#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: The Night Birds by Christopher Golden and a BONUS Sarah Langan novella

Today I have an ARC of a book to which I gave a STAR in the April 2025 issue of Booklist and an ARC of a small press title by a major press author. Two books for one winner. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here for the previous giveaway. Our winner was Juliana from IL. Now on to this week's giveaway.  

Look, I am going to be 100% honest here. Authors I like and know are good, they have to work harder to get a STAR from me. I think I have shown that with my track record of reviews for the last 10 years. So when I tell you I went into the upcoming Christopher Golden with the idea that he had to show me something great and he exceeded that....I need you to take it seriously.

The Night Birds (coming May 6th) is fantastic. And I really think it is a book a younger Golden could not have written, both from a technical writing standout, but also, the ending. I will not give anything away but it has an ending that hits hard and comes from life experience. I appreciated the authenticity of it. There would have been "easier" ways to resolve this story, but those would have made it a solid read, not a STAR. From my draft STAR review in Booklist:

Ruby Cahill and Charlie Book broke up almost 2 years ago, but during a hurricane, Ruby returns, without warning, another woman and baby in tow, at the Galveston dock where Book is about to leave to shelter on the sunken ship, where he commands a team studying the mangrove forest that has taken root there. They are on the run from an ancient coven of witches who will stop at nothing to have the baby, a baby whose mother is Ruby’s estranged sister, the woman, that sister’s partner, and the sister, dead. Drenched with unease from the opening pages, Golden [Road of Bones] takes readers on a bleak, but captivating ride told over one harrowing night, shifting the point of view to allow the characters to develop organically without ever sacrificing the quick pace. Heartbreakingly beautiful, filled with action, evil, shape-shifting witches, superior world building, and visceral terror, this is a tale where every detail matters, and reader’s emotions will be put through the wringer, but not left without hope. A strong choice for Horror or Thriller readers, this story will ring the most true in the space where fans of Hex by Olde Heuvelt overlap with This Wretched Valley by Kiefer. 

Three Words That Describe This Book: pervasive unease, multiple povs, captivating

I have much more to say about why this book is so great here, but after I turned in my STAR review, this book also got a star from LJ. I know you all probably have this on order, but I want you to make sure you position it for a wide range of potential readers.

I know a lot of eyes will get on this post because this is a prime ARC up for giveaway, so today I am parting it with an advanced copy of a novella from Raw Dog Screaming Press by Sarah Langan-- Pam Kowalski is a Monster!

If Janet Chow hadn’t been such a jerk to everyone at Sewanhaka High, they might have voted her Most Likely to Succeed. Twenty-plus years later, life hasn’t turned out how Janet expected. She’s rudderless, her career in journalism crashed, burned, and buried. How did it come to this?

But then one day, Janet recognizes her mortal enemy from high school—Pam Kowolski! Somehow, Pam’s become America’s manic pixie sweetheart, an online psychic predicting the end of the world. Pam’s rich, hawt, and famous, meanwhile Janet looks...middle aged. How did this happen? How did Pam Kowolski steal Janet’s life?

 

Janet knows the truth: there’s no way a dumb ass like Pam earned her success. She’s lying about her powers. The world isn’t ending. Pam’s a FRAUD. It’s time for Janet to wake up and claim what’s hers by writing an article that TAKES PAM DOWN.

But to reveal Pam, she’s got to dig deep into their shared past. There’s bad stuff back there, scary stuff, and the more Janet learns, the more she worries: what if Pam Kowolski is right?

Sarah Langan is a big time author for your Horror-Thriller fans, but since this one is not Big 5 and a novella, you might have missed it. This is the same publisher that gave us The Ghost That Ate Us by Daniel Kraus, which I not only gave a STAR, but also it ended up on the short list for best Horror of the year from the 2023 RUSA CODES Reading List here.

Don't sleep on trusted small presses. EVER. Whether the author is known to you or not. 

Thanks to all of the publishers for the ARCs to give away to one of you today.

Enter once and you are entered going forward. And if you win, you can enter again in 4 weeks. Keep entering. Lots of MAJOR titles are coming up soon. Stay tuned and keep reading Horror.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: THE STARVING SAINTS by Caitlin Starling and a Bonus Title You May Have Missed

Today I have an ARC of a book to which I gave a STAR in the April 2025 issue of LJ and a hardcover finished copy of a debut supernatural thriller you probably missed when it first came out. Two books for one winner. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here for the previous giveaway. Our winner was John from Washington. Now on to this week's giveaway.  

