Then Tingle will drop one of the single creepiest bits of imagery you’ve ever read, and you’re right back in the horror space. It’s not always a jump scare, but it is always a pulsing feeling of dread that keeps you hooked through the rest of the book. 

Fabulous Bodies, Tingle’s latest horror novel, carries on these gifts, and the promise Tingle showed on books like Camp Damascus and Bury Your Gays. His fiction’s growing ever more confident and precise, and his eye for horrific detail hasn’t dimmed in the least, making this a summer reading delight for horror fans. 

Poppy is a single mother determined to make a better life for her daughter, particularly after growing up in group homes and foster systems. By day, she works hard to keep up the flow of upbeat, enthusiastic content as a fashion influencer, and while that’s going well, it’s not yet making ends meet. To make up the difference, she moonlights as a grave robber, lifting bodies from morgues and funeral homes and selling their pieces on the black market. It’s grueling, dangerous work, and it’s about to pay off big. Out of the blue, Poppy gets a call to transport the newly dead body of her musical hero, the legendary Eddie Michaels. It’s a weird gig, but the payout is big enough that she could walk away from her macabre side gig forever. Poppy takes the job, and things get complicated when Eddie turns out to be, well, only mostly dead. 

From the moment Eddie’s corpse enters the picture, Fabulous Bodies takes on the vibe of a road novel, as the grave robber and the undead rock star make stop after stop, and Poppy tries again and again to wrap her mind about what she’s gotten herself into, and how she might get herself out. It’s a delightful premise, and Tingle never loses his grip on the fun of it. No matter how dark the novel gets, and it does get quite dark, the narrative keeps barreling forward, delivering macabre laughs and moments of beautifully gruesome invention along the way. 

Because he’s set his protagonist up as a fashion influencer, Tingle has lots of room to play in the space of how we view human bodies, both alive and dead, how we use them, and what we value in them. This is the emotional core of Fabulous Bodies, and while it’s sometimes overshadowed by the runaway train of the plot, it remains a potent source of thematic exploration throughout the book, and it gets more complicated when you consider certain gifts Eddie’s been granted in his strange supernatural state.

In essence, we’re looking at a story about a grave robber who discovers a body that not only fights back, but takes control of any given situation. That throws Poppy for repeated loops and keeps the plot moving, but it also makes us consider on a deeper level exactly what we value about our own physical form, and what might happen when we lose our grip on it entirely. 

The book’s themes and emotional concerns hum through the whole narrative, but the overwhelming impression I got while reading Fabulous Bodies was just how much damn fun this book is. I couldn’t stop reading it, not just because it’s so filled with sudden swerves and ghoulish setpieces, but because Tingle has honed his horror storytelling down to a fine, very sharp point. Fabulous Bodies moves like a roller coaster, complete with a tension-filled ramp-up and a finale that’ll leave you breathless by the time the ride is over.

If you haven’t been reading Chuck Tingle’s horror work up to this point, it’s time to get on board, because he’s just getting started, and he’s already mastered the art of the scary page-turner.

Fabulous Bodies is available now.

The post ‘Fabulous Bodies’ Review: Chuck Tingle Latest is a Wild, Unputdownable Ride appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

So, whether you’re into grave robbers, creepy neighbors, vampires, or good old-fashioned Gothic chills, here are the books we’re most excited about in July of 2026. 

The Brides by Charlotte Cross – July 7

The Dracula legend has grown to such titanic proportions over the last century and more that we’re still finding new ways to twist it into fresh stories. The Brides sets out to do exactly that with a feminist retelling of the story that attempts to lay out the origins of Dracula’s famous trio of brides. It begins with a journey to Budapest, an invitation from a Transylvanian noble, and a castle in the woods. It ends…well, read it and find out. 

The Red Sacrament by Sara Hinkley – July 7

Do you ever wish the theater of vampires from Interview with the Vampire was a novel unto itself? That’s the world Sara Hinkley will dive into with The Red Sacrament, a vampire novel set in 19th-century Paris about a mysterious midnight theater troupe that never seems to age. Set amid a time of bickering and potential revolution in the vampire world, it follows a theater company full of blood drinkers as they navigate strange new tribulations, including the arrival of a witch who could upend everything about their immortal existence. I’m an absolute sucker for books like this one, and I can’t wait to dive in.

Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle – July 7

Chuck Tingle’s rise to become one of the most important horror writers of the decade continues with his latest novel, a wild ride pitched as a blend of Drive and Beetlejuice. It follows Poppy, a single Mom and fashion influencer who makes ends meet by dealing in black market body parts. It’s a tough gig, but Poppy’s ticket out might have arrived when the opportunity arises to transport the corpse of a newly dead rock star. It seems like an easy way to a big payday…at least until the rock star wakes up. I’m in the thick of this book right now; I’m having a blast, and I’m betting you will too. 

Brave New Weird Vol. 4 – July 14

Tenebrous Press is one of the finest indie genre publishers out there right now, and Brave New Weird is a big reason why. Curated by Tenebrous editor Alex Woodroe, this book aims to collect the best in “New Weird Horror” published throughout the last year, bringing together nearly two dozen writers on the cutting edge of genre short fiction right now. If you want to read key works from the genre writers of the future, or you just like your horror really, really strange, this is the place to go. 

Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die by Mallory Arnold – July 14

The latest from the author of How to Survive a Horror Story begins with a really juicy hook: Three women all discover they’re dating the same man, and they decide to get revenge. To make that happen, they decide to team up and lure him to an isolated mountain cabin, where they’ll put their whole plan in motion and get some relatively nonviolent payback. But when he turns up dead, the women are plunged into a nightmare. They can’t trust anyone, even each other, and they might not be alone. I’m so ready to see how this one plays out. 

Home Sick by Rhiannon Grist – July 14

A very promising debut novel, Home Sick follows Tamsin, a woman hoping to start over with a new house and a new life in Scotland, after her old life starts to crumble. She’s optimistic, but then she meets her neighbor, a perplexing woman with whom Tamsin shares a wall. When strange things start to happen in the house, backed up by local stories about the place, Tamsin starts to wonder if her neighbor is behind it all, setting off a dark psychological spiral. I’ve heard great things about this one, and I’m thrilled that it’s almost here.

Scary Movie Night by Miranda Smith – July 14

A woman named Tippi (I’m already on board) is turning 35 and breaking free from a crappy relationship, and her friends decide to celebrate by renting out a mansion and basically throwing her a horror movie-themed costume party. It’s a great idea, and it feels like it’s gonna be a great night, at least until Tippi’s friends start disappearing and her ex starts sending threatening texts. A slasher whodunit steeped in movie references, Scary Movie Night feels like a perfect summer horror read, particularly for those of us who can imagine attending a party exactly like this one. 

Carry Me to My Grave by Christopher Golden – July 21

Christopher Golden is one of modern horror’s heavy hitters, and Carry Me to My Grave is his latest page-turner. The book follows Malcolm, who sits by his dying mother’s bedside and makes her a very specific promise: In the coming two days, he will transport her body home to Maine, or there will be dire consequences. Does Malcolm understand those consequences? Not really, but the strange figures watching from outside, and the feeling that he’s being pursued, suggest he’d better hurry. I was lucky enough to get a very early look at this one, and I can tell you it’s Golden at his best, a freight train of a book you won’t want to put down.

Unnamed Bones by Lora Senf – July 21

Through books like The Clackity, Lora Senf made her name as one of the finest horror authors for young readers, and now she’s taking on the young adult world with a dose of cosmic horror. After the death of her father, teenage Harrow and her friends head to a seemingly impossible island to search for answers, only to find themselves in a world with rules they don’t understand. To make things more complicated, Harrow has coped with her own cursed life by making her feelings into personalities that live very full lives in her head, and now they’re all coming out to play. Throw in a mysterious creature, and you’ve got a book poised to be jam-packed with creepy fun from one of the best writers in the genre right now. 

A Penance for Crows by Shannon Morgan – July 28

Billed as a Gothic novel with a synopsis that hints at folk and occult horror, A Penance for Crows is set on an island off the coast of Ireland that’s like a trip back in time. Modern technology doesn’t touch it; the church is the highest authority, and residents still hold to old folk beliefs, including a sense of ill omens brought by the island’s many crows. It’s here that we meet Grizela, a local painter plunged into a supernatural mystery when a local priest turns up murdered, and a quartet of young girls starts holding strange meetings after dark. This one feels like it’s got everything I love about the genre bundled up in one satisfyingly haunting package, so I’m eager to crack it open. 

The post Vampires, Grave Robbers, and Crows: 10 Horror Books We Can’t Wait to Read in July appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Some of the biggest names in the genre have turned in outstanding work, rising stars have made their mark, and we’re only halfway through the year. 

To celebrate the midway point of 2026, with plenty of horror books still to come, we’re taking a look back at the best horror books we’ve read this year so far, listed alphabetically by author.

If you missed any of these books earlier in the year, consider this your reminder to catch up. 

Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker

A student running from a crime he may or may not have committed escapes to his father’s country home in Japan, only to find himself haunted by strange apparitions, while in the past, a young samurai tries to find salvation for her family and finds a door to the future instead. Kylie Lee Baker’s Japanese Gothic begins with this dialogue between past and present, and then blossoms into so much more, a cross-time ghost story about old wounds and what it really takes to finally heal them. I got so happily lost in this one that I would have read at least 200 more pages.

Persona by Aoife Josie Clements

In this tale of shut-ins, sex workers, artists, and the horrors they both summon and recoil from, Aoife Josie Clements weaves something that feels less like a story to be experienced and more like a psychic wound to be endured, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. Evocative in its prose and nightmarish in its imagery, Persona is a story of the masks we wear, and the understanding that not all of our masks are particularly pretty or even easy to breathe through. It’s a dense, literary, unnervingly vicious book, and while it’s already attracted an audience, it deserves a much bigger one. 

Dead First by Johnny Compton

Johnny Compton’s latest novel opens with a throwing down of the gauntlet, a sequence that made me instantly think “How on Earth is he going to top this?” It’s a story that begins with a billionaire hiring a private investigator to determine why, despite trying in many brutal ways, he cannot die. That premise, and the scene which sets it all off, is so alluring and delightfully gruesome that you almost can’t believe it’s the way a book begins, and then Compton just keeps going, delivering a supernatural mystery that I could not put down. 

Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey

A woman grieving for the life she wanted visits a mysterious island renowned for the healing salt its residents harvest and sell, seeking renewal and relief. What she finds instead is a strange cult with a twisted history with surprising resonance in her own life, and a people who are more than willing to grant the relief she wants, for a price. Laced with beautiful prose and moments of profound realization alongside folk and even cosmic horror, this is vintage Sarah Gailey. 

Partially Devoured by Daniel Kraus

If you love horror film history and analysis, Partially Devoured is an essential. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Kraus, the book is a deep dive into his favorite movie of all time, George A. Romero‘s Night of the Living Dead, complete with exhaustive research into the making of the film and passages of deeply moving memoir woven in. If you’ve ever wanted to know what the eerie music that opens the film is called while also bursting into tears at how horror movies can save your life, this is a must-read.

Wretch by Eric LaRocca

Our reigning King of Extreme Horror, Eric LaRocca weaves books of uncommon beauty out of the most nightmarish parts of humanity, and Wretch is no exception. The story of a grieving man who longs for relief and searches for it amid a strange support group that might be a cult, Wretch is a brutal journey into the darkest part of us all, and explores what salvation we might find when we get to the rotten core of the world and peel back its layers. LaRocca’s on a tear of great work right now that few other genre writers can match. 

Headlights by CJ Leede

A mystery, a serial killer horror show, a tribute to Stephen King‘s The Shining. All of these things describe CJ Leede’s Headlights, and yet they don’t begin to cover the full breadth of horror awaiting you in this novel. The story of a former FBI agent drawn back into the cold case that haunts him most, it’s a shocker brimming over with vivid moments that’ll live behind your eyes. CJ Leede has now published three novels, and they’re all bangers, so it’s time to get on board if you haven’t already. 

It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo

Cynthia Pelayo has been one of our finest genre writers for years now, but It Came From Neverland is my favorite thing she’s written, and it’s not even close. A dark take on Peter Pan from the perspective of an adult Wendy Darling living in World War I-era London, Pelayo’s book works as both a satisfying horror narrative and a rich exploration of what it really means to never grow up. The horror never loses its potency, but it’s the search for the meaning behind the Peter Pan phenomenon in our own lives, and what we can do about it, that sticks with me most.

Filth Eaters by Ito Romo

Ito Romo’s Filth Eaters is a slim volume, one you can read in just a couple of hours if you’ve got the inclination, but it has the feel of a generation-spanning epic. The story of a breed of vampires born in Central America, the European vampires who encounter them, and the offspring they eventually produced, it spans centuries and packs loads of juicy lore into its pages while never losing its grip on character and narrative drive. I would read hundreds more pages of this world, but I’ll settle for this uncommonly grand-scale novella for now.

Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay

A former pro gamer gets a job at a tech company to pilot a brain-dead human body across the country, and so Paul Tremblay’s sci-fi-horror juggernaut begins. Indebted to Philip K. Dick, the primal snarl of Harlan Ellison, and the quirky comedy of The Big Lebowski, and yet wholly original, this is a towering and ambitious novel by one of horror’s most respected voices. What starts as a high-concept tech thriller soon becomes a startling meditation on the value of stories, who gets to tell them, and what happens when we cede too much control to machines we don’t understand. It’s a stunner.

The post The 10 Best Horror Books of 2026 (So Far) appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Oscar Brady’s Ronin is a new take on the post-apocalyptic ’80s exploitation/punksploitation pulp, mixed with the fem-action of Coffy, the playful sexuality of Supervixens, and the cargo-hauling, coast-to-coast adventure of Smokey and the Bandit.

It’s also the first book released by Midnight Pulp, expanding the popular streaming service’s footprint into publishing.

Ronin is available for pre-order now on Amazon.

In Ronin, “Meet Seph. Seph is a badass outsider hero for a f*cked-up, rabid, and gruesome world. All her life, she has scraped by, choosing to fight to live over ending up on some mutant cannibal’s dinner table. When she is assigned a big score to escort a truckload of trafficked sex workers across the country, she fends for her life… and the lives of her priceless cargo. Accepting the seemingly impossible quest was the easy part of the mission. Seph never knows when she will come face-to-face with randy rape riders, monstrous mutants, and feral forest folk.

“Will anybody make it out in one piece? Not if Seph has her say!”

“I am very excited to see where this new venture takes me. My story, Ronin, pays homage to the sensational, over-the-top grindhouse and exploitation films that I love watching, so Midnight Pulp makes perfect sense for me and my story,” said Oscar Brady.

Midnight Pulp. Read something strange.

The post The Wasteland Gets Bloody in ‘Ronin’, Midnight Pulp’s First Original Novel Available to Preorder Now appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

For those unfamiliar, the Strange Stories podcast centers around classic sci-fi, fantasy and horror literature, aiming to “render the familiar unfamiliar,” compelling its listeners to “experience the world anew” regarding topics such as monsters, magic and flying saucers. With the TTRPG, this one-night, rules-light session game will emulate short stories of the fantasy/horror/sci-fi genre. The team plans on replicating the same experience for their listeners with tabletop players, plunging them into extraordinary situations that reframe the ordinary.

Chris Lackey is no stranger to working on TTRPGs, having written for TTRPG publishers Chaosium and Pelgrane in the past, including the award-winning “Cults of Cthulhu”. For Strange Stories – The Roleplaying Game, accompanying each adventure will be an audio companion to prep Story Guides (GMs) to run each session. More details are expected when the campaign officially launches.

