#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: My Ex, The Antichrist

Today I have an ARC of a book which I have review of in the current issue of Booklist. 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 from Amy from WI. Now on to this week's giveaway.  

Craig DiLouie is a critically acclaimed Horror author. All of his books are perfect for a general library audience. This one is also good for any and all music fans.

From my ALA Booklist Draft review

My Ex, The Antichrist

By Craig DiLouie

Out July 2025. 

The Shivers were one of the biggest pop punk bands of the early 2000s, but their origin story holds a dark, apocalyptic secret, one with which front woman Lily Lawless can no longer bear to live. So begins DiLouie’s latest horror novel, unfolding on the page as an oral history of the band, as told by Lily, and others, as Lily sits in prison, for murder. Readers follow The Shivers, led by Lily and her boyfriend Drake Morgan,as they quickly garner attention for their unique sound and the violence that follows in the wake of their performances. Cheekily playing off of the age-old accusation that harder edged music is satanic, DiLouie spins a story that is fresh, entertaining, and intensely unsettling. Is Drake Morgan actually the Antichrist? The answer may existentially unmoor readers. An easy handsell for fans of We Sold Our Souls by Hendrix or Silver Nitrate by Moreno- Garcia, but don’t forget those who loved the discomforting verisimilitude of The Ghost That Ate Us by Kraus. 

Three Words That Describe This Book: Oral History Frame, Satanic, Intense Unease

Click here to read a lot more by me about this book.

And follow the directions above to enter to win this one.

Good luck!

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: A Clash Prize Pack-- 3 Books for 1 winner

Today I want to feature a publisher-- Clash Books-- and three ARCs they sent me, including one which I have review of in the current issue of Booklist. 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 from Charissa from IL. Now on to this week's giveaway.  

As I mentioned above, I have three ARCs of books that are coming soon from Clash. Clash Books is a trusted small press who have full distribution with Ingram so you can easily get their books.

Clash is where high and low art meet to make something fresh, new, and exciting. They publishing literary Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, & Horror. Their mission is to publish awesome & engaging books that transcend label & break boundaries.

In other words, they have the stuff our readers who refuse to be defined want to read. And it is all to a high standard.

Click here to learn more about Clash Books.

As I said above, today I am giving away 3 ARCs from Clash to one winner, beginning with Below the Grand Hotel by Cat Scully. From my longer post about this book and my May 2025 Booklist here:

Mable wants nothing more than to be a Ziegfeld girl, but until her big break, she is living hand to mouth, robbing people to keep herself housed and fed. When she follows a wealthy woman wearing a diamond necklace into The Grand Hotel, Mable’s life changes forever. She is offered the chance to make all of her dreams come true. The price? Her soul. Scully convincingly re-creates the Great Gatsby-esque world of a lavish hotel in 1920s NYC. The glitz and the glamour,yes, but also the bleak, devastating hardship of those on the outside. Readers eagerly follow Mable, as she races against time, through the constantly shifting, alluring, awe-inspiring, but extremely sinister hallways of the hotel (a character here itself), to steal back her soul and hopefully, destroy the evil force at its foundation. Suggest to those who like tales of artists making dark deals in pursuit of their craft like Roses and Rot by Howard and fans of strong women kicking demon butt like Devils Kill Devils by Compton. 

Three Words That Describe This Book: strong sense of place, demons, struggle of artists

This book came out on 5/6. Click here for a lot more from me about Below the Grand Hotel.

I also have in my possession two more ARCs from Clash that I did not have time to review. 

First up I Can Fix Her by Rae Wilde coming 6/3:

This is How You Lose the Time War meets Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke in this fast-paced queer horror novel in which an obsessive woman stumbles upon a second-chance romance with her flighty paramour, but it quickly deteriorates into a dark spiral of destruction.

Johnny spots her ex, Alice, at the local cafe with a vague sense that she’s been there before. Though she’s still angry about their breakup and Alice’s subsequent ghosting, Johnny can’t resist the draw of a second shot at their relationship and accepts Alice’s invitation back to her apartment. Once there, promises are exchanged. There’s talk of wonder and change and dreams made real. But after spending the night together, they face a morning in which Alice is still Alice, Johnny is still Johnny, and the dog has doubled in size.

Over the course of a week, increasingly bizarre changes in the world around them force Johnny to consider whether the pair can change just as easily, if they can change at all. Or if both her relationship and the bounds of reality are destined to implode. The narrative of I Can Fix Her operates on nightmare logic, putting forth an irresistible tale in which the world, the narrator, and time itself are not to be trusted.

And the other Black Brane by Michael Cisco coming 6/22:

Weird fiction icon and award-winning author Michael Cisco's Black Brane, begins with the physical pain of a bad foot and later voyages into absurdity, mad science, occultism, and existential dread. 

A man lying in a bed of pain flees from physical torment into his own memories, and into speculations about life and reality. He was, once, employed by the Temporary Institute for the Study of Holes, a think tank pursuing research that ranges from occult studies to advanced physics, including black holes—or, as they are known in string theory, black branes. 