As you probably already know, Caitlin Starling is one of our 2025 Summer Scares authors. I have read and reviewed many of her novels and always enjoy them, but this upcoming one-- The Starving Saints--blew me away. From my LJ Draft review:

Three Words That Describe This Book: richly detailed, highly unnerving, 3 points of view.

Draft Review: Aymar Castle is filled with refugees, huddled inside the walls, protected by their King over the course of a six month siege. With mere days to go until the food stores are depleted, four saints appear out of nowhere to save them from starvation. Readers enter this world, closely modelled after Medieval times, through the perspectives of three women: Phosyne, an excommunicated nun who can perform miracles, Ser Voyne, a trusted knight, and Treila, a serving girl with a thirst for revenge. While many immediately bow to the strangers, the protagonists are not willing to trust what is clearly too good to be true. But what can they do to stop the saints? Richly detailed with an engrossing pace and pervasively menacing tone, Straling quickly transports readers inside the castle walls as they watch the horrors unfold. From cannibalism, increasingly dangerous magic, and betrayals to monsters, hidden tunnels, and swarms of bees, this fantastical story is transfixing on its own, but it also serves to underscore a very unsettling truth– no matter the time or place, humanity’s obsession with power may be the biggest horror of all, a horror that may be too much for these three deeply flawed women to overcome, a horror that may doom their people, unless the can find the strength to embrace their true selves.

Verdict: A brilliantly constructed and thoroughly unnerving fever dream, Starling’s fans will ravenously gulp this novel down,* but it will also appeal to readers nestled in the space where Slewfoot by Brom, The Unworthy by Bazterrica, and The Queen by Cutter overlap.

There is more, from me, about this book here.

Get this book pre-ordered. You will thank me later. Speaking of, thanks to Harper Voyage for the ARC.

And as a bonus this week, I have a Hardcover finished copy of a debut title that came out in August which you can add to your collection today, Dead Socials by Jeff Hill. 

Disgraced reporter Jed Hollingsworth returns to his hometown of Sarah Falls to document the story of the worst school shooting in the history of the country. Except it’s the people who didn’t survive he’s interviewing, in preference to those who did. For he’s got no qualms asking the dead to tell their stories. And when a friend reaches out from beyond the grave via social media, Jed knows there’s more to the story than he could have ever imagined. What dark secrets could possibly link this small town in the Midwest to a haunted mansion in upstate New York where every inhabitant has taken their own lives? This is a scoop to die for. Dead Socials is a supernatural thriller that explores the world of mass media hysteria. Sometimes the most dangerous weapon is a cell phone. And the only thing more terrifying than ghosts are the people who killed them.

This book is a timely supernatural thriller that will appeal to a lot of our library readers. Plus, it has a great title for display. Even if you don't win this week, I highly encourage you to check this one out and consider adding ti to your collections. 

Enter once and you are entered going forward. This week's winner gets both titles. 

Good Luck!

COVER REVEAL: Why I Love Horror Edited by Me with an Excerpt from Grady Hendrix

Pre-Order now

Today CrimeReads has the cover reveal of my upcoming book. Out 9/23/25.

Click below to read the excerpt. I picked Hendrix's essay for the excerpt because it is right in the middle of the book and it is one of the best in the book. It leaves you on a cliff hanger and let me tell you, the rest of the essay is totally worth it. Early readers agree. I have received MANY comments as they finish this essay.

You can pre-order WHY I LOVE HORROR anywhere books are sold. Here is the Bookshop.org link. Digital ARCs will be available at Library Journal's Day of Dialog on 4/17 where Alma Katsu and I will be there to discuss her essay and her upcoming book FIEND and soon on NetGalley and Edelweiss. Paper ARCs will be at StokerCon and ALA Annual.

Thank you to CrimeReads for hosting the cover reveal.

Here is the link.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: Ecstasy by Ivy Pochoda + a Bonus SF/Horror Title

Today I have an ARC of the highly anticipated June release from Ivy Pachoda courtesy of the publisher plus a Cosmic Space Horror novel for fans of SA Barnes that you don't want to miss. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here for the previous giveaway. Our winner was Stacey from Nebraska. Now on to this week's giveaway.  