“For seventeen years on our podcast, we’ve studied the architects of the uncanny. Now, our game brings their worlds to life. Drawing on the work of Rod Serling, H.P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard (just to name a few), we plunge players into extraordinary situations that reframe the ordinary.”

The post ‘Strange Stories – The Roleplaying Game’ Aims to Immerse Players in Multigenre Tales appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Whether he’s playing with traditional novelistic forms, holding conversations with characters across time, or pushing his stories to their bleakest and strangest possible conclusions (if they have concrete conclusions at all, Tremblay is a daring novelist, never playing it safe for his audience or himself. The author of A Head Full of Ghosts, Horror Movie, and more is always pushing for something in his fiction, digging into the core of an issue until he finds its bloody, beating heart. 

Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep, Tremblay’s latest novel, is no different. From the title alone you might surmise certain things about the narrative, from its Philip K. Dick influence to its sci-fi-horror premise, and you’d be right. But Tremblay always pushes beyond those initial assumptions, and here we get not just a gripping sci-fi-horror showcase, but something much stranger and more profound: An exploration of what it means to be human, fragile bodies and all, in the age of AI. 

Julia, Tremblay’s protagonist, is in a strange place when the novel begins. A former gaming streamer who’s retreated from her digital spotlight, she’s in search of a new direction in life, and she finds one in the last place she might expect. Julia’s mother, who runs a California tech behemoth, has a job offer for her daughter, an unprecedented one. It seems that the company has introduced proprietary new technology into the body of a brain-dead man, and now they need to see what this tech can do. Julia’s job? Using her gaming skills to take this human vegetable (Julia calls him “Bernie” because of Weekend at Bernie’s) from one side of the country to another, using a stealthy controller purpose-built for the experience. 

This is a wonderfully ghoulish premise on which to build a novel, and Tremblay makes full use of its nightmare fuel. As Julia comes to grips with the implications of what she’s about to do, and what she might discover while doing it, the author punctuates her journey with trips into the mad mindscape of Bernie himself, a dark reflection of our own world populated with half-remembered moments and images and hallucinations. As simple exercises in writing craft, they recall Philip K. Dick at his best, building the same sense of overwhelm and wonder so present in his work, but Tremblay’s after something else as well, and it’s purpose-built for this moment. 

The novel builds deliberate juxtapositions with Bernie’s half-remembered life and Julia’s ongoing one, sending them barreling at each other from opposite ends of consciousness. Julia’s brain functions as only her brain can, a mass of pop culture references and dreams and memories she both cherishes and would rather forget. Bernie’s world is one of shadows, but also one of constantly shifting perspective, as the tech in his head remakes him. He’s not just a passenger in his own body, but an unwilling participant in a Frankenstein-ing of human and machine. It’s not the first time an author has attempted such a thing, but through Tremblay’s evocative, visceral prose, it’s one of the most effective, and it hits on something vital that Tremblay says in a way that only he can. 

Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is a thumping sci-fi yarn, a journey into new frontiers through untested technology with vast implications for the future of the world, and if Tremblay had only explored that genre, he’d have done well. When the horror elements creep in, though, Tremblay’s work raises endless questions over what exactly we are sacrificing when we let machines get so close not just to our flesh, but to our consciousness, even when, medically speaking, that consciousness is gone.

Tremblay breaks this sacrifice down in terrifying detail, sometimes quite literally breaking down the basic flow of prose in Bernie’s head until he’s been hijacked by words and phrases and shapes that he doesn’t understand. Along the way, Tremblay gets almost metafictional with his probing of this hybrid consciousness, asking us to question not just where the story will go, but who gets to be in control when the narrative becomes a runaway train. 

All of this makes Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep the most ambitious book of Paul Tremblay’s career, which is really saying something. His daring, his boldness, and his ability to mine the unspeakable are on full display, and they work together to deliver one of the year’s most unnerving genre books.

Tremblay’s at the peak of his powers with this one. 

Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep hits shelves on June 30. 

The post ‘Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep’ Book Review: Paul Tremblay’s Primal Scream Against the AI Push appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Releasing just ahead of the franchise’s 10th anniversary, Stranger Things: The Official Story Behind the Legendary Series serves as the ultimate retrospective on the cultural phenomenon, chronicling its journey from an ambitious genre series to one of the defining television events of the past decade.

Sold exclusively at Target, this deluxe official volume features a foreword by creators Matt and Ross Duffer and offers an unprecedented look at the making of all five seasons.

Random House previews, “Go behind the curiosity door with the creators, cast, and crew in this definitive, deluxe guide. With never-before-seen content from the show’s inception and beyond to its thrilling conclusion, this is the director’s cut in book form, taking you on a visual ride through each heart-warming moment, spine-tingling adventure, and roll of the dice.”

Packed inside the pages of Stranger Things: The Official Story Behind the Legendary Series you’ll find commentary from the Duffer Brothers, exclusive cast interviews, creature concept art, in-world ephemera, maps and blueprints, costume photography, script snippets and more.

While you wait to grab your copy, exclusively check out a sneak peek at the book’s third chapter below, which fittingly dives deep into “Stranger Things 3.” The Season 3 chapter chronicles the making of the series’ blockbuster (and fan favorite) third season, including behind-the-scenes stories, creative insights, and exclusive imagery from the production.

Grab your copy from Target beginning June 30, 2026!

The post ‘Stranger Things: The Official Story Behind the Legendary Series’ – Preview the New Book’s Season 3 Deep Dive [Exclusive] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The Faust Bible: The Making of F.W. Murnau’s Masterpiece is being published by Mubi Editions in partnership with la Cinémathèque française, Variety reports today,  on October 17.

The new release “brings to light a recently-unearthed artefact of film history: a visual diary of approximately 400 photographs and original illustrations documenting the making of the film almost step-by-step.”

Faust crew members Robert Herlth, Carl Hoffmann, and Walter Röhrig initially presented Murnau with the materials in a prop bible for the comprehensive dive into the film’s production, but they were lost for many years in his move from Germany to Hollywood. 

After a painstaking restoration process, the Faust Bible will be published in full for the very first time.

“One of the most influential and pioneering filmmakers of the silent era, F.W. Murnau was known for the privacy of his film sets,” said la Cinémathèque française’s Mannoni. “Reluctant to welcome visitors, he was even less inclined to reveal his creative process. The rediscovery of the Faust ‘Bible’ offers extraordinary insight into the making of one of cinema’s great masterpieces. Published in its entirety for the first time, it allows readers to trace the creation of this legendary film.”

In the silent film classic, “God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist.”

To mark the occasion, both for the rare release and Faust‘s 100th, Mubi will present a series of international events and screenings throughout fall 2026.

The post Mubi to Publish Lost ‘Faust’ Bible For 100th Anniversary of F.W. Murnau’s Silent Film Classic appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

This is why I’m thrilled that, by chance, Kraus’ first post-Pulitzer novel is The Sixth Nik, a spacefaring adventure full of horrifying imagination and brimming over with imagination. Like all of his books, it’s an elegantly written, narratively complex piece full of memorable characters given depth and shade, but as with Angel Down, it’s also an effort by Kraus to stretch his wings, work out some prose muscles that he doesn’t use as much in his straight-ahead horror work. If you’re coming to Kraus for the second time after reading Angel Down, you’re going to get something completely different and yet distinctly Kraus-ian, a space odyssey that’ll make your brain tingle even as your stomach is doing cartwheels. 

In the future, when humanity has colonized Mars, Europa, and other nearby habitable worlds to varying degrees, Earth is the site of a secluded sect that has made Greenland their home. This sect is responsible for nurturing the Niffakoq, a kind of messianic child warrior whose legacy is passed down in a way similar to the Dalai Lama. The Niffakoq are trained from birth for their “Chore,” a task they must complete that will radically improve some aspect of life in the cosmos, and given brain implants known as “Niks” to enhance their innate empathic abilities. They also, due to the danger of their chores, rarely live beyond the age of 11. 

Nine-year-old Sisilla is the latest of these Niffakoq, and she’s just been given her Chore, involving a faraway colonial outpost on a remote planet that’s rarely in touch with the rest of humanity anymore. To achieve her Chore, Sisilla boards The Sickness, an AI-designed, organic ship that looks like a flying tumor, and meets her crew, including everyone from a bodyguard known only as “Murder 005” to a bodacious engineer who revels in changing her appearance through futuristic procedures to a drug-addicted, reconstructed ship’s medic who offers her a chance to try peyote. 

Sisilla is not here to make friends. She’s here to do her Chore, fulfill her purpose in the universe, and pass on to make room for the next Niffakoq. But life on The Sickness determines to surprise her, from an entire room that seems to be made of placenta to a glitching robot that seems to know something of her past. Worst of all, though, it seems that something or someone on board is out to harm the whole crew, and the Chore Sisilla’s spent her whole life preparing for is wrapped around a terrible, paradigm-shifting secret that will make her rethink everything about her life, her purpose, and her place among the stars. 

This is a lot of groundwork to lay for one story, in typical epic science fiction fashion, and it’s only scratching the surface of what The Sixth Nik has to offer, from ship’s quarters hidden behind curtains of impossibly long human hair to an encounter with worms that left even my strong stomach churning a bit. To pull off something this grand, this multi-tonal and big, Kraus has to lay everything out elegantly, using Sisilla as the viewpoint character and narrator while keeping her in the dark about each key revelation until exactly the right time. It’s not the kind of book I associate with Kraus and his imagination, but he rises to the challenge with a novel that offers something surprising on each new page, a kind of prose sensory overload that almost tips off into being overstuffed. But not quite. 

More than the worldbuilding and vibrant cast of characters, though, what makes The Sixth Nik stand out is Kraus’s layered, often cognitively dissonant view of humanity’s future. Technological advances render some troubles obsolete, only to create entirely new problems. Humans morph and shift themselves in so many ways that they sometimes seem to be walking Ships of Theseus. Building ships from organic matter seems more efficient and elegant, yet it fills each voyage with a parade of grotesqueries.

It is a solar system filled with wonders and horrors in equal measure, and it says something deeply relatable and rewarding about the world we’re in now, this mesh of terrors and triumphs, breakthroughs and brokenness. Kraus managed to capture our own fractured view of the present and catapult it several centuries ahead without losing any of his sci-fi bombast or character-driven sense of wonder. That’s a hard trick to pull off, but it makes The Sixth Nik a hell of a read, and a great new primer for the vast imagination of Daniel Kraus. 

The Sixth Nik is available in bookstores now.

The post ‘The Sixth Nik’ Review: Pulitzer Winner Daniel Kraus’s Horror Sci-fi Epic appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

We have an exclusive excerpt from “Blood and Tinsel,” a Christmas horror story written by 30 Days of Night creator Steve Niles.

They say the best gifts aren’t under the tree. One Christmas morning, Andy’s parents found out their gifts were six feet under…

Edited by Bram Stoker Award winner James Aquilone (Kolchak: The Night Stalker), the 260-page book features a lucky 13 original stories inspired by “Creepshow.”

Other contributors include David Avallone (Elvira: Mistress of the Dark), Nancy A. Collins (Swamp Thing), Dennis Crosby (Weird Tales), Keith R.A. DeCandido (Star Trek), Gwendolyn Kiste (The Haunting of Velkwood), Jonathan Maberry (Rot & Ruin), Lisa Morton (Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween), Nick Roberts (The Exorcist’s House), Thomas E. Sniegoski (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Tim Waggoner (Terrifier 3), Simon Bestwick (The Faceless), and Aquilone.

Creepshow: 13 Tales of Terror features cover art by Russ Braun (The Boys), and each story is accompanied by full-page art by EV Cantada.

The post ‘Creepshow: 13 Tales of Terror’ – Read an Excerpt from Steve Niles’ Christmas Horror Story [Exclusive] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Both Operation Leading Edge and the miniatures set are available for pre-order now from the Free League webshop, with immediate PDF access ahead of its Q4 2026 release. You can also snag a new dedicated dice tray for the Alien RPG and the Evolved Edition.

Operation Leading Edge is a stand-alone adventure for Alien RPG, but also serves as the second installment of the Jeremiah Saga trilogy. The adventure is designed for 3–5 players plus the Game Mother, and lets the players take the roles of a team of Colonial Marines sent to secure a rich mineral deposit on the remote moon Jeremiah VI.

Here’s what you get with the new campaign:

• The main Operation Leading Edge adventure book.
• Two huge double-sided maps (format 34 × 22 inches) featuring the key adventure locations in great and terrifying detail.
• Five pre-generated characters to choose from.
• Playing cards for personal agendas and NPCs.
• Cardboard tokens for characters and creatures.
• GM maps and player handouts.

Complementing Operation Leading Edge is the new miniatures set for the campaign, featuring 20 high-quality miniatures of Colonial Marines, enemy troops from the Union of Progressive Peoples (UPP), and of course, a host of Xenomorphs.

Standing 28mm in scale, these are perfectly sized for use on the large battle maps included in Operation Leading Edge and other cinematic adventures for the Evolved Edition.

The new Operation Leading Edge miniatures set also includes a booklet with simplified combat rules that make it possible to play quick skirmish battle rules in the Alien universe using the included miniatures.

In case you haven’t hopped on board, you can check out Aaron’s review of the Evolved Edition, which as you might expect, adds even more fantastic content to an already fantastic TTRPG.

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The author of The Only Good Indians, My Heart is a Chainsaw, and dozens of other entries in the modern horror canon has built a reputation for two things: Chilling fiction and a jaw-droppingly prolific output, and today we can exclusively reveal the next story he’s unleashing on readers. 

On March 9, 2027, Jones and Saga Press will release Ears, a new haunted house horror novella about a down-on-his-luck man who finds an unlucky ally in the ghost of a child in footie pajamas, complete with bunny ears on top. 

Here’s the official synopsis:

“Mr. Morning Gun, the hapless narrator of this first person novella, is a disgraced history teacher who now is an unhoused person who is largely living within his electric car and the empty homes he looks after for local real estate agencies in a specific way: He flushes the empty houses toilets to keep, primarily, the wax seals on the toilets fresh, and the plumbing flowing. For this he gets a bit of money under table. One day, at “The Messner House” he gets caught by an aggressive realtor having a tryst, and the ghost of the previous owners’ missing child intervenes, killing the couple, and saving the former teacher and he finds himself embroiled into an ever-increasing layer of cover-ups as the girl in the lavender footie pajamas keeps killing folks to keep the house empty, except for him.”

What inspired a story like this? For Jones, it began with something very practical, which quickly morphed into a new expression of horror. 

“I was wondering if the chargers for electric cars are universal or not, but didn’t know how to phrase a search to figure that out, so I had to figure it out the only way I know how: with a story—with horror,” Jones told Bloody Disgusting. “With, as it turned out, a haunted house. So, now I know that they probably are universal. And that that leads to… to bad things.” 

Bloody Disgusting is pleased to exclusively reveal the haunting cover for Ears, designed by Luisa Dias.

Ears is the latest entry in Jones’ always-busy publishing schedule, which includes a new novel, Off the Reservation, arriving this fall from Saga. Beginning next spring, Saga will also reissue three of Jones’ earlier horror works for a new generation of readers, delivering new editions of Demon Theory, The Last Final Girl, and Growing Up Dead In Texas.

Those reissues don’t have firm release dates yet, but you can expect Ears to arrive on March 9, 2027. 

The post Stephen Graham Jones’ Haunted House Novella ‘Ears’ Exclusive Cover Reveal appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Available from D&D Beyond in Digital and Physical versions, the 288-page Ravenloft: The Horrors Within features 16 elusive Domains of Dread, including the new cosmic horror domain Innsmouth – home to the Great Cthulhu. You’ll be able to call upon 17 Darklords, including the treacherous knight Lord Soth and the tormented despot Strahd, as challenging foes for your campaign.

