#HorrorForLibraries: 3 Fall ARCs from Flame Tree Press

Today I have two finished copies for two winners of a volume featuring many authors whose work you have on your sleeves, presented by a trusted editor, and part of a series of books which I have reviewed titles from in the past. 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.

Last week's winners were Nancy from VA and John from MI.

Now on to this week's giveaway which features a three book prize pack courtesy of Flame Tree Press

After the 31 Days of Horror, I still had a backlog of ARCs to giveaway and in this case, all three books have already released, but the title themselves are worth you knowing about, so I am giving them all away at once, to one very lucky winner.

First up An Echo of Children by the great Ramsey Campbell:

A slow burn, chilling horror in a gorgeous edition. Ramsey Campbell always delivers... 

Coral and Allan Clarendon have just moved to the seaside town of Barnwall with their young son Dean. If an uncommon number of children have died unnaturally in Barnwall throughout history, surely Dean must be safe with his parents. Could their house be a source of peril? Allan and Coral seem to think so, since they call for an exorcism. Allan’s father Thom believes his wife is wrong to think the ceremony has left Dean in worse danger. But if she’s alone in seeing the terrors that are gathering around him, how desperate will her solution have to be?

The Ramsey Campbell Special Editions. Campbell is the greatest inheritor of a tradition that reaches back through H.P. Lovecraft and M.R. James to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the early Gothic writers. The dark, masterful work of the painter Henry Fuseli, a friend of Mary Wollstonecraft, is used on these special editions to invoke early literary investigations into the supernatural.

Next it is Unseen Gods by Justin Holley:

Careful what you search for, you may just find it. With grotesque glimpses of the disappeared, the past is alive and well.

After winning an old casefile at auction outlining the disappearance of a hunting party back in the nineties, Kory and his pregnant wife invite their friend and mentor, Professor Frank Colista, and others, for a casual long weekend of exploring the mystery onsite with very little hope of finding anyone or anything. When one of their factions disappears without a trace, Kory and Colista fear the past may repeat itself. Then the deaths start. As a savage, unexpected snowstorm sets in, the disappearances and ungodly sightings of the deceased ramp up, and an old woman rambles about end-of-days and sacrifice.

And finally, Opposite World by Elizabeth Anne Martins:

Memories are malleable, dreams are a battlefield, and reality is a shifting landscape. Think Inception meets Dark Matter, with echoes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the unsettling corporate dystopia of Severance.

Piper “Pip” Screed remembers nothing about her mother’s mysterious death or the strange episode that left her in a deep, unexplained sleep. All she knows is that her father uprooted them to a secluded mountain cabin, severed all ties to the outside world, and refuses to answer her questions.

Fifteen years later, Pip escapes isolation and discovers The Reverie Cloud—a revolutionary sleep-therapy program that merges the subconscious with virtual reality. Here, users can experience their desires, confront fears, and rewrite their pasts in a dreamscape indistinguishable from reality. But when The Reverie Cloud falls into the hands of those who see her subconscious as a prize, Pip becomes ensnared within its unstable architecture. Now locked inside the program, she must navigate its mercurial layers, face the horrors buried within her subconscious, and unravel the truth about her past before time runs out. Worse, she’s not the only one at risk—her father’s life hangs in the balance, too.

But the deeper Pip ventures, the more dangerous the game becomes. If she pushes too far, she may never escape. Yet only by confronting the truth can she hope to uncover what really happened to her mother—before the program consumes her entirely.

Blending science fiction with psychological horror, surreal fantasy, and an aching tremor of human longing, OPPOSITE WORLD is an exploration of memory, identity, and the thin divide between perception and reality. 

As I said above, all three are advanced copies, courtesy of the publisher. These books are out and available thought Ingram to add to your library's collection.

One winner will get all three ARCs.

Enter once and you are entered going forward.

Good luck!

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: 2 winners of Azathoth: Ordo ab Chao, Edited by Aaron J. French

Today I have two finished copies for two winners of a volume featuring many authors whose work you have on your sleeves, presented by a trusted editor, and part of a series of books which I have reviewed titles from in the past. 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.

Last week's winner was Jessica from IN. Now on to this week's giveaway.

Today I want to talk about author and editor, Aaron J. French, specially his work taking Lovecraftian Gods and asking a diverse group of today's authors to write new and original to him stories for his anthologies.

I have read and reviewed (for Booklist) The Gods of H.P Lovecraft and The Demons of King Solomon. Click through to read my reviews of each anthology and to see the impressive contributors.

This Fall, French released Azathoth: Ordo ab Chao. From the publisher description:

The first in a series of anthologies devoted to the Lovecraftian gods, Ordo ab Chao follows the highly successful The Gods of HP Lovecraft (published in 2015 by JournalStone Publishing). We begin our series with the primal origins and the god Azathoth, who represents primordial chaos in the Lovecraftian Mythos. H.P. Lovecraft described Azathoth as a demon king ruling from a dark throne in the middle of the fiery cosmic void, out of which all created things emanated. Surrounding this orbiting spiral of infinite chaos and creation sounded the repetitive notes of an incessant flute, a reference to the Greek god Pan and the symbol of chaos behind the orderliness of nature. Taking this as our departure, the stories in this volume approach Azathoth through the concept of "order out of chaos" (or Ordo ab Chao in Latin). Ordo ab Chao includes new work from some of the most talented and respected authors in horror and dark fantasy, featuring stories from T. Kingfisher, Ruthanna Emrys, Adam L. G. Nevill, Kaaron Warren, Brian Evenson, Donald Tyson, Richard Thomas, Richard Gavin, Matthew Cheney, Erica Ruppert, Jamieson Ridenhour, Maxwell I. Gold, Lena Ng, Nathan Carson, Samuel Marzioli, Lauri Taneli Lassila, Akis Linardos, and R. B. Payne.