First up is Ecstasy by Ivy Pachoda:

A deliciously dark horror reimagining of a Greek tragedy, by Ivy Pochoda, winner of the LA Times Book Prize.

Lena wants her life back. Her wealthy, controlling, humorless husband has just died, and now she contends with her controlling, humorless son, Drew. Lena lands in Naxos with her best friend in tow for the unveiling of her son's, pet project--the luxurious Agape Villas.

Years of marriage amongst the wealthy elite has whittled Lena's spirit into rope and sinew, smothered by tasteful cocktail dresses and unending small talk. On Naxos she yearns to rediscover her true nature, remember the exuberant dancer and party girl she once was, but Drew tightens his grip, keeping her cloistered inside the hotel, demanding that she fall in line.

Lena is intrigued by a group of women living in tents on the beach in front of the Agape. She can feel their drums at night, hear their seductive leader calling her to dance. Soon she'll find that an ancient God stirs on the beach, awakening dark desires of women across the island. The only questions left will be whether Lena will join them, and what it will cost her.

Ecstasy is a riveting, darkly poetic, one-sitting read about empowerment, desire, and what happens when women reject the roles set out for them.

This is going to be a very popular book and a great cross over because this is Pachoda, the award winning crime novelist's, first Horror novel. We are going to get a lot of people who don't normally read Horror who are going to want to try this one.

This also means you need to be ready with readalikes. I would suggest, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Lierstan White, and Isabel Cañas to people as they wait for this one. 

Thank you to Putnam for the ARC. It is out June 17, 2025, but I am guessing you already have it on order.

But while I have you here, I have another ARC. Requiem by John Palisano:

"Bold, brave, imaginative and unflinching."

Ava must fight an entity locked in on taking out the crew of the Eden, a moon-sized cemetery in space, as it brings back the souls of the dead buried aboard. One such soul is Ava’s lost love, Roland.

The spirits of the interred on the Eden haunt those aboard, including a visiting musician is tasked with writing a new song for the dead. Her Requiem calls a cosmic entity that illuminates their darkest fears and secrets. One by one, they’re driven mad. Ava fights her grief and must rise up before they’re lost and the entity reaches Earth.

Palisano is a Bram Stoker Award winner and this novel is a great read for fans of SA Barnes or Ramsey Campbell. 

Thank you to Flame Tree Press for the ARC. Reminder, Flame Tree is distributed by S&S so you can get their books very easily. 

This is a great prize pack-- two widely appealing books for one winner. Enter now and you will be entered going forward. Remember, I have some more big name titles (like this Pachoda) plus in the next 4-6 weeks, I will have ARCs of my own book to give away as well.

Good luck!

Summer Scares Booklist Webinars and Podcasts Are LIVE

Click here to get to the
Summer Scares Resource page

One of the best things about the Summer Scares partnership with Booklist Magazine is that they support us getting the message out about the program to the larger library world for all age levels of service. 

They have committed to providing introductions to titles and their authors in three FREE webinars (one for each age group) and an overview of the entire program via their Self Care podcast. And all of it is tied to the release of our amazing Programming Guide, always in early March, which they promote heavily in everything they do.

We have seen an untick in libraries doing Summer Scares because of their wide reach. This support at the start of each new season of titles is huge. 

So today, I want to take a moment to thank the entire team at Booklist (Grace, Julia, and Susan specifically for doing the heavy lifting). These three webinars and the podcast take a lot of work to appear as seamless as they are, and I anted to make sure they are presented all together. 

I have updated the resource page but I also wanted to alert my readers that everything is ready for you to start planning your Summer Scares.

Please give the webinars and podcast a listen/watch.  And thank you Booklist for being such a wonderful partner in Summer Scares.