There are seven subclasses available to you—including the new Reanimator and Hollow Warden—as well as four species, four backgrounds, two Origin feats, and nine Dark Gifts for building your tortured protagonists.

You can choose from 10 different genres of horror, which can then be filled with a bestiary of 41 monstrosities and 10 domain denizens for your party to encounter. Completing the package are 47 maps and 28 digital quickplay maps.

And if you’re quick, as a pre-order bonus you can grab the Mists of Ravenloft Digital Dice Set, along with the Dungeon Masters: Ravenloft Play-Along Pack, and D&D Encounters: Shadows of Sithicus mini-adventure.

And for completionists, there’s the Ultimate Bundle, which includes Digital and Physical versions of Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, Physical and Digital Ravenloft: The Horrors Within Tarokka Deck for weaving terrifying twists into your campaign with 54 fully illustrated cards, Physical Ravenloft: The Horrors Within Dungeon Master’s Screen, and Physical and Digital versions of the Ravenloft: The Horrors Within Map Pack.

The post ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Brings The Fear Today With ‘Ravenloft: The Horrors Within’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Tabletop roleplaying game manuals are an interesting object. Traditionally, we want them to be laid out cleanly in a way that’s easy to understand so they can be played effectively. But this means they are often dryly written, focusing on clarity instead of style. That’s not to say they don’t have good art, but they are rarely experimenting with the form in a way that makes the book itself exciting.

Some of my favorite games in recent memory are the ones that purposefully break the rules in an attempt to be just as much of an art book as a rule book. Games like Mork Borg, whose aggressive, borderline unreadable layouts are constantly shifting fonts alongside its maximalist artwork. Games like Triangle Agency, which use in-fiction format changes to illustrate the strange forces at play behind the titular agency. Games like Soul Cemetery, a book that kept up the illusion that it was an instruction manual for a lost PS2-era video game, tell a tale of how our relationship with fiction shapes our lives.

You Will Die In This Place takes this to the extreme, mixing its nihilistic dungeon crawling rulebook with a “House of Leaves“-style meta narrative that tells a deeply personal tale about identity, mortality, and the act of creation. Not only is it stylistically bold and endlessly inventive, but it weaves its characters with a raw believability that brings the book itself to life in a way I’ve never seen in the medium.

The Meta-Narrative That Sets You Will Die In This Place Apart

The actual game is by Elizabeth Little, but it’s framed as a reconstruction of an abandoned project pieced together from various notes and design documents. Fictional tabletop designer Samantha Little is cleaning out boxes in her parents’ attic when she comes across the game, which was originally written by a college friend, Charlotte Avery, whom she hasn’t talked to since graduation.

The version of You Will Die In This Place that you’re reading is one that Samantha has “finished,” compiling Charlotte’s notes, which included design work, microfiction, and illustrations, but the line between Charlotte’s original vision and Samantha’s additions to the work remains a tension throughout. There’s also a third character, KC, who is the book’s editor, who comments to Samantha about the process and questions her decisions. The book presented is the “final version” of the game, along with footnotes that give insight into Samantha’s work on the book and how it felt rediscovering her old friend through these notes.

The actual game part has a premise that seems pretty standard, but is done with its own unique flair, both mechanically and narratively. Your party plays a group of people who have been exiled to the Abyssal Labyrinth, a horrific series of corridors and rooms full of creatures warped by manablight.

You will never return from the labyrinth. There’s no winning your way out.

The title says it all. Rather than being a game about heroically slaying the beast that has cursed the labyrinth, it’s about trying to find meaning before you die in this place. While it’s definitely not the first game where you are doomed adventurers that will reach an unfortunate end before the campaign is over, the way it explores the idea thematically feels unique.

It’s hard to figure out where to even begin to talk about this game, and that’s part of the fun. Should I go into the maybe-too-clever class system first, or dig into the themes about what it means to create? Is it best to dive into the strange bestiary, or do you first need to have context about Charlotte’s thought process through her tangential essays that Samantha decided to include? Maybe I don’t even get into the details of that because the rewarding part of the book is watching it all click together in a holistic way.

Experimental Character Classes and Innovative RPG Mechanics

I’ll start by treating it as a traditional tabletop RPG, but even that will immediately give way to talking about the meta layers. One of the most interesting ways for me to look at what a game is capable of is by looking at its character classes and the ways it expects players to use them to interact with the world through their rules. In a bold move, You Will Die In This Place forgoes traditional conventions by having each class operate on a completely different set of rules. While it may seem like a bit of a stunt at first, it’s very clear that each of these disparate ways of playing is well thought out and intended to convey something important about each class.

The Muzeiiyd Mercenary sounds like the most standard class of all of them, a powerful warrior, but you play by rolling a pool of dice and placing them on different body parts to do different actions, almost like a worker placement board game. The Zibari Headhunter uses a deck of cards and asks you to play poker hands to activate your skills, with your deck acting as an alternate health system. The Corpse Engineer forces you to directly control your character while also doing a programming minigame for a flesh golem that does most of your fighting for you.

The Bermail Knight wears a powerful set of armor, but that comes with a heat management system that alters your available actions as you heat up and cool down. The game’s wizard class, the Blight Channeler, writes as many spells as it can fit on a section of its character sheet, but crosses off words of the spells when using them, while also having to physically tear off pieces of its sheet when injured. There’s even a pair of hidden classes, including one that is written in a cipher that I was not able to solve.

At the beginning of this section, there’s a note about how Charlotte wasn’t a fan of class-based systems because they felt immersion-breaking, and these classes are almost a hyperexaggerated response to that, each being as maximally fiddly as possible in its own unique way. As someone who runs a lot of tabletop RPGs, I pride myself on being able to get a good sense of how something will play just by reading, and I have no idea how these would feel at the table. They definitely are clever, but they might be too clever to the point of not being balanced, or maybe even fun, in action. But I feel like Charlotte would agree with that and respond by saying, “Yeah, pretty cool, right?”

Identity, Roleplaying, and Self-Discovery

The classes are successful on two layers, because they not only offer a fun experimentation with the form, but they also use the mechanics of the game to give us insight into the surrounding meta-narrative of who Charlotte is as a designer and as a person. The notes also mention she was not a fan of levels and hit points, and this game plays with those as well. In an inverse of the traditional power fantasy structure, your characters will get worse the further they get into the dungeon.

When you hit certain thresholds of damage, you will take injuries, which will give you debuffs that will constantly make it harder for you until your death. It’s another bold choice that might not make the game as “fun,” but leans hard into the themes in a way that reinforces the text overall.

The idea of creating characters, both for players and creatures, is one that is very important to Charlotte throughout her notes. Not only was she very particular about putting work into non-playable characters in order to make sure they felt like they had lives that didn’t revolve around waiting for the player characters, but it was also an act that was associated with discovering your own identity.

As the story goes on, it’s revealed that Charlotte is a trans woman, and this fact immediately feels like it unlocks the work thematically. Passages about the disproportionate power of choosing your character’s name make sense within that context. The idea of using roleplaying as a mask to try on different identities is a potent one, made all the more powerful by this detail. The real-life author Elizabeth Little is also trans, making this feel like a deeply personal work that’s just as much about her journey as it is about the fictional characters’ journeys.

The Abyssal Labyrinth’s Bestiary and Worldbuilding

The bestiary of the game contains a lot of strange variants on common ideas, some of them even pushing into experimental territory with their mechanics. Each enemy is described sparsely, with just enough stats and special rules to get you rolling, often leaving the minutiae of the physical description up to you. A giant worm with a human-shaped appendage used to lure unsuspecting individuals, animated chunks of alien meat, and innocuous-looking creatures that devour meaning and words are among the creatures you’ll run into in the Abyssal Labyrinth, making for a more surreal and upsetting dungeon crawl than most.

There are several floors laid out to act as your complete campaign of You Will Die In This Place, each with its own grid layout and threats listed. Many of these are pretty simple fights against enemies, but some of them have clever gimmicks that test the player in ways beyond their character sheet. There’s interesting lore contained within these spaces, but never too much that it takes away from the ominous nature of the setting by filling in too many details.

Coming from Charlotte, who describes her GMing style as one that has trended away from overprepping, I found the explicit dungeon maps to be a bit surprising, but it’s here where much of the tension between the two creative forces of the work comes to a head. This was an unfinished game when Samantha found it, but it becomes clearer as the book goes on that she has made significant changes to the final product, including many that seem to go against Charlotte’s design intent.

So many of the notes and microfiction pieces are about the nature of creation, about what it means to create for the artist and what it means for a piece of the author to live on in the art, making this feel like a strange violation. How much of what we’re reading is Charlotte’s work and how much is Samantha’s, and how much does that really matter if we just want to play the game?

Final Verdict on You Will Die In This Place

You Will Die In This Place is the rare tabletop RPG that I would recommend picking up and reading, even if you have no intention of getting it to the table. As a game, it’s deeply experimental, taking a well-worn grimdark dungeon crawl and bringing it to life with intentionally overcomplicated mechanics that feel fresh and odd, even if they perhaps aren’t the most balanced or intuitive.

As a whole, it’s a marvellous work about the act of creation and finding yourself, even in the face of the bleak world in front of you. It was hard not to make this review into just a list of my favorite passages, but I’d rather leave it to you to discover the story of the Corpse Engineer or Charlotte’s tale of being haunted by the memory of a dying fox or the unsettling demonstration of the natural blind spot we all have in our vision.

There’s so much going on in this book, but it all gels together into one of the most unique tabletop RPGs I’ve ever seen. It’s a powerful statement about the creative process, one that’s inspired me to pick up the proverbial pen again and start writing my own RPG, which is honestly the highest compliment I can give it.

You Will Die In This Place is now available in full over on itch.io.

The post Experimentation in ‘You Will Die In This Place’ Provides Wealth of Gameplay Possibilities [Tabletop Terror] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

It Came From Neverland, Pelayo’s latest novel, takes that search and applies it to one of the most famous children’s stories ever conceived, J.M. Barrie’s beloved and oft-adapted tale of the Boy Who Never Grew Up. But this is not just a Peter Pan retelling, or a Peter Pan meta-sequel. Through gorgeous prose, finely drawn characters, and an iron grip on the themes that drive the story, Pelayo crafts It Came From Neverland into one of the year’s must-read genre novels, both a horrifying spin on Peter Pan and a luminous dark fantasy about the search for salvation in a cold, brutal world.

In Pelayo’s version of events, Wendy Darling and her brothers John and Michael really did travel to Neverland when they were children, drawn there by a charismatic and irresistible figure called Peter Pan. But this Neverland is far from the Disney version, and after fighting to survive in that ageless place, the children made their way home and shut Peter Pan out of their lives, refusing to so much as utter his name, lest he find them again. 

Flash forward to 1914, where Wendy’s working as a schoolteacher at Marigold House, a London orphanage growing increasingly crowded amid the outbreak of World War I. By day, she teaches and volunteers at a local hospital, reading to the war wounded, and by night, she remembers to check every window latch and keep an eye on every shadow. But lately those shadows seem to behave strangely again. Crows caw all around her. And worst of all, children are disappearing again. Peter Pan is back, and faced with memories of how no one believed her the first time, Wendy prepares to face him one more time. 

This is a remarkably well-suited atmosphere for moments of classic, chill-inducing terror, and Pelayo wastes no time weaving a world in which every bird call, every stray thought from the mouth of a child, could be evidence that this monstrous Peter Pan is near. Wendy lives a haunted existence, and as the chaos of war grips London, old fears grip her while new ones fight for position. If you come to this novel looking for something like Stephen King’s IT by way of J.M. Barrie, you’re going to get it, through flashbacks and dark lore and wonderfully well-timed scares, but Pelayo’s not done. 

This version of Wendy Darling, through whom we see most of the narrative, cares for children in adulthood because she did not receive the care she needed herself as a child in the aftermath of a traumatic experience. She considers it her duty to listen to them, to protect them, to understand them in a world that still views them not as human beings, but as potential locked up in tiny bodies.

Setting the book in 1914, when young men across Europe were signing up to go and die in a war they didn’t quite understand, underscores this beautifully. Children are grist for the mill in the world of It Came From Neverland, their eager spirits waiting to be crushed by a machine of war and empire and capitalism that will not relent even if an armistice eventually arrives. It’s a wider, more existential layer of horror than the storybook monster, which gets us to open the book in the first place, but the real brilliance at work here is how Pelayo ties it all together. 

At the core of all of this, the beating, icy heart of It Came From Neverland‘s horror and its search for meaning amid the narratives of war, children’s fiction, collective memory, and more, Pelayo is most interested in what it really means to never grow up. It means retaining a sense of play, yes, but it also means a refusal to move on, to embrace not just the responsibilities of aging, but the moral burdens of it.

Peter Pan is a monster not because he likes to play, but because he does not consider consequences, mortality, or even the needs and desires of others. The same is true of the leaders of Europe sending young men off to die in a war, and the same is true of leaders now, playing dice with human lives amid the rise and fall of the stock market. To never grow up is to lose something essential about being human, and Pelayo depicts that loss as both existentially terrifying and heartbreaking. That terror and heartbreak drive the novel, but Wendy’s efforts to escape that terror and to mend her broken heart make it fly. 

It Came From Neverland is available June 9 wherever books are sold.

The post ‘It Came From Neverland’ Review – A Stunning, Devastating Take on Peter Pan appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Schools are emptying, beaches are filling, and it’s a great time to pack a tote full of brand-new books and get some reading done in the shade. But even if the sun is bright, your fiction can still be dark, because June is absolutely packed with great new horror releases from rising stars and genre icons.

From a Psycho retelling to a dark twist on Peter Pan lore to a new book from a Pulitzer Prize winner, these are the horror titles we can’t wait to crack open this June. 

The Children by Melissa Albert – June 2

A blend of dark fantasy, Gothic family saga, and horror novel that’s received rave reviews from Stephen King and more, The Children follows the adult children of a legendary fantasy author who died when a fire consumed their home. Now, living their own creative lives, Guinevere and Ennis must revisit the secrets from the night of the fire, the darkness surrounding Ennis’s new art installation, and the truth of their family legacy in both fact and fiction. It sounds like a wonderful twisted nest of secrets and magic, and I’m eager to dive in. 

Marion by Leah Rowan – June 2

Just when you thought we’d run out of interesting ways to riff on Robert Bloch and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Leah Rowan comes along with Marion. As the title suggests, it’s the story of the Bates Motel’s most famous victim, but this time, she doesn’t die in the shower. She takes control of the knife and the narrative in this daring retelling of a proto-slasher classic. The story we know is just the beginning, and I can’t wait to find out the end. 

Headlights by CJ Leede – June 9

Through her first two novels, Maeve Fly and American Rapture, CJ Leede emerged as one of the most exciting new horror voices of the 2020s, and she’s just getting warmed up. Leede’s third novel follows an FBI agent on the brink of retirement, running from his past and from the unsolved case that haunts him most, as he’s slowly pulled back into a gruesome serial killer narrative. Victims start turning up again, wearing someone else’s skin like a cape, with no memory of how they got that way, or how they got a lone strand of unidentified hair tied around their tongue. Both a riff on The Shining and a journey into the dark Colorado night, Headlights is one of the year’s most exciting horror lit events.

It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo – June 9 

Cynthia Pelayo‘s novels have always felt like dark fairy tales, and with her latest, she’s taking things into the realm of one of the most famous children’s stories ever. It Came From Neverland follows a version of Wendy Darling who, while working as a schoolteacher and as an aid to rehabilitate World War I soldiers, finds old fears returning when a student goes missing. It seems that an entity Wendy knows only as “Peter Pan” is back on the prowl, and unlocking her memories might be the only way to stop it. That’s right, it’s a dark Peter Pan retelling as only Pelayo can do it, and you know you want a piece of that. 