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

• ORDO AB CHAO: TOWARD THAT ENDLESSNESS by Maxwell Ian Gold
• “Agent of Chaos” illustrated by Sofiya Kruglikova
• AGENT OF CHAOS by T. Kingfisher
• “Expatriate” illustrated by Yves Tourigny
• EXPATRIATE by Jamieson Ridenhour 
• “...And Peer Aloft to Glimpse Some Fragment” illustrated by Andrej Kapcar .
• ..AND PEER ALOFT TO GLIMPSE SOME FRAGMENT by Ruthanna Emrys
• “Making a Difference” illustrated by Ayham Jabr
• MAKING A DIFFERENCE by Brian Evenson
• “The Recreationist” illustrated by Ayham Jabr 
• THE RECREATIONIST by Kaaron Warren
• “The Blind God’s Game” illustrated by Andrej Kapcar
• THE BLIND GOD’S GAME by Matthew Cheney
• “In the Grove” illustrated by Sofiya Kruglikova
• IN THE GROVE by Erica Ruppert
• “Church of the Void” illustrated by Andrej Kapcar
• CHURCH OF THE VOID by Donald Tyson
• “Upon an Iron Bed, Under the Eyes of Chaos” illustrated by Sofiya
• UPON AN IRON BED, UNDER THE EYES OF CHAOS by Richard Gavin
• “The Root King” illustrated by Sofiya Kruglikova
• THE ROOT KING by Lauri Taneli Lassila
• “The Infinite Beat” illustrated by Andrej Kapcar
• THE INFINITE BEAT by Nathan Carson
• “The Door at 21 Bis Rue Xavier Privas” illustrated by Andrej Kapcar
• THE DOOR AT 21 BIS RUE XAVIER PRIVAS by R. B. Payne
• “An Unusual Pedigree” illustrated by Andrej Kapcar
• AN UNUSUAL PEDIGREE by Richard Thomas
• “Dust-Clotted Eyes” illustrated by Ayham Jabr
• DUST-CLOTTED EYES by Samuel Marzioli
• “The Revelations of Azathoth” illustrated by Sofiya Kruglikova
• THE REVELATIONS OF AZATHOTH by Lena Ng
• “Primordial Jack” illustrated by Sofiya Kruglikova
• PRIMORDIAL JACK by Akis Linardos
• “Respect Your Elders” illustrated by Yves Tourigny
• RESPECT YOUR ELDERS by Adam L. G. Nevill

Look at the TOC! These are names you know, some of your most popular horror voices, and plenty that will be new to you and your patrons.

While that TOC alone is enough for you to add this book, what I really love about all of the anthologies French has edited is that he introduces today's horror readers to the Lovecraftian Gods, allowing us all to see why they are enduringly terrifying, and making sure their horrible human of a creator is paired with a diverse group of today's voices (which I hope is making Lovecraft roll over in his grave).

It is the responsible way to present this man and his work. We cannot ignore that Lovecraft is responsible for creating some of the best horror of the 20th Century. We cannot also ignore that his work has inspired and continues to inspire many of today's authors-- especially many who come from he marginalized communities who Lovecraft actively and publicly expressed his hate for. Take The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle and House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias for example. These are two works that have been nominated for major awards and both actively grapple with Lovecraft's racism in their works.

Thanks to JournalStone I have 2 finished copies that 2 winners will be able to add to their collections. But everyone should check out all three anthologies mentioned in this post and consider adding them to your horror collections.

Good luck!

The giveaway is off next week for Thanksgiving.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: 3 Finished Books You Probaly Missed For 1 Winner

After a month of 31 Days of Horror where I had giveaways scattered throughout the month, and then a week off last week so I could recover, the regularly scheduled Thursday giveaway is back and this time I am giving 1 winner, 3 finished books that I think are worth adding to your collection, titles you probably missed. 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.

Now on to this week's giveaway.

I would like to highlight 3 very different books, all of them wroth adding to your libraries collection, all titles you probably missed during this busy Fall. And I said above, I have finished copies of all three. I am asking you to add them to your collections if you win. But I am also asking you to consider ordering them for your collections even if you do not.

Let's start with the one you might have already-- Psychopomp & Circumstance by Bram Stoker Award winner Eden Royce which was released by Tor on 10/21/25. From Goodreads:

Ignyte and Mythopoeic Award-winning author Eden Royce pens a Southern Gothic historical fantasy story of a contentious funeral in her adult fiction debut.

Phee St. Margaret is a daughter of the Reconstruction, born to a family of free Black business owners in New Charleston. Coddled to within an inch of her life by a mother who refuses to let her daughter live a life other than the one she dictates, Phee yearns to demonstrate she's capable of more than simply marrying well.