• Booklist hosts a series of webinars with each set of 3 authors and the recordings will all be FREE to view. Links below to access them all.
• 2025 MG authors in conversation with Julia Smith, Senior Editor, Books for Youth
• Live on 3/10/25 at 2pm eastern
• click here to view
• 2025 YA authors in conversation with Kendare Blake, Author and 2025 Summer Scares Spokesperson
• Live on 3/20/25 at 2pm eastern
• click here to view
• 2025 Adult authors in conversation with Becky Spratford, Co-Chair HWA Library Committee
• Live on 3/24/25 at 2pm eastern
• click here to view
• Click here to see all of the videos from this year and year's past
• Listen to Committee members and some librarians who use Summer Scares in their libraries talk about the program in general and this year's selected titles on Booklist's Shelf Care
• Episode 41 of Shelf Care
• Past episodes of Shelf Care featuring Summer Scares: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021.

Click here to access all of the Shelf Care podcasts 
including Episode 41.

It’s time for Summer Scares, and the popular horror-reading program is in fine form again. Shelf Care host Susan Maguire spoke to librarian Becky Spratford, author Kendare Blake, and Booklist’s Julia Smith about this year’s selections for adult, teen, and middle-grade readers; transgressive horror; and Hellmouth Pokémon, as you do. She also spoke to Jocelyn Codner and Carina Stopenski, both of the Horror Writers Association’s Library Advisory Council, about the Summer Scares program guide, why libraries should serve horror readers, and what they’re reading and loving.

Click through for the show notes including MANY links. 

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: 2 Books for 1 Winner

Today I have an 2 lesser known titles, but they are both worth your time. The first is a finished copy of a title I reviewed in the January 2025 issue of Library Journal and the other, a signed ARC, the follow up to an award winning indie book.  Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here for the previous giveaway. Our winner was Eric from Wisconsin. Now on to this week's giveaway. 

Let me start with a book I already gave away here, but that was the ARC. The fine folks at Invisible Press sent me a copy of Dead Writers: Stories by Jean Marc Ah-Sen,  Michael LaPointe, Cassidy McFadzean, Naben Ruthnum.and since it came out this week, I am giving it away so you can add this great cross over title on your shelves.

From my Library Journal draft review:

 Four Canadian writers of dark literary fiction were brought together to make a single volume of novellas, using the prompt of “a bargain.” While each story is very different in plot and narrative style, they are united by the underlying sense of dread that permeates each tale, and as a result, the entire volume. From a haunting tale of a woman hired to write a complicated writer’s biography after he commits suicide to a found historical document about the atrocities at an Indigenous school to a vacation that provides anything but the peace and tranquilty promised in its title to a jarringly direct examination of the “deal with the devil” trope. These are works which contain no jumpscares but rather, their horror stems from the sense that something unavoidably uneasy weighs heavily on the “deals” the characters are offered. And then consider the anthology’s title alongside the fact that every narrator is a writer themselves, and you ratchet the fear up to another level. 

Verdict: A deeply unsettling and insidious anthology of four psychological horror novellas, feelings that will linger with readers after completion just like with Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Lima or the work of Samanta Schweblin.

Three Words That Describe This Book: themed novellas, deeply unsettling, psychological horror

Dead Writers will not get the wide coverage it deserves and I was happy to review it in LJ to help boost its visibility to libraries, and now, give away a finished copy on the week of its release.

Next up is the next novel by Christopher Hawkins. Before we get to that, I need to remind you that his first novel, Downpour won the BookLife Prize for all of fiction. This means it was judged as the best independent book of all of 2023. This was also the first time a Horror novel won the overall prize. Daniel Kraus also blurbed it. I wrote about this book at length when I gave a copy away back in 2023 here. 

Now Hawkins is back with I Contain Multitudes (coming 4/30/25) and he sent me a signed ARC to get the buzz started and give away to one of you. Here is more about this book:

Hunted through an ever-shifting patchwork of worlds, one woman must rediscover her own past to restore reality before it's too late.

Unstuck from reality, Trina Bell never wakes up in the same world twice. Lost and alone, she crosses paths with an old librarian who is the only person who remembers her when everything else changes around them. When an encounter with a sadistic doctor makes Trina question whether she herself might be the cause of the shifting realities that are escalating out of control, she sets out to stop them.  

As each successive world becomes more unstable and dangerous than the last—and with the librarian lost and descending into madness—Trina must confront the secrets rooted deep in her own past in order to find a way to repair her world before it collapses for good.

From the award-winning author of Downpour comes a mind-bending multiversal thriller of betrayal, discovery, and the will to reshape destiny

Rarely do I have the chance to recommend you buy self published books that I know you can trust. This one is an easy sell though because-- BookLife Prize people!!! It's a big deal. 

