Summer Scares Resources

Click here to immediately access the Summer Scares Resource page so that you can add some professionally vetted horror titles into your reading suggestions and fiction collections for all age levels.

Thursday, April 23, 2026

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: But Won't I Miss Me by Tiffany Tsao

Today on the giveaway I have an ARC of a book that appeared in my Horror Review Column in the April 2026 Issue of Library Journal.  I gave it a star, and quite honestly, this is the book that has most surprised me all year. 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 Michael from UT. Now on to this week's giveaway. 

When I compose my Library Journal Horror Review column, I work intentionally to combine titles people expect and undertake radar books. Some I know nothing more about than what the publisher is putting out on their sites. 

Cover of Tiffany Tsao's novel But Won't I Miss Me. Click on the image for more details.
But Won't I Miss Me by Tiffany Tsao caught my eye because either sounded interesting; however, nothing prepared me for hoe AMAZING this book was. I went into it with hopeful expectations and the results, blew me away. I want to shout from as many rooftops about this book as possible, as a result, I also posted about it on the general blog today as well.

In that post, I included all of my notes about this book. You can also see those here, but for this giveaway post I will stick to just sharing the draft review:

Three Words That Describe This Book: maternal/body horror, slightly askew to our world, discomfiting 

Draft Review: The very best speculative fiction takes readers out of their world, telling a story meant to help them grapple with the important questions staring them in their real world faces. Tsao demonstrates this in her alternative reality science fiction-body horror-thriller, asking readers to contemplate how society fails mothers, the horror of following the status quo, and most provocatively, what happens when you are your own victim? Vivi, a Chinese-Indonesian living in Australia lives in a world where human mothers not only birth a child, but they also experience their own visceral rebirth, an event that will shock and trouble readers, but here it is seen as necessary to give mothers the super human strength they need to raise children. Vivi’s rebirth had complications leaving her alone, exhausted, and with a baby to care for. Readers hang on every detail, falling easily into the world, and its complex, flawed, but sympathetic characters, never able to shake the unsettling tone set by the title, not even close to ready for the twist when it drops. A master class in storytelling that will leave readers, if not reborn, forever changed for the experience.

Verdict: Tsao gives readers a terrifying, raw, and honest look at motherhood in the vein of horror titles like Tantrum by Rachel Eve Moutlon, Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase, The Push by Ashley Audrain.

Please get this book on order. It comes out May 5th from HarperVia. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC that I will be giving away to one of you.

Good luck! 

Thursday, April 16, 2026

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: She Waits Where Shadows Gather by Michelle Tang

Today on the giveaway I have an ARC of a book that appeared in my Horror Review Column in the April 2026 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.
Last week's winner was Sophie from IL. Now on to this week's giveaway. 

Today I am featuring an ARC of a book I read for my Horror Review Column in the April 2026 Issue of Library Journal. 

She Waits Where Shadows Gather by Michelle Tang. From my draft review:
Canadian spouses Avery and Carlos, both of Chinese-Filipino descent, arrive in Manila for an indefinite stay. Carlos is moving his popular show, disproving the supernatural, back to his family’s haunted manor house. Told from both Carlos and Avery’s perspectives, readers are aware from the start that there is unease about the move and the status of their relationship, but the house– its covered mirrors, phantom knockings in the night, and history of restless souls– makes itself heard immediately. After a home cleansing ceremony, Carlos is left bedridden by a car accident, triggering the release of generations of secrets, ghosts, and mortal danger forcing Carlos and Avery to fight for both their relationship and their lives. Filled with terrifying Filipino horror folklore, readers will enjoy uncovering a different culture of chills while being consumed by the drama unfolding in front of their eyes. Verdict: A twisty and immersive haunted house story featuring sinister ghosts, who will use whatever fractures they can find in human relationships to gain a foothold in the mortal world like in The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo and We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough.

Three Words That Describe This Book: spotlight on International horror lore, intense unease, dual points of view

This novel comes out on May 5, 2026. Thank you to Sourcebooks Library Marketing for this ARC. 

Remember, if you enter once, you are entered going forward. And I have a lot of great books coming up in the giveaway queue. Not to mention visits to StokerCon and ALA in June will mean I have MANY more. Get in on it now so you are eligible to win. 

Thursday, April 9, 2026

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: New Story Collection by Gwendolyn Kiste and The LineUp Column Inspired By It

Today on the giveaway I have my favorite horror story collection of the year (so far) and access to a list of 6 excellent backlist collections you should be suggesting to your horror readers.  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 Allison from WI. Now on to this week's giveaway. 