He meets and interacts with the various other members of the institute. Its founder, Dr. Marilyn Shitansky, a formerly homeless woman who claims to have a thinking hole in her brain; its resident occultist, the chain-smoking Daladara with his magic abacus; Ernie Allegre the engineer, who designed and built a decoherence reactor to power the institute; Dr. Liu, the string theorist; the linguist Dr. Corngholm, who can't sit still; and Dr. Shitansky's secretary, Renbrui, who seems to carry a mystery with her wherever she goes. 

In memory, the speaker finds them again, in a story of physical and emotional pain, of social and quantum entanglement, that turns comic, speculative, and nightmarish. Echoing the work of Blake Crouch and Thomas Ligotti, Michael Cisco shows in Black Brane why he’s beloved by weird fiction and horror readers.

All three books to one winner. 

Good luck! 

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: The Butcher's Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs Lovett

Today I have an ARC of a book which I gave a glowing review to in Booklist. This one is great for a wide swath of readers, including those who usually don't read Horror. 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 from Brittany from SC. Now on to this week's giveaway.  

The Butcher’s Daughter: The Hitherto Untold story of Mrs. Lovett

By David Demchuk and Corinne Leigh Clark

May 2025. 418p. Hell’s Hundred, $27.95 (9781641296427); e-book (9781641296434). First published April 1, 2025 (Booklist).

It’s 1887 and London journalist Emily Gibson is missing. Police do find her dossier of papers all tied to Margaret Evans, the woman who Gibson is convinced is the “real” Mrs Lovett. Unveiled in a well paced, epistolary style, this clever and entertaining tale is Margaret’s life story as relayed in her correspondence with Gibson. Her voice is confident, her story filled with hardship, but it also features exciting twists as she uses her wits and strategically placed lies to find her footing. While readers know from the title that she will end up a villain, Demchuk and Clark imbue Margaret with sympathy throughout, even as murder victims are cut up and made into delicious pies. However, there is an even more shocking reveal in the novel’s final pages, a horror that will punch readers in the gut and reverberate off the page and into history. Those who enjoy being immersed in the gritty, visceral, and historically accurate world of Victorian London as seen in Victorian Psycho by Feito or From Hell by Moore will eagerly devour this tale.

Three Words That Describe This Book: strong sense of place, fiction about fictional characters, epistolary

Click through to read A LOT more about this book by me via the post on RA for ALL when the review first went live.

It comes out on Tuesday (5/6). Make sure you have it on pre-order. Also thanks to Hell's Hundred, the Horror only imprint from Soho who provided the ARC for me to giveaway and who are celebrating their 1 year anniversary this month.

Remember, enter once and you are entered going forward. Last week's winner first entered in 2023! I have books by Daniel Kraus, Craig DiLouie, Cass Khaw, Alma Katsu, Hailey Piper and more coming up soon.

Good Luck!

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: Girl in the Creek by Wendy Wagner

Today I have an ARC of a book to which I gave a STAR in the April 2025 issue of Library Journal.  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 from Jennifer from NC. Now on to this week's giveaway.  

Wendy Wagner is an award winning editor and her second Nightfire novel is coming this July. I read it for the April issue of Library Journal and was blown away. You need this one in your collections. 

Here is my draft review and three words:

Three words That Describe This Book: Sporror, Invasively creepy, Strong Sense of Place

Draft Review: Erin’s brother went into the Clackamas National Forest, in the shadow of Mt Hood and never came out. And he is not the only one. The small town at the forest’s edge is plastered with missing person’s posters. However, as readers know from the first chapter, the lush green hiking trails leading to natural hot springs and fascinating hotel ruins hide a dangerous, sentient fungus– the Strangeness– and it has been spreading, learning, and gathering strength for years. Now that it has found a dead girl in the creek, this invasive species makes the leap from creepy nuisance to terrifying threat. Told from the perspective of Erin and the Strangeness itself, as it unfurls across the landscape, creating a network of living creatures, what begins as an atmospheric “Scooby-Doo”-esque investigation by a group of well-meaning 20 somethings, quickly devolves into violent chaos as monsters both human and supernatural are revealed and the true terror emerges. A tightly written masterclass in horror, a short, well paced novel where every detail matters, this story stretches it tendrils out menacingly from the page, striking readers with both awe and fear, quite possibly leaving them unable to ever take a walk in the woods again.

Draft Verdict: Hugo Award winning editor of Nightmare Magazine, Wagner’s latest, features a compelling true-crime meets “sporror” frame and reads like Into the Wild by Krakeur meets What Moves the Dead by Kingfisher, with a pinch of The Girl With All the Gifts by Carey.

Click here for more appeal notes about this book.

Thanks to Nightfire I have an unread copy of this book to give away to one of you.

Enter once and you are entered going forward.

Good Luck!

#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)