Both of these under the radar, but excellent, titles are going to one winner. Get on this!

Finally, a note about upcoming giveaways. I have planned out the next 8 weeks and they are ALL major releases, and sometime in that range, I will also have ARCs of MY BOOK to give away. Coming soon!!!

Enter now to be entered going forward.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: A Special Edition of Their Monstrous Hearts

Today I have an ARC of one of the hottest books of Spring (a book so hot I lost out on the chance to review it) and a finished book by a lesser known voice making this a 2 book prize-pack week. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here for the previous giveaway. Our winner was Jennifer from Ohio. Now on to this week's giveaway. 

Turkish author, Yiğit Turhan, is getting a lot of buzz for his debut Horror novel, Their Monstrous Hearts, drawing attention and advanced praise from authors as diverse as Clay McLeod Chapman, Cynthia, Pelayo, Douglas Coupland, and Andrew Sean Greer, Pop star Dua Lipa is even a fan. 

Catching the hint of the buzz early, I reviewed the novel in the January 2025 issue of LJ:

Three Words That Describe This Book: 2 narratives, family secrets, slow burn leading to existential terror

Draft Review: Time has run out for Riccardo, a 20 year old orphan, living off the advance of a book he is unable to even start, let alone deliver to his publisher. Until a stranger knocks on his door, alerting him that the Turkish immigrant grandmother he adored as a child, died rather suddenly and left her Italian villa and cherished butterfly collection to him. Once in Milan, Riccardo finds more questions than answers about her death, her life, and her obsession with butterflies. When he stumbles upon a manuscript written in her script with the label “To Riccardo,” readers and Riccardo begin to unravel the mystery. But why did no one give him this text when he arrived? And why does he still feel unsafe? Told in both points of view, what begins as a slow burn Gothic Fable ventures out of its cocoon and transforms into a compelling, suspenseful and lush Dark Fantasy, completing its metamorphosis with one final twist, emerging as an existentially terrifying tale that will take readers through the emotional wringer and leave them distrustful of butterflies forevermore.

Verdict: A solid debut that can be given eagerly to fans of Horror framed by dark and dangerous family secrets such as Midnight Rooms by Coles, Mexican Gothic by Moreno-Garcia, and Now You're One of Us by Nonami.

"Nobody ever suspects the butterfly" I mean with that cover they might. But no, that is a great premise to shape this book around. That's a quote from the middle-ish of the novel and it is the heart (pun intended) of why this story is so terrifying.

Well it finally comes out next month (April 8th), but I received a finished copy earlier this week, a first edition, with gorgeous red edges with black butterflies (photo of this exact copy above). Since I have already read and enjoyed the book, I want to give it away to one of you. And since it is a finished copy, I am encouraging you to get it on the shelf. But good news, you have some time to read it for yourself before it is released as well.

A solid debut horror novel by a Turkish author...I know you don't have one of those already. What a way to introduce your readers to a new voice. And with the list of people who have blurbed it and my list of readalikes, you can see how wide the appeal is here.

Thanks to the publisher for providing this amazing finished, first edition for me to share with one of you.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: New Chuck Wendig and a Bonus Book

Today I have an ARC of one of the hottest books of Spring (a book so hot I lost out on the chance to review it) and a finished book by a lesser known voice making this a 2 book prize-pack week. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here for the previous giveaway. Our winner was Sean from IL. Now on to this week's giveaway. 

Chuck Wendig has a new novel coming April 29th.

The Staircase in the Woods  by Chuck Wendig.

A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents.

Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.

Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something a mysterious staircase to nowhere.

One friend walks up—and never comes back down.

Then the staircase disappears. Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . .

As I mentioned above, I asked to review it in Booklist, but it was already claimed by someone else.  From that review:

"Continuing his streak of top-flight fiction, Wendig gifts us this Gothic-tinged horror story. ...Another first-rate novel from an author whose imagination and talent seem to know no bounds."

I know you all are already ordering this one as Wendig continues to be a must buy for all library collections with every new novel. But I want to share an ARC (courtesy of the publisher) with one lucky winner, along with a finished copy of an author I am pretty sure you do NOT know about-- Ray Van Horn Jr.