When word arrives that her Aunt Cleo, long estranged from the family, has passed away, Phee risks her mother's wrath to step up and accept the role of pomp―the highly honored duty of planning the funeral service. Traveling alone to the town of Horizon and her aunt's unsettling home, Phee soon discovers that visions and shadows beckon from every reflective surface, and that some secrets transcend the borders of life and death.

Next up a small press title by an author on the rise-- White Flight by Peter O'Keefe. It's a haunted house novella that tackles racism head on. From Goodreads:

Joel and Willow Ward are white. Their Black teenage daughter, adopted at birth, was just killed by the police. 

Now, their house is trying to kill them, and the grieving parents are trying to understand why. And survive the night.

Early Praise for White Flight!

“White Flight by Peter O’Keefe opened with a roar and then I couldn’t work my finger fast enough to keep up. A married couple attempts to navigate an unspoken tragedy haunting every corner of their dream house - and every layer of their dreams. But there’s an undercurrent of racial disquiet lingering in the air that kept me on edge, like I was waiting on the other shoe to drop. O’Keefe deftly sets the landscape and paints a picture of a home wrapped in overwhelming sadness and dysfunction, but he also builds an unsettling suspense that makes you clench your throat because you just know there’s something else there. And there is...something else.” — Kenya Moss-Dyme, author of SEED

“This is not your ordinary haunted house story. It’s the starkly beautiful, heart-wrenching tale of a white couple who lose their black daughter in a tragic accident. A display of love so well-meaning that it becomes caustic, and even with the best of intentions, every decision they make leads to something more horrific than they could ever imagine. Peter O’Keefe’s book will wreck your soul, and you will stand up and applaud him fiercely for doing so!” — Jill Girardi, Author and Owner of Kandisha Press

“A brutal look at the tensions of American racism, O’Keefe’s White Flight is a lightning-paced haunted house tale that asks hard questions. The novella holds up a mirror to white America. Those brave enough to look are in for a hell of a ride.” —Elizabeth Broadbent, author of BLOOD CYPRESS

And finally something completely different-- Hard Case Crime Comics #34. Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu a graphic novel by Cynthia von Buhler. From Goodreads:  

The plucky detective returns in her thrilling third graphic novel, this time with an occult horror twist!

Sensational artist Cynthia von Buhler melds her glorious illustrations with the eldritch elements of HP Lovecraft and Aleister Crowley.

Inspired by a true WWII maritime operation, shocking satanic events, monstrous men, and one salacious sea creature, this volume tells the tale of Minky’s encounter with legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, creator of the dreaded Cthulhu. 

Following the death of Harry Houdini, Minky is approached by the occultist and writer Aleister Crowley to help vindicate him from an accusation of murder. This throws Minky into an occult underworld and leads to a much bigger investigation involving a missing man and Britain's secret service. Meanwhile, Lovecraftian horrors plague her dreams, and it’s up to Minky to discover the connections between the two writers and the mysterious death of her mother. Based on an actual WWII maritime operation inspired by a detective novel, Minky discovers how writers, including Ian Fleming, helped end WWII.

From the mind of lauded artist, author, and playwright, Cynthia von Buhler, this third installment in the gumshoe detective series takes the thrills and twists to new heights!

All three finished books for 1 winner!

Enter now and you are entered going forward.

31 Days of Horror: Day 31-- The Summer Scares 2026 Spokesperson Is....

As we have done every year since the program inception, the Summer Scares Committee is announcing our next Spokesperson on Halloween. This year we welcome NYT Bestselling Author Jennifer McMahon!

This also marks the end of my 31 day blog-a-thon, but of course, not the end of me talking to you about helping your horror readers. Thank you for going on this journey with me yet again. I hope you had as much fun as I did and that you learned something about the scariest genre that will make it easier for you to help readers going forward.

Happy Halloween to all!

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

HWA ANNOUNCES SUMMER SCARES READING PROGRAM 2026 Spokesperson and Timeline 

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with Booklist, Book Riot, iREAD, and NoveList®, a division of EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO), is proud to announce the eighth annual Summer Scares, a reading program that provides libraries and schools with an annual list of recommended horror titles for adult, young adult (teen), and middle-grade readers.

Summer Scares is proud to announce the 2026 spokesperson, New York Times Bestselling author, Jennifer McMahon:

"When I was a kid, I checked a book out of my local library that had a spell in the back to become a werewolf. I was a freaky, monster-loving girl, not sure how I fit into the world. I thought it would be easier to grow fangs and claws than to deal with all the messy human stuff. I cast the spell, not missing a single step, and was profoundly disappointed when it didn’t work. But there was other magic on those library shelves: doors to other worlds; worlds where ghosts and monsters and terrible things waited for me and taught me not just to face my own fears, but to come out on the other side stronger and maybe with a better understanding of myself. Turns out I don’t need to go full-on werewolf to feel changed—I just need to lose myself is a great spooky story. So I’m thrilled to be here with Summer Scares, inviting you to come on this reading journey with me—transformation into a werewolf not guaranteed!”

McMahon, along with a committee of six library workers, will select three recommended fiction titles in each reading level, totaling nine Summer Scares selections. The program aims to encourage a conversation at libraries worldwide about the horror genre across all age levels and ultimately attract more adults, teens, and children interested in reading. Official Summer Scares designated authors will also make themselves available to public and school libraries.