The Other by Annie Neugebauer – June 9

Annie Neugebauer’s The Extra ranks as one of the most clever and frightening horror novellas in recent memory, but that was only the beginning. This June, Neugebauer returns with the next book in what’s been dubbed “The Outsiders Sequence.” This time, Neugebauer’s strange world of doppelgangers and mimics turns to a couple on a hike who run into their exact duplicates, setting off a chain of events that will test their understanding of each other in terrifying ways. Neugebauer’s one of horror’s finest rising stars right now, so if you haven’t jumped on board The Outsiders Sequence yet, pick up The Extra and get ready for The Other.

Marla by Jonathan Janz –  August 18 (Editor’s update: Release has now shifted from initial June 23 publication date)

Speaking of rising stars in the horror world, we’ve got Jonathan Janz, whose work has hit another level in recent years thanks to work like Children of the Dark and Veil. Now he’s back with Marla, the story of a local woman surrounded by urban legend, and her possible connection to a string of crimes in the community of King’s Branch. Is Marla a witch, a killer, a victim, a helpless child? We’ll have to read and find out in what feels like a perfect jumping-on point for new Janz readers.

The Sixth Nik by Daniel Kraus – June 23

Daniel Kraus has long been a favorite among genre readers, but thanks to his recent Pulitzer Prize win for his brilliant novel Angel Down, he’s more visible than ever, and all that visibility comes as he’s about to unleash a space epic with all the hallmarks of epic sci-fi and horror alike. The Sixth Nik promises everything from a sentient spaceship to a rogue planet full of plague to a nine-year-old “cultist” with an enhanced brain. This is Kraus playing in a brand-new sandbox, and genre readers everywhere won’t want to miss that. 

Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen – June 23

E.L. Chen‘s latest novel is described as a love letter to ’80s slasher films, and anyone who’s taken a dive into the meta-horror of Scream or My Heart is a Chainsaw will want to sit up and take notice. The book follows a group of friends who grew up in a town famous as the location of a slasher movie, where they frequently played the characters during midnight shows. As adults, they return to their hometown, and to the location of the slasher movie, only to find that someone’s out to get them, someone wearing a very familiar mask. This sounds like a blast, and the latest in an ever-growing strand of slasher novels reinventing the genre on the page. 

Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay – June 30

Modern horror master Paul Tremblay‘s latest novel sounds like his most ambitious yet, and that’s really saying something. Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep follows Julia, a former pro gamer who gets an offer she can’t refuse: For a hefty payday, she must pilot a man named “Bernie” across the country for her mother’s tech company. The catch? Bernie’s in a vegetative state, and his mobility comes from the AI chip in his head. As Julia moves Bernie’s body, Bernie’s mind moves through an unfathomable nightmare world, but where are they heading, and what’s Bernie really meant to find? Every new Paul Tremblay book is an event, and this one feels particularly special. 

Red X by David Demchuk – June 30

This one’s technically a reprint, but David Demchuk’s Red X is so revered among the horror community, and particularly other horror authors, that it feels worth highlighting, especially during Pride Month. Complex and metatextual, Red X is about a series of disappearances and a demonic entity plaguing the gay community of Toronto, but it’s also an autobiographical sketch of an author navigating death, survival, queer culture, horror as a means of expression, and more. In short, it’s an essential, and this new edition, complete with fresh writing by Gretchen Felker-Martin and Anthony Oliveira, is a must-have.

The post Urban Legends, Serial Killers, and Space Epics: 10 Horror Books We Can’t Wait to Read This June appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Unnur’s life revolves largely around two things: Work, where she’s hopefully due for a big promotion, and attachment to an emotionally unavailable man. Her life is small but, she insists, satisfying, free of complications but also prickling with moments of loneliness. When a black cat shows up at her door, she sees a problem to be quickly solved, and soon tracks down its owner: Asta, another local woman with her own issues. When the cat, named Io, turns out to be pregnant, Unnur and Asta are drawn into an unconventional petsitting arrangement to maximize the animal’s comfort, and what started as a small act of neighborly kindness soon becomes an unlikely friendship. 

But Unnur’s not the only one dealing with a man she has to make excuses for, and soon her bond with Asta is given the ultimate test, a bloody trial that’ll either bond them forever or ruin their lives. 

From the outside looking in, Dead Weight seems to fit most comfortably into the realm of revenge horror, the story of two women who decide they’ve finally had enough and act, however reluctantly, on that emotion. But Knútsdóttir doesn’t take the most direct route to getting us there, even if she’s always consciously playing with the expectations of the subgenre and the noir-tinged elements of her saga. Her prose is at once contemporary and hard-boiled, and the very nature of her approach casts Unnur, who narrates the whole novella, as a kind of detective out to solve not just Asta’s issues, but the puzzle of her own existence. 

This is where things get tricky, because even by the standards of a novella, it takes Knútsdóttir a little while to get to the horror goods here. There’s a lot of wind-up in Dead Weight, so much that sometimes it feels like the tension starts to slack just slightly. I suspect a re-read would solve this particular issue for me, but at first glance, it feels, momentarily, like the story might be treading water. 

When what Knútsdóttir’s really after kicks in, though, those concerns are quickly forgotten, and the beauty of Dead Weight is in its ability to deliver an emotional dagger at unexpected, often staggering moments, sometimes without an ounce of violence. Unnur sets out to solve Asta’s problems, but of course, her own issues – her relationship, her focus on work, her insistence that she’s figured everything out in contrast to her new friend’s messy life – are an even more compelling case to be solved.

The best narrative trick Knútsdóttir pulls in the book is setting the stage for a revenge story and spending most of the word count delivering a gripping psychological drama punctuated by the folklore-laden specter of a black cat crossing Unnur’s path. We get to see Unnur not only deal with her issues, but also come to realize they are issues before our eyes, all within the span of 100 pages. 

This, combined with Asta’s lingering troubles, creates a thread of tension that tightens throughout the first two acts of this narrative, and it’s so effective that you almost forget the brutality promised by the book’s premise and its opening pages. When that brutality finally circles back around, it smacks you in the face with remarkable, icy intensity, delivering one of the year’s best horror finales.

Dead Weight is available May 26 wherever books are sold. 

The post ‘Dead Weight’ Book Review – Brutal Icelandic Horror Noir appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Kerry Washington (Django Unchained, Wake Up Dead Man) is set to star and executive produce.

Chris Luccy (“A Million Little Things”) is penning the adaptation, with McG (Terminator Salvation, The Babysitter) on board to direct.

In the series, “After taking the life of a disturbed man in the line of duty, Detective Elise Sutton (Washington) – a devoted wife, loving mother, and cold case specialist — reels from the guilt of her actions.

“To convince herself that she did the right thing, she makes contact with a mysterious man that she saved that day, only to discover that he’s not at all what he seems. She’s soon caught in a dangerous game of cat and mouse, following the clues he leaves for her and realizing that the only person who can stop him… is her.”

20th Television and Kapital Entertainment are behind the show, with Walker producing. Executive producers include Luccy; Washington & Pilar Sivone for Simpson Street; McG, Mary Viola & Corey Marsh for Wonderland Sound and Vision; and Aaron Kaplan for Kapital Entertainment.

Released in 2023 by Blackstone Publishing, What Remains is described as a “dark, twisty, and highly addictive psychological thriller” in the vein of The Woman in the Window and The Silent Patient.

The post Kerry Washington to Star in Psychological Thriller Series ‘What Remains’ from McG & Hulu appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Now available from Harker Press, new book Monsters Unborn: The Lost Universal Monster Remakes shines the spotlight on FIFTEEN Universal Monsters movies that never were!

Harker Press previews, “Drawing on unproduced scripts and decades of behind-the-scenes history, author Bruce Kilkowski Jr. uncovers a treasure trove of “lost” stories from haunting gothic reimaginings to bold futuristic reinventions that never made it to the screen.

“Packed with new research, this book brings to life abandoned visions of legendary monsters like the Bride of Frankenstein, the Mummy, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon, revealing just how close they came to rising again. Equal parts film history and thrilling “what might have been,” Monsters Unborn is an essential, fun, and eye-opening journey for horror fans and cinephiles alike.”

“Fans of our past titles like Taking Shape II: The Lost Halloween Sequels and Slash of the Titans: The Road to Freddy vs Jason are really going to enjoy this one,” Harker Press owner Dustin McNeill tells Bloody Disgusting. “Bruce Kilkowski has prepared exhaustive coverage of fifteen abandoned Universal Monster remakes, many of which have seldom been discussed or explored before. It’s fascinating to consider how these proposed remakes might’ve changed the franchise landscape heading into Universal’s ill-fated Dark Universe effort.”

Monsters Unborn covers lost remakes written by:

• John Carpenter (Halloween, Escape From New York)
• George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead, The Crazies)
• Mick Garris (The Stand, The Shining, Psycho IV)
• Anne Rice (Interview with the Vampire, Queen of the Damned)
• David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight and Blade trilogies)
• Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en, 8MM, Sleepy Hollow)
• Nigel Kneale (Quatermass and the Pit, Halloween III)
• And many more!

Grab your copy of Monsters Unborn from Amazon for $22.99 today!

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Deadline reports that Sanderson will write the pilot script with “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” co-creators Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen.

In the novel, “Humanity is trapped on a harsh planet and constantly under attack by mysterious alien forces. The story follows Spensa Nightshade, a determined pilot who dreams of joining the fighter corps to defend humanity and redeem her disgraced father’s legacy.

“Blending high-stakes aerial combat, advanced technology, and themes of courage, identity, and discovery, the series explores both the secrets of the galaxy and Spensa’s growth from an outsider into a key figure in humanity’s fight for survival.”

“Brandon has created a thrilling universe where courage, curiosity, and determination to challenge what we think can change the fate of entire worlds,” said Tomorrow Studios’ CEO Marty Adelstein and President Becky Clements. “The vision that he, Jed, and Maurissa have for a television adaptation is ‘defiant to the end.’”

“I’ve been working on the Skyward series for nearly a decade, and to have a partner like Tomorrow Studios to help bring this story to television is a dream come true,” added Sanderson.

A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Sanderson published Skyward in 2018 via Delacorte Press. He followed it with three sequels: 2019’s Starsight, 2021’s Cytonic, and 2023’s Defiant.

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Dan Aykroyd’s Soulhider will be published October 27, 2026 from HarperCollins.

The publisher previews, “The legendary Dan Aykroyd makes his literary debut with this mind-bending, page-turning speculative adventure about a regular guy caught up in a battle between warring aliens, told with equal doses of humor, suspense, and cosmic intrigue.”

Here’s the plot rundown for Dan Aykroyd’s debut novel Soulhider:

Doug Beeston is an ordinary insurance adjustor in his mid-thirties, living an unremarkable life with his wife and kids in central New York State. Until one day, out of the clear blue sky, Doug is tapped by alien lifeforms to take on an extraordinary mission. The assignment? Hide the human souls they’ve harvested for mysterious reasons of their own in various locations across Earth—using his prowess as a risk assessor to assure their precious commodities will not go missing.

Doug embraces his responsibility with pride, believing he’s playing a crucial role in something far bigger than himself and enjoying the lucrative side of his new vocation. But as he soon discovers, he’s not just a courier—he’s a pawn. Multiple alien species are locked in a silent interdimensional rivalry, using Doug as an unwitting middleman in their cosmic chess game. The more he understands his role, the more Doug realizes that the fate of Earth itself may hang in the balance.

HarperCollins previews, “Channeling Dan Aykroyd’s signature hilarious wit and deep fascination with the supernatural, Soulhider is a high-stakes, hilarious ride that only he could write, exploring the unseen forces shaping our world—both terrestrial and otherwise.”

“My writing of this novel was motivated by two factors. As an experiencer, a close-up witness of two vivid separate UFOs/UAPs, my curiosity was stimulated by who might be operating these hyper-advanced airborne platforms and what an average person would do if contacted by these beings,”  Dan Aykroyd told PEOPLE in an exclusive statement.

You can pre-order copies – both signed(!) and unsigned – from Barnes & Noble now.

Dan Aykroyd of course co-wrote the original Ghostbusters and its sequel alongside Harold Ramis, along with the films The Blues Brothers, Nothing But Trouble, and Coneheads.

Aykroyd will next be producing a new Ghostbusters animated series for Netflix.

The post ‘Soulhider’ – Dan Aykroyd’s Debut Novel Finds Alien Life This October appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

“The Walking Dead” veteran Channing Powell will serve as showrunner and writer, in addition to executive producing with Stallone and D. Matt Geller (Kiss of the Spider Woman).

The series will draw from Barker’s original 4MK trilogy — 2017’s The Fourth Monkey, 2018’s The Fifth to Die, and 2019’s The Sixth Wicked Child — as well as the recently announced prequel trilogy, which kicks off with The First Scarlet Door on September 22.

Set in Chicago, Barker’s novels follow Detective Sam Porter as he hunts the elusive Four Monkey Killer, a murderer who has terrorized the city for years with a chilling and highly personal code of judgment.

Guided by the maxim “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil,” the killer removes the ears, eyes, and tongues of his victims, turning every crime scene into a ritualized message. But the true horror lies in the unspoken fourth commandment, “do no evil,” which reveals the killer’s deeper agenda: exposing hidden corruption by punishing the guilty through the people they love most.

“J.D. Barker has created a world with enormous scale, real danger, a ruthless narrative engine, and the kind of mythology that is tailor-made for premium television,” said Stallone. “Channing Powell is not only a powerhouse writer and producer, but a true creator with a rare command of dark, character-driven storytelling, and she is exactly the right force to bring 4MK to the screen. This is the kind of property that audiences don’t just watch, but get pulled into, and it has all the makings of a series that can hit hard, travel globally, and leave a real mark.”

“What drew me to 4MK immediately was its intensity, its intelligence, and the way it keeps tightening the screws until you can barely breathe,” added Powell. “Beneath the suspense is a story about guilt, justice, corruption, and the emotional wreckage people leave behind. J.D. Barker has created a world that is bold, dangerous, and deeply addictive, and Sylvester Stallone and the Balboa team provide the invaluable support needed to bring my adaptation to the screen, driving this series toward real scale.”

“From the start, 4MK was designed to be a relentless, psychologically charged ride, one where every revelation cuts deeper, every secret carries a cost, and every character is forced to confront the darkest parts of themselves,” notes Barker. “Sylvester Stallone and the team at Balboa immediately saw the power, danger, and franchise potential in that world, and Channing brings exactly the kind of instinct for character, tension, and longform storytelling that can make it land with real force on screen. With this creative force, 4MK won’t just be gripping television, it will be the kind of series that gets under people’s skin and stays there. I couldn’t be more excited to see it come to life.”

Powell worked as a writer and consulting producer on “The Walking Dead” and “Fear the Walking Dead” before co-creating and showrunning “Tales of the Walking Dead.”  She currently serves as co-executive producer on “From.”

The post Sylvester Stallone & ‘The Walking Dead’ Vet Developing ‘4MK’ Series Based on Serial Killer Novels appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The novel was originally published in 2015 in eBook form only, and Cesare tell us that this new edition of Mercy House is a revised and overhauled version of the previous release.

Cesare previews, “I really took the book down to the studs and improved things for this new edition.” The new print and audiobook release of Mercy House arrives on October 20, 2026.

“Welcome to Mercy House, a state-of-the-art retirement home that appears perfectly clean and orderly . . . but something is turning the residents into monsters.

‘In this thrilling novel from the author of Clown in a Cornfield, you will find little mercy—only a shocking eruption of unfathomable horror.”