Behind the Shadows by Ray Van Horn Jr

Conjuring ten haunting tales to bring a shiver down your spine, author Ray Van Horn, Jr. shares a mixtape blend reminiscent of EC Comics and 80s horror: unsettling narratives to invade your dreams and keep you up at night.

"Ray Van Horn, Jr.'s obvious love for the movies, music, comics, and -yes- the horror fiction of the 1980s bleeds through every page of BEHIND THE SHADOWS. Ray's got the good stuff here, folks." - Dayton Ward, New York Times best-selling author, Star Trek universe

"Like the great EC comics of yore, BEHIND THE SHADOWS is a hell of a horror anthology - literally! It's gruesome, terrifying, and tinged with a punk attitude. What else do you need, and why are still reading this testimonial? Buy this damn book!" -Josh Eiserike, author THE VERY FINAL LAST GIRLS; CHARM CITY; G.I. JOE: RENEGADES 

"You wanna know what's BEHIND THE SHADOWS? Ray Van Horn, Jr. is more than happy to show you. Fractured families and frothing creatures. Endless nights and pulsing darkness. It's a nostalgic ride back to the horrors of your youth. Logic isn't always logical, and the horrors don't always end when the lights come on. But it's a damn good time!" -John Boden, author SNARL and THE ETIQUETTE OF BOOBY TRAPS

This finished book is courtesy of the author and will be in the package with the Wendig for one lucky winner.

Remember, you enter once and you are entered going forward.

Good luck. 

The Summer Scares FREE Resource Guide is Now Live

 Click here or see below.

Click on the image to access 
a folder with the logo graphics

Summer Scares 2025 Resources for Library Workers

Below is a list of resources for any library to use in order to participate in Summer Scares. If you are interested in hosting a Summer Scares author at your library (free virtual appearances for any, in person on a case by case basis), please email libraries at horror dot org.

• The Summer Scares 2025 Title Announcement
• Titles also listed below
• Graphics folder access, with the logo and collages for all of the books and books by category (courtesy of committee member Kelly Jensen)
• Click here to download the FREE 2025 Summer Scares Programming Guide
• New this year-- content provided by members of the HWA's Library Advisory Council
• Booklist hosts a series of webinars with each set of 3 authors and the recordings will all be FREE to view. Links below to access them all.
• 2025 MG authors in conversation with Julia Smith, Senior Editor, Books for Youth
• Live on 3/10/25 at 2pm eastern
• click here to signup
• 2025 YA authors in conversation with Kendare Blake, Author and 2025 Summer Scares Spokesperson
• Live on 3/20/25 at 2pm eastern
• click here to signup (link coming soon)
• 2025 Adult authors in conversation with Becky Spratford, Co-Chair HWA Library Committee
• Live on 3/24/25 at 2pm eastern
• click here to signup (link coming soon)
• Listen to Committee members and some librarians who use Summer Scares in their libraries talk about the program in general and this year's selected titles on Booklist's Shelf Care
• Link coming soon

More links coming as the year progresses..... See 2025 titles below.

Click on the image to access all of 
the 2025 Summer Scares collages

Adult Selections:

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca (Titan Books, 2022)

Reprieve by James Han Mattson (William Morrow, 2021)

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling (Harper Voyager, 2019)

Click on the image to access all of 
the 2025 Summer Scares collages

Young Adult Selections:

Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist (Greenwillow, 2018)

The Getaway by Lamar Giles (Scholastic Press, 2022)

Find Him Where You Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons (Tor Teen, 2023)

Click on the image to access all of 
the 2025 Summer Scares collages

Middle Grade Selections:

Eerie Tales from the School of Screams by Graham Annable (First Second, 2022)

Ravenous Things by Derrick Chow (Disney Hyperion, 2022)

Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon (Scholastic Press, 2020)

The 2024 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

Yesterday, the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot was released. These are for books and stories published in 2024.

It is a strong ballot. I have included every nominee in all 13 categories over on the main blog so that the authors and titles are searchable by the most number of people, but in particular, I want to note that Novel, Long Fiction (novella), and First Novel are stacked. I have reviewed I reviewed 12 of the 15 nominees.

Full disclosure, I am an active member of the HWA and will be voting but honestly, I am going to have to really think about my vote. I am not kidding when I say this-- those categories could come down to a single vote. 