The committee’s final selections will be announced on February 14, 2026, Library Lover’s Day. McMahon, along with some of the selected authors, will kick off Summer Scares at the 10th Annual HWA Librarians’ Day (Friday, June 5, 2026) during StokerCon® 2026 at the Westin Pittsburgh. Click here for more information.

Additional content, including podcast appearances, free webinars with Booklist, and lists of suggested titles for further reading, will be made available by the committee and its partners beginning early in 2026 and continuing through the Spring and Summer. Of special note is the annual Summer Scares Programming Guide, courtesy of HWA Library Committee Co-Chair Konrad Stump and the Springfield-Greene County Library.

“The 2026 guide, developed by the HWA’s Library Advisory Council, is packed with everything library workers need to engage their communities with these great titles, including an iREAD partner title in each age group” states Stump. “From ideas for author events, partner programs with University of Pittsburgh Library Systems, book discussion groups, and much more, this guide is the library worker’s roadmap to creating exciting and meaningful experiences for their patrons through Summer Scares that they can use as a jumping off point for future horror-themed programming.” 

 The guide will be available beginning March 1, 2026, on the Summer Scares Resource page here. 

To see past year’s Summer Scares titles, spokespeople, and programming guides, please visit the program archive here. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates coming soon from Booklist, Book Riot, iREAD and NoveList®, as well as at the HWA’s website: www.horror.org and RA for All Horror: http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html.

Questions? Reach out to HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump via email: libraries@horror.org.

Summer Scares 2026 Committee Members: 

Jennifer McMahon is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve suspense novels including The Winter People, Promise Not to Tell, and My Darling Girl. She’s written about ghosts, serial killers, shape shifting monsters, an evil fairy king, a kidnapping rabbit, a terrifying swimming pool, and more. She lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida with her partner, Drea. When not writing, she spends a lot of time exploring and seeking out haunted places, real and imagined.

Becky Spratford is a library consultant and the author of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror, third edition which was released in September of 2021. She reviews horror for Booklist magazine, is the horror columnist for Library Journal and runs the Readers’ Advisory blog, RA for All: Horror. She is the author of Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature (Saga Press/S&S, September 2025).

Konrad Stump works for the Springfield-Greene County (MO) Library, where he coordinates the long-running "Oh, the Horror!" series, profiled in The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror, third edition. He also created the Donuts & Death horror book discussion group, featured in Book Club Reboot: 71 Creative Twists (ALA), and co-created the Summer Scares Programming Guide. His work has appeared in Library Journal, NoveList, and Booklist.

Carolyn Ciesla is an academic library director in the Chicago suburbs and is serving as the 2025-26 Illinois Library Association President. She has worked as a teen librarian and reference librarian and has reviewed horror titles for Booklist magazine. She’s currently teaching horror to first-year college students. You can find her all over the internet as @papersquared.

Kelly Jensen is senior editor at Book Riot, the largest independent book website in North America. She covers all things young adult literature and has written about censorship for nearly ten years. She is the author of three critically acclaimed and award-winning anthologies for young adults on the topics of feminism, mental health, and the body. She was named a person of the year in 2022 by Publishers Weekly and a Chicagoan of the Year in 2022 by the Chicago Tribune for her anti-censorship work. She has twice earned commendation from the American Association of School Librarians for her censorship coverage. Prior to her work at Book Riot, she was a public librarian for children, teens, and adults in several libraries in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. She is currently enrolled in a clinical mental health counseling master's program to bolster her work with mental health.

Julia Smith is a senior editor at Booklist, where she works in the youth books department and harbors a deep love of middle-grade literature. Prior to her career at Booklist, she worked at an independent children's bookstore and in the Chicago Public Library system.

Yaika Sabat (MLS) comes from a background in public libraries and now works at NoveList as the Manager of Reader Content and Services, where she creates genre and reader focused content and services. As a Horror Writers Association’s Library Advisory Council member, she aims to help librarians understand and embrace the horror genre. Her other passions include writing, film and media, and folklore. .

31 Days of Horror: Day 30-- Final Thoughts and a Big Thank You to You, the Library Workers Who Make All of This Possible and Of Course, the weekly #HorrorForLibraries Giveaway

Today is the final day of original posting here on 31 Days of Horror. Tomorrow, as always, is saved for the Summer Scares Spokesperson announcement.

I left this day open for exactly to share my final thoughts. (That is why it didn't post right at 7am). I try to do this every year, but this year, it was more important for me to do this. Why? Because while we went on this blogging journey together, I was also traveling all over to promote WHY I LOVE HORROR. At the same time.

I knew it would be whirlwind, trying to do both, but I needed to get out there to appear with the authors to promote this book AND still fulfill my now 15 year long promise to you-- to give you 31 days of horror posts in October.

And quite honestly, without the 31 Days of Horror blog series, which inspired the "Why I Love Horror" sub-series, I wouldn't be out here with a book at all. I really do owe a lot to you, the library workers who count on me to help you understand the scariest genre better.

In fact, that is why I dedicated the book to librarians everywhere and specifically 4 very special librarians-- Konrad Stump, Emily Vinci, Lila Denning, and Yaika Sabat.

Speaking for Yaika, she just had this personal nonfiction essay about her own chronic illness and horror movies published in Frivolous Comma. I am being very vague on purpose so you go read it here. 