Here’s the full official synopsis for Mercy House…

Harriet Laurel notices the odor the moment she steps inside Mercy House, brought to the retirement home against her will by her son and his wife. In the early stages of dementia, Harriet has grown to resent her daughter-in-law for not providing grandchildren. Yet as she crosses the threshold, she notices her mind begins to sharpen. Then her hate begins to grow…

Arnold Piper, an eighty-five-year-old ex-Marine, has always prided himself on self-reliance. But betrayed by his own body, he’s learning that surviving war-torn Korea was easier than facing the daily indignities of old age. And his worst trials are still to come.

Sarah Campbell, an idealistic nurse, is already stretched thin at the chronically understaffed Mercy House. Now her duties are about to take a terrifying turn.

Can she survive the night. . . and her patients?

Author Nick Cutter (The Troop) calls the novel “100% distilled nightmare juice.”

You can pre-order your copy of Mercy House on Amazon today.

The post ‘Mercy House’ Exclusive Cover Reveal – Adam Cesare’s Horror Novel Returns This Halloween appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Olivier Award-winning playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm (Netflix’s “Obsession“) is attached to write the series.

Published in 1980, Puffball was previously adapted into the 2007 film of the same name by Nicolas Roeg.

The novel follows “a young London couple, Liffey and Richard, who move to the country with the expectation of having children. Their neighbors are Mabs and Tucker, a farming family with five children of their own.

“Mabs, jealous of the newcomers’ easy life, sends Tucker to sleep with Liffey while Richard is away, priming her with an herbal aphrodisiac, but she becomes angry when Liffey becomes pregnant and finds that she herself is suddenly unable to conceive.”

The new take on Puffball is not yet attached to a network, but Firebird is backed by BBC Studios.

The post Supernatural Novel ‘Puffball’ Set for TV Adaptation appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

It’s available in the June issue of The Atlantic and can be read online with a subscription or a 30-day free trial.

The 6,000-word short story sees King trading in his signature New England setting for coastal Florida to explore a family’s dark secret.

King will next publish Other Worlds Than These on October 6 — but if Dinah’s Hat is any indication, a new short story collection could follow.

Other Worlds Than These is the final entry in the horror fantasy trilogy that King created with Peter Straub, following 1984’s The Talisman and 2001’s Black House.

King penned the 624-page novel based on a concept by Straub, who passed away in 2022. The book also wraps up the fate of the worlds from King’s Dark Tower series.

It follows Jack Sawyer, who must stop a rampaging gang of infected teenagers from America-side, and the forces of the mysterious Gullet at the edge of Mid-World, before it destroys our world and all worlds.

Illustrations by Hokyoung Kimen kin

The post Stephen King Publishes New Short Story ‘Dinah’s Hat’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Lawrence is eying to direct and produce under his first-look deal with Lionsgate, who has locked down the rights to the book.

Lawrence’s partner Cameron Maconomy will also produce, as will Scott Glassgold for 12:01 Films. Golden and Pete Donaldson will executive produce.

Publishing July 21 via St. Martin’s Press, Carry Me to My Grave is described as a high concept horror novel about a man trying to protect his dead mother’s body from the evil that is hunting them.

The full synopsis reads: “Maggie Wise will take your eyes.

“When Malcolm was growing up, the local kids made up that chant about his mother, claiming she was a witch. He and his siblings did their best to ignore it. Now, Maggie is dying, and those same siblings have left Malcolm and his sister-in-law Violet to hold a vigil at her bedside.

“But they’re not as alone as they think they are. A dark figure waits and watches from beneath the willow tree across the street. Hundreds of miles away, an ancient evil stirs in its burrow under a farmer’s cornfield.

“Across the country, other buried things begin to dream in anticipation of Maggie’s demise. On her deathbed, the old woman elicits a promise from Malcolm, her youngest child―when she dies, he and Violet must return her body to her birthplace in Shediak, Maine.

“From the moment she takes her last breath, before her remains are even loaded aboard the baggage car of the Imperial Limited, there are forces trying to stop Malcolm from fulfilling that promise. Violence erupts on the train, evil preys on its passengers, and once the sun goes down, those long-buried things are coming to make Maggie Wise pay for her past. God help anyone who stands in their way.”

Golden, who co-wrote Hellboy: The Crooked Man, has two other high-profile adaptations in the works: Road of Bones from Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, and The House of Last Resort for Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society.

Up next from Lawrence is The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, out November 20.

The post ‘I Am Legend’s Francis Lawrence to Adapt Christopher Golden Horror Novel ‘Carry Me to My Grave’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Thankfully, the semi-anonymous writer and SCP contributor QNTM has finally found a way to escape the SCP bubble with their mind-bending novel, There Is No Antimemetics Division. A metatextual masterpiece that toys with readers as it explores memory and the terrifying power of narrative, this literary puzzle was originally self-published as an SCP spin-off before QNTM revised the story into something more original and, in my humble opinion, even more entertaining!

The new version of the book accompanies Director Marie Quinn (originally Marion Wheeler) throughout her career at the “Organization”: a secretive foundation that secures, contains, and protects paranormal anomalies ranging from cursed objects to Kaiju-sized creatures that cannot be perceived by human senses. Specifically, Marie works for the titular Antimemetics Division, an obscure department within the Organization that deals with Unknowns capable of disrupting human perception and sometimes even the idea of storytelling itself.

Via encounters with memory-eating parasites and clues left by past incarnations of the Division, Marie eventually realizes that there’s an apocalyptic conspiracy afoot involving a forgotten war against a godlike being from beyond the limits of human comprehension – and it doesn’t look like our side is winning.

On the surface, this is pretty much the same story as was first published online for free back in 2020, but the more you read, the more you realize that QNTM has completely reworked the text into a fully revamped novel, fixing nearly every gripe I had with the original work. While it’s a shame that character names had to be changed and overt references to the SCP Foundation were discarded in favor of legally distinct analogues, this was all done in the service of telling a tighter and more emotionally impactful story with an ending that hits a hell of a lot harder.

Just the mere fact that the book no longer assumes that you’re already familiar with the SCP Foundation is enough to make it much more accessible to the average reader. This also allows the novel to better explore concepts that were taken for granted in the original text. From the inner workings of the Unknown database itself to the bizarre nature of some of the lifeforms contained by the Organization, it’s fun to see so many outlandish events treated like just another day at the office as characters describe elder gods through language usually reserved for paperwork.

In fact, that signature SCP style of depicting high-concept paranormal activity as more of a daily inconvenience than anything else is present on nearly every page here. While the overall mythology behind the Unknown ecosystem contains some of the most fascinating sci-fi concepts I’ve read about in years (with some individual ideas being more than enough to sustain an entire horror novel by themselves), the best part of There Is No Antimemetics Division is the way that QNTM weaves these fantastical elements together so naturally that you can’t help but take them in stride.

That’s why creatures like Marie’s memory-eating “pet” can be elevated to supporting character status without even batting an eye, and the division’s battles against self-censoring “ideas” are so normalized that workers are used to being forgotten by the rest of the Organization (hence the book’s tongue-in-cheek title).

Of course, Marie’s relationship with Adam is the real heart of the story, with this raw emotional throughline grounding all of the Organization’s supernatural shenanigans in an all-too relatable personal tragedy. I’d even argue that you can read a lot of symbolism into the novel when you realize that, if you remove the world-ending anomalies from the mix, the story is ultimately about a woman with a high-stress job that keeps her from living a fulfilling life – but at the same time, she can’t escape the situation because she knows that her sacrifice is the only thing keeping the world from falling into chaos since most people are incapable of perceiving the true nature of reality.

While I was a fan of the over-the-top Noosphere portion of the original book (where it was revealed that the SCP Foundation’s struggles continued even in the afterlife), I have to admit that the new third act is a huge improvement. Not only does the story focus more on Marie and Adam’s connection, but the stakes also feel higher when you know that our protagonists can’t rely on a higher power to save them.

Despite the novel having been streamlined for a broader audience, I’ll admit that some of the surviving plot points are likely to hit harder if you’re already familiar with certain “online” subject matter like the infamous Mandela Effect. However, I’d argue that QNTM’s prose is effective enough that most readers will have no problem with allowing their minds to be repeatedly blown by unexpected reveals. Hell, even rereading the book made my brain leak out of my ears due to the author’s ruminations on the fickle nature of memory, and I mean that as a compliment!

Regardless of whether you’re an existing fan of the previous version of the story or a complete newcomer to the Organization, I can guarantee that QNTM’s definitive version of There Is No Antimemetics Division is a genre treat unlike any other. Ironically enough, given the subject matter, there are moments and characters here that will likely haunt your thoughts long after you’ve finished reading.

So, if you like cosmic horror that makes you question the very nature of reality, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up.

There Is No Antimemetics Division is available now on all major platforms, with a special audiobook edition also available with intentionally corrupted audio files and creepy special effects.

The post ‘There Is No Antimemetics Division’ Review – SCP-Inspired Novel Will Leave You Questioning Reality appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Isa Mazzei (Faces of Death, Cam) will pen the script, with FirstGen (The Testament of Ann Lee, Splitsville) producing.

The Third Hotel follows “Clare, a recent widow who travels to Latin America weeks after her husband Richard’s mysterious death, driven by the need to understand her role in his early passing. Lost in a new, unfamiliar city, she spots a man in the street, and it’s not just someone who looks like Richard, it’s him in the flesh.

“What begins as a skeptical pursuit of Richard’s double quickly devolves into an all-consuming obsession, unraveling Clare’s grip on reality and pulling her into a liminal nightmare where she is suspended between the living and the dead.”

“I’m so thrilled to work on an adaptation of such an eerie and brilliant novel alongside Isa Mazzei, whose work I’m a real fan of, and FirstGen, who have made films I love,” said Cervera. “I’m honored to be part of it.”

“The book is wonderfully surreal and deeply unsettling in a way that lingered with me,” Mazzei added. “I’m excited to be able to translate that feeling into a cinematic experience, and I feel lucky to be collaborating with such a thoughtful and talented team.”

“This is a wonderful creative team adapting a haunting and beautiful book,” commented Michael D’Alto of FirstGen. “We are honored to work with them to actualize their vision, and can’t wait for everyone to see this film.”

Published in 2018 by Picador, The Third Hotel was a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award.

The post ‘Huesera’ Director & ‘Faces of Death’ Writer to Adapt Horror Novel ‘The Third Hotel’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Deadline reports that Coin Operated, the production company of IT and Annabelle screenwriter Gary Dauberman, has secured the rights with an eye toward developing a feature adaptation.

The story follows a young musician who finds himself locked inside a gas station bathroom in the middle of the night by an unseen assailant, caught between the horrors on the other side of the door and the horrors rapidly skittering down the walls inside.

Cassidy will adapt the screenplay, with Dauberman & Mia Maniscalco producing through Coin Operated.

“I like to describe this novella as Green Room meets Gerald’s Game,” Cassidy told Deadline. “It’s the closest thing I’ve yet written to ‘extreme’ horror — though, I wouldn’t say it goes nearly as hard or gets nearly as bleak as the most extreme ‘extreme’ horror stories I’ve read. Regardless, I’m hoping it makes your next visit to a gas station bathroom even scarier than it would otherwise be.”

“Like the junk food aisle at any sketchy gas station on the side of the road, Rest Stop has a little bit of everything (that may or may not kill you),” Dauberman added. “Its relentless pace, psychological torment, heartfelt character moments, and many squirm-inducing sequences make it the rare horror story that has all the ingredients for a perfectly terrifying experience on the big screen.”

Rest Stop appears in Cassidy’s I Know A Place: Rest Stop and Other Dark Detours, released May 5 by Shortwave Publishing. The collection features an introduction by Stephen King, who praises it as “fucking awesome.”

Up next from Coin Operated is Passenger, in theaters May 22, followed by The Revenge of La Llorona, due out on April 9, 2027.

The company’s development slate includes the Urban Legend reboot, video game adaptation The Medium, an adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story Ushers, and He Never Dies from Brightburn filmmaker David Yarovesky.

The post Gary Dauberman to Produce Nat Cassidy’s ‘Rest Stop’ Adaptation: ‘Green Room’ Meets ‘Gerald’s Game’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Celia, a lonely woman whose fertility issues and miscarriages have left her wracked with grief, is hopeful about her visit to Kindred Cove. She hopes the island, famous for its healing salt on grocery store shelves and its annual “Salt Festival” retreat for a few lucky visitors, will grant her the healing she needs. Maybe she’ll even run into an old friend who told her about the Festival in the first place. 

But when she arrives at Kindred Cove, surrounded by the salty Lake Vetiver and its vibrant, biologically fascinating reef, Celia finds something a bit more unconventional than she expected. Her phone is confiscated, residents and visitors alike seem to vanish from activities without explanation, and her assigned companion for the week, Cove native Easy, isn’t helping matters with her cryptic reasoning for everything. But Celia wants to be better, wants it more than anything, and soon she dives headlong into what Kindred Cove has to offer her, particularly the community’s promise that “nothing is ever lost.” 

If you’re familiar with even a few of the narratives in the cult horror subgenre, stuff like Midsommar or even The Wicker Man, you immediately feel at home in the world Gailey’s building here, but that’s just what gets you in the door. As Celia journeys deeper into Kindred Cove’s secrets, the book also journeys back in time, charting the course of the people who run the island now, how they got here, what they’ve done, and how it all becomes part of Celia’s own journey. The book becomes an epic, growing far beyond Celia, to the point that it almost feels overstuffed with material. But the epic qualities grow beyond the plot, and that’s the real trick to Make Me Better‘s success.

There are few genre authors working today who can craft sentences like Gailey. Their work is lyrical, precise, and often stealthily profound. They build layers of dread in their characters and in their worlds, and center it all on the interiority of those characters, until by the end it’s as much about someone’s mental state as it is about the state of the world around them. In Make Me Better, we come to know Celia intimately, and yet in the pressure cooker that is Kindred Cove, we feel like we get to know her all over again with each passing chapter, because Celia is determined, at all costs, to grow through her experience.

In one of the most honest and unflinching depictions of a cult I’ve ever read in fiction, Gailey offers in Celia the sense that we are being immersed in the culture of Kindred Cove, not just as observers but as participants. They ask us to be honest with ourselves about what we would take from such an experience, and never tip their hand as to what Celia might do next. It’s an emotional epic as much as it’s a narrative one, and Gailey never gives in to easy answers for their protagonist.  

The result is a work of stunning verisimilitude, and since it’s a horror novel, that means we don’t just witness the dread, but embody it. If you’re looking for loads of jump scares and gore, you won’t find them here, but you will find a truly unsettling reading experience that’ll keep you up late into the night.

It’s rare to feel so immersed in such a patient, slow-burn of a novel, but with Make Me Better, Gailey crafts images and moments so vivid you’ll swear you can taste the salt on your tongue. 

Make Me Better is now available wherever you get your books.

The post ‘Make Me Better’ Review – Sarah Gailey’s Haunting, Tactile Wellness Horror appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Per Variety, Studiocanal emerged victorious from the competitive auction in the wake of The Housemaid‘s nearly $400 million worldwide gross.

Studiocanal and Working Title will produce the feature, with Ron Halpern and Joe Naftalin overseeing development and production for Studiocanal.

Publishing May 26 via Poisoned Pen Press, The Divorce centers on Naomi, who was living the quintessential love story until her husband abruptly kicks her out, hires the best divorce attorneys, drains their bank accounts and takes up with a 20-something.

Instead of accepting defeat and moving on, Naomi becomes fixated on his new girlfriend. Her cynical curiosity soon twists into obsession — and then into something far darker. As Naomi uncovers secrets she never imagined, she realizes her own life may be in danger.

“I’m delighted to be working with the teams at Studiocanal and Working Title to bring The Divorce to the big screen,” McFadden said. “From the start, they have come forward with an unparalleled enthusiasm and a strong vision for how to get this project off the ground. I can’t wait to see what unfolds!”