As resource, the Bram Stoker Awards® are one of the best, and I don't just say this because I am on the Board for the HWA (The Awards are administered by a separate committee and I have no contact with the voting process). The awards have their own separate website that is there to use to keep track of every award winner, for every year. But you can also search by author and title. 

For example, if you want to see all the times Stephen Graham Jones has been nominated and won, you can put his name in the search box and then go to this page with all of the information in one place.

Also there is a timeline on the left side bar when you click on the menu for "Winners/Nominees." Simply click on a date to see who was nominated and won that year.

So many ways to search to find a treasure trove of critically acclaimed horror titles to showcase in your library or add to your collections. It is one of the top resources for you, the library worker, as you assist patrons looking for their next scary read.

Click here to head over to the main blog for all the info, or just click here to go to the the Bram Stoker Awards® website.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: A Lethe Press 4 book Prize Pack

Today I have a stack of books by one of my favorite small presses. 2 finished books and 2 ARCs-- all for 1 lucky winner. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here for the previous giveaway. Our winner was Kim from OH. Now on to this week's giveaway.

Lethe Press is a trusted small press. Their tag line is: "We're Weird and Queer....and Unashamed!" Their website is easy to navigate and has lots of information about their books and how to order them. They put out quality titles with bin terms of the writing/editing and how well they stand up to multiple checkouts.

They put out books by well known authors and ups and comers. They regularly publish Philip Frassi, for example. That book got a star review from me! And in the stack I am giving away there are two author you need to know: James Bennett and Tyler Jones names you need to know.

Speaking of my stack, here it is:

Below I will list the titles and link to the Lethe Press site for more information, but because there are 4 titles, I will not have the entire plot description-- that would make this post absurdly long. But I am including a blurb so you know a bit before clicking through for more information. 

The titles are:

The Death of Mountain by Jordan Kurella (ARC- book coming March 31).

"Fans of folkloric fiction with a strong moral bent will find much to savor." - Publishers Weekly

Preaching to the Perverted by James Bennett (finished copy):

"I really loved this collection. It has great range - Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's fairy tale series, cosmic horror, noir, The Prestige, coming of age stories, the gothic of Mary Shelley - but there's nothing derivative about it. It's heartfelt and gutsy. Filled with beautiful horrors and heartbreaks. James Bennett is a superb writer." - Priya Sharma, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Pomegranates

Pushing Daisy by Christopher O'Halloran  (ARC- book coming May 2025)

Daisy did not get the life she deserved. Despite her compassion, nothing she did made a difference in the world. With her through it all was her selfish, bitter husband, working a job he hated while they lived off her income as a nurse. The peace Daisy has carried in life does not follow her to the grave. A dead, bloodshot eye glowers from a dark bathroom. Below it, her deranged smile. Daisy, a mad corpse, haunts their townhouse. She’s back and intent on punishing Roger Darling for his mistreatment. Her death shook him enough to brave his faults, but this improved man does her no good now. He can try to escape into the arms of others, but at the end of the day, we all return home. To keep his new friends and maintain his sanity, Roger must help Daisy move on before her violence touches everything he’s built. She won’t leave on her own. Not for a second time.

Burn the Plans by Tyler Jones (Finished copy of an Esquire "Best horror of the year.")

“Trust me: Get this collection. Tyler is an amazing storyteller and he will crush you with the weight of these stories.” – Sadie Hartmann “Mother Horror,” author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered

There it is! Four books going to one winner. What a great giveaway! Enter once and you are entered going forward. And I have a lot of the major titles for Spring and Summer in my possession ready to give away as soon as their reviews post. So you will want to get yourself entered now!

In the meantime, I have been enjoying focusing on smaller presses to get the word out about some great books you might not see covered other places.

Scheduling note: I am visiting family next week so there will be no giveaway. It will return on March 6th. But entries are always accepted.

Good luck. 

Announcing the 2025 Summer Scares Titles

Click on the image to access
a folder with the logo graphics 

In celebration of National Library Lover’s Day, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership in partnership with Booklist, Book Riot, iREAD, and NoveList®, a division of EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO), is delighted to announce the seventh annual Summer Scares reading list, which includes titles selected by a panel of authors and library workers and is designed to promote Horror as a great reading option for all ages, during any time of the year.

