this battle goes.
Needlemouth by K-Ming Chang (October 20)
Hell of a title, right? But what really got me interested in Needlemouth, aside from K-Ming Chang‘s success with books like Bestiary, was this: The title refers not to a creature with a mouth full of needles, but a creature with “a mouth the size of a needle-tip.” This creature, a starving demon/ghost, sets itself on three cousins as they spend a lazy summer at their grandmother’s house, jolting them out of their complacency and into an impossible, horrifying realm where they must reckon with their family’s past and feed a creature who’s lost all sources of sustenance. I’m hooked.
When The Night Comes Knocking by Katherine Daniel (October 20)
Sometimes you come across a premise so elegantly simple that you just have to read the book and see how the author finds their way through it, and When the Night Comes Knocking is that kind of book for me. The setup is simple: Semi-estranged siblings take a drive through Appalachia together, stop at a convenience store, and find themselves trapped by a monster lurking outside. But what does the monster want, and which of the store’s customers has it? Jane and Thomas have to find out, and they have to find a way to come together again if they want to survive. I’m so excited to check out this debut.
From The Library of Jurgen Leitner by Premee Mohamed and Jonathan Sims (October 27)
Jonathan Sims, creator of the celebrated horror podcast The Magnus Archives, joins forces with genre novelist extraordinaire Premee Mohamed for this prequel journey into the heart of The Magnus Archives. As the title suggests, the book follows a pair of researchers installed at the titular library as they work to uncover strange secrets. Fans of the podcast will know that Leitner’s library long ago met a mysterious fate, and this book drills down into exactly what happened, making it a must-read for fans of the show and perhaps a new jumping-on point for fans-in-training.
Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun (October 27)
One night in 2009, two teenagers record the end of the analog era, documenting the moment digital TV becomes the new normal. Believing they’ll simply capture a moment in media history, what they find instead is a vast conspiracy pointing to some kind of other realm lurking in the TV static, a journey that will tie them to decades of strange occurrences and visions of another world. I was lucky enough to read Public Access Afterworld early, and if you love the way Jane Schoenbrun‘s films probe nostalgia and pop culture obsessions, you absolutely won’t want to miss this epic, beautifully strange novel.
Savage Lake by Nick Medina (October 27)
Here’s another classic horror scenario for you: A mother and son, Nell and Oscar, head out to the old family cabin to fix it up and sell it, only to find an old evil waiting for them. Sounds great already, right? That’s only the beginning of Savage Lake, the latest novel from rising horror star Nick Medina. The lake in question holds plenty of dark secrets, so when Nell and Oscar arrive, they soon find things happening that they can’t really explain. As a horror fan, Oscar dives into the mysteries, but soon finds that his mother’s behavior is more than a withdrawal, and if he’s not careful, he’ll get pulled into whatever’s transforming her, too. Medina novels are always a treat, so make sure this one’s on your list.
She Isn’t Herself Tonight by Hailey Piper (October 27)
Hailey Piper’s already released one must-read new horror novel this year with This Movie Doesn’t End The Way We Want, and now she’s back with another, very different journey into fear. She Isn’t Herself Tonight follows Rabbit, a woman recently dumped by her boyfriend at a very precarious point in her life, triggering paranoia, transformation, and more. The twist? Rabbit is expecting the aliens who abducted her when she was younger to return for her 30th birthday, and she hasn’t heard from them yet. It’s such a specific mix of horror and sci-fi elements, and I’m excited to see what Piper does with it.