“We are thrilled to be working with Freida McFadden on our adaptation of The Divorce,” added Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh. “From the very first page, it was utterly compelling. Freida has a rare ability to draw readers – and viewers – into an unsettling sense of comfort, before brilliantly pulling the rug from under them. The Divorce is ambitious, aspirational and irresistibly addictive storytelling at its best.”

Studiocanal will release The Divorce theatrically across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Benelux, Australia, and New Zealand, in addition to handling global distribution.

The Housemaid’s Secret, a sequel to The Housemaid based on McFadden’s novel of the same name, is due in theaters on December 17, 2027. The author also has adaptations of The Teacher and The Surrogate Mother in the works at Apple and Sony, respectively.

The post ‘The Housemaid’ Author’s New Novel ‘The Divorce’ Optioned for Film Adaptation appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The 366-page book is written by Armando Muñoz, author of the Silent Night, Deadly Night novelization along with Black Christmas and My Bloody Valentine.

Here’s the full synopsis:

“On Christmas morning, Billy Chapman – the Santa Claus Killer – was killed before he could claim his final victim: Mother Superior, the cruel architect of the orphanage where Billy endured years of abuse. His younger brother Ricky survived the massacre, but not unscarred.

“20 years later, Ricky lives quietly in the nearby town of Bartlesville, hiding from his past. But on the anniversary of the killings, the past claws its way back. A blizzard descends on the region, cutting off power, roads, and escape. Sister Margaret, freshly released from a mental institution, reappears with a disturbing fixation on Ricky.

“And as Christmas Eve falls, a new Santa stalks the frozen streets… armed with a red sack and a gleaming fire axe identical to Billy’s. He knows Ricky’s name. He knows his sins. And he has a naughty list to settle.”

Silent Night, Deadly Night launched a film franchise that includes 1987’s Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2, 1989’s Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out, 1990’s Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation, and 1991’s Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker, along with two remakes: 2012’s Silent Night and 2025’s Silent Night, Deadly Night.

The post ‘Silent Night, Deadlier Night’ Novel Is an Original Sequel to the ’80s Christmas Slasher appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Notty indoctrinates herself into this opulent family, while dark, disturbing impulses fill her head and threaten to spill out into the world. Victorian Psycho is Jane Austen by way of Brett Easton Ellis. It begins with its twisted tendencies suppressed and internalized until they culminate in an explosive rampage. It’s a strong – albeit flawed – sophomore novel from Feito that shows her progress as a growing voice in psychological thriller and horror literature.

It’s very apt that Victorian Psycho begins with a beautiful preface on death’s ingrained nature in society, both subtly and overtly, and how it’s the true currency that spins the world round. Feito routinely contrasts ornate pomp and circumstance against gothic death and decay. Death is culture, as far as Victorian Psycho is concerned. There’s an especially evocative spectacle that’s described where Londoners fight over mummy corpses like it’s a Black Friday sale, unconcerned if they happen to maim the bodies or tear off limbs in the process. Death’s commodification is reduced to a status symbol and fashionable centerpiece.

This is the perfect context for Winnifred Notty, someone who is filled with darkness and evil that, as much as she tries, seeps out of her like viscous sludge. Notty sees death everywhere, and it acts as her grounding North Star. Victorian Psycho features an adage about cuckoos and how their chicks “kill as soon as they are born.” This essentially becomes Notty’s mission statement through this infiltrative exercise.

It’s clear from the jump that Notty’s torturous past has more than a little to do with her placement at Ensor House. Victorian Psycho never folds into a full-on mystery. However, Feito gets a lot of mileage out of what’s not said about Notty as the audience attempts to fill in the blanks. She’s a powder keg of pent-up revenge that’s ready to blow, and the reader is just waiting to see how big the blast radius will be. There’s a grim, foreboding nature to Notty’s narration as she teases the death and tragedy to come, like she’s a messenger of darkness who is fulfilling her poisonous destiny.

Feito’s novel leans into tongue-in-cheek satire that pokes fun at how well Notty passes as high society, only for it to be more of a commentary on her attempts to pass as a caring human and not a murderous sociopath. As Victorian Psycho’s title suggests, there’s a very Patrick Bateman-esque arrogance and disdain for humanity in everything that Notty does. Also, much like American Psycho before it, Notty is a fascinating unreliable narrator who is constantly taken over by flights of fatalistic fancy as both she and the reader are left to parse out where the truth lies. 

Victorian Psycho keeps the audience guessing over how truly lost Notty may be or if she’s just looking for excuses to disguise viciousness as mercy. This cascades into an unnerving performance that highlights the increasingly ill-fitting human suit that she uses to masquerade as normalcy. One of the more successful aspects of Feito’s text is how it subtly normalizes such ridiculous, brutal ideas so that you don’t even flinch when Notty reveals another horrendous omission.

Feito’s prose has such a knack for making things – and more importantly, people – come across as extremely gross. At times, they feel like the exaggerated caricatures you’d find in a Roald Dahl story. This spills over into such disdain for nearly everyone in the Pounds household. Victorian Psycho has a lot of fun with the many housekeepers, staff, and insular hierarchy that exists within the Ensor house. It plays with these expectations and finds ways to push them to new places. Class and privilege are deeply baked into Victorian Psycho’s storytelling.

It builds to a really wild, cathartic Christmastime conclusion that brings everything together in a frenetic, debaucherous fever pitch. That being said, it does feel like the whole novel is just a setup for this wild final spectacle and biding its time, to some extent, before it reaches this raw release. At just over 200 pages, Victorian Psycho makes for a brisk read. It still gets a little monotonous and repetitive as Notty cycles through many of the same motions. The final act also feels rather rushed, and it’s an instance of a novel that could stand to be a little longer. 

Victorian Psycho already has a cinematic adaptation on the way starring Maika Monroe, and this feels like a story that is actually better suited as a movie that can streamline the madness into a tighter, more visually chaotic package. The novel is a dark, disgusting satire of life, death, status, and everything in between. It’s not necessarily one that necessitates a re-read, but it’s still full of powerful passages that will stick with the audience.

There’s a lot of meat on Victorian Psycho’s bones, even if some of it is rotten. It’s no American Psycho, but it’s an encouraging evolution of Virginia Feito’s storytelling.

The paperback edition of Victorian Psycho publishes on May 5, 2026.

The post ‘Victorian Psycho’ Is Disturbing Gothic Satire That Goes For The Jugular [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The 10 books below cover everything from vampires to mysterious islands to retellings of classic stories and everything in between, so get ready to update your TBR pile.

These are the horror books we’re most looking forward to this May. 

I Know A Place by Nat Cassidy (May 5)

Nat Cassidy has spent the last half-decade carving out a reputation as one of horror’s most reliable frightening authors, delivering novels like Mary, Nestlings, and the haunting When The Wolf Comes Home. Now, readers will get the chance to savor Cassidy’s shorter works in one thrilling collection endorsed by no less a horror luminary than Stephen King. That’s right, Stephen King took time out of his writing life to deliver the introduction for this one. That should tell you all you need to know about this collection. 

Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey (May 12)

A woman named Celia, desperate for the life she’s always wanted, receives an invitation to a strange, exclusive island where the world is simply different, where suffering isn’t a part of daily existence. Kindred Cove could change everything, but Celia must be ready to make sacrifices. It’s a wonderful setup, the publisher draws comparisons to Ari Aster and Shirley Jackson from its pages, and best of all, Make Me Better comes courtesy of Sarah Gailey. Through books like The Echo Wife, Just Like Home, and Spread Me, Gailey has proven to be one of the best horror stylists working today, crafting stories that burrow under your skin. Make Me Better promises to be no different.

Muntu by Eugen Bacon (May 12)

Eugen Bacon is one of the most exciting and acclaimed voices in speculative fiction of the past five years, bringing a diverse range of influences and interests to razor-sharp stories. Muntu, her latest, is the story of a Sydney police officer who investigates a string of seemingly unrelated murders, and finds a dark creature – the title spirit of legend – waiting behind the crime scenes. Horror driven by legendary creatures is always a favorite of mine. Plus, this one comes from indie publisher Bad Hand Books, a press I’ve come to trust for can’t-miss horror.

Vile Lady Villains by Danai Christopoulou (May 12)

What if Lady Macbeth’s story didn’t end with her final scenes in Shakespeare’s Scottish play? What if, instead of drowning in her own guilt and madness, she sought the help of the same three witches who doomed her husband in the first place, and found her way to another realm entirely? That’s the initial hook of this horror/fantasy/gothic/queer romance hybrid from Danai Chrisopoulou, and that makes this debut novel a must-read for me. 

Trad Wife by Sarah Langan (May 14)

Jenny, a disgraced journalist, arrives at the farm of tradwife influencer Mia, intending to expose her carefully curated lifestyle brand for the sham that it truly is. But Black Swan Farm is more than just recipe videos and staged family photos meant to project the ideal of traditional family values. Soon, Jenny starts hearing strange nursery rhymes and barreling toward a dark secret she can’t escape. This is one of those premises that was bound to be explored with this kind of depth eventually in the 2020s, and I’m thrilled that three-time Bram Stoker-winner Sarah Langan is the one tackling it, because with her fiction, I know the premise is only the beginning.

The Dorians by Nick Cutter (May 19)

What if Nick Cutter, the viral horror mastermind who gave us the skin-crawling terror of The Troop, basically did his take on Cocoon? That’s a juicy premise, but even that is underselling what’s going on in The Dorians, Cutter’s latest major novel. I was lucky enough to read this one quite early, and I’m still thinking about the aging and terminal patients who wind up volunteering for a project that could reverse their aging, and end up exposed to an ancient lifeform with a mind of its own. Don’t miss this one.

Filth Eaters by Ito Romo (May 19)

Another debut I can’t wait to sink my teeth into this month. Ito Romo’s Filth Eaters, first hit my radar because Stephen Graham Jones recommended it, and I always take his recommendations seriously. When I looked closer, I found a history-spanning epic waiting for me, following an Andalusian vampire who decamps to the New World to find an ancient version of his kind, a vampire child, and a story that covers centuries and crosses oceans. I can’t wait to dive into this blood-soaked debut.

Salome by Leslie Baird (May 19)

The Biblical story of Salome has seen many updates over the centuries, but it’s never been viewed through a lens quite like what Leslie Baird is promising with this compelling debut. Set in modern France, the novel follows a Francophile young American journalist who meets the title character on a plane and accepts an invitation to stay at her family’s country home. What she finds there is a house full of surveillance cameras and secrets with implications that could change the world. I’m eager to see where this one goes. 

Bone of My Bone by Johanna Van Veen (May 26)

The author of My Darling Dreadful Thing and Blood on Her Tongue returns with a sapphic folk-horror novel set in 17th-century Europe. Frankly, that’s all you need to say to get me on board, but Bone of My Bone is also the story of a nun and a peasant who, while fleeing war-torn Bavaria, happen upon the skull of a saint. What happens next? I can’t wait to find out. This is very much in my wheelhouse, and if you like stuff like Hagazussa or The Witch or the historical horror novels of Christopher Buehlman, it sounds like it’ll be for you, too. 

Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir (May 26)

Hildur Knútsdóttir’s English-language debut, The Night Guest, quickly established her as a voice to watch in the world of dark fiction on this side of the Atlantic. Now the Icelandic phenom is back with a new novella, once again translated by speculative fiction legend Mary Robinette Kowal. The setup is simple: Two women, unexpectedly brought together by a lost black cat, begin a friendship that will soon be tested as one of them brings secrets to light. Violence seems to follow these women like that black cat, and just like that black cat, things are about to get very dark. If you missed The Night Guest and you want something fast-paced and brutal to introduce you to Knútsdóttir, this is a great place to start.

The post Ancient Vampires, Lady Macbeth, and More: 10 Must-Read Horror Books in May 2026 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Written by Britt Hayes, illustrated by Vance Kelly, and engineered by David Hawcock, the 12-page novelty book features more than 20 pop-ups that bring the Saw franchise’s most unforgettable moments to life.

Readers can turn wheels, pull tabs, move levers, and relive the Reverse Bear Trap, Angel Trap, and the bathroom set that started it all in the richly detailed and outrageously interactive book.

Saw: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book will be published on September 22 via Rizzoli Universe, in collaboration with Lionsgate.

Blumhouse is currently developing a new Saw movie with creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell back in the fold. Meanwhile, all 10 films in the series are currently on Netflix.

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Krystal Houghton Ziv (“The Purge,” “CSI: Miami”) has been tapped to write and executive produce the pilot.

Additional executive producers include Mark Amin, Cami Winikoff, & Dave Devries for Sobini Films (Dead Man’s Wire) and Motoko Kimura.

Published by Gentosha, the book follows Takeuchi Shingo, a serial murder suspect whom retired judge Kajima Isao acquitted two years ago, who moves in next door to the home where Kajima and his family live.

Takeuchi grew up starving for the affection of his parents and does everything he can for the people he likes. He has a charming smile, gives tasteful gifts, and cares for the elderly. However, he gets violent when people avoid him.

Takeuchi wins the hearts of the Kajimas with effusive goodwill, but a series of inexplicable incidents starts to occur in the area. Yukimi, Isao’s daughter-in-law, realizes Takeuchi’s true nature and tries to expose him despite being isolated from the family.

Shizukui’s novel has sold over 770,000 copies and was previously adapted into a Japanese limited series in 2016.

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These particular creatures look as if they’ve come from another world. Nevertheless, the incredible squid is here, has been since prehistoric times, and they come in all shapes and sizes. In that last regard, they can range from tiny to massive, with the larger specimens becoming the stuff of legends. Ever heard of the Kraken? Well, this is one case where the myth turned out to be real.

Although it’s more elusive than fictional, giant squids still remain as something of a mystery these days. Born out of that mystique is the inclination to make them scary. The giant squid, or Architeuthis dux if you’re nerdy, doesn’t need a lot of help in that one area. On top of their sheer enormity, they have ten “arms” that include two long tentacles, plus a tongue coated in teeth. It’s the stuff of nightmares. Nevertheless, Peter Benchley tried to do for these animals what he did for the great white; he plucked one rather ornery specimen from the depths and made it mankind’s problem.

When writing 1991’s Beast, author Peter Benchley returned to the subject that made him famous. That, of course, was the vast sea. Benchley also didn’t stray far from the formula of nearly all aquatic monster horror made since Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was first unleashed. An aggressive, or misplaced, sea animal lays waste to anyone foolish enough to take a dip. Yet prior to getting back on the shark boat, as he did in 1994’s White Shark—later retitled Creature for the TV tie-in—Benchley delivered this squid tale that, to this day, may be the only one of its kind. That is, a story where the man-eating squid is the star, as opposed to the guest star.

Peter Benchley’s Beast. Cover art by Jerry LoFaro.

Unlike Jaws, Benchley wasn’t involved in the screenplay for Beast. Or The Beast, as it became known. The script was courtesy of one fairly new writer on the block, J.B. White, whose sole credit up to that point was a sinister grandpa TV-movie starring Andy Griffith. So, yes, The Beast was a big deal for White, along with director Jeff Bleckner. Additionally, NBC was banking on this sweeps stunt to pull in the numbers during late April (and ahead of “Monster May“). According to the Nielsens, this two-night event did quite well. Swimmingly, you might even say.

Growing up with SYFY made it seem like monster TV movies weren’t all that unusual. However, for one to show up on 1990s American primetime and on one of the major three networks was a bit of an anomaly. NBC neither hid the fact that they were airing a creature feature, nor did they hold back on the marketing; the rollout included a huge building spread in Los Angeles, plus a website devoted to the TV event. Through the latter, you learned the process to make the monstrous main attraction, courtesy of Mixon & Ellis FX, as well as trivia about real giant squids.