"Is anyone else already missing Halloween? Is anyone else already dying for summer? Well great news! SUMMER SCARES combines both of our loves with a carefully curated list of horrifying books, giving you the perfect excuse to read chilling tales in hot weather! (If indeed you needed an excuse),” said #1 New York Times Bestseller author Kendare Blake, this year’s Summer Scares spokesperson. “I am so excited about every one of these books; they're creepy and delightful, brutal and terrifying, inventive and just plain good reads. The committee has done a bang-up job--there's truly something here for everyone, but why not try them all? Young or old(er), the time has come to fill your scary reading lists."

Every year, three titles are selected in each of three categories: Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade. For 2025 those selected titles are:

Click on the image to access all of 
the 2025 Summer Scares collages

Adult Selections:

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca (Titan Books, 2022)

Reprieve by James Han Mattson (William Morrow, 2021)

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling (Harper Voyager, 2019)

Click on the image to access all of 
the 2025 Summer Scares collages

Young Adult Selections:

Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist (Greenwillow, 2018)

The Getaway by Lamar Giles (Scholastic Press, 2022)

Find Him Where You Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons (Tor Teen, 2023)

Click on the image to access all of 
the 2025 Summer Scares collages

Middle Grade Selections:

Eerie Tales from the School of Screams by Graham Annable (First Second, 2022)

Ravenous Things by Derrick Chow (Disney Hyperion, 2022)

Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon (Scholastic Press, 2020)

Summer Scares aims to introduce Horror titles to school and public library workers so they can start conversations with readers that extend beyond the books on each list and promote reading for years to come. In addition to the annual list of recommended titles, the Summer Scares Programming Guide, produced each year by the Springfield-Greene County (MO) Library– free for any library to access– is back with the tools libraries need to connect with their patrons. 

“The 2025 guide, developed by the HWA’s Library Advisory Council, is the library worker’s roadmap to providing exciting and meaningful experiences for their patrons through Summer Scares, whether they're putting up book displays, hosting author events, or planning an entire Summer Scares program series,” states Konrad Stump, co-creator of the programming guide. “We are also excited to enhance our partnership with iREAD by selecting one title in each age group that fits iREAD’s 2025 theme, “Level Up at Your Library,” as well as creating sample partner programs with their input.” The guide will be available beginning March 1, 2025 on the Summer Scares Resource page at http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html

Along with the guide, the Summer Scares committee will work with both the recommended list authors and Horror authors from all over the country to provide free programming to libraries. Any library looking to host horror-themed events anytime of year is encouraged to email libraries@horror.org to get started.

Booklist is helping to kick off Summer Scares 2025 in March with a series of three, free webinars with this year’s featured authors in conversation with committee members:

• Monday, March 10, 2025, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Middle Grade authors and moderated by Julia Smith
• Thursday, March 20, 2025, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Young Adult authors and moderated by Kendare Blake
• Monday March 24, 2025, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Adult authors and moderated by Becky Spratford 

Each webinar lasts one hour. Anyone may register to participate for free at https://www.booklistonline.com/webinars. Recordings will be available for on-demand viewing after the live events at https://www.booklistonline.com/webinars-archive.

All are welcome to join the Summer Scares committee and featured authors at the HWA’s Librarians’ Day, taking place in person on Friday, June 13, 2025 in Stamford, CT as part of StokerConⓇ. Details at: https://www.stokercon2025.com/

The HWA is a non-profit organization of writers and publishing professionals and the oldest organization dedicated to the Horror/Dark Fiction genre. One of the HWA’s missions is to foster an appreciation of reading through extensive programming and partnerships with libraries, schools, and literacy-based organizations.

The 2025 Summer Scares program committee consists of author Kendare Blake, HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump, as well as academic library director Carolyn Ciesla, Book Riot Editor and YA specialist Kelly Jensen, Booklist Editor and Middle Grade specialist Julia Smith, and Manager of Reader Services at NoveList Yaika Sabat.

For more information about the Summer Scares reading program, including committee member bios and how to obtain promotional materials and schedule events with the authors/committee members, please visit The Summer Scares Resource Page (http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html) or email HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump at libraries at horror dot org.

Click on the image to access all of 
the 2025 Summer Scares collages