And speaking on Konrad, I just returned from visiting his very successful Oh, the Horror! month-long series of in person events at the Springfield-Greene County Library. I wrote about it on Day 8, here. But the pictures and video from my specific appearances with Grady Hendrix (on stage and on TV) can be seen but visiting my tour page or by clicking here to go to the photos directly.

For each event listed on my tour page (not just this week's event),  I created a shared folder of photos. You can access them all here.

The tour page is pinned at the top of the main blog both so you get easy access and because the tour is NOT OVER YET (more below)

Please also see that page for my podcast appearances. One more dropped today-- Capes and Tights. Here they are all in one place with links now that they are all live.

• Books in the Freezer
• Reading Glasses
• The Scares That Shaped Us
• Circulating Ideas
• Capes and Tights
• Every Library Live via Facebook or YouTube

But back to the Springfield, MO event because it was the perfect example of what I experienced on the road in general. Yes there were people at each stop who were there for the authors I was appearing with-- and that made my heart full, especially the ones who drove long distances. But also, and this shocked me, there were more than a handful of the hundreds of people I met over the last 6 weeks who were there for me. People who wanted to be librarians, those who follow my reviews, and a few who found my textbooks on the circulating shelf at their library and came to thank me for exploding their TBRs and introducing them to new voices.

And then there were the people who had never heard of me, but after hearing me speak with some of my authors told me they were so glad they came and met me so that they could share my book with those they love to let them see why they love horror so much. Or the teachers who are adding the book and specific essays to their curriculum so the students can use it as an exercise for writing their own personal narratives. And there is so much more. 

I knew it would be hard to do this in person tour and my blog, but not neglected all of you while I still got out there to share why we love horror AND get their love back in return was worth every minute of it.

And remember, this year may be coming to an end, but you can relive it all here on the blog a few ways. The easiest way to pull up every 31 Days of Horror post from all 15 years is to use the tag. But you can also scroll down to the blog archive ion think right gutter, below the tags and open any year. Then open October, and right there are the 31 days laid out for you. That is my favorite way to scroll the archives. You can go to a specific year and browse very easily.

Back to the teaser above about more touring!

Please stay tuned to that tour page linked here and at the top of every page on RA for All. I will be in Seattle next week. I have something in the works in NE for late January. And I can confirm that I will be at Scares that Cares Author Con 6 in late February.

Thank you so much for being on this journey for 31 Days of Horror with me, this year and every year. I really mean it when I say that none of this would have been possible without all of you. Everything I do is for library workers first and everyone else second. Without your support and continued encouragement to to this annual event and writing textbooks for you and hiring me to train your staff, without all of it, I would not be in a position to bring WHY I LOVE HORROR out to the readers directly. 

Click here for more
Why I Love Horror,
in book form 

To that end, I have a thank you gift for two of you. To end the month I am giving away 2 finished copies of my book. I will personalize and sign them for you. You do not have to add them to your collection, BUT please make sure you all order my book for your library and their patrons. I am telling people I meet to check the book out from their library. It is available in print (Ingram was just restocked) and as an ebook and audiobook on Libby. I think you need all three to meet your readers where they are.

So that is two of my books for 2 winners. I will draw the winners with this MG anthology from Monday as the first winner and then the the next two names will be my books. Here are your details 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.

Good luck!

And remember, the giveaway happens all year, so enter now and you are entered going forward. You might not win my book, but since April 2020, I have given away close to 300 books. That is not stopping anytime soon. Once you are in the spreadsheet, you stay there until you win.

Thank you again and come back tomorrow for the 2026 Summer Scares Spokesperson announcement. Big hint-- the author appears in my book!

Happy Halloween.

31 Days of Horror: Day 29-- How Grady Hendrix Came to Love Horror

Last night I appeared live on stage in conversation with Grady Hendrix as part of Springfield-Greene County Library's Oh, the Horror! Details on that month long event are here. Photos from the event are posted to my tour schedule page here, including a video of Grady and I on local TV promoting the event.

As the 2025 version of 31 Days winds down, I think it is fitting I appeared with Hendrix on this book tour at the end of October for a couple of reasons. First, in 2 days, I will be announcing the Spokesperson for Summer Scares 2026, a reading program that was not only Grady's idea but for which he was our first Spokesperson.

And second, the reason Hendrix and I are on stage to gather in Missouri, a state neither of us live in, is to promote my book and Hendrix's contribution to it.

It got me thinking about whenHendrix's essay in that book was excerpted in CrimeReads back in April here. That was also the official cover reveal for the anthology.

But that excerpt, it was the first time the outside world got to see any part of my book. It was an important moment for the book and for me. It was the moment I knew the book was real.

Looking back at it now, it has all been a blur since that day in April. I started promoting the book on the road back in June and I have been on the road pretty much non stop since 9/18 with still one more event with Sadie Hartmann at Seattle Public Library on 11/6 until I stop for 2025 (but there are already 2 WHY I LOVE HORROR book tour event in early 2026 in the works). The book went into its third printing after  only 3 weeks and people are really connecting with it. 

I will reflect on all of this more tomorrow. But today, I wanted to send all of you back to that moment in April 2025-- CrimeReads with Grady Hendrix writing about how he came to love horror.