The rights to Benchley’s Beast were optioned some years before it was made and aired. Nevertheless, Jurassic Park must have had a say in the squid production’s go-ahead. The Beast splashed its way onto television in the spring of ‘96, shortly before monsters started trampling all over the big screen. Keep in mind, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Relic, Anaconda, Deep Rising, and the first Godzilla remake all came out after The Beast. Before then, you were more likely to see this type of movie being sent straight to video, even in the wake of Spielberg’s successful dino epic.

NBC’s old website for The Beast. Screenshot courtesy of Dinosaur Dracula.

Taking the TV route for a monster movie would seem like a total downgrade, especially in the production department. In many cases, this is often true. Yet with a reported $12 million to spend—how much of that number was just for the squid is unclear—the namesake of The Beast looks decent. Good, if we’re being generous. Once you remember the timestamp, the overgrown mollusk is, on occasion, a little impressive. It’s not the stuff of blockbusters, but one can definitely spot where the money went (and didn’t go).

On the surface, the novel and miniseries (or movie) aren’t radically different from one another. In either version, a coastal area is targeted by the tentacled threat, and then desperate measures are taken to expel it. That leap from Bermuda to Washington, specifically an unsubtly named resort community called Graves Point, has no major bearing on the overall story. Either fictional setting is overfished, full of struggling residents, and a factor in the squid’s new diet. What largely changed from the book, apart from the creature being upsized and its having a partner-in-crime/offspring, was really the characters. Oh, and there is also the novel’s use of deus ex machina—at the last second, the squid is defeated by a sperm whale, not the humans.

Changes made to the cast run from small to significant, but for the most part, they are inoffensive. A few are even beneficial. The protagonist going from married to widowed allows for him, Whip Dalton (played on screen by William Petersen), to be freed up for a budding romance with Lieutenant Kathryn Marcus (Karen Sillas). Who, by the way, is an amalgam of two characters from the book. While it was reduced in the condensed version of the miniseries, Kathryn’s personal battle against sexism in the navy is one example of how the TV adaptation improved on the source material. By comparison, the women were neglected, or simply forgotten, by the book’s end. Whip’s daughter Dana, for instance, passed through without making as much as a ripple in the novel’s story, whereas Missy Crider’s Dana has an entire character arc.

It could just be the nostalgia talking here, but The Beast actually holds up as a pretty entertaining dose of sea horror. Does it look and feel like a ‘90s TV movie? Yes, and that’s because it is one. Yet for a killer squid story hailing from the small screen, this one turned out better than anticipated. Now, if someone out there wants to remake Peter Benchley’s novel, with more money and bigger names involved, then I am certainly not opposed. There’s even a bigger squid lurking out there in the briny deep—the colossal squid—that would make for a great villain.

The Beast is still available on DVD.

William Petersen, Karen Sillas and Larry Drake in The Beast (1996).

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We now have an exclusive first look at the poster for the indie film, which is said to blend historical horrors with contemporary dread in the vein of The Ninth Gate and The Da Vinci Code, coupled with The Omen-style folklore.

In the movie, when an ancient mask is unearthed during excavations on a construction site it triggers a terrifying series of deaths by spontaneous combustion.

An insurance investigator and a psychic medium must uncover the terrifying truth of an evil prophecy dating back hundreds of years and prevent the spirit of Guy Fawkes from opening a gateway to Hell and ripping apart the fabric of time itself.

Benjamin David directs from a script by Dominic Philpott. Jonathan Sothcott produces for Shogun Films.

Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott, Charlie Woodward, Jonathan Oliver, Tony Sands, Pierse Stevens, and Paul Preston star, with Paul Terry as Guy Fawkes.

Guy Fawkes: Blood & Fire is gearing up for an early November UK release in celebration of Guy Fawkes Night via Trinity Content.

Philpott has also penned a novelization that expands on his screenplay, which will be published in November via Caffeine Nights Books.

“We’re excited to bring Guy Fawkes back to life with a supernatural twist via a fully loaded transmedia entertainment landscape,” said Sothcott. “Dom’s story has more to it than we could squeeze into a film. He’s a great writer, and this story has so many layers and great characters it will be a guaranteed page turner.”

“Dominc’s novelization was a joy to publish: his writing is so sharp and fully realized that he left me remarkably little to do,” added Caffeine Nights publisher Darren Law. “The film promises to be a thrilling ride and, I believe, another foundation stone in Shogun’s growing empire of modern British classics.”

The post ‘Guy Fawkes: Blood and Fire’ Poster Revealed; Novelization Coming [Exclusive] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

But even with that in mind, there’s never been a discussion of King quite like Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King. Part in-depth analysis of King’s creative process, part memoir, part ode to the synchronicities and magic of stories, Caroline Bicks’ nonfiction dive into several of King’s most important works is an essential piece of horror nonfiction, and a thrilling odyssey into one of America’s most productive imaginations. 

The book began a few years after Bicks was named the inaugural Stephen E. King Chair of Literature at King’s alma mater, the University of Maine. The position was simply named for King; he did not create or fund it, but thanks to childhood experiences reading his work, Bicks felt a certain distant kinship with the author, a kinship furthered when King reached out and asked to meet her. A short while later, Bicks became the first major academic granted access to King’s private archive of his papers, including manuscripts going back six decades or more. The result is this book. 

Bicks’ scholarly experience tends more toward Shakespeare than Stephen King, yet from the beginning she applies the same rigor and emotional investment to the King of Horror as she would to the Bard. She also wisely limits her explorations to five key books – Pet Sematary, The Shining, Night Shift, ‘Salem’s Lot, and Carrie – rather than attempting to grapple with King’s entire catalogue. This allows her the space to really dig into the minutiae of King’s compositional habits while also reflecting in each chapter on her own relationship to the work. 

Even diehard King fans will learn something from the depth to which Bicks dives. Her research, including thousands of hours with King’s first drafts, revision notes, and correspondence with editors, uncovers everything from The Shining‘s much darker original ending to the shifts in characterization that make Pet Sematary even more frightening to the surprisingly personal roots of ‘Salem’s Lot. Bicks, through engaging and personal prose, conducts her excavation with care, humor, and constant curiosity, reaching out to King himself to ask what Shakespearean tragedy he might have been thinking of throughout the writing of The Shining, or why he discarded a supporting character at the last moment in Pet Sematary.

She even digs into King’s column in UMaine’s student newspaper back in the 1960s, and explores how his emerging political convictions and anger of the state of America shaped the stories in Night Shift. It’s a mesmerizing view of King’s early work, rich in details that’ll have you going back to the novels themselves to see the secret scaffolding lurking behind the scares. 

But perhaps more importantly than her academic rigor and enthusiasm, Bicks seems to grasp from the beginning that it’s King’s humanity which sets him apart, which helped catapult him into the upper echelons of the bestseller lists and remain there for decades. Rather than focusing entirely on King’s thematic concerns and emotional leaps through the work alone, she carefully intertwines her analysis with King’s personal history, his evolving views on the world, and the instinctual decisions which shape key moments in his defining work.

Then she goes further still, infusing pieces of herself into the narrative both as a fan and as a person attempting to undergo a form of creative mesmerism through immersion in King’s world. Along the way, everything from the daily word games she plays to the drives she takes through Maine to and from King’s Bangor home seem to take on a preternatural aura. 

The result is not just a portrait of a young artist writing the work which would shape his professional life, but a portrait of a scholar in search not just of answers, but of the magic behind the basic facts and strokes of blue pencil in the margins of a manuscript. Monsters in the Archives is not just a wonderful companion to King’s work. It’s a journey in and of itself, revealing the spell King’s work continues to cast, and the hard work which made that magic possible.

Monsters in the Archives is now available wherever books are sold.

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Described as “a mesmerizing mashup of speculative fiction, horror, and conspiracy,” the 608-page novel is about a mysterious realm on the other side of our screens, a dark force that draws victims into its static, and the unlikely hero called to save them and herself from this electric hell.

The official synopsis reads: “Find the receiver. Make it real.

“At 5:35pm on September 3rd, 1988, Dallas weatherman Ray ‘Can You Say Sunshine’ Davino makes passing reference to Public Access Afterworld during a rambling monologue, right before he puts a gun to his head on live television and pulls the trigger.

“On June 12th, 2009, David Sawyer and Erin Morrison, two lonely, TV-obsessed suburban teens who might be falling in love, gather in Erin’s basement to watch TV’s analog-to-digital transition. But in the static that follows, Erin witnesses surreal broadcasts from a pirate TV network called Public Access Afterworld and their lives are changed forever.

“17 years later, Bethany Peters toils through the night shift at megacorp GlobalVill’s bleak Austin campus. A trans content moderator, she spends her evenings reviewing an endless stream of horrific videos. But then a young streamer begins to crop up in her feed calling out to Public Access Afterworld.

“But what is Public Access Afterworld?

“Spanning decades and realities, with an unforgettable ensemble of outcasts and nerds, especially the messy but wholly relatable Bethany who must overcome paranoia and self-doubt to transform into a hero of our times, Public Access Afterworld will have you reading through the night and rooting for its characters to survive.”

Schoenbrun’s next film, the queer meta slasher Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, opens in theaters August 7 via Mubi.

The post ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ Filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun to Publish Horror Novel ‘Public Access Afterworld’ in October appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Kylie Lee Baker, fresh off the success of her phenomenal novel Bat-Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, is concerned with precisely these kinds of things in Japanese Gothic, a time-hopping, vivid saga steeped in both Japanese history and modern true crime. The book earns its title within moments, and quickly sets out to weave a tale both unpredictable and inescapable, so rich with meaning and texture that you’ll get lost in it. 

In present-day Japan, college student Lee Turner has fled his NYU campus life, running away from a crime he can’t quite explain or remember to hide out in the centuries-old home where his father has opted to spend his golden years. Rural, quiet, and hidden by sword ferns, the house seems like the perfect escape from the wider world, but Lee cannot so easily escape himself. Ever since the disappearance of his mother nearly a decade earlier, he’s been troubled by the depth and breadth of his own perception, so flooded with sensation that he drowns his senses out with near-constant sedation. But here in this old country house, something calls to him that he cannot ignore. Reality seems to strain here, not just flickering but sometimes opening up pathways to the past. 

In 1877, Sen is a young woman living in the same house with her destitute family, training under her father to be among the last samurai Japan has to offer. Their way of life has been banned by the Imperial government, but Sen is determined to make her father and her ancestral traditions proud by carrying on the samurai way of life, fighting for it to the death if she has to. At least until the space behind her closet crackles with strange life, revealing a doorway to the future where a strange foreign spirit waits to converse with her, and reveal some truths she might wish she’d never heard.

Yes, this is a novel about a rogue samurai in 19th-century Japan and a present-day runaway college student connecting across time through a single haunted country home, and while that’s a phenomenal hook, it’s only the beginning of the ambitious, sprawling yet intimate narrative Baker seeks to weave here. In the first section of the novel, comprising roughly 80 pages, she is unhurried in her pursuit of the emotional truths behind this compelling scenario, patiently laying out the emotional landscapes through which both Lee and Sen move, and the darkness to which they’re privy.

Lee fixates not just on what he’s done that made him flee America, but on the eventual fate of his mother, which remains a mystery even after she’s been declared legally dead. Meanwhile, Sen lives in mortal peril of her own, remembering the losses her family has suffered amid the fall of the samurai and looking ahead, through her father’s own brutalist view of the world, at the death she must still face if she is to retain her honor. 

What, then, does it mean when these two death-obsessed souls encounter one another? What happens to your own psyche when, to the person staring at you across time, you are nothing but a ghost, or worse, an evil spirit? These are the questions that consume Sen and Lee’s early relationship, but just as she did with Bat-Eater, Baker quickly proves that she’s just getting started.

To give away the directions in which this novel pushes its characters would be to spoil the achingly beautiful, emotionally devastating magic trick Baker’s able to pull off in these pages, but I will tell you that this feels like a book I could have read forever. I was lost in the magic, in the chemistry between these two souls looking for a way to reclaim their own stories even as they’re enrobed in the darkness of their own pasts. Kylie Lee Baker is, quite simply, one of the most important voices in modern horror, and with Japanese Gothic, she has reaffirmed her place as an essential storyteller in the genre. This is one of the best horror books of 2026, and should not be missed.

Japanese Gothic is now available wherever books are sold.

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Simon & Schuster will release the audiobook the same day the novel is published: October 6.

King penned the 624-page horror fantasy tale based on a concept by Straub, who passed away from complications of a broken hip in 2022.

In addition to following Jack Sawyer from 1984’s The Talisman and 2001’s Black House, the story wraps up the fate of the worlds in King’s beloved Dark Tower series.

“I’ve been a Stephen King fan since I was 10,” said Oswalt. “His books were a huge part of how I fell in love with storytelling in the first place, so having the opportunity to narrate Other Worlds Than These feels a little unreal. Being able to step into the Dark Tower universe and bring the final chapter of the Talisman trilogy to life is an absolute honor.”

“I think it’s wonderful,” added King. “I love Mr. Oswalt. Spoiler alert: In Other Worlds, there’s a character named Payton Orville, who’s a stand-up comedian!”

Other Worlds Than These follows Jack Sawyer, whom readers first met when he was 12, crossing America and “the territories” to save his mother’s life, and met again as an adult facing a child killer and the Crimson King, among other evils.

In the new adventure, Jack must stop a rampaging gang of infected teenagers from America-side, and the forces of the mysterious Gullet at the edge of Mid-World, before it destroys our world and all worlds. Jack is older now; his Ka-tet is fraying; and his task, nearly impossible.

Other Worlds Than These features 30 black-and-white illustrations by Gabriel Rodriguez (Locke & Key).

Mutual fans of one another’s work, Oswalt and King were both subjects of the recent Texas Chain Saw Massacre documentary Chain Reactions.

The post Patton Oswalt to Narrate Stephen King & Peter Straub’s ‘Other Worlds Than These’ Audiobook appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Legacy of Kain: Scourge of the Sarafan takes place in an earlier era of Nosgoth, where players embody the warrior-priests of the Sarafan Brotherhood, an order of vampire hunters who fight tirelessly in a great crusade to keep the human population of Nosgoth safe from the growing vampire scourge. Players will be able to choose from six playable character classes, Sarafan weapons and spells, and face off against a bevy of nocturnal horrors.

As they grow in strength, the players will also grow in wisdom, uncovering more of Nosgoth’s history. The game supports narratives that expand beyond the hunt, encompassing time travel, life after death, and incursions from the spectral realm.

Aside from the Standard Edition of Legacy of Kain: Scourge of the Sarafan, which includes a hardcover and digital eBook version of the game, you can also spring for the Deluxe Edition, which includes the following:

• ×1 Scourge of the Sarafan hardback book and eBook version

• ×1 GM screen

• ×1 Set of 7 dice

• ×1 Character sheets

• ×1 TTRPG box

Scourge of the Sarafan is expected to ship Q3-Q4 2026.

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Sarafina, the new historical horror novel from genre mainstay Philip Fracassi, is an example of this latter joy. It begins somewhere familiar, even predictable, and nestles the reader happily into a sense of cozy familiarity. Then, just when you think you’ve arrived at the place you always expected, the story takes flight, and you’re left breathlessly turning pages to see where it goes next. 

Set in 1862 in the midst of heavy fighting during the American Civil War, the book follows three brothers – Ethan, Mason, and Archie – as they desert the Confederate Army right in the middle of the Battle of Shiloh. Determined to survive rather than die fighting someone else’s war, the men flee through the wilderness, starving, wounded, and filthy, until they miraculously happen upon a house on the other side of an idyllic creek. There, a kind woman named Sarafina offers to care for them, even shield them from the Confederate Home Guard, which hopes to arrest them. But this house, with its massive guard dogs and stream that seems to run in all directions at once, is more than a simple refuge, and Sarafina’s hiding secrets threaten the brothers’ hopes of ever seeing their family again. 