At the beginning of 2026 I was reading Gwendolyn Kite's The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own and I was loving it! Late last week my starred review of that collection was published in Booklist and you can access it plus bonus appeal content at this link.

In celebration of the book's release next week, I have a finished copy (courtesy of Raw Dog Screaming Press) which you can win and add to your collection this week!

I am hoping all of you will order The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own for your libraries. RDSP is a small press with distribution via Ingram, so you can easily add it to your collections. 

Again click here to read my full review with bonus comments about this book.

I enjoyed this collection so much, I was inspired to highlight other excellent single author story collections as one of my 4 annual "From the Haunted Stacks" columns on The LineUp.

[Editors note because I have been asked about this multiple times times: the term for a single author volume of short stories is "collection," while "anthology" is used for books of stories by different authors.]

So not only can you use this post to enter to win a copy of my favorite story collection of 2026 (so far) but you can also access the article it inspired-- From the Haunted Stacks: Single Author Horror Collection to Devour: Six essential horror collection to lose yourself in.

You can access the entire catalog of my posts for The LineUp here. Since this is a recourse focused on backlist titles, the archive of my articles is a great resource to help you help your horror readers top  find a great read that is probably on the shelf right now.

Enter now and you are entered going forward.

Thursday, April 2, 2026

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: Bodies of Work by Clay McLeod Chapman (and a bonus story collection)

Today on the giveaway I have two books for one winner, pairing a well known authors ARC with a story collection from a trusted small press. 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 Emily from NY. Now on to this week's giveaway. 

I cannot review every book, even if I really like the author, even if I really want to. Today's book is a great example of that. But thankfully, others are there to do the work as seen below with Chapman's upcoming novella and its starred review in LJ.

Book cover for Bodies of Work by Clay McLeod Chapman. Click on the image for more info.
Bodies of Work by Clay McCleod Chapman

STAR Winston Kemper is alone in the world, working as a church janitor and living in a one-room apartment. In his home he is creating an epic work of words and pictures, written and drawn across the floors, walls, and a number of notebooks. The room is shared with the women Winston has murdered to take their voices. But the Butterfly Girls have found a way to speak to Winston and secretly plot their revenge. Their voices act as a chorus, providing commentary as they argue. These discussions become complicated and uncomfortable as Winston’s history is revealed. Chapman (Acquired Taste) never allows readers to make a simple judgment, and the book is filled with creepiness and unease from the start. Readers will fall into the book even as they sense the dreaminess is filled with nightmares and terrors. 

VERDICT Blurring between dreams and reality, this novella explores the world of a labyrinthine, disturbed mind. Chapman’s short fiction is an excellent introduction to his work, and this latest is another one of his excellent portrayals of complicated emotions in horror. Readers of Cynthia Pelayo’s “Chicago Saga” and her poetry collection Into the Forest and All the Way Through will especially find this book compelling. --Lila Denning

Bodies of Work comes out next week on April 7, 2026. Thank you to Titan Books for the giveaway copy of the ARC.

While I have your attention, I wanted to also let you know about an up and coming voice, and their story collection from a trusted small press.

Cover of the book Nothing Has Happened to You : Stories by Rory Say. Click on the image for more info.
Nothing Has Happened to You: Stories by Rory Say. From the book description on the Lethe Press site:
Nothing Has Happened to You is a collection of short stories where the ordinary twists into the uncanny and the familiar becomes strange. Memory, family, and grief blur with phantoms that may or may not exist, and the smallest moments—opening a door, telling a story, looking into the dark—carry the weight of dread.

A young girl confides in a silent companion no one else can see, who grows smaller each time he returns. A lover reveals she has been dead for years and will soon be forgotten. A tenant discovers his basement suite may not exist at all, except as an echo of guilt. Elsewhere, lost children, haunted objects, and voices from the grave stir quietly at the edges of daily life.

Rory Say, whose work has appeared in Weird Horror, Dark Recesses, Metastellar, The NoSleep Podcast, Tales to Terrify and more, writes with precision, lyricism, and an unshakable sense of unease. Each tale is self-contained, yet together they form a world where nothing is certain, and dread lingers long after the last page.

Nothing has Happened to You is already out and you can add it to your collections here. Thank you to Lethe Press for this copy to giveaway to one of you.

Enter once and you are entered going forward. In the coming weeks, I will be featuring books that I have reviewed in the April issues of LJ and Booklist. Stay tuned.

Good luck!