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

Click here for more
Why I Love Horror,
in book form 

31 Days of Horror: Day 28-- How NYPL Makes Their Best Horror of the Year List

Back at StokerCon in June, Konrad and I met Kate and Allison from the New York Public Library and began conversations about how the HWA Libraries Committee and NYPL could work together to promote horror.

Then a few months later, when I visited NYPL at Allison's branch as part of my book tour (photos here), they used the opportunity of having 150+ horror fans in one room to unveil their Best Horror of 2025 list.

As we are closing in on the end of 31 Days of Horror we are also entering "Best Books" season. I thought sharing their list here, in these waning days of October made a lot of sense. But I didn't just want to post a list. Yes, best lists are great and Horror Best Lists are even better but what I loved about the NYPL example is not only how they make this list but even, how the Horror Best Books committee broken through to even be a thing the NYPL did.

So today, welcome Kate and Allison as they give you all a peek behind the curtain of the Best Horror of 2025 committee and list from NYPL. I hope you use what they share to think about how you work together with your staff-- no matter how big or small, no matter where they fall on the org chart-- to include everyone who wants to help make best lists, for any genre, whether they are a fan or not.

Take it away Kate and Allison...

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

It all started with a simple email. Dare to Join Our Horror Committee? We Need Brave Souls!

Kate joined the staff of The New York Public Library in July 2024. In her previous role as an Adult Librarian in Upstate New York, Kate maintained the horror section at her library. This led to the creation of a month-long annual horror reading challenge, to help show patrons that the genre has so much more to offer than one might realize. She wanted to bring her love of the genre to her new role at NYPL. 

Having discovered that the Library already had staff dedicated to producing comprehensive surveys of new romance, comics, and poetry each year, Kate suggested that a committee focused on horror would be an excellent addition. And with that the wheels were set in motion. 

After numerous emails back and forth, a call to staff participation was sent. 

Are you a fan of spine-chilling tales, blood-curdling scares, and the occasional monster under the bed? Do you think your bookshelf could use a few more "creepy" additions? If so, we have an offer you can’t refuse!

Responses poured in from branches and library departments in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, representing the city’s wide array of communities and age groups. We had horror aficionados and those who were just dipping their toes in the vast horror ocean. Ultimately, we were brought together by a love of reading, a love of recommending books to readers, and a belief in the power of good books to fix a lot of what ails us all. 

Allison joined The New York Public Library in spring of 2017, as an Adult Librarian in the St. George Library. There they maintained the branch’s local history and fiction collection, the latter where she enjoyed pulling out material related to the macabre history of the borough for researchers. Moving to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL) in fall of 2023 as a Supervising Librarian of Adult Programming, she wanted to find ways to stay connected to the collection aspect of librarianship. When Kate’s email came along asking for volunteers for a newly formed Horror Committee, Allison jumped at the chance to join and meet other horror fans on staff.

At our first monthly committee meeting in November 2024, we developed our mission, to curate a comprehensive list of horror books that will captivate, thrill, and inspire readers from all corners of the genre. Our aim was to create a diverse collection that spans all horror subgenres, from psychological terror to supernatural chills, body horror to gothic suspense, ensuring that all horror readers find something that will haunt them long after the last page is turned. Horror, like any genre, is deeply personal and the stories that make a reader’s heart race or give them chills can vary dramatically. Our goal was to honor these varied preferences, finding the common thread of excellence that makes these stories unforgettable.

Our criteria was simple. In order to be considered for nomination, all books must be specifically written and published for adults between Halloween in 2024 and 2025, and must be classified as horror. The titles were to be chosen for their exceptional storytelling, strong narrative drive, well-developed characters, immersive prose, and rich, atmospheric settings. Our hope was that the list would celebrate the genre’s ability to evoke a full spectrum of emotions—fear, fascination, sorrow, joy, and awe.

Committee members were expected to read and review upwards of two books a month. During our monthly meetings, we discussed what we read and why it should or should not be included on our final list. The earlier months of our committee were slower in terms of new horror releases, and we were giving titles a soft yes or maybe. As the months passed, our criteria for nominated titles became clearer and clearer. One of the titles that first caught our attention was the excellent Root Rot by Saskia Nislow. Each member who cracked the cover was immediately enveloped in the stories that ranged from folk horror to body horror and everything in between. 

As the monthly meetings continued, nominated books began to pile up. Before we knew it, it was June and StokerCon was upon us. The committee had the privilege of organizing a group trip to majestic Connecticut to attend Librarian’s Day! Not only did this trip serve as an excellent opportunity to hear from our colleagues in other systems about how they incorporate the genre into their programming and to get a sneak peak at upcoming horror releases we had yet to read, but it was also an excellent bonding opportunity for the group, many of whom had not met in person until this adventure north.

With a new fire lit under us following StokerCon, everyone picked up their reading pace. In August, the group began meeting weekly, and the final list of nominated titles started to take shape. By September the group had a shortlist of 40 books from more than 150 considered for the list, which is where the most difficult part of our work began. Over the month of September, the list was narrowed down to our final 20, which we published in time for Halloween. The meeting before voting took place, members had one last chance to argue to keep any favorites on the list. For The New York Public Library’s blog (where you can also find some helpful read-alikes!) and our own curiosity, we have since narrowed down the list to our top five.