There are a lot of narrative risks cleverly nestled in this propulsive narrative. Much of the early pages are devoted to the trio of brothers simply fighting to survive through confrontations, starvation, and the elements, putting us as readers in the position of empathizing with men on the losing side of a treasonous war. Fracassi deals with this by, quite smartly, placing us in Ethan’s head, framing the narrative as an extended letter home to his twin sister, Ellie. Ellie also makes appearances along the way, writing letters of her own to her lost brother, waiting for word of survival or death. Their struggle becomes universal, particularly as Ethan reckons with the possibility that he and his brothers may not actually be good people, and may in fact be on the path to something worse.

When Sarafina enters the picture, you get the sense that Fracassi is playing in some kind of demented, historical fiction Hansel & Gretel territory, and he is, but not in the way you think. The formula is there, but through careful plotting and evocative first-person prose, Sarafina evades easy classification the deeper you get into the narrative. Yes, this is the story of a group of lost people taking refuge in a mysterious, almost otherworldly house in the middle of the woods, but it’s not going to go the way you think.

The longer the brothers stay, the more Ethan sees his siblings changing, and the more Sarafina and her mysterious surrogate son Titus start to trust him with their own secrets. Soon, it’s no longer a simple matter of survival horror. It’s about more than just remaining intact. It’s about what happens when the world you know starts to change, and the makeup of your own soul changes along with it. It would be easy for the Civil War narrative, particularly the Confederate perspective, to serve as mere window dressing, a layer of intrigue to get readers in the door, but Fracassi refuses to stop there. What begins as an act of desertion from a lost cause soon evolves into a meditation on good, evil, and our place in a world that’s packed with secrets we cannot fully understand without risking our own sanity. 

With Sarafina, Philip Fracassi has joined the ranks of fellow authors like Daniel Kraus, Isabel Canas, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia as a first-rate practitioner of historical horror, blending in dark fairy tales and even religious mythology along the way. This is a transportive, vivid book that’s very hard to put down, and reaffirms Fracassi’s place as one of horror’s essential modern storytellers.

Sarafina is available now from CLASH Books.

The post ‘Sarafina’ Review – Philip Fracassi’s Latest is Immersive Historical Horror appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

So, what’s on the shelves this month? We’ve got some intriguing debuts, story collections from the genre’s, new books by horror mainstays, and much more. So, from the latest Clay McLeod Chapman novella to follow-up books by Kylie Lee Baker and Monika Kim, here are your best bets for new horror books in April 2026.

The Boatman by Alex Grecian – April 7

Sometimes all a book needs to hook me is a single indelible image, and the latest from Alex Grecian (Red Rabbit) does exactly that. It begins with a cruise ship dubbed the Maria Calypso heading out for yet another voyage, but this time the ship has more than just vacationers to deal with. Passengers soon discover that they’re being pursued by a lone man, clad in white, rowing in a small boat that’s somehow keeping up with them. As they realize they can’t shake this mysterious rower, the passengers also discover that very strange things are happening onboard. I cannot wait to find out where a premise like that takes me.

Bodies of Work by Clay McLeod Chapman – April 7

One of the most prolific and exciting voices in modern horror returns this spring with an intriguing novella about an outsider artist and the ghosts who seek their revenge for his work. No doubt inspired by the story of janitor and artist Henry Darger, Clay McLeod Chapman‘s latest promises supernatural revenge, strange visions of obsessive creation, and more. Any new Chapman book is worth checking out, but this one feels like a particular treat for those obsessed with how artists create.

Sarafina by Philip Fracassi – April 7

One of the most consistently entertaining and versatile horror authors working right now, Philip Fracassi just might have outdone himself with this propulsive dark historical fantasy. Set during the American Civil War, the book follows three brothers who desert the army during the Battle of Shiloh and, after weeks on the run, find themselves in the home of a beautiful and mysterious woman who seems to have everything they need. She feeds them, heals their wounds, and even protects them from discovery, but Sarafina’s home is not what it seems, and in this ferocious riff on Hansel & Gretel, the strange house in the woods is only the beginning.

The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own by Gwendolyn Kiste – April 14

Gwendolyn Kiste is a powerhouse of dark fiction. Her work is lyrical, thrilling, relentless, and possessed of often jaw-dropping depth. Now, the author of Reluctant Immortals and The Haunting of Velkwood is back with a new collection of short fiction, bringing together some of her most memorable tales for new readers and longtime fans alike. Every Gwendolyn Kiste story is an elegant blade honed down to a fine, glimmering point, and if you’ve never had one plunged into your heart, you’ll want to get this book.

The Hive by Ronald Malfi – April 14

From the author of Come With Me, Senseless, and Small Town Horror comes a vision of suburban terror with a very intriguing setup. Set in the community of Mariner’s Cove, The Hive picks up in the aftermath of a storm, when the residents find a collection of random objects scattered across the neighborhood, objects that seem to call to individuals with a siren song that immediately stirs obsession. As each person finds their uncanny object, Mariner’s Cove changes as the residents develop a kind of hive mind. But what’s really going on, and what does one local kid developing weird new powers have to do with it? I’m very excited to find out.

Wife Shaped Bodies by Laura Cranehill – April 14

It’s always great to find a horror debut with a premise as promising as Wife Shaped Bodies by Laura Cranehill, and I can’t wait to dig into this. It’s set in an isolated community where married women sprout mushroom growths out of their skin, and follows a young woman who’s never known anything of the outside world as she enters into a loveless, distant marriage and begins growing mushrooms of her own. Nicole’s life is a mystery, but the arrival of another wife who’s ready to break free of a life of secrets and shelter just might change everything. Mycological horror is always fascinating, and I’m excited to see what Cranehilling does with this very unsettling setup.

Crossroads by Laurel Hightower – April 21

The latest release from indie horror icon Laurel Hightower is technically a reprint, but I’m including it here because Crossroads represents the perfect opportunity for new readers to discover Hightower’s work and get in touch with her particular brand of grief horror. The novella follows Chris, a grieving mother who lost her son in a car crash. While she’s understandably having trouble navigating the loss, something strange happens: Chris accidentally spills a lone drop of blood on her son’s memorial at the site of the accident. Soon, she starts to see her son’s ghost, but is what she’s seeing real, or something darker playing tricks on her? Read and find out in this handsome new edition from Shortwave Publishing.

Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker – April 21

Kylie Lee Baker‘s electrifying novel Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is one of the best horror novels of 2025, and one of the best of the 21st century so far. Now, Baker’s back with another can’t-miss journey into darkness, this one punctuated by a rift in time itself and notes of Japanese myth and legend. Set in both the present day and in the late 19th century, the book follows two people – a college student on the run and an exiled samurai – who both retreat to a single house surrounded by sword ferns in an effort to escape the world. What they find instead is an unlikely link between their two worlds, and a darkness that transcends time and history. I absolutely can’t wait to read this one.

Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King by Caroline Bicks – April 21

There is no shortage of books about the life and work of Stephen King out in the world, but Caroline Bicks has still managed to do something no writer or scholar has ever achieved before. As the University of Maine’s first-ever Stephen E. King Chair in Literature, Bicks also became the first academic to get unprecedented access to King’s private archives, featuring unpublished drafts, notes, manuscripts, and much more. A hybrid of biography, memoir, and critical study, Monsters in the Archives looks at King’s early years and creative process through the lens of his earliest masterpieces, and how he made them. This is an essential for King fans and should not be missed.

Molka by Monika Kim – April 28

Fresh off her Bram Stoker Award-winning debut, the brilliant The Eyes Are The Best Part, Monika Kim is back with another unforgettable horror novel steeped in Korean culture and unrelenting dread. Named for a slang term for a hidden camera, the novel follows an IT technician with his own vast, voyeuristic network of cameras throughout his building, and the woman with whom he becomes obsessed. It starts from an instantly creepy place, and just keeps building from there, and if you’ve read Kim’s previous horror work, you know that she can ratchet up tension with the best of ’em. Don’t miss the latest from one of horror’s rising stars. 

The post Revenge, Haunted Houses, and Mushrooms: 10 Must-Read Horror Books in April 2026 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The beautiful Hardcover 50th Anniversary Edition features a jacket with foil and embossing, sprayed edges, designed endpapers, a new foreword from Leigh Bardugo, an afterword by Christopher Rice, and never-before-seen bonus pages from the original manuscript.

Knopf previews, “Here are the confessions of a vampire: a hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly sensual story of Louis de Pointe du Lac’s first two hundred years as one of the living dead. We begin on the night when Louis, disaffected and reluctant heir to a Louisiana plantation, is turned into a vampire by Lestat. Radiant, petulant, and powerful, Lestat becomes Louis’ companion and urges him to embrace the hungers and feelings of vampirism: the detachment, the hardened will, the “superior” sensual pleasures. As Louis struggles to retain the last residue of human feeling within him, he discovers must commit the ultimate act: to break away from his creator and discover the new world to which he belongs—whatever the cost.

“This is a story of danger and flight, of loyalty and treachery, of gaining humanity and losing it, and of the extraordinary power of the senses.”

It was back in 1976 that Anne Rice’s classic vampire novel Interview With the Vampire first came onto the scene, introducing the world to Lestat de Lioncourt and launching Rice’s long-running series of The Vampire Chronicles novels. Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise starred in the 1994 movie adaptation, while AMC’s television series brought Lestat back to life beginning in 2022.

Pre-order Interview with the Vampire: 50th Anniversary Edition on Amazon now!

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In Slasher Summer, seven friends reunite for a weekend of fun in their sleepy hometown, Cedar Lake, best known as the shooting location of the ’80s horror flick Slasher – only to be hunted down by a cold-blooded killer. In high school, preppy Patrick, jock Jason, cheerleader Tiffany, stoner Freddy, goth Jennifer, and nerdy Mikey had played the cast of Slasher during midnight showings, with virginal Carrie as the Final Girl, of course.

Years later, they gather at the remote cabin where Slasher was filmed, but when night falls, and the eponymous masked killer is spotted, the reunion takes a deadly turn. The friends discover their tires deflated and the phone line disconnected, and soon they’re being stalked by a mysterious assailant.

Before the night is over, they each will have to take on the role they thought they’d left behind, discovering that the real horror is not being able to escape who you were in high school.

What’s the twist? Author E.L. Chen set out to “interrogate the stereotypes and identity issues embedded in classic slasher films, radically rewriting its rules in a campy love letter to the slasher films of the 1980s that still honors the genre’s blood-soaked legacy.”

“The story begins as an affectionate homage to ‘80s slashers,” the press release continues, “but as the bodies begin to fall, Slasher Summer subverts one of horror’s oldest tropes and this time, queer and marginalized characters are among those who endure, adapt, and survive.

“Slasher Summer is a retro slasher movie in book form,” raves Sadie Hartmann, author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered. “It has all the summer camp vibes, brutal kill scenes, and a wicked twist on Final Girl mythology. It’s bloody, clever, and just psychologically nasty enough to keep you side-eyeing everyone on the page.”

“Slasher Summer is a bloody Valentine love letter to slasher films and asks the question: What if the cast of The Breakfast Club ended up in the world of Scream? It’s a terrifying and exhilarating deconstruction of the subgenre that’s chock-full of the devilishly clever easter eggs horror fans love,” says Ian Rogers, author of Every House Is Haunted.

Slasher Summer will be released on June 23, 2026.

E. L. Chen is also the author of Sweetside Motel and One of Us Is Already Dead.

The post Horror Novel ‘Slasher Summer’ Promises a Slasher Version of ‘The Breakfast Club’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

We can only hope that the upcoming TV series — now in early development at Disney+ — will have the same effect on today’s youth.

Variety reports that Bayan Wolcott (“Class of ’09”) is attached to write and executive produce the adaptation, with Sinners filmmaker Ryan Coogler executive producing alongside Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian for Proximity Media.

The show will follow a group of teenagers who uncover a hidden threat lurking beneath their everyday lives, all while juggling relationships, curfews, and the chaos of high school.

Iole Lucchese and Caitlin Friedman will executive produce via Scholastic, who published the YA science fantasy series. Proximity Media’s Simone Harris and Dezi Gallegos will also oversee the project.

Created by authors Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant, 54 Animorphs novels were released between 1996 and 2001. A TV series ran for two seasons on Nickelodeon from 1998 to 2000.

Each book was told the first-person perspective of one of the main characters — teenagers Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias — who discover that the Earth is being secretly taken over by a parasitic alien race known as Yeerks.

Variety explains, “The group meets a dying alien of the Andalite race, which has been fighting the Yeerks and their expansion across the galaxy. The Andalite gives them the ability to morph into any animal they touch by absorbing the animal’s DNA. They use this power to launch a secret resistance against the Yeerks and to save the world. They are later joined by Ax, a young Andalite stranded on Earth.”

An Animorphs feature film was in development back in 2020, but it never moved forward.

Proximity Media is currently under a TV overall deal with Disney, which has also spawned Coogler’s “The X-Files” reboot.

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In the upcoming novel, releasing just in time for Halloween on October 6, 2026, Robert P. Ottone “brings the terror of Amityville back to life with chilling precision.”

Of particular note, Amityville Awakens features painted cover artwork by Trevor Henderson, the creator of Siren Head and Bloody Disgusting’s podcast Mayfair Watchers Society.

Trevor Henderson announced on Instagram, “Was so excited to paint a cover for the upcoming horror novel Amityville Awakens. It sounds great and I can’t wait to read it!”

In upcoming horror novel Amityville Awakens…

The Amityville Horror House is demolished, unleashing terror upon the unsuspecting suburban community of North Amityville and its neighboring Village. With the fabled house gone, the two towns begin experiencing an onslaught of unsettling phenomena.

People go missing. A putrid, almost fungal spore-like mold begins festering across lawns. Shadows move and orbs glitter in the night. An unlikely band of characters comes together to battle a supernatural nightmare that threatens to tear all of Long Island apart.

Ottone’s inspired, fresh take on the most famous haunted house in the world is a sprawling supernatural tale of evil as it often comes: where you live, where you sleep.

Pre-order your copy of the Amityville Horror novel now, releasing October 6.

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A search for a writer to adapt the bestselling book is currently underway.

The story follows Emily, who falls in love with the perfect man, Adam, and believes she has finally found the life she’s always wanted — until she meets his mother, Pammie. To the outside world, Pammie is warm, polished, and unwaveringly supportive. But behind closed doors, her behavior toward Emily grows increasingly calculated and destabilizing.

What begins as emotional manipulation slowly reveals itself to be something far more complicated — and far more dangerous — than anyone realizes.

Billings Productions’ Leanna Billings and Ceylin Kocagöz will execute produce, with Noelia Murphy-Devaney, Neal Flaherty, and Jones serving as producers.

“This novel is an absolute favorite of ours, and to have the opportunity to bring it to screen is surreal,” said Billings and Kocagöz. “At face value, the story appears to be a classic retelling of mother-in-law versus daughter-in-law, but Sandie’s razor-sharp plotting, psychological precision, and jaw-dropping twists keep the reader devouring the book from start to finish. The emotional complexity and shifting perspective create an incredible canvas for adaptation.”

“I’m so excited for Billings’ passion for bringing ‘The Other Woman’ to the screen,” added Jones. “Leanna has long been a fan of the book, and we share the same vision for its adaptation. I cannot wait to see Pammie in all her glory!”

Published in 2018 by Minotaur Books, The Other Woman is a New York Times bestseller and a Reese’s Book Club pick.

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