After multiple rounds of voting, our top five selected books became:

5. Root Rot by Saskia Nislow. Chosen for its haunting blend of beauty and unease, Root Rot  is a surreal, fungi-soaked nightmare that lingers long after the final page. Its unsettling imagery, visceral atmosphere, and dreamlike storytelling pushed the boundaries of what horror can be.

4. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter was selected for its fresh and powerful take on vampire lore, blending supernatural horror with rich Blackfeet representation and a gripping historical setting. It’s Stephen Graham Jones at his best and impossible to put down.

3. Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna Van Veen. This haunting blend of history and folklore weaves queer themes and the eerie mystery of bog bodies into a vividly atmospheric tale set in the Netherlands.

2. The Burial Tide by Neil Sharpson. The Burial Tide was chosen for its masterful mix of Irish folklore, psychological tension, and eerie island atmosphere. With its unpredictable twists, haunting body horror, and heartfelt core of friendship, it delivers a uniquely satisfying and unsettling read.

1. The Country Under Heaven by Fredric S. Durbin. The Country Under Heaven was selected for its masterful fusion of western, horror, and fantasy elements, creating a world both eerie and enchanting. With rich prose, a compelling main character, and an atmosphere that feels both vast and intimate, it’s a true genre standout.

Overall, we are incredibly proud of our list, as it not only represents a diverse group of authors , but also spans many subgenres. We guarantee there is something for everyone on this list, whether you like a haunted house, something gruesome and violent, or a classic monster. We invite seasoned readers and new genre explorers to dive in and experience the terror of The New York Public Library’s list of Best New Horror for Adults. 

Get updates from The New York Public Library on book recommendations and a range of upcoming events including—coming soon!—a series of virtual author talks featuring a selection of the authors behind our Best New Horror list! We hope to see you there. To see the official list, please visit our website… if you dare!

31 Days of Horror: Day 27-- Spotlight on Middle Grade Horror with Librarian and Author Ally Malinenko and a Bonus Giveaway!

One of the top Middle Grade Horror novels of the year is Ally Malinenko's Broken Dolls. I shared my thoughts on this immersive and terrifying story here. But you don't have to believe me; Stephen King loves this book too.

Malinenko is not just a horror author, she is also a librarian, and the two sides of her collided this month when she chose to celebrate with a 31 Days event of her own by tweeting out 1 middle grade horror book you should read a day for 31 straight days. You can see that entire thread here (don't forget, we still have a few more days for her to add to the thread).

As I watched her add to this thread daily, I realized, I needed Malinenko to come here and share more than just titles. I asked her to write an essay in the vein of why I love middle grade horror. Below is her essay on why middle grade horror is important to kids and why they need access to it always.

Thanks Ally!

(And stay tuned after her essay for a bonus giveaway)

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

When I tell people I write middle grade horror I get a variety of reactions. Everything from “what’s that?” to “kids shouldn’t read horror” to “when are you going to write a real horror.” So today I wanted to talk a little bit about middle grade horror – about why I write it, why it’s important, why kids need it and some recommendations that I have been posting this spooky month on middle grade horror YOU should be reading.

So let’s start with what is middle grade horror? Middle grade is a term that is used to refer to the readers between easy readers and young adult readers. Middle Grade horror is usually marketed towards 8-12 year olds. 

Now, for the “kid’s shouldn’t read horror” – my favorite response, here’s why that’s wrong. Middle grade horror is one of the best places to talk about hard things. In my second novel This Appearing House I had my main character have to come to terms with a very serious illness she had when she was younger but never processed. In my most recent book Broken Dolls, my main character has to learn how to process her grief, but also how to talk about it – she has selective mutism. Horror is safe scary. What do I mean by that?  Horror offers Solace. It’s not happening to me, but I’m following along with something scary which is thrilling. Kids live in a very scary world. They live through life-changing pandemics and school shootings. They know the world is scary. But adults tend to want kids to look the other way. Instead, I think we have a responsibility to kids to arm them with the weapons they need. When a kid reads a scary book the learn how to fight monsters so when they’re older they’ll know how to fight the real monsters that eventually show up in all of our lives. 

Scary books give kid’s agency, something that we adults take for granted. We’re used to deciding what time we get up and what we’re going to do all day and what to eat but kids don’t get that. By their nature and status they are powerless. Another thing adults sometimes forget is that kids have the full range of emotions, they just don’t have the language to express it. When you read a book you are rooting for the hero and that is especially true for scary books. You got into the dark but you make it back out again. You survived! 

Horror Tells the Truth. Let’s be honest we lie to kids a lot. We tell them the dog went to go live on a farm. We tell them everything is fine when mom and dad aren’t speaking at the dinner table. We sweep the truth into the corner and hope the kids won’t find it. But horror doesn’t do that. Horror tells the truth. Horror puts you in front of a monster and then gives you a sword to fight it. 

Horror Teaches Important Lessons about Fear – Fear offers no middle ground. You either succumb to it or you overcome it. There is no in between. Storytelling is how we build empathy. It’s how we connect with people. It’s a way of making connection that teaches kids that they can overcome their fears

And finally kids should read horror because horror is FUN. You ever go to a scary movie with a friend and you both get startled so badly by the same thing that you start laughing? No one would ever think about taking a funny book out of a kids hand but they scoff at kids who want to read horror. Horror for kids is a necessary and important genre and not one we need to be afraid of. Honestly it’s a privilege to write horror for kids, to watch them go, shoulders back, head held high, right into the dark and know they’re gonna be okay. 

Wes Craven had this response to the question “Why would people pay money to get scared” and he said, “You don’t enter the theater and pay your money to be afraid. You enter the theater and pay your money to have the fears that are already in you when you go into a theater dealt with and put into a narrative.” 

To my last point – “when are you going to write a real horror book” – let me tell you, adults will give you up to 50 pages or more to get to them. A kid? You have to hook them from the first line and you have to keep them hooked. That takes skill. That takes careful planning. People who dismiss kidlit horror are doing themselves a disservice. And writers, especially should be paying attention. I will one day write an adult horror, I’m sure. But for now, it is an absolute honor to be writing horror for kids.

So to that, I would like to share with you some of my favorite horror stories for the kid in your life, or the one that still lives in your heart. 

1. The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay by Mary Averling. 

This is not only one of my favorite middle grade horror books it’s one of my favorite books. Period. Maude isn’t your typical 12 year old – mostly because she’s a ghost. Along with her best friend Kit and her little brother Scratch she haunts a cottage in the woods and scares off vacationers. When Scratch and Kit go missing, Maudie knows it’s the work of Longfingers – a monster from her own nightmares. Averling has crafted a spooky tale full of love, heartbreak, and the importance of facing the truth. A story that reminds us that the only way to truly know ourselves is to face the scariest parts of our story. This is an instant classic.

2. The Nest by Kenneth Oppel. 

When I started writing middle grade this is one of the books I picked up. It taught me how hard you really can go when writing middle grade horror. This book is scary. Steve is a worrier and right now he’s worried the most about his sick newborn brother. So when he starts to dream about a mysterious wasp queen who offers to “fix” the baby, he thinks everything is going to be okay. All he has to do is say Yes. But what does saying yes really mean? Yes is a powerful word that cannot be taken back. Honestly if you read ONE book on this list, read this one.

3. Nightbooks by J.A. White

This modern day spin on the Scheherazade story is a spooky fun ride. Unlike the Nest, that is legitimately frightening, Nightbooks is FUN and for budding writers, contains lots of fun tidbits about writing with suspense, creating plot twists and how interior logic works. It is the story of a boy, imprisoned by a witch who must tell a new scary story every night in order to stay alive. Also they made a great little movie out of it too! 

4. The Clackity by Lora Senf

This Stoker award nominated book is one of my favorites. Book one in the Blight Harbor series, follows Evie von Rathe attempts to rescue her beloved Aunt Desdemona. From the depts of the abandoned slaughterhouse, Evie meets The Clackity who makes a deal with her that he can help her find her aunt in exchange for the ghost of John Jeffery Pope, a serial killer who stalked Blight Harbor one hundred years ago. Yes, a serial killer. In a middle grade book. It’s brilliant.

5. Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker. Antler Wood is haunted, and no kit foxes are safe. When Mia and Uly are separated from their litter they discover a world full of monsters. The stories in this collection are both heartwarming and bone chilling at the same time. It’s a fantastic read. 

Horror is good about talking about what makes us human. And about what makes us monstrous. Kids deserve to hear both. I read an excellent piece by Ally Russell (whose books you should also read) called The Lonliness of the Horror Fan in which she said this:

“If you know a young horror fan, protect them at all costs. Let them explore the boundaries of their fear. When the terror becomes too much, kids know how to close the book or press pause. Let them use horror to tackle the traumas that this world will wreak on their young souls. They may use the genre to confront their fears or to heal. They may use the genre for entertainment. They might become lifelong fans… or not. That’s all right. The important thing is that they have support and space to confront their fears in a safe setting, because the monsters out there ::points to the world around us:: are much worse than the monsters in our media.”

Middle grade horror makes a pact with it’s reader. It says take my hand, we’re going to go into the forest. It’s going to be dark. It’s going to be scary, but in the end, we’re going to come back out into the light. And isn’t that why we go into the dark? To return to the light?

With middle grade horror there is always hope. Hope is the root power of storytelling. And that is the power of horror.

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

Thanks to Malinenko for sharing her perspective. Now to that promised giveaway. I have one finished copy of Scaring and Daring: Terrifying Takes on 15 Classic Tales, a Middle Grade Horror Anthology from the Horror Writers Association edited by Eric J Guignard. From Goodreads: 

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!

Get ready for a terrifying spin on some of literature’s most beloved tales—no story is safe! From Captain Hook’s run-in with dark magic to Sherlock Holmes narrowly escaping graveyard spirits to a happily never after for Cinderella, this horror anthology is anything but a bedtime story. In this terrifying new collection for young readers, the best-loved stories from the literary canon are revisited and reimagined with a deadly twist by some of the top authors working in middle grade today.

Featuring tales from New York Times bestselling authors Jonathan Maberry and Kelley Armstrong, Carlos Hernandez, Lisa Morton, Maurice Broaddus, and many others, this collection will haunt you long after you turn the last page. Read on—if you dare! 

Rules are the same as every week. Click here for last week's giveaway to see the rules on how to enter. 

There will be one more giveaway this week but all winners will be drawn on Friday 11/1.

Good luck to all.